When we landed in Tanzania our guide Danny was waiting for us outside baggage claim at the airport. He would be our guide for 9 days, from our airport arrival to our airport departure, all day, every day, and he was GREAT! We saw all the ‘big’ animals we wanted to see and many more.
We got to see ALL the ‘big’ animals with Danny, many of them quite close. He worked well with the other Access guides so if they saw something they could call Danny in, and vise versa. Such good memories of the animals we saw. From the initial elephants and giraffes we saw on our walking tour, to the baby elephant trumpeting, to the cheetahs and leopards, to the 30-lion strong pride we saw on our final driving day. And it wasn’t just the big animals Danny knew about. He could tell you what bird you were looking at, tell you about the trees and flowers, etc. We didn’t talk much about bugs, but I’m sure he knows all about those too. 🙂
On our last day we were going to look for more big cats and weren’t having a ton of luck. One of our daughters said she really wanted to see a couple more elephants and giraffes before we left so Danny pivoted. We started making our way toward more elephant/giraffe territory, and in the meantime we came across 30+ lions sunning themselves on rocks and in the grass. They had cubs too that our girls though were so cute. So awesome, plus it wasn’t long before we saw elephants and giraffe too.
We can’t say enough good things about Danny. He helped make our trip truly something we’ll remember forever.
“What an amazing family experience. From the moment Willy picked us up at the airport to the moment he dropped us off we felt right at home. It’s hard to put into words the experience because it was truly life changing. You’d expect that we would say seeing lions (and boy did Willy the lion whisperer know how to find lions!) was the highlight. Don’t get me wrong that was wild! But our connection with Willy and doing things like visiting an orphanage and going to his house for a typical African dinner were outstanding. To have a little glimmer of how people in another country and culture live is to forage a lasting connection. We cried when we had to part with Willy because he had become family to us”