Safaris Reviews

  We spent 3 days in Tarangire, Lake Maniara and Ngorongoro crater. The guide, Malissa, was really helpful, patient and well prepared. He could look far away each interesting animal in... read more the sourrandings. One day me and my wife did not feel well probably due to food so he took us at the near medical center and we were treated fast and nicely. I do really reccomend Calabash also for the value for money side.

  I can't say enough about our experience with Calabash Adventures! Right from the start Tillya was responsive and helpful in building an itinerary to show us the best Tanzania had... read more to offer. We spent 9 days in Tanzania and 3 days in Zanzibar. Our guide/driver Malisa was the best! I have no doubt that we saw so much more wildlife because of his skills. Each day I looked forward to his wonderful picnic style lunches in the middle of the Serengeti, or wherever we happened to be that day!

The tented camps were simply the best - many were even luxurious! All of the food was delicious (everyone went out of their way to accommodate our vegetarian daughter). All of the people working at the camps were so nice and went above and beyond to make sure we were comfortable and happy - it was a pleasure to get to know them.

It was so great to have our own vehicle for the 3 of us. Plenty of room to move around inside and have great views of the wildlife. We loved the flexibility of our schedule as well. We could leave anytime we wanted in the morning.

We spent the last 3 days of our trip at the beach in Zanzibar, which was a perfect ending to a perfect trip. Having someone handle all the details was so relaxing for me! And Tanzania is absolutely beautiful! Thank you Calabash! We'll be back!

  Father daughter 8 day private safari including Kambi ya tembo, Tarangire, Myanara, Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater. Calabash is a local Tanzanian company with reasonable rates and experienced guides (recommend... read more Malisa!). Tillya the owner was very open to communication by email and Whatsapp in the planning of the trip and even met us in person on arrival. Malisa our guide had excellent knowledge and helped us see nearly all the animals. All the places we stayed had great hospitality and took good care of us. We travelled during covid and felt completely safe in Tanzania where there was seemingly no covid and life was normal. It is so relaxing to enjoy the peaceful safari rides and watch nature at work. If you enjoy the outdoors, animals and photography, this is the trip of your dreams. It was a dream come true for us!

  Wonderful experience! We had a few hiccups (our fault) on our trip and this company went above and beyond to help us! We stayed at amazing tented camps and... read more saw so many more animals than I ever dreamed we would! Our guide, Malisa, was fantastic and we would consider him family by the end of the trip. If we are ever blessed to go again, we will most certainly use this company and guide again. I found their pricing to be fantastic for the services we received. Highly recommend all the way around! …

  We did not really know what to expect as we booked the tour the day before but had a wonderful 4 days trip with Calabash Adventures : 1 day Tarangire,... read more 2 days Serengeti and 1 day Ngorongoro. We took the camping option, around 1500$ per person for 4 days all inclusive. The guide, Mood, was very nice and we keep him as a friend! He took a lot of time to try to show us the best and the most of where we have been, no rest for him! He was a very good driver and knew a lot on the parks and animals, it was very nice to do the tour with him. The cook was also very fine, with oven baked fresh bread at every meal, we did not miss anything. Finally we saw the big 5 and thousands of animals, more than expected! If you are looking for a tour we can recommand you Calabash, flexible and professional! Simon and Julia …

  We did not really know what to expect as we booked the tour the day before but had a wonderful 4 days trip with Calabash Adventures : 1 day Tarangire,... read more 2 days Serengeti and 1 day Ngorongoro. We took the camping option, around 1500$ per person for 4 days all inclusive. The guide, Mood, was very nice and we keep him as a friend! He took a lot of time to try to show us the best and the most of where we have been, no rest for him! He was a very good driver and knew a lot on the parks and animals, it was very nice to do the tour with him. The cook was also very fine, with oven baked fresh bread at every meal, we did not miss anything. Finally we saw the big 5 and thousands of animals, more than expected! If you are looking for a tour we can recommand you Calabash, flexible and professional! Simon and Julia

  We arranged a personalized travel with Calabash Adventures. Two days at/in the Ngorongoro crater and five days in the northern Serengeti to watch the "big migration" at the Mara river.... read more Tillya, the owner of the company, was kind and very responsive when we negotiated the itinerary by e-mail. Prices are significantly lower when contracting directly with a tanzanian tour operator. Accommodation + meals were good standard or better. Transportation by Landcruiser or with local airlines worked flawlessly. Our driver/guide was a walking encyclopedia and knew instinctively when and where to find animals. We saw much more than we expected.

  We did not really know what to expect as we booked the tour the day before but had a wonderful 4 days trip with Calabash Adventures : 1 day Tarangire,... read more 2 days Serengeti and 1 day Ngorongoro. We took the camping option, around 1500$ per person for 4 days all inclusive. The guide, Mood, was very nice and we keep him as a friend! He took a lot of time to try to show us the best and the most of where we have been, no rest for him! He was a very good driver and knew a lot on the parks and animals, it was very nice to do the tour with him. The cook was also very fine, with oven baked fresh bread at every meal, we did not miss anything. Finally we saw the big 5 and thousands of animals, more than expected! If you are looking for a tour we can recommand you Calabash, flexible and professional!
Simon and Julia

  Went on a 8 days safari to Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. A lot of close encounters with lions, lepards and many other animals. Truly a fantastic experiens. Stayed at Ngorongoro... read more Sopa Lodge, Seronera Wildlife Lodge, Kati Kati Tented Lodge and Ndutu Safari Lodge. Finished of with 7 days on Zanzibar Island. Stayed at Langi Langi Beach Bungalows. All of the above are fantastic places. Everything were perfectly planed by Hamadi Tillya and our fantastic safari guide Godson Malisa at Calabash Adventures. We can highly recommend this company for your safari and beach vacation .
Micke Ohlsson and Lena Kjellberg.
SWEDEN

  This is to warn everyone about Calabash Adventure Safari and its so-called owner, Tilly, based in Arusha, Tanzania. I texted and talked extensively with him on WhatsApp, then bank-transferred... read more US$4380.00 as 30% deposit. Once he got the money, he disappeared, and has since ignored all my texts, phone calls and emails.
Beware all those wonderful reviews about Calabash on TripAdvisor. i.e. ". . .Obviously some doubts come, when we have not met the person, and then you have to transfer a big amount of money. But the whole experience was great. Tilly made a customized itinerary for what we needed . . ."
A "Donna Young" has posted extensively on the WhatsApp group extolling the virtues of Calabash, how she had a great tour with her husband, another time with her 8 yr old daughter, and yet another time with her 12 yr. old daughter.
In hindsight, all fakes, all bogus shills and plants. BEWARE!!!

  Malisa, our driver and guide, is now considered part of our family after having so much fun with him. We spent an amazing week with him in Ndutu, Serengeti... read more and Ngorogoro. He has such great knowledge of the terrain, the animals and their behaviors, and even of the other drivers so as to receive and share crucial information in order to find animals doing amazing things. Malisa was well-tuned to our needs and anticipated what activities we would like and when we needed a rest. And Tillya was an amazing communicator when organizing and setting up the tour ahead of time. What a great partnership they have with the best local knowledge to give us the safari of a lifetime!

  Father daughter 8 day private safari including Kambi ya tembo, Tarangire, Myanara, Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater. Calabash is a local Tanzanian company with reasonable rates and experienced guides (recommend... read more Malisa!). Tillya the owner was very open to communication by email and Whatsapp in the planning of the trip and even met us in person on arrival. Malisa our guide had excellent knowledge and helped us see nearly all the animals. All the places we stayed had great hospitality and took good care of us. We travelled during covid and felt completely safe in Tanzania where there was seemingly no covid and life was normal. It is so relaxing to enjoy the peaceful safari rides and watch nature at work. If you enjoy the outdoors, animals and photography, this is the trip of your dreams. It was a dream come true for us!

  We arranged a personalized travel with Calabash Adventures. Two days at/in the Ngorongoro crater and five days in the northern Serengeti to watch the "big migration" at the Mara river.... read more Tillya, the owner of the company, was kind and very responsive when we negotiated the itinerary by e-mail. Prices are significantly lower when contracting directly with a tanzanian tour operator. Accommodation + meals were good standard or better. Transportation by Landcruiser or with local airlines worked flawlessly. Our driver/guide was a walking encyclopedia and knew instinctively when and where to find animals. We saw much more than we expected. …

  16 days travelling, 5 different National Parks including: Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Ndutu and Arusha.
First Class accommodation and food throughout the tour. Amazing knowledgeable guide who made the whole holiday... read more so special, thank you Malisa. Nothing was too much trouble.
To Tillya who arranged everything for us, even to adding a couple of days due to flight issues. Thank you both for making this such a memorable trip.
I now have to go through the 9K of photos.

  Jambo!
It was our second time with CALABASH ADVENTURES and again they have allowed us to take full advantage of the Safari. The continuous attention, and their expert knowledge... read more of the terrain and wildlife were 10/10, top level. They are totally friendly people, rigorous and involved in their work. I recommend them all for their safaris in Tanzania ... and beyond!
Safari njema! 🙂

  So this was our first camping safari in Africa and so we had a number of queries, all of which were promptly answered by Tillya. There was a lengthy discussion... read more over email to the specifics of the safari and Tillya answered all promptly which gave us confidence in the company.

The safari guide we had was Malisa and he was amazing, a great guide to Africa and animals in general and a very nice man himself too.

Thoroughly enjoyed the holiday and looking forward to booking again with Calabash. Would recommend this company for sure.

  Calabash was great! Tillya was very helpful in organizing the tour. He answered all my questions and was very receptive. When we arrived to Arusha, the airline had lost our... read more bags. Tillya was there and was SO helpful. He handled all the communication with the airline and did all the follow up needed to get our bags. If it wasn’t for Tillya and his consistent follow up, I truly feel that the airline would not made finding out bags a priority.

We (my sister and I) did the 5 day safari tour through Tarangire, Serengeti, and the Ngorongoro Crater and it was one of the best experiences both of us have ever had! Our tour guide was Malisa and he was also great! He was very friendly, personable, and just as excited to see everything as we were. He was very knowledgeable of all the animals and the environment. We had a great experience, in large part to Malisa.

Would highly recommend Calabash and would love to go back for another Safari!

  Me and my friend did a 5 day Safari with Calabash and I am amazed. It was the best time of my life. In advance of the trip they provided... read more us with lots of information and answered every question immediately. They picked us up in Arousha and we spent a night in a pretty good hotel. The next day our Safari through Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorogoro started. Thanks to our fantastic guide we have seen so many animals- very close. It was a very intensive time.He took very good care of us, fullfilled every wish and was so passionate about the nature and the animals. We stayed in lodges close to the parcs which were chosen very well. Also we spent 2 nights in a tented lodge in the Serengeti which was incredible. Highest comfort in the middle of wilderness. The whole package was really amazing and I would highly recommend to do Safari with Calabash!

  We spent almost five (5) safari in Tanzania with Moody in November 2019. This days has been excellent. Moody" He is a very excellent guide, a nice fellow and one... read more of the 3 best game trackers I ever had in some 9 times I went to Eastern Africa. Great experience ever

  Wonderful experience! We had a few hiccups (our fault) on our trip and this company went above and beyond to help us! We stayed at amazing tented camps and... read more saw so many more animals than I ever dreamed we would! Our guide, Malisa, was fantastic and we would consider him family by the end of the trip. If we are ever blessed to go again, we will most certainly use this company and guide again. I found their pricing to be fantastic for the services we received. Highly recommend all the way around!