Our Tanzanian safari and Zanzibar beach holiday was booked through Tour Compass and lead by Zara Tours (Tour Compass Tanzanian business partners) - our guide was Peter Minja of Zara Tours.This was the trip of a lifetime! We booked it for my 30th birthday and it was worth every penny. The booking process was so easy, we got a Black Friday discount and the booking team was so helpful right the way through booking, planning and going on the trip! They answered all my questions so fast whenever I had any.The safari:What can I say - this was incredible!!!The tour goes through numerous parks - Tarangire, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara - which means you will see numerous environments and animals.Above all we saw the Big 5 - even the rhino, which other guests and even guides were shocked about! Peter was a top driver and always made sure we had the best views.For lunch every day we had a hot, freshly prepared meal which Peter brought from the chefs in the hotels in the morning. Bottled water was bought by Peter at the beginning of the trip and stored in a fridge inside the Land Cruiser. Peter was a phenomenal guide with a radiant personality and he really made our trip 10x better.The accommodations -Highview hotel - this is the ‘base’ hotel and you will find it is filled with people who are also doing safari. It is a clean hotel with a great pool. The food is nice, a buffet for breakfast and evening meal. It was my wife’s 30th birthday on our return from Ikoma Wild Camp - the staff were absolutely fantastic, they made a birthday cake and made a big show with singing and dancing, it made the occasion so special. You are greeted with a cold towel and hibiscus juice every day after safari which was a very nice touch.Ikoma Wild Camp - wow what an experience! The first night we slept in a hut then our last night was in a tent. Both had showers and bathroom inside, which is very important considering they had big cats and buffalo wandering around of a night (this is no joke - we had a buffalo outside our tent and another guest had a lion outside at around 04:00am - they give you a whistle to blow after dark and a guard comes to collect you to take you for dinner). It was incredible, we still felt very safe. We booked via Tour Compass the walking tour - this was a great experience to have walk amongst buffalo and elephants whilst being safely chaperoned by a ranger and his rifle. When we got to the hotel we found we could do the night time drive on the same evening as the walk - I would highly recommend this at $100pp as we saw 13 lions with cubs making way through the open and other nocturnal animals which you otherwise wouldn’t see.Ocean Paradise resortThis hotel surpassed all our expectations. The staff were so kind, the grounds were so beautiful and so clean, and the food was some of the best, freshest and tastiest I’ve ever had in a hotel. The view of the ocean from the room and the main breakfast restaurant was incredible. The beach was fabulous. There are quite a few people trying to sell things on the beach but it didn’t bother us, especially as they were not allowed onto the hotels private section of beach. We did the safari blue, dolphin swimming (Mnemba island), and stone town excursions booked through the tour compass rep (working with Zenith Tours - the local partner in Zanzibar). The excursions were brilliant, and all private! Just us and the guide which was really nice.To consider:- A lot of the roads, in particular on the way to the Serengeti, are BUMPY. You will be on very bumpy and uncomfortable roads for extended periods of time!- Tipping culture is somewhat confusing! Tips are not mandatory but are of course welcomed by hotel staff. Initially we were giving $1 here and there for people carrying our bags etc but having spoke to staff they explained that you can tip at the time or use the box at reception at the end, which is a eventually opted for.- Haggling in smaller shops is okay, though is not something we personally did.Overall an 11/10 experience that I will never forget.
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