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Brilliant Adventures and Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2017)
- Member Of:
- Tanzania Association of Tour Operators
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $4,336 to $60,882 per person per day (MXN, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Terry | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Professional, thoughtful and will always ensure you have a great experience
From our initial enquiry my wife and I felt extremely comfortable with Brilliant Adventures and Safaris which is why we ended up choosing them over other companies with more reviews online. We must admit this did worry us a little at the beginning but I cam assure you that Brilliant Adventures and Safaris really do live up to their name.
I booked our trip rather last minute but Jane was friendly, helpful, full of suggestions and advice. She was very patient with our many questions and happily answered them all. She even helped us save money on our trip. And it was a really sweet and unexpected touch for her to meet us at the airport on our arrival and again to wish us farewell when we left.
The service continued to be of top quality from our booking onwards; Jane prepared an planning pack with advice on what we would need to bring and do in advance, and continued to be quick with answers with all our questions. Once we arrived this service continued with our guide, Bonnie; a really happy and friendly guy who made us feel instantly relaxed and welcome and before long had us feeling like old friends. From then onwards everything was fantastic. The vehicle we had for our 6 days was clean, comfortable and perfect for long game drives. The accommodation was beyond our expectations, specifically the Into The Wild Serengeti Campsite. It is a truly wonderful place to stay on safari. Bonnie also made sure that each meal and lunch hamper accommodated my wife's vegetarianism, which made everything easy.
But the important part, the animal sights, we experienced so much more than we had dreamed of. And though the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater do seem to have a different animal behind every twist and turn of the roads, a lot of the specific sightings were down to Bonnie. On our initial drive from the airport he asked us what we had come to see, what we really would love to see and went over and above to ensure we had the best chance of seeing it. And in every one of our requested sightings he delivered 10 fold. He is also extremely knowledgeable, flexible and has a great sense of humour, which made it a pleasure to spend 6 days with him and heightened our whole experience. He taught us so much about the nature but also of Tanzanian life and culture in general our sightings felt all the more special and our trip all the more fulfilling.
So as I'm sure is evident at this point I would highly recommend Brilliant Adventures and Safaris, they have a great team and provide an excellent service, and we will most certainly be returning in the future
CZ
Email Vincent & Kristyna | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Brilliant & highly reliant local tour operator that goes above and beyond
We chose Brilliant Safaris thanks to their excellent communications and flexibility in adjusting the program to our schedule and preferences. We enjoyed meeting the staff once we landed in Tanzania. Everyone is very friendly and helpful and the team are very focused on hearing feedback. Additionally, in our experience they regularly went above and beyond to make our stay as enjoyable and comfortable as possible.
Our driver Joshua was just as nice, professional and friendly as the rest of the staff we met. He was an excellent driver (it doesn't go without saying in local road and traffic conditions) and a fun companion on long safari days. He was an excellent guide through the parks (Tarangire, Serengeti, Ngorongoro) we visited, helped us spot so many animals that we would have never otherwise seen. He would always accompany the animal encounters with explanations and stories, which made our experience even more well rounded.
Another reason we'd recommend Brilliant Safaris is that their cars are adjusted to only have 4 seats in them, which allows for extra comfort during the long drives, which made all the difference to us. They are also equipped with a stocked up fridge with cold water and drinks, as well as a basket of local treats for in between meals. This is a very nice touch.
As for accommodation, we opted for the "Mid Range" and were pleasantly surprised by the level of comfort and hospitality in all the camps and hotels we stayed in. We almost cannot imagine what "Luxury" options look like if this was Mid Range, but we appreciate this is subjective. Nonetheless, the camps and lodges inside the parks were so lovely to stay in. All of the local staff go the extra mile for you to feel happy and comfortable, carrying our bags, always having a smile and not afraid to chat. Without a doubt, waking up and hearing the wildlife around us was one of our highlights.
When it comes to food, we never had any issues, the quality was agreeable and quantity was in true Tanzanian style plentiful.
It was amazing to see that Brilliant Safaris were available any time of the day - from a very early airport pick up to a very late departure. They were also extremely flexible in customising our experience and accommodating our needs.
Overall, we'd highly recommend travelling with Brilliant Safaris, they are trustworthy, knowledgeable, friendly and professional.
Brilliant Safaris do exactly as they say , totally brilliant !
We have just returned from the most wonderful safari experience with Brilliant. The attention to detail, care & planning was second to none. Our safari guide Eugene was amazing, ask for him ! He planned everything to make sure we got the maximum enjoyment from our 7 day tour even taking us up to the north Serengeti border to see the wildebeest migration. A once in a lifetime opportunity. Everything was designed to give us the most out of our time there. All accommodation was excellent, in particular our 2 days in the Serengeti at Into the Wild Camp. The food was excellent and all the staff at every camp and lodge were unfailingly kind. The safari vehicles are generous, comfortable and well equipped. As the roof folds back completely you can stand up and get a totally uninterrupted view 360. The cold beers & snacks on board were appreciated, especially by my sons! .
It’s often tricky to judge how to book holidays like this but you will be in very safe hands with Brilliant. Julieth met us at the beginning and end of our safari and even checked in with us 1/2 way through to make sure the company were fulfilling our wishes. Brilliant is locally owned and operated and I think this makes all the difference. They are experts and so knowledgable.Thank you Brilliant, we will be recommending you to everyone !
HK
Email Abby & Cherry | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Extraordinary experience that exceeded all expectations
The journey was meticulously planned by an exceptional team, and the tour guide was simply outstanding. From the very beginning, Lightness was attentive to our preferences and needs, making the planning process a breeze. She took the time to understand our interests and tailored the itinerary accordingly, ensuring that every moment of the safari was truly special.
The star of the trip was undoubtedly our guide, Joshua. His knowledge of the local wildlife and ecosystems was awe-inspiring. With each game drive, he unveiled the wonders of the Tanzanian wilderness, effortlessly identifying various animal species and imparting fascinating insights. His passion for wildlife conservation was evident, and it added a profound dimension to the safari experience.
What impressed us the most about Joshua was his attention to detail and flexibility. He had an uncanny ability to spot animals from a distance, ensuring we didn't miss any remarkable sightings. Moreover, he adapted the itinerary on the fly to accommodate our preferences and maximize our encounters with wildlife.
The safari vehicle they provided was truly impressive, boasting unique features that made our game drive experience unforgettable. Its rear side windows could be folded open with sliding panes and frames, allowing us to feel even closer to nature and enjoy unobstructed side views, perfect for photography.
Throughout the safari, safety was a top priority, and both Brilliant Adventures & Safaris and Joshua ensured we felt secure at all times. Their dedication to our well-being allowed us to immerse ourselves fully in the breathtaking landscapes and wildlife encounters without worry.
From witnessing the Great Migration to observing predators in action, every moment was unforgettable. The accommodations were excellent, providing a comfortable and luxurious retreat after exhilarating days in the wilderness.
The safari arranged by Brilliant Adventures & Safaris and led by Joshua was an extraordinary adventure that left us with cherished memories. The attention to detail, personalized planning, and expertise of the agency combined with Joshua's knowledge and passion made this trip an unforgettable and highly recommended experience. I am grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime journey and will undoubtedly cherish the memories forever. We will definitely go with Brilliant Adventures & Safaris and Joshua again.
RU
Email Anna | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect
Many thanks to the company "Brilliant"! Our trip was incredible, delightful, informative and picturesque.
I wrote to various companies before leaving, but only in "Brilliant" they answered all my questions and wishes in great detail and quickly. We had a 10-day mid luxury beach holiday & safari in Tanzania. All the hotels, national parks, and the route itself were great. On this trip, we were surrounded by home warmth and care. We completely relaxed and didn't worry about anything.
P.S. We had the coolest car on safari - all the windows were lowered!
CH
Email Lana | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Magical experience: very professional from start till end
We booked a 6-day mid-range safari with a private guide. We would recommend this package to everyone as it provides good value for money, while still having an entire car to yourselves, which gives you more flexibility. Our tour guide Joshua was very knowledgeable and made us feel comfortable right away. We visited Tansania in the beginning of the wet season but got really lucky with the weather and had a great experience seeing all the animals. Communications with the office was also really good, they provided us with a lot of information from the start which was also the reason why we chose Brilliant.
Email Dan & Geri | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Brilliant by name, Brilliant by nature.
It was our first time in Africa to see the wildlife and our Brilliant Safari didn’t disappoint. It was everything that we had hoped for and more.
Julieth did a great job organising our Safari changing it suits as we wanted a bit more time on the Serengeti and at Ngorongoro Crater. The Safari accommodation was great especially Into The Wild on the Serengeti with wildlife wandering around and through the camp and Serena at Ngorongoro overlooking the crater.
We saw elephants, dic dic, buffalo, giraffes, zebras, impalas and more all from our accommodation at Into The Wild.
A special mention to Boni our Safari guide who made the trip unforgettable! His knowledge of the area and the animals was invaluable.
Boni knows most of the other Safari guides and keeps in contact with them on the two way radio about the location of other wildlife so if there is a leopard or cheetah around or some action happening then Boni will know.
Most people are lucky to see one leopard on a Safari but we saw three in one day.
Our catch phase for the Safari was, “In Boni We Trust” because he will find the best that there is to see.
CA
Email Shahhin | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good but many hiccups
Overall we had a great safari and were able to see all of the big 5. We went on a safari at the beginning of November 2025 for our honeymoon. We began the planning process over a year before, and communication during the planning process was smooth and easy. We booked a luxury safari as we wanted to splurge for our honeymoon. Our trip was confirmed by October 2024, one year before our arrival. We planned to stay in Arusha one night then go to Tarangire, Ngorongoro, Serengeti and then Zanzibar. We did a private tour.
However there were a few hiccups during our safari that made us feel that Brilliant did not live up to the expectations we had or would expect to receive from a tour provider.
We understand that there were political events that happened on October 29, 2025 during the election process in Tanzania. The internet was shut down by the government and we had not heard from Brilliant prior to our expected arrival on November 3. We understand that this was out of Brilliant's control and so we made the long distance phone calls to contact the company to ask whether continuing our safari would be safe for both our safari guide and ourselves. We did hear other tour providers did call their guests to inform then of the situation unlike Brilliant. However this was a very unfortunate and unforseen incident so we could understand that perhaps our information was not available to Brilliant to reach us. So we did not hold it against Brilliant that all communication the couple days before the safari was on us to call. I would say it would have been appreciated that maybe a week before arrival that it would have been nice for Brilliant to contact us and provide us information prior to the safari and that would have been prior to the October 29 election incident.
Now during the safari. We had several different incidents that made us feel that perhaps Brilliant was not as experienced of a tour provider or one that does luxury safaris. We were greeted by our safari guide in Arusha and had a telephone call with Julieth to go over our planned itinerary. Our driver did not have our plane tickets for our flight from the Serengeti to Zanzibar, which they said we would have to stop in the office to get a copy of but then once we got into the car, our driver said it wouldn't be an issue and we could get the tickets later.
On arrival at Tarangire park, you have to complete registration with the park to enter. At this point internet had just been restored to Tanzania after the election incident so we were prepared that there may be some delays with checking in. However, we were left to wait 2 and a half hours before getting in. It was very disappointing to see literally every other tour group, even groups that arrived after us, be let in and not us. We were not informed what was happening but that there was some issue with the registration. We felt that Brilliant dropped the ball with our park fees or registration given that literally every single vehicle got into the park except us. If this was an internet issue then all tour groups would be delayed and it would not have been just us left to wait over 2 hours before getting in.
The next issue arose on our second day in Tarangire. We booked a night game drive and around 430pm, Julieth text my husband advising that the night game drive (scheduled for 7pm) had been cancelled as the tour operator for the night game drive had been affected by the election incident and did not have any petrol. Julieth advised we would receive a refund. We were disappointed but understood the situation. Then when we were eating our dinner, at our camp Lemala Mpingo Ridge, the Lemala staff asked us why we cancelled our night game drive when it was paid for. We told them we didn't cancel and showed them the WhatsApp message from Julieth. Then the Lemala manager came to discuss this with us. He said that the night game drive had been arranged with Lemala and that the vehicle had been prepared and there was no petrol shortage and they did not know why we were cancelling. They told us we could make the night game drive since we already paid but had to go now as it was leaving. So we rushed to finish dinner and rushed to go on the night game drive. Nobody from Brilliant called us or messaged us to clarify why they told us it was cancelled supposedly because the tour operator had no petrol, when Lemala the operator of the night game drive said the exact opposite and said they never cancelled it. This lead us to believe that Brilliant didn't know who they booked the night game drive with and no communication was made to us, and we almost missed this except for the lovely staff at Lemala catching Brilliant's error. Had it not been for the Lemala staff we would have missed the game drive because Brilliant tpld us it was cancelled. We were disappointed that nobody contacted us after to clarify what happened.
Then in the Serengeti when we checked into the Lemala Nanyukie, we were advised that there was an outstanding balance that needed to be sorted before checking in. We advised we paid in full to Brilliant and to please sort it with them. The Lemala staff said they would let us go to our room and would call Brilliant. Once in the room, the Lemala manager called me in the room to advise that I needed to contact Brilliant as they were saying we had a balance. Luckily Julieth answered my call and she said that she would sort this out. I asked for her to call me after this was sorted to update me. We then went for dinner and after 2 hours still had no update. So we went to talk to the Lemala manager who said his head office was sorting it with Brilliant. Again I would have appreciated if Brilliant contacted me to advise an update instead of me waiting a few hours and getting the update myself. I sent Julieth a message advising her I talked to the Lemala manager and that he said they were sorting it. After that I never received any explanation as to why there was an issue with the booking, but it was not pleasant being told I owed a few thousand dollars upon check in and not even getting a call from Brilliant to explain the situation.
Then upon check out from the Serengeti, we had our flight from the Serengeti to Zanzibar at 11:30am. The day before we discussed with our driver that our flight was 11:30am (last time for check in is 40 minutes before the flight time) and discussed that we would check out at 9am to arrive at the Serengeti airport for 10am. That morning our driver did not show up until 930am saying there were car problems. However he never called or messaged us, we just waited not knowing why he was late. However during the drive I started to get worried as our driver kept stopping and was driving very slowly and I said its almost 1030am and we need to be at the airport by 1050am to make our check in. Our driver was shocked and said I thought your flight was at noon and I said no. He then had to drive like a maniac to get us there in time. I don't understand why our driver would not verify our flight time (when he sent us a copy of the flights) and why I had to clarify this with him when it was planned the day before but this was very stressful especially not knowing the airport rules or how strict they are. We barely made it to the Airstrip to make our flight.
Then in Zanzibar, when we were dropped off by our transfer driver at the resort, he was confirming our pick up time to go to the airport when we leave and said I will get you November 12. We said no, we are not checking out until November 13. He showed us the email from Brilliant telling him to pick us up on November 12. We were confused again why it would say November 12, when they booked our stay and our check out was November 13. This was again another mistake in the process and made us feel that although our trip was planned a year before that somehow Brilliant did not fully plan our trip before arrival.
I left a comment card with Brilliant before we left the Serengeti and advised of some of the communication complaints and the manager for Brilliant emailed me but again nothing was explained. The Tarangire delay was blamed on the internet, when clearly that was not the issue. They said the night game drive proceeded as scheduled, and that there was a petrol issue that caused the confusion but again that is not what we were told by Lemala. Then for the Lamala Nanyukie issue they said that it was a short delay in check in with the payment but that it got sorted. But what we were looking for was some accountability and the truth. We felt we were not told what actually happened by Brilliant and that the excuses they were giving were not truthful.
I did not want to leave a bad review for our driver as he was a lovely individual however we did have a few issues as well. In Ngorongoro he did not know where our camp was and we drove to the wrong camp for him to ask directions. I would expect a driver to confirm camp locations beforehand. Also in the Serengeti there was an issue with gas. Our second to last day we finished our game drive at 2pm and planned our last day to do a game drive from 7am to 12 and then again from 4 to 6pm. When we were picked up at 4pm on our last day in the Serengeti we were told by our driver we needed gas, so he spent 1 hour driving to the gas station to get gas and then the last hour driving back to the camp. I am not sure why our last game drive was just to drive and get gas. A good driver would have gotten gas the day before, when we ended at 2pm or gotten gas during the break from 12 pm to 4pm, it was very disappointing to have our last game drive not even be a game drive but just a drive to get gas.
Although we did ultimately enjoy our time, I do not believe that Brilliant provided a flawless tour. I am not sure if I could recommend them given the number of issues we experienced.
Email Laura Schulz | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
With all the tour companies to choose from, I took a chance and, boy did it pay off!
I chose the mid-luxury option for our 6 day safari, our expert was Lightness and our guide was Boni.
Lightness was super helpful throughout my communication with her. Giving me honest feedback as to what was worth exploring and helping to map out our itinerary and budget! Our flight was looong, Lightness helped me decide to take the time to rest an extra day before our 6 day safari started. We stayed 2 nights at the Gran Melia before we began (excellent accommodation). In fact, every one of our accommodations was clean and welcoming with the friendliest people! We loved staying at Acacia Lodge, Dancing Duma and Mara River Camp!
Our guide, Bony, was the best! With 16 years experience- he knew where to go, when to begin each day and had full knowledge of each place we went. Bony took pride in his jeep - it was clean and comfortable. The experience itself was amazing. Bony knew what we were interested in seeing, and spent time teaching us and answering all our questions as well as giving us all the time we needed to take pics. He checked in with us throughout the safari. We saw the Big Five and witnessed the river migration! We felt so lucky, but know it was because of Bony's expertise! I highly recommend Bony- he was personable, knowledgeable and we had lots of laughs! He will be a friend for life! He was friendly, and kind, and helpful to other drivers. At one point, while driving through a village, a young man on his bike swerved and lost some of the fruit he was carrying- Bony did not hesitate to jump out of the jeep to help him gather what he spilled. We witnesssed his kindness over and over! After evaluating several safari companies, i chose Brilliant because of the value and Lightness' responsiveness and helpfulness. I am so glad, I chose Brilliant and I highly recommend this company. At every turn, we felt our comfort and happiness was prioritized.
Email Abdul | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent service
What an unforgettable Experience, can’t think of anything negative to say. The Safari comes down to the experience of your driver, and I am glad we had bony as our driver. You can tell he had years of experience on him and really knew how to show us everything an African Safari has to offer. Brilliant safari were very easy to communicate with and made the whole booking process easy.