our safari group in ngorongoro crater
Dancing Simba Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2017)
- Member Of:
- TTB, TANAPA & NCAA
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $2,602 to $20,814 per person per day (MXN, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
Email Tyler | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Choose another company
The Good: The safaris were incredible. Ngorongoro in particular was amazing. Lots of wildlife. We were worried about traveling during the “off” wet season, but it was amazing. Best safari so far in all of Africa. Keep in mind, the safari host is subcontracted.
The Bad: Communication before and during the tour was abysmal. We had no idea what was going on at any time and David did a poor job of confirming plans. We had to have backup plans upon arrival at the airport because we weren’t even sure if we were going to be picked up due to a lack of communication and confirmation.
The Ugly: Fig Tree Lodge, the Eco Lodge with which Dancing Simba contracts several stays, is pretty terrible. Mama Pia is a delight, but the rest of the staff are rude and it feels like a scam. A dirty one at that. Several of the tours felt the same way, including the coffee tour near Materuni Falls, Mto Wa Mbu, and the Maasai people nearby.
All in all, we made the best of it, but Dancing Simba was absolutely not the catalyst that made this trip amazing. We’ve traveled over 75 countries and have done many safaris and weeklong tours with guides. Highly encourage you to do your homework and book this type of trip with someone else, especially at this cost.
Reply from Dancing Simba Safaris
Posted on Jun 1, 2023Dear Tyler,
Thank you for sharing your feedback about your recent safari experience with us. We appreciate both the positive aspects you mentioned and the areas where we fell short of your expectations. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or disappointment caused during your trip.
We are thrilled to hear that you found the safaris to be incredible, with Ngorongoro standing out as an amazing destination with abundant wildlife. It's wonderful to know that despite the concerns about the off-wet season, you had a memorable experience. We take pride in delivering exceptional safari experiences, and your positive comments encourage us to continue providing outstanding adventures.
However, we understand that our communication before and during the tour did not meet your expectations. We apologize for the abysmal communication and lack of confirmation regarding your plans. This is not the level of service we strive to deliver, and we take your feedback seriously. We will review our processes and work on improving our communication channels to ensure that our clients are well-informed and have peace of mind throughout their journey.
Regarding the subcontracted safari host, we acknowledge that there were shortcomings in coordinating and confirming plans, and we apologize for any inconvenience caused. We will address this issue with the subcontracted host to ensure better communication and seamless arrangements for our clients.
We are disappointed to hear about your negative experiences at Fig Tree Lodge and some of the other tours you mentioned. We deeply regret that you encountered rudeness and felt the quality of service did not meet your expectations. We will promptly address this matter with the lodge and the tour providers involved to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in the future. We appreciate your valuable feedback, as it helps us hold our partners to the highest standards of customer satisfaction.
At Dancing Simba, we strive to be the catalyst that makes our clients' trips amazing, and we regret that we fell short of that goal in your case. We understand your recommendation to do thorough research and consider other options when booking a similar trip, especially considering the cost involved. Your feedback will be taken into account as we continuously work towards improving our services and delivering exceptional experiences to our clients.
Once again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or disappointment you experienced during your safari. We appreciate your honest feedback, and we are committed to learning from this experience and making the necessary improvements to provide a better customer experience in the future.
If there is anything else you would like to share or discuss, please do not hesitate to reach out to us directly. We value your business and hope to have the opportunity to serve you better in the future.
Best regards,
Dancing Simba Safaris
Email William | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic guide, disappointing organisation
We had a wonderful 7-day safari from Arusha, through Tarangire, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Manyara. It was intense and unforgettable, with too many amazing events and sightings to even begin to list here.
Apart from the magnificent animals and beautiful landscape, the best thing by far about the trip was Hamza, our guide. It would be difficult to imagine a better one: knowledgeable and informative, patient and helpful. He seems to know every inch of the parks, and worked hard to find us every animal we hoped to see, including crocodiles, tree-climbing lions and leopards. Moreover, he is a skilled driver, giving us the gentlest of “African massages” but able to cover long distances over dusty roads without ever making us feel unsafe. Being a guide is a tough job demanding a wide range of skills, and we had an intense schedule. Hamza made it all work beautifully, and always with a cheerful laugh or a little joke. If we return to Tanzania, we will certainly look for him again. Hamza deserves 5 stars.
Unfortunately, our experience with Dancing Simba, the booking company, was far less impressive. Poor communication and disorganised, seat-of-the-pants arrangements led to several problems – including a last-minute lodge change that added hours of driving, and a mishandled hotel booking in Stone Town – that effectively spoiled two full days of a relatively short trip. Along the way, we couldn’t help feeling that some decisions, such as the lodge change, may have reflected Dancing Lions’ own interests more than ours. Taken together with various signs of cost-cutting and disorganisation, this really let down an otherwise extraordinary trip.
In short: Hamza deserves 5 stars — but Dancing Simba only 2. Hence the 3-star rating overall.
Asante sana, Hamza!
IT
Email Anna Bianchini | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Beautiful experience
Communication with the tour operator was excellent, they responded immediately to every request both on WhatsApp and by email. We went on a 6-day low-budget safari, the places we stayed were all beautiful and well-kept, and the food was also much appreciated. Our guide, Hamza, was very kind and friendly, he also speaks a little bit Italian, he tried to show us all the animals we wanted even if unfortunately we were unable to find the leopard. The only negative note to report is that there was not much clarity on the times, in our program it was written for both Tarangire and Ngorongoro that we would leave the park in the late afternoon, instead, due to other people who were added to us on safaris in progress who had evening flights, we left at 4pm and 2.30pm losing several hours of safari. Overall the experience was great and we recommended Dancing Simba Safaris!
BE
Email Marie & Robbe | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very nice!
The communication with the operator went very well. They came to our hotel the night before to provide us with some more information about our hike on Mount Meru.
They went through a list with everything we needed and it seemed we weren't prepared as good as we thought. Maybe a little tip for the operator: sent a list upfront with everything you need for the hike.
It wasn't a problem for them to stop at the rental/supermarket to provide us with some more stuff.
Kadjia (think it's written like this) was a very nice guide and talked us through everything. Once on the mountain he helped us a lot (like carrying my water bottle because according to him, it was too heavy for me). Normally, you're supposed to hike to Saddle hut on day 2, do an acclimatisation to Little Meru, come down and wake up the next day at around 1pm to start the hike to the summit. As it would be raining the day after, they suggested us to do the hike to the summit the same day and watch the sunset, which was good for us as it was sunny. My boyfriend and I were very sick from the acclimatisation so Kadjia carried my backpack for me to the summit. The paths were very rough but they always made sure I could follow and felt safe.
The sunset was beautiful and I was so happy that we still did it the same day!!
The day after, we had to descend and I felt a bit rushed but that was not from dancing simba safaries, but someone from another operator. Our guide always said "pole pole" as I twisted my ankle a couple of times.
Would definitely recommend
DK
Email Lasse | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good value for money
Communication with the management has been great throughout the entire process. Communication between the guide and management seemed a bit iffy sometimes. We had to make the guide aware of exactly where we were staying overnight, but this is not a major issue; everything went smoothly in the end.
The safari guide was nice and very knowledgeable about the animals and nature in general, though we felt like general communication about the plan of the day and tomorrow could have been clearer. We were very happy with his driving skills and positive mindset.
We booked a budget tour and got exactly that. The lodges were pretty clean, but many were lacking basic amenities like shampoo, hand soap, and towels. We were not made aware of this by the tour company before the trip. This would have been nice, so that we could have prepared for it.
Lucy from the management deserves extra credit for securing us an upgrade on the night, when camping was scheduled. We greatly appreciate her going the extra mile for us and making our overall safari experience extra good!
In general, we were very happy with Dancing Simba Safaris, and we would not hesitate to book a safari with them again.
If you book a budget tour here, just remember to take things as they come and pack shampoo, hand soap, a towel, and warm clothes (extra warm clothes - like thermal underwear - if you do camping). You will have an amazing safari experience with memories for life.
IE
Email Grainne | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A good first safari experience
Efficient and responsive communication throughout. We chose a budget tour to see Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorogoro. The tour was a bit rushed towards the end and we didn't have much time to pause to take in the animals, but it was still an enjoyable experience for our first safari. I would recommend upgrading to better accommodations as they were often very basic without fans or air-conditioning and no toiletries, so you have to carry your own. We added on the hot air balloon in the Serengeti and it was an unmissable experience - a true highlight of the trip! We also really loved the cultural tour of Mto Wa Mbo and Maasai tribe at the end of our trip with our guide Baraka. It was a true insight into life in Tanzania.
SK
Email Lucia | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nice experience
Driver Ruben was so nice and well educated we had lot of fun in the car. He was professional even though we had some problems on the road - he always fixed everything. Also our cook Joseph was so professional and always cooked for us delicious meals. I recommended this company
Email Travis | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Ali is the best guide anyone could’ve asked for. I rarely give 4 or 5 stars, but Ali gets all 5!
When booking please pick Dancing Simba! My wife and I flew from the states and did a 3 day tour with Dancing Simba. Ali is the most friendly guide you’ll meet. He’s very funny, and personable. If I lived closer, I probably would have a new best friend in Ali. He is a great dude! He’s veteran guide who knows the entire park like the back of his hand, he knows the history of the park, and we got to see some really rare wildlife because he seems to know their behaviors and habits. Ali has been a guide for many years and knows it well. You may be asking yourself why didn’t I give it 5 stars. It had nothing to do with David or Ali. They each earned 5 stars. The campsite was 3-4 stars. We didn’t have hot water the 2nd day, they said they’ll do our laundry for us. They didn’t mention we had to pay extra until we were checking out. 15 usd for 8 articles of clothing. 😑 Also the tents are very close to each other. It’s great to hear lions and hyenas making noises in the evening, but it wasn’t so great hearing all the other couples in the campsite making love. 🙄 We paid for the luxury tour and the luxury tent was right beside the dinner and breakfast hall which means we were the last ones asleep at night and the 1st ones awake. Bring ear plugs or a sound machine. The food at the campsite was some of the best food I have eaten! The chefs were on point, and made a delicious meal! The inside of the tents were comfortable and very clean! I would choose Dancing Simba every time! They are the best.
IE
Email Joe and Lauren Joyce | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic
We had a lovely experience with Lungie thank you, he put in every effort to make sure we had the best angles to view the animals and get photos. He picked us up at the correct times and made effort to make sure we was prepared for the dust.
A very lovely man that gave us a wonderful experience who was very educated about the animals and the area, we learnt a lot from him. The camp was also very beautiful and clean.
Amazing value for money. But maybe need a new car soon
Make sure you read the full quote as sometimes the return flight isn’t included.
Many thanks
Joe & Lauren
JP
Email Sachi | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very caring
All was satisfactory except for the first night hotel that does not have hot shower (it was a cold night so removing one star).
Each travel guide was very caring, and the operation was coordinated professionally. I had great experience.