Camping and its best
Tony Mobile Safari
- Office In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2009)
- Tour Types:
- Small & medium group tours (Budget & mid-range)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $3,993 to $10,068 per person per day (MXN, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Beth B | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tony and Staff Are the Best!
We had a magical experience with Tony Mobile Safaris on a 9 day trip (8 nights, with 3 lodge and 5 camping) in Botswana in July, 2019. The wildlife, the camping, the food, the camaraderie with the two other couples on our trip…I can’t speak highly enough of our experience. It was truly the trip of a lifetime.
Tony is the real deal. You’ll get good communication and photos on WhatsApp, but no slick marketing material or fancy itineraries. Don’t worry, though, he’s a pro where it counts—with the wildlife. We saw amazing animals, birds, crocks...more than we could have hoped for. We were very well cared for. The whole experience was terrific.
We are used to tent camping, and to us, this felt like a luxury experience. Canvas tents with cots and a private latrine. We even had warm showers a couple of times. The friendly camp staff, Ben and Jackie, did all the setup, teardown, and cooking. Campfires awaited us every morning and evening. It felt like heaven. However, if you’re not a camper, know what you’re getting into. This isn’t “glamping,” so it might feel a bit rough to you. We loved it. Tony supplies the camping equipment, sleeping bag and pillow. Be sure you bring your own towel, soap, shampoo, toiletries.
We hit the jackpot with Tony and his guides. They were knowledgeable and friendly, and happy to share their wealth of information. Vincent and Jack, led our first and last day adventures—a mokoro expedition near Maun and a Chobe River cruise near Kasane. Both were fantastic. We saw so many animals from the perspective of the water. It was mesmerizing. Tony was our driver and leader during the mobile camping portion of the trip in Moremi, Savuti, and Chobe. He always found the animals, and had a passion for getting us up close with good camera angles and lighting. Each experience, each day, brought something new and different. Absolutely amazing, it was the experience of a lifetime.
Email Wen | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic experience + phenomenal guide and team
Tony Mobile Safaris is an experienced and reliable tour operator that ensures your safari experience goes without a hitch. They truly live up to their motto "Have a safari without the hustle." We went on a 7-day safari with them during a time when border crossings were uncertain and COVID testing / protocols were in full force. Everything from pre-booking communications, trip arrangements, border crossings, and testing were expertly handled by Tony and team.
In addition, our guide PK was a phenomenal teacher who helped us learn about the flora and fauna during our trip, patiently answering our many questions. PK’s respect for nature and passion for lifelong learning was incredible, and his experience in the field (along with some good luck) enabled us to see a wide variety of fauna both common and elusive (e.g., lion cubs eating a boar, leopards) while also respecting the animals and their habitat. Most importantly (to us), we felt safe and had a great time during the trip with PK and the camp team.
All-in-all, Tony, PK, and the Tony Mobile Safari team provided a true once-in-a-lifetime experience in Africa and we would highly recommend booking your safari adventure with them.
FR
Email Francis Bompard | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Tony's best Safari Guide
We have been with Tony during 11 days in November, We have been through Kwai,Moremi, Savute, & Chobe.
It was my 4th Safari & The oragnisation was perfect, Good Camping Condition, Good lodges, and An Awsome Guide !!!! Tony is the best guide that I have ever had, He know the bush like nobody, his track of the wildcats is awsome, we have seen all of them, Lepards, Lions, & Cheetahs !!!!! His Safari is a Mut do !!! I will be back with him in May 2016 for another awsome trip .
Email Guru Gurumoorthi | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
It delivers safari excitement and tourists' expectations.
Tony's knowledge of Savuti environment - be they plants or animals or birds or weather or campsite officials - is vast and deep. He delivered answers to our ever-curious minds and we were about 20 in our group. In fact in my count I have included Tony and his fellow driver subconsciously! If safari is invariably a good experience, safari with Tony Mobile Safari is in deed a rare and sometimes a life-changing experience. Tony touched our hearts, I should say.
DE
Email Arne | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fair price for the full experience!
Probably the most amazing week of my life!
About safari in Botswana: it is a bit more expensive than e.g. Kenya but therefor you are not one of a billion vehicles surrounding the animals. I really appreciated the sustainable way they are dealing with the animals and the tourism.
Animals: we saw maybe a hundred giraffes, up to 200 elephants, 25 lions, ... all of them with babies, never would have dreamed of seeing so many! Note: we were in rainy season, you can google the differences.
About Tony / our guide:
Besides Tony there is another guide in the company called Vincent who was responsible for us. He was able to tell a lot about animal behavior, made us feel safe and it was always a laugh. Really cool guy, I really liked him!
Price:
Compared to staying in lodges (excluding those with privates reserves which are way in a different price league) you will see the same animals as everyone is doing their game drives in the same area of the park. The reason his offers are much cheaper is (as far as I can guess) due to being camping instead of staying at a fancy lodge. I didn’t mind it in any way as it made the trip so much more intense.
Staying in the bush:
For the camping we did go for the ‘luxury version’ which allows you to go toilet at night and gives you more time to relax. The latter was appreciated by all of us due to having to take in all the impressions.
The food was basic but well prepared. So there is nothing wrong with some good Spaghetti Bolognese, most food was actually really good.
The car was in a very good condition. I think up to 5-6 persons per car is comfortable, though Vincent said they usually don’t take more than 5 anyway.
Email Emily & Otto | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A wonderful safari experience, the staff are pros and know what they are doing.
We loved our 6-day Botswana safari with Tony Mobile Safari so much, we honestly don't know how it could have been improved. Our driver, Jack, was so calm and chill, he read his surroundings and pointed out the animal footprints, trees that were rubbed or bent over or bark eaten by animals, and was so knowledgeable about his country and his surroundings. He was a wonderful guide, we soon learned to just trust his instinct and we would find the animals. He had a good repertoire with the other drivers and they would share info on what they had seen and where, so you felt as if you really weren't missing anything. He would work so hard all day and still be very patient and funny and nice, he was a joy to be around all day. Back at camp we had Bongo cooking all our meals for us including fresh baked bread (!!) and he would pack a hot thermos of water for coffee and tea while we were out on the road every day. We are established campers and it felt very indulgent to have someone else preparing all your meals. It was such a treat to roll into camp all dusty and everything was set up for you by Desho. He would have a fully zipped tent set with two cots, pillows and sleeping bags inside ready to go. The tent had a front shade structure attached with a small basin of hot water to wash your dirty face - what a nice touch! They also had a small table and chairs as well as a light for us to eat our meals. The back of the tent unzipped into a private, walled-off bathroom area with a pit toilet and camp shower, which would be ready to go with hot water for a shower. It felt like a luxury to have a toilet right there, it made middle of the night trips easy, peasy! Tony is part of a small group of operators that share camping areas within the park, so there was always plenty of shade around our tent, as well as the tents for our staff. They would have a small fire welcoming us back home each night, which was a great touch.
The night before our safari left Maun, we had drinks with a friend who lives in Botswana and supplies food to other tour operators. She was asking how much we paid for our safari and when we told her she was surprised and impressed. We felt we had a very good value before we started the safari, and afterwards felt all the more confident that we really couldn't have had a better time. Our three staff were all so pleasant and easy going, life at camp was relaxing and chill. Our days in the jeep were as comfy as possible. It had a canopy for shade, was super padded everywhere, had power outlets to charge cameras, and a large cooler to keep drinks cold. We felt all the necessities were well thought out and looked after.
I will say, however, that this experience is not for everyone. My husband and I are tent campers on the regular, we think having a cot to sleep on is fancy as we usually sleep on an air mattress. If you don't like sleeping in a tent then you still won't like it in Africa. There are bugs, there are animals right outside your tent so you cannot leave it until morning (which I think is exciting, having a lion prowling around on the other side of your canvas wall?), and you poop in a pit toilet right next to where you take a shower. If any of these things sound bad to you do yourself and the tour operators a favor and book a safari where you sleep in a hotel at night. We saw other guests on safari (thankfully not with our group) who were high maintenance and complaining. If you're very finicky this is probably not the right vacation for you.
A few tips: It takes a long, dusty, bumpy, jeep ride every day to get out to see the animals in their natural habitat. Be mindful of your underwear - lace looks nice but after a day of bumping around any lace or large seam will rub and annoy you, so wear comfy, flat seamed underwear. If you're sensitive to dust bring a face mask or bandana you can cover up with when needed. Absolutely bring a good headlamp, you will need it inside your tent. Don't overpack, bring one warm jacket and pants which you will absolutely need in the early morning and late night, but you can wear the same pair all week long. Not having large luggage helps inside the tent also as you can cram your stuff underneath the cot. They provided us a towel each, so we didn't need to bring our own (saves space). Be patient, sometimes we would drive for a while without seeing much, other times it was a bonanza of animals. Trust Jack or your driver to find them, they've done this many times and really are the experts, let them do what they do best.
You will see so many animals, up close, just relax and enjoy the scenery. Our safari was absolutely amazing.