Safari • Bird Watching Safari • Walking Safari • Hiking • Beach vacation • Relaxing in hidden places • Cultural tourism – Visits to local villages • Cultural tourism – Visits to local crafts shops • Cultural tourism – Olduvai Gorge / Oldonyo Lengai • Supporting a local community
Have scheduled tours that individuals or small groups can join
No
Have private, custom-tailored tours
Yes
Type of vehicles
4 Wheel Drive
Type of accommodations
Lodges • Hotels
Able to accommodate tourists with special needs
Special diet
Language capabilities
English
Africa Dream Safaris is a Tanzania tour operator specializing in private and custom-tailored safaris with an emphasis on maximizing wildlife encounters through strategically designed itineraries and providing an unsurpassed level of service via personalized programs and expert guides.
We are very committed to conservation and the support of local communities through principles of empowerment. In fact, we received the 2008 Tanzania Tour Operator Conservation Award. This prestigious award was presented to us by the Tanzanian Minister of Tourism and the Tanzania Tourist Board at an international congress in May 2008. We were honored with this award specifically because of our work with the Serengeti Lion Project. Additionally, our safaris contribute $25 per person to the FAME project, Foundation for African Medicine and Education, in Karatu under the direction of Dr. Frank Artress. We have also supported a number of school and orphanages (Children for Children's Future, Njiapanda Primary School and the Shalom Orphanage as examples) through community work and donations of cash and product.
We hire only experienced and certified driver guides and the standard for our safaris is to leave by 6.00 AM for the best game driving experience. Some of our driver guides are former park rangers and have in depth knowledge of not only wildlife, but the interplay within the entire Eco-system. We frequently arrange for short field talks nightly by our driver guides (topics include the dynamics of the migration; Elephants as a Key Stone Species; Grasses of the Serengeti; The Geology of the Great Rift Valley; Challenges facing Predators, to name a few). We also arrange, upon request, a field talk with various researchers we have developed relationships with and make a contribution to the research project in exchange for the talk. Please see the following link to view our driver guide biographies:http://www.africadreamsafaris.com/choose_det_driver.html
We offer over 250 safaris to Tanzania and each is strategically designed on a monthly basis to take advantage of seasonal wildlife concentrations. Each of the over 250 safaris is supported by a 10+ page document with comprehensive information on lodging, national parks and wildlife viewing. Please see the following link to our itinerary section of our website: http://www.africadreamsafaris.com/choose.html
We believe that by keeping each safari private, our clients are better able to experience the true meaning of the word adventure and the true essence of an African Safari. A place as wild and spectacular as the Serengeti National Park (for example) is sometimes best absorbed in serene solitude with just yourself and somebody you feel comfortable with. We feel that it would be a great injustice to deal with political niceties, group dynamics, and catering to someone else's schedule while surrounded by one of the most untamed and prolific wilderness areas left on the planet.
Each client is assigned a personal safari consultant, available to the client 7 days a week to answer any questions. The personal safari consultant works with the client to develop the most optimal safari itinerary that best suits the client’s specific requirements, animal interests, lodging preferences and month of travel. The safari consultant also handles all travel arrangements in addition to the safari including internal airfare, transfers, meet and greet services, travel insurance and post safari extensions as well as providing comprehensive pre departure planning including packing, health, reading and photography recommendations. Please see the following link to our FAQ section of our website: http://www.africadreamsafaris.com/faq.html
We have a comprehensive support contingency system in place to ensure that our client’s safety is never compromised. We have offices both in the U.S. and Tanzania to support all segments of the trip, and all safaris are 100% escorted and chauffeured from arrival to departure. We believe risk our support system is second to none as evidenced by the fact that we are offer VIP Tanzania Visa service, making the client’ arrival to East Africa easy and efficient. We are fully accredited in both the U.S. and Tanzania with memberships in the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators and the Tanzania Tourist Board and are proud to hold an extremely high ‘AA’ company rating with the Better Business Bureau’s Reliability Program. Please see the following link to visit our customer testimonial section to read first hand accounts from our past clients:http://www.africadreamsafaris.com/test.html
User reviews
Average user rating from: 3 user(s)
Overall rating:
5.0
Guide:
5.0
Transportation:
5.0
Accommodation:
5.0
Meals:
5.0
Best Vacation of My Life
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
I can't express in words how great Africa Dream Safaris was and how pleased we were with every detail of our trip. All the accommodations were lovely and the private luxury camp was amazing and so much fun. The way the vehicle was set up and outfitted was outstanding. Our guide couldn't have been any better. The whole experience was one of the best of my life. I simply can't say enough good things. A FANTASTIC TRIP!
Our trip went off without a hitch. From getting to the airport and being handed our VISA's, to each hotel stay, to the time we left, we felt completely taken care of. Africa Dream Safaris took care of everything and we didn't have a care in the world except what we were going to see next.
We adored our guide, he didn't miss a thing. It seemed like other people could drive right by something amazing but our guide saw it all. Just a few hours after flying into the bush we saw cheetah, hyena, zebra, ostrich, giraffe, elephant, gazelle, lion and wildebeest. We were in the middle of the wildebeest migration and were overwhelmed by the number of animals as far as we could see.
One of the main things that made us know that Africa Dream Safaris was the right choice, was watching the other outfitters. Their vehicles were so full it looked hard for the passengers to move about the car, just the opposite for us we had plenty of room to move around. We also noticed that their days out on game drives were not as long as ours were. They would only drive for a limited amount of miles and stayed on the roads everyone else traveled. Reggie, our driver/guide, would keep us out as long as we wanted and we would go places and see amazing things without several other vehicles around. We saw a pride of thirteen lions on a kopje and didn't see another car for 3 hours. We saw 2 different leopards in trees right next to the road and it was just us. Our guide really went out of his way to give us a natural and honest experience. He was SO knowledgeable about the wildlife, the birds and the environment. In addition, he was one of the nicest people I have ever met. He was fun and funny which made the experience even better.
One of our favorite days was when we went looking for cheetah. We saw 15 cheetahs in one day, 9 or them were babies. We saw 3 one month old babies playing with their mother. Then we saw another mother with 6 two month old babies. It was a bit hot so they went under our vehicle for shade! They ended up sitting on our wheels and every time I stuck my arm out to take their picture they growled at me. Not ever feeling hurried for time we watched them for about 2 hours.
We drove with the ostriches running next to our vehicle. We got charged by a bull elephant. We were 10 yards away watching a male lion roar. We were next to elephants when they trumped. We saw giraffes run. We got so close to zebra I could have pet them. We saw lions, cheetahs, and even hyena hunting. We saw baby cheetah playing. We were in the middle of the wildebeest migration. We ate lunch next to a pride of 13 lion. We saw a leopard in a tree eating a gazelle. We saw a monitor lizard catch a fish. We saw a female rhino with a tiny baby and 12 total rhino during our trip. We saw hundreds of beautiful birds. We saw hard animals so see like an aardvark and a caracal cat. WE SAW IT ALL, we did it all, we loved ever minute of it!
Our trip to Tanzania was something that I will carry in my heart forever. The people were amazing friendly, the landscape was breathtaking and seeing so many animals was completely unbelievable.
Kari McCloskey & Mario Ferrante
Overall rating:
5.0
Guide:
5.0
Transportation:
5.0
Accommodation:
5.0
Meals:
5.0
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Reviewed by Kari McCloskey & Mario Ferrante
February 10, 2009 Report this review
Our Africa Dream Safari
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Although Africa Dream Safaris is the only safari company that we have had the utmost pleasure of using to assist us in planning our safari, there is absolutely no other company that we'd rather have planning another safari trip with! They will ensure that you will have the best time of your life enjoying beautiful Tanzania, East Africa!
We were able to find this company as they were mentioned (very positively) numerous times on private blogs as well as photo forums mentioning their spectacular service and seemingly limitless ability to customize your very own safari experience.
Africa Dream Safaris took care of everything, from speeding us through the airport once we landed in Tanzania (they even take care of the entire Visa process as well as helped us coordinate our entire 8-day trip). Dawn Anderson was our initial guide in booking everything and was quick to respond with all of our questions up to our departure from the US...this specialized service was only the start - what service!!
Upon arriving at Kilimanjaro airport, we were greeted with a friendly hostess (Zubeda) who provided us with bottled water, assistance with our
bags, as well as a very detailed update on what was planned for us ahead. She was mindful on our state of mind (whether we were too exhausted to comprehend, or if we were in the mood to pay attention)and we were also greeted at our first lodge with chilled towels and fruit juice after an exhausting and long flight (this was so lovely)!
Our personal driver (Wilfred Fue) was the most amazing person! We discovered so many animals (some rare ones too) and were usually the first ones to arrive on a lion pride scene, etc. 85% of the time with front row seats! Although the most wonderful part about ADS is that youcan customize your trip, our driver was good to point out tentative itineraries with which we could adjust based on our interests for that day, or weather permitting as well. Wilfred not only pointed out wildlife, but plant species, reptiles, and insects. It was as much a cultural trip about Africa and it's people as it was an animal life safari. Our already high expectations were just completely blown away each and every day we were driving. Even with some sporadic rains, we had completely amazing days that continued to get better and better.
Each day we would start the day entering our clean Land Cruiser (Wilfred
washed the inside floors and wiped down the windows even after the entire vehicle got swamped with mud) and we all headed out with a box breakfast and lunch in tow (eating out on the game drives enabled us to see more and get early morning glimpses of the cats). Wilfred was always mindful of great photography positioning making sure both the lighting and viewing were optimal. Our safari was truly a lot of fun and mostly in part to our driver, Wilfred, especially since he was very friendly, funny, and a great teacher - we feel as we all became good friends by the end of our trip and will be asking for him again.
I am already recommending Africa Dream Safari's to my co-workers and friends and am also sharing all the pictures we took on our trip! I think the best part about Africa Dream Safari's is that you're able to customize your own trip, you're able to travel with your own party and are not restricted by timed itineraries, etc. and with such a great and knowledgeable driver, we also did not feel that we were missing out on anything by not being on a structured itinerary (we would often watch animals for several hours at a time, but consistently saw a wide variety of animals (sometimes even rare species) every single day!
I also liked the fact that we had a binder which contained very helpful and useful information at a quick glance (phone numbers, etc.) as well as information to help prepare us for our trip out to Tanzania (I hate
traveling unprepared, as I'm sure any traveler does).
All in all, I have to say that everything was truly magnificent and extremely well put together with practically zero complications! Africa
Dream Safari's made sure to take care of everything quickly and efficiently(in such short notice too) and helped make our vacation so much more memorable!
We are very eager to visit Tanzania again soon and owe a special thank you to Africa Dream Safari's and their caring, friendly, knowledgeable, and professional staff who enabled us to have such a fabulous time, we will most certainly utilize and recommend their services again!!
The lodges that they booked for us were also very accommodating and very lovely as well! We were consistently amazed at the places we stayed at and can't say we were disappointed at all! Our favorites were the Private Luxury Camp, Kusini Lodge, Bougainvillea, and (albeit short visit) Kia Lodge at the end to shower and clean up before our flight home (another very nice perk to have included).
Unbelievable? Unimaginable? INDESCRIBABLE? Actually, the latter of the three is the only real word that can rightfully “capture” the true essence of my safari experience in Tanzania from which my sister, my friends, and I have just returned from with Africa Dream Safaris. In all reality, I am truly at a loss for words – and for those that know me well, that IS saying something!
How can one do justice to such a trip by summarizing in a paragraph or two the genuine warmth and kindness of the Tanzanian people, the amazing beauty of the richly filled woodlands, the expanse of the seemingly endless grassy plain, or the raw beauty of nature as it takes its sometimes cruel, often uplifting, but ever inspiring course in the lives of the animals that thrive there? I knew visiting such a place as Tanzania would be a rich and rewarding experience even before we went, but today I am simply in awe of the amazingly spectacular sights, sounds, and deeply rooted emotions that we experienced.
When we began planning this safari over a year and a half ago through Africa Dream Safaris (ADS), and after having researched it well, I must say that we did set the bar high and we expected “a lot.” Looking back, I can how say that those expectations were not only met, but were far exceeded throughout each and every aspect of our trip!
From the first moment of our arrival in Arusha, where we were warmly greeted by the cheerful and professional ADS staff on the tarmac, to the final moment of our departure, we could not have been made to feel more cared for, welcomed and relaxed. The accommodations at each and every place we stayed were outstanding and comfortable, and we were exceptionally well fed - whether it was in our semi-permanent tent, our permanent tent, in our private luxury camp, or in a lodge. (We experienced them all!) And our safari guide that met us when we landed in the Serengeti – what can I say about our guide to do him justice? After watching and listening to the many other groups that we saw on safari in the lodges, camps, and on the wildlife circuits, I now truly believe one’s safari is going to be only as good one’s guide…and our ADS guide was absolutely exceptional – truly, he was beyond compare!
Now as I said before, we expected to “see” a lot, but it was the actual experiencing of the raw emotion intertwined within those special sightings and moments that made the trip what it was. Who would have thought we would end up being fortunate enough to actually witness not just one, but FOUR different wildebeest crossings on the Mara River in the Northern Serengeti? Not only were we a witness to it, we were also “in the middle” of it all during the first crossing we experienced, as the seeming endless stream of wildebeest enveloped our vehicle on their way down toward the bank! There was so much energy and excitement within the herd (and within our vehicle!) each and every time we witnessed it! And then to think that we would be privileged enough to see in person the passionate struggle between life and death as the carnivorous crocodiles of the region attempted to unrelentingly feast on the wildebeest, young and old, as they struggled over the boulders and through the swiftly flowing waters during the perilous crossing. A crossing, though dangerous and (as we witnessed) hesitantly taken by the huge herds as they nervously gathered on the banks of the water’s edge before boldly leaping in, inescapably necessary as a part of their endless annual migratory pattern in an attempt to follow the rains... It really was something to experience such a uniquely natural phenomenon, and an experience none of us will soon forget…
And then, who would have thought we’d be privy to sitting back and quietly watching as five lionesses near our vehicle stealthily stalked a herd of Topi as they nervously attempted to drink from a life-giving watering hole near Lobo - and then later on witness two cheetah quickly devouring their freshly killed reedbuck behind a shrub as they keenly watched three other cheetah, unaware of their presence, stalk their own prey nearby? It was, simply put, amazing, and there we were once again “in the middle of it all!”
And then – my all time favorite - who would have thought we’d actually get to see “up close and personal” the beautiful and graceful, yet ever elusive leopard as she rested on a lofty limb, perfectly camouflaged by the dense auburn/green foliage of the tree? Now – for me - THAT was “a moment!”
Each and every day was uniquely different and a day of surprise. I should also mention that many of our best moments were moments that we had (unbelievably!) to ourselves - with absolutely no one else around! This was in no small part due to our incredibly knowledgeable and patient guide, as well as to our own personal “drive” to get out daily before dawn, stay out all day, and return after dusk. The rewards greatly outweighed any “sacrifice” we might have made, if you can even call it that.
Having now lived overseas as an educator for nearly 20 years, and having traveled extensively in Europe, as well as throughout parts of Asia, Africa (Egypt & Kenya), and New Zealand, I definitely expected this trip to be “pretty great” – but I can now say in all honesty and without any reservation that this trip far exceeded any travel experience I have ever had in the past– bar none! It really was a dream-come-true. Thank you, ADS, for taking all of us on a true “trip of a lifetime!” I, for one, cannot thank you enough!
