Reviews of safaris to Ngorongoro Crater

"We are seasoned safari aficionados, this being our 11th trip but first to Rwanda and then on to the Northern Tanzanian circuit. We enjoyed the whole trip immensely and had many memorable sightings and generally excellent lodges and camps.

Rwanda. Words cannot describe the gorilla treks- we looked forward to them, read as much as we could before going and still the experience was overwhelming. This was a birthday treat for my wife and on her birthday we watched a large family of gorillas going about their business and interacting with us in an absolutely magical way. Expensive but worth every penny- just save and do it.

Rwanda practically. The lodge was great and Primate safaris were efficient, our driver friendly and efficient. The country was fascinating- a modern city in Kigali and so clean but subsistence agriculture elsewhere with not a tractor in sight. Very friendly people.


Northern Tanzania. We saw the migration, half of a Mara river crossing and an abundance of game in the Serengeti. I was dubious about going to such a popular destination but did not feel that there were too many vehicles in the area. A great lodge in Lemai.


Asilia were superb in looking after us from Manyara onwards. Manyara was fine but beware, the open part of the park is only a half day's game drive and although we did meet someone who had seen a lion, the famous tree climbing lions are not often seen nowadays - good bird life though.

Ngorongoro crater. Cold when we were there - heed the warnings and ensure you take something to ward off the morning cold. A magical place though with abundant game. The Lemala camp seemed like a disappointment but we felt that it might not have been if the weather had been better.

Tarangire; an excellent camp in Oliver's and good game in particularly birds

The general organisation of the trip was pretty faultless (until we returned to Heathrow to find the Stansted express we use for the last leg home was not running) Camps and Lodges and all the interconnecting bits and pieces all worked together really well. Each driver who met us had printed name boards to find us with and named folders of permits etc and it all worked really well. They were friendly, bright, witty and informative, full marks to Primate safaris and to Asilia safaris

Elizabeth at Expert Africa made helpful suggestions before we decided on where to go and organised it all quietly in the background, sending their final ticket pack and useful information booklets a week or two before we left. We will undoubtedly use them again" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 10 on a Tanzania safari

"I don't think that I can really commit all my expectations, experiences and wonderment otherwise I will go on and on .....

Expert Africa did a terrific job, they organised everything for a fantastic holiday, we got everything and more that we could have expected or hoped for. You are so far out of your comfort zone, after a comfortable life in UK that so see what we did, the country, how it's people live and work, the animals, just everything will stick and be remembered.

All I can say is tell Expert Africa what you really would like and not like and I am sure they will come up trumps, we did and will never reget it. I have just had the holiday of my lifetime and would highly recommend it if you only do it once, the rewards will outweigh any cost involved." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Tanzania safari

"A holiday of a lifetime - and it lived up to it.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

You are extremely professional and it shows. expert sums it up." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Tanzania safari

"All the way through our trip we were grateful to individuals that gave so much to help make our vacation so spectacular. Certain people were left out in the previous feedback. I want to give special thanks and kuddos to our guides in Rwanda, Hussein, our driver guide, as well as the amazing gorilla trekking guides. Fernando was an amazing gorilla trekking quide and teacher who ensured that we had a special, memorable experience watching these amazing creatures but also learned at the same time. How did he manage to learn all of our names in such a short time, incredible! If you have any interest in gorilla trekking I would jump at the chance. It's an experience of a lifetime! And please employ the local people as porters as this helps support them in a positive way instead of poaching.

Don't put off going on safari. So many species are under pressure from humans and habitat loss to survive.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Thanks to Ellie for her patience with our labored and prolonged itinerary planning. And thanks to Claire when she filled in during Ellie's absence. We benefitted enormously from her knowledge and suggestions.

Thanks so much to all for another amazing and unforgettable trip to Africa that we will never forget!" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 5 on a Tanzania safari

"We had a wonderful time and had quite a few 'wow' moments. The weather was not what we expected and we were surprised at how cold it could be in the Serengeti but obviously there's nothing you can do about the weather.

We had one small hiccough at Nairobi airport but apart from that everything went very smoothly and everybody we encountered at every stage of the journey was most helpful.

It has to be said that travel in this part of Africa is now very expensive compared to the competition and we feel that better guidelines could have be given on tipping." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Tanzania safari

"I think the ecstatic would be a better description. You didn't ask about the safari. Our tour guide, Ayoub, was fantastic. I had my 86yr old mother with me and he treated her like gold. She was "Beebee" the whole trip and he stopped and got her a stool when he saw that getting out of the jeep was hard for her. I'm pretty sure he had bought new picnic seats and table for us as he was taking the wrapping off of the . He was so knowledgeable and had eagle eyes. He made the trip, I can't say enough good about him. Going with a 15 yr old and and 86 yr old I was a bit concerned but he put us all at ease and was so very ,very nice.

Also Maruska did a great job, we heard of guides who were in the central area worried about finding animals as they were all near us!! thank you for putting us down into the south we saw all the big 5 plus a cheetah, lepoard, lion hunt,elephants fighting, new born wildebeests and huge troops of baboons. Thank you for considering our jet lag and suggesting Arusha Nat pk it was a perfect introduction.

It was to be the trip of a lifetime for my mom and it lived up to its billing and then some. She will never forget it. Thank you.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No, You did a fantastic job. I have recommended you to my cousin who is planning a trip." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 4 on a Tanzania safari

"Unfortunately our experience with our guide/driver soured our whole experience. We had a huge sense of relief when we left him to fly for our last few days in Zanzibar. We emailed Expert Africa about the experience we were having while on our trip to flag up how awful we were finding the guide but asked them not to report it until we had finished that leg of the journey because we were concerned that if the guide knew our remaining days were likely to be more unpleasant. We left Tanzania on 22nd Jan and almost three weeks have passed but we haven't as yet had any response to the issues we raised." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 5 on a Tanzania safari

"We loved it. What else is there to say?" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 11 on a Tanzania safari

"We found all the arrangements for our trip excellent and we had no problems with any of our travelling arrangements.

We saw lots of game and our guides were superb, very safety conscious but determined to give us an excellent safari experience which they succeeded in doing. Their knowledge of the game was brilliant and they were very informative.

In retrospect travelling with a 23 and 25 year old we might have been better going to Zanzibar instead of Mafia, we found Mafia very undeveloped and therefore relaxing , they found it a bit quiet with some of the other activities expensive.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No you did a brilliant job." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Tanzania safari

"Our trip was brilliant and we had a fantastic time. We found the wildebeest migration excellent, and saw a huge amount of game in the varying places. Some of it, very special. Our guide, Godwin, provided by Nomad, was great fun and very enjoyable to spend time with. He was also very good at finding the animals. Very much enjoyed the Nomad camp and met some great people. Although, Kirurumu was in a great location, we probably would have preferred to go somewhere not quite so bush, especially after the Nomad experience. We all were ready to have proper showers and toilets! The Crater itself was beautiful and well worth visiting. The good thing about our location was that we could get into the Crater early and avoid some of the crowds.

Zanzibar was great and we really loved Pongwe Beach Hotel. It's a beautiful place with a great bar, restaurant and sitting area. It was very relaxing and we enjoyed walking to a local restaurant for lunch one day. Only negative thing was being in the garden rooms, rather than the sea facing, as they were much better rooms with more breeze. We left one night early so that we could go to Stone town and had a great night there at Emerson Spice. We very much enjoyed Stone Town.

Beho Beho and the Selous were fantastic. Our room had a magnificent view and it was very luxurious. The whole lodge emphasises the luxury and it is very comfortable with great food. Unfortunately, we were the only ones there for the majority of our stay, so it felt a bit empty. However, the managers, guides and staff were extremely friendly and knowledgeable and did their utmost to make us feel at home. We saw a lot of game and did some walking, although it was extremely hot while we were there so could not walk as much as I would have liked.

Once again, Expert Africa organised a brilliant trip for us and everything went extremely smoothly. Only one issue was with Echo Tours in Zanzibar who failed to pick us up on time on two occasions. In their defence, we had changed the times, but had given them plenty of notice." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 11 on a Tanzania safari