NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent
Barack is a truly honest and helpful guy with the best intentions
JP
Nice experience
Kilimanjaro Viking assisted us in safari four days. The coordinator advised lots to ease our worries. The guide was experienced expert, so we could look a lot of animals. The skilled cook made every meals. We were very much enjoyed this tour! Thanks. I recommend safari tour arranged by Kilimanjaro Vikings!
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing experience
We spend 4 days with Kitawa Tours. They picked up us from the bus stop to our Airbnb. The place was not safe so Valerien helpt us to find another one. The day after, the safari started. 3 national Parks in 3 days. We stayed in Panoram Camp, a very wild and cheap place. We loved it ! The experience was amazing, we saw many animals. Thanks a lot for everything. If you are looking for a VERY nice compagny for safari and human sharing, for sure contact them.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Awesome service providers
I was a little hesitant to book my safari using a tour operator at first, but booking with Advantage Travel turned out to be one of my best decisions this year!! Angie ensured our safari was perfect from the moment we were picked at Nairobi. Furthermore, they delivered on everything they had promised to deliver......like literally everything!!!! It was an awesome hassle free safari thanks to Advantage Travel
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Friendly, funny and professional
Big thanks at kitawa Safaris for our three amazing days at tarangire, Ngorongoro and manyara. Everything was just perfect. They are doing their best all time. Also if you need transport in arusha. Thanks a lot Valerian and Nixon!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Best Safari Experience in Kenya!
My safari experience with Advantage Travel was by far the best compared to other safaris I have taken previously. The bookings and communications with the tour operator were very smooth and quite informative. Angie was especially helpful and she has excellent customer service. The driver was also very professional and knowledgeable, he made us experience the Mara like we never had before. I would definitely recommend Advantage Travel to any of my friends.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent service with knowledgeable driver guides.
Awesome experience with good services. The prices were perfect for the services provided, had a wonderful time and will highly recommend the company to my family and friends. The driver guide was friendly with lovely personality and very knowledgeable. I enjoyed every moment!
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Nxai Pan National Park by Ian
Arriving at the Nxai Pan gate, we were greeted by another track masquerading as a river and informed that we could only be admitted at our own risk. This was a no-brainer as our camp was already set up in there and there was no alternative. As it was getting fairly late, we did a short game drive and repaired to camp for dinner and bed.
Next morning all was well and we set off to see what Nxai Pan had to offer. It was to turn out to be a day mainly consisting of bird sightings, apart from hundreds of Zebras, which was the reason we were there anyway. They were even more plentiful than the Oryx had been in Central Kalahari and our guide estimated we saw between three and five thousand in Nxai Pan. However, the vast amount of rain and the affect it had on the vegetation meant the Zebras didn’t need to migrate so far as in most years. Had it been a normal year he estimated we would have seen three to four times that number.
My first impression of Nxai Pan was how big and open the area is, although only a fraction of the area covered by Central Kalahari. It is classic Cheetah territory and that was what I was hoping to see. I didn’t have to wait long on our second day and we found a female with two young cubs, probably about nine months old. We spent best part of an hour with them as they slowly moved around their range and the cubs played happily with each other, before they moved into cover and we left them.
Next up was another herd (dazzle) of Zebras, and another brief Cheetah sighting, but much of the day was spent looking for Lions. After lunch, we were successful, even witnessing a (distant) mating session. There was a torrential thunderstorm later on in the afternoon, but once this moved through we had another Cheetah sighting, which turned out to be the brother of the female we had seen in the morning.
That brought us to the end of our two full days in Nxai Pan and just left us with a game drive to the gate next morning. We had been trying, unsuccessfully, to photograph a European Bee-eater since we arrived, but every time our guide killed the engine, the bird would fly. Finally we were successful as we found one in an Acacia bush and it didn’t move. Also added a Bradfield’s Hornbill to our list as it posed beautifully beside the track.
My overall impression of Nxai Pan is somewhat mixed. Certainly we saw exactly what we went there for, so we have no complaints on that score. But there are vast areas of the reserve that are inaccessible due to the no off-roading policy. I understand the reasons for this policy and agree with it, but it only works if there are adequate roads to use and that is where Nxai Pan suffers.
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Moremi Game Reserve by Ian
Arriving at the gate we were warned that it was very wet in the reserve and that certain tracks were impassable, one of which was the track into the Khwai reserve that we were due to take a few days later. Undaunted we set off and although we did encounter some very large and deep puddles our initial impression was that the situation wasn't too bad.
The drive was fairly uneventful as far as animals were concerned, apart from a first ever sighting of a Lesser Spotted Eagle and the first Red Lechwe of the trip.
We were entertained for quite a while by a couple of Yellow-billed Storks expertly fishing and also by a Monitor Lizard basking in the late afternoon sun on a termite mound.
Our first full day in Moremi dawned dry and overcast after another night of rain and thunder. Little did we realize how quickly a significant sighting would be made and within 5 minutes of leaving camp we were parked and watching a male Leopard in a tree. We spent almost two hours watching him before he finally came down the tree and moved away.
We headed off to see what else was on offer, but very soon it became apparent that there was even more standing water after the overnight rain. This fact was later born out when we spotted a crocodile actually swimming in the flooded wheel tracks. OK, it was a young one, but even so, it’s not a very common sight. The day was mainly one of spotting and photographing birds, including a couple more to add to our all time list.
Our second full day in Moremi was much the same as our first, although the weather was drier and there was no early surprise Leopard sighting. A couple more new bird species, but perhaps the highlight was our first encounter with a Rock Monitor Lizard. We witnessed a rather serious disagreement in a Baboon troop as an alpha-male chased an interloper round and around a lake at speed until he had been seen off and found another tree.
The remainder of the day was again mainly bird photography, punctuated by Wildebeest, Impala, Giraffe, Red Lechwe, Kudu and Leopard sightings.
Probably the highlight was the Southern Carmine Bee-eaters. We had spotted them the day before, but this time it appeared we were disturbing potential food sources for them as we drove along. We were being accompanied by up to four birds flying alongside us, it really was a beautiful sight.
We finished the day with another visit to the Yellow-billed Storks fishing and then back to camp for dinner. What greeted us when we got there was one of the best sunsets we were to witness during the whole trip.
All that remained in Moremi was the following day’s game drive to the gate and then the transfer into Khwai. Three memorable sightings were in store for us between the camp and the gate, which strangely happened at the same location. We were watching a large group of Red Lechwe, the most we had seen all trip, as overhead was flying a majestic African Marsh Harrier. As we were concentrating on these, there was a commotion behind and to our right hand side and what was probably the largest pod of Hippos we have ever seen were running down a track to a new flooded area. Magical to watch.
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
For what we wanted to see we had to go in the rainy season, but this season was really wet.
The journey to the Central Kalahari is quite long with around 45 miles on metaled roads followed by a similar distance on a dead straight, sandy track. Once at the Northern gate, the remainder of the journey is a game drive to wherever the camp has been pitched. We were located mainly in an area known as Deception Valley and recent sightings there had been very encouraging. The Central Kalahari Game Reserve is huge, so we were only going to experience a small fraction of it
Our previous safaris had all taken place in what I would describe as typical bush, even when we were in the Okavango Delta. But the wide-open plains of the Kalahari were a welcome change and immediately we could see our hoped-for sightings were a distinct possibility. The game drive section gave us a number of excellent bird sightings, but as we got into the Deception Valley area there were Springbok, Black-backed Jackal and three male Lions that we were to get to know quite well in our 4 night stay.
The opening day was mainly a bird sighting day and what was immediately noticeable was the number of Pale Chanting Goshawks about. Another fascinating discovery was that the juveniles are very confiding, but the adults will fly before the vehicle has even come to a halt. Aside from the birds we had some delightful encounters with Ground Squirrels doing their Meerkat impersonations, young male Springbok play-fighting and huge herds of Oryx (Gemsbok) the like of which we’d never seen before. The day ended when we encountered three Bat-eared Foxes in the middle of a track, but in fading light. The length of the grass due to all the rain gave them plenty of cover and they are very nervous anyway, so mainly all we saw were ears.
Day Two was to yield Hartebeest, a charming Scrub Hare and the one thing I wanted to see, Cheetahs. Not only did I see Cheetahs, I finally got to witness a Cheetah successfully hunting and see for myself the stunning acceleration these cats can generate. This probably was the highlight of the trip for me, but there were other encounters that came exceptionally close. We also witnessed the amusing sight of a Clapper Lark. These birds take off vertically with a sound not dissimilar to the drumming of a Snipe, but then issue a whistle as they dive back to the ground.
Our final full day in the reserve was by far the best and gave us memorable sightings of three male Lions. They are three brothers aged around 30 months and have yet to grow manes. They were a joy to be with as they play fought with each other in the early morning, but our evening encounter with them was more memorable. The sight of all three trying to climb a tree in failing light was one to behold and tested our photographic skills to the limit.
Before that we had seen the same Cheetah with her two cubs as the previous evening and this time had made two further kills. One was left for the Jackals, to distract them from the main kill, which was being gradually eaten by the cubs. The nearby trees began to fill with Vultures, while they waited for their turn to come in and clear up the remains.
Moving back to pick up the Lions again we found a tower of 30 Giraffe in an open area, all very relaxed and a couple of the younger males practicing their sparring on each other. Approaching this location we were very fortunate to spot an African Wild Cat in the undergrowth. In truth, they look like a longer-legged version of a domestic tabby we are used to, but seeing such a secretive animal was a bonus.
