IN
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Life time experience @ safaris
Have u ever travelled for a vacation with a broken leg?
Yes I did….. but had a life time experience.
I Have no words to thank team Morindat, Titus, Gideon, Sammy & Francis.
As a group of 15 friends, we planned a trip to Mara in 2020. But what happened from 2020 we all know, I don’t want to remind myself about it.
Our trip postponed to next year and then to next year again. Finally 2022, we were all set to travel. Just 3 weeks to go and that was when a twist in the ankle …. Sorry tale happened. Yes I twisted my ankle which resulted in a severe fracture, ouch.!!
Family, friends, colleagues and even my doctor said “no way Mara”! Disappointed ☹️ sad and frustrated about my fate. I told my hubby Srini to cancel my tickets and certainly not having any hopes. How ever God decides different!
Week 2 - There was an important meeting at work and I took a chance to go for the meet and stayed back for 10 hours, with my leg @ 90 degrees on a chair. That was a turning point in my approach. Came back home late evening and told my family & friends “am going to Mara” certainly, but in a wheel chair.
Let me tell you there was some magic @ Mara, that did a miracle to me. Our trip mentors Vimla & Dorai and our leader Anand were bent upon on carrying me on their shoulder to Mara.. not giving up on me. Thank you the 3 of you, I owe you for this.
Our mentor & leader started coordinating with Morindat team @ Mara to ensure that the whole travel is with wheel chair assist. Yes finally I did it completely, did not miss a single safari or a place of visit, competed with all my fellow travellers in all enjoyments.
Thanks to “Team Morindat” for the wonderful life time experience that I had.
Let me talk first about Morindat before I share my mara experience.
Titus - perfect example of how an owner should drive the biz with a personal touch with the travellers. Thanks to flawless planning and pleasant experience that each one of us had.
Gideon - Hey Gidi ! Smart & sharp in spotting animals and always surprises us in every safari. Despite an Owner, he drove us all thru the trip comfortably. He was our Google map of Mara… even in the wildest jungle he was too good in his route. Should we baptise him as “Gidioogle”! Very Knowledgeable and we were lucky to have him lead us end to end.
Sammy - My Mara bro ! Cool, retired army guy, who took care of me in the entire trip. Not a time he hesitated to take out and put the wheel chair back in the van. But for Sammy, my life in Mara would not have been so smooth. He was too good in spotting birds, knew all the Mara birds by their call, amazing birding guy.
My fellow traveller and my life partner, who is a troublesome kid when it comes to photography. Always keeps shouting stopppp… stop..stop. Sammy will stop the van bang on .. it took a day for him to understand what a stop..stop…stop means. Started saying “Hakuna mattata!” Means no problem… in turn we taught him a more or less equivalent funny word for him “pona pogattum”. Every safari we enjoyed with Sammy. Icing on the cake, when he woke up the sleeping jungle king just 50 mtrs away with his recorded lioness call. Thank you my bro, Sammy for all the experience.
Francis - I spoke just once or twice to him but cannot forget his face for my life time. Was challenging to take a photo of me while I try to touch the lions mane. Sorry didn’t have that chance though .
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Tarangire National Park by Jan Robertson
Our first big park on our journey - fantastic! We saw everything there in 2 days. Especially enjoyed all the big elephants, but saw many other animals. Highly recommend Tarangire. Seems less crowded than Serengeti, but depends on what part of each park. Certainly there was no crazy-long wait to get into Tarangire like there was at Serengeti.
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Serengeti National Park by Jan Robertson
Top notch safari destination. Saw everything there including a lion kill, and the great wildebeest migration of thousands of animals across the Mara River. HOWEVER, there was a huge wait at the entrance to the park while our guide had to line up with a couple hundred (yes that's correct!) other vehicles and guides trying to pay the entrance fee. There needs to be a more streamlined system to avoid all of this at high season! We must have waited over 2 hours for this inefficient process. Permits should be on an annual basis with each vehicle registered so this is automatic as they drive through the gate. OR, they could have a 'fast -track' system which electronically records the vehicle as it drives through the gate, so it is charged automatically. Visitors should have to go through this and wait while their guide queues up to pay. Tour operators and all involved - including safaribookings - should band together and put pressure on the Tanzanian government agency which oversees the parks to push for a more efficient system!
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Ngorongoro Crater by Jan Robertson
We saw lots of wildlife there, but nothing more than we saw in Tarangire and Serengeti. And the drive up to the rim of the crater we through thick fog and pretty scary. Once we got down into the crater the viewing was good.
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Jan Robertson
Didn't see as much in Lake Manyara as the other parks.
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Masai Mara National Reserve by Elizabeth
It was a great adventure.
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing safari destination, especially Tarangire and Serengeti!
We did a 10-day safari trip with Soul of Tanzania in late July / early August 2022, visiting: Tarangire Park, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, Central and Northern Serengeti, then off to Zanzibar. Four of us (3 family + 1 friend) traveled together in our private vehicle, with expert guide and excellent driver(!), George. An amazing adventure, in which we saw multitudes of elephants, giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, gazelles, dik-diks, impalas, lions, cheetahs, baboons, a few leopards, and some exotic snakes: a huge python, and a spitting cobra. Accommodations throughout were great - we especially enjoyed: Nyikani Tarangire Camp, Escarpment Luxury Lodge, Nimali Serengeti and Sayari Lodge on the safari portion (all had good food and attractive surroundings) and in Zanzibar the Zawadi was absolutely first class in every respect. Can't say enough great things about our amazing trip! Many thanks to Soul of Tanzania for a memorable trip of a lifetime!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Trip of a lifetime! Exceeded expectations (Because of my guide, Derrick)
I had one of my best travel experiences EVER with Home To Africa Tours. I did a 12 day western Uganda tour which allowed me to focus on one part of the country and be able to actually enjoy the trip instead of trying to rush from one place to the next. Derrick was my driver and he was the perfect guide for me. He was very chill but also very informative and knowledgeable about wildlife and the culture of the country. I told him I wanted a taste of the "real" Uganda instead of just doing the touristy things. He took me out to a couple of the local bars at night to play some pool with the locals, we stopped and ate some of the street food from the local vendors and we became friends along the way.
The thing about traveling to a third world country, is that you have to remember that you are in a third world country and you are not going to have the same comforts or amenities as you may have at home or while visiting other westernized countries. You would think this would go without saying, however, I realize that is not always the case. However, with that being said, my lodges were very comfortable with beautiful surroundings and left me with nothing to complain about.
Another thing to remember is wildlife is unpredictable and even though you might have it in your mind that you're going to see all of these animals you dreamt of seeing, the reality is, that's not always the case. I was one of the lucky ones and saw even more than I bargained for. Part of that was because I decided to spend an extra day at Queen Elizabeth NP. Three days at that park might be too many for some, but after not seeing much the first two days, I opted to do the tracker experience (for an extra fee). That was a total game changer for me. It allowed for a "front row" view of a leopard in a tree and a pride of lions making a kill. I even saw a hyena running across the savanna. I wouldn't go into this expecting to see the same things, however, you're chances of seeing these animals do increase drastically.
I did gorilla, chimpanzee and golden monkey trekking as well. I was one of the lucky groups to locate the gorillas within the first hour of trekking, however, I know this can be a 7-9 hour day while hiking through some very difficult, steep terrain. The experience was amazing but that hour did go by fast for me. It was definitely worth the experience, but if I go back, I might opt to do the gorilla habituation where you can spend four hours with them.
All in all, it was a trip of a lifetime for me and I would definitely recommend Home To Africa Tours. I really believe Derrick made all of the difference in my experience. He showed me the "real" Uganda and was so patient about everything. Home To Africa really nailed it in planning everything I had hoped to see and do. I embraced the country and it's culture as well as I could, and I hope if you choose to go, you do the same. It's a beautiful country with so much to offer, but ultimately it's up to you to truly embrace the country for all of its beauty.
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great Experience! Meektrails is a great agency, John is the best guide, speaks English and ITALIAN!
We had a great time with Meektrails, thanks to their organization, and to John, the guide we had in our safari.
Daniel has been always ready to answer all my questions since we started communicating, he gave us a very competitive quotation, but mostly, he accomodated all our requests.
Our guide John, speaks both English and Italian! He is a friend now, we spent a week with him in Amboseli, Naiwasha and Masai Mara, we had two kids travelling with us (8 and 9 y.o.) both were crying when he had to leave us at the end of the trip.
He is a great man, not only a passionate guide.
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Wonderful.
Wonderfu Safari
Thanks Mr. Wilson we enjoyed Maasai mara and had a great experience,
Mr Peter our Tour driver was perfect, he gave us an exiting adventure,
Thanks for the good work.