Sep 20, 2024
Fantastic first time safari experience - I just returned from an unforgettable fabulous safari tour through Roy’s safari!
My husband booked a private 10 day safari with your company for me , his friend and brother in law to see Tanzania ( Tarangire, lake Menyara, Ngorongoro Crater, Central Serengeti and Northern Serengeti) .
He has used your company before in 2017 and was extremely excited and pleased with the planning and details and the overall experience that he booked Roy’s Safari again.
In fact at the last visit, he was assigned a fantastic , experienced guide named Salvatory that he requested him again and fortunately Salvatory was available for the latter 8 days of our current tour. The first 2 days, we had Nicolas who was also exceptional.
We spent 2 nights Tarangire at Sopa, 2 nights Kubukubu, 1 night Ngorongoro Retreat, 1 night at Melia , 3 nights at Mara Mara tent lodge. All the accommodations were comfortable, well staffed, excellent food, clean and insect free.
Ngorongoro Retreat was tucked away near a village but once one entered the property, it was one of the most spectacular oasis I’ve been too. I wish we had a few more nights to fully enjoy this place. Melia was also a “wow” and had the most spectacular breathtaking views of the crater.
No one in our group got sick from the food at any of the lodgings. The staff did a great job preparing our picnic breakfasts and lunches when needed with a wonderful variety of choices of food.
The guides were a league of their own and they knew where some of the best sightings of animals might be. Salvatory is especially trained to position the jeep around the animal sighting to get the best lighting and best possible photos .
Both guides kept us safe , made sure we had fun and did their best to make sure we saw the highlights. They were extremely knowledgeable with over 25 years of experience . We managed to see most of the animals and birds this area is known for . We were given a pamphlet to check off each animal or bird sighting when we saw it and I managed to check off all the animal sightings.
We even witnessed three Great Wildebeest migration crossings while at northern Serengeti at Mara Mara River. Almost daily we saw fantastic sunrises and sunsets. We witnessed aftermaths of predators killing their prey .
For those who are serious photographers with SLR’s, Salvatory gives wonderful tips on capturing the best photos. Be open to his suggestions and recommendations and you will be surprised at your ability to capture unique moments in nature .
Both guides were enthusiastic, energetic, friendly , experienced and accommodating.
I loved that both guides took us to areas where there were less jeeps - so we could have clear viewings and be able to take unobstructed photos without other vehicles in the way. The jeeps themselves had comfortable seats, a well designed pop up roof , were roomy with an extra row of seats removed to allow for easy movement and had large windows for viewing . One could close the windows if it was too windy and dusty .
If you are thinking of booking a safari in Tanzania, I would highly recommend Roy’s Safari .
For someone like me who has never experienced a safari adventure, Roy’s Safari made it a memorable, fun, fantastic experience. Thank you !!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sep 17, 2024
the best safari ever with john - JOHN was an amazing tour guider and he is patient,reliable and driven. he surely gave us the best tour and he is one patient worker i came across always ready to give out information and if i was to do the safari again i would choose him over and over again surely in my place i would say he is a ROY SAFARI signature worker 🤍🤍🤍🤍 big up JOHN
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sep 1, 2024
A unique experience with a shock team! - We spent 6 exceptional Safari days in Tarangire, Ngorongoro, Central and North Serengeti. We built this custom stay with Patricia, very good Trip Tip and responsive, she also gave us a very warm welcome in Arusha.
Our Guide was awesome, asante sana Saidi! Thanks to your patience and responsiveness, we were able to admire the great migration and the famous leopard! We laughed a lot and enjoyed your company! An outstanding Francophone Guide and driver, who drives safely and knows the terrain by heart! Thanks to the whole Roy Safari team.
We recommend!
Roselyne and family
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 19, 2024
Knowledgeable and on top of every detail. - Such a great experience. Roy Safari's is knowledgeable, personable, and pays very precise attention of every detail. Nothing was missed. Our driver was great to be with and very on top of all the wildlife aspect of the birds and mammals we say. We have a number of very up close experiences with elephants, lions, cheetahs, and leopards just to name a few. Highly recommended.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 19, 2024
A life time experience. - This is an amazing trip that everyone has to take. Experiencing the animals, the culture, the great Tanzanian people, the air... everything is a magical experience. We came back with a full heart, a clean mind, more than 3000 pictures, and we even renewed our wedding vows at an Irak tribe ritual.
Every detail was taken care of to make us relax and enjoy. Every person was so willing to please and acomodate us at the hotels and camps.
The best of the best was our guide, Salum. So polite, caring, knowledgeable. He definitely made our experience extra enjoyable and valuable. We don't have enough words to thank him and everybody else. We wish to come back in the future and hopefully Salum will be there again!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 18, 2024
Excellent and excited safari with friends in Ngogoro and Serengeti - Roy Safari has best interpreted our directions by programming the Safari in Ngorongoro and Serengeti in an optimal way both for the choice of lodges, quality and strategically located, for the itinerary, varied and complete, and for the assignment of the valuable Guide, Erik. We emphasize the great availability and professionalism of Manager Sanjay and his Staff who has been very committed to recover luggage lost at the airport by having it delivered to the lodges at a later time in the middle of the Serengeti. Our Guide Erik has shown great experience, professionalism, competence and participation giving us unforgettable shows such as numerous crossings of the Mara River by herds of Wilde Beest and multiple sightings of all kinds of animals in the Park.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 15, 2024
Memories for Life - I’ve always wanted to go safari in Tanzania since I was a kid, and after spending 8 days traveling with our guide John Shetui, I can honestly say it was one of the most beautiful trips I’ve ever been on. John was incredibly knowledgeable about all of the wildlife, and navigated the very challenging roads with skill.
We got to see all of the big 5, and even got some up close and personal views at lions and leopards who walked close to our vehicle.
We travelled from the US in August to see the migration, and we finally were able to experience it on our last day - it was incredible! We were waiting around for the wildebeests to cross the river, and just when we started doubting it would happen, John got a call that it was happing 3 minutes away, and we were one of the first cars there to get an amazing view.
The Maasai village and the hot air balloon ride were the highlights of the trip as well!
I would 100% recommend Roy Safaris, and most importantly, John Shetui as he was so patient with us throughout the entire trip. He’s now basically family. I don’t know how he knows the roads so well, but he always seemed to know exactly where to take us to see some wild life, and managed to navigate us back to the hotel easily, with absolutely no assistance from a map. I would have gotten lost at the first turn personally.
A quick caution older folks that the roads are very bumpy due to erosion and vehicle traffic, so if you get motion sickness or have back issues, this may be a difficult trip. But I expected this going into the trip, so the ‘African massage’ from the roads was just part of the experience!!
Additionally, make sure to pack light colored long sleeves and pants.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 14, 2024
Superlative safari - and the best guide in East Africa!! - Twenty five years ago we learnt the hard way that the quality of a safari is totally dependent on the skills of a good guide… on our first trip to South Africa, we drove ourselves through part of the Kalahari… and saw very little! In the intervening years review sites like TripAdvisor have been game changers, and that’s how we found Emmanuel of Roy Safaris.
On Monday we said goodbye to Emmanuel after eight very full days in his company, and boy, did he live up to - and surpass - our expectations! It’s really hard to sum up the complex skill set that a good guide/driver brings to his job. Skilfully negotiating hideously rutted tracks for hours on end, simultaneously dodging potholes and bumps at the same time as spotting animals/birds from the corner of his eye. And then using his encyclopaedic knowledge to tell us the name of what we’re seeing, behavioural characteristics etc (all in his second language). Several times he stopped to point out an animal that was so distant or so well camouflaged that we struggled to find with the binoculars what he had seen while driving.
Emmanuel was obviously so passionate about the animals and birds that he pointed out to us that he inspired our interest further. He also rounded out our experience by describing the different cultures of the regions that we drove through.
As well as being our guide and driver, Emmanuel was also our tour leader, and he excelled in that department too. He was consistently caring, considerate and conscientious 24/7, always checking on how we were doing, what we required etc.
On top of that, Emmanuel endeared himself to us with his mischievous sense of humour. I was desperate to spot something significant before he did, but failed miserably. Early on I mistook a large bush for an elephant. For the rest of the tour elephants were “moving bushes”.
Of course, a tour of this kind also relies on a committed back room team, and we were impressed with the seamless organisation of transfers, flights and top quality accommodation that Roy Safaris organised for us. At the planning stage, we could have done with prompter responses to our questions, but that really is the only criticism that we can come up with!
Thank you, Emmanuel and Roy Safaris, we’ll never forget our once-in-lifetime adventure!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 13, 2024
The best Honeymoon Safari ever!! - We decided to do a 7 days Safari with Roy Safari during our Honeymoon. We are still spechless about everything we experienced within this time. Everything went perfect from the first contact up to the end of the trip. A special thank to Simon, our Tour Guide! He was an awesome Guide and made us more than happy. His professional and experienced way to guide us we will never forget! We had so much fun together and he also informed us a lot about the animals behaviors and the traditional culture in Tanzania. Everyone can be happy to do the Safari with Simon!!
Best regards from Larissa & Marcel :)
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 28, 2024
Once in a lifetime experience! - Our trip was amazing!! We saw a lot of animals. We were also lucky to see the Great Migration. Our guide Salum was really TOP!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor