jboy

We just returned from a wonderful safari with Good Earth Tours. They did a fantastic job for us from start to finish. The vehicles were excellent, the accomodations first class and our driver/guide was very personable and extremely knowledgable. Based on our experience I would recommend them to anyone. As a bonus, I just found out they donate a portion of their revenue to Tanzanian communities, primarily to orphans and vulnerable children. How can you beat that?

stakerk

Please post a trip report (even a short one). It can be helpful to others.

Kevin from California

safarichuck

Anyone else think this is a contrived, set up post? I'd put money money on it. No other posts by this individual and then two within the same day promoting Good Earth Tours. Nice Try jwilboy.

atravelynn

I'm with you Chuck! But I've been wrong on this before.

Geelong2007

I agree this looks like a contrived free bit of advertising
BUT lets face it a lot of people do it BUT in a more suttle manner
anway when I was in Tanzania last year
I saw a few of the Good Earth vehicles
Toyota landcruisers,oldish, without the modified windows
so that is another reason to give the company a miss

atravelynn

Geelong2007,
Educate me about modified windows please.

ruby_sage

geelong2007,
We just returned from a safari with Good Earth, and it was a wonderful experience. I found our vehicle very comfortable, and definitely not 'oldish.' Just my 2 cents.

erica

npederse

Hmm, well, I traveled with Good Earth Tours. I thought they did a fine job with us - like anything else, you get what you pay for. They provided a decent service for a fairly good price. I wouldn't have trouble saying to go with them, as they provided a respectable service without a huge amount of trouble - (we had one issue with them and our Kilimanjaro climbing itinerary changing after we arrived; I wasn't happy and thought the Arusha office people didn't handle it right, but the US did at least give a partial refund. I had no problem with their guides).

Their vehicles seemed to be in good repair - but they weren't by any means the newest safari vehicles. Never worried about breakdowns, etc and the guide was very nice.

jboy

To all you skeptics, this is not a put up job. We weren't sure what to expect, we had never been to Tanzania before, we had a certain level of apprehension, but our experience was way more than we had dared hope. If that sounds like a "put up" job, then so be it, but it definitely is not.

Someone asked for a trip report. We flew into Kilimanjaro, stayed at Arusha Mountain Village Serena first night. Next day, drove to Tarangire, did a game drive, stayed in tented lodge (tents with electricity, plumbing, showers) inside the park. Day three did another game drive in Tarangire, drove to Lake Manyara, did another game drive, stayed in Lake Manyara Serena Lodge. Day four drove to Serengeti Serena Lodge. Along the way stopped at scenic overlook into Ngorongoro Crater, stopped at Olduvai Gorge, visited a Masai Village, saw lots of game in the Serengeti on the way to the lodge. Stayed a total of three nights at Serengeti Serena with game drives each day. Day 6 drove to Ngorongoro, did a game drive in the crater, stayed at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge. Day 7 returned to Arusha Serena Mountain Lodge for day room, flew out of Kilimanjaro that night.

I stand by my original posting, take it or leave it as you will.

wandotraveler

We are planning a safari to Tz and Kenya in Sept with GE, based entirely on reviews on this site! What I wish for now is when someone writes a report on their GE trip, please mention the guide and pros and cons since this decision can surely make or break a trip. Thanks a bunch.

Duane

Just returned from a trip with Good Earth (actually not back yet, still on vacation n Germany). All i can say is everything went great. From the first pickup to the last drop off there wasn't one minor problem.

We had Goodluck as our guide and he fit us perfectly. Met others along the way and they said the same thing about their Good Earth guides.

I will publish a report when I get back in another 8 days, but until then rest assured that Good Earth was a great pick.
Duane

Patty

Duane,
Glad to hear you had a great trip. Looking forward to your report when you return. Enjoy the rest of your stay in Germany!

dlux

Here's a blog I found while doing research on Good Earth. Everything I've read has been good; however, I haven't finished reading the blog but it starts off sounding great. http://dgreten.blogspot.com/2006/03/...-part-one.html

jnk

we went on a safari to tanzania with good earth back in april. had a wonderful time and would highly recommend them. our guide, moses was superb - very knowledgeable, friendly, and outgoing. i have nothing but good things to say about good earth. our safari pictures can be seen at http://www.jnkmau.shutterfly.com

if you have any specific questions about the safari, good earth or moses, you can email me at kelly at hawaii dot com.

cmlong

I just finished my Kili trek and safari with Good Earth Tours. I can confirm that their vehicles ARE oldish. We had our vehicle break down on the way from Arusha to the Machame gate, and lost over an hour due to the breakdown. The vehicle was a 1992 model Toyota van (15 years old!), I know because I saw the paperwork on the dashboard. We were among the last to start climbing that day due to the breakdown. The safari vehicle was in a bit better shape (though the radio was ripped out!), not sure which model year it was, but we had no problems with it over the 8 day safari. To be fair, I did see at least one other safari vehicle broken down in the middle of nowhere, and none of the other (even Micato) safari vehicles looked all that much newer than Good Earth's.

cmlong

PS, Good Earth's safari vehicle was not equipped with a "cold box" (cooler/ice chest) as they claim on their website. This meant that we were drinking warm water every day of the game drives, and our box lunches were not kept cool. We never got sick, but we were somewhat nervous about it, and declined to eat certain items in the box lunches - which werent very good by the way, but they are made by the lodges, not by Good Earth.

Bobcaat

We went on Safari to Tanzania with Good Earth Tours and Kenya with SafariLine in September; will post a trip report and photos soon.

Our Tanzania safari with Good Earth was excellent; we had a great guide and a nice Toyota Land Cruiser. Don't know the age of the vehicle but it was not old and it was in good shape, no problems and we did not have any car troubles. The car had an ice chest that was filled with ice and water each morning from the lodge or camp; cold water always available. We had a great time in Tanzania.

cmlong

We had a good time too, but our vehicles were old and the windows kept sticking. We did not have any ice chest and had to drink warm water and lunch was not kept cool. Maybe these details like bringing the ice chest are left to the guide? Who was your guide, Bobcaat? Ours was Joseph. He was pretty good otherwise, and really knew the local birds. With his help we identified over 100 species of birds on the safari.

Bobcaat

We arrived at the airport at about 11:30PM and we were met at the airport by Magnificent in an old van that did not look to reliable; this made me nervous as I thought we would be in this old van for the next eight days. The next morning we were met by Abdella (sp?) in a Toyota Land Cruiser (TLC) that was in good shape. The TLC was in good shape and everything worked fine, windows, pop-up roof, etc. and it was very enjoyable to spend a week with Abdella.

Bob