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Email Gal Cohen | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
most beautiful, colorful country
our guide was great, we had a wonderful experience watching animals in their natural habitat, seeing new and exciting things every day.
IT
Email Roberta & family | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect Safari with Soul of Tanzania
We just came back from our safari through the parks in the North of Tanzania: Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Lake Eyase, Ngoro Ngoro Crater, Central and Northern Serengeti.
I was travelling with my family, and it was the first safari experience for my 2 kids, aged 13 and 14.
It has been a stunning experience.
After some research we decided to go for the proposal of Soul of Tanzania, and we can only recommend this safari company.
Our guide, Dominique, was top-class: very knowledgeable, attentive to our needs, very experienced and an expert and careful driver, always willing to look for the best spot to view the cats or a river crossing.
The itinerary was very well designed, not too tiring and with a variety of landscapes.
The proposal to fly back from northern Serengeti instead of driving has proved to be a very good choice.
The accommodation resulted in a perfect mix of permanent camps, lodges and mobile camps, which was exactly what we were looking for. We particularly loved Chaka Mobile Camp in Northern Serengeti: unforgettable!
The hot lunches served every day during the game drives were much appreciated: we always were offered a wide choice of excellent food, and we were using steel dishes and cutlery, which were not only nice, but also are not producing tons of waste like the lunch boxes many other safari companies are providing.
At first I was a bit sceptical about the proposal to meet the tribes at Lake Eyase, we were in Tanzania for the wildlife and I was scared we would end up seeing something really just set up for tourists. After having met the Hadzabe, I must admit that it was just like entering in a time machine.
The wildlife we encountered in the parks just left us speechless: not only the big cats, but also the hundreds of flamingos and pelicans in Lake Manyara, the hyppos fighting for the territory, the thousands of wildebeests crossing the Mara River and the crocodiles hunting for them.
We enjoyed every second of our trip to Tanzania.
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.
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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.
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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.
