Tanzania: reviews from our travellers

"The trip was fantastic and without criticism. The planning and detailed instructions first class. The guides terrific and Maruska Adye Row just so very helpful.
Had a small query at one stage and accessed the emergency email and was answered immediately and the appropriate information supplied.
Expert Africa is just simply the best." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"Originally I had another plan for my trip this season, however there were some difficulties with logistics. So after talking with Claire on Skype, I finally chose Serengeti and I believe I made a right decision. Thank you Claire for your advice and arrangement.

I have been to Serengeti many times but I stayed at Asilia's camps for the first time. I was really surprised at Asilia's hospitality.
On arriving at Kilimanjaro Airport from Doha, I was treated as a VIP. I was escorted to the VIP lounge, was offered drinks and snacks, cleared immigration in the special room there......really special treatments.

I usually choose small camps with rustic feel. Asilia's camps I stayed were more luxurious than I had expected, but that's not so bad.

I enjoyed staying luxury camps, watching animals....expecially migration and many cats.
I had a wonderful safari again.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service

Claire's arrangement was very good as usual.　

Everything went smoothly. Thank you as always." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"This was the first time in five visits where we got our timing wrong regarding the location of the migrating animals (the start of the migration). The weather pattern was slightly different from normal years in that this year there had been a second "short rains season". However, there were enough animals to provide adequate sightings and so the overall experience was good albeit somewhat different from being surrounded by vast numbers of the migrating animals as we have been on previous visits at the same time.

We were pleased to find that you are still able to traverse "off-road" in the Ngorongoro Conservation area (round the Ndutu area) and this enables you to get closer to some of the sightings and to get optimum camera angles. You are not allowed to go off-road in the Crater itself nor indeed in the Serengeti so with somewhat fewer animals in the Serengeti at this time this year we did not get as many photo opportunities as on previous occasions. The number of animals in the Crater does not vary much from year to year as they tend to remain within the crater.

On a personal note we were very pleased with the way in which my wife was assisted as she is partially disabled and the assistance provided at all locations and by our guide ensured she was able to participate fully in all viewings." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Tanzania safari

"One of our top holidays, brilliant planning by the Expert Africa team who managed to achieve two accommodation upgrades!

All our requirements were met and even after two cancellations over the COVID years we maintained all our original bookings dates ( 3yrs on) times and schedules.

Perfect planning seeing the migration in the southern Serengeti then fly on to the northern Serengeti to wildlife watch up there.

All our accommodation in mobile camps were high quality venues and of course Mkombe’s house was just an amazing experience.

Our final chill and relax at the Manta resort was perfect. What a place?!

I would like to thank the Expert Africa team for all their hard work planning and amending this trip through several difficult years. We were always given friendly and extremely efficient service and Jessica Plumb was totally brilliant. She was easy to contact and always available to answer questions or make adjustments to our plans. We would like to thank her so very much." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 17 on a Tanzania safari

"My first time in Africa for 3 years and a return to Nyerere (Selous) after nearly 20 years.

The ruins at Kilwa have been on my bucket list for a while and I always thought it would be a good time to visit them whenever I was in that part of the world. They are well worth the effort (6 hours by road from Dar) in reaching Kilwa and provide an insight into an older Africa and a nice alternative to just a safari and beach holiday.

I like Africa in the green season and they had always fancied visiting Nyerere when it was green. Sightings are not as difficult as you would expect and I had a few memorable encounters. But if you don’t see the big cats or the dogs there is so much other big game to keep you busy. Elephants, Giraffes, Buffalo, plenty of hippo and crocs by the water and I have never seen so many Elland. Plus the birds I have never seen so many beautiful birds." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Tanzania safari

"We had an amazing trip due to the fact that Jessica took time to understand our wishes for the trip and tailored the itinerary accordingly.

The organisation was excellent and the lodges lived up to our expectations.

We were looked after superbly all by lodge staff and the safari guides were extremely knowledgeable and we were thrilled to see so many animals close up.

Thank you Expert Africa" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 13 on a Tanzania safari

"We, honestly, cannot recommend this enough!!

We are already looking forward for further trips with you guys! Indeed, we might even change future itineraries, to have the chance to organize something with you. Richard, especially, although we have been very demanding (and sometimes specific and persistent.. borderline annoying) customers, was extraordinarily helpful and patient and flexible.... so many iterations, changes, discussions, clarifications.. it was all the ULTIMATELY PERFECT TRIP, with even extra credits given in quite a few occasions where it was all so organized as a relay, as a well functioning machine!!

Richard, truly thanks for this!!

It was a life-savings-splashing trip for us, it was a big gamble, and we could not even have imagined it being THAT perfect!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 5 on a Tanzania safari

"The whole experience was great. We had a brilliant time. Everything worked just as Expert Africa had planned so we didn't have to worry about a thing.

Safaris were great - the camps recommended above excellent. Everyone in both camps were determined to provide us with the best experience possible. Having discussed with Lyndsey the various areas in Tanzania we could have chosen for our safaris, we were pleased we chose the Selous and Ruaha - two very different areas though the wildlife was much the same on the whole. But we appreciated the different landscapes, the views, the lush vegetation and the amazing accommodation.

Stone Town - was good for two nights, not sure we'd have wanted any longer in retrospect, so again good advice from Expert Africa. And we couldn't fault White Sands!

All in all - an amazing holiday. Thank you!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 8 on a Tanzania safari

"Everything went according to plan which was an achievement in itself!" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zanzibar holiday

"We did most of the planning for our trip to Tanzania ourselves. Lyndsey was our agent from Expert Africa. This is our second trip with Expert Africa and we are left disappointed by the service received.

Lyndsey's main role was to assist in stitching our itinerary together, liasing with both Nomad Tanzania on the ground, with accommodation providers and with safari charter companies. On a positive note, all our transfers, accommodation and transport were seamless. We appreciate the work Lyndsey did to make this happen as we are aware logistics in Tanzania can be complex.

However we dont feel Lyndsey or Expert Africa proactively discount or negotiate on behalf of clients. We were offered discounts with various accommodation providers for booking direct but we had to push for these to be made available for booking through Expert Africa. They were never proactively offered. In addition, we had to push to stay at Hatari Lodge. Lyndsey wrongly commented that Arusha National park is closed after 6pm and we would be unable to arrive into Hatari later. We had to contact the lodge ourselves directly and paste information on email from Hatari's website to challenge this as Hatari have an agreement with the park management to allow guests arrive post 6pm.

We were disappointed we never received a paper copy of our documentation from Expert Africa. We didnt purchase a travel guide as we were expecting to receive one from our agent. With only 2-3 days before our departure date, we were finally told no paper documents, luggage tags or guide book would be sent. It left us no time to purchase one online ourselves. Its a small thing but it left a poor impression. In addition, & despite agreeing accommodation choices, it took a long time to receive confirmation of reservations, some times up to 14 days.

Finally, we are currently disputing a fee we were told we must pay in order for a safari charter to operate. We paid 4 seats and were reassured by our agent that this would be refunded if other pax were subsequently onboard. When we sent an email from Tanzania that 4 pax were in fact on board and requesting a refund, we received an email from Lyndsey offering to refund only 1 seat and would we be happy with this? There was no offer to escalate this on our behalf. We werent happy.

We have responded with copies from two emails quoting Lyndsey reassuring us of a refund if we were not the sole pax on board. We have been told twice in the last week on email that the matter has been escalated and the agent is awaiting a response. We would have preferred if this had been done promptly and efficiently. Having paid almost £20000 for this trip, it leaves a poor impression of both the agent and Expert Africa. After almost two weeks, we still are none the wiser.

We have every intention of returning to both Tanzania and exploring other parts of Africa. Based on our latest experience, we're not so sure however we'll continue use Expert Africa to facilitate these trips in the future." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 11 on a Tanzania safari