35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Friendly and easy to work with. Ready to book again!!!
A simple email, turned into a trip of a lifetime.
They say, once you visit Africa, it takes a piece of your heart and makes your soul feel home. Well that's how I felt.
Cuan, took minimal direction and booked and had thorough knowledge to book a trip I had no idea on how to.
Would I let him book me again. You bet!! Time and place, is all I need haha.
The camps Cuan picked were all Gold star, 5 Star in many ways (accom, food, staff, experiences) all camps offered different experiences and game, but all special and amazing in their own way.
The staff at these places, were helpful, friendly and experienced.
The connections between (what was planned) all went to plan.
If you're thinking about going to Africa call Cuan from African Ubuntu Safaris. I will be again
Enjoy your trip!!!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Shadows of Africa "hit it out of the park" for us! Expections were exceeded on every level!
If you are like me, you are experiencing some trepidation on making your choice for the best safari company to help you with your trip to Africa. Hopefully, our insight about our experience will make your trip memorable and enjoyable.
The Bottom Line:
We highly recommend Shadows of Africa as your safari tour provider to make your safari dreams come true!
The Details:
We wanted our African adventure to include the following:
1. An experience with the Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda
2. Spend several days in the Serengeti of Tanzania
3. Have time to “wind down” after out safari for a few days on Zanzibar
Shadows of Africa absolutely “hit it out of the park” for us! Our trip was customized specifically for me and my wife. They were quick to respond to all of our questions. They are professional, efficient and honest. Any issues we had were resolved promptly and fairly.
Your first interaction will be with a safari consultant who will answer any and all of your questions about the type of trip you desire. We had the pleasure of working with Jake and Stacy who are based in the U.S. on the West Coast. Any question we had was always answered promptly. Jake and Stacy will help with all your inquiries, your trip booking and follow up with you after the trip. Traveling to any foreign country can create anxiety for the traveler. Shadows of Africa removed all concerns we had about this journey. Coordination with flights, visas, in-country pick-ups, immigration / customs matters and hotel / camp accommodations all went smoothly.
Once the trip is booked Shadows of Africa will sent you a wealth of information. You will receive details about the countries you are visiting, hotels, camps, customs, pack lists, visas, clothing options and much, much more.
Our trip was excellent! Our visit with the mountain gorillas was fabulous. It exceeded our expectations on all levels. From just feet away, we were able to experience a large group of mountain gorillas. According to our park guide we saw 22 of the 24 gorillas the group we visited. The chance to interact with the Mountain Gorillas was an exceptional experience. We also visited the golden monkeys in the same region (separate day) and found them both enjoyable and interesting to observe.
The staff in each area we visited was amazing. Rwanda - Paul Ruganintwari was an excellent tour guide & driver in Rwanda. He is outgoing, friendly and made us feel very welcome. His pride for his country and his job was very evident. He gave us a history of Rwanda and an overview for our visit. He was never at a loss to provide us with information. When we asked – He had the answers!
We entered Tanzania via Kilimanjaro Airport. Our driver, Yusuph, picked us up and drove us to our first night's accommodation just outside Arusha. He was very friendly and helpful.
Our driver / guide for our Serengeti experience was Alex, He was great at his job. He shared lots of information about the animals and birds we saw. He carried animal and bird books to show us the various species we observed. In the park he had the ability to find game that we would have never have seen on our own. By the end of our trip we felt we saw every animal /bird the Serengeti had to offer, thanks to Alex. He was very patient with us. We never felt rushed. The spirit of “hakuna matata” prevailed throughout our journey.
The experience on safari was so much fun for us. The game runs, seeing all the animals and our evenings in camp made for so many wonderful memories.
Zanzibar - Once we made it through the hectic airport Mohamed, our driver / guide was there, waiting for us. He was very professional, had a pleasant personality and was helpful. He shared detailed information about Zanzibar and Stone Town as soon as we departed from the airport. We booked a couple of tours with him the following day as we made our way to the northern part of the island and the Royal Zanzibar Resort.
The best thing about Shadows of Africa is its people. They really care about you and your trip. They are committed to making your trip the best trip for you. We’ll be recommending Shadows of Africa to all our friends and family.
If we were to return to Africa in the future we’d most certainly use Shadows of Africa again!
Take the stress out of planning your safari experience. Turn the process over to the pros at Shadows of Africa. You’ll not be disappointed! Sit back, relax and get ready to enjoy the safari journey of your dreams!
AE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Exactly as I had expected although naturally much more impressive living it up close, live n direct
First of all we were 100% satisfied with Hello Tanzania Tours service from word go! They were nothing less than perfect right to the end and best priced in the market by a country mile! Tanzania as a country from the moment we landed at the airport and had to line up for visa, baggage collection etc was generally a struggle. The roads the heavy traffic, the culture shock, the poverty needed getting used to over the first few days and then the friendliness and genuine smiles and happiness of the people just captivated you and helped you ease into the vibe of the country. Jumbo and akuna matata two well branded words, went with the territory along with trying to avoid continuous street sellers asking for exorbitant prices for unwanted souvenirs and taxi rides.
A beautiful country in its own right, blessed with a heart throbbing wildlife and beautiful friendly and happy people despite their daily struggles, I felt however disillusioned by the exuberant prices tourists were expected to pay for services that might cost less than half in other more developed tourist destinations. I don't care how high the season is, the prices being asked by hotels, some in Zanzibar were well above $1,000 per night, very nice granted but not any nicer than any hotel you might find in Dubai or Greece at high season.
Personally I was humbled how happy and genuinely positive and cheerful Tanzanians seemed in the face of abject adversity and poverty! That for me was priceless and something everyone in the developed world who correlates happiness with wealth and money should go and experience at least once a year as a reminder to themselves!
I hope to return and see other safari parks one day soon.
Thank you Hello Tanzania Tours for tirelessly bending over backwards to make this trip as memorable and accommodating as possible.
Asante!
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Hightly recommended. See comments.
Paul worked with us to arrange a Safari trip in 2018. We were novices and he spent time via email and phone to understand our interests and propose options. We settled on his Tanzania recommendations and ended up with a great experience. He selected the tour operators for 2 parks and arranged the flights and accommodations from the time we landed until we left. The parks and operators were excellent. Paul is quite knowledgeable and helped us pick through the locations, timing and experiences and then was able to arrange a terrific experience. We would use him again without reservation.
PT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
We had a wonderfull, amazing, safe and warm experience in Uganda.
Unforgettable experience, with attentive, professional and warm staff and high quality services. highly recommendable and reasonably priced.
We are very grateful to Peter and Onam for their hospitality and sympath.
we will recommend this company to my friends.
We want to return to Uganda and we are going again to Buyaga Safary help.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
i enjoyed the experience and services
Being a recommendation from Schon Kenya, it was a perfect choice with services including travel arrangements, accommodation and meals which were all perfect and arranged in good time. i enjoyed my stay and professionalism displayed by the officials.
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent character/person, excellent focus and guidance, caring for safety with respect to wildlife
For our family it was an unforgetable trip and a wonderful combination of watching wildlife, learning a lot about tanzania and being hosted by very nice persons in a really nice hotel (African Tulip in Arusha), a Lodge (Bougainvilla) and a quiet and awsome wildlife camp (Ndutu area). Our guide John was a wonderful companion and a really friendly and well-experienced teacher, driver and was always able to handle everything.
SI
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our first Safari trip to Mikumi National Park was an amazing experiance.
The comunication with Watu Safari was wery fast and fluid. Their answears were exact and we got exactly, what we have expected. The price was also very good. So we can highly recommend the Safari trip with Watu Safaris. :)
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NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Awesome
Everyting was well organized !
Nice staff and nice different campsites. It was a great experience.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best Decision - Best Driver - Best Game!
I didn't know what to expect about the Safari Game in the Masai Mara but Arony made it worth it! From the driving, to the food, to the lodging, to seeing the big 5, everything was amazing! Karibu Safaris were so accommodating when we had to change our bookings last minute due to flight delays and there was no problem at all! We were informed throughout the trip of what to expect, where we're going and what we will be doing. Arony, our driver from start to finish was nothing short of excellent! He made it fun and memorable and knows how to make us laugh!! There was not one dull moment in our van! Arony went above and beyond whenever we had questions or encountered tiny problems and made us feel safe! I will definitely book with this company again!