CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nice safari, hotels and guide !
My mom and I really appreciated our safari with Godson who speaks an excellent french. We saw a lot of animals since the guide was always in contact with the other guides. Hotels were comfortable and food was nice.
US
20-35 years of age
Beautiful Mountain on its Way to Ruin
Mt. Kilimanjaro is, needless to say, a pretty unique place on earth. Unfortunately, Tanzania runs it more like an amusement park than a place to be revered for its national beauty.
As the camps get more crowded closer to the summit (the trails merge) they get progressively worse. Tour companies do not treat the place very well. Trash is abundant around all the campsites, and the vegetation is trampled/abused all around, I suspect, not by the toursists themselves, but by the 3+ crew members typically accompanying each tourist.
Most disappointingly, human waste policies are almost non existent or just not followed (no bathroom business within 50m of a trail, for example.) Outside of camps, every few minutes, you will pass a spot that smells like the national pee-corner, or a spot with enough used toilet paper to cover a kitchen table. Really detrimental to encounter this so frequently in a place that I'd hope to see as pristine as possible.
Unfortunately, the camp toilets are not much better. In a year of living in Tanzania, the large public toilets with tile floors are the worst smelling restrooms I have encountered anywhere in this country, and of any public park anywhere in the world. The small wooden ones over a pit are pretty standard bush toilets, so they're ok.
I realize that this sounds like a prissy white guy from a developed country has his panties in a bunch because things aren't squeaky clean in Africa, but I relish the "roughing it" experience one can find camping or traveling in less-developed parts of the world. I'm no stranger to gross or inadequate toilets, but I was pretty disappointed in what I encountered in such a world-famous park that supposedly hosts luxury trips. Nothing luxurious about stepping over human feces on your way up the mountain (literally happened).
These two things (trash and sanitation) really deflated my experience of an otherwise incredible trip. The company I went with did everything in their power to make it fantastic, and its sad that my only grievances are with the park itself. The ecosystems you pass through and the views from some of the camps are stunning, and 19,341 feet does feel pretty cool.
But its absolutely not worth paying Tanzanian Natl Parks the fee they extort from visitors for a park that's so poorly maintained. You could have an unreal three week vacation in SE Asia for the same money, without (ideally) hiking through a sewer. If you're dead set on climbing a mountain in TZ though - Mt. Meru is incredible and Mt. Hanang is really cool too. Cost you about 1/6 the money for Meru, Hanang less than $100. Kilimanjaro, is unfortunately, overrated.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Experience and professionalism; punctuality, accuracy, friendly; expert travel advice; exceptional!
From start to finish, this was the best travel experience I have had (and I've been to 63 countries and on two previous African safaris). Communication via e-mail was virtually instantaneous and everything on the safari was delivered exactly as arranged for. Not to mention, the safari itself was superb! Ute at Roho Ya Chui is an absolutely amazing, organized, and dedicated professional who truly made this safari the wonderful expedition that it was. All I can say is, thank-you Ute!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
So many animals, such great food!
Great service, great safari. Not really a fan of tent camping but the cook was amazing!
QA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An amazing experience from start to finish with our guide Hilary
We could not have asked for a better and more knowledgeable guide than Hilary. He scouted out hard to find animals and really knew what he was doing. He is also a very delightful young man with a great sense of humor! I highly recommend going on safari with Hilary!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
6 star if possible!
Axis and particularly Lennox and James were amazing from the start. Lennox was very forthcoming with any information requested and kept us up to date with all the necessary information required for the tour. James, our driver of the safari, was absolutely incredible from start to finish, going the extra mile to make our experience the best we could have in our short trip. In the four days through James' expertise we were able to see the big five as well as, some unforgettable moments such as; cheetahs taking down their prey, lions feeding their young and finding an elusive white rhino.
Accommodation was of a high standard, we didn't expect five star luxury, but this is a safari anyway. We stayed in tents with beds and private bathrooms (with hot water) which is more than we expected. On our last night we stayed in a hotel with a swimming pool. Food was of a good standards. I hope you like lentils and meat!
Overall, we were very happy with the tour and couldn't recommend Axis enough. Lennox went above and beyond to help us book our train tickets to Mombasa as we were on tour and ensured we got back to our hotel safely.
In summary, Axis Safari made our safari experience special and we couldn't recommend them enough. It was worth every penny!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Taste of Zanzibar
We booked a short Zanzibar tour as an add-on to a safari trip. Zanzibar was our flight/jet lag recovery spot. Simon was very responsive to our wishes, got us a snorkel trip to Mnemba island and a short stay at Kendwa. Took care of every detail of our transfers and two short (too short!) tours of Stonetown and a Bububu spice farm. Simon also booked our flight from Zanzibar to the start of our Serengeti safari in Arusha. We left wishing we'd had more than a taste of Zanzibar, but we had went very well. We were also able to arrange to pay in advance - this was a very useful convenience to us for this part of our trip.
US
Awesome experience
Had an Awesome experience. Everyone was respectful and showed us a good time!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
great trip great price!
We had a great time on our safari with Kenya walking! We went to Amboseli, Masai Mara, and into Uganda to see the gorillas. While on the trip our itinerary got changed a little, which was a bit frustrating for us, so I contacted the owner, Otieno, he was easy to communicate with and made up for the changes. Our first guide Benson was awesome! he was passionate about seeing the animals and a great driver. Some of the drives were really long, but that is just part of seeing a lot of places, I totally recommend this company we had a great time! The price was the lowest I found while doing my research! All of the accommodations were really nice and we saw a ton of animals!