We Saw the Big 5 All in One Day

When Brian and I thought about going on a safari we had no idea where to start. We heard about safaris in South Africa, but wanted to do something else. I did research on the country, safari companies and the one that kept coming up with all 5 star reviews were ADS, and they did not disappoint. It was all true what people describe about the personal service delivered.

From the minute I contacted the website for information and began conversations with Dawn I knew it was all going to be awesome. Dawn helped through the whole process and provided an itinerary that gave different types of accommodations so that we were able to get a full experience from a 5 star hotel to a 5 star tented camp. Dawn also was so patient and responsive on all my questions from start to the end.

When we arrived in Kilimanjaro, not knowing what to expect, we were greeted by Mattis who assisted us in the whole immigration process and then we drove to the Arusha Coffee house after 18 hours of flying. Mattias also took care of the school supplies that we had brought and took them to the ADS offices where they would bring them to St. Judes school so that they could be distributed to the children.

The next day we flew to the Serengeti, and as we touched down at the airstrip the first view for us were elephants and giraffes on the edges of the landing area. We just knew then that this was going to be an adventure of a lifetime!!

We met our guide Arnold, and after a few minutes of conversation we knew this was going to be an amazing adventure. From the minute we left the airport and started our game drive to our next location we saw giraffes, zebras, gazelles, antelopes, a leopard in a tree, and he found the wildebeest migration and that was in our first 2 hours.

We had heard that the ADS guides were great, but over the next few days we were sure we had the best guide. We even nicknamed him “Eagle Eye” as he spotted animals so quickly it was just amazing. We started our days early at 6:00 am to get the most of the day, took our lunch boxes and off we went! We saw over 50 lions, a cheetah hunting with her cub, jackals, hyenas, and were even in the middle of the wildebeest migration with thousands of them around our vehicle.

In the crater we saw the big 5, and that was all in one day. We even caught a leopard in a tree that Arnold said he had not seen in 10 years in the crater. Arnold was truly amazing with his expertise in the wildlife and landscape was so fantastic and made our trip so special! We had celebrations provided by ADS for our anniversary in several locations which were all so special and just made our trip so memorable!

Tanzania is a beautiful place full of untamed beauty that only mother nature can create, and we were lucky enough to have experienced it. ADS made this trip so easy to fly to the other side of the planet with ease the trip lived up to all our expectations. This was truly our “trip of a lifetime” and can’t wait to come back to see Arnold (our “Eagle Eye”) and Tanzania!! Thank you ADS for your expertise and all the members of your team that made our trip of a lifetime just AMAZING! Looking forward to coming back!

Marge and Brian H.
Merrick, New York
Safari Dates: June 1, 2019 to June 9, 2019

  1. Thrilled that you had such a wonderful time! Five years ago we too went on Safari and Arnold was our guide. We took our family which included our two grandsons. Arnold was terrific with them. Yes, he has that eagle eye for seeing the animals from far away. Thanks for sharing. Your words brought me right back there and I could hear Arnold say, “Pora Pora!”