65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
This was our first travel group to Tanzania and the guidance to set our itinerary was amazing.
Our drivers were exceptional - arrived on time for our morning departures. As new visitors to Tanzania, the group had LOTS of questions and both of our drivers were gracious in answering them. When we ended up with a free afternoon, our driver suggested a visit to a Maasai village. We were welcomed with traditional dance and had the opportunity to go inside a boma (house). It turned out to be a great addition to our itinerary and will be included again next time. We spent 2 days on safari and the sharp eyes of our driver made it possible for us to see the big 5 in these 2 days. We were up close and personal with lions, zebras, elephants, giraffes, hippos and more. Couldn't have asked for a better safari experience.
I highly recommend the services provided by Tanzania Choice Safari.
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Incredibly proficient, efficient and professional safari company that gave us a trip of a lifetime.
If we didn’t live it, we’d hardly believe it ourselves - had the most stunning 10 days of our lives - thanks to East Travel’s team especially Lizbeth and Ombeni.
Started by “messaging” a few tour companies through TA and others with a “shadow” of a thought on visiting Tanzania (being in a lockdown probably had us thinking on breaking out big). Most firms sent us back uninspiring and disinterested messages about their website, days and a link to their credit card processor.
Lizbeth from Easy Travel responded back asking “questions to our questions” on what we hoped to see, days, and if we preferred to go as a group or in private. She then re-appeared a few hours later with a detailed a la carte safari that touched on an opportunity to see the migration in Northern Serengeti, game drives through Central S. culminating in Ngorongoro. She took the time to account for the age of our child in keeping him engaged and untaxed. While other you companies seemed to want to pigeon hole us into a category of safaris, she gave us the places of accommodations at various price points - allowed us to select. Then allowed us to further customize some accommodations based on what we’d seen on TA and our whims.
Once set, she kept us in the loop through the 3-4 months in between with detailed updates on visa procedures (opted for VOA- very smooth), updated us on Covid protocols and sent us detailed information on what to expect, best practices, payment schedules and in general built up a sense of excitement and welcoming to her country more as a friend than client.
Every aspect of our stay in TZ was a marvel in efficiency and care. She put us in the capable, personable universe of Ombeni- our guide and fixer through the entire time in there. He was engaging, knowledgeable, caring - equal parts accomplished guide and close friend.
While everyone in every safari truck seemed to get out every breathtaking sight that Tanzania had to offer, we seemed to be the ones privileged to be experiencing it all in the company of “our extended family“… Easy Travel just seemed to be placing together pieces of a jigsaw puzzle with practiced expertise.
From arranging for breakfasts before hotel personnel got a chance to wake up to calling ahead and insisting that they try to put together meals that satisfied our adventurous palettes (I mean - the pastas and pastries are incredible at every place but once you maharage or bhajiya, pesto seemed stodgy);
from patiently waiting in the truck for hours to allow us to get a chance to see the Mara River crossing - (saw 2 crossings) to timing out washroom breaks or driving back an hour to pick up forgotten camera batteries
From Ombeni “sniffing out” animals and then teaching us the flora and fauna (he’s even got a library on his dashboard to cross reference) to teaching our son secret handshakes and goofy camera poses looking down Ngorongoro crater. Easy Travel, Lizbeth, Ombeni and the others behind the scenes made sure we had the trip of a lifetime and start making plans to go back soon.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Extraordinary!!!
Dexter was the best tour guide ever! He was Extremely knowledgeable about the terrain and the animals and he was super accommodating! I recommend 10 out of 10!!!
BR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing
It was amazing! Wonderful experience, extremely attentive staff! Really recommend.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing experience!
I stayed 3 nights at Ndzuti Safaricamp and I just loved it! The accommodation is so special, because there is no fence around the camp. I could watch elephants, giraffs, antilopes, warthogs and baboons drinking at the water holes while I was sitting in front of my tent. You really feel that Judy and Bruce run this camp with passion and so much experience, you learn so much when you just talk with them! Judy, Troy and Sydney did a fantastic job at the game drives, Sydney spottet so many animals, it was amazing! Troy can tell you everything about the animals and even though I had a scary moment with an elephant, I felt safe with them, because they knew, it wasn't dangerous. Oh and the food was amazing, too! I just want to say thank you and would definitely recommend this place! I'll come back, that's for sure!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Impeccable
You are an exceptional and out of the ordinary safari experience, great in service and very professional.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience, very helpful
Great trip with Gems of Africa. Solo traveller in SA for business and had a weekend in Pilanesberg. Special mention to Janine for her help, I was extremely well looked after before, during and after the trip!
Black rhino lodge great, saw the big five
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Heidi to the rescue!
two of us booked a month long adventure tgat Heidi Bedford put together for us.
3 safari camps 2 big cities and great road trips in between
We were especially thrilled when our booking agent Heidi joined us for a day activity!!!
Then I had a camera melt down and Heidi was able to get parts and have the pick up driver deliver to me. Phew! talk about over and above service!!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect trip to Namibia for 2
My wife and I just came back from a fabulous 2 week tour of Namibia, courtesy of Nature Travel Namibia (NTN). In short, the entire trip was even better than we had hoped, from planning through execution. As far as planning goes… from an initial conversation in July, our trip was planned in August and we travelled end Sept / early Oct. NTN did a great job working with us on all the details, and tailoring a trip to meet our needs. The plan NTN provided included literally everything – not just an itinerary but all the transfers, excursions, safari drives, accommodations and meals. The execution was even better than the planning. On arrival in Windhoek, Lucky, our guide for the trip came to meet us. Lucky is an exceptional guide – he is passionate about animals & Namibia and made sure our trip was enjoyable throughout. He was also a fascinating travel companion - our conversations ranged from regional history & culture to world affairs. Finally, he lived up to his name – we had exceptional wildlife spotting in the 5 days we spent in Etosha (although in reality it wasn’t simply good fortune - Lucky deployed all his experience & planning to make sure we found the animals). So overall a 5 star experience for us… and we are planning a return trip with our son to fit in the bits we missed!
GH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Quick , Efficient, value for money and a Super Premium service!
We travelled to Kenya for our first safari in the 3rd week of September ‘22 (21st to 25th). I was looking for an agency online for curating our trip since it was our first time and we were three families with a total of 5 kids ranging from age 5 to 11. Shortlisted about 3 agencies after doing a detailed online research and Image travel was one of them. Mr. Mwanje from Image travel got in touch with me within a couple of hours from when I sent the query. We got in touch over phone after that and I explained to him what all we were looking to cover as a part of our safari and it was smooth sailing then after. He quickly came back with a draft itinerary with some camp options and their tentative costs. We had a couple of rounds of discussions on the camp type, security there , them being kids friendly etc and we finalized upon the camp (Neptune Mara) and the itinerary. The cost he gave us was very competitive as I had also got two more quotes for a similar itinerary. A few days before we travelled one of the family had to drop out due to a medical emergency and Mr. Mwanje skillfully handled the cancellation part and ensured that we did not have to pay any cancellation charges being a sudden medical emergency.
Our itinerary was to land in Nairobi (early in the morning) , get transferred to the Wilson Airport and take the Safarilink flight to Masai Mara (stay 3 nights) and then back via road from Mara to Naivasha (stay 1 night) and then to the Nairobi Airport. Image travels booked the entire bit from pick up at the Nairobi airport to drop back. As soon as we stepped out of the Nairobi airport , we got picked up by David who smilingly welcomed us to Nairobi with a loud “Jambo”. The safari link flight was on time and very efficient and we landed on the Mara Musiara airstrip where Jasan our guide and driver was there waiting to pick us up the 4*4 Landcruiser. Game was bountiful and we had spotted Zebra, Wild Buffalo , Giraffe , Thomson’s Gazelle and Topi by the time we reached the camp.
Camp itself was amazing and will write a detailed review on the same. Jasan in the 4 days we were with him ensured that we saw the big 5 and we were lucky (with a lot of effort from Jasan to take us deep into the bush). His energy and commitment to ensure that we see the big game was just inexhaustible with long 7-8 hour game drives which he took us on with a big smile. He was extremely knowledgeable not only on the game animals but also a bird lover !!
We drove from Masai mara to Lake Naivasha while visiting Lake Nakuru where we spotted the famous Rhino up close. We stayed at the Naivasha Sopa lodge which was a dream resort with game freely roaming around inside the premises (Zebra , Giraffe and Hippos !).
Jasan dropped us back to the airport on the day of our flight. It was the most wonderful experience dealing with Mr Mwanje. He was extremely responsive, accommodating and absolutely clear in the dealings (he was sending me screen shots of the cancellation discussion with the camp till the day of or arrival in Nairobi!)
