KR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful Safari!
Shemeji’s communications are very kind and quick. We met the veteran driver, so we were satisfied with our safari program
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very Well Organized Tour that was customized to our wishes to see the best parts of Kenya
Communication and responses were very quick within less than 24 hours no matter on the time of day or night providing all of the answers and details that we needed. The tour lived up to the expectations and much more. We had a fantastic time having a private tour just for the 2 of us with a very knowledgeable guide who stayed with us throughout the whole trip. The price of the private tour was very reasonable considering how much was included as part of this tour. I would recommend this tour company as they will cater to all of your needs and wishes as well as offer their expertise on the best ways to arrange the tour so you have the best time possible and unforgettable memories.
IE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Just Like Our Second Honeymoon
Wild Secrets Safaris provides top notch services for trips. Their amazing reviews on TripAdvisor pulled us in and then we were hooked by the prompt and professional responses to our queries by Rashid. After I chose the kind of safari package that we we wanted for our 5th Anniversary, Rashid jumped right into action and took care of all the details. Rashid’s attention to details awed me. When we arrived in Tanzania, there was an amazing suite waiting for us. There was romantic lighting, flower petals on the bed, roses in a vase on the bedside table, a flute of non-alcoholic champagne on ice, and chocolates. We were so happy with the little details which made our anniversary memorable. It felt like we were back on our honeymoon. We were very excited to do the next activity that Rashid planned for us.
On the morning of our safari, Mussa, our guide, was there at the hotel doors ten minutes ahead of time waiting for us. He was so friendly with us that we immediately felt at ease with him. He was an excellent guide who spoke fluent English. Mussa loves nature and it just showed from the way he was talking about the animals and the birds we saw. He was very informative and educative. He also had a very keen eye, spotting animals that we couldn’t see with the first glance. He spotted a lioness that was hunting for prey. We saw so many different animals during our 6 day safari and had such a wonderful time in the accommodations that Rashid had booked for us. On each day of our trip, Mussa picked us up in a clean sparkling car.
Wild Secrets Safaris provides only the best for their clients. We couldn’t be happier with the wonderful experience that Rashid and Mussa of Wild Secrets Safaris provided for us. I recommend Wild Secrets Safaris as you will not regret it.
PT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Soul of Tanzania team are perfectly aware of their job : Dream Deliverers !
All our ideas get a solution or advice for better choice according to our expectations.
Awesome plan designed by Luis G for Safari in Tanzania, beach in Zanzibar and couple of days in Chumbe Island was executed according and without inconvenience, and all the recommended lodges are properly adequate to our indicated standards.
Emanuel - our Safari guide – is magnificent and we have the fortune to one day in Serengeti we got big five.
Thank you Soul of Tanzania
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Two weeks exploring Uganda, absolutely magical
We asked Wild Jungle Trails to create a bespoke tour for our family of four (the two young-uns 22 and 18) and they gave us everything we wanted and more. White Water Rafting on the Nile, abseiling down the incredibly beautiful Sipi Falls and creating our own local coffee, three extraordinary days of safari in Murchison Falls, rhino trekking and some time for us to catch up with Son no.1's Ugandan family and friends in Lira and Kampala. Twaha our guide was amazing. He was friendly and professional all the time, but on safari he was extraordinary. No wonder the other vans followed ours! He could not only find the wildlife but approached the animals so that they put up with us, and let us spend time with them which was a privilege we won't forget. The hotels and lodges were just as we wanted, and we'd especially recommend Rafiki Lodge in Sipi and Heritage Safari Lodge at Murchison Falls. If you go on the Murchison Falls boat trip make sure you trek to the top - the view from the boat is nothing to what you see if you do the little trek. We got several quotes and this was not the most expensive, but it was definitely the best, accommodating everything we wanted and with all the appropriate accreditations giving us well-founded confidence. We have no hesitation in recommending them and would use them again in a hearbeat - asking for Twaha, of course. We miss you! from the Elders.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Our experience was most excellent.
From the outset, our safari was excellent. Excellent housing, food, places to visit and weather. Our planning effort with Alex went well and he was amenable to our many changes. Best of all was our driver/guide. Alan, our driver/guide, was a 5 star himself and really made the trip real. His knowledge and willingness to serve our 6 person group was outstanding in itself.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent, unique safari operator and lodge.
My wife and I booked with Shinzelle as part of our honeymoon visit to SA. The experience was absolutely perfect from start to finish. Communications with the owners were clear and timely, staff at the lodge were beyond friendly and helpful, and our guide Jason was great as both an animal tracker AND a companion. The very first morning we went out with him he found us a leopard that another truck had just blown heedlessly by, and got us so close to it you could tell it had blue eyes. His knowledge of the animals and environment was unmatched, and his skill at understanding the park got us fantastic sightings that many other guides would have missed. Absolutely would book with Shinzelle again on a return visit.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Unfortunately NOT satisfying!
We booked and paid our trip 6 months ago already and our trip started mid July. Unfortunately it all started with a misunderstanding already when we had our meeting/introduction in the beginning. Because we had organised a city walking tour ourselves after the intro (which we told OT about beforehand) but he he other plans for us which were at the same time he tried to move things and told us our tour would start a day later, which we actually didn’t really want. He said not to worry, we should relax and the guide in Ugands will be informed about the day that was supposed to be scratched from our trip (which we also didn’t want). We had to then start our trip a day later than expected, which was a pity but ok, because at the end of our trip we had an extra day before our flights went. We had also booked a hotel ourselves for that last evening.
When the trip finally started we had a fantastic first guide named Frederick who was very knowledgable and told us a lot about the animals, the country and it’s culture. After that we had friendly drivers but not really someone I would call a guide. They weren’t very talkative and didn’t inform us.
We started getting worried in Uganda when our guide wasn’t informed by the office of the change in itenerary and it was even possible to change it. We then sent OT an email, complaining about how he handled the situation in the first place and that he shouldn’t scratch one day of our safari because we actually paid for it. Furthermore we just wanted to know how the rest of our safari would go because now it was all a bit confusing how it would continue. And if we would stay for the whole trip then we would have to cancel our hotel for the last evening. He hadn’t replied ( which was odd because before our tour started the office replied VERY quickly) for more than a week. We asked our guides/drivers to ask the office to contact us because they must be in contact with the office all the time. The drivers just answered that they couldn’t reach the office, which was also very odd because they had to get info from the office to change drivers. After the 3rd driver told us that story we knew it was bullshit. We phoned and got through immediately twice!! Unfortunately OT was NEVER available to talk, he never phoned back and after a those two phone calls we weren’t able to get through either. They blocked us.
Then we told our driver to take us to the office on our way from Naivasha to Kenyan boarder, because the LACK OF COMMUNICATION AND THE NON-EXISTING CUSTOMER SERVICE really frustrated us. At the office we couldn’t get answers to why they had never replied and we found out that our itenerary had been changed by OT (via phone) which was a big surprise to us. If we hadn’t demanded to go to the office we would have never found out because the drivers didn’t know about the change.
Then we went to the boarder to Tansania. We waited for 2 hours for our next driver, who had more than enough time to get there on time, just to find out that he wasn’t coming anymore and we should stay st a nearby hotel. No one from the office called us to inform and update us, not even to say sorry for the inconvenience. The next morning we waited for an update until 10:30 (we actually tried to phone and find out what’s going on-that didn’t help because they didn’t know themselves and they didn’t have a plan B) that our next driver would be there at 11. We waited at the boarder again just to wait for 2 hours AGAIN!! He finally got there but we basically missed a whole day and we missed a game drive.
The next guide named Francis in Tansania was great as well. At last we could enjoy our trip again. We had two great days in Ngorongoro and Serengeti. Our last day, because our trip started a day late, we had to speed from Serengeti to Nairobi airport to catch our flight in the evening. Why OT planned the last day like that we will never know. He said there was enough time to even do a game drive in the morning and get to Nairobi Airport on time in the evening. That was bullshit. We even asked him to change it but he said it would be fine. We missed our last game drive and the guide had to drive 140km/h on a 80km/h road to get us there on time.
Summary:
The things we saw during our trip were amazing!! We had two great guides.
BUT the people working in the office and especially OT have been incompetent and very unprofessional. There is a total lack of communication at a time when it should be the best ever because it was DURING our trip, and there is definitely no customer service whatsoever!!! It was really disappointing because before our trip they seemed very professional and they responded very quickly to emails.
I just hope we, and other groups we met that also had a lot of problems which were even worse than ours, had some bad luck and that other groups won’t be stuck with this kind of mess!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
excellent service, fantastic holidays
Our experience with Shemeji has been outstanding the whole way through. It was our first visit to Tanzania and we did a 5 day trip to see Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorogoro. The animal life in the parks were fantastic, up close and exciting. Hippos and even lions wandered through the camps at times, this was so exciting but we felt very save and taking care off all the times. Though very basic, all accommonidations were very good, especially the dinner was amazing.
Every day it was a surprise to see other animals and beautiful landscape. Our guide, Julian, was amazing, very professional and experienced and so patient while we took tousands of pictures :)
After the Safari trip we spent a few days exploring Stone Town (very crowded, one day is enough time to visit all attractions!) in Sansibar and relaxing at the beach. It was a perfect holiday!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic adventure
Can't think of a single thing that went wrong! Great experience. Employees were knowledgeable, friendly and competent. Our tour guide had an amazing knowledge of the animals and able to answer every question. He should work for Google! Communication with the tour operator was quick and effortless. And we saw every imaginable animal and even the wildebeast migration across the river between Tanzania and Kenya. So glad I made the long trip for an adventure of a lifetime.