DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Jambo Mara Shared Safari
I went on this safari in August 2024, so technically at the end of the great migration, but we were still able to see many many wild beast and all the other animals! I saw 4/5 of the big 5 (rhino unfortunately did not want to be seen on my dates, but I'm still so very happy!)
Our driver Solomon was amazing and very knowledgeable with all the animal facts and where they could be found.
In the beginning there was a mix-up with my accomodation, but it was fixed in less than 30 minutes - so I'm happy about the customer service.
As a solo traveling female, I was anxious at first, but this group joining Safari felt very controlled and the Jombo Mara Lodges have locks on their doors so I felt safe at night.
AR
It's amazing
We want to de Lions Park and Leseedi Cultural Village. I don't recommend, but only because they are not natural, both are made for tourist. I prefer nature.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good, quick response
The response is in time, the service is good. But maybe some areas can be better, bc we want to see the flamingo and it’s not the right season but the company didn’t tell us.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Incredible adventure and very nice hospitality from Honest
I would like to give Honest a well-deserved 5 stars for his kindness and effort, but I can only rate the company 4 stars overall. Our trip wasn’t entirely smooth, especially during the Kenya part of our holiday, where we encountered several issues. We had to make many calls to solve the problems, which I wish could have been better managed, especially with the third-party company in Kenya.
Since the main company is based in Tanzania, our safari experience there was more smooth, but we still faced some challenges. For instance, the driver dropped us off at the wrong campsite instead of the one we had booked. Thankfully, Honest stepped in to solve the issue, transferred us to the correct campsite, and even ordered beers to apologize – a very thoughtful gesture.
Overall, we were happy with our trip and had an incredible time in both Kenya and Africa. I just wish the process had been a little more organized to avoid these stressful moments.
I highly recommend this adventure; it’s an experience you don’t want to miss.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Reliable and a real gentleman
No binocular provided upon arrival. The other part is perfect👍🏼
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good driver, nice hotels, wonderful nature, car could have been better
Our driver Moses was very good and really managed to get us to the best spots to see the animals. Also, driving in the highway with traffic requires good skills and Moses did fantastic. Regarding hotels, they were really comfortable and the food was good. The only thing that could have been better is the car. We were told we were getting a 4x4 and that was not the case. After I complained we changed car, but had a detour of 2 hours to get the 4x4. The 4x4 we got was a very worn out toyota bus converted into a "safari car". I would strongly suggest to get a decent Toyota Landcruiser for your safaris (as 95% of people do).
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great tour leader
Our tour leader, Mr. Focus, was amazing. He was nice and knowledgable and shared alot of facts regarding different animals life style. He always tried to find different animals and provide a best angle for us to watch them. He respected our wishes to stay longer to watch migration in north.
food was good and hotels were clean. Unfortunately, alot of them didn’t have proper wifi.
There are few complains. The main one is, it seems the tour company paid for 48 hours Serengeti park entrance fee while we supposed to stay three days there. we supposed to stay in center serengeti for one day and two days in north serengeti. while it was not easy to do that by this limited time (48hrs). So after one day staying in center and one day at north, we had to change our plan from second day at north to center. Although our game drive on center also was short on third day which is a disappointed.
Also it was better if we had more detailed plan of day to day activities before starting the tour. It was not clear to us how many hours we are going to do game drives per day when we booked the tour. Eventhough they mentioned the hours of transfer per day, it was not even close to reality. We had much longer transfer time each day, almost double to what they mentioned. So the game drive per day was max 2-3 hours. It seems the person who arrange and plan the tour, he never went actually on the tour or not talk to their tour leaders to share a more realistic safari plan.
Besides, planning, everything else was good, especially our tour leader, Mr. Focus.
HK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Shadow of Africa is a good and responsible agency and their guides also give us an unforgettable exp
The Shadow of Africa provided us a great experience for the whole trip. Starting from the planning, their staff, Karen ,drafted our itinerary based on our needs and budget. She also provided many useful information, including the latest situation of Kenya and Masa Marai before trip which eased our concerns.
During the travel, we met two guides, Johnson and Edwin, in Kenya and Tanzania respectively. Both of them are professional and knowledgeable to share their fruitful information to us during the safari. They are very friendly to us. Under their guiding, we have collected all the big 5 and witness the crossing during our journey!
However, we wanted to express that the condition of the safari vehicles could be improved. The sockets in one of the car were found not working while the other safari car has a technical issue that it need to be repaired 3 times throughout our journey in Tanzania. One episode also costed our time of safari for 2-3hour. We provided our feedback to the staff of their company. Their representative conducted an evaluation with us to listen to our feedback at the end of the whole trip (which we really appreciated) and they also apologised for the car issue to us.
To conclude, Shadow of Africa is a good and responsible agency and their guides also give us an unforgettable experience for our first safari trip. Despite of some technical issues of the vehicle, it is still a really good choice for your safari trip.
MY
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Recommended
Brian was on time and it was easy to communicate with him. He was nice, humble and patient. Brian picked us up from our hotel in Victoria Falls and dropped us at the border of Botswana. Do note that it is not him who drives you to the activities in Botswana - it would be a different operator in Botswana.
While there were some delays on the Botswana side, we did end up having a nice day for a short game drive in the late morning (2 hours) and a boat safari/cruise in the afternoon.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
The experience was very efficient and imformative.
Our experience working with Jessica went very well. We had been referred to her by some friends who had used her the previous year and were also happy with their Safari. The only thing we were a little disappointed in was our two hard tented camps in Tanzania. The staff were wonderful and very accommodating, the food and condition of the properties were not quite what we had hoped for. We would upgrade to nicer facilities on our next trip. Both of our guides, Frank and Bosco, were first class in service, knowledge and personality.