Manyara Exclusive safari lodge — Hotel in Arusha

My wife and I just returned from a Safari to Tanzania. We visited the Tarangire NP, the Serengeti, and Ngorongoro Crater, plus Zanzibar. This was a 12 day trip and all arrangements were made by Basili at Vervet. The first night we stayed in Mt Meru Hotel where our guide and driver John Musa picked us up and guided us to the wildlife parks Tarangire, Serengeti, and Ngorogoro Crater. John was very knowledgeable on not only where the wildlife would be but their behavior. After the Hotel we stayed in Tented Camps. Each day we enjoyed a nice breakfast in camp, a box lunch on our game drives, and a delicious meal each evening. During the game drives we saw more than 30 elephants, more than 30 lions, 5 Cheetahs, 2 Leopards, innumerable Giraffes, Zebra, Wildabeast, Gazelles, Baboons, Ostriches Hippos, hyenas, Jackals, flamingos, as well as countless birds. And a Pangolin which is so rare our Guide John had never seen one before so we were very lucky. I know I am leaving some wildlife out and all I can say is the was like a zoo on steroids. Not only did we see the Big 5 but the Big 9 as well. Just AWESOME. We were a bit hesitant to send such a large deposit to Africa but all our fears were allayed. Basili at Vervet carefully put together all aspects of our tour and provided us with a detailed itinery. Everything promised was delivered. Every hotel and tented campsite was beautiful, clean, and comfortable. Staff at every location was attentive and friendly and spoke great English. We would recommend Vervet to everyone young and old. We are 64 and 70 and were quite comfortable everywhere we went. Throughout our safari we had a private Jeep and our own driver/guide (John Musa). John was amazing, he was knowledgeable and taught us a bit of Swahili along the way. All of the photos we took were with an iPhone and we were so close to the animals as to not need a camera with a telephoto lens. We encountered lions, zebras, gazelle, rhinos, giraffes, hippos, elephants, buffalo, leopards, impalas, hyenas, dik dik, and more. Vervet arranged a sundowner dinner and balloon safari for us as part of our trip. The sundowner dinner was a private dinner set up in the bush overlooking our camp and a great sunset. This was at Domel Camps where our host Israel Domel was most accommodating. As for the hot air balloon ride this is the place to do it! Floating over the Serengeti was a once in our lifetime experience. Following our safari, Vervet arranged a flight for us to the island of Zanzibar. We stayed at the Zanzibar Beach Resort right on the coast of the Indian Ocean. The water was a beautiful “Caribbean Blue” and the service and food at the resort was wonderful. Every morning you were presented with a list of dinner choices and then that freshly shopped and prepared entree was served at dinner. From the resort we went on a guided tour of Stonetown and a spice farm. Not knowing anything about the regions facilities we left everything up to Basili at Vervet Safaris and tours. He made excellent choices, each hotel, resort and tented campsite we stayed at could not have been better. The hosts and staff were so very accommodating and enjoyable. We have had the opportunity to visit many places and countries in our lives and I must say Tanzania was one of the best organized and wonderful places we have ever visited. Thank you so much to Basili, John Musa (you were awesome and we could not have had a better guide). Vervet Safaris you are on our all time list of best vacation organizers. We would highly recommend you to anyone inquiring about a trip to Tanzania. Sante Sana Michael...

We did a 6 days safari with Vervet Safari Tours and it was just perfect. Everything was well organized and professional. The staff is friendly and helpful. Our guide was amazing. We learned a lot of things about the animals, the nature, the Massaï and African cultures. The lodges were very nice and the food really good. The people in the lodges were also very kind and attentive. The car was spacious and well equipped. We had a great experience that we will never forget. We thanks a lot Basili, Yohana and their partners for this wonderful time. We highly recommend this agency and we wish them all the best. Tunapenda sana Vervet...

Everything is extremely nice. Fortunately, Basili took care of many things including COVID-19 things even though that is not his duty or job to do. He is so skillful for Safari and knows about wild animals very much. Also he has respect and mercy for those animals so that he never bothers animals’ way. Once we talked about Hippos, then he took us to a riverside and Hippos were there. Another time we talked about male lion and few minutes later while driving around there came a male lion! What a miracle he makes! Definitely he is a trustworthy and...