Wonderful guide, amazing safari.

Willy was wonderful. We got along really well. He was always on time, a great spotter, a safe driver, and catered to our wants (i.e. – I loved the big cats and he went out of his way to make sure we had plenty of cat time).

Willy also really cared for our safety. I’m not sure if he relayed this particular story, but on our last day of Safari, we were our in the Western part of the Serengeti, looking for some of the wildebeast herds that were in the area. There were very few trucks in the area that day. He saw a side road that looked like someone had driven into recently – headed towards a river – and thinking that another guide had maybe spotted a lion in the area, he drove in. We come around a corner and see what appears to be a very suspicious scene: a minivan pulled up to the river, and two men wielding machetes, chopping something hidden in the bushes. It 100% looked like something abnormal was occurring. Willy, suspecting it was poachers, got us out of there very quickly and immediately started driving quickly away, fearing that if it was indeed poachers, they may be headed our way to prevent us from contacting the rangers. Willy was clearly very concerned for our safety and got us out of the situation quickly. Once we were in an area that had cell service, he contacted the ranger station to come and deal with it. We did see one other vehicle, and when Willy stopped to explain to the other guide what he had seen and to stay away from that area, the other guide seemed unconcerned and basically said that he was going to drive into that same area anyway. I was surprised at the lack of care shown by the other guide. After that, Willy proceeded to the ranger station where we waited until the situation was deemed to be under control. Turns out that what we saw was all approved – it was some locals doing a goat sacrifice, with approval from the park rangers (but the rangers in the station weren’t aware of it so they ended up driving to the area, about 20 of them fully armed). Willy still acted in a way that showed he was both very concerned about his clients and the protection of the animals in the park.

In short: Willy made the safari! We really enjoyed our time with him, and he took great care of us.