IN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing trip
I've had a great experience at Bujo tours Ltd, the team really take care of all the things. Last month I planned a trip with my friend Petè, Provided amazing service.Experience very nice & reliable ,Visited Zanzibar islands, Trek Kilimanjaro, and Serengeti National park. Got discount on my holiday packages.I highly recommend this company
ES
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing, fantastic, superb, excellent, wonderful, unforgettable, unbelievable and incredible
I always do an enormous amount of research before booking any trip and as this was my my first safari, I wanted to make sure I picked a great company.
I used the top 10 ranked companies on Trip advisor and looked at the reviews (the good and the bad), checked how recent they were and whether the companies had responded. I looked at their web sites ( if a company can't put together a decent web site - why would anyone trust them with organising a safari), eliminated those that were not based in Tanzania and ended up with 6.
I wrote a comprehensive email explaining what was important to me and containing a series of questions, sent it off to all of them and waited for the responses to come flooding in. Most were surprisingly slow to respond, but one company stood out a mile above the rest.
The wonderful, amazing, Helena from Soul of Tanzania, got in touch within 2 hours of me sending the enquiry. She had clearly read every word of my rather long note, answered all my questions and provided a wealth of information. She included a sample itinerary as a starting point but made it clear that everything could be changed/customised to suit me and offered different accommodation options (with links to their websites) for each day to suit a range of budgets . But most helpful of all was the completely transparent breakdown of the costs, so it was a piece of cake to work out where savings could be made to bring the total cost within my budget. In the end, our email thread contained over 19 messages, but as she always responded within an hour or two, the whole process from first email to final confirmation and payment, took only 3 days. The other companies I contacted didn't stand a chance!!
As my trip approached, I had other more general questions and a quick email or WhatsApp to Helena, gave me the information I needed immediately. Throughout the whole process, she made me feel like a valued, important customer - even though I had opted for a "budget" safari.
Now to the safari itself.
I was met at the airport by Azizu, who drove me to my overnight accommodation. He was warm, friendly and full of information about the area.
The next morning I was picked up by Deo, who in my humble opinion must be the best safari guide on the planet.
Over the next 7 days, Deo went out of his way, to make sure my safari experience was the best it could be and on many occasions he said if I was happy, then he was happy. He had a great sense of humour, was fun to be around and made loads of suggestions that would make life easier for me. e.g. starting our visit to the smaller lake Manyara park very early, so we would avoid the pesky and painful Tsetse flies that come out in force during the hottest part of the day.
This amazing man clearly has some sort of sixth sense when it comes to the animals. His eyesight was incredible and he could see and identify tiny little blobs, barely visible to the naked eye, but it was his ability to know where the animals were and more importantly, how they were going to behave that made it so special.
I wrote a daily blog about my safari and this excerpt from one of the posts, sums up Deo perfectly.
"By the time we arrived, the line of cars was nose to tail along the track and everyone had their binoculars and cameras pointing towards a line of palm trees that flank the river.
Deo double parked giving me a gap between the cars to look through and after giving me some directions, I found her. A beautiful cheetah walking through the grass. I'd just got the camera into focus, when Deo shouted "hang on" and sped up the track past all the cars, way past where the Cheetah was walking, turned the car to face the way we had just come and stopped at the entrance to a gully.
What on earth was he doing?
We were a fair distance from all the other vehicles, I couldn't see the cheetah any more and our previous spot had been much better. I sat down hard and pointed out this very obvious fact to Deo.
"Don't worry" he said with a grin, "she's coming this way and she's going to cross".
Even with all his experience, I have no idea how he knows these things, but by now I had supreme confidence that he knew exactly what he was doing, even if, not a single one of the other guides had followed this rather high risk strategy.
He was absolutely right of course and not only did she cross - she entered the gully right in front of us.
I was smugness personified, as all the other cars raced to our position. You can say what you like about safari guides, but the ability to anticipate the animal's movements and get you into exactly the right spot, is priceless. He is truly the best.
The cheetah made her way up the bank and walked off into the high grass. I managed to follow her ( I'm getting better at this every day) and then Deo ( who hadn't even stood up or picked up the bins) said, " she's going to get up on that termite mound". She did and I think he must have some secret communication system with the animals, because with a vast open plain in front of us, who would have guessed she would give us such an amazing photo opportunity."
As well as providing a truly outstanding guide, Soul of Tanzania offered many other small details that made a massive difference.
The Safari vehicle was clean, spacious and provided excellent viewing opportunities from every angle.
There was a 4 gang power adapter in the car, so I had no problems charging my camera batteries, laptop and phone.
The binoculars supplied were incredible ( way better than my powerful telephoto lens).
The hot lunches, served on proper plates with nice cutlery and a glass of wine, were amazing and were the envy of all the other visitors sitting there with their cardboard lunchboxes.
And finally - all the accommodation options recommended by Soul of Tanzania, exceeded my expectations by a mile, especially given my limited budget.
So in summary, I cannot recommend Soul of Tanzania highly enough. They genuinely seem to have thought of everything when it comes to providing an outstanding, first class Safari experience. So if you are planning a safari, book with Soul of Tanzania - it will be the best decision you have ever made.
NZ
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Once in a lifetime experience
The experience was extraordinary from the moment we started our communication with the agency until the last day. The places where we stayed were of an extraordinary level; oasis in the heart of Africa.
The driver was very knowledgeable and cautious on the road.
The parks were amazing, specially Amboseli and Masai Mara.
An important thing that can be improved would be a mindful planning of the days on the road and at the parks; we felt that we spent too much time on the road and it was unnecessary. We’d suggest to focus on the best parks and to spend more time watching animals and at the amazing camps.
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fabulous
We did 6 days and 5 nights in mid luxury lodges ( Tarangire, Serengeti, Ngorongoro, lake manyara) the price was the most competitive one.
Everything was perfect.. Pick up at the hotel and he left us at the airport..
Rajab provided us a French speaker, we had a big car really confortable for us 2.
The organisation and the plan has been followed during all the trip and the games drive was incredible and also the logdes were we stayed were stunning particularly in Serengeti Park. All the meals provided were really good. I really recommend to live this experience with RajaTours!
CA
Attention to detail and flexibility are hallmarks of the Seven by Far team.
We were extremely happy with Sylvester and the Seven by Far team. In advance of our safari they were communicative and responded quickly to every email we sent. We made a lot of tweaks to the itinerary and I requested specific things to accommodate my mother, who is older, and traveling with me. They met each of them with enthusiasm
On the safari itself (almost three weeks through Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya & ending in Rwanda) they were wonderful. Our guides, Nicholas, Cosmos, and Friday were bright lights and fonts of information. They are truly experts in their countries and in the conservation of the wildlife there. We enjoyed every single day, and just when we thought it couldn't get better... it did! The guides were really conscientious of our time and our experience. They were super kind and careful with my mom, and were happy to be flexible and adjust our schedules on days when we needed that.
I would highly recommend this company, and I encourage you to ask for our guides by name: Nicholas, in Kenya, Cosmos, in Tanzania, and Erasmus Friday in Uganda.
AT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great 5-day tour in NP Mikumi & Selous
We booked a tour with GoingGreen Safari and were totaly amazed! We did a 5-day trip to NP Selous and Mikumi.
From the first moment on it was very well organised (fast email responsiveness, adaptability to our requests, early pick-up on time).
Our local guide (Lenard) was friendly, and very knowledgeable about the area and wildlife in both national parks.
He was also extremely patient and stopped anytime we felt like taking pictures or just observing the animals of any kind (elephants, giraffes, lions, hippos, monkeys, antilopes, etc).
The accommodation (bungalows, hotels) were far better than we expected, with delicious food and a great focus on the clients.
The whole safari trip was beyond our expectations and I do not hesistate to recommend Lenard and his tours further.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Professional, responsible, reliable, with a great itinerary and lodgings.
Four days from morning to night in a car driving for hours, and never a dull moment - wonderful wildlife, beautiful scenery, and a great guide, who spoke from long experience and with great knowledge and wisdom about every possible topic - the land, the animals, the culture, history, politics, etc. The arrangements were perfect, and the company was reliable - everything was as described, but truly, the guide made the trip. And the picnic lunches (I'm still craving that chicken).
CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A great tour guide and well-organized safari
The communication and planning before the safari was excellent. Customer service was very responsive. The tour was well executed and we were very fortunate to see a great number of animals in their natural habitat. There was ample flexibility in the program where needed, and Arun, our tour guide, was very knowledgeable and hospitable (great cook!). The accommodations were excellent and, overall, a wonderful experience! Highly recommended....
CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We asked them to book a trip of a lifetime and they did!!
We communicated with Wayfairer about our hopes for a trip to Africa. They planned out a trip and with a little back and forth we got exactly what we had hoped and more. They had some great suggestions for things to do and places to stay. The safari was at Lake Manz and was incredible, as was our accommodation at Chole Mjini and in Zanzibar. Over all I would love to travel with Wayfairer again.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing
I enjoyed it so much. It was my first time in Africa and our drivers were so patient, informative and fun to be around. I recommend using them on your trip.