We just received some great feedback from a family that completed the 12 Day Kenya and Tanzania Budget Safari.  This trip travels in a circular route covering the Best of Kenya and Tanzania. It is perfect for traveler who want to spend a max amount of time viewing wildlife.

Thanks so much Karyn for the honest comments below:

Wow! I don’t even know where to begin.

Everything about our trip was flawless, and exactly as described. Traveling overland is not relaxing, but it is a wonderful adventure and I cannot imagine a better way to cover the amount of territory we did, see as much as we did, meet as interesting people as we did, and enjoy Africa, as we did! It was just phenomenal!

We saw several things that even surprised our guide — we spent 2 hours watching 9 lions set up a hunt, stealthily and strategically surrounding a herd of topis and gazelles; we also saw a herd of buffalo charge a pride of lions (and scare them away). We saw dozens of lions, countless hyenas, zebras, warthogs, and hippos.

We saw two cheetahs, two black rhinos, and finally, one leopard (thought we weren’t going to!). Enjoyed a beautiful and challenging hike to a waterfall near Mtowombu, Tanzania. Saw stunning landscapes, and was up at sunrise most days to watch the sun come up over the Serengeti, the Masai Mara, the Ngorogoro Crater. (One of the reasons we were exhausted!).

The setting up and taking down of tents, the cooking, campsite cleaning etc are all a great part of the experience — though they certainly would not be ‘for every traveler’. Our family didn’t mind the extra work — though we were tired : ) But the group was wonderful and we created many friendships and laughed more than I can remember doing in years.

One thing that you probably want to know in case you have American travelers on future trips: the visa for Americans to enter Tanzania is more expensive than that for Europeans (who made up the rest of our group). It cost $100 per person instead of $50, payable in US currency. I am Canadian and was able to pay $50, but we didn’t realize that Ron and the boys would be charged $100. Luckily we did have the currency with us.

It was also great to know in advance that the truck required South Africa-type adaptors — we ended up sharing ours with all the Europeans who had brought Kenya-British adaptors :)

I will send some photos when I get home from work. But I cannot thank you enough for facilitating this trip for us, and for answering our endless questions. I am going to recommend this trip and others to many friends (I already have one who will probably contact you about an East Africa/Kilimanjaro trip).
Karyn Miller 
Aug 2014