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!
Email Francois de Bruin | 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
CH
Email Laura | 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
Email traveler1 | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing wildlife and rich culture
Beautiful country with plenty of wildlife to see across vast areas of land.
AS
Email troy | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A land of beautiful animals
We are real enjoy travel with Marakuo Tours, they made our journey in Tanzania be unforgettable. The tour operator Gaby real arrange a well safari and all things went well. we were group of four people went 4day and three night safari Ngorongoro and serengeti national park. we can recommend this tour operator he did great to us thanks alot.
US
Email Tonya Herron | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful experience for my mom and I
This is the only safari I have been on, but we found it to be life changing. The animals, the people, the culture were all more than we could have dreamed of. We felt safe and well cared for by our locally owned guide company and would do it all exactly the same!
Amazing experience!
Nos encantó todo! Un viaje a hacer si o si. Los paisajes, los animales, la gente, todo fue genial. Muy recomendable
Amazing Safari
Our safari arranged by Chris of Shadows of Africa was a wonderful experience. The accommodation was very comfortable and our guide Alex's knowledge was amazing. The weather was brilliant with warm days and cold nights. The only adverse comment I have would be the delay in getting our entry visas in Dar. It was chaotic as was leaving the country. In spite of this we enjoyed ourselves very much and consider it a memorable experience.
the wildlife sanctuary
Tanzania is the perfect country for a safari trip. Here you find tons of animals, landscapes of breathtaking beauty, a wide range of accommodation and travel solutions. During the month of August, it is full of tourists but it is such a big country with such big parks that it remains a wonderful destination. In August the weather is perfect, hot but windy so it is bearable. Food is not a big point cause it is repetitive.
RU
Email Aleksey Cheprasov | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A lot of activities, need to spend more time only for Serengeti
Very interesting trip to Serengeti. Very useless and timeless trip to Natron Lake - I do not advice to go to Natron at all. Ngorongoro is too rather boring - it is impossible to see the rhinos!(( If I knew I would prefer only Serengeti - full 7 day tour following from south to the north with great migration.
