US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Blessing and Tendaiy run a well organized top notch organization.
The entire 9 day trip from Vic Falls to Maun ran seamlessly. We were a party of 9. We saw and did so many cool things, lots of variety and things to do and see. Blessing is very experienced and a great tour leader. He always has the interests of his clients in mind and works to make everything run smoothly. I would highly recommend Africa Zim to anyone interested in the trips he offers.
PT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Making our dreams real
The whole experience was really well organized. All our questions and requests were answered as this was our first safari and visit to Africa. Our expectations were overall exceeded and the WT & ST was more than a great tours operator for us. Our experience was according to planned from the start when we first asked the quotation. We had a great cook and tour guide with us the whole 5 days! We felt safe and well treated the whole time. Tanzania is such a beautifull country and we hope to visit other parks one day.
DE
20-35 years of age
Well organized Kili trekking
We took the Machame route to climb the Kili and it was a really nice experience. We were picked up at our hotel by the team of Afrishare and after the Kili we also got dropped of at the hotel. Afrishare had good equipment and our guides were really nice and professional. During our trekking we could always stop for taking pictures or to ask questions about animals and plants around us. They also had always a look at all of our group and when some of us were faster than other it was possible to split the group.
Also our porters were really friendly and they always offered help.
It was also incredible to see how the cook was preparing all the nice meals with so less things. We always had a lot of nice food.
All in all I can really recommend the Kili Trekking with Afrishare trekking and safaris!
NG
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was Wow experience. I will recommend them to anyone any time anyday
yes it was. They are really nice and have good customer service
HK
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Trustworthy, responsive, professional, planned per client’s expressed needs
Pre trip:
Chris the responsive front line contact with whom I worked out the itinerary was an indispensable asset. He was the first to respond to my email enquiry sent out to several companies. Having a whatsapp call the same day helped to understand from the start what I wanted and more importantly, allowed exchanges on options and constraints and setting realistic expectations (this is afterall Africa!) I asked for 8 days, But after more research and discussions (not pressure from Chris) to 12 days. Chris often responded in his middle of the night or wee hours due to international time differences!
Itinerary:
We ended up starting from Kigali to Kampala. Started with golden monkeys (very enjoyable; saw lots close up), then the AMAZING Bwindi gorillas (one hour trek awesome, and 4 hours habituation trek totaled 9.5 hours up and down steep dense mountains); Queen Elizabeth National Park (long drive, no lions on trees sighted but amazing boat cruise and relaxation with beautiful views and pool at riverside hotel), followed by chimpanzees (thanks to Tolbert and Martin who suggested changing from early habituation trek to a normal one starting 11:30 mid day so we saw many interesting chimps of various ages feeding on the ground rather than just swinging high up between trees - this is priceless tip!!); then Murchison Falls (amazing game drive and boat cruise with sights of giraffes, lions, elephants, crocodiles, hippos, tobies, etc etc), ending with adventurous white water rafting at Jinja. So glad we included Murchison Falls and Jinja as both proved to be wonderful experiences despite the hard drives.
Accommodations:
I asked for between budget and above average accommodations and compared them from the listings provided by Chris. Most important was to read through reviews and decide what I wanted and was prepared to pay for.
Tips: eg air conditioning is hard to come by in lodges in the wilderness, water from showers often small, sometimes need running to wash out the brownish, maybe colder than wished, expect mosquitos and maybe ants or insects, rooms perhaps further away from main lounge, solar power could run out, fewer power sockets, unavailable or unreliable network and WiFi ... All this is part of safari adventure!
Also some preferred lodgings were on wait list so expect last minute changes.
Transport:
We had two very clean Toyota vans, one for four and another for two people which worked out very well. I am happy to lie flat on row of seats due to poor back and very bumpy roads (called “African Massage”). The driver guides Tolbert and Martin were great drivers on the challenging roads especially in Uganda! They also pulled skills to catch greater sights of lions and other wildlife.
Tip: ask for vans with padded sides along the game viewing top. Also suggest Encounter Africa provides cushions for sitting on top in front for greater comfort for vans with such fittings.
All in all, a super, memorable safari adventure with Encounter Africa who was very professional. Very flexible, responsive and kind. We had lots of fun and laughter together with Tolbert and Martin. Would recommend highly and will use them again in the future.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Amazing
Excellent services with remarkable guides. Their patience and courtesy was unrivalled. We will come again and again!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Skywide Delivers
Our trip to Masai Mara went exactly as planned. David Thumbi is commmunicative and professional, and I cannot say enough praise for our guide and driver, Wachanga. His knowledge of the roads, the animals, and the park comes from 28 years of guiding tours through all of the parks of Kenya. He is friendly and thorough, and an excellent driver, an absolute requirement in Kenya. We stayed in the Mara Leisure Tented Camp, another good decision. Giraffes and baboons hang out right by the camp entrance. The accommodations are exactly what you want after a day of driving over dusty roads: comfortable, immaculate, and relaxing. The staff is excellent and the buffet has all kinds of food.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful and smooth long safari!
We just ended our two-week-long safari through Kenya and Tanzania and, as we are going through our photos it seems hard to believe how much we had experienced and seen in the past two weeks.
From the start, Anne was always promptly communicating and checking for every idea and wish we had, being that this was our first safari trip ever. Ours was a budget safari, which means we chose to stay at tented camps for two weeks, and were only treated to a lodge on our final night (Manyara Serena). The camps were excellent, clean, comfortable and some were even romantic.
Upon our landing in Nairobi, Anne and a couple of guys from the office welcomed us and took us to our hotel. On the first day of safari our Kenyan guide, Daniel, was waiting for us and from that point on it was a smooth breeze of a safari, without a single glitch whatsoever for the entire two weeks! Daniel was AMAZING, just as everyone and everything else about this trip, and on top of being a fenomenal guide and tracker in parks, he is also an interesting interlocutor and discussant. We had a fabulous time with him on the road. At the end of our Kenyan leg Daniel took us to the Tanzanian border and transferred us to the care of our TZ guide, Charles, a great, courteous guy, who managed the African massage roads along our route and managed to find leopard on multiple occasions for us, given that leopard was probably the only animal we did not encounter in Kenya. Charles also patiently helped us ship some of our bulky and excessive souvenirs back home, to make the rest of our trip, well, lighter.
The entire trip was spectacular; the employees at all places were the embodiment of courtesy and kindness; we saw many, many parks, but perhaps a few absolute highlights to help other people in planning their trip:
- Amboseli: Kili + tons of elephants - enough said.
- Naro Moru River Lodge, close to Ol Pajeta Conservancy: an overlooked but spectacular place from colonial times. It is old but is very well kept, clean, and safe from mosquitoes. The cottage we got had a fireplace and a bathtub, both of which we enjoyed very much, beautiful grounds for walking, and a breathtaking view from the swimming pool. The grounds teem with colobus monkeys as well, and give you plenty of opportunities to photograph them. In Ol Pajeta you will see and meet the most endangered rhinos, and we saw a big pack of lions as well.
- Maasai Mara NP - do not miss it even if you are visiting Serengeti! MM teems with animals, and even though the migration seems to be late this summer and we did not see much of it, there are animals in big numbers everywhere, big pack of cats, like the famous group of 5 cheetahs (Tano Bora), families of lions, 15 giraffes at a time, etc, etc. We also took the balloon ride and it was spectacular even though there were no millions of migrating animals underneath. I can only imagine what it is like with them.
- Hell's Gate NP - most likely the only park where you are safe walking or biking and taking selfies with animals, plus at the end of the bike route you get to hike into an exciting gorge. This was one of the very few times we got to use our legs on this trip and it was very much needed.
- Ngorongoro - needless to praise this spectacular place, but just to point out that Anne's choice of a coffee plantation as our accommodation was wonderful, with clean air and another opportunity to walk around coffee and bean-dotted hills.
- Lake Natron- we were lured by the famous photos of red water, only to get disappointed that those photos were taken nowhere near the NP, YET, what we experienced here took the blues away and made it our final highlight. We got to hike into a river canyon to the secret waterfall from which the surrounding Maasai villages and lodges take their clean water; swim and tobogan down the river, and enjoy a really exhilarating and wet hike. The next morning we took another 2-hr walk from the camp to the lake itself through villages and made friends with the local ladies who told us took their goods to the market - only to realize that we were the market itself, as they were trying to sell their good to us for most of the trip. Nevertheless, it was all fun and in good spirit.
Overall, AMAZING indeed and we can only recommend AMAZING to everyone.
TN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing 12 Days in Kenya and Tanzania Safari
This guys made our honeymoon to be one to be remembered for a very long time. From day one of our enquiry Tyson responded each and every question with great knowledge and no one time he was tired of our endless questions. We had to be sure of what we are asking is what we shall get while on ground. They delivered each and every aspect which was listed in our itinerary. Fabulous driver guide in John, very friendly and he has an extra eye to spot wildlife. The lodges and tented camps were top notch but my favourite was Gibbs Farm, very nice property. Thanks ADM team for a trip worth our money and our honeymoon. Guys book with ADM you won't be disappointed.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
An outstanding and very memorable experience. Ulinda Safari Trails is the best!
This was not our first safari, having done several in Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, South Africa and Botswana, but it has been our most memorable. Jane’s many years of experience makes her safaris outstanding. Ours was a private safari (just my wife and I) with Jane and her staff of three.
We chose Ulinda because of Jane’s experience. She is a photographer and positions the vehicle for best photos and light. Her vehicles are custom made, closed in with a pop up top and seat no more than four. Everyone has a window seat. They are very comfortable, especially on cold mornings and long dusty drives.
We are not campers and Jane has the option of upgrading to a large Meru tent with spring beds and private shower and toilet which we found very comfortable.
Excellent food and good variety. The camp grounds were in spectacular settings. The animal experiences were amazing.
