Oltyiani Trail – Camping with the Maasai

My trip to Africa to see wildlife and the river crossing met my expectations thanks to the wonderful team behind Discover Africa. The details of my itinerary were arranged by Susan and eventually handed over to Chrizaan, both were very helpful and anticipated well what I needed. The whole experience was smooth from transfers to accommodations and daily schedules. Our guides: Aroni in Tanzania and Sam in Kenya were very good, they took good care of our group for the duration of time with them. I highly recommend Discover Africa.

I was recommended Discover Africa by a friend who raved about them for their African Safari adventure and they didn’t disappoint. From the start the communication was timely, despite the time zone difference, and the advice was thorough and precise. It seemed to me that our agent, Susan, was always available no matter what time I was communicating with her. More than that she regularly checked in with me during our trip to make sure all was going well and checked us in for all our internal flights ahead of time.

The first thing Susan did was to find out what we wanted from our trip and then used that to tailor an itinary that met all our desires. Susan’s intimate knowledge of tourism in Africa had us booked into game reserves and guides in South Africa and Kenya which had all the big 5 on display plus more. The accommodation and tour guides she organised were fantastic.

Thanks to Susan we have had an African adventure taking in Karongwe and Masai Mara game reserves, Victoria Falls and the beautiful city of Cape Town which has provided photos, videos and memories we will cherish for the rest of our lives.

The service we recieved from Discover Africa was exceptional and went beyond our expectations. I couldn’t recommend them more highly.

Discover Africa organized an amazing 11-day trip for us to Masai Mara, Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Southern Serengeti/Ndutu. It was our first trip to Africa, and thanks to the wonderful experience, we are definitely coming back for more. Our tour planner was Vihann.

After an initial consultation to understand our interests, Vihann put together a few options for us to pick from. Throughout the process, he was very flexible and adjusted the tour a few times to meet our specific needs. Of all the tour operators we spoke to, Discover Africa was the only one that was able to get us the tour we wanted while still staying within our budget.

They did a great job at minimizing travel time between the various lodges we stayed in – this was something other tour operators failed to do to this extent. We stayed at Kichwa Tembo in Masai Mara, Serena lodge in Ngorongoro, and at Lemala Ndutu Mobile camp in Serengeti. Highly highly recommend all of these places, especially Kichwa Tembo and Lemala if you want the authentic safari lodge experience.

We were blown away by the hospitality throughout the trip. Our tour guides were patient, and knowledgeable and planned each safari carefully. We got a private vehicle and tour guide for 6/9 days we were on Safari in Tanzania. Our guide, Ebenezer (Ben), played a big role in making our trip memorable – highly recommend asking for Ben to be your tour guide.

Our safari vehicles were great as well – rugged, reliable, well-equipped (refrigerator, chargers etc.), and spacious! Overall, highly highly recommend Discover Africa for your Africa travel plans!

My wife and I scheduled our honeymoon through Discover Africa just by finding them through a simple Google search. A client of theirs called us right away and then over the next several weeks helped us figure out what package of travel we wanted.

We ended up going on a safari in Tanzania for 10 days while the wildebeest were migrating and then 5 days on Zanzibar to relax. We scheduled all of this in 2019, and when the pandemic hit Discover Africa was kind enough to allow us to simply reschedule to 2021. Once we finally did get to go on our safari we were with a guide almost the entire first 5 days of the trip, which was AWESOME.

A guide was there to immediately meet us after getting of the final airplane’s stairs to walk us through the Tanzania customs and Covid protocols. A guide was then there to drive us to the first hotel and was super informative and great to talk to after a long plane ride. We then met with our actual safari tour guide that night to walk us through what would be happening starting the next morning since we were getting up early to check out OH, and The African Tulip hotel was amazing and they treated us to a surprise, private honeymoon dinner by the pool as with our own little fire pit.

The next morning we went to Lake Manyara with our guide and were blown away right away with all the animals we saw. 5- 10 minutes in we saw a group of giraffes followed up almost immediately by 2 elephants crossing the road only a car’s length behind us. Absolutely surreal. The rest of the day was full of different types of gazelle, babboon, huge baobab trees, water buffalo, dik-diks, and others I’m forgetting. We saw several elephants very close to the car which was awesome. We ate a prepared lunch for us on the top of the overlook of the Lake. Nothing fantastic about the food but they were all designed to be “safe” food choices for everyone’s diet and sensitivities. The safari took up the entire day and we were exhausted and happy as the tour guide took us to our next hotel where we had our own little condominium room. This next place as well put flowers on the bed and treated us special for our honeymoon.

The next morning we had the same tour guide (who had 17 years experience by the way) and went to Ngorongoro Conservation. He drove us up the jungly, misty, crater outer mountain and stopped to look over the massive bowl. Then we descended into the crater and immediately saw zebra, tons of wildebeest, and a RHINO (from a distance). Again a day full of tons of HERDS of gazelle, ostrich, zebra, wildebeest and LIONS laying on the very side of the road, without a care in the world about us getting up close. We ate lunch by this body of water and even it had a herd of hippos popping their heads up out of the water looking at us eat our sandwiches! Again another exhausting, exciting day with elephants as well. Our tour guide took us back to the same hotel that night.

The next morning our tour guide took us to the airport and walked us through the little bit of security that they had to get on a small plane to head to the Serengeti. The plane was small but never felt unsafe. Once we arrived in the Serengeti we were given some tea and were immediately whisked off onto our next safari. There were a heard of hippos basically AT THE AIRPORT. Then we drove off and had lunch with a group of 20+ elephants and baby elephants drinking in the Mara river. Then we were abruptly told to hold onto our lunches to go see the RIVER CROSSING of wildebeest going nuts on the Mara and dodging crocodiles. The day was full of eagles, wildebeest, zebra, giraffe, a duo of MALE LIONS, and much more. The night was at a beautiful, huge tent with our own tent with a shower and double vanity mirror and huge bed. We fell asleep to the sound of wildebeest “moos” and hyena yelps.

The next morning we woke up at 4AM for a morning HOT AIR BALLOON ride. It was around $300 a person but so worth it. The safari car ride can be very bumpy so it was nice to see the Serengeti from a higher vantage point with a smooth voyage. We got the balloon up just as high basically to be above the trees and look down on the herds of animals from above. We also got maybe 15 feet from the center of the Mara river as we hovered directly down the center of it. We even got to see a LEOPARD from above! We landed smoothly and had mimosas to celebrate and were taken off to a hot breakfast in a place surrounded by trees. We got to meet other people safariing from all over the world and the staff everywhere was always so nice.

We then went off to Zanzibar for the last 5 days which was such a different pace than constantly safariing that it was a little hard to pump the adrenaline. The beach was nice but hard to relax with a pretty steady flow of people trying to sell you things or get you to go on excursions with them. We did go diving with DOLPHINS which was probably $120 and was absolutely worth it. We also went scuba diving briefly. Zanzibar was mostly for relaxing, which we definitely did, but looking back on it we wished we had spent more time safarring and maybe only two days on the beach.

All in all,everything with Discover Africa was fantastic. We would highly recommend to anyone willing to travel there.

From our first contact with Karl, by email, to transferring large sums of money, which was promptly acknowledged, to being met by Petrous at Kilimanjaro, this Safari was way beyond our expectations. The moment, soon after arrival, the five of us received a boxed gift of a Masai blanket, each, we knew we chose the right Safari operator.

Discover Africa, you know the way to a tourist’s heart. Thank you. The blankets were used at every opportunity during the Safari and are now washed and ironed, at home, with us in Malaysia. A heart warming ,loved souvenir of our 8 absolutely amazing days in Tanzania.

Our guide and driver was totally committed to ensuring we sighted as many big cats, other wild animals, insects and birds as we could. He stopped to show us a line of Martebelli ants and on another occasion,a dung beetle busily preparing its nest. Nothing was too trivial for Petrous.

Returning to a kopje ,which housed big cats ,sighted in the morning to “ see what the lions, leopards and Cheetahs “were up to,now” was the norm each day; it did not matter that we were driving around for 6-8 hours before that ! We feel very grateful that he was assigned to us. Rational, knowledgeable and calm. He drove skillfully through shocking, terribly muddy ditches. We were impressed and he endeared himself to my husband, our 3 adult children and me.

Accommodation was as expected the first 3 nights but our final four nights were spent in a luxurious, comfortable and absolutely scenic camp – Lemala Nanyukie. Being lulled to sleep by roaring lions was sublime. Food was delicious, the barman Nelson was awesome and staff friendly, warm and hospitable. Leaving the Serengeti was not easy for all 5 of us. We will treasure memories of awesome wild life, trustworthy ,honest ,hospitable people and stunning scenery.

Thank you Karl and Mathys of Discover Africa. May we be in contact again, in the future. S Sushila

Our trip was arranged by Carel Verhoef at discoverafrica.com and was perfectly organised.

We flew into the Masai Mara from Nairobi and all flight connections and transfers were arranged for us and went like clockwork. Carel was also very generous with his advice having lived in East Africa for some years – he is a mine of useful information.

My wife and I have had this trip to see the wildebeest migration on our bucket list for some time and we decided to go this year to coincide with our wedding anniversary. For that reason we were looking for something special yet reasonably priced and Carel helped us find Mara Ngenche. What a spectacularly good choice that was.

We stayed for 5 nights the camp and were extremely well looked after. The staff are fantastic. Our waiter, Steve, learnt what food we liked and didn’t like and was always on hand with a glass of wine and also taught us some Swahili! The Masai guards who escorted us to & from our tent especially Musanga, Karbolo & Lindeni were always on hand, very polite and interesting. Almost everyone speaks excellent English.

The game drive vehicle that we used was completely open at the top and sides and was very comfortable. We had some fabulous sightings with Joseph, our very experienced driver/guide. He was excellent at anticipating the animal’s movements to ensure good photos. In one afternoon we saw the Big 5 and on another occasion 4½, as we could only see the leopard’s tail that time.

The position of the camp on the confluence of two rivers was so relaxing and we often sat on the deck watching the 30 or so hippos all day, even though they didn’t move very much. Breakfasts and lunches were served under the trees beside the river. Dinner, served in the restaurant, was four courses and was beautifully prepared and presented.

Overall, it was a fantastic trip and the staff at Mara Ngenche made it more than special. When it came time to leave, my wife cried because she didn’t want to go. Of all the holidays we’ve had over the years, this has been our most memorable.