35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
They are the reason why you should always choose a local tour opeartor!!
Extremely well organized and informed.
We were two couples from England and had taken plenty of advice already, much of which Safari Lifestyles agreed with and some not agreed with. What they did was to get the "on the ground" details just right... they obviously know all the areas very well and were able to pass on their feelings to us fluently.
I think being on location really does mean they are the most experienced in providing you with simply the best safari. Our lodge experiences were simply spot on.
Seriously good show.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Stress free travel
Motoke tours took care of all the details of our trip which made it a surprise for me too (since normally I organise the trips). Little things that were organised which you would not know to do yourself (dinner under the stars) made it truly special. When I sent my itinerary requests to other companies they couldn't do them but Motoke tours managed to. Our driver (Alfred) went above and beyond and was lovely to have on our trip with us.
I highly recommend this company.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best safari experience ever!
This safari tour company was the best trip ever, went with a group of 6, we all had a wonderful time. The guides were so knowledgable, professional and fun. The accommodations were wonderful, we can't wait to come back again! I highly recommend this tour company., have recommended them to friends and Family, will book with them again in the near future.
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great sleep out safari
I did did a sleep out safari and it was great. Chris was an excellent guide on the walking safari and really made the trip for me, sleeping outside under the stars was fantastic too. I'd highly recommend it.
MX
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent service
Everything went on as planned, and they are always looking forward to check that anything is missing. Very good service and attention.
US
Great safari, terrible administration
The experience was great and I loved the wildlife, the accommodations and our guide. However, the way that the company handles the business is incredibly unprofessional. First, after I wired a large amount of money to the company I got an email saying that the bank had changed routing number and to please wire the money again since "most likely" it would get rejected. After I went to the bank and emailed back I was told that the bank did get the money and that everything was all right but what if I had re wired the money like they asked me to?
After that, I repeatedly asked the owner to confirm that we would be picked up at a certain time on a certain day and he did confirm multiple times but when we arrived to the airport no one was waiting for us! I had to borrow a phone -and tip the guy who lent it- in order to get the a hold of the owner. He sent somebody right after but it does not fix how unsettling it was to arrive and not having someone ready (we were considering it might had been a scam.) When we got to Arusha the owner met us there and his excuse was that "since all their guests arrive at night he just assumed that we were going to do that as well." I confirmed with him multiple times about the time we wanted to be picked up and he just assumed???
We still rolled with it and didn't complain trying to make the vacation a fun time. Our guide was great, friendly, knowledgeable and seemed to be very into the wildlife, not just as a job but to have a true appreciation for the animals. So we headed up for a 7 day safari..., except it wasn't 7 days. We did not review our itinerary everyday because the company should know exactly what you paid for and should provide that for you but when on day 5 the guide told us that we would be ending the next day I went and checked the exact itinerary and it turns out that we were shorted 1 morning at the Serengeti. When I told the guide he said that he was going to talk to the owner and then came back saying that he would meet us in Arusha the next day to exchange ideas about what we could do to make up for that day but on the next day, of course, he did not show up. Instead he told our guide to offer solutions for us but the best one was a walking tour in Arusha which we did not care about. I paid to be at the Serengeti, not to walk in a city with nothing to see.
In the end we were fed up with the owner and his unprofessional attitude so we decided to just stay put at the hotel and lose that one day at the Serengeti except that the check-out was at 10 am and our flight was at 6 pm. Being that the owner wasn't there he couldn't handle the situation and our guide had to do his best. They allowed us to stay and use the pool but we had to give the room at 11 am which should not have happened. We should have been able to do late check-out but since the owner wasn't there to negotiate, we weren't.
We again said fine and just asked our guide to pass the information of our flight to Henry, the owner, to be picked up at 3 pm. But, you guessed it, the owner didn't show up to pick us up and the driver that he sent was over half an hour late! We requested to be picked up at a certain time because we have a plane to catch and things to do and they don't even respect that. Our driver was rude, acted like it was an inconvenience to drop us at the airport and was texting on his phone the whole ride.
You would think that after not being there to pick us up the company would do everything in their hands to make up for it but instead they were consistently careless. My wife and I had been in Africa for a while before the safari so we understand that things are not smooth and that people work differently there but when you pay the kind of money that we paid they should at least be there to pick you up.
Oh, and I asked for a receipt of payment at least 5 times which the owner kept saying "I'll send it tomorrow" but I'm still waiting. All I can think of is that he doesn't want to report the tour and pay taxes on it which I get but when your guest is constantly requesting it the company should take care of it.
Like I said, I loved the safari and the overall experience but I would absolutely not recommend this company solely based on the owner. And if you think that there are multiple great reviews that don't agree with mine, well, a lot of those come from Canada even if the listed country of the reviewer is a different one so I would not be surprised if they are fake reviews written to build up the company's profile.
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent
Very professional, my guide Salim outstanding, good food, a wonderful experience.
I highly recommend them.
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect safari, great guide, personal touch.
Amazing Usambara is established by Ronaldo Mvungi.
Ronaldo is great exemple of hard working, self-made Tananian guide. He started is working lifeas a porter on the Kilimanjaro. He studied for the guide papers, was assistent guide and later guide. He started succesfully his own company. His extreme strenght is a combination of extremely high service level and extremely good safari knowledge.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great safari experience
Eric from Foot Slopes Tours & Safaris was very helpful, he has answered us every question quickly and I had many questions. ;-) When we had problems to book the bus tickets from Uganda to Tanzania, Eric booked the bus tickets for us. Many thanks again to Eric. On the safari we had a perfect guide with Hilary. He was always funny, he knows a lot about the animals and knows where to find them. We have seen cheetah hunting, 2 leopards and many lions and also baby lions. And, of course, many other animals (elephants, giraffes, zebras, hippos,...). But unfortunately no rhinos. Many thanks again to Hilary. Our personal cook philipp cooked us very well. Many thanks again to Philipp. We had a 5 day safari and we went to Serengeti (off road), Ngorongoro, Tarangire and Lake Manyara. The last day in Lake Manyara we could have saved. By the exciting days before, the day in Lake Manyara was not so interesting. We can recommend the safari with Foot Slopes Tours & Safaris.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Stunning safari with great guide and service
Great experience. I can highly recommend Benson Safaris. Benson arranged everything for us and the communication was very good and fast. We had an excellent driver and guide.
I would recommend to pay by Credit Card as the bank in Tanzania (Barclays) can't handle a transfer via IBAN.