This was truly the trip of a lifetime, and Bright African Safaris played a huge part in making it just that.
Evania, the sales consultant, put us at ease working through the different options available and accommodating all our requests to make sure we got the most out of the trip. All transfers, park passes and accommodation was sorted for us so all we were left to do was sort the flights and visa. Evania was at the end of the phone every step of the way to ensure we had arrived safely through the key parts of the trips.
We visited 4 parks over 8 nights: Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater and the plains of the Serengeti, all in the expert hands of our driver-guide Rajubu. Every day delivered a different gem and a series of jaw dropping ‘wow’s’. We saw everything we hoped to and so much more. The wildebeest migration being a particular highlight.
Rajubu was at home in the parks…. He seemed to have a sixth sense of where to look and where the animals were hiding and seemed to gauge brilliantly what we wanted to get from the experience. Like all the Tanzanians we met, he was a relaxed friendly and caring guide, who was clearly well respected by all the other guides we came across. We averaged 10 hours a day safari-ing, but this was at our pace and request and I’m sure we could have done less if we had wished. The days flew by and we were more than happy to have Rajubu’s company for the trip.
Be prepared to never be hungry! :D Not only were we well fed in the accommodation, but every day, Rajubu had bottled water, drinks and snacks to hand and treated us to a 3-course, freshly prepared, hot-food picnic every lunchtime.
We stayed in a mixture of accommodation in the mid range. Each was comfortable, clean and we were well fed. The highlight was possibly Simba Lodge, Tarangire, where the elephants tried to join us for dinner and a swim in the pool. The accommodation inside the Serengeti National Park was naturally more basic, in some cases with coal heated water showers on request. The staff were always more than happy to go out of their way to look after you and it positively added to the whole experience.
We finished the holiday with a trip to Zanzibar which gave us the opportunity to explore Stone Town and spend a few days on the beach, snorkelling and swimming with dolphins. A wonderful way to end the trip.
I would highly recommend travelling with Bright African Safaris and hope we get the opportunity to again.
Thank you!!
Liz
Bright African Safari’s exceeded expectations with their 5* experience. Evania’s communication and support in organizing the perfect holiday was second to none. We were teamed up with Rajubu as our driver guide. He had a 6th sense for were the animals would be. He was patient with our needs and very knowledgeable of the area. The accommodation organized was great mix of comfortable living in a safari environment. The food was excellent and we never went hungry. Onto Zanzibar to visit Stone Town and relax on the beach. Here we used Juma for a walking tour and swimming with the dolphins. Both were sorted quickly and easily.
I couldn’t recommend Evania and her team enough. It was the holiday of a lifetime!
In short, Bright African Safaris are INCREDIBLE, a locally run company in Tanzania who provide well priced and exceptionally organised and run safaris. They will organise a trip across multiple countries (Kenya/Tanzania/Zanzibar) where others don’t (co-ordinating flights isn’t simple!) and their customer service is unbelievable. Please read on for more as I dig into the details I wish I had known before going (you may need a coffee)…
My wife and I (we’re Canadian and British respectively and live in New York) had been planning to go on safari in Kenya/Tanzania for our honeymoon for sometime. We originally considered planning it ourselves, but after reading a number of trip advisor reviews we decided to use a safari tour company - we highly recommend doing so - they are able to source better rates, save you a tonne of time and a good guide is what makes your safari. We reached out to a number of tour operators (some in the US) and Bright African Safaris were the most responsive, best value and are well reviewed. They are based in Arusha, Tanzania (we went to visit their office at the end of our trip to thank them) and are Tanzanian owned; we were glad to support a locally run businesses. Salim, our tour co-ordinator, was amazing and played a huge part in us finally booking. FYI we were overwhelmed with wedding planning and booked a month (after a few months of back and forth) before we flew and Bright had everything under control. We safaried in Northern Serengeti (flew from Nairobi > Kilamanjaro > Kogatende, and whilst the flights to Kogatende are relatively expensive it saves you a lot of time driving) Central Serengeti, Ngorogoro Crater, and Tarangire, having stayed on Lake Manyara, followed by 4 nights in Zanzibar, all arranged by Bright.
Our guide, Rajab, was phenomenal, and ultimately helped us see the big five (lions, leopards, elephants, buffalos, rhino). And many more animals (photos attached give a glimpse!) THANK YOU RAJAB! His experience coupled with the fact he’s living his dream of being a safari guide made our trip so special. We did multiple +10 hour safari days and he was always ready to go whenever we needed.
A few important points to consider:
- use WhatsApp for communication if you can, it’s preferred by tour co-ordinators. Emails can take a while to send and receive
- Take note of the time difference, be mindful of when you’re messaging
- Payment: this was a big one for us. We paid our deposit using credit card, and it’s v normal for operators to ask for deposits and payment upfront. Tour operators often require a surcharge for credit cards (because they are charged a fee), this varies between provider. And at some safari camps they pass the fees onto you also, so it’s standard practice. It’s normal to pay via direct bank transfer and whilst it felt daunting, we paid the remainder directly as Bright are clearly a reputable company (and saved 100s of $ on additional charges as a result)
- USD is widely accepted in Kenya and Tanzania, tips are generally paid in cash, although you can pay in KES/TZS. Tips are well received and it’s recommended to tip $10-$15 per person per night at each safari camp - the tips are evenly distributed between the staff. Tip at the end of your stay in one go and tip discreetly as it’s customary to do so (some places have tip boxes, where there isn’t then tip the main member of staff and ask them to distribute amongst the others). For safari guides $10-15 per person per day is good (don’t forget days where they had to travel considerable distances to meet you e.g. our guide drove 9 hours to meet us in norther Serengeti before we arrived). Although, in all instances, you should feel inclined to tip more where you feel you received a great service. Your tips go a long way and we found everyone to be extremely polite and grateful. Zanzibar tipping is slightly less.
- It goes without saying, be polite and respectful to the guides and staff and it’ll be returned to you in droves. Make an effort to learn a few words in the local language; hellos and goodbyes.
- Wearing earth tones is recommended but you can wear most colours. Dark colours attract horse flies, and bright colours may be distinct to other animals (the safari trucks tend to be brown/green). Bring warm clothes and trousers/long sleeves - it gets cold at night. Boots are recommended but I didn’t bring them to save on weight and it was fine.
- Keep an eye on weight limits on flights, generally 20KG per bag is fine but if you take smaller planes sometimes the limit is less. Sometimes the local airlines don’t allow hard cases so check the small print or ask your tour operator
- Kenyan visa applications were quick to be approved (a few days but note we had transit ones so were less arduous). Tanzanian visas give at least a week. You need the details of where you’re staying in each country before applying. Go through the government websites for each.
We had a wonderful time and couldn’t recommend Bright enough. Thank you again. Alex & Liz