Lands Unknown: Off the Beaten Path East Africa Safari

February 2021, I submitted a request through Zicasso to plan a group trip to Kenya,Tanzania and Zanzibar for June 2022. I was matched with Maurice. This travel company has surpassed our expectations and provided an amazing experience we will never forget. The camps were top rated, and we had a fantastic time there. In fact, all the accommodations we stayed at were phenomenal. They were beautiful, clean, each room had an amazing view, the staff were very attentive, and the food was top notch. Maurice even planned a few surprises for our group along the way.

Maurice booked all of our in-country transfers (both by car and plane). All we had to do was show up at the lobby of each accommodation at the time specified and everything else was taken care of. Our drivers were exceptional as well. We spent time in Amboseli National Park, Maasai Mara, the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and ended on the beach of Zanzibar. Our drivers at Amboseli had many years’ experience, they were very knowledgeable about all of the animals. Within 5 minutes landing at the air strip, they took us straight to see many of the animals, especially a family of cheetahs eating their prey! Our drivers at the Maasai Mara were great as well. We told him we wanted to see a lots of lions and they didn’t disappoint. On our morning game drive, we saw lions feasting on a buffalo, we also saw a leopard with a vulture in a tree. Our drivers in the Serengeti & Ngorongoro were excellent as well, they took us to all the best locations to capture the animals. We were even able to catch a glimpse of a rhino in the distance. They did their best to ensure we were able to see the big 5 and the ugly 5. We then ended the trip visiting Zanzibar’s beaches, a spice tour & Stone Town.

I highly recommend using Maurice and this travel company for travel tours, safaris and vacations in the future and look forward to working with him again! Asante sana!

This Africa Safari travel company planed a phenomenal trip for my husband and I, everything from accommodations, to in country transportation, to food was handled by this company and was seamless!

Arusha to the Onsea House retreat with beautiful views of Mt.Meru (brother to Mt.Kilimanjaro) : we were picked up by a wonderful guide who, unfortunately was expecting us the day before for a walking safari, but we were delayed 1 day (I will explain later in the review).   Staff was amazing and accommodating, food was out of this world, and our room was gorgeous! Such a great pick for our first night in Africa.  This is where we brought school supplies in accordance with "Pack for a Purpose" and left it with the staff to bring to the school at Onsea.

The Serengeti and getting there: We took a small Cesna plane into the bush which was a great and beautiful experience. upon arrival we were greeted by a guide who set up a small picnic breakfast for us next to the airstrip complete with table cloths, coffee, tea, fruit, cookies and biscuits!  It was a very welcomed surprise after an early morning.  We were paired with a game driver that we would stick with for the entirety of our stay at Lemala - Kuria Hills.  We had a gorgeous view from anywhere in the lodge especially our room, great food, and amazing staff once again.  The game viewing was great, say lots and lots of herbivores such as giraffes, zebras, antelopes, impala, elepahnts, buffalo, and more.  But were  bit disappointed that we did not get to spot the entire Big 5.  But hey! thats the wild for you!  We had to always keep in mind that we were observing the animals in their natural habitat and it was by chance that we saw what we did. 

I must say, that this trip was absolutely unforgettable and turned out to be the best choice for our honeymoon.  But, to be completely fair, there were 2 mistakes that were made that dampened the trip (the reason it is not a 5 star review).  

Our travel company was very great with reaching out on a very regular basis before the deposit was placed, and as time got closer to the trip, the communication was less and less.  

Months before our trip, I sent in a client information sheet, complete with my and my husband's passport information along with other things they needed to know to book accommodations and transportation.  Unfortunately, those documents were not looked over well enough by the staff at the company because there was an issue with my husband's passport expiration date.  There was only 2 months left, when Tanzania required 6 months.  This mistake cost us an entire day in Africa (the most expensive single day).  The fact that we were only scheduled to be in Tanzania for 8 days, and now cut short to only 7 days, it really put a damper on our trip.  So needless to say, we get to the airline to check our bags for the international flight, and they would not allow my husband to board! In a panic, we had to run to the other side of New York and get an expedited passport costing us lots of extra time and money.  

From my experience, it is the Travel agent's responsibility to explicitly tell you, by phone, about rules of this sort.  They are supposed to be the experts of tours in the country and should have been more proactive in that aspect.  

My last disappointment came, when we realized that the great migration was not going on in the portion of the Serengeti we were staying at that time of the season.  Our agent knew that we were only in the bush for 4 nights and I explicitly requested that we wanted to see the great migration.  When we got to the lodge, it was very well known that the great migration was NOT happening at that time.  Our game viewing was much less than was we expected...don't get me wrong, it was absolutely phenomenal, but this was with a pretty experienced guide and lots and lots of searching.  

Despite the early complications and loss of time, my husband and I did have the best Honeymoon. The staff at all our Tanzania locations were phenomenal. on our last night the staff at Lamala Hills celebrated my husbands birthday in the grandest of fashions. Dancing, singing, and great fun ran through the entire night. 

Zanzibar and our trip home: After our week in the Serengeti we flew to the island of Zanzibar. We were greeted by our private transport and traveled to a resort located on the east coast of the island. The resort was fantastic. the beach was so wonderful. The customer service of the staff was a B+, still miss how amazing the bush was, and the beach was so cool. We walked for a almost two miles in knee high water exploring the natural reef and coral of the Indian ocean. The food was good and our stay had a wonderful "sundowners" with champagne & snacks. We even visited a great restaurant called which served the freshest seafood. The days were wonderful and the nights even more magical. We finished the island visit with a tour of historic stone town before leaving home.

Wow.  That's just for starters.  I just returned from Africa with my partner and two of our close friends.  We had a 2 week trip to Tanzania and Zanzibar booked through this African safari tour operator.  It included a day hike on Mt. Kilimanjaro, 7 days of safari, and 3 days at a resort in Zanzibar.

Just as we prepared to leave San Francisco, our flight was delayed, and we had to rebook arrangements, and arrived in Arusha 36 hours later than planned.  That did not phase our travel company.  I sent them an email on Saturday AM with our new flight plans, a representative of was waiting for us as we landed at 3:30AM, and the adventure continued.

Our travel company was able to shuffle our schedule to allow us to fit in our hike on Mt. Kilimanjaro at the end of the safari portion of our trip, and give up one day in Zanzibar.  

All of the accommodations were first class.  We stayed at the Arusha Hotel for just a few hours when we landed, and found it to be a charming colonial style hotel that we wished we could have enjoyed more.

Our driver/guide, Joseph, was with us 7 days.   He was very good at negotiating the rough roads on safari, and we were able to see most of what we wanted over the trip.

We stayed one night at Kirururu Lodge overlooking Lake Manyara.  Be sure to have a drink at the bar - the view down to the lake is breath-taking.

The two nights at Tloma Lodge were also very nice.  The rooms were large and well-appointed, and the meals were wonderful.  It was relaxing to hang around the lobby in the afternoon talking to other travelers, comparing sights on our safari outings.  A special thanks to Martha for her outstanding service.  She was the best.

In the Serengeti, we stayed two nights each in two tent camps.  One in the central part (Kati Kati), and one farther north along the Mara River (Mara Under Canvas Camp).  The Mara camp was very deluxe.  Our tent must have been over 600 square feet, and had plumbed cold water.

The whole trip exceeded our expectations.  Our agent at this travel company was so helpful at every phase of planning and during the trip when our plans changed at the last minute.  Our tour guides were also there every step of the way in Tanzania.  We were never at a loss as to where to go or when, as they had us totally covered.

From the first conversation with our trip designer to the moment we got in the taxi leaving lodge in Zanzibar heading for the airport, the entire experience was seamless and far exceeded our expectations.  We truly didn't know what to expect with this trip.  We knew we'd see myriad animals while on safari.  We knew we'd be awestruck with the expansive vistas.  We didn't know what to expect with the food, transfers at airports, lodging accommodations, friendliness (or lack thereof) of our hosts, ability to communicate with locals, our general safety, etc.  Africa turned out to be a huge surprise and I'm sure we owe a great deal of gratitude to our trip designer and the entire company's team.  When we got off the plane in Arusha (Kilimanjaro International Airport), we were greeted by a smiling representative accompanied by our guide.  Our representative was a ray of sunshine.  What I initially thought was just a gregarious host who was well trained to make tourists feel comfortable turned out to be what we experienced with every Tanzanian we met.  You couldn't pass a native Tanzanian without getting an ear to ear smile and a hearty "Jambo!"  Sometimes you'd get a "Jambo, jambo!"  The camps we stayed at were all amazing.  Some were better appointed than others (Swala and Serengeti Pioneer Camps in particular) but even the lesser-appointed camps offered amazing settings in the wilds of Africa...star-gazing was amazing!  The food was consistently very good.  We spent our first night at Onsea House on the outskirts of Arusha.

Onsea House was a beautiful, boutique hotel nestled in the hillsides outside Arusha.  The grounds were beautiful;  well-defined paths were guarded by thick tropical plants and flowers were in full bloom.  As the sun went down, I could hear dogs barking, cows mooing and an relentless rooster that announced his presence throughout the night.  The food at Onsea was an unexpected treat.  My wife and I immediately made friends with the couple in the room next to ours and we shared dinner with them.    We set out the next morning for Tarangire.  Our tour guide met us early in the morning and we started our safari.  We couldn't have asked for a better tour guide;  we really felt like we made a life-long friend in him.  He was genuine, gregarious and extremely knowledgeable in all things Africa.  We spent the next 10 days with him.  We visited Tarangire, the Ngorongoro Crater, the Ndutu region and the Serengeti.  It's hard to say which we enjoyed the most.  Taragnire was a haven for elephants.  The Ngorongoro Crater would have been beautiful even if it didn't host a self-contained ecosystem.  Ngorongoro was the only place we saw rhinos.  The Ndutu region was unique in that we felt free to explore nooks and crannies in search of lions feasting on a freshly killed zebra or cape buffalo.  And the Serengeti was majestic and expansive.  Being awakened to two competing lions roaring in the middle of the night to assert their dominance was something I'll never forget.  We spent the last 4 days at a spa on the northeastern shore of Zanzibar.  What an amazing place to get your zen on!  I'm an early riser.  I had an opportunity on multiple mornings to watch as the local fisherman paddled their outriggers past our thatched lodge on the beach.  Dozens of boats would pass by as the men sang songs in Swahili with one fisherman singing the lead while the others sang responses in unison...priceless.