My wife and I just returned from our 14-day trip with Africa Dream Safaris. We went to the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Manyara. We went late January to the middle of February and had fantastic weather the whole trip. This was during the Green Season and we saw the Great Migration and game viewing was unbelievable.
The trip was wonderful, everything we could have hoped for. We had solicited proposals from a few top providers, all of whom probably would have been just fine, but I really liked the idea of our own dedicated guide and private vehicle.
After more than a year of planning and anticipation, our dream of an African safari became a reality when we were joined by our two adult sons and their wives in Tanzania for what can only be described as the trip of our lifetime!
We had a fantastic safari in Tanzania through ADS. The itinerary Sharon put together for our family of four was great and the accommodations and service at each hotel/lodge/camp were excellent.
We just got back from our African Safari today. We wanted to take a few minutes to let you know what a wonderful time we had and that we had priceless memories to last us a life time.
I recently completed my third safari with Africa Dream Safaris. Two of them were in September and October during the dry season and the last one in January during the short wet season. Friends have asked which season I liked best and which would I pick to return. Good questions.
I am so happy I ignored my friends’ warnings and stuck with my scheduled safari in Tanzania this January. To address the elephant in the room (so to speak)…there is NO Ebola problem in Tanzania.
For those who have not experienced an ADS safari, you may be asking why ADS (African Dream Safari)? Well after taken a Safari with them I discovered that this is a highly profession company with very competent employees who become your friends while in Tanzania.
If you read no further this sentence, remember this: IF A SAFARI IS ON YOUR WISH-LIST, TANZANIA IS THE PLACE TO GO AND ADS ARE THE PEOPLE TO MAKE IT HAPPPEN!
What A Trip!!! The safari and all the staff, both in the field and off, exceeded our expectations. When we arrived in Kilimanjaro, we were met at the doors by Faith. She was terrific in expediting our entry into Tanzania.
We have been back in the states for just over a week with Tanzania withdrawal happening big time for Bob and me. Flying into LAX at rush hour was a jolt of a homecoming after our weeks on safari where the biggest traffic jam was the million wildebeest descending on our safari camp our last days in the Serengeti.
We just returned from 13 days (Jan 21-Feb 3) on a clockwise trip by land from Arusha to Tarangire (Swala), Ngorongoro (Crater Lodge), Lake Masek, then to Serengeti staying at the Four Seasons and finally Kusini Tented Lodge.
We were four couples with two great driver-guides: JP and Ellson. We experienced the amazing wildlife diversity (lions, cheetahs, leopards, hippos, giraffes—to name a few). And we were delighted with the abundance and variety of the birds (Tawny Eagle, Grey-crowned Crane, Secretary Bird, African Spoonbill, Kori Bustard, Golden-breasted Starling, Grey-headed Kingfisher, and Northern Masked Weaver).
Pictures were taken with a Nikon D600/28-300mm Nikkor and a Nikon D300S/18-300mm Nikkor lens. We found in most instances these zooms met our needs. We recommend bringing a GPS camera adaptor (we used Nikon GP1) because it identifies photo locations (see last picture).
We enjoyed the variety of lodging with various overnight visitors (buffalo, giraffe, zebra, and competing lions), the good food, and attentive service. One of our high points was seeing the migration both from our vehicles as well as flying out on our final day. Zebra and Wildebeest as far as the eye could see.
Dawn Anderson’s planning and pre-trip suggestions and answers to our many questions helped make this a wonderful life-time experience.
Mark D. and John O.
Altadena, California
We’ve been home from Tanzania for a few weeks now and we’re still talking about our experiences and continue to find ourselves “in the bush” watching the animals in our dreams at night. Our time in the Serengeti was amazing!
We had spent months thinking about this trip, reading reviews of different tour operators and considering various options. We are so glad we chose ADS. Lynn Newby-Fraser listened to our wish list and gave us good advice in the planning phase. Other ADS employees in Tanzania who were friendly, helpful and a pleasure to work with: Martias and Emanuel (Meet & Greet in Arusha), Jonas at Sametu Camp, Kidevu and all the private camp staff at Naabi Hill who did a wonderful job of taking care of us.
Our driver-guide, Arnold Mushi was truly outstanding. His knowledge of the Serengeti and his uncanny ability to spot animals (or predict where they would be) made all the difference. We were there in January, the green season, and the big herds of the migration were not where they would have been expected to be. But, Arnold was able to track them down for us. With all his experience in the Serengeti, he still hasn’t lost his fresh enthusiasm for each game drive.
We are also glad Lynn suggested adding the Grumeti Reserve to our itinerary. Our stay at Sabora Tented Camp was another unique experience. The choice to spend a few days in historic StoneTown instead of a beach resort on Zanzibar worked well for us also. We did a walking tour of the old town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and learned a lot about its varied history. We topped off our Zanzibar sight-seeing with a spice plantation tour, which was also interesting and fun.
While on safari, we especially enjoyed the pre-dawn and early evening game drives. Along with the increased animal activity, we got to enjoy spectacular sunrises and sunsets in some very different landscapes – the lush river valleys and lakes, wide-open plains dotted with kopjes, the magnificent mountains and Ngorongoro Crater. All beautiful. The morning and evening views of flat-top acacia trees silhouetted against the reddening sky were some of our favorite sights.
Choosing favorite experiences and favorite photos from our safari has been difficult – there are so many! But, here’s some of what we would consider highlights of the trip:
1. Watching a very large pride of lions in the Seronera Valley who were spooked by a couple of hot-air balloons coming in quite low. The lionesses were herding ten very small cubs away from this danger in the air with a lot of worried looks back and anxious noises to the cubs until the balloons were out of sight.
2. Driving slowly through the migration near the Simiyu River with the vehicle parting the tide of wildebeest and zebra. We will always remember the sounds they made – a sort of low-key grunting from the wildebeest and braying from the zebra.
3. Watching another large pride of lions climbing a sausage tree near the Moru kopjes. We counted five in the tree when we arrived. All lionesses and nearly adult-sized cubs. Then watched as more arrived and climbed up – two big males, another lioness and eight small cubs. The cubs piled on top of the last lioness, sometimes falling off, but usually climbing back up. One independent-minded little cub gave up on the crowd in the tree and settled under a nearby bush.
4. Watching beautiful birds: flamingoes on Lake Ndutu and Lake Magadi in the Ngorongoro Crater, yellow weaver birds at work in many places, lilac-breasted rollers, superb starlings, gray crowned cranes, Fisher’s lovebirds and many, many more.
5. Chasing after a couple of fast-moving honey badgers near the Barafu Kopjes and watching them dive into burrows in the ground.
6. Watching two hungry cheetah brothers in the Grumeti take off after a group of warthogs. One managed to bring down the last in the line of warthogs, but it got away from him and faced off with the cheetah. Face-to-face, those horns on the little warthog are pretty intimidating. All of the warthogs turned on the cheetahs and managed to chase them off. The predators became the prey.
7. Touring a Maasai boma and learning about their culture. They were gracious hosts who sang and danced for us and invited us into one of their dwellings. We also enjoyed visiting the children in their classroom.
This was a trip of a lifetime for us and we have Africa Dream Safaris to thank for making it a smooth, seamless experience. If anyone reading this is still debating a safari with ADS, we would say DO IT! It was absolutely worth all the planning, expense and long hours of travel. We will treasure our memories of the Serengeti.
Asante Sana!
Will & Beth S.
Salida, Colorado
Safari Dates: January 20, 2013 to February 4, 2013
Our guests discuss what it’s like to travel with ADS and the awe-inspiring wonders of Tanzania:
After trying to “lay low” on my 65th birthday last July, you can imagine how excited I was when my husband surprised me with a trip to Africa. Africa….that’s a trip you only dream of. And, yes, it turned out to be just that!
ADS went beyond our expectations. From whisking us through the Kilimanjaro airport on day one until they dropped us off on our last day, they were there. We couldn’t have asked for a better guide, either. Francis was wonderful! He had telescopic eyes and was very knowledgeable. He soon became our friend.
Francis picked us up after our 1 1/2 hour flight on a little bush plane and we immediately began seeing animals. We saw gazelles, elephants, lions, zebras, giraffes, buffalo, impalas, baboons, ostriches and monkeys all within a few hours of arriving. And this was our first day!
We observed a mother lion with 2 half-grown cubs try to take down a young buffalo. The next thing we knew, the whole herd of buffalo chased the lions back. We stayed 3 nights at Mbuzi Mawe tented camp. This was our favorite camp. We sat by our tent and observed a giraffe, gazelles and deer in our backyard. The highlights came at night, though, when we’d lay awake listening to the lions roaring and elephants walking around outside.
It’s hard to point out specific events since they were all great. We enjoyed the hot air balloon ride; watching the migration; being welcome into a Masai village; observing the elusive Serval cat; seeing 5 black rhinos; and I could go on forever.
Thanks again to Sharon who answered hundreds of our questions and especially to Francis, who made us feel welcome and opened our eyes to a new world. We have made many new memories of a beautiful country filled with wonderful people and amazing animals.
Bill and Sandy F.
The Villages, FL
Safari Dates: January 20, 2013 to January 29, 2013
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