Tanzania Travel Guide

Great trip but 6 days was too long. Before booking, insure you have a good guide/driver

I loved the safari but did not realize how much time would be spent sitting in a jeep. I understand being on a safari means driving long distances to get to the wildlife. Both Tanzania and Kenya had amazing wildlife. I had a mix of drivers - some very good, some not so good. When the drivers spoke English and were motivated to teach, educate, it was a joy. Unfortunately, a couple drivers did not communicate well at all and this was frustrating. I also recommend shopping around for prices - the safari itself is the same for everyone (big difference is driver). In my group, some of us spent significantly more than others for the same thing.

We found everything we were looking for. With a good guide, I think it is hard to get a better safari experience. It feels like you are in the documentaries.

AWESOME

Our guide was wonderful, very skillful driver, extremely knowledgeable about wildlife, the area, Maasai, everything. It was the trip of a lifetime. Staying in the tent village was quite a wonderful experience and we had a Maasai warrior to walk us to our tent after dinner both nights. We saw lions hunting, zebras marching in single file, two wildebeasts fighting, an elephant scratching behind his ears, more wonders than I can recount. We saw giraffes, baboons, hippos, crocs, you-name-it. Wonderful trip, you will love it. There were beautiful serene lodges, too. The weather was wonderful about a high of 84. The food was quite good and not too strange :)

A wonderful experience of the beauties and wildlife of the East African savannah.

Our guide, Mussa, of Roam Serengeti Safaris did an excellent job. He communicated in a timely manner before the safari when we were making arrangements from the U.S. Every detail of itinerary came about, as planned. He was flexible and accommodating, to make it truly a custom safari that met our budget and tastes. Mussa was extremely knowledgeable and seemed to anticipate what we most wanted to know about the animals and observe--and we did see all we had hoped for, including the wildebeest migration. He was a careful driver, most appreciated since we covered many miles on our 6-day safari. He started out as our guide and ended as our friend. Equally important, we were pleased to go on safari with a young Tanzanian managing his own business. We would highly recommend Mussa and his safari company.

Great experience

We had a good mix of game drive and cultural experience on our safari. We had lodged run by former street kids, run by Masai and also more luxury in some tented camps and less luxury but great vibes in tented camps in the Serengeti.
The food was good but almost everywhere the same. Our guide Christopher was the owner of a little safari tour company. He was well educated, learned us a lot of things about Tanzania, it’s people and wildlife.
We even saw the big migration in the North. The only negative thing was the very long drives; even when the scenery is overwhelming, 6 to 8 hours in a car is too long...
but overall a great experience!!

Great Trip, Great Guide, Great Accommodations

Tanzania is a beautiful country and we really enjoyed the part of our safari that was in Tanzania. The wildlife is so varied and many times is pretty close to your vehicle. I think our favorite park was Tarangire, with the amazing baobab trees, plentiful wildlife and changes in elevation. The Serengeti was of course really fabulous, too, and seeing the migration was one of the more memorable experiences of my life. While in Tanzania, we stayed at Tarangire Safari Lodge, Rhino Lodge in Ngorongoro, Heritage Seronera in the central Serengeti and Heritage Mara in the northern Serengeti, and we enjoyed each place. They are all a little different, but each one had unique qualities that we thoroughly enjoyed. We all felt that we would be happy to stay in each of them again. The food was fine, but due to an allergy to red meat, I couldn't really sample a lot of the entrees, but others in my party seemed to enjoy their food a lot. The vegetables and fruit were very good and the breakfasts were a great way to start each day. I suggest you be sure to find out what kind of transportation you will have and try to go with a company that will transport you in a Toyota Land Cruiser and not a van. We had Land Cruisers and they are the vehicles that are built to take the punishment the roads in Tanzania will dish out, which is considerable. The company we used, TravelPartner, furnished us with a great guide in Tanzania (and Kenya, too, but TravelPartner contracted with Wildebeest Travel for him). Thomas was interesting, very knowledgeable about animals, plants, etc., and was funny. He also did everything he could to give us the best ride possible on the rough roads. He learned very quickly the kinds of things we were interested in seeing and did everything he could to make sure we saw them. He made sure to put us in good position for pictures, most notably when we saw a lion pride taking down a zebra and at three different migration sites on the Mara. If we were to go to Tanzania again, we would want to have Thomas as our guide. Every day we saw new and amazing things. The only thing I would do differently is try to spend more time at each park and each lodging. I would use definitely use TravelPartner again, would want to stay in the same lodgings and would want Thomas as our guide. I don't know of any way to give a better recommendation than that.

Incredible experience thanks to this fantastic company

I would highly recommend this company. Everything was just fantastic. We had trouble with lost luggage on our way to Tanzania and the guide, Freddy was so helpful sorting it out resulting in their safe arrival. He was so knowledgeable on safari and his sharp eye meant we saw all big 5! We were so impressed with the food, Robert the cook was highly skilled particularly when you take into consideration the lack of equipment / supplies when out in the wilderness.

The only thing we could fault was the Fact that the truck was a little old and had high seats meaning if you’re over 5 5” you’d have to duck down slightly to look out the window. They do have newer trucks though with lower seats so it depends on who the guide is.

Overall it was a once in a life time experience and we would recommend Shemeji to anyone interested in a budget safari in Tanzania.

Everything we imagined and more!

If you are at all on the fence about booking a safari to Tanzania/serengeti, I say book now!
I'll start with the cons:
1) long turnaround time to hear back from tour company prior to trip. We had to follow up several times on multiple occasions, and it still would take 2 to 3 weeks for us to get a response.
2) no a/c or minifridge in keep, although advertised. The weather was mild enough that we did ok, but the afternoons would get unbearable when the jeep wasn't moving.

Pros:
1) CLEAN! We have been to several national parks across the US, and travel frequently internationally as well, and by far I was so impressed with the cleanliness of the parks and especially the restrooms at the parks (random I know, but still important!)
2) safe! We never once felt unsafe, not from animals nor from locals when we went roaming around in the city. Although aggressive salespeople, the people are harmless.
3) the beauty and the nature and the animals! We saw everything and words nor pics can do justice to the beauty of the serengeti and also the ngorogoro crater.
4) our guide hassan was very well informed and had an answer to all of our questions. He was very mild mannered, detailed, and made sure we were comfortable at all times.
5) the food is nothing special, but we didnt really go for the food anyway.

Everyone, should see and experience Tanzania

It was unbelievable. I was super worried about my 25yr daughter (Jacinta) safety, so I went with her and made sure we booked a great company. Mid/Range tour Serengeti with Lion King Adventures for 7days and everything was perfect. I’m pretty fussy and was totally blown away with service, accommodation 5+, security, food and the most amazing people we met, including locals.
Would highly recommend Arusha Giraffe Lodge prior or after tour. Arrange Lodge driver to pick you up (low price), because you really need security and safety at all times. Best(chef-Jasin) in Arusha and beautiful accom/family owned. My son is head chef in very exclusive restaurant and would very much love meet Jasin and learn his techniques. Staff incredible, a must especially if you like lovely accommodation, secure place, transport at decent price. Please tip well, they deserve every penny you can afford. Much better than a 4.5* hotel and they never ask

The safari was a fun experience but communication was difficult.

Overall experience was nice, food was average, tour guide was knowledgeable. A variety of experiences was challenges but was rewarding. The most difficult time was the beginning process with making final payment and change in safari package which caused an extra day stay. This was inconvenient and conflicted with other schedules. There was no insurance, warning of roads and safety. Driving up the mountain with no guard rails and the driver was driving fast and sometimes cloudy and raining.