Tanzania: reviews from our travellers

"We loved Africa!

We had an unforgettable time as a family, saw and experienced wildlife, nature and African living, talked to many people, met incredibly knowledgable guides and hosts and will always treasure our two weeks in Tansania.

As it was our first safari, we now know what we like and how we 'work' on such a trip. Thus we would do things slightly differently in the future. The trip was well organised, we never waited anywhere. The transitions from one site to the next were meticulously planned and it was small details in our schedules that we learned to value and that showed us your knowledge and experience of the places we visited.

Well done, Liz!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 12 on a Tanzania safari

"The trip was a fantastic expierience each camp very different to each other, each reserve different to each other both fantastic, at all four camps we had a superb stay, the guideing in all four camps is of high standard,the boat safaris are fantastic expierience,
Flying around with Coastal Aviation is also a superb expierience.

Many thanks to James and expert Africa for putting the trip together,who we would highly recomend." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 16 on a Tanzania safari

"A most memorable trip with the family.

Expert Africa coordinated everything with no hassles and responsive feedback to any questions I posed. The trip went off without any problems, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

None, everything was informative and communication about the trip was timely." Read full review: 6 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"Excellent. Have not written much about the parks. While we are glad we visited Ngorongoro and lake Manyara (one person visited these over 30 years ago and they were much different) we would not not return to either. Tarangire, North Serengeti, and Ruaha were all great in their own ways and very much worth the visit, if we were to return we would explore different parts of the very large, diverse, and less trammeled Ruaha. Even with any minor complaints we would do it all again just as it occurred. We have a short slide show (with small camera) should you want a copy. Although we know people were trying to please and we saw the good side, everyone we met was very friendly and clearly took pride in what their country and people had to offer. NB: With a few exceptions, when you asked, you could get quite good, strong coffee rather than the instant coffee often served. Interesting for a major coffee-producing nation. We would consider Expert Africa for any future Africa travel, perhaps Namibia.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Not much to say here. It was really Ellie who walked us through the process. Well done Ellie." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 13 on a Tanzania safari

"There is no feedback form for the day room at Onsea House. We felt this place was superior to Rivertrees Country Inn and the food is pretty good. We would rather have stayed here for our initial day and rest night as the precursor lodge at the beginning of the holiday.

An excellent trip overall with good quality guiding and a high standard of food and service. The walking availability at Chada could have been limited due to shortage of qualified staff when other clients were involved in fly camping, however, the camp manager made the effort to bring in a ranger to enable us to take part in the walking activities, which we very much appreciated. Similarly, it appeared that the Camp manager at Little Oliver's was the only qualified walking guide. We were fortunated to enjoy his expert guiding on two consecutive days, but if he had been otherwise occupied we would not have been so lucky and the enjoyment of our time there would have been affected. I feel it is important to make sure that if walking is advertised as an option at a particular lodge/camp then it is vital that qualified staff are available at all times so that guests are able to enjoy this. We did enjoy the walking option at 3 out of 4 camps, but our impression was that the camps rather expect that most clients wish to be in the vehicle most/all of the time. Perhaps the walking safari idea is less well developed in Tanzania compared to other countries such as Zambia.

Tanzania does seem an American destination so it is sometimes a lttle pertinent for the staff at the camp, or the guides, to ensure they manage the groups of guests accordingly (particularly when children are involved).

Also we were encouraged to confirm our holiday registration as parts of it were getting booked up (particularly Greystoke Mahale) only for us to find out when we got there that this was because a group of 9 (Americans) has a block booking which made the ambience of this lodge as little imbalanced for us and the other couple staying there as the maximum it could take is only 12 or so persons.

Also, given the amount of flying and some of the distances between destinations we were finding this did eat into our time on safari. Between Serengeti and Little Oliver's camp we flew Serengeti - Arusha - Little Oliver's for some reason. Thus with this itinerary the travel distance & thus time does add up compared to other safaris we have been on and slightly ditracted from the safari.

With ref to the above comment about a large block booking at a small lodge we'd have liked a little bit more checking on these issues as we booked our trip, as this did distract a little bit from the select nature of the trip. Especially considering the amount we had paid for the holiday each." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 15 on a Tanzania safari

"The good parts of the trip were the lodges (with the exception of Lemala) and the logistics which all worked extremely well.

We found the game viewing rather disappointing compared with Zambia and Botswana, with which we are more familiar, in that the wildlife was often very distant from the roads and made photography and observing behaviours less satisfactory.

Although we had to actually book the flights ourselves, the suggested routing of Manchester/Amsterdam/Kilimanjaro worked very well." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Tanzania safari

"Couldn't fault anything.

The reason I have used Expert Africa before and will continue to do so in future is because the staff properly listen to requests , are very knowledgeable and therefore give good suggestions and advice. Very efficient too." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 5 on a Zanzibar holiday

"We did 3 days in Selous, 3 days in Ruaha, 3 days on Mafia island and 3 days on Chole Mjini. A really good balance with some great game viewing and 'Indian Ocean' activities and a chance to wind down.

The country, the people , the climate, the places we stayed and food and other facilities outstanding - would recommend Tanzania as a holiday destination

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

You might want to warn people who go to Mafia that their Marine Park payment receipt will need to be available when they leave" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 12 on a Tanzania safari

"Very well thought out trip with a great balance of beach and safari. Having two days on the beach first is definitely recommended to relax after the wedding / flight.

For safari would definitely recommend Beho Beho - Selous is a great options as we saw lots of game but without the crowds (some days we didnt see another jeep at all).

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not sure if its possible, but think about using another carrier than Costal Air.

Thank you for organising such an amazing honeymoon for us." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zanzibar holiday

"Our trip was everything we had hoped for and more. We wanted an exceptional holiday to celebrate various milestone birthdays in our family and to enjoy possibly our last family holiday (eldest children 18 and 21).

This holiday provided something for everyone, busy week safari followed by relaxing week on the coast. Perfect exceptional and memorable holiday." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari