Tanzania Luxury Safari & Zanzibar Beach Vacation

You could not have planned the trip better. It was fantastic! Our safari driver from Rangers was great - again could not of been better. He pushed every day for us to see everything possible. Hes fun and incredibly knowledgeable and has a great command of the English language.You were right to schedule one day in Nairobi - so glad we did not change it to two days. We saw the last of the Big 5 - the black rhino in Kenya. We loved all of our accommodations and the people are so friendly, polite and helpful.We saw the Great Migration in Tanzania. We would not of changed one thing. People from other tour agencies were dissapointed that when they arrived in Kenya when we did as all of the Wildebeest had already migrated to Tanzania.What you scheduled for us was perfect. I do think that Tanzania is not well known but Kenya is to the average American like us. If it wasn't for you we would of never known about Tanzania. Tanzania has it all - except the black rhino at the Govenor's Camp- no need to even go to Kenya but I did want to go the the Elephant and Giraffe orphanages. We loved Capetown, the shark cage trip and the tour operator was wonderful. The 1/2 day Capetown trip was great. We went on the historic Capetown walking tour at 11:00 after we checked out. We added the Olduvai museum at the crater to our trip.  We had a wonderful time and saw so much in 17 days including traveling from the East Coast;  Arusha, Tarangire National park,  Ngorongoro crater, Central Serengeti - Turner Springs, Norther Serengeti - Kokatonde, Masai - Mara, Nairobi, Victoria Falls and Capetown. A trip of a lifetime.

The expert travel planning by our tour planners was flawless. They gave us details and planning directions that were always helpful and on time. I never felt like I needed to do extra planning and when I had a concern, they always responded immediately. Even as we were in the middle of the trip and I had some concern about the bad weather, a tour planner responded almost immediately and did some research and contacted the flight people. The lodging in Arusha is unbelievable. Gibbs Farm near the crater is the same. Too much to tell on these two lodgings, but go to the web site. The Sanctuary Serengeti camp was great. Our tent overlooked the vast Serengeti from our high spot in the southwest area. Gorilla Sanctuary lodge at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest was fabulous.

I selected Zicasso's travel partner for our trip to Tanzania. There were four of us: my husband, me, my son, and daughter-in-law. Our agent worked very closely with me to plan an itinerary that would best utilize our time, but ensure we saw everything we wanted. Her recommendations were spot on. We started planning this trip 16 months early. Throughout the entire time, she was always responsive to emails. She is an expert on Tanzania and has built very strong relationships within the country. We were told several times during our trip what an excellent partner she is in safari travel.

We spent two nights in Arusha, two nights in Tarangire National Park, and four nights in Serengeti National Park. All of the accommodations were excellent. The lodge in Arusha was a lovely place to relax and recover from the long flight. We were able to walk the golf course, which is private and only available to the owners of the properties. Guests can walk around along the edge. No one was golfing, so we saw quite a bit of wildlife. The chef was stellar and very friendly. Our travel agent was in Arusha while we were there and came to meet us.

In Tarangire, we stayed at a camp. The tent was nicely decorated, with plenty of space for our things. The staff were quick to accommodate requests for a bucket shower or an escort to the main area. Meals were buffet-style. Tarangire has a very large elephant population. We also saw many vervet monkeys, mongoose, giraffes and two leopards.

The camp in the Serengeti was truly exceptional. Our permanent tent included a soaking tub, indoor and outdoor shower, plunge pool, and deck with a view. We watched elephants, giraffes, and waterbuck walk by while we relaxed between the morning and evening game drives. Plus, they had a beautiful fire pit where we enjoyed a cocktail with other guests before dinner. The meals were also exceptional. Lunch and dinner included three menu choices. The sundowner on our last evening was so awesome. The large herds and number of predators in the Serengeti make it an extraordinary experience.

Our guide was the best. He could spot wildlife so far away that even other guides were impressed. During our six safari days, we saw five leopards. I was most interested in seeing cheetahs. We saw seven in the Serengeti, including a mother with two cubs. This was my eighth safari. I had never seen a cheetah cub in the wild until that moment.

The team at this safari travel company from my initial conversations with their representative to working with our travel agent was the best in customer experience. The entire trip lived up and exceeded our expectations from the time we walked off the plane in Kilimanjaro to the time we boarded to return home. This company specializes in personalized attention throughout and it was impeccable. They know these camps well and know how to design to the client's desires and expectations.

We started with two nights at the beautiful and impeccable luxury of our lodge in Arusha to recuperate from the long flights from America. We then stayed at 3 Sanctuary camps in Tarangire, Ngorongoro and Serengeti, one a permanent camp and the other two mobile camps. We ended the trip back at the lodge to rest before our long flights home.

The entire trip was planned to perfection by this company except the commercial flights which we arranged.  We would highly recommend, if possible, to fly first class. We flew from Washington to Addis Ababa and then to Kilimanjaro. Th intra-Africa charter flights, arranged by this company went perfectly.

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.