Reviews of safaris to Ngorongoro Crater

"This was our first safari and we wanted to use an experienced company to arrange things for us. After a lot of research we chose Expert Africa and were glad that we did. Jessica listened to everything we asked for and planned the perfect trip. When we did have a small issue with a hotel transfer in Zanzibar, she quickly fixed it for us and kept us informed throughout.

All the accommodation and staff at Asilia Africa were exceptional, we could not have asked for anything better. The guides were all extremely knowledgeable and really cared that we had the best safari experience possible. The rooms were beautiful and so luxurious. The food was delicious and plentiful (perhaps bordering on too plentiful!).

Our time at Kilindi was very relaxing and just what we needed after a busy 10 days on safari." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 9 on a Tanzania safari

"What an amazing experience. We had a great variety of locations and camps thanks to lyndsey, who took my suggestions and fashioned a great itinerary for us. Our local support was excellent and all worked like clockwork. No glitches, just an unforgettable experience." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Tanzania safari

"Every camp that we visited held Expert Africa in high regard which made us proud to be clients.

All went well but it would have been helpful to have the "hard copies" of Precision Air as there were glitches on their end. They had no record of us going on after Lusaka (right city??). We made it. And... All's well that ends well but we were put-on the wrong plane from the Serengeti to Kilimanjaro and they sent us to Arusha (along with another couple).

Precision Air then put us on another flight to Kilimanjaro but we missed most of our time at the lodge in Kilimanjaro before going on to Nairobi. We both decided that we would have skipped the Nairobi jaunt and gone from another city. Just FYI" Read full review: 26 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zambia safari

"Brilliant. Superbly organised by Tam our Expert Africa organiser. Tam was great, very helpful from start to finish.

All our ground arrangements were very good, especially being met by a very efficient lady from Swiss port at the airport on arrival and being transferred to our accommodations.

Loved our trip, and want to go back again asap. Asilia guides and camps excellent.

Not that keen on Ngorongoro farmhouse but ok for a stop over.

Thank you Tam for all your hard work in organising our trip so that everything went without a hitch." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Tanzania safari

"Lyndsey helped us to put together a great itinerary and the wildlife of Tanzania and people in the Nomad camps delivered a holiday that exceeded our expectations.

The three elements (Tarangire, Ngorongoro and north Serengeti) worked well in terms of travel between national parks, variety of landscapes and mix of wildlife.

The three Nomad camps were of a high standard and the leadership of the camp managers and dedication of staff was apparent at them all. Whilst similar in some ways they each had their unique identity. The only slight disappointment was that meals were taken at individual tables. In previous safaris we have enjoyed chatting to other guests at communal tables or round the boma.

We cannot fault the organisation by Expert Africa and Nomad to ensure all elements of the trip went to plan." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 9 on a Tanzania safari

"Another lifelong ambition was to seeing the great migration. Over all lots of wonderful memories of all the animals on our safari.
Thankyou Lyndsey for organising this wonderful safari." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 10 on a Tanzania safari

"This was the trip of a lifetime. We wanted something really special and unique, as it was my 10 year work anniversary and sabbatical, and the team at Expert Africa delivered in a big way. Thank you Lyndsey!

The lodge recommendations were 100% on point; we knew it was going to be great, but we were still blown away by the places and the unique experiences Expert Africa lined up for this trip. It's rare that you do a 2.5 week holiday and everything just works, but in this case it's true. And the logistics could have been a nightmare, as we didn't spend more than 3 nights in any one location, but every transfer, every flight all went smoothly!

I think the real difference-maker was in how seamless the experience was. From the moment we flew into Nairobi until our quite literally boarding for departure back to the US the team at Expert Africa and their partners in Kenya and Tanzania made sure everything went without any trouble. Even a short delay at a local airstrip was met with surprise and delight as instead of being picked up by car for a 2-hour drive a private plane showed up and we had our own 15 min flight to the lodge - very cool!

In hindsight would we have done anything differently? Maybe, starting with just doing more of what Lyndsey said to do. :)

In all seriousness she guided us towards an amazingly unconstrained experience and we are tremendously grateful. If you are willing to commit the resources it is amazing what is possible when working with Expert Africa.

We have already referred multiple friends and colleagues to the Expert Africa website and to her directly, it will be fun to see if or when anyone else gets inspired to pick up the phone and book their adventure.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

In terms of improvements it's hard to say; your website is 1st class, Lynsey provided great advise, and payment and such were easy. I think the guides for obtaining visas and such were also easy to follow and made the process simple. The price of the holiday we booked was staggering, but I suppose that was a feature not a bug and mostly our fault. :)

In a perfect world more guidance on where to see villages (Sarara was great for this!) and where to avoid (At Entamanu the Masai are a bit "Disneyland" about it - hard to describe) would have been nice as instead we found ourselves a bit at the mercy of the local lodge managers. "Do you think it's worth visiting a village here?" is a bit of an unfair question, although credit to the team at Serian for the honest answer "no not really, there's better places for that if you want authenticity". We figured it out and are very happy with the results but we should have asked more questions in advance about where to lean into cultural experiences and where to say forget it, just stick to wildlife.

A few thoughts on the trip we booked that I didn't want to drop in reviews as they're somewhat unfair or too individual.

Sarara, Serian and Chem Chem were incredible. Continue to recommend them without hesitation.
-John at Sarara was one of the best drivers and provided an authenticity we found nowhere else, and I wish I lived in Sarara house. It's that nice and we regretted having to leave, even if the wildlife in Samburu isn't as abundant.
-Grace (sp) at Serian was simply talented beyond belief, her and Gisoi (sp) were one of the best guide/ranger duos anywhere. We would go back simply to have her guide us again she's that good!
-Isaac at Chem Chem had 20+ years of experience and it showed, he was such a pro and made the Chem Chem experience complete.

Those three properties are worth the expenditure without any qualifiers or concerns. Lyndsey was 100% right to recommend them and we hope to return to them in 2025.

Entamanu was also so good. I'm torn; we did one day in the crater, and it was so special. Would a second day have made sense? Who knows. Maybe it's too much, maybe not, but it's a lot of coming and going for what is essentially one long day of game drive. So glad we went, so that's a win! I think it just comes down to not having the time and budget to do it all, and this was the right place to shave a day. But we found ourselves thinking now that they have really nice structures to stay in a 2nd day could be worthwhile? Very subjective.

Nimali Mara is a tale of two cities. I left them a great review, and they deserve it! Really special place and the staff, including our butler Bethod (sp) were simply the best! But also worth noting our guided experience there with Moses was just so different lol! I'm talking tie-die sweatshirt, car falling apart (driver had to literally hold his door shut as it wouldn't latch while driving), cooler full of waters and sodas but no bottle opener, etc. it was just such a contrast with how over the top luxury the place itself is. The guy had a heart of gold and tried so hard, so nothing but respect there, but it's worth thinking about given the price point and contrast with the other guided experiences. We are travel veterans so it didn't phase us but I can imagine others really being shaken.

White Sands was also great but there is an element of the hussle in Zanzibar. It reminds me more of visiting the national parks vs. conservancies, they monetize differently (on the go vs. pay up front but then feel insulated from it all). That's ok! I think it was just so different to go from the Chem Chem experience into White Sands and Zanzibar. We wanted Zanzibar so that's on us, but in hindsight Chem Chem should have been the capstone experience, nothing was going to top that. We also didn't quite understand if we were supposed to book our experiences with the local team you sent our way or via the hotel property, but in the end it all worked out so no worries.

Our last day in Nairobi was long but that isn't your fault, the flight was set to depart late (we booked it) and was then delayed further. The guide was so nice and did his best to keep us entertained but by that point it was the end of a long trip and we were cooked. The Karen district is nice but after a few hours there just isn't much to do, but again, not the fault of the team at Expert Africa.

All in all we've now recommended Expert Africa and Lyndsey to multiple parties, as we are comfortable having our name attached to the referral.

We started this journey with you probably close to a year before our travels and are so happy we did, thank you for everything!" Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 8 on a Tanzania safari

"Overall experience was outstanding.

Expert Africa (Jessica) was a joy to work with and the trip was put together quickly and executed seamlessly." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 9 on a Tanzania safari

"Jessica did a wonderful job putting this altogether, She worked effortlessly to book me in the lodges I preffered even though this really was a near last-minute booking.

Everything went smoothly, and most importantly I never had to wait or wonder where my rides were. They were there as promised.

Thank you so much for your work and input.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Nope. As far as I can tell you nailed everything in place." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 16 on a Tanzania safari

"Wonderful." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 11 on a Tanzania safari