UA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing safari to Tarangire and Ngorongoro
Roam Serengeti Safaris has organized us an outstanding journey through Tarangire and Ngorongoro national parks.
Mussa was very responsive and thoughtful while email communication as well as while our trip. As a guide Mussa is extremely good - we saw all the big animals live in the parks, he shared with us a lot of interesting facts about flora and fauna, local specificities and customs - it was a pure pleasure listening him.
We had a nightly accommodation in a nice hotel, food, everything was just great!
We will definitely ask him as a guide the next time we visit Tanzania.
NZ
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Awesome experience! Great staff and very well planned itinerary, well done Sheilagh.
Awesome experience! Great staff and very well planned itinerary, well done Sheilagh and team at Jamela:)
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Awesome!!!!
Pricilla & Benard made this the best vacation ever. We saw all the tourists highlights . We also had many opportunities to experience the culture up close. I will recommend them to my friends & family. Excellent service!!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Twice perfect. Second trip to Africa with perfect accommodations.
The communication from Darren and crew is probably the best part of my experience. (No, my safari at Senalala in SA was the best part.)Even while I'm on holiday he is available and standing by. We toured in 4 countries over two weeks and our transfers, accommodations and experiences were all top notch. I highly recommend Compass Odyssey to all! This was my second trip to Africa, both planned and scheduled by Compass, and everything was flawless. I hope visit Morocco some day and will be calling Compass for that trip too.
SE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
It was really the best and memorable Safari for the whole crew
You were absolutely the best,very helpful and professional drivers who answered alllllllll our questions.We'll definately be back sooooon.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent service, would definitely recommend to anyone.
Ute from Roho Ya Chui was absolutely fantastic in constantly communicating with me and keeping me updated on our booking for my very first safari. She helped me pick a lodge which exceeded my expectations, was luxurious, and overall everything I could have imagined and more. The safari was the best part of my brother and I's trip to South Africa. I shopped around many tour companies and I am so glad that I found Roho Ya Chui and would definitely use them again next time I come to Africa (which we are already planning another trip for!).
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
very friendly and experienced guide! we always felt in good hands
With our guide Haron we managed to see the Big 5 in the first two days at masai Mara! We got really good spots for our photos and truly enjoy the game driving. He also had an ipad handy with all the pictures and key infor of each animal we were seing. If you want to be in the company of a mature, friendly and experienced guide you should definitely consider him!
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.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Don’t book with this criminal. This tour never happened. He never even showed up.
If I could leave zero stars I would. Michael was very responsive when we were booking our trip but once we booked he was less and less available.
We arrived in Tanzania for our 4 day safari and no one ever showed up. We also have a 3 day gorilla trek in uganda booked with all the flights etc. doubt he will show up for that either. Originally he tried to have us send money through western union, good thing I didn’t and my credit card is going to work on disputing the whole charge.
KR
Responsible and professional
Fanuel, the owner of the operator was very professional accomodating. He was very prompt and efficient in communication.
My mon was sick during the trip and he took care of her by giving extra help. The accomodation was nice and calm in nature and the food at the lodge was very satisfactory.
My comment for improvement would be that there was a quite long wait between the schedule, which is understandable in some occasions given the circumstances and location of the national park. It would be better if this is informed to the customers in advance.
Oversall, Discovery Safari is a reliable tour company and recommendable.