NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A safari beyond expectations
My wife and I have been on a private 10 day safari trip with Epic in four of the northern parks of Tanzania: Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro crater and Serengeti. Our friendly guide Temba has a outstanding knowledge of the wildlife and their habitat. He was always keen to spot rare animals and happy to give us (detailed) information. Thanks to him we were able to see the big five. We have even seen over eleven rhinos! In my opinion, Temba is also familiar with the favorite spots of the animals in the parks. Therefore we have been able to watch the animals before other cars showed up.
The trip was also well organized by Epic Tours. Temba picked us up at the airport in time and arranged everything we needed. Also the meals which were prepared by Peter (the cook of Epic Tours) are outstanding and a good combination of the local and international cuisine. Furthermore, Epic Tours responded very fast on our e-mails in the planning stage of the trip.
In short, this trip highly succeeded our expectations and has left us with astonishing pictures.
IE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing safari trip!
We had such an amazing time exploring national parks of Northern Tanzania on safari in January 2016. This was hands down the best trip either of us have been on! From start to finish, everything was so well planned and executed, that we never felt any of that normal vacation stress. Even when there was a minor issue with the weather and an outdoor activity, our itinerary was re-arranged so that we could still fit everything in.
All of our accommodations were absolutely incredible. We could not have picked them better ourselves! We especially loved how small each one was and how the staff/managers seemed genuinely interested in making our stay as memorable as possible.
In planning the trip, Altezza was incredibly responsive and worked with us to tweak our itinerary to fit in everything we wanted and some awesome suggestions we had not thought of (like the truly amazing experience with maasai tribe after Ngorongoro crater). We had a fantastic experience working with this travel company and will not hesitate to use them again for our next trip to Africa, which will hopefully be very soon!
CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Beware - Unilateral changes in Itinerary, last minute flight changes, hotels not reserved
We booked a 10 day safari to Kenya and Tanzania followed by 4 days in Zanzibar. We were a group of four. Upon arrival, we were picked up at the airport and transported to our hotel, only to find out there was no reservation for us and the hotel was full. This required us to move to another hotel (much inferior in quality). The next morning, a representative of Africa Remote met us and indicated that the payments we had made one month earlier were still being held by their credit card agency and we would have to pay for the night's hotel plus US $160 (cash) for that day's entrance into Nakuru Nat'l Park - but that they would refund the money to our credit card. This they did but because we are not American, we do not travel with a lot of U.S. cash. We were told the money we paid should soon be available and everything would be O.K. Not so. When traveling from the Masai Mara to Amboseli Nat'l Park, we passed through Nairobi and were told the same representative needed to see us again. This time, were told we were required to pay the entrance fees into Amboseli - another $160 cash. Our U.S. cash reserves were getting very low at this time. We were assured everything would be O.K. once we crossed into Tanzania. The next day when we met our Tanzanian, guide we asked if all fees were paid. His response was that we were to pay the entrance fees for the parks. It took him over an hour to clarify our situation with the Nairobi office, but still we had to pay the entrance fee to Tarangire Nat'l Park. All these fees were eventually refunded. This is when things really started to go wrong. On our drive from Tarangire to Ndutu Tented Camp, our guide received a text message from the office that advised him to stop early at a 1 star (at best) roadside hotel until he could complete some necessary banking the next day. In other words, our accommodation at Ndutu had not been reserved or paid for. We wasted half a day at this hotel with absolutely nothing to see or do. The next day, we set off again and had to wait over 2 hours while our guide completed the banking. This resulted in a very late drive over some questionable tracks after the sun had set. To say it was nerve racking is an understatement. On our way out of Ndutu, it was obvious that no accommodation had been booked for the night. We had paid in advance to stay at the Rhino Lodge but ended up in the Bouganvillea Lodge (very pleasant, but cheaper) after our guide had a heated exchange with his office. What a surprise in the morning when we found out we had to pay for the night at the hotel ($186). That day was our flight to Zanzibar, which, at the request of Africa Remote, we had paid $280 each in May of 2015 - we were told it was necessary to pay early because the flights sell out. We had asked for the flight itinerary and when we passed through Nairobi were told that we were flying Precision Air at 1:15 from Arusha's domestic airport. At 9:00 a.m. we finally got our flight itinerary. We were now flying Fast Jet at 12:30 from Kilimanjero airport - over 2 1/2 hours driving away. They had booked us at the last minute on a Low Cost carrier (the tickets cost them less than $124 each -in other words, they made a lot of money). Our driver drove at breakneck speed to get us to the airport. We made it to the check in counter with less than 2 minutes to spare. Then we found out our flight not only had a 6 hour layover in Dar es Salaam, but we were charged luggage fees for each flight segment (another $ 70). Upon arrival late in the evening in Zanzibar, there was no one to meet us as had been promised. We made our way by taxi to the hotel listed on our itinerary (Pongwe Beach Hotel) only to find, once again, that no reservation had been made. Fortunately, the manager was very accommodating, had room for us and said he would work everything out the next day. He got an e-mail in the morning telling him to expect our arrival and "customer to pay". In other words, they had not paid for this hotel either. The manager tried to contact Africa Remote by e-mail and phone but had no luck. We ended up paying for this hotel for the three nights we stayed ($600). Pongwe Beach Hotel is a gem! Pongwe Beach even arranged our transfer and stay at our next destination in Stone Town. Africa Remote ended up owing us a considerable amount of money. It took them almost a month to process a refund. We are lucky because we had the resources to weather this situation. It might not be so for other travelers. Even though the two guides we had were excellent (Simon in Kenya and Hamza in Tanzania) the front office ruined this experience. We wasted time in hotels, while they were banking and sitting in an airport departure lounge. They caused us far more stress than any other trip that I have taken - and I have traveled to over 90 countries. I would never recommend this company!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The Right people at the Right place
Safari Care has organized us an incredible trip! The staff were kind, professional and charming. They were easy to communicate with and chose the best accommodation in a breathtaking lodge. Our tour guide was very professional with a vast knowledge of the natural and wildlife habitat. We really appreciate Safari Care for the unforgettable experience and will definitely recommend them to everyone who wants to explore and enjoy Tanzania the way its supposed to be. Thumbs up!
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
unforgetable and valuable safari with macho halisi!!!!
very good safari land cruiser 7 passengers very confortable, fully equiped vith inverter for charging battery,knowledge safari driver and guide.amazing chef.good English speaking...very good service from macho halisi...safari well handled by Professional peoples..safe and good servive at good price
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
very good (&fast) service. nice people. driver godlisten showed us a lot of animals (lions, etc)
Very good communication. Quick answers - very flexible. We booked only 1 day before we left.
drive was too long (8h each way). But Safari itself was wonderful. Lot of animals in Mikumi. Including 7 lions! Driver godlisten was so nice and gave its best to show as all...thanks!! Accomodation in camp bastian was very nice. Friendly people. Good food. Nice, small cottage!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience & perfect 4 day safari in Tanzania
We used Easy Travel for our recent trip to Tanzania for safari in the northern circuit and I could not have asked for a more perfect trip. Our trip consisted of a one day "catch-up" in Arusha, followed by a 4 day safari and then 5 days in Zanzibar. Many months ago when we were planning our trip, Caudence, our Easy Travel rep, was so helpful and very quick to respond to my every email request. I had done independent research on hotels and I knew almost exactly where wanted to stay, and Caudence took that information and customized the most seamless and perfect trip while still helping to keep it within our budget. She was so friendly and even went out of her way to meet us in person at our hotel when we arrived. Our anniversary and my birthday were both occurring during our trip, and Caudence went out of her way to have special surprise treats for us at our hotels on those days, which made it even more memorable and amazing.
Our guide for the safari was Adrian and he was absolutely wonderful. He could not have been more friendly and flexible, ensuring that during our 4 day safari we saw every animal and site that we could whilst not tiring us to complete exhaustion. I highly recommend Adrian as a guide - he is so knowledgeable about the land, people, animals, and culture - and he made for the perfect, unmatchable, first-time safari experience for us.
In Zazibar, our guide from the airport to hotel was Zamir. He was so friendly that upon meeting him we asked him if he would take us on an additional guided tour of Stone Town on our day of departure (which we had not previously planned). He was a wonderful and knowledgeable guide - and we would not have enjoyed our afternoon Stone Town if it weren't for him.
Our whole trip was absolutely hassle and stress free. From the time we landed until the time we departed we did not have to worry about anything. Highly recommend Easy Travel for the most perfect safari experience! We love everyone that we worked with - thank you so much!!!
DK
Excellent service
My experience with Usambara expeditions was a very big succes. The service was on point and the personnel was very friendly and service-minded. I will fully recommend Usambara Expiditions.
IE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best four days ever
Everything was just perfect. We had no problem at all. We have met lovely people. Our guide Joseph was nice men. We would not see that much in the bush without him. My boyfriend and I paid for 4 days in Masai Mara Park, but after two days decided to move to lake Nakuru. Joseph had no problem with that, did not even wanted more money and we slept in clean and warm hotel instead of camping and got this chance to see rhinos, we did not see in Masai Mara. I would definitely recommend this agancy. Thanks for everything guys, we've had amazing time.
DK
Best transport arrangement
The transport that we were offered was amazing, we were driving on time, and arrived on time, thank you very much!