35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Never shows up on time
I was very disappointed with Falcon Safaris. When I booked these activities I was under the impression that Falcon Safaris worked closely with our concierge at the Royal Livingstone. Every voucher slip that we had told us a time to be ready, and we were always ready at that time. Unfortunately Falcon Safaris was always at least 45 minutes late. It literally happened 4 times. The concierge was always in disagreement with Falcon Safaris and I felt that we paid the price. Would not recommend Falcon Safaris to other guests of the hotel.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Skeleton Coast National Park by Michele Bartlett
Miles of mist covered coast with nothing to see. Terrible weather. Boring
HR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari was great because of our driver (Edward). Tour operator PARROT SAFARI - BAD!!
Masai Mara was amazing, I would skip the visit to the Masai village close to the park entrance. From the minute you arrive to the time you escape they try to take money from you. First they danced, few people in our group did not like that, they said it looked forced and fake. I did not have such a bad vibe from it, but from the rest - the info regarding that each person stays in the woods for 5 years, that they have to kill the lion before returning to their village and that women marry age 25-30 (and a lot of other info) and that they live in monogamic marriages....later I found a foundation that takes care of Masai women.....well....lets just say nothing of that was true. If you are into cultures and love to experience it while you travel, you can skip it and save 10-20 dollars that they take to enter the village.
20-35 years of age
Beautiful Mountain on its Way to Ruin
Mt. Kilimanjaro is, needless to say, a pretty unique place on earth. Unfortunately, Tanzania runs it more like an amusement park than a place to be revered for its national beauty.
As the camps get more crowded closer to the summit (the trails merge) they get progressively worse. Tour companies do not treat the place very well. Trash is abundant around all the campsites, and the vegetation is trampled/abused all around, I suspect, not by the toursists themselves, but by the 3+ crew members typically accompanying each tourist.
Most disappointingly, human waste policies are almost non existent or just not followed (no bathroom business within 50m of a trail, for example.) Outside of camps, every few minutes, you will pass a spot that smells like the national pee-corner, or a spot with enough used toilet paper to cover a kitchen table. Really detrimental to encounter this so frequently in a place that I'd hope to see as pristine as possible.
Unfortunately, the camp toilets are not much better. In a year of living in Tanzania, the large public toilets with tile floors are the worst smelling restrooms I have encountered anywhere in this country, and of any public park anywhere in the world. The small wooden ones over a pit are pretty standard bush toilets, so they're ok.
I realize that this sounds like a prissy white guy from a developed country has his panties in a bunch because things aren't squeaky clean in Africa, but I relish the "roughing it" experience one can find camping or traveling in less-developed parts of the world. I'm no stranger to gross or inadequate toilets, but I was pretty disappointed in what I encountered in such a world-famous park that supposedly hosts luxury trips. Nothing luxurious about stepping over human feces on your way up the mountain (literally happened).
These two things (trash and sanitation) really deflated my experience of an otherwise incredible trip. The company I went with did everything in their power to make it fantastic, and its sad that my only grievances are with the park itself. The ecosystems you pass through and the views from some of the camps are stunning, and 19,341 feet does feel pretty cool.
But its absolutely not worth paying Tanzanian Natl Parks the fee they extort from visitors for a park that's so poorly maintained. You could have an unreal three week vacation in SE Asia for the same money, without (ideally) hiking through a sewer. If you're dead set on climbing a mountain in TZ though - Mt. Meru is incredible and Mt. Hanang is really cool too. Cost you about 1/6 the money for Meru, Hanang less than $100. Kilimanjaro, is unfortunately, overrated.
NO
Search for Moley
Im looking for a ranger with the name Moley? I hope he is still at Ruaha? Im a friend that worked with him ? Can you please ask him to contact me via mail?
Kind regards
Rudi from Makalali Game reserve?
Review about Hell's Gate National Park by PeeBee
Hell's Gate is a fantastic park, but not for safari. Take a guided tour of the gorge, climb Fischer's Peak, take in the scenery. But if you want a game drive head to nearby Nakuru National Park.
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Katavi National Park by Eleanore Avery
Very remote in western part...I only stopped there on way to Mahale park. canals restrict viewing because you cannot cross canals. Lots of Hippos.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
In panic mode! No response! No Informaion!
I worked with Barbara over email to organize a custom safari for my family this August. We sent nearly $50,000 to them 10 days ago with no response. Finally, I got though to their office on Friday and was informed that the owner Barbara has passed away and that the co-owner Victor is in the Hospital. The lady could not give me any other information.
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
I was disappointed with this safari.
As I mentioned, this safari was very disappointing, didn't see many animals even with the long drives. We had two whole days drive in Kruger park and hardly saw any animals, I understand big part of safari is having luck and being in the right place at the right time. Maybe we were not lucky enough.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Marakele National Park by Bert
If you are in the vacinity it may be nice to spend two or three hours here. It's in quite a nice part of the country as far as the scenery goes. But please keep in mind this is a subjective rating and others may have had a greatly different experience.