We had an amazing experience, and we attribute the joy, success, and adventure of the trip to our guide (and now friend for life), Joachim.
From picking us up at the airport, Joachim was extremely attentive to our needs, telling us “your wish is my command”, and he went above and beyond to deliver on that message. He was consistently checking in to make sure we had everything we needed. He has great communication skills – speaking very clear English, but more importantly, doing an excellent job communicating the agenda, park and animal facts, etc. Joachim would make sure we understood our options and explained the different choices we had throughout our days, but we loved that we ultimately were always in control of our schedule and activities with his sage advice.
Joachim is also extremely knowledgeable about all things Tanzania, African culture, the various parks and reserves, and of course, the animals. He is clearly a student of the trade – often referring to what is stated in guidebooks about animals and also imparting his own experience and knowledge. We learned so much about so many different birds and animals! He was also a master navigator of all the areas/parks we visited. We were often stopped by other drivers to help with directions (to which he always offered help) and always knew we were in good hands when a new exciting sighting came over the radio that he would be able to navigate to it quickly and safely.
We found the big 5 in just two days, and then from there, Joachim helped us tick all our other wishes off – Cheetahs? Check – we saw 6. A huge group of elephants? Check – we saw over 20 cross a river together. An epic river crossing for the great migration? CHECK. We saw a “National Geographic worthy” crossing. He spotted a lioness in a tree from over 50 yards away and the same day also found a sneaky lion on a quick view of his tail! He also was very attentive to making sure we got the best camera angles possible for our photos and suggesting shots for us to take.
Overall, we had the trip of a lifetime and we can’t thank Joachim enough for his part in that. He made us feel safe and cared for.
“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.”