IN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best Holiday ever!!
Our entire 3 week trip was meticulously planned and executed with no hiccups along the way!Patricia was quick to respond to emails. Both Patrick and James are excellent seasoned tour guides in Kenya and Tanzania respectively. Eluid was extremely accommodating and very helpful in so many ways! I would highly recommend Travel for Change as they are sensitive to their customers needs which needs a mention as we were travelling with children. Thank you for showing us a wonderful time and we hope to relive the trip someday!!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The Trip of a Lifetime - they really are King!
We just got back from a trip of a lifetime. During our nine-day safari with Lion King, I could not help but have a constant smile on my face. Whether it was seeing the sun rise over the Central Serengeti as a pride of lions hunted or Hippos lounging around down the river from some serious Crocs in the Western Serengeti or even just sitting and enjoying a delicious meal cooked by our chef Yousef, every minute was truly magical. Our safari guide, Salim, or as everyone calls him “Director”, made sure we saw every animal and landscape that the parks had to offer. He kept us laughing and caffeinated, always asking me what animal I had slept like the night before. To which my response was always a baby elephant, unless we were camping which he said a baby hyena because I did not seem to sleep well when we were camping. Even so, he kept me in high spirits, making sure to find some of my favorite elephants and giraffe as soon as our game drive started. Salim also knows every guide and ranger in every park, so you are guaranteed to see all the big game if you don’t find it first. Trust me this is unbelievably valuable. Salim never tired throughout our long safari and always kept it interesting. When we needed to make a last-minute change to accommodation, he handled the processing with the office staff with ease. We would definitely recommend a safari with the great Director!
Our chef Yousef easily handled my gluten allergy, making us delicious meals throughout the trip. He always greeted us with fresh juice, fruit, popcorn, and a big smile after a game drive. He was so kind and also knows a thing or two about the animals. He wants to open a restaurant someday – Arusha will be lucky when he does!
When you go with Lion King, you will be in the trusted hands of Anna while deciding how to customize the trip. Anna is a wonderful Brit living in Tanzania who has been there for us before, during, and after the trip. She made sure that we were happy with the plans, guaranteed our chef and lodges could handle my gluten allergy/ celiac condition and helped when we needed a change on the trip. She came and had a drink with us the night before and the night we got back and was very receptive to our concerns and feedback. We felt at ease in her direction.
Thank you, Lion King, for a King of trip to Tanzania!
BR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Hoppy is a great guide. Our experience during the safari was amazing. Excellent customer service.
We had a great experience with Wildlife Safaris. Previous communication was very clear. Everything happened according to what was in the inquiry. The Safari experience was excellent. Hoppy is a great guide. This was the highest point of our travel.
PT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Family magical moments
Kikwetu was incredible - they made us feel safe, lucky, special and gave us the most amazing moments of our lifes. Masagha (Livingstone) is someone that we feel like a fridnd today, as well as kenneth - is impossible dont feel the best for someone that care so good of me and my family. I’m working on coming back as soon as I can but only with kikwetu.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Skywide Tours and Kenya adventure - a perfect match!
So VERY pleased with our tour service - Skywide Tours. My wife got approval to present at a conference in Nairobi on Tuesday. I immediately emailed Skywide asking for a 3-day package to Masai Mara and David responded within 12 hours. After looking at our travel arrangements, I emailed back asking to move it forward by 1 day - to Sunday. Again, David responded in short turnaround on Thursday to confirm this was manageable.
We met David at our hotel at 7 AM Sunday, along with our guide, Wachanga. During the next 3 days my wife and I were continuously impressed with Wachanga's engaging personality, his vast knowledge of large animals, birds, plants and geology of the Rift Valley, which he imparted while we BOUNCED along along the dirt roads which snake throughout the Masai Mara National Park. We found out that after being a school teacher for many years, he now is one of the longest-running guides in Kenya. As a result, in addition to his commitment to ensuring we saw as much wildlife as possible, his ease in the mechanics of a multi-day safari - as well as being on a first-name basis with many of the other guides and wardens in the preserve - made the whole experience extremely smooth. We stayed in OL Moran tented camp, where we were pleased to discover that our tent had a shower/toilet attached. The food was simple, but filling. Overall just what we expected for safari accommodations.
As we were coming back into Nairobi we decided to engage Wachanga for the day on Saturday, 4 days from then, to go through the Nairobi National Park, David Sheldrick elephant orphanage and the giraffe center. Again, David and Wachanga were quite accommodating. We finished with a tour of the Kazuri Bead Factory, which employs several hundred single women producing incredibly beautify necklaces and bracelets. We had wanted to try an authentic yama choma meat meal, so we had a late lunch at a restaurant Wachanga arranged.
During the day on Saturday we realized that our flight out the next day wasn't until 11:30 PM, so we asked if Wachanga could take us to see Hell's Gate National Park. Again, this was arranged without difficulty at literally a moment's notice. Hell's Gate offers multiple activities for a 1-day excursion, including the only park where you can leave the vehicle; a close-up view of the escarpments of the Valley wall; a walk up a narrow gorge with 'escape routes' up the side walls in case of a flash flood; and a close-up look at the geothermal plants that provide 10%+ of Kenya's electricity. On our way back we stopped at Lake Naivasha and took a 1-hour ride to see water fowl and hippos.
As you can tell from this long review, we are enchanted with Kenya, and enthusiastic about Wachanga and David from Skywide Tours - their flexibility in handling last minute, ever-changing arrangements together with their local knowledge made this the perfect week trip! We encourage you to use Skywide, request Wachanga, and tell them that Alan and Diane sent you!
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great travel company.
All our questions about our travel arrangements were answered very quickly. They were very accomodating when we needed to make changes. Our tour guide, Wilson, was very knowledgable and all the details of our trip were worked out smoothly. When we had some sick family members, he made sure that they were looked after. We had a great safari experience and Wilson made sure we were able to get the best experience possible during the safari. We saw lots of wildlife and the cruise was great. Overall the travel company was very professional.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent service, easy bookings.
We booked a trip to Mabula Lodge through World’s Ultimate Travels. The communication with World’s Ultimate Travels were easy and convenient, they responded quickly to all our requests and provided usefull feedback. The website is very easy to use and we received our booking voucher shortly after booking. The tour were excellent, we travelled with our two kids aged 6 and 3 which can be a challenge on a Safari, but World’s Ultimate Travels reccomended Mabula as they were able to arrange for the kids to be able to join us on the game drives, makng it an enjoyable experience for the whole family. We are looking forward to book our next safari through World’s Ultimate Travels.
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
My experience was amazing
My sister and I loved the services and communications that were offered. We enjoyed our safari thanks to Tammy tours
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The excursions he chose were amazing- He found us great guides and wonderful adventures.
For improvement, I think just communication... for example we had no clear idea what to expect re. the border crossing and how and where to meet our guide. That was a bit unnerving.
He was, however, a very good guy and very kind. We felt he knew the areas and always felt good/safe when with him.
The side trips were great- though I would have preferred to stay in just 2 hotels total (not 3) for our 4 nights in Uganda.
We absolutely loved the Birdnest resort and the boat tour there and both the gorilla and golden monkey treks were outstanding!
Loved the Heaven restaurant (in Rwanda where we had lunch after landing there) and were glad we went to the Rwanda genocide museum where we learned more about the absolutely sad and horrific atrocities that occurred there.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
No more zoos for this family.
Our experience with Wild Planet Safari was perfect from beginning to end. Our guides Chris and Benjamin helped to make our first safari amazing. Chris was just as invested in finding all of the animals, and shows that he has a passion for the bush. We asked for a leopard, and Chris found us a leopard. We asked for a honey badger, Chris said it was unlikely but found us a honey badger. We asked for an animal eating another animal, and Chris found us a leopard eating an impala in a tree. Eventually, our family started calling Chris "magic" because he delivered every animal we asked for despite the unpredictableness of the animals.
Benjamin made delicious food and every meal was a treat. We couldn't wait to go home and try to repeat his amazing recipes. He worked hard throughout the whole trip, and brought so much laughter to our family. We never had to lift a finger to help clean or cook, and he worked so hard to make us a table full of food at every meal, and even dessert after dinner.
Together, Chris and Benjamin added humor and knowledge to our trip, making our safari unforgettable. These two guides, and the company as a whole, will make sure your trip is perfect too.