Asante Sana the Great Maningo!
Maningo was easy-going and fun to be around. He was skillful at spotting the wildlife, and extremely patient in waiting for certain behaviors (like lions coming together to mate!). He drove us in the various parks for many hours a day (often 10-11!), and worked to try to find cheetahs in particular, driving in remote regions of Tarangire. He drove quite slowly, searching for wildlife, which took some adjusting to, but when we had a long travel day driving from the Serengeti to Ngorongoro, he pushed the pedal to the metal! He’s a skillful driver on those terrible roads! Amongst all the rattling noises of the Land Rover, he distinguished a particular noise that was new, and took it to a mechanic in Karatu to have it checked. It turned out there was a part that had broken and needed welding. Thank goodness he followed his instinct, or we may have gotten stranded! We are very grateful to Maningo for an incredible experience.
“Access 2 Tanzania was awesome! Visiting Africa and going on Safari was on my bucket list and A2T fulfilled it completely. My husband likes spontaneity but I insist on long term planning so when my husband told me he wanted to go to Tanzania in just over 3 weeks I laughed. Two days later he came to me with a plan that Casey and he put together. I was dumb-founded. It was not a canned tour planned by A2T for a group. It was a private itinerary planned by my husband and Casey to accommodate exactly what WE wanted to do and where WE wanted to go. We left for Tanzania 3 weeks later! Amazing!
We changed plans many times after the initial plan and Casey was very patient and accommodated us with no resistance. Casey always had answers to our questions and gave us recommendations that we would never had thought of. A2T didn’t just give ‘lip service’ they provided what they said they would and told us what they could not. I questioned this because they offer so many wonderful options and I wondered what we would actually get when we arrived. Another thing I was pleased with is that during our planning Casey did not constantly try to ‘up sell’ us.
‘Wilfred’ was our guide and he was wonderful. He is such a nice, good and fun person. We felt so lucky to have him. That said, we spoke to others from A2T and they also felt the same about their guides so it is clear A2T chooses their guides carefully. (We still feel lucky to have Wilfred throughout our safari!)
I wish I could remember the names of all the others that we met and who helped us from A2T. We didn’t run into one bad seed. It’s been 5 months since we returned from Africa and although the names are not clear in my mind the warm, wonderful and exciting feeling of Africa will never fade.
If you have the opportunity to go to Africa go with Access 2 Tanzania! AMAZING!!”