David and I want to express our sincere appreciation to ADS for an absolutely wonderful and unforgettable adventure to the beautiful country of Tanzania. We have traveled extensively all over the world with Tauck Tours, a first rate American travel company, but nothing even remotely compares to the personal preparation and treatment we were privileged to experience with ADS. On the Arusha side of the globe our ubiquitous guide was fantastic! He was such a gentleman—friendly, good sense of humor and an extraordinary knowledge and ability to look for predators and other mammals and birds and to teach us about their habits and ecological habitats. We saw not only all the big five animals but in fact almost every species on ADS’s Animal Checklist on Northern Tanzania including all types of trees and vegetation! We even saw a leopard kill, a black-maned lion, a rare kudu and a cheetah with her cubs enjoying a kill. But we really worked hard for it-in other words we were gone from morning to sundown searching!

Areas we really enjoyed seeing included the Mara River area especially during Migration-it was amazing to see literally hundreds of wildebeest and zebras all lined up to go across the Mara River-unfortunately a lioness appeared and they all stampeded back down the ravine which in itself was like a dry land crossing-dust everywheres—“a never to be forgotten” sight! We also loved the Serengeti Balloon ride and the champagne breakfast!

Outside the realm of herbivores and carnivores, talking with guide (our Maasai teacher and guide) and visiting a remote Maasai village was a very humbling experience for us. It was mind boggling to see first hand how the natives lived– we have never seen such poverty—grass and cow dung huts, no water nearby, no plumbing and no electricity. It really makes you appreciate how fortunate we are to live in America. We also enjoyed visiting the Poli Village outside Arusha and the Iraqw Village on the way from the Crater to Lake Manyara and learning about their traditions. Our visit to Olduvai Gorge was worth it as [our guide] took us down to the bottom of the area so we could see firsthand the original Leakey archeological site.

All in all we would rate this safari as OUTSTANDING, the most unique adventure we have ever experienced and I hope those reading this will have a similar Tanzanian experience; at least with Africa Dream Safaris you cannot go wrong-it was extraordinary to have our own private guide who would stop anytime (we took over 1200 photographs)! I would like to come back someday to this beautiful country of Tanzania but in the green season for a comparison. And we would not hesitate (in fact we already have) to recommend ADS to our friends. Kwa heri and Asante Sana.

Sandy and Dave Bertetti
August 2010