50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Amazing hospitality experience
The team's communication and services was excellent. We saw a lot of animals and was lucky to see all the big 5 gives.
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The best experience ever! Mamasavana above all expectations.
From the initial planning to the end, our experience with Mamasavana was perfect: me and family (husband+daughter 16 y.o.) decided to do 5 days safari and 7 days beach. The price John quoted for the package was very reasonable and it definitely worth the money!
John proposed a travel program listening to our needs and expectations and changed it several times patiently to satisfy all our requests. He always responded promptly and with great willingness to all our questions and doubts. We went on safari to Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Naivasha, Amboseli and Taita Hills: each park has something unique, we could see lots of animals (the big five, birds, elephants -the red ones too- giraffes Masaai and Rothschild, etc etc). Also the lodges that Mamasavana proposed to us were above expectations: beautiful places to stay, each one different and special, with very good services and food.
Our guide, our driver Hillaj immediately was amazingly in synch with us. His great experience made ours unforgettable. He fulfilled every request (within limits!), proposed additional activities, took us where we could see real life in Kenya and where we could help the locals. He always had a lot to tell about animals, plants, environment, and also culture and customs of Kenyans. Every day was intense, unique, exciting, adventurous, touching, unforgettable.
As planned, after safari we went to Diani Sea Resort: it has a very big and beautiful garden, the rooms are cozy and clean, staff is helpful and friendly, and food is good. John put us in touch with a couple of his collaborators at Diani Beach, so we could arrange a day trip to Wasini Island, a beautiful marine reserve.
So EVERYTHING was perfect with Mamasavana: a journey like this is an experience to do at least once in your life, facing it with "pole pole” and enthusiasm, patience, curiosity, humility and respect towards such a beautiful country and people. Mamasavana has been above our expectations and we highly recommend it. Thanks Mamasavana, jambo!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent service and experience
Seth always communicated with us and gave us all the necessary information that we needed. The tour lived up to expectations and more. Seth gave us complete professionalism in all services he provided us with. The safari was amazing, getting to see so many animals with the incredible help from our knowledgeable guide, Godfrey. The cook, also named Godfrey, was also great, providing us with delicious meals everyday. They were both happy all the time and made our experience truly unforgettable. Thank you Seth for helping us have the best safari with the best possible people, we feel so lucky.
DK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
So perfect we already miss riding the Masai Mara
I contacted Deep Forest Safari for a very short-notice 4-day Masai Mara package. In spite of that Samuel was very accommodating and we sparred back and forth to find the perfect package. We upgraded the lodges as we were celebrating our wedding anniversary and ended with the Sopa Lodges.
Due to other engagements we did not ride with Samuel himself, but one of his colleagues, Justice. The safari experience with him was nothing short of 5 out of 5 stars.
We felt to be in very good hands throughout - very skilled on the road, kind and Masai Mara savvy, and very relaxed and patient.
When we return we will surely have preference for Deep Forest once again, and certainly for Justice as our guide.
AT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
perfekt tour, flexibel composition with Emmanuel on our side, personally engaged. To recommend!!
From the beginning to the end a fine tour. Wamba did a fine Job finding the Ressorts, we saw the Big Five inclusive Leopard, the service in the camps was fine. Wambas big advantage is the small size Company, so he could be extremely flexible and react in our desires.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
4 Days Safari (Mikumi & Selous)
We want on a 4 Days Safari and it was simply the best experience we ever had!!! Jacob was really convenient, reliable and always reachable which helped us a lot to organise the trip! Our driver Henri was a wonderful guide and an excellent driver! The accommodations were really confortable! In one word: magical! We had the most of our time, beyond our expectations ! Thank you Smile :)
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best Trekking Experience
I came to Tanzania with my younger brother with the intent of conquering Kilimanjaro and we had chosen the Rongai route to avoid the other crowded routes and also get the great views Rongai is famed for.
Our guides Vitalis and Eric were friendly, supportive and true professionals who led our troupe successfully to the the summit. The porters were also very friendly and hardworking young men who will definitely make great guides in the future.
Everything was well organized so that we never lacked in terms of support. The porters helped us in setting up the tents when we arrived in the campsites that kept us warm even on the coldest nights. One of porters Mushi also handled our chemical toilet and it is not a very enviable job!
I cannot forget to commend our cook Martin who made us sumptuous hot meals every day that were on that mountain.
I fondly recall the evenings that we spent listening to wonderful stories from Vitalis and Eric and the daily briefing in the mornings.
My experience at the summit was worth every ounce of energy I expended to get to the top and this was only possible because of the support I got from the Migration Venture Africa team.
I recommend them highly!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tremendous
We wanted to thank Soul of Tanzania and our incredible guide Shaban for an unforgettable 8-day safari in Northern Tanzania! As a family with 2 children, we felt comfortable and well cared for the entire time. With Shaban’s knowledge and experience, we were able to go directly to the best locations at the best time of day for wildlife viewing. The big animals were numerous and spectacular, but Shaban took us beyond the Big 5 and was able to help us identify nearly 100 bird species as well! When our guide wasn’t expertly driving us around remote dirt roads in the Serengeti, he was serving us hot meals, entertaining the kids, or fixing our logistical problems. For example, I left my camera battery charger behind at the hotel in Arusha. Shaban had another company car pick it up and deliver it to us on safari the next day! Huge thanks to SOT and our elite guide for making out family trip 5 stars. I highly recommend this conservation-minded, locally operated tour agency.
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Wonderful 7 days safari with my family
My daughter in her teens, mother in her 70s and I in my 40s had an incredible time with this company during our 7 days safari with Wild Secrets Safaris. Everything was great from the smooth and flexible booking process that took into consideration all the place that we wanted to visit which Rashid organized into a nice sequential itinerary.
I cannot equate our experience in the parks to anything with Mussa as our guide. He managed the whole trip extremely well giving, with his amazing guiding skills and of tracking animals and the importance of being patient and quiet so as to soak in the whole experience and not spook the animals.
He was wonderful company too with numerous narrations about everything Tanzania. Another nice thing that I liked was getting hot meals for lunch unlike the other companies I saw where they ate out of boxes.
Our accommodation was splendid to say the least and served halal dishes!!!
I loved the whole experience and would recommend Wild Secrets Safaris to anyone intending to travel with young children because they hav the most wonderful guides and comfortable vehicles!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
BEWARE: Please do not book before reading this!!
When my mom and I agreed we wanted to come to Africa this year, I contacted multiple safari companies. Kenya Walking (KW) was the fastest to respond. I also chose to go with them because they are local, the reviews online seemed great, and it was in our budget. We paid half then, and half when we got here on July 17th. We were supposed to have a 15 day Kenya and Tanzania trip.
Our first 10 days, all in Kenya, were fantastic. We were very satisfied with the experience and nothing went wrong. However, on our 11th day, when we were supposed to go to Tanzania, everything dissolved into chaos. The driver who was supposed to pick us up at the border was not there. There was a group before us to told us they had been waiting at the border a day, and they did eventually get picked up. We were worried, but we waited there like the company told us to do. KW kept saying they would be there shortly. After hours in the hot car, we finally went to the hotel. KW told us to get a room there (we paid for it), and that the driver would arrive in the morning. The next day, after calling and waiting for hours, still no driver. KW hung up on me and then just stopped answering the phone.
We were finally picked up, just as we were leaving to go back to Amboseli, and taken to Tanzania. The next 5 days there ( we stayed a day extra because of all this) were awful. No permits, hotels, or meals were paid for. We would be waiting at the park gate for hours until either a permit came through, or we paid for it ourselves (it is way more expensive to pay for permits yourself. we paid $280 just to get into serengeti). There were a couple middle men between KW and us, and all of them were calling us telling us a different story or a different plan. The hotels we did stay at, we either paid for or the owner let us stay there, despite not being paid yet. Of our 5 days in Tanzania, only 1 was very good, and we had to pay for hotels that night. Between my mom and I, KW had been paid $440 each day for us to be there. That money was nowhere to be seen. I soon found out the likely cause
Fortunately, getting back to Nairobi was smooth. There was a driver there to pick us up. By this time, I had peiced together some of the story. Our driver then told me the rest.
KW is run by a guy named OT. Last year, OT apparently spent the equivalent of $500,000 on a peice of land with tourist money. He thought the land investment would return a profit by the time the tourists arrived in june/july. The guy who sold him the land was a conman, and the money was lost. So, clients were stuck in the same situation. At the time, OT had his tour company license taken away. Somehow, perhaps with a bribe, he got it back. He also seems to have doctored his reviews online (there is warning on trip adviser now about it). This year, it seems he may have done something similar, lost all the company's money. This disaster unfolded starting on Saturday, July 28th, when the group before us got stuck at the border. It has been one week since then, and now the company's website is down, multiple guests (including myself) have filed reports in the Kenya Police office and with the Kenya Tourist Police, and the drivers are doing the same because they have not been paid. Our drivers were so kind, I feel terrible that they have not received compensation for their time and work, as this is their livelihood. I was also told there are 16 people stuck at the Tanzanian border, and more tour groups stuck around the country. We received an email from KW promising to refund us by certain dates later this year, but I have doubts that will happen.
What a terrible situation that has impacted so many people. We feel fortunate that this didn't happen before we got here or right after, because we did have a great first 10 days.