Tanzania Roadside Expeditions LTD — Local services in Arusha

Our family of 5 (children aged 21,18 and 15) went on a 15 day tour in Tanzania with 5-day safari and a Zanzibar stay, organized by Tanzania Roadside Expeditions. We chose to book directly with TRE, rather than going via an agency where we live (Sweden), for two main reasons: higher flexibility and lower cost. (This was also after recommendations from a former tour organizer in Sweden who used to rely on the services of TRE for their safaris)

Communication during the planning process was smooth - Paul, the managing director - was always quick to iterate and take our requests into account, where we had any. For example we wished to add a hiking day and Paul suggested a Kilimanjaro day trip which we added to the program (this, for instance, was not possible with the Swedish operators I also discussed with)

We made the booking in January 2020, and were supposed to travel in June that year. Shortly after our booking, Covid hit and we had to reschedule everything. Here the company was very professional and easy to communicate with and typically replied to all emails within the day. We ended up re-scheduling two times before we finally could go through with the trip in december 2021.

Upon arrival, we were met at the airport by our guide, James, who was with us during the mainland stay (first 7 days). The safari program was very well organized. James was very knowledgeable with 12 years experience as safari guide, and expertly guided us to through Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro and was able to answer all our questions. During five days we saw countless animals - including all of the big 5, hordes of wild beast and zebras, giraffes and elephants. We even witnessed a chase where three lionesses took down a zebra right in front of our vehicle. All in all I must say it even exceeded our (high) expectations.

Our tour also included a day hike on Kilimanjaro (up to 2700m, accompanied by a mountain guide), before we transferred to Zanzibar. In Zanzibar we stayed in Stone town, where we also had a guided tour, and stayed on two resorts on the east shore.

Logistics of the trip was smooth - our safari guide and the safari vehicle (a Toyota Landcruiser) took us everywhere from arrival in Arusha until departure to Zanzibar. In Zanzibar the operator had arranged for a driver to take us conveniently between our destinations on the island.

Quality of accomodation was overall very high. The different lodges we stayed at during the Safari were all well run, clean and comfortable. This also included two nights in a tented camp (with in-tent shower/bathroom) in Serengeti. The Zanzibar arrangements also lived up to our expectations, in particular Tembo hotel in Stone Town and the Spice Island Resort which were truly excellent.

All in all we are very happy with the decision to let Tanzania Roadside Expeditions arrange our Tanzania holiday, and I believe we got good value for our money. Compared to some offers we got from Swedish agencies, our trip was both more extensive, more flexible and much better priced.

I would not hesitate to recommend Tanzania Roadside Expeditions to anyone considering a...

My friends and I decided to visit Tanzania during the month of November 2019. We started researching on the tour advisors in early June and picked the Tanzania Roadside Expedition considering all the reviews. We reached out to Paul and obtained a quote for the trip. Since then, we have constantly bugged Paul with changes, requests and questions. Paul was very patient with our questions and accommodated all our requests. We made certain changes to the itinerary and also got a revised reduced fee quote from Paul.

We reached Arusha and were promptly greeted by an agent from the Tanzania Roadside Expedition. He drove us to Arusha to our stay where we met Paul. Paul was very informative and ensured that he briefed us well specifying all the dos and don’ts. The arrangements were well done and our every need was catered to. We covered Ngorongoro Crater, Central Serengeti, Northern Serengeti and Masai Mara. During our journey from Ngorongoro to Serengeti, we stopped at a Masai village to get an experience of the Masai culture. We travelled around in land cruiser. Our vehicles (in Tanzania and Kenya) had rangers radio which our guides used to communicate with other guides to discuss animal sightings. We also carried lunch boxes everyday (great food for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians).

James was our driver/tour guide for 6 days in Tanzania and Peter for 2 days in Kenya.

James comes with 15 years of experience in the field. He was very informative, knowledgeable and professional. He brought in his experience to our trip which made it not just interesting, but also successful. We got to see many varieties of animals and birds. James could spot some miles away even without a binoculars. He could name all species with ease. He was also very familiar with the areas and thus knew where he could find good sightings. The best thing about James was that he was an environment friendly person. We could see his love and respect for nature during our trip. We had such a good time with James that we made a friend for life. We will surely return to spend more time in Tanzania with James.

Peter was very expressive. He had friends all over the place. He was talkative and always kept us entertained. He was our lucky charm. We got to see fights between two lion prides, saw the oldest Lion (Scarface), collaboration of 5 Cheetahs, a Cheetah with 7 cubs and quite a few leopard sightings which was very rare. Peter was very casual and fun to interact with. Though we spent only 2 days with Peter, we got very comfortable around him.

Overall, it was an amazing trip. We were sad to come back. But looking forward for our next trip with Tanzania...

We (4 people) spend 2 weeks on a private, custom-made Safari in Kenia and Tanzania with Roadside. A quick summary is that we had a wonderful time and definitely recommend them to anybody who wants a great experience.

Getting everything organized was easy and efficient, Zephania was very quick to answer all our questions and provide us with updates. We were able to take his base idea for the itinerary and customize it further to suit our needs - we added a park, added a night here and there, removed one stop as we had done it a few years back, nothing was ever an issue.

Once on the safari, everything went smoothly and according to plan. We were joined by three different guides (one at the beginning in Kenia, then one in Tanzania, and then another one in Kenia) and all of them were very flexible: if we wanted to set off a bit earlier, it was possible; if we wanted a full-day game drive without going back to the lodge for lunch, it was possible as well. In general, we stayed in the parks full days most of the time, and it was always possible. We are photographers with big lenses, and the guides were understanding and cooperative in terms of stopping the car for the best angles and lighting. They also seemed very passionate about their work, and we even got a few extras during our time there that were outside of our itinerary (shout out to Keffa for the second game drive in Nakuru and the boat ride in Naivasha). A very special thanks to Man man (Walter) for his enthusiasm and relentlessness, he really did all physically possible to show us what we desired to see (gnu crossing the Mara river!), and he always delivered. He was one of, if not the best, guide we've ever had, anywhere.

We are already planning on going back in a couple of years, and if we do, Roadside will definitely be the company we will contact to organize...