Guestbook

With my family, eight of us, I was on safari in Tanzania in the second half of October 2020. I was asked about the biggest highlight of the trip. That question cannot be answered, because our safari did not have one biggest highlight: every day had its big and bigger surprises, almost every hour brought its big and small joys. The eight days of our safari consisted of a chain of highlights. With their knowledge and skill and with a lot of heart, our two guides, Silayo and Alpha, showed us the beauties of their country; we are grateful to them for that.

On Facebook there are many photos of the “Big Five”, no more are needed. On the drive through the Serengeti my son suddenly called out: “There was something red at the roadside!” Silayo, quite astonished: “Something red?” Despite his scepticism, he put the vehicle into reverse and drove back. The result? A small but very great highlight of the Serengeti: under a bush a red ball was blooming, the only red-flowering flower we saw in the Serengeti.

We left our worries about Covid-19 behind at home. In the Tanzanian lodges the necessary measures against the virus are taken. And in any case: everything is outdoors and there is plenty of space, nobody comes too close to anyone! Anyone who wants to avoid infection should go on safari in Tanzania!

The basis of this super safari was the good organisation by Elefant-Tours: everything worked out perfectly. Mr Schuff, with a great deal of patience and with our well-being and advantage in mind, got the very best out of the trip for us. Many thanks for that!

Incredible. Despite Covid-19, after great advice we set off for Kenya on our honeymoon. A safe flight, picked up by our guide directly at the airport and straight into the adventure.

A wonderful, breathtaking and absolutely safe trip that we can recommend.

So little going on here, the animals and nature simply breathtaking. Any time again with Elefant-Tours.

Dear friends of Kenya,

go for it! We dared and flew with Lufthansa to Nairobi on 11.10. The plane was full, but Lufthansa took meticulous care that only passengers with a negative test result no older than 48 hours could board the plane. Getting one on a Sunday was not so easy for us, but doable. On arrival in Nairobi the entry formalities were also somewhat more extensive and lengthy, but everyone is playing it safe and that is in our own interest too. It is the same in the hotels. Temperatures are taken everywhere, masks are compulsory in public areas and you have to disinfect your hands. After that, however, we were on our own with our guide the whole time. In the safari jeep, where the roof is open, there is no danger, and outside at the lodges the staff work wearing masks, so we could sit comfortably at the table.

In addition, we were in places the only guests or the lodges were only lightly booked. The surprise was Swahili Beach Resort at Diani Beach, which was actually fully booked, but that is down to a holiday week and so they have a great many local guests.

The big advantage at the moment is definitely that nothing is overcrowded. In the national parks you meet only a few jeeps and you can stop and take photos anywhere undisturbed, without anyone pushing. So we really had a lot of peace for wildlife viewing.

Incidentally, it is currently baby animal season. It is so cute to watch, and the migration is late this year; we have now seen the beginning. So, give yourselves a push, set off and enjoy this unique Kenya, so quiet and with few tourists.

This opportunity will certainly not come again any time soon. And if you are looking for a dedicated and competent guide, ask for Simon. By the end he was like a friend to us. We learned so much about the animal and plant life, as well as about politics and society. We are so glad we dared and can only encourage you to try it too.

Kind regards

Dirk and Petra

Dear Mr Krüger,

a little late but nonetheless from the heart, we want to thank you for the good care of our trip to Kilimanjaro. Apart from the return flight, everything went superbly. Meru View Lodge can only be recommended. It is really great. We felt thoroughly at home. Your local partner (Tanzania Experience) was also perfectly organised. The guides and drivers were really great. They fed us so much information that we are still digesting it. We really liked the safari. We felt safe at every point and found the way we interacted very pleasant. A big thank-you here to the staff of the company and of the national park.
On the mountain tour too we were really lucky with the group and the weather. On the approach to Lemosho Gate, Max showed his full skill. Incredible, getting up there with the bus and the jeep.
The group around the guides Filbert and Hudson really grew on our hearts. We very much hope that they will all be spared by Covid. What impressed me particularly was that the standard of mountain tours has changed completely in 28 years.

A check of pulse and blood oxygen level every morning and evening, a truly considerate operation geared to the health of the travellers and team members, and very good food – that was not the case in the past. I am thrilled.

The way nature is treated has also changed very positively (we took our rubbish back down with us – unfortunately not all groups do this). I enjoyed every minute of the way and am especially grateful to Filbert for the lots of information on flora, fauna and geology and for his patience.

In any case, in summary: we can only continue to recommend you and Tanzania Experience!
That the journey home went somewhat off course is down only to Covid and KLM (we had not booked the flight through you). In the end we are glad to have got home safely and grateful for the experiences we had.

With best wishes from Berlin

Iris Krugmann

We are 4 friends who dreamed of Kenya. So we asked Elefant-Tours, whom we know very well, to put together a safari to our wishes. On 4 February, after the detailed briefing, our adventure began, heading for Amboseli NP. We made friends with our driver and guide Emanuel straight away. Happily, he spoke surprisingly good German and we laughed a lot together. Even before the gate we were greeted by zebras and giraffes as well as a sweet pair of dik-diks. What luck: we were even able to spot a gerenuk. Soon Emanuel had to prove his driving skills. Kenya had just had its heaviest rainfall in 40 years. As a result, road conditions in Amboseli were also catastrophic. We checked in for 6 nights at Ol Tukai Lodge. Very friendly service, a pleasant ambience and a dream view of Kilimanjaro crowned our holiday mood. Besides the extensive, very successful game drives, we were able to enjoy a fine lunch at the lodge each day instead of a packed lunch. And there was also enough time for a little chat over afternoon tea. We value quality of life very highly. Rushing from lodge to lodge achieves nothing but stress. Here we experienced a rendezvous with hundreds of elephants.

We admired their calm and composure. I believe you can even recharge your mental strength from them. The lagoons and swamps had attracted extremely numerous birds, which particularly delighted us.

We then stayed for 3 days at Lake Naivasha Resort. Grazing zebras and waterbuck and even a sleeping giraffe in front of our bungalow left us simply marvelling. A highlight was the walk right through giraffes on Crescent Island. The animals are not tame, but they tolerate the closeness of curious guests.

By then we had arrived in the Masai Mara, at Julia’s River Camp. We fell in love with the place in the middle of the bush immediately: a genuine safari ambience. Although the infrastructure was simple, we always had everything we needed. The very friendly, attentive Maasai saw to that. Even when we came back hungry from the game drive very late, the cook was waiting with a delicious lunch for us. They all deserve honest praise. In this park too we had enchanting and intense wildlife viewing. Cheetahs, lions and even a leopard surprised us several times. The herds of gazelles and antelopes delighted us as well, as did small animals and birds of all kinds. Although the weather had fortunately been fine for days, the road conditions were in places still very precarious because of mud and swamp. Emanuel mastered all the difficulties superbly. But there were still places where even he sensibly had to give up.

Rich in deep impressions and unforgettable experiences, we say goodbye to Kenya.
The conclusion of our safari: everything worked out perfectly thanks to the very good organisation by Elefant-Tours. Of course, Emanuel’s comprehensive knowledge and driving skill also contributed to the success. Our group thanks you most warmly for everything!

Hello Alex! We are back in Germany by now. We were in the group that had to be evacuated from Ilkeliani Camp. Despite many wet tracks in all the parks (where we lost some time) and vehicles getting stuck, we were still very lucky, saw a good deal and spent unforgettable days.

Here, too, thanks to you for your efforts (especially on the day of the flooding) and for the organisation.

But we would also like to mention our driver, Juma (Anelka) 🙂

You couldn’t ask for a better one. He was simply super and did everything for us. Big praise to him – perhaps you could pass that on to him directly once more. Thumbs up 👍🏻 Gladly again and again with him.
We wish you a good time. Take care. THANKS!!!!!

we did the Lodge Safari Fascination Tanzania, followed by a beach stay on Zanzibar, from 22.01. to 04.02.2020. The care from Ms Ruppenthal of Elefant-Tours was uniquely good. We were advised perfectly and everything was planned and organised down to the smallest detail according to our wishes.

We went on a 5-day safari with another couple and our guide James. We were a great team! The impressions and experiences were breathtaking. The accommodation was all very beautiful and clean, the food was great and the staff were all very friendly and helpful. Absolutely top!

Everything was perfect on Zanzibar too. We can highly recommend this trip.

Many thanks for the lovely time.
Simone and Jörg Apitzsch

After taking a most impressive self-drive tour through southern Namibia in 2018 (thanks to Ms Borchardt), we also wanted to get to know northern Namibia. We gave Ms Wehrle a few wishes and ideas. With her excellent knowledge of the country and her quick answers to our many questions, we were able to find the optimal itinerary quickly. It included 3,000 km of driving in the rental car, nights in 13 places to stay and a return flight from Victoria Falls to Windhoek.

The tour proved to be very well planned and varied. In the first part, from Windhoek to Grootberg, the impressive landscape and the very interesting geology predominated. We were able to get to know the surroundings of the various lodges on our own hikes and on game drives.

In the second part of the tour – from Hobatere to Mushara – the variety and number of wildlife sightings increased from day to day. Because of the drought that has already lasted for years in this part of Namibia, all the animals depended on the established waterholes, and with a little patience you could watch all the animals that occur (fairly commonly) in Etosha National Park. Only there did we meet other vehicles; on the routes to the next lodge there was very little traffic. We stayed outside the national park for two days each in outstanding places (Etosha Safari Lodge and Mushara Bush Camp) whose characters complemented each other ideally.

The third part of our tour – from River Dance to Batonka – took us to the great rivers in the Caprivi Strip and as far as Victoria Falls. Because of the incomparable wildlife (Figs. 2 and 3), here too we stayed two days each at the various lodges. In retrospect, in some places, such as River Dance, it could have been more than two days, so as to process the many unique impressions and the extensive photo material more thoroughly. Because of the time of year (September) and the drought in Angola as well, Victoria Falls were half dried up. But the rest was still more than worth the trip.

The fourth part of the trip consisted only of the return flight to Windhoek and one night near the airport. This had become necessary because Air Namibia changed the flight times after our booking and the direct connecting flight to Frankfurt was no longer possible.

We would like to thank Ms Wehrle once again most warmly for the very good organisation of this round trip. All the accommodation was outstanding, the people there extremely friendly, the daily stages were not too long and the double nights gave enough time for the sights on the spot (game drives). The rental car crossing into Botswana and all the transfers by Elefant-Tours’ partners worked impeccably. This was probably not our last trip with Elefant-Tours.

Hello Mr Schuff,

I want to thank you for the fantastic Tanzania trip. It was a holiday that deeply impressed all of us and that we will draw on for a long time.

Everything worked very well from the start. The drivers took us to the lodge, where we were welcomed very warmly and where, after settling into our rooms, we were even served a soup. From the drivers we already knew that our briefing for the Kilimanjaro climb would be at 12 o’clock the next day. And so we could plan an excursion to Arusha for the afternoon.

The briefing was very thorough and informative; even our complete equipment was checked so that we would not be caught out on the mountain by missing gear.

The Kilimanjaro climb was a strenuous and impressive experience. The guides led us very well and informed us every evening about the plan for the next day. The cook made a three-course menu every evening, which is truly an achievement under the conditions. And what the porters achieve is hard to describe in words. The likes of us struggle with our day pack of about 6 kg; the porters carry surely 20 kg up the mountain, and faster than we do. The best investment, though, that we made, or rather that was included for us because of the private tour, was the private toilet. There are moments on the mountain when you are very glad not to have to run through the whole tent camp only to squat over a hole in the ground.

The route we chose was very beautiful scenically, just as described, although we would have found it better if the last stage before the summit climb had not been so strenuous, so that you have enough strength for the summit. A night at Karanga Camp would certainly improve the summit chances considerably. The last ascent to Barafu Camp is once again a tough one and so we arrived at base camp relatively exhausted. After dinner we packed our rucksacks for the summit push and withdrew quickly to our tents to get as much rest as possible, which was only partly possible given the storm. Of the eight of us, unfortunately only three people made it to Uhuru Peak, but we all came back down healthy, which is the most important thing. For the three summiteers, however, the subsequent descent to Mweka Camp was incredibly strenuous. They too would certainly have benefited from an additional night at Karanga Camp. All in all, though, the Kilimanjaro climb was a formative experience for everyone.

We spent the next day at the beautiful lodge. From the drivers who picked us up at the gate we knew that the safari briefing would be at 16:30, so we could enjoy the pool in a relaxed way all day and process the impressions we had experienced.

The safari was overwhelming, so many free-living animals living relatively peacefully side by side. In the Ngorongoro Crater you could of course see that very well, and it impressed us enormously. Our guides were able to show us so many animals and also had lots of information ready on every animal. Big compliment. But they not only knew about the animals, they also handled the jeeps very well and showed great driving skill. The camp in Tarangire National Park surprised us with its facilities: for each sex, two relatively generous sanitary blocks, each with two toilets, showers and washbasins, kept clean by the national park employees. Apart from us, only four other people were staying there overnight, so the hot water for showering was enough too. After the camp in Tarangire National Park, we were very disappointed by the camp at Ngorongoro Crater. The camp was visited by several groups and there was only one cramped sanitary block each for men and women, with three showers, toilets and washbasins. It was only very inadequately clean, though, so that you didn’t really want to wash there. However, the water supply was very good and if you ignored the state of the “shower cubicles”, the shower was refreshing. So there is still room for improvement in the sanitary facilities at this camp, as regards cleanliness and layout.

The option of spending the few hours after the safari and before the flight at the lodge once more is ideal. The lodge is a lovely base and saying goodbye to Hellmut, Josephine and Margret was hard. We felt really very much at home there.

Everyone we dealt with during the Kilimanjaro climb and the safari – drivers, guides, waiters, porters – was extremely nice and gave us information and answered our questions. That too impressed me.

The shortcomings mentioned above could not spoil our holiday and in retrospect it is certainly the beautiful things that will be remembered, but for you it is certainly useful information on how to make the holiday even better for other guests.

In any case, I say thank you once again.

Petra Weickenmeier

Last week I was able to experience the tour to Rwanda organised by Elefant-Tours and can only say: it was a delight! Simply sensational!

On this trip everything was really right! The organisation ran smoothly. My assigned guide Valens was always reliable and punctual, absolutely helpful and committed in every respect. I could not have imagined a better one.

An excellent trip in every respect! The time in Rwanda was simply indescribable. Apart from being lucky with the weather, the trek to Karisoke (with the guide Francois) was indescribable – the beautiful vegetation, the nature, and a guide who knew everything and was himself enthusiastic about the small details. The visit to Dian Fossey’s grave is also very moving, as long as you have engaged a little with it all. For me it was something very special!

The great high point was of course the visit to the mountain gorillas. Guide Emanuel was highly professional! You could feel his rapport and connection with the animals, and he was always clear in his instructions so that we did not disturb the animals in any way and yet were right in the middle of the action. An incredible moment in my life, even though I had already done a trek in Bwindi National Park. These experiences will certainly remain among the most beautiful of my Africa trips, and I thank everyone who contributed.

I also felt absolutely safe at all times as a woman travelling alone. Thank you for this wonderful time!

Kind regards

From 30.12.19 to 18.1.20 I was on the overland tour from Victoria Falls to Cape Town. Afterwards I spent 3 days in Cape Town and then another week on Zanzibar.

Overall I can say that this tour impressed me incredibly and I will draw on the experiences for a long time. It was already my second overland tour and I had been looking forward to this tour through the south-western part of Africa for a long time.

With 14 other participants and 2 tour guides we set off on 31.12.19. After a few days of getting to know each other we got on very well as a group and had an incredible amount of fun together. Our tour guides Alington and Laurine were very friendly and dedicated, and after a short time we already felt as if we had known each other forever.

Eating the meals prepared by Laurine together, then sitting together over a cold drink and chatting, laughing and marvelling together, feeling safe and secure at all times – all of that and much more made up this tour.

It led us from Victoria Falls to Chobe National Park, then to the Okavango Delta, from there to Namibia (Etosha National Park, Swakopmund, south to the big dunes and Fish River Canyon, Orange River) and then via the Cederberg to Cape Town.
What we were able to see and experience was simply magnificent.

The stay in Cape Town afterwards was lovely, but the week of relaxing on Zanzibar was dreamy. All in all a holiday I will never forget and that makes me want more of Africa!

What do you get when a customer can feel real enjoyment of the job, paired with expertise, reliability and friendliness? A truly perfect dream holiday!

Many thanks, dear Ms Sommer, you made it possible for our 4-week self-drive tour
through South Africa to become an absolute dream! It was the ideal development of a route (the travel documents for it were really great, the Elefant-Tours map was by far the best map in our South Africa map collection) with carefully selected, really beautiful lodges and sightseeing highlights along the way.

After a few days in Cape Town and a stopover in Johannesburg, our trip took us across the country, and from our stops at Marakele National Park, Tzaneen, Blyde River Canyon (Panorama Route), Kruger National Park, Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve, Malkerns (Swaziland), St Lucia with iSimangaliso Wetland Park, Hluhluwe National Park and iMfolozi National Park, and finally Giants Castle National Park and Royal Natal National Park in the Drakensberg, we brought home countless unforgettable impressions.

As animal lovers we got our money’s worth here in full; the wildlife sightings were at times breathtaking! The beauty and diversity of the Cape Peninsula is comparable to nothing else in the world, and the drive through the country along the Drakensberg is a visual spectacle!
We will certainly never forget this trip for the rest of our lives, and should we be drawn to Africa again, then certainly only with Elefant-Tours!