daisyatl

I have been reading some posts on this site and still had a question. If I do not want to go on a group tour, should I still use a company like 2Afrika? I am not necessarily looking for a "budget" tour but also not something outrageous. If not 2Afrika, any recommendations for a U.S. company and local company?

atravelynn

Some (but not a complete list) of US agents that will do private trips.

Adventure Travel Desk
Africa Adventure
Africa Dream Safaris
Born Free
Fish Eagle
Good Earth
Roys, now have US contact

I have used Africa Adventure in Florida several times with good pricing and great results. You could email me for more specifics if you wish.

You could google any of these or search for them on Fodors.

If you want something more local, give your city or state.

Patty

2afrika can do custom, private itineraries. I received some quotes from them, but ultimately decided to work with a Kenya based company as I prefer to communicate directly with the ground operator who will be taking us on safari. By local, I assume you mean based in Kenya/Tanzania? Here are a few Kenya based ones that have been recommended here including one I've used -

Eastern & Southern Safaris (we went with E&S earlier this year and will do so again in Nov)
Wildtrek Safaris (I think they have a US contact number as well)
Southern Cross Safaris
Suntrek Safaris

TravelMaster

Hi:

In 2002 we used Suntrek Safaris (www.suntreksafaris.com) for a safari in Kenya.

They are Nairobi based but do private safaris for Kenya & Tanzania.

We live in Canada, so did everything to book the trip via e-mail and paid for the safari through a bank draft to their New York based bank.

Everything for our safari went flawlessly (better than we expected) and a few other's have also gone through Sun Trek and I haven't heard anything but praise about them.

Z

alwaysafrica

We used East African Safari and Touring Co. for our 4-week trip to Tanzania in January.(http://www.dreamweaver.co.uk/eastafricansafari/). It's a local Tanzanian company, run by two Australian brothers (who take turns living in Arusha for half the year...).

The company offers private, custom tours and our trip was magical! They managed to offer a lot MORE for a lot LESS than most of the other companies...

Take a look at the website, and you can always e-mail them at [email protected] (they were incredible to deal with over e-mail - in fact, we never once spoke on the phone. Everything was planned over about 50 nickpicketty e-mails...!).

You may be interested in reading my almost-complete (sorry - I can't believe I forgot to write up the beach portion...) trip report about our "26 glorious days in Tanzania". Our guide's name was George and I'm convinced that he is 100% the best guide in Tanzania He's truly awesome...

Good luck planning and feel free to keep asking questions...!

kenya

Hi,
I would like to recomend our company also. We do offer tailor-made safaris to Kenya and Tanzania. Hit me up on [email protected] or just check out te web www.micssafaris.com for more details.

Peter

sandi

Peter/kenya -

According to the rules/regs of Fodor's "advertising your own services is not permitted."

james23

last year I used a company called madukha tours and safaris. They offer excellent private safaris all over africa.
Basically my partner and I were offered exclusive use of the 4x4 vehicle for our entire stay there.
please visit their website www.madukhatravel.com or email them at
[email protected] for more details.
Please say hello to the manager Moses if you are lucky enough to visit their offices.

sallysaab

How come nobody recommends Waymark Safaris?

atravelynn

Kennedy of Waymark Safaris certainly gets many rave reviews for his service around Nairobi.

sallysaab

yeah, but he also does tours throughout Kenya and Tanzania. Only ever hear about his Nairobi trips, as far as I know that is.

plbk4

Hi,

My wife, two kids and myself booked a private tour through Sunny Safaris based in Arusha. I have nothing but praise for them. Outstanding pre-safari service, always available, communicated well, responded to our changing itinerary, bookings were done well in advance, vehicle was excellent, guide was fantastic. An amazing experience at an excellent price. The vehicle was in far better condition than most of the so called up-market operators. We did all research over the internet, corrsponded by email without a hitch, paid a deposit by bank deposit and paid the rest in cash when we arrived - I think the deposit was 30%. Cheers

Peter

Duffymarie

We traveled with Good Earth on the northern Tanzania circuit this January 2008 and I recommend them highly. Everything was as promised and more. Our guide, Good Luck, is one of the most knowledgeable men that I have met and it was obvious that he loves his country and is proud of its natural beauty. We were of course wowed by the wildlife but Good Luck's knowledge of ornithology and botany (both the English and Latin names of the flowers and plants) added an unexpected bonus. We were a party of four and chose Good Earth based on reviews that we read on this site and elsewhere. They have offices in Florida and in Arusha and were easy to reach. They also tailored a tour to meet our requests. The only regret that we have is that the trip went too quickly. Even though the original post on this thread is an old one, I hope that anyone planning a trip to Tanzania will have the same type of once-in-a-lifetime experience.

cmlong

We did a Kili Trek and Safari with Good Earth last September. Overall things went pretty well, but there were certainly some problems (they use older vehicles and we had one break down), and I'd rate the guides overall a C+ on the trek and B+ on the safari. See my other posts for more details, as I don't have time for full report right now (I'm currently in S Korea).

cmlong

I didn't notice how old the original post was before I sent that last one! Thought it was current