Joining Safaris Ltd — Local services in Kilimanjaro

We found Joining Safari’s through the KPAP website, we used them for both hike and safaris. They were the best priced and offered everything we were looking for. This is my review for the hike, I apologize if long. We originally planned for the private 8-day Lemosho route but were able to do it in 7. First, I will say Erick is amazing!! Very responsive, knowledgeable, and super kind. He truly cares about his customers! I can’t imagine getting the personal treatment from one of the larger more business ran companies. As you don’t know how you will respond to the altitude my daughter and I were very happy we had a private hike. This allowed us to go at our pace and not have to hurry or wait for anyone else. Also, as we had 2 guides, we were able to get 1:1 attention which really helped at certain times throughout the hike. Our guides were Kim (head) and Aloyce (assistant), if you are able to request them, do it!! They are both extremely knowledgeable and exude kindness and confidence. They made us feel safe, protected, and well looked after. Sometimes it would get busy and Kim and Aloyce would work together to ensure we were able to get through safely. Kim would do a vitals check-in every night to make sure we were on track health wise. Checking our oxygen, asking about medication, appetite, overall, wellbeing. Next our team. Wow! How can I express how awesome everyone was. We had our cook, Lucas, we nicknamed him ‘Magic Man’ as he would create these amazing meals that sadly due to altitude, we were not always able to enjoy fully. I didn’t get a pic of the kitchen tent but had glanced in and it was truly amazing he could do what he did in such limited space! We had our waiter Peter, he’d set our table, bring food, water for washing, always completely attentive and doing it with a smile. We had Faustino our bathroom guy. Make sure you have a private toilet! Sometimes it was a struggle just to go the 10 feet to our own bathroom, couldn’t imagine having to use the public ones. We also had Abdallah our ‘summit potter’ who carried the oxygen for us to the summit with our 2 guides. Please note, plan to pay these porters a little more than the regular porters. They do all the same work as the rest but then also work the additional job. Finally, we had 5 additional porters, Phillips, Christopher, Joel, Serafini, & Tasha. I really can’t fully express the awesomeness of our team. They all truly made us feel like queens and so spoiled. There were so many special touches, some days a couple porters would meet us as we neared camp and take our backpacks, the whole team met us part way up during the decent with Fanta & cups to congratulate us on reaching the summit, banging out our dusty clothes and shoes when needed. Our whole team was truly amazing. I really can’t imagine a better team. Request them all if you can! They work so hard. Our Safari driver was Raymond. First, I will add that they drive very differently here than the US where we are from. However, while Raymond’s driving may not be for everyone, we are from California, and we loved it. We felt safe the whole time in the vehicle with him. We went to both the Tarangire National Park & Ngorongoro Crater. They were both amazing and we saw tons of animals. At one point while in Tarangire Raymond heard of a leopard spotting. He headed straight for it. With the way some of the roads where it was literally like riding a real-life Indiana Jones ride (like at Disneyland). We were laughing the whole time. Ironically both my daughter and I get extremely carsick and never once got carsick while in the jeep with him. He worked really hard to ensure we got to see as many animals as possible. If we asked to stop, he’d stop right away and make sure we got that perfect picture. Thank you so much Raymond and Joining Safari’s for such an amazing and...

Wow! We are so glad that we went to Tanzania with Joining Safari. There are many reasons which I review in more detail below but the highlights are that this company is owned and operated by Erick, a Tanzanian, who gives back to the community, has safe, knowledgeable, and kind guides, and the overall communication and attention was amazing.

We went to Tanzania for 2 weeks with Joining Safari. We toured Serengeti, Ngorongoro, and Tarangire with our guide, Emmanuel. Emmanuel was informative, friendly, and a great driver. We got to see a cheetah eating a gazelle, lions mating, a rhino, baby elephants nursing, and many other animals because of his sharp eyes and skill. He seemed genuinely invested in making sure we saw the Big 5 and anything else we were interested in. He even defended us from monkeys who try to steal tourist lunches at Tarangire and very patiently gave us an impromptu tour of a park after I forgot my phone at our hotel. He of course also coordinated the drop off for the phone and was kind about the whole situation.

Our amazing experience continued when we met our team who would take us up Mt. Kilimanjaro. G was an exceptional guide who immediately made us feel confident and safe by assessing our gear, setting expectations, and being easy to communicate with. During our whole trek the porters (Rachel, Paul, Emmanuel, Lizzen, Merhuan, B), cook (Manase), waiter (Sam) assistant guide (Judy), and G were incredible. Please pardon misspellingsJudy did an amazing job setting a pace we were comfortable with and answered our questions about the wildlife and even taught us some Swahili. Thanks for being patient dada Judy!

G, Judy, and B took us up the mountain on summit day and we felt informed, safe, and most of all had fun the whole day. The hot ginger tea at the top was memorable. Thank you for taking such excellent care of us from the beginning to the end. It was a very special trip because of your hard work and support. Everyone was positive, kind, and knowledgeable.

We even had the pleasure of meeting Erick and his family for dinner and learned more about how Erick gives back to the community. He commits a portion of his revenue to supporting local children and other philanthropic causes. I especially appreciated that he has made an effort to hire women in his company.

Overall, I could not recommend Joining Safari more and hope to someday return...

My wife and I got to experience Tanzania as a whirlwind 20th Anniversary trip, and it was amazing. We split up our trip between four days on safari and four days on the beach in Zanzibar. For two Americans, with little knowledge of Tanzania or how to proceed with this vacation, Joining Safari was excellent throughout the whole course of planning, preparation, and trip. We chose Erick’s company for a number of reasons, but primarily how quick, and professional was his communication. He helped us get an experience that fit the days we had and the budget we could afford. Erick kept in close contact with us to make sure our flights arrived as planned, and met us the evening of our arrival to make sure we were all set. When he found out the airline had lost my wife’s suitcase, he took all the information, recovered the bag and had it delivered 300 kilometers from Moshi to the back side of the Serengeti by the following day! I have no doubt Erick would have been available to us the whole trip if we needed – which we never did because our guide, Emmanuel, was absolutely excellent! Emmanuel was the best of what I could have imagined in a guide. Kind, hospitable, full of information, and endlessly in good spirits, he really took what would have been a great trip and made in unforgettable. We visited the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and Tarangire National Park. The lodging Erick had secured for us was beyond comfortable. The lodge in the Serengeti was such a contrast – an isle of luxury set in such wild plains! We saw all the big animals, and even a rare Serval cat! We personally had a few hiccups, but Emmanuel was quick to solve everything. He found us a bookstore to buy kids books in Swahili (my wife is a children’s librarian with patrons that speak the language). Emmanuel also found us a nice place to buy a Tanzanite ring, with papers, outside the normal tourist outlets. I can’t express enough how comfortable and relaxed we felt under Emmanuel’s guide. Tanzania is on the other side of the world for us, but if we can make it again, we will definitely be using Joining Safari again, and definitely spending more than 4...