We had an amazing experience, and we attribute the joy, success, and adventure of the trip to our guide (and now friend for life), Joachim. From picking us up at the airport, Joachim was extremely attentive to our needs, telling us “your wish is my command”, and he went above and beyond to deliver on that message. He was consistently checking in to make sure we had everything we needed. He has great communication skills – speaking very clear English, but more importantly, doing an excellent job communicating the agenda, park and animal facts, etc. Joachim would make sure we understood our options and explained the different choices we had throughout our days, but we loved that we ultimately were always in control of our schedule and activities with his sage advice. Joachim is also extremely knowledgeable about all things Tanzania, African culture, the various parks and reserves, and of course, the animals. He is clearly a student of the trade – often referring to what is stated in guidebooks about animals and also imparting his own experience and knowledge. We learned so much about so many different birds and animals! He was also a master navigator of all the…

Joachim was phenomenal!!! As stated previously, we connected with Joachim from our first brief meeting the day before we began our safari. He was a very effective communicator and was sensitive on picking up on our needs. He could tell when we wanted to stay and observe animals, and knew when to ask if we were ready to move on. We felt comfortable sharing our thoughts and asking him questions. When we set out on our safari we didn’t have a particular “check-list” of animals we wanted to see. Joachim was great about making terrific suggestions to us. My daughters boyfriend, Dylan, mentioned wanting to see a cheetah. We knew it would be difficult and on day 5 we had still not spotted one. By the end of the day we had seen 9, including a mother and cubs feeding on an antelope. Joachim always quietly delivered. What I most loved about having Joachim as our guide was his deep knowledge of the animals. One day we watched a group of elephants for hours as he explained their social dynamic and interpreted the sounds they were making. It deepened our safari experience and I came away feeling like I got…