The Amazing Shadows of Africa Guiding Team!
Shadows of Africa
- Offices In:
-
United States
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 2010)
- Member Of:
- ATTA, TATO & TTB
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $4,329 to $25,972 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 Dan | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Phenomenal 13-day Tanzania Safari
Our family of seven just returned from a phenomenal 13-day Tanzanian trip with Shadows of Africa over the Christmas/New Year holidays. I contacted Karen, who welcomed my questions, connected with us via Zoom, and provided fantastic presentations via email. The presentations included maps, routing, and photos of all the proposed lodges and tented camps. As it was already July and we were planning to go in December, the trip required a fair amount of logistical organization as the itinerary evolved and lodging options became unavailable. Karen handled the entire process with aplomb sending an updated itinerary with photos of the new lodge or camp.
As it turns out, we were delayed inbound to Tanzania and Karen re-arranged our first day and obtained alternative accommodations while we were enroute. The following morning, our guides Charles and Loma arrived at the lodge in two brand-new Toyota Landcruisers. Both were very experienced guides with 7-8 years’ of experience with Shadows. On the first day, the guides took us for a short orientation to the Shadows office. We were met by Ben, who reviewed the trip with us and discussed our revised itinerary, expectations, and our personal priorities. This was a very nice touch. We were then off to the Serengeti.
Throughout our journey, Loma and Charles were wonderfully kind, respectful and interested in our comfort, interests, and needs. As communication even with radios and Wi-Fi on board can be sketchy, Loma and Charles were constantly speaking with other guides along the road. Between the two, we always had a line on where the animals could be found. Both were incredibly knowledgeable about the animals, the birds and even the bugs. Having chased nature with binoculars and a camera around the globe, the most important thing has been the guides we’ve traveled with. Charles and Loma were right up there at the top and made it a fabulous, informative, fun and entertaining trip. The whole family continued to talk about how we missed them after returning to the States. I can’t say enough about Shadows and everyone we worked with.
5-Day Tanzania Honeymoon Safari
We had an unforgettable Honeymoon thanks to a fantastic 5 day, 4 night safari in Tanzania!
*Safari Planner - Jake*
I worked with Jake to put together the ideal itinerary including flying directly into the Serengeti from Zanzibar to reduce the overall non-game drive time spent on the read. Jake was very patient and reorganized the proposed itinerary several times before we landed on the perfect amount of time to spend in Serengeti, Ngorongo, and Tarangire while ensuring we stayed 2 nights in each of the incredible lodgings to avoid too much repacking .
*Guide - Frank*
Our guide Frank was phenomenal! He did a great job explaining what the next days' schedules would be and was always courteous and flexible with any requests we had. Frank was an amazing guide in so many ways - his wildlife spotting and coordination with other drivers meant we saw more animals than we ever imagined we would. He also regularly washed the vehicle which was an unexpected surprise - there is something magical about waking up and seeing a sparkling clean vehicle ready for a big day of safari adventures. Frank was also an excellent driver - we were so impressed by how smooth the overall experience was given how rough the roads can be in late November. Frank was like part of the family and after 5 days together we were sad to say goodbye!
*Shadows of Africa*
Having reached out to 5+ tour operators when I was in the planning phase I was immediately impressed by the level of quality of their website, their tour outlines, and overall professionalism. Going on Safari confirmed everything I expected and more! It was clear Shadows provides a level of service above other tour operators in a few ways. I'm sure there are more but a couple of the highlights:
1 - Lunches during game drives are *warm* :D The guides work with the lodges to get warm meals prepared in advance. I had no idea the level of service we were about to receive until our first couple lunches where it was clear most operators would have you eating a cold, packed lunch. Shadows on the other hand would have a protein, one or two vegetable dishes, and rice. etc. all ready to be served warm.
2 - The safari vehicles was practically new! It was in such good shape, and our guide mentioned it was only the 2nd or so time it had been used as of November 2024.
Email Anastasia | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Safari in Kenya and Tanzania
We had a truly once in a lifetime experience with Shadows of Africa. The team helped us organize a 10 day safari in Kenya and Tanzania. Karen, our project manager, was amazing, super helpful and quick to reply, provided us with super detailed information and helped us adjust the itinerary as needed. Our guides Titus (in Kenya) and Gerald (in Tanzania) were incredible - they helped us see so many animals (they also knew a ton!), took really good care of us and were super fun to spend time with. We were also very happy with the logistics and the choice of lodges. Super grateful for such a fantastic and smooth experience!
IT
Email Angelica e Francesco | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Exceptional trip
for the first time in our lives we entrusted ourselves to a travel agency for a trip, we were very hesitant, but following some videos seen online and after reading many reviews, shadow of africa was our decision.
It was a wonderful trip and Sonja, the girl who followed us, proved to be extremely professional and patient, answering our thousand questions and giving us lots of useful advices.
all the accommodations were wonderful, we stayed in the heart of the Serengeti first and Gorongoro after with our driver, Dickson, who proved to be exceptional as a driver, as a guide telling us a lot of things about Tanzania and his people, but above all rest assured that he knows the animals perfectly, he anticipates their moves and always arrives first in wonderful places. we saw leopards and lions a few meters away, as well as all the other animals. thanks to dickson we saw all the big five and we will never stop thanking him.
Everything with Shadow of Africa worked perfectly, the drivers all proved to be extremely professional and provided us with a lot of informations, answering our many curiosities.
all the excursions carried out with Tales of Zanzibar, their partner, were magical, we were accompanied by professional people, in love with their work and who gave us unforgettable moments.
our week ended in their office, where Bernard welcomed us with his incredible smile to say hello in person.
we always felt pampered and with the knowledge that everything was perfectly organized so
we give 5 stars to shadow only because we can't give 6. thanks so much to all your stuff
HK
Email King | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nzuri sana - Very Nice!
We have chosen SoA because of Karen's swift responses and patient to our questions. She's not just selling, but providing service. All along she responded quickly, when negotiating the plan, budget, then queries on visa after the down payment, further questions after full payment, so on. We never felt any impatient from her. In fact, all its staffs, Joyce, Reuben, Johnson, and Alex are so nice and professional. We would like to give our applause to Alex. He's so experienced and guided us to see everything we are looking for, such as the big 5 (though rhino is miles away 😅) and river crossings. Especially, he's so confident where the wildebeest will cross the river and we can have one of the best positions to see it. Fantastic!
What to complain? Our car was broken down when Alex tried to drive us to a group of lions. So we need to lunch in the car and watch the lions sleeping a hundred meters away😕. Again thanks Alex who quickly arranged us be taken to the rest site by another car, and then back to our camp. We saw close bonding and collaboration amongst the guides 👍
One suggestion I think can make tourists like us feel more comfortable - take along foldable table and chairs so that picnic will be more enjoyable 🥰
HK
Email Adrien | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Shadow of Africa is a good and responsible agency and their guides also give us an unforgettable exp
The Shadow of Africa provided us a great experience for the whole trip. Starting from the planning, their staff, Karen ,drafted our itinerary based on our needs and budget. She also provided many useful information, including the latest situation of Kenya and Masa Marai before trip which eased our concerns.
During the travel, we met two guides, Johnson and Edwin, in Kenya and Tanzania respectively. Both of them are professional and knowledgeable to share their fruitful information to us during the safari. They are very friendly to us. Under their guiding, we have collected all the big 5 and witness the crossing during our journey!
However, we wanted to express that the condition of the safari vehicles could be improved. The sockets in one of the car were found not working while the other safari car has a technical issue that it need to be repaired 3 times throughout our journey in Tanzania. One episode also costed our time of safari for 2-3hour. We provided our feedback to the staff of their company. Their representative conducted an evaluation with us to listen to our feedback at the end of the whole trip (which we really appreciated) and they also apologised for the car issue to us.
To conclude, Shadow of Africa is a good and responsible agency and their guides also give us an unforgettable experience for our first safari trip. Despite of some technical issues of the vehicle, it is still a really good choice for your safari trip.
LU
Email Walter | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Amazing experience
We had the absolute best time with our guide Edwin in Tanzania!
The planning was perfect, we never had to worry our selves about anything and could be certain that our tour will be excellent.
Everything was perfect, but our guide made our experience unforgettable. He is one of the most friendly people that I have ever met, always had a smile on his face, helped us with everything and last but not least has a great understanding of Tanzania, the area, the people, the wildlife.
We really enjoyed our experience with Shadows of Africa and our guide Edwin.
We would 100% without a doubt recommend them to any body.
Email Jeff Perry | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
If I could rate 100 I would
Superb in every manner. This was a complicated vacation for my 80 year old father that was put together without any issues. All credit to the shadows of Africa team and Lies. I plan a lot of scuba travel but this was very different adding in my father. I needed help and guidance and did not want to go through the American travel agencies that just slam you into want they want and who they like. It took a bit of time but Lies was always there for emails and questions ans we hammered it out over a few weeks. She put in a tremendous amount of time and I felt like she genuinely cares about my father and us having rhe best possible itinerary. She helped guide me to places and what to avoid during the planning. Her knowledge and ability to match what we needed with a price point was just stellar. Now that we are back we we very pleased with every accommodation that we booked. Our tour was 9 days starting in Arusha for 1 night to rest. Then off to tarangire for 2 nights. 1 night on lake Manyara. 1 night in ngorogoro. 2 nights in central Serengeti and 2 nights in northern Serengeti. I will recommend every location and lodge we stayed at. It was the perfect blend. We saw everything we came to see and had the greatest guide possible. I know everyone loves their guide but Loma is the best. He was so polite and genuine and took great interest in my father and wanted to please him. He truly made the trip even more special. He is a friend for life and you would be blessed to have him tour his country with you. He consistently put us in the right pace for the action and is just an overall great human being. He’s a tremendous asset to Shadows. I highly suggest you ask for him if you go. Addition ( forgot to add Assad to my review. He was just as intrumental getting us to the airport rapidly to finalize our covid tests. We had an 11:45 pm fight and wondered last minute if the covid testing center closed. They did at 8 pm. What could have been a disaster was avoided thanks to his connections at the airport and willingness to go the extra mile Many thanks Assad :))
I can assure you no details will be overlooked if you book with Lies and Shadows. They are super professional and care about every detail. Literally nothing was a problem at all.
I can’t recommend this company any higher then I do. Book with them and go now. It will be the best decision in your life.
Thank you Loma, Lies and everyone who made this journey for my father the most meaningful and spectacular event of his life. You are all truly amazing and I am forever grateful.
See you again for sure
Jeff
Email Brock Rexius | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Trip of a Lifetime!
We are an adventurous, well-travelled family that goes to great lengths to make sure our trips are well-planned and ultimately "epic" in nature.
We could not be happier with the job Inge and Moody did in fulfilling that goal.
From day 1 in the planning process, Inge (and Shadows of Africa) stood out above every other safari company. Inge was detailed, kind, honest and answered EVERY question we had in a timely manner... ultimately building the perfect trip for our family. She bookended a well-balanced blend of national parks with eye-opening cultural experiences that became some of our favorite moments of the entire vacation.
Getting paired up with our driver (and now "friend") Moody was the icing on the cake...and really moved the whole experience from epic to "magical". Moody was kind, knowledgeable, protective, sensitive and delivered a one-of-a-kind experience that we'll be talking about for the rest of our lives. Moody is obviously well-respected and loved in his field by his peers. I can not tell you how many times he was greeted lovingly by other safari guides, park staff and even people on the street. He has a passion for both the animals and the humans in his sphere. Consider yourself blessed if you are paired with this friend!
AT
Email Sophie Brunner | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very nice company, super flexible and definitely to recommend!
We had a really nice time with Shadows of Africa and our guide and can definitely recommend this company!
The service is really good upfront and tries to find the perfect offer for special requests.
We had a last minute change, which was no problem.
The lodges are very nice, the food is good, the car in a good condition and the driver very experienced and nice!