Zambooie

We returned from our 14-day safari on July 12th. For anyone that has been, there are no words to describe the experience. Fabulous, powerful, wonderful are just a few. We booked our trip through Duma Explorer. Stacy Readal did a wonderful job organizing the complete experience. She met us at the airport and also met us at the end of our trip to be sure everything went well for us. But more importantly she was in contact with our driver/guide during our safari as well, checking on us. Details are the signs of a good agent. We booked a custom private safari. With Stacy’s insight and suggestions we decided on this itinerary and places to stay:
Arrival Day – we arrived at night and
stayed at KIA Lodge
Day 1 – Left for West Kilimanjaro and had a
game drive and stayed at
Hemingway’s Camp. An elephant
walked up to inspect the vehicle.
He was so close, at one point, that
I only got a picture of his eye.
What a THRILL!!!! The staff and
Maasai people were just wonderful
and would do anything to make your
stay perfect. They were always
smiling and very proud of their
culture and way of life.
Day 2 – Did a morning bush walk with the
Maasai . Left for the airport for
an inter-continental flight to
Grumeti Airstrip, West Serengeti.
Met our driver/guide at the
airport. Did a game drive on our
way to Mbalgeti, a tented chalet.
This place was beautiful. Baby
baboons were outside our tents (at
a safe distance) . Gorgeous
panoramic view of the Serengeti.

Isack was going to be our driver/guide for our remaining safari. He was amazing. His knowledge of the African wildlife was huge. Not only the mammals, but the birds, plants, and flowers. We are convinced that there is nothing he does not know about Africa. He could see things in the distance that we couldn’t see until we got out our bino’s . We started calling him ‘Raptor Isack’ (because he had the eyes of an eagle). Stacy did a great job of matching him to our safari.
My sister has a great deal of knowledge in African mammals and birds, she has studied them from books for years and worked at wild animal parks, so it was going to take someone very knowledgeable to give interesting facts and information that she did not already know. Isack was just that person. Your driver/guide is a huge part of your safari experience, if you are not happy with him/her, your trip will not live up to your expectations.

Day 3 – All day game drive with a picnic
lunch (so much food to eat ).
Day 4 – All day game drive with a picnic
lunch.
Day 5 – Left for Central Serengeti. Stayed
at Serengeti Serena Lodge. Spent
the rest of the day relaxing.
Day 6 – All day game drive and visited the
Serengti Visitors Center with a
picnic lunch.
Day 7 – Hot Air Balloon ride and breakfast
under Acadia Tree. Had lunch at
lodge and left for Northern
Serengeti. Staying at Migration
Camp. My favorite place, it was
beautiful and the managers (hosts)
were great.
Day 8 – All day game drive with a picnic
lunch (over the top great food)
Day 9 – All day game drive with a picnic
lunch. Birthday Dinner surprise for
me.
Day 10 – Left for Ngorongoro Conservation
Area, stopped at Olduvai Gorge on
the way. Stayed at Ngorongoro
Serena Lodge.
Day 11 – Game drive in the Crater with
picnic lunch. Rhino sighting and
lion cubs!!!!!
Day 12 – Left for Tanrangire National Park.
Game drive in Tanrangire on the
way to Swala Camp where we stayed
overnight.
Day 13 - Impala’s all around camp. All day
game drive with picnic lunch. A
surprise dinner in the bush at
night was provided. Very nice.
Day 14 – Left Tanrangire with a game drive
and Isack stopped at several
(many) souvenir places on our way
back to Arusha. He had so much
patience, waiting on us to come
out of each place we stopped. Met
Stacy again and then left for the
flight home with sadness for
leaving and joy for the many
adventures we experienced.
They were too numerous to mention
here.
My sister and I are very much interested in animals, that is why so many all day game drives were planned for our safari. We could spend hours just observing and watching the mammals and birds. Isack provided a wealth of information on their behavior patterns and social order. Stacy was very concerned about too many all day game drives, but as it turned out we would have liked more. No game drive was like the one before. Each day there were new animals to view or an exciting event to watch. We are returning for another safari as soon as we save the money and Duma Explorer will be our tour company and we will definitely request Isack as our guide.
Asante sana Qwa Hari.

offsprng59

Sounds like you had an amazing trip. My husband and I are trying to find a good safari company. How was Duma Explorer's prices compared to other companies? The walk with the Massai- was that in Kenya? I was thinking of doing a Kenya/Tanzania combo. That's what I would like to do. However, I heard that wildlife viewing is much better in Tanzania than Kenya. Can you offer any advice?

atravelynn

Zambooie,
Your numerous all day drives sound fantastic. Glad you decided that was a good move. Will there be any photos?

Offspring59,
I have found both Kenya and Tanzania to provide excellent wildlife viewing. Which country would depend on when you are going.

Zambooie

OFFSPRNG59
Duma's prices are very competitive if not better than most that we priced. Duma's office is in Tanzania, which was important point for selecting a company. We wanted someone in the time zone we were in, if there were any problems. But there were no problems as Stacy did a wonderful job arranging everything and with her follow-up.
The walk with the Maasai was in West Kili at Hemingways Camp.
We chose just to do Tanzania, because of the civil unrest in Kenya. We were two sisters traveling alone (just did not want to worry about anything going wrong).
Since we went for the migration of the wildebeest, the wildlife viewing was fantastic in Tanzania. The timing of your safari would really depend whether or not you would go to Kenya. Let Stacy of Duma, make suggestions for you. She was great in helping us narrow down the time we wanted to go.

Atravelynn
I don't think I will show photos. I am not a professional photo person. But I did get some great shots. They were by chance and with over 2000 pics some had to be good. Right?

porcupinelane

Came across this thread while planning earlier.

For future reference for others who may run across this...we posted our price comparison spreadsheet on http://www.porcupinelane.com