US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Karoo National Park by James Labelle
Very remote but Karroo had an exceptional amount of fossils which is really cool if that is your thing otherwise we mostly just saw Impala
AE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Exactly as I had expected although naturally much more impressive living it up close, live n direct
First of all we were 100% satisfied with Hello Tanzania Tours service from word go! They were nothing less than perfect right to the end and best priced in the market by a country mile! Tanzania as a country from the moment we landed at the airport and had to line up for visa, baggage collection etc was generally a struggle. The roads the heavy traffic, the culture shock, the poverty needed getting used to over the first few days and then the friendliness and genuine smiles and happiness of the people just captivated you and helped you ease into the vibe of the country. Jumbo and akuna matata two well branded words, went with the territory along with trying to avoid continuous street sellers asking for exorbitant prices for unwanted souvenirs and taxi rides.
A beautiful country in its own right, blessed with a heart throbbing wildlife and beautiful friendly and happy people despite their daily struggles, I felt however disillusioned by the exuberant prices tourists were expected to pay for services that might cost less than half in other more developed tourist destinations. I don't care how high the season is, the prices being asked by hotels, some in Zanzibar were well above $1,000 per night, very nice granted but not any nicer than any hotel you might find in Dubai or Greece at high season.
Personally I was humbled how happy and genuinely positive and cheerful Tanzanians seemed in the face of abject adversity and poverty! That for me was priceless and something everyone in the developed world who correlates happiness with wealth and money should go and experience at least once a year as a reminder to themselves!
I hope to return and see other safari parks one day soon.
Thank you Hello Tanzania Tours for tirelessly bending over backwards to make this trip as memorable and accommodating as possible.
Asante!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Crazy wildlife but...
Highly recommended for wildlife and birdwatching. However very expensive accommodation and food
SE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Do not themself drive in Tanzania
Communication with Simon prior booking was good, clear and fast. We booked a small group midrange safari 6 days Tarangire, lake manyara, ngorgoro and Serengeti national parks starting from Arusha.
While on site, we could not find their Arusha office. (The hotel listed on their website had never heard of the company.) The night befor the start of the safari a man from another safari company met us at the hotel, said he talked with Simon and would operate our trip. Overall we got what was agreed on in the itinerary, but days and accomodanditon was shifted with out any prior notice until the very last minute everyday. We would have appreciated to get a new updated itinerary befor we left. The driver/guide was really just a driver and did not tell us much about the parks or animals.
We are overall happy with the trip! Saw a lot of animals really close, an experience of a life time!!
It is hard to give a fare review of Wild Race Africa cause we have not met any of them.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Guide was fine. Tour was different to the itinerary. The mattress, tent & sleeping bags were gross
Advise if the tour is different to what is proposed . Advise us to bring sleeping bags as those were disgusting and we both had bed bugs
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Tour operator is good. The fact that they subcontract out the driving/facilitators creates problems.
We got what we paid for, so the following is not a complaint, but information that you may wish to use to improve your experience. Please note: subcontactors/drivers are not usually directly employed by the tour company, so get phone numbers that you can use in each country, and use local SIM cards.
1. Communications can be improved significantly, as we did not have a local telephone number to call when we went from Kenya to Tanzania - the border crossing "facilitator" was hopeless and left us to stand in the sun waiting for a bus we did not personally have tickets for. A local was kind enough to ring the Kenya phone number we had, and the company then verbally kicked the "facilitator" into fixing the issue.
2. The 2WD small vehicles used in Kenya are very uncomfortable for tall people like me (195cm or so), and get bogged easily - pay for an upgrade to 4WD Landcruiser safari vehicle if it is offered at a fair price. 2WD is adequate, incidentally, but expect the driving to be faster on the rough roads than you would expect. There were only 4WD Landcruisers in the Tanzania part of the trip, and they are much nicer, with plenty of head-room when the pop-top roof is open for animal viewing and photographing.
3. Water is supposed to be supplied on safari - it often wasn't in Kenya. I got a dozen bottles of water for myself and my wife, and the other passengers were so thirsty that they nicked most of them. I do not blame the passengers, incidentally. Water in Kenya was a problem, not in Tanzania.
4. Hot water was not often available for showers.
5. "Eco" camps that we used TRIED to do well, and in Kenya were at lease moderately comfortable (with beds) - but did not care that the roof leaked water onto the bed during a storm. The ones in Tanzania were camps (i.e. tents that were not waterproof , sleeping bags that needed fixing and washing, no hot water for showers, oh, and no towels supplied if we decided to have cold shower). Pay for upgrade in Tanzania, please.
6. i.e. Kenya basic cars, adequate accommodation; Tanzania much better cars, terrible accommodation. Even in the Serengeti there are proper hotels near the camps - pay for an upgrade if you hate tents and boring food, trust me. The tour company can juggle just about any request.
7. Finally, some changes were made without our permission, such as the order we saw some parks, and where we were staying or camping. We did, however, go to each and every place we were supposed to see, just out of order a bit.
Overall, I have to say that the tour operators are extremely competent, offer good value for money, and can accommodate almost any changes within reason.
(It was not my first safari, but the camping issues and my age has made it my last, as I am not a kid anymore and I have now seen what I want to see in Africa - don't let this affect you, as I am just commenting. Also 2 fellow travellers were a pain in the arse, complaining again and again about everything from not seeing lions feeding (they mostly rest during the day), to not getting the photos up close that they wanted IMMEDIATELY, wanting to change drivers because he could not arrange for a pair of binoculars to be returned {left, by them, in another vehicle} IMMEDIATELY, and so on. Animals move, so opportunities change, they were carrying a 65x zoom camera so should not be bitching about the photos of animals being too far away. My Nikon and 200mm lens was more than enough, and sometimes we were so close to animals (especially lions) that I had to change to a 18-55mm lens. I got photos of everything from lions in trees, leopards, cheetah, spotted hyenas, all sorts of herbivores imaginable, flamingos (2 types, up close) and more. In fact I photographed even more variety of animals than I expected (and expectations were high), and was simply blown away by the Serengeti migration. The animal numbers are simply staggering over a vast area. Seeing Kilimanjaro is fantastic, as was the photographs of elephants with Kilimanjaro in the background. Good trip, recommended highly, and my comments are just for your information should you want to do a similar 2 week Kenya/Tanzania budget trip.
SE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Lake Nakuru National Park by Carlsson Family
Coming from 2 amazing days in the Masai Mara we experienced Lake Nakuru as quite small. Flamingos were observed on a big distance......But much wildlife!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Most of safari was fantastic, but disappointined with Galloping Safari Owner, Walter Tenga.
Our family safari in Ngorogoro and Serengheti with my two young adult children ( 18 and 21) was an incredible experience. Weather, variety and quantity of game viewed, Four Seasons Serengheti Lodge, Balloon ride and our safari tour guide, Kennedy, were all outstanding and lived up to all our expecations and more! I am, however, quite disappointed in Walter Tenga, the owner of Galloping Safaris. Our hotel the first night in Arusha was changed (downgraded) from the hotel documented on our itinerary, without any advance notice of the change. Mr. Tenga described the change as a "mistake". The hotel we stayed at was nice, but not nearly as nice the one stated on our itinerary. During our return from Serengheti to Arusha on the last day, we ran into a problem with our flight. We wer e told a flat tire on our small aircraft would result in over a two hour delay of our flight. I attempted to contact Galloping Safari Tour owner, Walter Tenga, for help. I called his office and cell phone multiple times, but he never answered and I was not able to leave a message. As a result of our delay, we missed a farewell luncheon at beautiful hotel on our last day and shopping time. No alternate lunches were provided, although I had already paid for these meals in our tour package. I contacted Mr. Tenga and requested a refund for our meals, but my request was ignored. Very disappointing. Last but not least, our Galloping Safari driver who took us back to the Killimanjaro airport seemed to misunderstand our flight information. Once I reviewed our departure time with him, he drove at a dangerously high speed to get us there on time. He was stopped by the police because he was driving so fast. When we entered the airport, my kids and I were met by security personnel because of our very late arrival to board our plane. All this made for a very stressful ending to an otherwise wonderful trip.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Louise ****
When you go to the serengetti nothing compares to this. Its quite a small park with limited wildlife
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari to Masai Mara
We used this company for our safari to Masai Mara in December. It was great that they organized everything, but it was expensive for 3 nights. Once we got to the hotel, we couldn’t figure out why it was so expensive because our camp wasn’t too great. The safari was amazing though, the guide and driver were amazing and made our trip, but they were more affiliated with the hotel rather than this company. We were told there would be WiFi, but there wasn’t. Only a few hours of electricity each day. Carol was great, and I asked her to reschedule my trip many times, but I think the company is charging too much. If you use credit card you also have to pay a large fee. We had a lot of fun though. You need to have a positive attitude though, like expect to get stuck in water. We stayed 3 nights at the same place which was great because we got to do more, and weren’t so exhausted moving around. We also flew on a small plane which was interesting but I’m happy we didn’t drive that far. We saw the buses that people who drove in had, they didn’t look as great as our land cruiser, more like a van.