35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Only go with Elias if you can!
I found from the tours I did it was very guide dependent.
If you got a good guide it was a great tour.
I think the problem I saw with the tours were :
Time management, I think some of these trips need to leave earlier and have their supermarket shopping already organized on the first day so you don't spend most of the day shopping and then when you make it to the attraction then it is rushed, especially end of day game drives.
I think in the Northern the craft market and supermarket should disappear, and the bus should go straight to Africat, and then a proper game drive through its premises should occur, before a trip to the Leopard. People fly from across the world and the 1st day experience isn't good and compares badly to the Southern tour. Otherwise drive straight to Etosha and spend more time there instead. Its way too slow and boring compared to say the Southern tour.
For eg Africat, we arrived way too late at this attraction, then we had a rushed game drive where the local guide spend 15min talking about the game park we were not going to (why not arrive earlier at this place and go on a proper game drive through the premises as it has heaps of cool animals), then spend 30min talking about 2 termite mounds while the sun keeps setting. On the way to the Leopard, there were heaps of amazing animals and they refused to stop for pics!! The leopard was a bit of a zoo attraction which was rushed and the Cheetahs were old and in bad condition. Then my top went "missing" from the game car when in the visitor centre. The camp site was way too far from where all the animals were as well.
The next day to Etosha we also arrived late and had a rushed game drive. Its was more about scoring points on animals sighting then enjoying the park.
The next thing which I thought was unprofessional, was the tour guide slept with one of the clients on the 2nd day in the tents near us!!! It was then I couldn't really take the tour seriously anymore.
Optionals were pumped hard, as they receive commission for it and 2 out of the 3 tours were really focused on it too much to the point of obsessiveness. Especially pushing high price ones, which I was not interested, in the end I just booked it myself as the guide wasn't interested in booking the one I wanted.
On 2 occasions, when lunch was in the itinerary I received no lunch at all. So I had to go buy my own lunch.
The Botswana Delta visit is a nice place, but there are not actually many animals there, its a fishing lodge. I think a better location should be selected.
I think the tour company should focus more on delivering animal and national park experiences, if it calls itself a "Safari" company, it is more of the tour company.
The HQ are very polite but I think some of the guides are bit out of control and need some management. Apparently a lot of the younger ones just pick and choose which tour they want in which would give them the most tips and optional bonuses and use excuses to cancel tours they don't like.
I think they should be doing it because that's what they love to do, and you can see that come across in certain guides clearly.
I think the best tour they offer is the Southern tour. The Northern ones need some work. I would select another route for Botswana from what I experienced sticking to the National Parks. We added a bit more of the national parks and it made that tour a bit better because we were a smaller group.
I think if some of the things didn't happen on some of these tours which I mentioned I wouldn't be as critical...
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Queen Elizabeth National Park by Divesh
I would return to the southern Ishasha sector even though we didn't see any tree climbing lions as it felt like there was more wildlife in this area. The northern part was less spectacular with the exception of the volcanic lakes.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The game drive was superb, but the food and lodging was poor.
Some of the food on this trip was inedible -- namely the goat stew at one of the restaurants we stopped along the way. Otherwise the food was average, but hey, I was here for the safari! Speaking of which, the safari was great. Maasai Mara is beautiful, and our driver James was safe, smart, and friendly. We saw all the highlights, and came back each night happy. The tents were okay, but the water came out brown from our shower. The food at the accomodation was average, and tea was available all day, which we liked.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Cheap Safari but rubbish organisation
The safari may be cheap but we lost a lot of time because of lack of organisation between the office and the guides on site. Our itinerary changed every few hours and th guides were pretty confused about who was going where and which day. Everything was planned last minute, basically an hour before we were due to depart somewhere. Leaving in the mornings to go to the parks was always an hour later as the guides needed to get money or pack things or prepare our lunch despite assuring us we would leave at the time we asked and hence waking up extra early so we could be in the park as soon as possible. It was budget but we actually wanted to et to the parks. Our car broke down on the first day so we only got an afternoon game drive. The many guides we had were mainly drivers. At least they had good mechanical skills to fix the car. Th food was really nice though and the tents not to bad with a semi mattress which was quite comfortable. The campsites were good as well. The organisation of our hotel after the safari was also good and we stayed in really nice places. Overall, go for budget joining safari if you don't mind wasting a lot of energy trying to get to the parks and yelling everyday with the driver to leave at the right time and get things moving! We are told all budget joining safaris are like this.
Once in the park everything is amazing, you just need to get there!
US
Review about Okavango Delta by EmilyW
The Okavango Delta is a beautiful place and if you can go on a game walk you will feel transported to another world. However, I would not recommend going in March. We saw no game, but enjoyed a 3-hour hike among the grass looking at animal tracks and interesting bugs.
US
Well managed but limited game in March
I enjoyed my drive through the park with our hired guide. We saw many impala, hippos, elephants, baboons, etc. I am not a "birder" so I cannot intelligently comment on the birding, but I did see and enjoy many interesting and unusual birds like the lilac-breasted roller. Unfortunately the lions, zebras and giraffes were difficult to find and it was pretty quiet overall. I understand that this was mainly due to the time of year. I personally enjoyed a boat cruise on the Chobe River that went by the park, more than the game drive, due to the beautiful scenery. I was grateful there didn't seem to be self-drive tourists and everyone on the road was very respectful.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Convenient location from Nairobi.
We were able to see most animals pretty easy. the park is very close to the city and is easy to get to, however from a scenery aspect you can see the city from most places. When selecting a guide make sure they have a land cruiser or similar, we had a small van and we got stuck in the mud for almost three hours. We had limited time so the National park worked well. If you go I recommend the Elephant Orphanage it was a nice stop.
MY
Review about Lake Nakuru National Park by Ludoc007
National park very close to city. Good birding but not many game aniamals
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Hallmark were accommodating with our requests. More insight into our tour would of been helpful.
1. Our guide Anothony was an okay guide but not very accommodating at times. To start, he invaded our privacy at Lewa after the night before (our 1st night on tour) he made bad remarks about the company and that he personally wouldn't stay there as they were set in there ways & not accommodating to other safari companies like Hallmark. The next day he informed my husband & I that he was coming with us for the 2 days. I asked him why & how? He told me he told Lewa that we wanted our guide to join us. this wasn't the fact all. Quite the opposite being frank with you. We paid the big bucks so we could get a different perspective from another guide & also have our own privacy for the next 2 days. He came with us on our game drives as well after we requested we get at least one game drive on our own to enjoy the expeiernce one on one with our guide. 2/ After requested from the start our planning with Levis that we wanted to do the Hells Gate. Anthony was not thrilled he had to take us there after our night in Nevashahs. We informed him days out that's what we wanted to do. We ended cycling the Hells Gate which in fact was a highlight for us & declined going on the boat ride to see the hippos. 3/ Our last leg of the trip - Rwanda was in fact organised by Magic Safaris, not Hallmark Planners. this was not mentioned to us at the time of booking. however, our guide was outstanding!! 4/ Overall, we are glad we paid the extra $'s to have most of our game drives in a four wheel drive truck as to a van with various guides. Having the same guide & van for the entire trip would of been terrible. 5/ Apologies on being so direct, however it is best you know as I am in business myself & would like to be informed rather then not so it doenst happen to somebody else. Anthony didn't do himself any favours by bad mouthing another company to us, especially on our first night after shouting him a drink at Opejeta for his B'day on our arrival. His attitude did not sit well with us, especially after just meeting him. He did in fact apologise after our 2 days there that he was wrong with his judgment. Lewa was outstanding & highly recommend it. 6/ We felt secure with our booking having Safari Bookings as the reprensative of the company & made the booking so much more reassuring. 7/ Also a note, we never received a questionnaire at the end of our trip with Anothony, hence me informing you. Magic Safaris on the otherhand did. I highly recommend them & will to others.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Queen Elizabeth national park
I came to visit my daughter in Uganda at the end of May and for many years loved to your around on a short tour in Uganda so my daughter planned a surprise trip for me before i moved to the east where we have a project supporting a primary school. The tour was indeed a good surprise, we visited in Queen Elizabeth park and saw many animals including a visit to the Kyambura gorge which is a beautiful place for seeing the chimps. I like the water excursion on the nile till we arrived at the point where we saw clearly the bottom of the waterfall forming part of the river Nile. I enjoyed my trip to Queen Elizabeth and i will not hesitate to suggest this operator Destination Jungle to my friends back home. Oh, Boaz was our guide to show us the animals