DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It's an exceptional Tour Agency!
From the moment I arrived, Ethio Backpacker Tours took care of everything. Their professional guides were knowledgeable, passionate. I did the 3 days Danakil tour and it was a great experience. The food that was prepared for us freshly three times a day was a special treat. It's 100% recommended!
ES
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A fantastic safari experience with memories of a lifetime
We had the safari adventure of a lifetime, 4 wonderful game reserves in 8 days. Michael our guide was excellent driving us comfortably in sometimes challenging conditions on roads and tracks around Kenya. He was very skilled at finding the best wildlife photo opportunities and was always planning ahead to avoid any overcrowded areas of the parks
The accommodations and guest services and meals where all absolutely perfect for us and the people who worked in all aspects of the safari hospitality industry extremely welcoming and helpful beyond expectations
The wildlife viewing was superb with some unbelievable close up encounters !!
Great value for money and overall service from the first contact enquiry to the last day drop off at airport
I highly recommend Silas and his ultra efficient organization skills and Michael’s patience and general guidance absolutely top class all round !!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The company name Easy Travel describes what they do perfectly.
We used Easy Travel to plan and take care of us for climbing up Kilimanjaro and going on a safari around Tarangire, the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater. They organised all transfers, accommodation and food and everything was seamless.
The level of service provided was much more than expected. Our guides Kester and Paul helped to get us up the mountain, preparing us at every stage, full of useful advice and techniques on how to face some of the challenges ahead. Rasheed ensured we were fed and watered, bringing us “knock knock tea” every morning. The chef was professional
and we were blown away by what could be prepared on the side of a mountain. He even made us a cake on the last night on the way down to say congratulations.
The whole team were amazing and made the trip fun, interesting and safe.
The safari also surpassed our expectations. We booked a 4 day trip which left us desperately hoping to return to see the rest.
Evarest went above and beyond to ensure we came across as much wildlife as possible. He frequently checked in on our options and adapted the trip to suit our needs. He had the latest information about the migration and kept up to date on what Wildlife was where. He also shared lots of Interesting stories of his experiences on safaris and information about wildlife which made the time disappear so quickly we know we need to return.
The accommodation was also fantastic on the safaris.
At all times we felt confident in good hands and well looked after.
I can’t thank Voice and the whole team enough for what an amazing journey we have experienced so far. The next part is Zanzibar for a relax which I am sure will also work out excellent.
We hope to return to Tanzania and explore more of the Serengeti and when we do we will definitely book with easy travel. I will recommend Easy Travel to my friends and family as they really did make everything easy.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The tour operator and the team are awesome and very friendly.
Safari Line defender has been my best tours and travel company and would recommend them to everyone. The staff are very friendly, efficient and you indeed get your value for money. If you love travelling and adventures, look no further. Safari line defender got you .
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Attentive to ensuring we had a wonderful inclusive experience.
We used Tanzania Choice Safari for our 8 day vacation. There were 3 couples, which was the perfect size for a safari vehicle. We had a blend of 4 days safari, and what I would call community immersion. We attended church service in the community, visited hospitals, toured the shifting sands, gorge, and had time for some shopping. We chose a blend of lodges and a bush camp. The bush camp was my favorite place to stay. Most of our meals were included. We thoroughly enjoyed our driver. He was knowledgeable and asked us what we wanted and then delivered. I would highly recommend Tanzania Choice Safari.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A Perfect Kilimanjaro Climbing
After safari in Tanzania we decided to do a Kilimanjaro Climbing and this company was recommended to us so we decided to climb with them.
We 5 Days kilimanjaro climbing via Marangu Route and Josiah a.k.a Babaluu was our Mountain Guide.
One of the director of this company came to meet us for greeting and briefing, after there Babaluu took us to the renting shop to rent our climbing gears since we didn't carry any as this was not part of our plan.
The next day after breakfast we drove to the Marangu Gate passing through Moshi Town
After all the formalities at the gate we started to climb with our head guide an the rest of the young and energetic crews (porters)
Something to tell you is no matter how physically fit you are you will always need a very charming and Caring Mountain Guide to help summit as on the way up we saw many hikers getting back without making to the top but on ourside it was different we were taken care, the crew sang many songs to us and whenever we felt like giving up they were always there to encourage us even to carry us on their back.
To be honest we couldn't make to the top without this whole team.
We will always remember this team and the company for providing us with the great crew.
Thank you so much Kitau, Thank you Babaluu.
We will be good ambassadors of Kitau Tanzania Safaris..
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Attention! Unprofessional safari company, The boss begged my daughter to delete her negative review!
I know it's a very long review. I hope you will read until the end. The purpose is I just want to tell people the truth about this company. My personal opinion is completely different than all positive reviews here.
Since there’re many positive reviews here, we decided to go for Focus. At the beginning, the communication between me and Nelson (the owner I guess) was smooth. He wanted us to pay 25% deposit to confirm the booking. We insisted to pay only 10%. He agreed. The entire fee was $1700 for two persons 5D4N budget safari with jeep.
On arrival, their driver picked us up at the airport and dropped us to their assigned hostel “Arusha Safari Hostel”. Since we booked budget tour, so we didn’t expect that much. Although google reviews show that the hostel has 4.1 stars, from our point of view, I would only rate 1. The staff who opened the gate at midnight (we had night flight) was kind of piss off that we somehow woke him up. Our private room with bathroom is very small. The toilet light is ridiculously dim. The worst is we needed 2 sim cards and we didn’t have time to go downtown to get. So we asked the hostel staff what time do the telecom shops open? He said he could send a staff from vodacom to the hostel. This person was wearing vodacome T-Shirt, he had also machine for registration. So we believed that he works for vodacome. At the end, we paid $60 for two cards which is a lot but we had no choice. After that, I checked on internet, two SIM cards should cost less. We paid too much and I texted that vodacom guy, he ignored my messages. So we are pretty sure that we were ripped off.
On our first safari day, we met Nelson personally. I was going to pay him the balance of the tour fee which is $1600. I kept $1700 aside including $100 for the tip. So I counted only $1500 after taking the $100 out in front of Nelson, I asked him to count to make sure, he counted and confirmed it was just $1500. But I was pretty sure I kept $1700 aside. There must have $1600 in total. I counted again, thank god it was $1600.
We were supposed to go with Brideson. He picked us up and he seemed to be very kind. He told us that he would be our jeep driver. At last minute, another driver Dickson has been swapped.
We proceeded to Tarangire National Park, one the way, there was smoke coming from the cockpit area. Of course we had to stop. We drove to a garage and luckily we could still proceed.
Dickson didn't give us briefing at all before we started the safari. So we all didn't really know elephants are very aggressive and we should never try to touch or make any noise in front of them. (We knew it because we just learned from our other safari tour. One of our group members who is from Ethiopia hit one elephant and made noise, I said it loud "don't touch!" We are in danger if the elephant get mad. Dickson has heard this but didn't say anything. We were speechless. We arrived our first camp, Dickson told us (we are 7 people in the tour, but 1 guy stayed at the lodge)
At dinner, Dickson was supposed to give us briefing but he has never shown up. One of our group members tried to find him by the help of the camp staff as we have no idea what time should we wake up, breakfast and start time.
On the first day in Serengeti, we all hope to see big five. My daughter and me had safari experience in Kenya, so we know that the drivers use walkie talkie to communicate each other. Once an animal has been seen, all drivers drive there. Dickson didn't use the walkie talkie although there is one in his seat. I asked him why didn't you use? He answered „he doesn't need because he has experience".
We were skeptical about it and we still have hope. We saw many animals but no leopard. At night in the camp, people talked to each other and we figured it out many groups have seen leopard but we didn't. We were very angry because Dickson refused to use walkie talkie and of course disappointed.
The rest of our safari was just nightmare. As I mentioned there is one guy from Ethiopia. He is the only one on our group to stay in the lodge. So we have pretty much different wake up and pick up times. On the 2nd day game drive in Serengeti we all wanted to wake up earlier in order to catch the sunrise and hope to see leopard. Dickson told him already his pick up time, since we know other groups have seen the leopard on the first day so we all agree to leave to the game drive half to one hour earlier. So we suggested Dickson to phone the Ethiopian guy at the lodge. Next day when he got into the jeep, he asked Dickson, "who came the idea to wake up so early? My daughter said “all of us” After that he said to Dickson, “next time I will beat you up “. Dickson didn’t respond. At the end we left Serengeti with disappointment without seeing leopard.
Next day our whole group wanted to wake up earlier but the Ethiopian guy insisted to wake up after 7am. We the whole group including Dickson (I empathize he is the representative of Focus of Africa" and the Ethiopian guy were standing in the camp among many other tourists. He started to argue with us because he didn’t agree to wake up before 7am as his lodge is 1.5 hours away from where we stayed. He insulting us like leave “my” country although he isn’t from Tanzania few bad words. He shouted at all of us “you fxxking white people go back to your countries and stuff like that. At the end we all told Dickson we don't want to travel with this guy anymore and asked if he could talk to the boss. Next day as planned we left our camp with a compromised meeting time and pick up point (someone will pick up the Ethiopian guy and bring him to an intersection.
At the meeting time he didn't show up, we proceeded to our game drive without him and we were all very happy. Unfortunately some hours later he joined us again. I understand that a travel agency could not choose who is joining the group. What I wanted to say is, Dickson as the representative of the tour, he should have done better with communication with the company and express our concerns. He told us he did but the company cannot do anything. Our group has spilt today as most of them finished their tour and we proceeded to our final game drive.
On our last day me and my daughter knew that one Japanese guy at the same camp is going to join us. One more person is missing, we don't know who is going to join. We asked Dickson, who is going to join us? He surprisingly responded us “don’t worry, she is WHITE”. We were speechless, we never say any bad things about any color, we respect all human and we’re shocked to hear his response.
Finally our tour came to an end. My daughter and me will fly to our next stop, she will hike later in kilimanjaro. She needs altitude pill from pharmacy. Dickson brought us to the meeting point to meet the driver to the airport. Someone from Focus took my daughter to the pharmacy, the pills costed $22 for one single pack. After that we were in Zansibar, we went to two pharmacies, both charge the pill only $1-1.5 for the same amount of pills. Was it another scam?
Go back to the story at the beginning, here is my conclusion::
The cooperated hostel is taking advantage of their guests for instance providing extremely expensive sim card service. Was it a coincidence?
Money counting could be a coincidence but also could be on purpose, we will never know
They don't care how the whole group feel, they just ignore our demands. Instead of separating the whole group and one individual person, they insisted to put us together for the rest of our tour which is unacceptable. At the end nobody could enjoy our last day. Nelson has blamed me about not telling him before. In fact, Dickson should have communicated with the company.
Was it a coincidence that their staff ripped my daughter off due to the 20 times more expensive pills?
My daughter has written a negative review here, I didn't know it and Nelson wrote me one day via WhatsApp and asked why am I doing this? I told him I still haven't gotten the time to write. He beg me to convince my daughter to delete her review and offered me a partial refund. I forwarded the message to my daughter, we both agreed that we could only accept full refund. Money is for us important but unfortunately money cannot buy us the time back. Nelson trying to persuade me for the partial refund by making me uncomfortable, saying that the negative reviews will lead to a bankruptcy of his company, unemployment and family financial difficulties.
Their jeep has broken down for at least 5 to 6 times for our entire trip. On the last day, we got flat tire and Dickson said it’s safe to proceed.
Dickson didn’t really care about the group, we were taking photos, he didn’t ask if we are done and just started driving
Sometimes we saw animals and wanted to take pictures, he didn’t stop and keep driving until we said please stop.
At all briefing times Dickson was always disappeared.
Dickson didn’t deserve to receive so much tips from the whole group, he then gave us hard time about this.
PL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The best tour operator
I highly recommend Porcupine Expeditions. We were on safari for 4 days 3 nights (Tarangire, Serngetti, Ngonkoro - budget option (in tents and a car shared with other tourists). The safari was amazing and we saw all the animals we wanted to see.
But most of all I would like to thank Mrs. Anna, who is amazing woman. Very caring and helped us with everything. Mrs. Anna picked us up from the airport and took us to the hotel from which we were leaving for safari the next morning. In the meantime, Mrs. Anna prepared a hearty meal for us in her restaurant. We also wanted to take advantage of the fact that we have a few hours in Arusha and visit the immediate area. Mrs. Anna's daughter showed us around the city and told us a lot of interesting stories. Only during the tour we found out that Abigale is a guide and that's why she has such amazing knowledge. Thank you, Abi!!!. Additionally, Mrs. Anna arranged and activated a local SIM card for us, ordered bus tickets for us while we were on safari and provided us with great care. We returned from the safari around 5 p.m. and the bus was at 8 p.m. Mrs. Ania arranged for us to take a bath after the safari in the hotel next door, prepared a meal for us again and then took us to the bus.
I will also add that Porcupine Expeditions offered us the best price of all and I compared the offers of 20 agencies. I highly recommend it again. You won't find a better company
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience in Tsavo East and Tahita Hills.
Thank you Mercy and Francis for making this experience just great! Communications with Africa Marvel Tours was perfect, after checking many other we definitely trusted Mercy and team for her availability and fast reactions.
First hours in Tsavo our driver Francis brought us to a spot where lions could be and we were so lucky to see a lioness right in front of us!!!
We slept at Sentrim camp on a beautiful open view builded tent, food was amazing and the private environment really resonated with the experience.
That day we also spotted very close by hyenas, buffalos, zebras, giraffes, elephants.
Second day we begin seeing 3 sleeping lions and many others before going to Tahita Hills where we really enjoyed the more green areas and variety of landscape. But the best part was on our last day where another lioness crossed our path and was so close to our jeep.
Highly reccommed to upgrade on a open roof Land Cruiser and to have a private safari experience,
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Tour company - Andrew was 🤩
Great company who coordinates an itinerary specific to your needs and the time of year you’re there. Our guide Andrew was amazing - he’s very experienced and keen to please - we saw 10 lions per day and saw all of the big 5! He was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and funny! He also troubleshot issues as they arose and advocated for us to ensure we had the best experience on safari and with our lodging. Amazing experience overall! Delicious food!
