Hello,

I'm looking to visit Tanzania over the summer (mainly Zanzibar and the Northern Circuit, combining wildlife, walking and cultural tourism) and am narrowing down my choice of tour operators. Four of the operators I'm considering are:

Gane & Marshall
Duma Explorer
Aim 4 Africa
Tropical Trails

If anyone has experience of any of these companies (good or bad) I'd be very grateful to hear from you!

Many thanks in advance,
Ben

I booked with a Tanzania Tour company when I went ,but it was not any of these four.

haven't encountered these in my trips or booking-research so can't comment on them unfortunately...

www.porini.com good personal experience

always pay with CC and www.insuremytrip.com

Never wire money many scammers

Qwovadis, most outfitters in Tanzania can only accept a wire transfer. In fact, many smaller safari planners in the US can't accept credit cards due to the onerous rules imposed on merchant accounts for travel planners. I've wired funds to Tanzania several times (Kibo Guides) and never had a problem. You just need to make sure that you're dealing with a reputable company.

Check out the "East Africa Trip Index" and see if anyone has used these outfitters. Tropical Trails sounds familiar.

http://www.fodors.com/community/afri...port-index.cfm

Unfamiliar with the first name.
Duma and Tropical Trails are both in-country outfitters.
Aim4Africa, is the same as Roy Safaris located in-country; just Roy's UK office.

I will follow this. We are about to book Tropical Trails this week. I'll let you know.

Ben

We used Kensington Tours. They were great and were willing to work with our dates and budget. We did Zanzibar on our own...booked that separate. It was a great trip.

Gail

Look into Thomson Safaris out of Watertown, Ma. They were excellent.
http://www.thomsonsafaris.com

Have you talked with Roy Safaris in Arusha. Just got back from 15 day Tanzanian safari with them, Lake Manyara, Ndutu, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater. Good as it gets from my experiences.

regards - tom

lol, Ben was posting he was <b>narrowing down</b> his options, and now everyone comes up with new suggestions....

I used Thomson Safaris as well in 2007 and they were quite good. I've also used Andbeyond and have a a good experience with them as well.

Wiring $ is typical when booking direct with incountry operators and not a scam in and of itself.

If you are in the US, Susan Wood, A-Way-To Africa Safaris, (603) 679-9534, www.awaytoafricasafaris.com, Epping, NH 03042, works with Roy Safaris. She set up a wonderful trip in January 2010 and it was easy to work with her being in the same country. When we did communicate with folks in Tanzania there was always a delay due to the time difference.

Ben,

We booked our entire trip with SunTrek (Peter) in Nairobi. Peter booked us with Leopard Tours in Tanzania. Our guide from Leopard Tours was Balalaika. We paid SunTrek with American Express.

Balalaika was a great guide--extremely knowledgeable and took excellent care of us.