Simply Perfect!

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Dear Karen,

Happy New Year 2012!

We apologize for the delay in sharing with you our experience with And Beyond and would like to take five minutes of your time to distract you from work to describe our travelling experience to Tanzania and Kenya from August 20 to September 4, 2011 with And Beyond!

As a reminder, this trip was special to us since we were celebrating our fifteenth anniversary together and our goal was to see the Great Migration.

1.        The Booking Experience

Booking through you was easy and enriching.  You were patient enough to advise us many times about the various itineraries possible in order to capture most of the Great Migration, knowing that there was no guarantee about our viewing of this wonderful wildlife event.

In addition, your advice regarding hotel selection was excellent since you rapidly understood the type of accommodations we were looking for for this trip.

Finally, I must congratulate you on your rapidity in returning e-mail messages, and even phone messages, to answer the various questions we had through the booking process.

2.        The Itinerary

Simply perfect for what we intended to do.

A. Mnemba Island

Unlike many people going on a safari trip, we began our journey by spending three nights on Mnemba Island.  What a beautiful experience!  I recall the discussions we had regarding the price to stay on this magnificient island and, in the end, it was well worth it! I would rate this experience 15 out of 10: service, lodging, quietness, food quality, staff, diving, sand, water… everything was “beyond” expectations!

B. Ngorongoro Crater Lodge

Beautiful setting on top of the crater!  The lodging was fantastic and the food excellent.  The staff was kind as well. The game drives were “ok” but not stunning since we were used in South Africa to see the animal closer to the Land Rover.  We understood, however, that it could not be done in the crater given that it is a public reserve as opposed to a private concession. I would recommend the place to anyone, but not as a place to first do a safari given the distance of the animals from the Land Rover.

C. Serengetti under Canvas

This was it, our hope to see the Great Migration… and we saw it… more than once: WOW! After 4 days waiting, driving along the river and hoping to see a crossing… it finally happened!  Our ranger, Mohammed, was excellent, very knowledgeable, and happy to share his experience with us.

The scenery in the Serengetti is spectacular: rocks, trees, tall and short grass.  Everything is there, including the cheetahs!

Staying in tents in the middle of the bush was definitely an experience “an all inclusive experience” with the animals roaring and grunting around us! We were amazed at how good the food was given the lack of a real kitchen.

My only complaint would go to the camp manager who had us share a vehicle with a person who refused to use the bush as the toilet. We had told the manager that this was a concern to us. This resulted in us having to leave our positions many times to seek a camp with toilet for this single person.  Everyone in the vehicle was using the bush, except this person.  Needless to say that when you have been waiting for hours to see a crossing and then you think they will go but you have to leave, this makes you an “unhappy camper”.

Again, in the end, it worked out fine because we ended up seeing more than one crossing… but we could have missed some!

My recommendation: please make sure that people who sign up for a safari to see the Great Migration are able to (i) stay a full day in a vehicle and (ii) use the bush as the toilet.

D. Masai Mara Tented Camp

You already heard what we thought about this place BUT I must say that we were glad, very glad indeed, by the arrangements you were able to make for us to eat at Bateleur’s Camp and sleep over there for the last night as it was available. This lodge is simply superb, the food and the service are excellent and more in line with what we were expecting.

As far as Jocelyn and I are concerned, the Masai Mara is really the place to go for a safari, including a first time safari, since everything seemed to be there: the big fives, the dens where the animals rest and herds of animals of all kind! Also, the scenery of the Masai Mara itself is beautiful.This is a great park for photography!  We should mention our ranger, Timothy, in the Masai Mara. His performance as a ranger/guide/story teller was 5 stars.  Always willing to share a story and provide explanations, he was also trying to show us animal behavior, not just the animals per se. For instance, we stayed about 30 minutes in one area where a lioness was courting a lion while other vehicles were staying 5-10 minutes to see the animals, take pictures and move on.  Timothy’s love of the jungle really made a difference in our game drives in the Masai Mara.

Getting back to Bateleur’s Camp,  we would qualify this place as a peaceful oasis in the middle of the jungle!  What a nice way to rest and enjoy what we thought were the best game drives we made so far. Also, we dare to say that Malika (the manager of Bateler) made this place very special for us. Smiling, laughing, making sure everything was always right… she really helped making our stay at Bateler’s memorable.

E. Transfer Services

Impeccable! Period! Everyone took well care of ourselves and we felt that should any problem arise, we were in good hands!

Your organization is a five-star organization and many organizations should learn from yours as far as meeting client expectations, notwitstanding the issue we had in the Masai Mara.

We look forward to organizing our next safari with you and And Beyond!

Again, may 2012 bring you health, happiness and prosperity!

Regards,

Sylvie & Jocelyn