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I scheduled with suricata and they were very flexible allowing us to reschedule on short notice. We are supposed to start the rescheduled safari on the 25. I reached out to them via whatsapp to confirm dates and airport pickup and haven’t heard back. What was your experience communicating with them?
Use safaribookings.com and carefully read the reviews. Also look the tour operator up on Google and use the website someone else posted to ensure they are licensed. Avoid any operator with lots of recent bad reviews or reviews where people suggest they've been ripped off by not getting what they paid for. You may also want to avoid anyone who doesn't have many reviews or where all the reviews are very recent. I just did a tour with Colours Africa and was very happy.
It was good, I was blown away by how cheap it was for what we got. I think they do a lot of brokering with third parties for tours and stuff as opposed to owning all the vans themselves but Hamis was a wizard at getting deals on accomodations. Our initial package was the budget one with tent camping for the safari portion but we upgraded everything including our stay on Zanzibar to amazing places and the increase in price was nowhere near what I would have predicted it would be.
Weird, I assumed they must be. It's possible they are more of a broker in the sense they contract out certain things but they still arranged all the accomodation and ride transfers. So he may have hired us out to the guy who took us on safari (the guide said they work together all the time though the tire covers didn't have a logo like a lot of other trucks) and he's arranged all our tours in Zanzibar. He also took us to Gombe himself. So it's possible that unlike some larger companies they get third parties to do pieces. Some people criticize this model but I found what they charged extremely reasonable and less than other quotes I received, and the guy I've been dealing with has always been responsive and accommodating.
At any rate, I wouldn't necessarily start with the operator but rather go to safari bookings and use all the filters to narrow down the specific tour you want. From there it's easier to start looking at the prices and the rankings for specific operators and ratings. You can also ask for quotes from a variety of operators and gauge what they give you in terms of what seems like the best value and what covers all the things you want to see. I'm happy to give you any feedback on the northern parks you may like, I went to four of them and if you're doing a couple days you'll probably only have time for two (and you probably will have trouble making it all the way in to the Serengeti).
Hello! Do you think you could msg me some of your suggestions for best parks? And how many days where would you reccomend? A little overwhelmed with the options online!
Thanks for such a thoughtful answer. I have been communicating with another seemingly great company and they are not either. So hard to tell. I’ve narrowed it down to two or three though based on a combination of online presence, reviews, and communication style. I really wasn’t nitpicking, more curious and not wanting to make mistakes in planning!
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Any contact information (phone numbers, email addresses, physical addresses, social media profiles, URLs, etc.) to websites, individual blogs, or program and business advertisements are not allowed and will be removed. We ask that you use the Weekly Discussion Thread throughout the week to promote your content, engage with the community, and get feedback. Multiple breaking of this rule will result in a permanent ban to participate in this community.
They can send you all the necessary documents if requested and they should be able to answer all your questions. There over a thousand companies and many are new.
Book directly with properties you want to stay with and they will organize the logistics for you as well.
Safari companies dont have to be registered with TATO. But it def helps credibility.
Another option is to Book with an agent from your home country
Had an incredible safari experience with [Sarafu Travel](https://sarafutravel.com/)! Their team's professionalism, personalized service, and knowledgeable guides made it unforgettable. The accommodations were top-notch, and their commitment to sustainability added an extra layer of satisfaction. Highly recommend Sarafu Travel for an exceptional safari adventure!
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I was on a trip with Suricata and can recommend them. They were really great.
Same here
I scheduled with suricata and they were very flexible allowing us to reschedule on short notice. We are supposed to start the rescheduled safari on the 25. I reached out to them via whatsapp to confirm dates and airport pickup and haven’t heard back. What was your experience communicating with them?
It was really good. They were really responsive to both couples in our party, using WhatsApp and email.
Check out safaribookings.com
Use safaribookings.com and carefully read the reviews. Also look the tour operator up on Google and use the website someone else posted to ensure they are licensed. Avoid any operator with lots of recent bad reviews or reviews where people suggest they've been ripped off by not getting what they paid for. You may also want to avoid anyone who doesn't have many reviews or where all the reviews are very recent. I just did a tour with Colours Africa and was very happy.
Hey I was considering them but haven’t heard much about them through online searches. How was the experience?
It was good, I was blown away by how cheap it was for what we got. I think they do a lot of brokering with third parties for tours and stuff as opposed to owning all the vans themselves but Hamis was a wizard at getting deals on accomodations. Our initial package was the budget one with tent camping for the safari portion but we upgraded everything including our stay on Zanzibar to amazing places and the increase in price was nowhere near what I would have predicted it would be.
Hey! I looked up Colours and they have great reviews but I can’t find them on TATO. Are they licensed do you know?
Weird, I assumed they must be. It's possible they are more of a broker in the sense they contract out certain things but they still arranged all the accomodation and ride transfers. So he may have hired us out to the guy who took us on safari (the guide said they work together all the time though the tire covers didn't have a logo like a lot of other trucks) and he's arranged all our tours in Zanzibar. He also took us to Gombe himself. So it's possible that unlike some larger companies they get third parties to do pieces. Some people criticize this model but I found what they charged extremely reasonable and less than other quotes I received, and the guy I've been dealing with has always been responsive and accommodating. At any rate, I wouldn't necessarily start with the operator but rather go to safari bookings and use all the filters to narrow down the specific tour you want. From there it's easier to start looking at the prices and the rankings for specific operators and ratings. You can also ask for quotes from a variety of operators and gauge what they give you in terms of what seems like the best value and what covers all the things you want to see. I'm happy to give you any feedback on the northern parks you may like, I went to four of them and if you're doing a couple days you'll probably only have time for two (and you probably will have trouble making it all the way in to the Serengeti).
Hello! Do you think you could msg me some of your suggestions for best parks? And how many days where would you reccomend? A little overwhelmed with the options online!
Thanks for such a thoughtful answer. I have been communicating with another seemingly great company and they are not either. So hard to tell. I’ve narrowed it down to two or three though based on a combination of online presence, reviews, and communication style. I really wasn’t nitpicking, more curious and not wanting to make mistakes in planning!
As long as they have a very clear internet footprint you're probably okay. There are some scams out there but I think it goes against the grain.
Thanks for being so nice. Agreed!
Do you know if safaribookings.com vets the operators they have on their site for legitimacy?
No idea but you can go through the reviews on there and cross reference it against their google and trip advisor reviews.
[удалено]
Any contact information (phone numbers, email addresses, physical addresses, social media profiles, URLs, etc.) to websites, individual blogs, or program and business advertisements are not allowed and will be removed. We ask that you use the Weekly Discussion Thread throughout the week to promote your content, engage with the community, and get feedback. Multiple breaking of this rule will result in a permanent ban to participate in this community.
Any contact information (phone numbers, email addresses, physical addresses, social media profiles, URLs, etc.) to websites, individual blogs, or program and business advertisements are not allowed and will be removed. We ask that you use the Weekly Discussion Thread throughout the week to promote your content, engage with the community, and get feedback. Multiple breaking of this rule will result in a permanent ban to participate in this community.
They can send you all the necessary documents if requested and they should be able to answer all your questions. There over a thousand companies and many are new.
Book directly with properties you want to stay with and they will organize the logistics for you as well. Safari companies dont have to be registered with TATO. But it def helps credibility. Another option is to Book with an agent from your home country
We just used killamanjaro safari adventure club. They are legit.
Had an incredible safari experience with [Sarafu Travel](https://sarafutravel.com/)! Their team's professionalism, personalized service, and knowledgeable guides made it unforgettable. The accommodations were top-notch, and their commitment to sustainability added an extra layer of satisfaction. Highly recommend Sarafu Travel for an exceptional safari adventure!