Tanzania: reviews from our travellers

"We found all the arrangements for our trip excellent and we had no problems with any of our travelling arrangements.

We saw lots of game and our guides were superb, very safety conscious but determined to give us an excellent safari experience which they succeeded in doing. Their knowledge of the game was brilliant and they were very informative.

In retrospect travelling with a 23 and 25 year old we might have been better going to Zanzibar instead of Mafia, we found Mafia very undeveloped and therefore relaxing , they found it a bit quiet with some of the other activities expensive.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No you did a brilliant job." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Tanzania safari

"Based on a 'general idea'of what we wanted - Angela put together an absolutely perfect itinerary for us as a family. Her expert knowledge really guided us in our final choices and she spent plenty of time over quite a few calls discussing different scenarios and timetables of how to organise the trip.

Up to the time of leaving - Angela was regularly answering queries about the trip - always being available to guide and reassure us on preparations." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zanzibar holiday

"Our trip was brilliant and we had a fantastic time. We found the wildebeest migration excellent, and saw a huge amount of game in the varying places. Some of it, very special. Our guide, Godwin, provided by Nomad, was great fun and very enjoyable to spend time with. He was also very good at finding the animals. Very much enjoyed the Nomad camp and met some great people. Although, Kirurumu was in a great location, we probably would have preferred to go somewhere not quite so bush, especially after the Nomad experience. We all were ready to have proper showers and toilets! The Crater itself was beautiful and well worth visiting. The good thing about our location was that we could get into the Crater early and avoid some of the crowds.

Zanzibar was great and we really loved Pongwe Beach Hotel. It's a beautiful place with a great bar, restaurant and sitting area. It was very relaxing and we enjoyed walking to a local restaurant for lunch one day. Only negative thing was being in the garden rooms, rather than the sea facing, as they were much better rooms with more breeze. We left one night early so that we could go to Stone town and had a great night there at Emerson Spice. We very much enjoyed Stone Town.

Beho Beho and the Selous were fantastic. Our room had a magnificent view and it was very luxurious. The whole lodge emphasises the luxury and it is very comfortable with great food. Unfortunately, we were the only ones there for the majority of our stay, so it felt a bit empty. However, the managers, guides and staff were extremely friendly and knowledgeable and did their utmost to make us feel at home. We saw a lot of game and did some walking, although it was extremely hot while we were there so could not walk as much as I would have liked.

Once again, Expert Africa organised a brilliant trip for us and everything went extremely smoothly. Only one issue was with Echo Tours in Zanzibar who failed to pick us up on time on two occasions. In their defence, we had changed the times, but had given them plenty of notice." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 11 on a Tanzania safari

"We enjoyed it" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 12 on a Tanzania safari

"We organized our own safari in Kenya staying at 'Topi House' in the Massi Mara as we have done on 2 previous occasions.

Claire organized all other parts of our trip around this, and she could not have done better. The flights and transfers left us the with the maximum possible time at Pole Pole so we had 6 nights 7 lunches! Where else do we want to be spending our time?! Thank you very much." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 5 on a Tanzania safari

"Everything worked out really well. We appreciated that the camp managers knew our itinerary, took personal interest in knowing us and remembering who we are. So each evening when discussing the next day, they knew our names, what tent we were in, what we'd done that day, what our options were for the next day, etc.

We would recommend that both camps encourage their guides and drivers to communicate a bit more with their passengers, especially after they stop and talk to drivers of other vehicles........they regularly stop and talk briefly with passing drivers, and we assume they ask what that driver has seen, etc - which is absolutely fine to do. But by far the majority of times they stopped, chatted, and moved on without telling us whether they'd gleaned any useful information from the other car. Of course they could have told us anything as we don't understand Swahili anyway!

But coming from a Customer Service background myself, I would consider it not very good practice to stop and talk with friends in a language that my customer can't understand, and then not explain anything to my customer afterwards.

Similarly one of our drivers seemed to use his mobile phone to make a lot of calls one day - I know the drivers talk between themselves by phone sometimes, but these were longer calls than just passing on information to another driver - and again is a bit disrespectful when you're 'on duty' and supposed to be concentrating on driving and looking for game for your customers.

Sometimes we felt that they were just shooting the breeze and a bit disinterested (which maybe they were!) - but we paid good money for the safaris, and the guys may need an occasional reminder about what good customer service means in the culture of their customers!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I mentioned in the camp reviews - both camps provided very adequate torches and bug spray, and some bug repellent too, so there was no need for us to have carried those ourselves. (I haven't kept the Expert Africa letter, but from memory I think these were things you recommended we carry).
The 15kg baggage allowance for the small planes, and "small baggage holds" was also not a problem......it was a lot more relaxed on all 3 flights than we imagined it would be from reading Expert Africa's letters!

The tipping policy is confusing. Obviously cultures are different, but we found that your advice of "$10 per person per day" doesn't adequately explain it.
Each camp had a general tip box for all staff at the camp (which staff at Mdonya reminded us about on the day we were leaving!), but then we were told the drivers and guides had chosen not to be part of that system.......and so the obvious hope/expectation is that we'll also tip the drivers and guides personally.
So does the suggested $10 per person per day mean we give $10 to the driver per day, plus $10 to the guide per day? And is that for each customer to give this, or just each group? (i.e. per couple/family)

Personally I wish that tip expectations were done away with altogether. It would be nice if we could be assured that each member of staff is paid a decent wage out of what guests pay for their stay, and that we truly feel no obligation to tip......and then we can tip people when we think they've done something really good.
It frustrates me that we pay a lot of money for a holiday, but there is a clear expectation that we'll actually pay more when we get there as well!" Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"Amazing time to go to Africa, love the green season and we were lucky with the weather and sightings.

Did see leopard in two areas, cheetah, serval and lots of lion. Wildebeest migration as far as the eye could see was amazing. A great trip not too far distances between the different camps and areas.

Pole Pole was lovely just wished we could have taken longer here." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 8 on a Tanzania safari

"We had a lovely time thanks very much.

You recommended fantastic places and we saw unforgettable game thanks to our highly skillful guide Ayoub. It was really his efforts that elevated this trip from dry good to special." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 5 on a Tanzania safari

"We were in the right place at the wrong time of year, therefore, much of the game had moved away so game viewing was much more difficult with long periods of donating blood to the tsetse flies and not a lot in return." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"We really enjoyed the trip. We were very glad we did part of the trip by road, we enjoyed seeing and meeting people going about their daily lives, we will always try to incorporate this in any future safaris. The game is certainly more spread out and less abundant than many other parks, but with patience and good guides, it is all there somewhere.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Try to get a member of your staff to Hondo Hondo, we know you will be happy to recommend it when you have been there." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Tanzania safari