50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Tarangire National Park by Francois de Bruin
Nice start to a tremendous holiday
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Serengeti National Park by Francois de Bruin
Nice time - we spent 3/7 there and it was magical
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Ngorongoro Crater by Francois de Bruin
Nice experience and saw the most blue crowned cranes together ever
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Francois de Bruin
Good variety
Trip of a Lifetime
My wife and I had visited the Welgevonden Game Reserve in South Africa in December 2015 for wildlife viewing. Apart from some wildebeests, some antelopes and some giraffes, we didn’t see much. We didn’t see one lion, we didn’t see one leopard, we didn’t see one cheetah. When asked why we hadn’t seen one of the big cats, both the lodge ranger and the manageress told us that hyenas and jackals had introduced a “mysterious disease” that would kill all big cats. In the whole Welgevonden Game Reserve there was only one lion left.
According to http://www.welgevonden.org/news/2016-news-archives/197-canine-distemper-virus-on-welgevonden-and-the-last-lioness.html, Welgevonden’s last Lioness had died in July 2016:
“On December 10 2015 the carcasses of 3 lions, a large male, adult female and a sub-adult male were observed just outside one of the lodges on the reserve. ... During an afternoon game drive on December 18 2015, one of the western pride females was observed having a seizure and Canine-Distemper Virus (CDV) was suspected. … However, December 26 2015 brought about the next chapter of the nightmare: the first seizures observed in one of the southern pride’s lionesses…”
We had spent a fortune flying from Australia to Jo’burg, pay for a hire car to get to Welgevonden and a stay in an upmarket lodge.
After this huge disappointment, we flew 16 months later to Tanzania. We did a 10 day private tour with Earthlife Expeditions. We had told Deo where we wanted to go and to see the wildebeest migration, when they were crossing the Mara River. We wanted to see Lake Manyara National Park, the central and the north Serengeti and the Mara River, Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire National Park and Arusha National Park.
Deo worked everything out for us and it went like clockwork. In the north Serengeti we watched from a hot air balloon hundreds of thousands of wildebeests migrating north towards the Mara River they needed to cross to get to greener pastures. Agri, our driver/guide was spot-on, when he told us, that the wildebeest would cross the Mara River in 5 minutes. And it did! In total, we have seen 5 or 6 crossings. We even watched a crocodile attacking a wildebeest.
We saw everything, we hadn’t seen in disappointing South Africa, everything we had desired to see, including lots of prides of lions, leopards and cheetahs. We saw herds of elephant mothers and their babies. We had seen hundreds of Hippopotamuses. Agri has a keen eye. He sees everything. In Arusha National Park, Agri spotted even “Colobus monkeys”, we hadn’t seen and wouldn’t have noticed had we been on our own.
Compared with South Africa, we would give Earthlife Expeditions 100 out of 100. We should have got into contact with Deo 16 months ago and gone to Tanzania in the first place!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Nice destination with lots of wildlife and variety of parks
We had a fantastic trip in Tanzania and will remember it for a life time. Travel is all about the "stories" that are created...and we have wonderful stories to tell our family and friends. We structured this trip in as if we would never be back - we wanted to see a variety of things in the time we had and not just zeroing in on one type of experience. That has now changed...we definitely want to go back to Tanzania for another adventure. The three very distinct stages of our trip (safari, beach and Stone Town) all offered unique views into Tanzanian culture, land and wildlife. The safari offered wildlife viewing that was beyond anything we expected. We saw loads of lion! Wonderful accommodation and the weather was very pleasant for that time of year and no where close to the temperatures recorded on the internet
US
Excellent safari experience
The wildlife (especially the primates) is amazing and surprisingly accessible. The wilderness is very enjoyable. We've been to other parts of Africa (mostly southern Africa) and Uganda is refreshingly very unique and varied. The drives along the countryside is also a lot of fun. The people are very friendly and almost everyone speaks English, which made it convenient for us. We went in July and the weather was spectacular. We went mostly to the Western parts (Bwindi and QE NPs) and also stayed near Lake Victoria.
ES
We have seen a lot of animals and spectacular scenery
We have booked two different tours:7 days Etosha Explorer Tour (Wild Wind Safaris) and 4 day Swakopmund and Sossusvlei Adventure with Chamelon safaris.Weather was very good,dry and a lot of sun, no clouds.Our guides (Leslie Joseph and Griffith) were excellent.We have seen a lot of different animals, the accommodations have been very confortable and the food delicious.We will recommend these safaris to our friends and family.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
beautiful landscape, lovely people, great beaches
Our trip was great. We have seen so many animals like giraffe, hippo, elephant, many beautiful birds, black mamba and other snakes, kudu, impala, buffalo, baboons, crocodile and big groups of lions on both days. One group was already at the place we have expected to have lunch...
We could tell the driver whenever we would like to stop to take pictures or to enjoy the landscape.
Also the food was delicious and the accomodation was very quiet, except the bush babys we could hear at night...
When we arrived after 6hours drive from dar es salam we could relax on the boat and see first animals like hippos, lizard, crocodiles and birds. Sunset on rufiji river was great.
The walking safari was very interesting and we could learn a lot about animals and plants.
We can really recommend doing this 4 days selous safari.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great people great places great prices, a wonderful experience.
The entire experience was outstanding and exceeded our expectations by a significant margin. We will be back.