8-Day Small-Group Masai Mara, Manyara , Serengeti and Ngorongoro from Nairobi

Posted By : I935DLmichaels
Our Kenya/Tanzania combination tour was a truly unforgettable experience.

Perfect Wilderness Safaris was always very prompt and communicative during the booking process.

The Maasai Mara portion of the trip was perfect. Not only did we see far more of the wildlife than we expected, the logistical parts of the trip also exceeded expectations (the budget accommodations were nice, the driver - Kelvin - was very cool and friendly, the other tourists in our small group were all wonderful to be around, and the itinerary was always on time).

The Tanzania portion of the trip was also very good. We had a very kind and personable guide who was also an excellent driver - navigating tough road conditions in mud. The only slight downside to this portion of the trip came from a couple of other tourists in our group who were often late and disrespectful. Alas, this is not the company's fault. Our guide was very calm, kind, and patient with them, even though their behavior and tardiness often resulted in our group being the last jeep to leave campsites in the morning which was a slight bummer. But Perfect Wilderness Safaris carried everything out with a lot of professionalism and tact.

When my friend accidentally dropped his wallet on the ground in front of our hotel in Arusha on the last morning, Perfect Wilderness (as well as the hotel staff themselves) thoughtfully reached out over WhatsApp and over email within 10 minutes to notify us -- that was a super professional and thoughtful thing to do.

I suppose my only very small suggestion for (minor) improvement would be in regards to the windows on the front of the safari vehicles after rain/mud. Our guide + cook thoughtfully cleaned the side windows of the vehicle after they got a lot of mud on them one day... but they didn't clean the large front windows outside of the windshield wiper areas (I actually volunteered to help clean them! But I think my offer/request got lost in the shuffle of campsite packing that morning). Since the front windows often provide a lot of peripheral viewing space for the passengers while looking forward, they're a great way to peer out to see what's ahead... but we unfortunately couldn't see through them because they were covered in mud/dirt outside of the driver + passenger windshield wiper viewing areas. But overall that's a very small thing compared to the many great things we were blessed with on this tour!

Thank you so much!
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Posted On : 2023-10-13 06:44:31

Posted By : OnAir27045801407
Unfortunately we had a terrible experience with this tour provider. We used them as a private transport service to get us from Nakuru to Masai Mara, and then from Masai Mara to Nairobi 3 days later.

The first thing that went wrong was on the first leg of the trip where as soon as we got into the Masai Mara National Park, our driver Juma got lost. Not only once but at least 4 times. He kept proceeding to drive in the wrong direction, refusing to stop and think, and also refusing to admit he was lost. We heard that we were 'just a few minutes away' plenty of times. In the end we had to leave the park drive around, and go in another gate which was eventually right. Overall we spent 4 hours driving around the park when it should have taken 30 minutes. This took our journey from 5hrs to 9hrs. He had also showed us a picture of him at our hotel numerous times to prove he knew where he was going, which was very odd. This makes it worse as he should have known. We were extremely unhappy, but brushed this off so that we could enjoy our safari.

The second issue was that, on the way in Juma had liaised with the officials at the gate for our park fees. He claimed to us that he had sweet talked them into making us only pay for 2 days rather than 3 as this is how many days we would do game drives, despite being there for 3 nights. So we paid for 2 days. Then when we go to leave he starts on this big rant about how the park rangers had come and found him and charged him $140 USD (an extra day). Again, wanting to be the hero, he claimed he didn't contact us about this as he didn't want to disturb us so instead paid out of his own money. As soon as he picked us up he was demanding the money. We were extremely sceptical about this as he could not provide a receipt. He had to stop and talk to officials at 3 gates, and they seemed to be baffled by his manner. At this point he was extremely frantic and quite aggressive when talking to us. We said that we would pay via bank transfer once we saw a receipt.

In the end we had someone else from the business confirm the charges (although still no receipt) and had to pay by bank transfer in the airport car park. Again he was extremely persistent and aggressive with us.

This could have all been avoided if Juma 1. Knew where he was going on the way into the park, like a tour guide should 2. Known that we needed to pay 3 days of park fees on entry to avoid the situation occurred 3. Handled the payment situation normally by contacting us, and asking us to pay the park directly 4. Hung on to proof of payment for us to feel comfortable.

I would avoid this tour company, and especially this driver.
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Posted On : 2023-06-06 10:31:25

Posted By : 126peten
My wife and I did a 3-week Kilimanjaro hike and tour of Tanzania and Kenya national parks and reserves with Perfect Wilderness Tours in September, 2022. We were very happy with the services they provided and recommend them without hesitation. There were a couple of tour disruptions caused by others, mainly a long-delayed arrival flight, which Perfect Wilderness skillfully adjusted to to keep our itinerary intact and as scheduled. Highly recommended. Pete & Barb in Boise
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Posted On : 2022-09-29 09:38:32