LT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best drivers :)
Was nice experience with you guys, thank you for everything 💪🙏
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Friendly and accommodating.
My wife and I had a wonderful time on our three day, two night stay on Ssese Island. While we experienced a few small hiccups during our time, they were addressed by hotel staff with assistance from Christine, our Pamoja coordinator.
Apart from our time lounging at the resort’s beach, our favorite highlight was the canoe ride, in which two locals rowed us about, showing us Ssese’s natural beauty from atop Lake Victoria’s tranquil waters. We also quite enjoyed the nature walk that also gave us a glimpse into life in nearby Kalangala town.
Christine herself was a lovely and friendly guide to have with us during our stay. She was enthusiastic and fun throughout. There were times, however, that we could have been afforded slightly more space to enjoy our stay as a couple but Christine was a helpful companion. Her services really shined when we were booking our trip. She gracefully and painlessly accommodated a change in our reservation dates and place of pickup. We were very grateful to her for all her help with logistics.
Overall, our time in Ssese was fantastic and all too brief. It’s a short ferry ride from Entebbe, but a world away. Treat yourself to experiencing Ssese’s natural, restorative beauty. We absolutely plan to return and would book again.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
They curated for us an Unforgettable Safari!
Tanzania Safari Essence delivered an unforgettable safari experience. Their communication was seamless, service exceptional, and value for money outstanding. Our guide was knowledgeable and passionate, enhancing every moment. From the City tour to Chemsha Hot Springs, the tour was flawless. Highly recommend for a reliable, professional, and magical Tanzanian adventure!
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very good
They have a very professional guide who pays great attention to your experience during the Safari and is very patient in finding animals. Although I only had one day, I still had a good experience.
SE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Friendly and service minded
We came in touch with Everlasting Adventures and Godlisten a couple of months prior to our vacation in Tanzania. We exchanged some chats with Godlisten who was very friendly and helped us by showing us different alternatives of tours for the safari. Eventuelly we ended up going for the midrange safari with 3 nice lodges at a total price of around 2 500 dollars for me and my wife.
We had very nice help of Godlisten the weeks prior to the safari and he helped us with buying plane tickets to go from Zanzibar to Arusha, and he was there himself to meet up with us on the morning of our first day of the safari.
We could pay the rest of the trip (90% as 10% had been paid in a deposit ahead of the trip) and we were driven to our guide for the safari, Bulldozer, from Dancing Simba Safaris.
We were told we would be max 6 ppl in the jeep, but we were actually 7 meeting up 3 americans and 2 australians. This didn't do too much for us as they were all very friendly and we got along well.
We opted for a 3 nights & 4 days safari and we started off with Tarangire National Park and continued with 2 days in Serengeti before finishing in Ngorongoro. Bulldozer was a very funny and social guy who valued respect among us safari goers, and keeping the joy and happiness flowing throughout the safari.
I do have to say there's a lot of riding in the car over the course of the safari, we spent about 8-10 hours in the jeeps every day. But surprisingly, time flies by quick and you have so much to chat about and so much to see.
Before going in on the constructive feedback I'd like to point out we had a super nice safari while in the parks and could really enjoy seeing the big 5 and lots of big cats. My feeling was though, given my brief experience, that we were more lucky to stumble upon other cars who had spotted exciting animals, rather than us finding them ourselves. Unfortunately, Bulldozer's walkie talkie was broken and therefore no communication was held between the guides as to where you could see the animals in the parks. Despite this, we managed to see A LOT and even the big 5!
The only negative aspect is that it's not really value for money going on a mid range safari if your fellow jeep comrades are on a budget safari, with less nice lodges and tents. Me and my wife felt we were always prioritized last, and we always dropped the tent guys first at their lodge or tent camp. Then we were driven to our lodges and for the 3 nights we arrived at: 6.30 pm, 7.45 pm and 5 pm. It was only on the last night we could actually enjoy the fancy lodge we had paid so much for to enjoy. For the first two nights, we arrived after sunset and all we did was to have dinner and go to bed. We then had to wake up first and were driven to the others lodge/tent where we had to wait patiently for the others to finish up their packing and morning routines. Ideally, we would have liked to be picked up last or driven to the others when they were ready.
We compared pricing and apparently we paid 100% more than what the others had done, just for getting nicer lodges that we couldn't really use since we arrived so late each day.
Therefore, I highly recommend booking your safari with Bulldozer, Godlisten and Everlasting Adventures/Dancing Simba, but I do recommend you to only book the budget safari as you will not get value for money with the midrange safari.
Out of the lodges we stayed at, we liked Ngorongoro Marera View the best, followed by Ang'ata and lastly Safari Haven. They were all very nice and I wish we would have had more time to enjoy the lodges and the luxury we paid for.
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Serious, gentle and kind
We had a nice driver/guide Martin, who stays with us during 4 days. We had a trip through 3 parcs. 1st one we didn’t see too much as staying into the lodge with water point but seeing few animals. Very relaxing. 2nd day went to a wonderful lodge on a lake, Nice small boat trip to see hippo but bad weather and then went to a farm, Nice to take pictures with « wild animals » but very touristic place, far from a safari idea. The 2 others days were just crazy in Masai Mara réserve, we saw big five (excepting Rhinos) and many others animals. The lodge (SOPA) was so incredible with Masai show at night and swimming pool. At night Zebras just in front of the lodge. It was gorgeous. Everything was wonderful and the driver so helpfull and Nice. Thanks a lot to him and our contact Amelda always ready to help.
The only regrets was to do not have so much info on Kenya way of Life or the animals.
We strongly recommand Anipa Tour
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Professional and well organised
A well run safari, with experienced tour guides. The communication was excellent on WhatsApp. The food was really well prepared. Overall I was happy with my safari experience with Serengeti African Tour.
The 3 day Serengeti and Ngorongoro Safari is a good introduction to Safari, but note that can feel a bit rushed, especially in the Serengeti, which is enormous, if you are trying to find specific animals that are hard to find. If you want a full Safari experience and better chance to see all the animals, go for a 5-7 day Safari at least, when the Safari guides can spend longer and drive further into the park. Nevertheless I had a great time and our guides were really knowledgeable. I would also reconsider going for the upgrade to mid-tier/luxury accomodation if you are doing camping and are able to handle camping, as may not be the best value for money. This is only because the time you spend at the lodge is so short, not because of the quality of the mid-tier accomodation, which was really excellent.
JP
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
They will provide you tour that suit you
Before I talk with Derrik who was in charge of my tirp, I thought I have to chose tour from what they provide. However after I told him what I am interested in and what I want to do, he made a itinerary for me. Therefore, I could use most of the time for what I want to do.
When I need some help during tour, I asked Derrik with what's app and he will reply me immediately and solve the problem. If you will do late check out, it is better to check with company and hotel. I did late check out twice but both hotels didn't know about it.
I went to Lake Naivasha, Maasai Mara, Lake Nakulu, Amboseli, Tsavo west and east, Mombasa. I saw 4/5 big fave in Maasai Mara. There was plenty of animal such as lion, leopard, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, zibra, buffalo and some kinds of antelope. It was hard to find leopard and cheetah but how my tour guide, Eddie communicate with other guides and drove to the place was amazing. He has a lot of knowledge of animal and his prediction about animal's next action was amazing. He drove to the place that we could see animal yet won't disturb other people. I enjoyed so much in Maasai Mara and if you are animal person, you should go to Maasai Mara. I did full two days game drive, but since it was too good, I wanted to do three days.
In Lake Nakulu, I saw a white rhyno and beautiful sunset. If you love an elephant, Amboseli is the best place. I even saw baby elephant and he was so cute. Lake Naivasha was more "be with nature trip" than see the animal. Tsavo is huge and because of season(grass was too high), I could't see cheetah but my tour guide told me we can find them in another season. For me to see the beautiful scenary is the most memorable thing in Tsavo. I saw some water places that looks like the water place from lion king that pumba is drinking water. Mombasa has beautiful beach. Staff in my hotel which is Reef hotel, were very nice and friendly. Even thouogh I spent my birthday there by myself, I had a great day and they were very warm people. Mombasa has very strong sun. I had a terrible sun burn even though I applied sun cream and was staying the shade. It is better to bring after sunburn cream or gel.
I was traveling by myself and I experienced private tour and group tour. In group tour, I made some friends and have a wonderful time with them. However, I had different interest with others. I couldn't say anything about that, so I had to wait a lot of time. In private tour, I could use my time in game drive whatever I want, but I felt lonely. I think both have a pros and cons and I'm so happy that I could experienced both side.
Overall, I had a great time in Kenya. They arraged my birthday surprises and city tour for my need( which is done hair braided, shopping and nail art) too. Thank you for everyone who was involved in my beautiful 17 days in Kenya. I know it is not cheap but it is totally worth it. My dream came true.
HU
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wide variety of wildlife
In Nairobi, modern high-rises and shabby shacks are both present. No one obeys traffic rules. Uber is efficient and cheap. The streets are littered with rubbish all over the country. Tap water is undrinkable. People are friendly. The weather was not summery in January when we were there, it rained a lot and you needed a light jacket.
We went on a 3 days safari to the Masai Mara with Axis African Travel. The organisation was excellent, everything went as agreed. Unfortunately we were given a bad tour guide, James, who didn't inform us of anything, just sped us around the national park for 2 days. He had a hard time even stopping for a photo. Whenever a special animal appeared, all the tourist jeeps would rush up and chase it, surround it, block its way. They literally do animal cruelty.
We spent 3 days at Diani Beach. The sea is crystal clear and warm, the beach is fine sand and the water is slowly deepening. We took a glass bottom boat to nearby Robinson Reef to see corals and colourful fish. The locals don't take care of the marine life. Most of the corals are dead, the fish are fed bread for tourists and the boat crews collect red starfish for visitors.
Walking through the streets we felt in no danger. We did not go out in the evenings. There were panhandlers, but not to an excessive extent.
The Nairobi - Mombasa railway is clean, cheap and punctual.
Overall, Kenya is well worth a visit.
AT
Mindful
Punctual and attentive service. Despite the off-season, we saw many animals in the Kruger Park and our driver, Mr Lambs Senior Casper, made an effort to show us all the animals despite the unfavorable conditions. Scenic panoramic tour is well worth seeing.