Elly was fantastic. He’s simply a marvelous human. He helped us with our Swahili, helped us negotiate language and social situations in the town where we had spent our early childhood (Shirati, Rorya District, Mara). He noticed that I was interested in trees and plants, so he made it a point to show us plants and name the trees. He stopped for every bird we wanted to see. He was tireless in helping us find lions and leopards and elephants, etc. He entered our banter and became our friend. Also, he’s an incredible driver.
I should also mention Noel, who drove us around Arusha on our first day. He, too, was a marvelous guide and a great driver.
“A2T is a first-rate safari company who really listens to get a handle on what you want from a safari/trip to Tanzania and works hard to provide a final itinerary within your budget, even if it takes multiple drafts. We appreciate that they are relatively small, and focus just on Tanzania, so they know their product really well. An added plus for us is how ethically they manage their business — they employ their guides all year round and will not use guides from the outside — if a time period fills up and all guides are assigned, then it is full. It was important to us that A2T uses some of its resources to help the Tanzanian people through Project Zawadi. It is even more impressive to understand just how much of a priority this project is to the owners now that we have visited. We can’t imagine travelling with any other company.”