CH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very well organised tours and friendly staff
I found the tour to be good value for money. No complaints and happy with the results tour! I would recommend for sure.
CN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
It was a good experience, and we saw many animal.
The purposes of the safari were two:
1. Observing the predators to catch other animals, like lions, cheetah or leopard.
2. Watching the animals (wildebeests, zebras, buffaloes) crossing the river.
Unfortunately, I didn’t see above. What we saw are lots of animals in the plain, and several lions. Maybe because the trip was too tight, we spend one afternoon in the reserve. Shall spend an early morning and an evening. And what we can see is almost all depended by the driver.
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Friendly, good prices, does what see say.
Went looking for a safari provider but there are so many. One more expensive than the other. Finally went with Super eagle tours. Very nice way of communicating and the fixed tour can be deviated from. We did not want to stay in an igloo tent and instead looked for a lodge ourselves. Everything is negotiable. Everything went according to agreements and the price is also worth it. Super experience and super satisfied
(automatic translation from Dutch)
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Totally recommend!
We were on a 4 day safari with Mountain Warriors and went to Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro. We did a shared tour with camping (budget) and had a great time together. We saw all kinds of animals and all wishes were taken into account.
Our guide Augusto was perfect and also the food and our cook Miriam were very good.
We would definitely recommend the tour and would book with Mountain Warriors again.
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Choose an another one
Do not book this company! Avoid Focus in Africa!
Before starting with the bad things, I would like to thank the driver (Stanley) and the cook (Matthias), they were simply great, Stanley was able to share all his knowledge with us whenever he could! Matthias also knew how to make us travel through his cuisine!
Regarding the safari, we did a 5-day tour, the first 3 days were great but when we got to the 4th day, our camp was 20 minutes from Ngorongoro, but the driver was forced to pick up two other passengers more than 1 hour from our camp, we missed 2.5 hours (out of 6 hours of visiting) of our day at the crater, it is simply unacceptable, we pay a certain amount to have a quality service to end up missing animals and making journeys for nothing at all, our alarm was still at 5:30 am to leave the camp at 6 am and finally arrive at 8:30 am at the crater!
But it's not over, the next day, we leave our camp at 7:30 am to go to Lake Manyara and guess what? We stay more than an hour in front of the park because their organization is pitiful, we had to wait for another person from another camp to join us! But you should know that the driver, who was only visiting the lake, wanted us all to go together to get the one who was missing and return to the lake but we contested because we did not take the safari to do the taxi tours but to fully enjoy our vacation! It is not the fault of the driver but simply of the organization of this company, Focus in Africa. But it is not always over! After the visit to the lake, we had our flight to Kilimanjaro, and of course the head of the company Focus in Africa, Nelson, told us that a driver would pick us up after the lake to take us to the airport and make a journey of more than 3 hours and in the end, the driver was not at all aware that he had to drop us off at the airport. Another pitiful organization.
I absolutely do not recommend this company if you want to be at peace during your vacation!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Standard safari with some annoyances
Overall, the safari seems to follow a standard itinerary that many other companies also offer. We did see a lot of animals including the Big 5 and in that sense the safari was great. I only give 2 stars because of some annoyances:
1) My wife is short and wasn't able to see out of the pop up roof of the Landcruiser (for which you pay extra). She wanted to stand on top of a seat when we were looking at a cheetah that was barely visible (covered by grass) but was told by our driver that that is not allowed because it can damage them and that it's his boss Lewis' rule, with whom we had made the booking. I then wrote to Lewis and he told me it's not allowed because it's illegal and fined heavily by the park authorities. We saw many other safari companies allowing their customers to stand on their seat. So I then looked up the park rules online and it didn't say anything about it being illegal. Lewis doubled down and told me to ask a park official at the gate. I did just that (he probably didn't expect me to) and they told me, amused that I'd even ask, that it's perfectly legal and makes sense for short people. Nevertheless, we decided to let it rest, until my wife got neck pain two days later from always craning it while tip toing to be able to see. At that point I again wrote to Lewis pleading that he allows it for the last two days and he finally did. However, he never admitted that he lied about it being illegal. TLDR: if you're short find a different safari company
2) Our flight on the last day was quite late at 11pm. The original itinerary had us be at the airport around 5pm after visiting the giraffe center at 3pm. Before booking, I had asked Lewis about adding extra things in Nairobi and he told me that we can also visit the Nairobi museum and eat at a famous restaurant and then be dropped off at the airport at 7pm which sounded good to us. Then, on the last day our driver told us that he has to keep going immediately after arriving with us in Nairobi but that a different driver from the company can take us. However, after talking with his Boss there apparently was no different driver available. Our driver rushed us through the giraffe center (urging us to leave) and then dropped us of at the airport at 4:15 pm. We were okay with skipping the museum and the restaurant because we were tired and saw how stressed the driver was, but we didn't appreciate being rushed through the giraffe center which was supposed to be a nice stop on the last day and then bring dropped off at the airport super early.
A couple words on our driver/guide Daniel: he definitely knows the parks inside and out and is a good driver and very good at finding many animals. He also knows a lot about the animals when asked. However, I wish he would be more outgoing in sharing information about animals without us asking. And I wish he would be a bit friendlier and above all not rush us so much on the last day.
JP
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nice tour guide, but very disappointing car
Our guide Stanley is very nice with all the animal knowledge he has and very informative with animals location. We had a nice time because of him.
However, the jeep is really in a bad situation. First time it was tank being cut off, so we spent 1-2 hrs with mechanics repairing the car.
Second time it was the some parts falling apart and the jeep is not moving at all, so we stopped for a repair. Thankfully there was another jeep going by and the guide and group were willing to take us with them and continue the trip for the day, otherwise we would have lost on precious safari day because the jeep was finally fixed at 9pm or so. We thought all jeeps are in bad condition, but when riding with another jeep, we realized how bad condition our jeep was.
Third time, the jeep broke down on our way to airport. Luckily, the jeep broke down in Arusha, so the company quickly had another car come by and pick us up and arrived airport on time. If it hadn't broke down in Arusha, we would have missed the flight.
We were lucky coz each broke down we were not heavily affected because the timing was right. But it could be more serious consequences with those broke downs.
Really need to consider again about the car condition.
CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Responsive and honest.
Brian and his team were most helpful in both planning and executing my short visit to Victoria Falls. I missed my flight connection on the first day and Brian was able to rearrange the planned schedule at the last minute. He was empathetic and understood these things happen and he happily took on contacting my hotel to ensure they didn't cancel my reservation due to a no show. We were able to stay connected in WhatsApp which was very helpful as I had no SIM connection on arrival in Ethiopia
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Martin Smith is knowledgeable, responsive, & takes a personal interest in each tour he plans.
This was a first time, bucket list safari for me. I fortunately received a recommendation for Mr. Martin Smith from a co-worker. He immediately responded to my initial email. He asked what my goals/desires were in terms of the trip. He continued to respond -almost immediately- to each question I had.
The Safari exceeded my expectations. I traveled to Botswana at his recommendation. I could not have been more pleased!!
I started with two nights at Victoria Falls and stayed in the Victoria Falls Hotel. Truly, I unexpectedly felt like royalty, with a private check in and fabulous room with a great view.
My first Safari camp, Linyanti Concessions, provided herds of wild animals to see and enjoy in their natural surroundings. Next was Khwai Lediba and last was Vumbura Plains. Each provided a unique experience and each increased in luxury. Keep in mind that I’m not a “luxury “ person, but it was a very nice surprise!!
EVERY transfer, every detail was flawless and seamless!!! I never had to think or worry about anything!!!
I overwhelmingly recommend Kingfisher Safaris and Mr. Martin Smith!!!!!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing tour company!
Our guide was amazing. Knowledgeable and fun. We saw the most amazing landscapes and animals. Our accommodations were excellent. We felt safe and well taken care of. Highly recommend!