Aug 29, 2024
Phenomenal experience with Victor with Pangolin Safaris - I cannot emphasize this enough: Your Safari Guide Matters.
They will really make or break your Safari experience since they are not only shuttling you around from place to place, but also spotting animals for you to see and keeping you safe throughout your entire trip. If they do not have the experience or knowledge, your trip will suffer.
We just came back from our Safari trip with Victor from Pangolin Safaris and it was so clear how much more experience Victor had in comparison to the other drivers from other Safari companies we encountered. The major callouts I want to highlight are:
1. Network of Guides
Victor has 20+ years of experience as a Safari Guide and with his experience comes an entire network of Guides he's formed a relationships with over the years. You can tell that he's a popular guy and many of the other guides from other companies are good friends with him. This network comes in handy when you're trying to find the animals. Victor will often radio, call, or text his close comrades and they'll let each other know what they've seen. With the help of his network, we were able to get up close and personal with so many animals 10-15 minutes before the crowd of cars got the message and showed up.
2. Catered Experience
Every evening when we would be dropped off at our Lodge, Victor would ask us what we wanted to see the following day. Based off of that, he would recommend a time for us to get started. And when we went, without fail, he would deliver on what we wanted. Call it luck or skill but the man is literally a magician. On our last day (since we had quite literally seen everything already -- including the big 5 multiple times), we asked Victor to show us hyenas and vultures feeding. He took us to this remote area where no other Safari cars were seen and sure enough we were able to see multiple sightings of animals feeding -- including over 100 vultures feeding on a dead elephant and a Hyena carrying a fresh zebra leg back to it's den of cubs. It got so ridiculous how much Victor was able to deliver that we started to joke around that we wanted to see Santa Claus and Unicorns.
3. Safety
The roads from location to location are 90% unpaved. the condition of your vehicle and the skill of your driver matters. Upon inspection of our car and the many cars around us, we noticed Victor had some of the best & newest tires, new shocks, and all around a sturdier looking vehicle. Oftentimes we would see a car zoom by us on a bumpy road, only to see them broken down and changing a tire 20 minutes later. On another occasion, Victor noticed another driver from a different tour company had a huge bubble in his tire. He told the drive he should pull over and change but the driver refused and asked him not to say anything to his clients. Can you imagine your driver deliberately putting you in danger? This made us realize how lucky we were to have Victor from Pangolin Safaris. He kept us safe and allowed us to maximize our time.
Overall, this experience could not have been what it was without Victor from Pangolin Safaris. I'm convinced that he's the #1 Safari Guide in all of Tanzania. His experience in the industry was clearly unmatched as it was noticable that he was a Leader amongst all other guides from all other companies. Thank you so much Pangolin Safaris for making the booking process so effortless and thank you Victor for a truly unforgettable experience!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mar 7, 2023
The best experience ever. - NOT TO BE MISSED. Wow this really is the trip of a lifetime. My friend and I got back from Tanzania early February and we would recommend this to anyone if you like the outdoors and wild animals. Honestly this is not to be missed. Of course we saw the big 5, because of the fantastic pangolin guides. Our guide Mansoor was tremendous; punctual, receptive, organised, knowledgeable, patient, enthusiastic and extremely thoughtful. This was my second trip to Tanzania having last done the southern circuit with Mansoor and Pangolin safaris previously. Thank you SO much to Pangolin safaris and most of all Mansoor. Our trip was perfect.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jan 17, 2023
African Pangolin safari - Amazing experience. Great reception from the guide! I highly recommend them for any future safari to the beautiful land of Tanzania and Zanzibar 😍
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jan 4, 2022
Amazing experience in Tanzania! - This was the trip of a lifetime and thanks to my wonderful guide, I saw and experienced amazing things!
It is difficult to put in words the majesty of Tanzania, but Mansoor and Pangolin Safaris made an absolutely amazing journey and experience.
I highly recommend it and him!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 30, 2021
Thank you African Pangolin Safaris ! - We had a wonderful journey in July of 2021 with Mansoor our fantastic guide. We saw all we were dreaming of, mostly the felines we love !!! Fantastic landscapes and car drive with Mansoor who is always listening to us, to what we would like to see or to do. We absolutely recommend Mansoor and African Pangolin Safaris !
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mar 26, 2019
Amazing Experience - It was a wonderfull experience at the beginning of January. The safari was wonderful and we enjoyed a lot the entire experience. Our guide, Mansoor, is "Super", he is professional and kind, he always pays attention to our needs, thanks to his experience we have seen the big 5.
I highly recommend this tour with Mansoor and African Pangolin Safaris
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Feb 28, 2019
Wonderful experience - We had this tour in December and it was really amazing: the safari was wonderful and we enjoyed a lot the entire experience. The tour guide, Mansoor, was very nice, professional and kind: he satisfied all our requests and, thanks to him, we were able to see all the big 5 and a lot of other animals! :) I highly recommend this tour with Mansoor and African Pangolin Safaris
Review provided by Tripadvisor