We recently returned home from our safari, having planned for over a year with Casey as our consultant & advisor. He made recommendations, but was always open to our input and requests about possible changes. As icing on the cake, Willy Philemon was our assigned guide and we can’t imagine having this trip of a lifetime with anybody else in the driver’s seat!
We began the adventure in Arusha. The initial plan was to go to Mt Kilimanjaro & view the Materuni Waterfalls. Willy took the initiative to touch base with Casey about altering the itinerary because the weather was unfavorable in that area & instead we went to Arusha National Park for our first game drive!
Willy made this trip of a lifetime even more phenomenal than we could have imagined. His extensive knowledge of nature helped us to better appreciate the environment & wildlife we encountered. From animals to birds to plants and even insects we learned so much! I won’t list the many animals that we saw, but one day we were lucky enough to see a leopard in a tree. With Willy’s patience, we waited quite a while, because as he predicted at sunset the leopard would move (& it did) so we were able to get the ‘money shot’! One day, he pulled over after spotting a dung beetle rolling a ball of dung!
We can’t go on without mentioning his amazing (& safe) driving ability, in the crazy traffic in Arusha to the rutted muddy roads in the Serengeti. Willy’s ability to locate the animals & then position us in the best locations for viewing & photos was more than appreciated. His consideration for our safety, as well as that of the wildlife was commendable.
With four of us traveling together, Willy always made sure that we took everyone’s needs & desires into account!
Thank you to Access2Tanzania, Casey & Willy!
“We absolutely loved our experiences with Access 2 Tanzania. We booked our trip to Tanzania only a month before departure and were very happy to find out that November was the low season and that the lodging was still available. Karen was very responsive in getting the dates and bookings to us for review and took the time to talk to us over the phone a couple of times to ensure that we understood the details of our trip. The other highlight of our trip was the guides at Access 2 Tanzania. All of the guides that we had were great. However, our primary guide, Raymond, was the best guide that we have ever had on a trip anywhere and we have traveled a lot around the world. We felt incredibly safe while we were with Raymond. He was also very knowledgeable about Tanzania and the wildlife. He knew exactly where to take us to see the most wildlife and had an incredible eye for spotting the wildlife. He was able to spot wildlife that we could not see with binoculars using his own eyes.”