US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic trip every time.
For the second year in a row I booked a group Safari with Sun Safaris. Natasha has been my contact and she has guided me through every aspect of the trip. Everything was perfect and all aspects of planning and enjoying our Safari was beyond my expectations. If you choose Sun Safaris and Natasha and you are guaranteed a fantastic experience.
AE
Highly recommend Safari Care!!!
We arrived at Kilimanjaro International Airport to Arusha and were greeted by Kamal and our guide Wilson to take us to The Ahadi Lodge, about an hour from the airport, for an overnight stay and morning breakfast.
Following breakfast, we met Wilson to kick-start our safari beginning with Tarangire National Park. We spent the whole day on game drives with lunch in between and got to see lots of gazelles, giraffe, elephants and even a leopard here.
Following the afternoon game drive, we left for Boundary Hill Lodge which was a long and uncomfortable ride with not much to interest you along the way in terms of animals in mid-November as they have already migrated. The lodge itself was in a great location, the food was excellent – the service was decent but the overall quality was probably the lowest of all the places we stayed. That is a shame because at Boundary Hill Lodge we woke up to a sunrise view which we’ll remember for the rest of our lives – just for that one hour in the morning alone this place was worth the stay. Our room had wall to wall undisturbed views of endless plains stretching far into the horizon.
The next morning we set out for Lake Manyara National Park and got to enjoy some views of the Great Rift Valley wall from a distance. Although Manyara is famous for its tree-climbing lions, we did not see any here. However, the park had lots of beautiful bird life as well as elephant, giraffe and hippos. Following Lake Manyara game drives, we headed to Ngorongoro Farmhouse which has an amazing vibe, extremely spacious rooms, and is a really enjoyable place to stay. The food was decent, with beef, chicken, and vegetable options – it will fill you up even, though it’s not finger-licking by any stretch of imagination!
Although our original itinerary was to head out to the Serengeti, our guide decided to instead take us to Ngorongoro Crater before heading north to the Serengeti – we didn’t know it then but this was a great decision and I can’t stress how important it is to have a guide that knows what he’s doing. Ngorongoro Crater is a caldera with truly breathtaking views. The crater walls are forested but the drive is refreshing in the early morning with beauty all around you. Ngorogoron Crater is a world of its own and has all the animals – lion, elephant, wildebeest, buffalo, gazelle, zebra as well lots of birds– though we weren’t lucky enough to see a rhino. You cannot help but fall in love with this place called Ngorongoro Crater – we’d want to spend at least two days here when we come back and would thoroughly recommend others to visit and spend as much time here as possible.
From Ngorongoro onwards the trip got really fun for us – we left the crater in the late afternoon to make our way to Serengeti National Park where we arrived around sunset but got to enjoy the ride up to Serengeti Kati Kati Tented Lodge seeing elephant, giraffe, gazelle, and hyenas on the way. As you get to Ngorongoro and then travel up northwards towards the Serengeti, you really start to feel the wild African safari experience because you get into the heartlands. The drive up to the camp from the entrance of Serengeti National Park makes you feel you’ve really arrived – it’s vastness, size, serenity and natural beauty is truly remarkable and you actually feel transported to another world. The tented lodges change your experience entirely – staying within the parks, amidst the animals. The tents are very strong but you feel the atmosphere – they’re luxurious inside coming fully equipped with electricity and lights and though you sleep on comfortable beds like any good hotel you do feel like you’re camping somehow. The food here was really good which was served after a small bonfire.
We left morning around 7.30am to explore the park and continued our game drive until lunch, seeing all the animals you could imagine (apart from the rhino unfortunately! You really need to be lucky to see one), seeing lions, cheetah, leapord, giraffe, etc., from close up and afar. Drive where you want, there’s all sorts of animals in the habitat. We shadowed some lions on a couple of occasions that unsuccessfully crept up on prey and though we didn’t see them kill we saw them feeding off carcasses they had hunted earlier. But even watching an unsuccessful hunt attempt by lions is truly fascinating – it’s a real game, and played much more slowly than you would think, so it keeps you very engaged.
We ended our first day in the Serengeti National Park after 5pm, and were happy with the distance we’d covered exploring its central areas and later began moving northwards to spend the night at Serena Lodge. This Lodge was also tented but higher up and felt further away from most of the animals, though lion, hyena, and leopard apparently roamed around. The tent was very big inside and had a balcony with tables and deck chairs – again, it had all the luxuries. The food here was a tasty set three course meal though portions could have been more generous. The place had great ambience. We left again early in the morning around 7.30, and spent the morning exploring the northern part of the Serenegeti a little more, which was dry given the November season so there were not many animals left here. We headed back to the central part and did game drives in different areas, seeing all sort of animals again.
Of course, we cannot mention everything we did or put our experiences into words. Safari Care did a top job and Wilson became a great friend – his experience of over two decades shows and when we go back there is no doubt we’d want to have Wilson be our guide again. The car was great too, it was new and we had no problems – and that’s a massive plus when you read all the other reviews. The first two places we stayed were based on requests given research we had done – all the others were recommended by Kamal at Safari Care and they were indeed highly recommendable. It’s really important to find a safari operator you can trust, that is genuine, has experience, knows what they’re doing, and seriously want your satisfaction at the end and not just the money.
Going to Tanzania was a brilliant experience, and we simply cannot wait to go back.
When deciding what rating Safari Care should be given, we considered whether anything was missing or could have been better and the honest answer is no. Safari Care exceeded expectations and they truly do deserve 5 out of 5 stars!! Thank you Safari Care, in particular Kamal and Wilson!!!
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Most amazing and incredible experience & people!!!
Not really sure how to begin this lengthy review as words can hardly describe how truly amazing our trip was and I could go on about it for days but I will do my best!
This was my husband and I’s dream honeymoon and about a year and a half in the making. I did a lot of research prior to contacting any tour company and finally decided on 3 different companies to get in touch with to find out how to begin planning our trip. Right away we knew that Peniel Lazier (the owner and operator of Lights On Africa) was our guy… His professionalism was easy to see as he responded back super fast to all emails sent. He answered every one of our questions clearly and was more than happy to tailor our dream trip exactly as we wanted. Several changes made including timing of the trip didn’t make Peniel skip a beat.
Our trip Peniel helped planned for us was from June 22-July 7 and included a hike up the Marangu route on Kilimanjaro followed by 7 days of safari and then on to Zanzibar to rest and relax.
We arrived at Kilimanjaro airport and were greeted by our driver. My luggage had been lost during the flight so we let our driver know and immediately he was on the phone with Peniel to help sort our situation out. Peniel made sure to stay on top of this and by the third day my luggage came and he made sure to get it to us ASAP that which was greatly appreciated!
Our first day we hiked up the Marangu Route through stunning jungle of the equatorial and montane forests. The climb was tiring after travelling and no sleep for a day and a half but we were rewarded at the Mandara encampment by seeing a stunning family of about 12 black & white colobus monkeys! Here we had a picnic lunch – be warned the size of the lunches (and all meals) are huge, you definitely will not go hungry! Our guide later told us we should have expanded our stomachs before coming!
That night back in Arusha we met with Peniel for the first time. He was so friendly & genuine and made sure to give us a thorough breakdown of our next 7 days of safari and made to sure to answer any questions we still had. After a brief meeting he introduced us to Lawrence Elia our guide for the rest of safari and soon to be friend.
We were picked up promptly by Lawrence the next day to begin the adventure of a lifetime not knowing that our expectations were about to be blown out of the water!
Over the next week we travelled through Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Serengeti, and ended with Ngorongoro. Each park was so special, diverse, and beautiful in it’s own way – none of them disappointed. The amount of time spent at each park was perfect allowing us to see an incredibly wide variety of all the animals Tanzania has to offer. I could list everything we saw but it we be far easier to say what we didn’t (which wasn’t much!) Each of the tented camps or lodges we stayed at was quite wonderful. Peniel had gone above and beyond making sure that all camps knew it was our honeymoon. Each place either welcomed us with flowers on the bed, or fresh fruit & drinks, to a song with a large group and torches to wish us well. We didn’t expect any of it but were so thankful and blessed by it all. Our absolute favourite place we stayed at was the Acacia Tented Camps in the Serengeti (review on them as well), we highly recommend!
But back to our guide Lawrence because he deserves a review all on his own… By the time we had reached Tarangire on the first day we already knew we hit the jackpot with Lawrence. Aside from being super friendly this guy is filled with soo much knowledge it will blow your mind! Every time we would pass something new whether it be a plant, animal, insect, or Masai Lawrence would tell us everything about it. Literally any question we asked he had the answer to it and would describe in detail to make sure we understood and got the full feel of it.
We learned to trust Lawrence’s instinct early on; it was like he was one with the animals. We were always a step ahead of the animal as Lawrence knew what they would be doing next; from how they were hunting to something as simple as ‘have your camera ready this Lion is about to yawn’ (like I can’t stress enough how well he knows his animals) Lawrence never went with or followed the pack of safari jeeps as his intuition was far superior. At one point we witnessed a large pride of lioness, about 20 in total on a hunt towards a large herd of zebra, topi, Thompson gazelle, and warthogs. Instead of trying to cram the vehicle in with 50 others (all trying to get a look at the lions) he instead went way up river away from the group. We wondered what he was doing... he told us the lions would use the river to hide themselves and their scent as they moved closer, he told us that they would then come up out of the river and pass in front of us for the kill. We waited for about an hour and half watching the lioness track up river just as Lawrence predicted and then come up in front of us just like he said (by this time more vehicles had accumulated behind us) unfortunately do to sheer ignorance or driving force of tourists giving tips a bunch of other guides started to drive up and around us blocking the path of the lions to finish the hunt (hunt ended there). We were
So upset to have missed out on seeing such a spectacular event for us but also upset for the lions that had been working on that hunt for at least a couple hours only to miss out because of other guides. Although disappointed it only reaffirmed how lucky and blessed we were to get someone as knowledgeable as
Lawrence for our guide. He is incredibly passionate about his country, his work, the animals, and truly cares about their well-being.
It was such a pleasure also getting to know Lawrence personally between conversations in the jeep to having dinners with him at Acacia Camps. He openly shared his thoughts on life as a guide, his views on Tanzania, and many other points. We learned so much more than we thought we would! It was a sad day when we had to say goodbye to Lawrence as he had become our good friend but we hope to meet again!
We were so blessed to get up close to so many amazing animals. Our favourite moments would be: completely surrounded by a massive herd of elephants in Tarangire, an up close and what felt like a very personal encounter with an older male elephant in the Serengeti, finding 2 massive kings of the jungle and their lioness in the middle of nowhere and so close we could touch them and stare into their eyes, and last but not least being surrounded by a cheetah and her 3 older cubs and then having one of them come right up to our jeep and stare me and my husband deep into our eyes…. Many tears were shed on this trip out of sheer gratitude and awe of this incredible country and it’s animals. It was nothing short of magical!
We finished our safari and again met with Peniel. He wanted to make sure we enjoyed ourselves. My husband and I own and come from a family of small business owners. Knowing Peniel was born and raised in Tanzania and also the owner of this small business made things that much better. We ended up talking for a long time as he described how the company came to be which was truly an inspiring story of ambition and drive! Peniel’s humbleness and compassion for others is beyond touching. We found out most of his profits go towards helping orphans and kids getting education. After our touching conversation with Peniel it only concreted the fact that we couldn’t have made a better decision then to go with his company and again happy to have a new friend! He left us with beautiful hand beaded jewelry from the Masai as a thank you gift and we parted ways and headed to Zanzibar.
Tanzania now holds a deep and very special place in our hearts. My husband and I cannot express how profoundly grateful we are to have booked with Lights on Africa, have the experience that we did, and meet the most truly genuine, kind, and friendly people. We have so much love & gratitude for you Peniel & Lawrence, thank you for making our dreams come true!!!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Lots of animals, some problems
Our guide was knowledgeable and we saw some great wildlife. We did have mechanical issues with the vehicle along with some delays because of permit issues and mechanical problems. The food was very good
IL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The trip was wonderful. Rwanda is a beautiful place. The chimpanzee tracking was rather difficult fo
The trip was wonderful. Rwanda is a beautiful place.
The chimpanzee tracking was rather difficult for me, but i have managed to make it.
The hotels/lodges were excellent. Thank you for that.
Confidence (my driver guide) was very good. I am very happy that he was my driver/guide.
Thank you for handling the situation with Flame tree hotel in Kigali (the fact that no one came to take me from the airport), quickly to my satisfaction.
I will recommend Matoke tours to others
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
This guys are the best ever. Grace was amazing from the beginning and very very helpful
Thornbird are very professional and kind. Grace was always great at communication and preparing us for the safari.
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unforgettable experience with Face of Africa adventures
My fellow volunteers and I decided to go on a safari, we had spoken very well of this company and it was certainly the best choice, we were very happy!
We were with a very friendly and fun guide / driver who spoke Spanish, was explaining everything we wanted to know: about the Masai culture, life in Tanzania, the animals in the park (he has very good view to locate them), prices fair in souvenir shops.... Also the food that made us the cook was also very good and varied!
We went to the 3 most important parks (Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro) in 4 days and we camped in very nice places!
I could explain many more things but it is better that you live yourselves :)
Anyone who wants to live a nice experience I recommend Face of Africa adventures
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good value for money!!
We have just done a 4 days/3night Safari in Serengeti/Tarangire/Ngorongoro. Jalala has always been very kind and helpful, replying to emails quickly and answering to all our questions. When we first started looking for a safari we emailed more than one TO, but this one was the cheapest and Jalala was always the most helpful. The driver/guide always tried to take us to the hot spots and the cook always prepared very nice food (and in a good quantity as well!). The campings were good, we had hot shower and even a private bathroom in one of them! We highly recommend this TO!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing 7-day migration safari!
My boyfriend and I did a 7-day safari with Sayari Tano. We spent 3 days in Serengetti , including 2 days in northern Serengetti to see the wildebeests migration at Mara river. We found the tour on tripadvisor, but booked directly with the operator. It was the best value we found, and the safari was even beyond our expectation. Our driver/guide Freddy was young but very experienced, and very knowledgable about animals. We saw loads of animals, especially lions from just meters away! Every meal during the safari was delicious. The 4X4 has a roof that opens, so we had a fantastic view from up high. The team did all they could to take good care of us. We just couldn't be more happy with the safari!
CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best Safari experience in Kenya and Tanzania
This Canadian based tour operator is excellent. They work with two locally owned agencies, in Kenya and Tanzania, so you get a lot of local experience in designing your itinerary. The driver/guides were knowledgeable and professional. The selections of accommodations was exceptional and added to our safari experience and were selected to met our safari requests.
I couldn't recommend them more
You just gotta use them when you go to Africa (Kenya and Tanzania)
We also used them to add on a gorilla trek in Rwanda and some sun in Zanzibar. Again Africa Bound Safaris paired with professional local agencies and we had no issues and great experiences.