CO
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
One of the top 3 trips in mi life
Great and efficient/personalized arrangements made by Henry alongside an incredible guide (Eddie)thoughout the three main destinations
US
Stay away from this company. I would give 0 stars if the site allowed
First I want to state the good:
- Lucy, the owner will respond to all e-mail inquiries very promptly before you book (remember this later, all immediate responses only come before you book and for anything after you make payment you are on your own).
- The driver Cyrus in Maasai Mara is excellent. He is really friendly and will go out of the way so you have a good game drive.
- Remember we are in Africa here. It is just beautiful and like no other place you will see. With or without a bad safari tour, you can't miss the beauty and wildlife all around.
The bad:
- Pretty much everything else.
- We paid $1000 extra to fly from Maasai Mara to Serengeti to avoid a long drive and wasting time on our short trip. Not only did Lucy screw up the flight and we still had to do extremely long drives, but she waited to tell us after we had started the trip and had paid in full in cash. Had she told us beforehand, we would have canceled and gone with another alternative. She's either dishonest or incompetent and neither is a good reason to waste your money on this tour company.
- The trip is not quite 8 days as promised. Obviously we wasted a lot of time driving to make up for the lost flight from Kenya to Tanzania, but by day 6 you are pretty much done.
- The safari driver in Tanzania was really reluctant. We were mostly done with game drives after lunch and would go back by 2:30 or 3 when other people were still out on their game drives and late afternoon is the best time to see animals. The Tanzania part is not run by Shelter tours, they just get a local company to take you around.
- After the trip was unexpectedly changed on us, we repeatedly asked Lucy for the new itinerary and didn't get one until the trip was almost finished. We were basically at the mercy of the Tanzania driver.
- The worst part was that we had paid for Sopa and Serena lodges (3-4 star equivalent) throughout the trip, and because Lucy changed the itinerary, we ended up staying in a simply terrible place in Lake Manyara on the last day. In the original trip there was going to be no stay in Lake Manyara and this was Lucy's pleasant surprise for us. It looked like a rundown dilapidated building, we were the only guests there and the food was bad as in did not taste bad but spoiled. They do not seem to have any guests so they must keep refrigeration and stuff off. simply disgusting considering how much we had paid. Any decent tour operator would have refunded us for the flight ticket and the terrible Lake Manyara hotel that we never agreed to but not Lucy. She stopped answering our desperate e-mails on about day 4 and we just gave up. Someone needs to shut her down. No conscientious person would charge for a luxury tour and give you this kind of experience. I strongly suspect the one review on this site that says they are excellent was written by Lucy herself. We really felt cheated by the whole experience.
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing first Safari
They arranged a safari 7 days: Samburu, Naibasha and Masai Mara . Everything was perfect and recommendations of times at each site and accommodations were very successful. Denis, our guide, was great; friendly, professional and attentive to our needs at all times (ah !! and a great driver ... must be taken into account with some roads in Kenya). Thanks to him, we could see all kinds of animals at each place. Accommodations perfect as recommended by Noah. At least offered alternative and not the same as other companies accommodation. they all perfect exceeded our expectations in terms of facilities and location for the park.
From our point of view, highly recommended safaris with this company.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Trip of a lifetime
Trip of a lifetime does not even begin to describe our safari adventure. Tanzania is truly a beautiful country, and we got to see the best of it thanks to the team at Easy Travel.
Emanuel was of incredible help and guidance during the planning portion - helping us navigate options, and customize our 7-day safari to cater to our wish list and the must-sees. (Tanzania Safari - 7 Days - Comfort Plus)
And on the ground, we lucked out with Ombeni as our driver (and hero!) - kind, fun, and game for any and every adventure (not even a rainy day stopped him!), we were blessed by his knowledge and patience as we explored Kiliminjaro, Lake Maynara, Tarangire National Park, the Serengeti, and Ngorongoro Crater.
The highlights without a doubt were the Maramboi Tented Camp, the night safari at Lake Manyara National Park, visiting a local school and village, and the balloon ride over the Serengeti.
Lodging throughout was excellent, and far exceeded expectations - the team at Easy Travel ensured that all our dietary restrictions were planned for and managed, and the staff at each hotel (Serena Lodges, Maramboi Tented Cap, Sopa Lodges) were courteous and catered to our every need.
The team at Easy Travel brought our safari dreams to life - we left not only with great memories and stories, but with new friends in Emanuel and Ombeni. I would highly recommend their services and look forward to booking with them again.
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Hundreds of cast with Lilian and Fazal
Communications during a six months period of preparation were excellent. Lilian, the manager of Zohar, is a plus for everything and has a great knowledgeability of the sector. She followed us at the beginning, during and at the end of Safari. She is really a reliable, efficient and competent director. Fazal was a great guide and an excellent driver. Thanks to him we saw a lot of animals, expecially cats. He has a great knowledgeability of the parks, of Tanzanian natural life and he is a kind and polite man you can speak with of many things. The car was good, confortable and quite reliable. The lodges and camps we chose following the tips of Lilian were really good, confortable, fine and safe. All in all, a wonderful experience.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Had a fun trip to Mikumi National Park
The entire 2 day trip was well arranged and managed. Davis was our guide and he was very knowledgeable. He also had a very sharp eye and could spot animals that no one else could. He knew where to take us, what to do, and got us very close to lions, zebras, elephants, etc.
Everyone in our group had a great time. Highly recommended!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Incredible safari adventure from Nairobi to Diani beach!
We were truly amazed by our 5 day safari with Siku Njema in Kenya with Benson Mwakugu and his colleague Joseph. Beginning in Nairobi, we travelled down through Amboseli , Tsavo West, Taita Hills and Tsavo East and finishing near Mombasa. Throughout our game drives we saw so many animals including elephants, lions, wildebeest, zebras, buffalo, alligators, giraffes, wild boar, cheetahs, leopards, hippos, hyenas, lions and lots of different varieties of antelope and birds and so much more. There were so many great things about the safari it is impossible to know where to begin. During the drives, both Benson and Joseph were stunningly good at locating wildlife and telling us all about each animal, its territory, behaviour, and part in the ecosystem. We learned so much! Our itinerary was very well designed, providing just the right amount of time for exciting game drives whilst scheduling stops for lunch and dinner en route. All of the accommodation was simply incredible (all of the highest quality, all with comfortable beds, excellent buffets and great atmosphere - we just loved these places!). Prior to our trip we were given a preview and we thought it would be good but our expectations were greatly exceeded. We added in visits to the David Sheldrick elephant centres in Nairobi and Voi (requires advance booking), both of which were truly great. In all honesty we had no idea what to expect as we had never been to Africa before but we were thoroughly delighted. Many thanks to Siku Njema!
NO
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very positive.
We had a great time and felt very safe and good taken care of. The whole trip was great from the beginning in Nairobi where we visited KarenBlixen house to safaridays in Masai Mara. And of course great days in Zansibar. The whole trip was a great experience.
I especially have to give credit to our extraordinary guides, Mathew in Nairobi and Geoffrey in Masai Mara!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Asante Safaris exceeded all expectations!
It's hard to put into words what an amazing life experience it was to safari in the Serengeti and travel across Northern Tanzania, but I'll attempt to do so. This was the greatest trip I've ever experienced. Our driver, Honest, was fantastic. Incredibly knowledgable, savvy, friendly - like traveling with a family member. The sites and travel routes were impeccable. We saw all of the Big 5 within days. Ngorongoro is a must stop - breath taking to see in person. Our trip was customized to meet our needs and all suggestions were fantastic. I would recommend Asante Safaris to any traveler considering a trip to Tanzania.
PK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A memorable experience!
My brother and I booked the day-trip to Mikumi, and had excellent service from the very first inquiry to the end of our trip. We were able to schedule on the day of our choice, and had a very professional team of driver and a guide accompany us. We were picked from our place and dropped at the end of the trip. During the tour, we were able to see all the animals we had expected to see and take some very memorable pictures. The lunch and the coffee were also great. Also the arrangement for the trip supplies was also according to our expectations. Overall the staff was very friendly and professional with excellent service!