CH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Tanzania Northern Circuit - Too crowded
Hi Folks,
Just a quick one to let you know about my experience in Serengeti and Ngorongoro.
We had an amazing well organized safari with Serene Tours Tanzania, in fact this is the second one I did with them. The first one was back in January in the South of Tanzania. But for the North of Tanzania I am a bit disappointed, it was way too crowded and spent quite some times at gates of the parks.
My advice to you guys, do not do the same mistake as I did. Start with the North of Tanzania first, do not do the safari in August as it is peak season and then only do the South of Tanzania. Doing so you will have a different feel of your safaris and will not remain and a mixed feeling.
This been said, Tanzania is well worth it but, you need to be careful when you choosing the itineraries as well as the time of the year you will visit!
Enjoy Tanzania,
Xavier
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Overall OK, but as this was a very expensive trip we expected better than OK
Overall the trip was good. But this is a very expensive tour company, so we expected meticulous attention to detail and 'opulent' conditions. So although we enjoyed the trip it fell short of the expectations we had given how expensive this was.
DK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Masai mara in a day
We had a nice tour, and on our way to Masai mara our guide stoped several places so we could look at souvenirs, that was really nice.
On our day in Masai mara, we saw a lot of animals and we felt really lucky. But we were a bit Disapointet about our guide, because we had to ask him to stop several places to take pictures, because he did not stop by himself, and we had expected to be told a lot more about Masai mara and the animales, but our guide did not tell us much without us asking him.
But nice camp and nice people
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
budget safari
We had combined safari Kenya-Tanzania. Everything was great at Kenya site, super driver/guide Stanley (I really recommend this guy!), accommodation, organisation - 100% satisfaction.
Tanzania - 100% disaster. Company which organised our safari - Arusha Center Inn Tourist total mess; the director Abraham - liar, conditions at camps horrible; we had paid for tents with beds and bedding - we got used sleeping bag and no beds; sanitation at the bathroom/shower - 100% bio-hazard, awful; driver/guide Freddie - avoid him, very slow not at all organised and with small knowledge about nature and animals - waste of time and money! Avoid this company!!!!!
So I really recommend safari in Kenya but I cannot recommend Tanzania - it was horrible 4 days.
BE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Nice safari, but please stick to your promises.
The safari was nice but we do have some complaints. Karibu safaris promised us we would be with 7 people in the van at the most (they also say so on the website). But we were with 8 people (+ driver). The van was crowded. Luckely everyone was really good company and so we all worked it out, but that was definitely not because of the driver. The driver didn't even say anything about it, as if it was completely normal. They say on the website that you get free water during the drives. The driver bought 12 bottles of half a liter water. For 9 persons! We were on a 5-day safari and had to buy our own water in the camp shops for 4 days. It's not that the water is like a huge cost or something, but just keep true to your words please. Overall we had a nice safari, the hotels and camps were good, we saw a lot of animals and we had a good atmosphere (but that was more thanks to the other tourists in our group rather than our driver).
SE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Old, smelly, robust and friendly
The company is a small company of about 10 people. The way to communicate and to pay for the safari was made with a start-up company feeling.
The car was extremely smelly and over 15 years old, but robust. Some other safari companies we saw had very clean and fresh cars with snacks etc but we also saw many of them on the side of the street as the cars did not resist the very very bumpy roads. Our car got a flat tire only once.
Our guide knew a lot about animals and was friendly and nice.
Some of the accommodations were really nice and some of them were really horrible.
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!