Passionate Guides Tanzania — Local services in Arusha

This review for the Passionate Guides is way overdue. However, this is by all means no reflection of the service or the trip – on the contrary – I was trying to find time to write a review ever since I returned home but life got in the way. There are a zillion tour operators in North America and Europe who offer great tours and I have not doubt that they are trying to do their best. However, I can guarantee that they are no match to Beatus, the owner of Passionate Guides and his crew in both Kenya and Tanzania. First of all, Beatus is located in Arusha, born and raised in Tanzania and took the leap of faith to start his safari company. Secondly, I have rarely seen the passion and dedication in all my travels and interactions with tour guides. Beatus is doing above and beyond to learn his customer’s specific needs and wants and caters to specific requirements. I suggest that if in a group, you pick people who are similarly inclined (birds, plants, predators, all of the above). I was probably a tough one to please since it was my first safari and I wanted to do more or less everything. After our first contact, Beatus helped me with my itinerary providing valuable advice. Everything went smooth prior to the trip… and it only got better. We were picked up in Nairobi, spent the first night there and were picked up in the morning to head out to Lake Nakuru and the Ziwa Bush Lodge – our first destination. Since this review is not intended for lodges / tents, I will not review those, although Beatus picked excellent accommodations throughout our trip. If there were any questions or minor issues, these were resolved within minutes. Plenty of time is spent in the Jeep! They have plenty of space, and the guides (Athuman – we miss him!) made sure water was always available. As for the animals: Beatus and his team are the best animal spotters you can have! Of course, one cannot expect animals on demand, but the Beatus and Athuman knew where to go and look, were extremely patient with us taking pictures (constantly) and most of love – they love their work and are never bored or tired – it seemed that they we are discovering the wildlife together. However, throughout the trip we learned so much about the country, region, migration, animal behavours etc. And of course – always told with passion for the land and its creatures. Our trip took us from Kenya (Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara) to Tanzania and the Serengeti, Ngorongoro … each area more fascinating than the previous and guided with passion and eagerness by our Passionate Guides. Oh… and we had the pleasure of several hot lunch picnics in the Serengeti… which was incredible to organize and set up… but Beatus and team did it with ease. All in all, I can’t recommend enough The Passionate Guides. Thanks to their genuine love and pride for their country and desire to share it with us, we had one of the most memorable vacations...

I had the pleasure of being guided by Beatus and his team of Passionate Guides on a wonderful 12-day excursion in Kenya and Tanzania at the end of August. We started our safari experience in Kenya’s Lake Nakuru, drove south to Masai Mara, into the great Serengeti of Tanzania, Ngorogoro, Arusha, passed by Kilimanjaro, and drove back into Kenya for one final day in Amboseli. There was not one moment with Beatus & Co. where I felt that our trip was lacking. From the food, choice of lodging/accommodation, and most notably the wealth of information shared with us – the guides far surpassed our expectations. David and Athuman were our drivers/guides in Kenya and Tanzania, respectively, and seemingly had an answer to every single question when asked. They accommodated our wishes and catered to our interests each day, whether we felt like seeing birds, antelopes, cats, etc. The lodging was truly fantastic. We stayed at some of the most visually-pleasing lodges/camps, like the rustic Ziwa lodge near Nakuru, luxurious Moyo camp in the central Serengeti, and the serene Kibo camp in Amboseli. Breakfasts and dinners were had with a view each day, and the packaged lunches were always delicious. My mom and I are very outdoorsy and wanted to hike to Kilimanjaro’s Mandara Huts. Beatus, of course, accommodated and planned this in our trip. His good friend & expert mountaineer Kedi (who summited Kilimanjaro 360+ times as of the date of writing) guided us to the Mandara Huts as a short day hike. Kedi shared a wealth of information and history about Kilimanjaro while hiking with us in – believe it or not – Converse All Stars. This was such a great addition in the middle of our safari trip. If you’re reading this review, I hope you see a trend throughout my review in addition to the other reviews on this site: Passionate Guides is very much true to its name. Asante...

We just spent nine days having our minds blown every day. After the first day at Tarangire our camera already had 600 animal photos. The trip would have been great and we could have just called it a success.

But then….. after the first night in our tented camp we woke up to rustling and opened our tent flap to see a family of twelve elephants had come to see us, literally waving their trunks in greeting.

That type of experience happened EVERY SINGLE day. I cannot say enough praise about Passionate Guides and how Beatus was able to plan this whole experience for our family. In addition to an incredible set of safari days we also took time in Arusha to experience a bit of local culture including getting the best fade haircut a white man might ever experience by going to Beatus's own barber). We also did a 10 mile hike at Kilimanjaro.

Passionate Guides, under his leadership, goes to sleep after you have crashed, wakes up before you to prep supplies for the day, and then spends all day listening to your desires and making sure they get realized. We kept giving new challenges, "that was great but now we would like to see...." and then somehow within 24 hours Beatus kept working it in. We saw more than 120 different species of animals during our trip -and- a wildebeest river crossing to cap it all off.

We simply have never been treated more kindly and attentively than our time with Passionate Guides. Thank you Beatus.

-Greg, Beth, and Parker (from Chicago, NYC,...