Joachim was a fantastic guide. This was my third safari (first was in Uganda in 2013, second in Kenya 2015, with other companies). My prior two safaris had fine guides, we saw all the animals we wanted to see, but it was more a punch the clock attitude, not much chatting, and no “extra” info. Joachim, in contrast, was very friendly, always present with us — answering questions, adding information about animals we were seeing or the parks and their history, and also giving us quiet time when we were tired. He never took personal calls in front of us or otherwise seemed distracted.
Joachim was also very knowledgeable about the parks, animals, and Tanzanian history. We enjoyed learning from him. He was attentive to when we wanted to spend more time observing animals and when we were ready to move on. He was also a very safe and good driver!
Most of all, Joachim was friendly, genuine, and really looked out for us. For instance, when we flew out of Manyara, Joachim waited at the airport until our flight departed.
“Excellent. From the beginning, Karen helped us design a custom trip that fit our interests. For example, my partner is very interested in birds. We got birds. We were interested in avoiding crowds. We did, as much as possible. And the choice of Mkomazi was ideal. There were remarkably few glitches along the way, and Joachim addressed each of them with calm professionalism. The trip was as close to perfect as we could have imagined. From Karen’s initial consultations to Joachim’s expert guiding, we could not have asked for more.”