Zara Tanzania Adventures Reviews 361

We did 7 days Machame route with guide Filbert and assistant guide Charles. It was everything I was hoping for and more. Absolute professionals, everything was well planned and taken care of. The porters were all amazing. And shout out to Paolo as well. Thank you for an amazing trip.

Date of experience: February 16, 2025

Great experience. We all made it to the summit of Kilimanjaro. Our tour leader, John, was brilliant throughout with great support from his assistant and a team of porters and cooks. Highly recommended.

Date of experience: February 02, 2025

We are right back from lemosho route and feel very well at springlands hotel. At our way to the top of africa,
Gasper, Hussein and there crew did an amszing job. They were always kind and friendly. We were in best hands, also they gave us so good food served by Ramadan. Also special thanks to all the other guys from the crew who made this happen. We want to thank you again for this priceless experience. When you go to tansania/kilimandscharo book with zara tours, you would not regret it!
Best wishes from Sebastian and Florian

Date of experience: February 13, 2025

Zara was outstanding. The lead guide Festo and his team totally exceeded all expectations. I cannot recommend him and his team highly enough

Date of experience: February 02, 2025

It’s like a factory. Very hard to get the guide to make any changes to a set program that seems designed for the convenience of the outfitter and not the client

Date of experience: February 02, 2025

We have just spent an unforgettable stay with our family in Tanzania. Our driver, RAFA, is a great person who has contributed greatly to this wonderful stay. I recommend him! Thank you again very much Rafa. We will return to your beautiful country with great pleasure

Date of experience: January 25, 2025

Great! Experience and Peter our driver was great.

Date of experience: January 18, 2025

Everything was perfectly organized from the very start, with a highly professional crew. I booked a package that included Mt. Meru, Kilimanjaro, and a safari, and I was given excellent advice and all the necessary information promptly and efficiently. The staff were all incredibly friendly and helpful. We had the best guide—Yesse and his team were absolutely outstanding.

Date of experience: January 11, 2025

Our eight day Lemosho climb with Zara was amazing. Gasper, Hussein and the whole crew looked after us so well. The food and equipment was outstanding and the booking process very easy. We loved every moment of our time on Kilimanjaro and, if you’re thinking of climbing the mountain, book with Zara. You’ll have an incredible experience.

Date of experience: December 08, 2024

Our climb experience with Our guide and team was exceptional. The food was very good, everyone was very nice. Our safari location was amazing and the staff was very friendly and helpful.

Date of experience: January 11, 2025

Unbelievable staff, the guides knowledge able good sense of humor and keep us motivated Festo and Michael . Nice group, food palatable and impressive considering logistics etc behind it.

Date of experience: January 11, 2025

Our group, led by Festo and his team, were exceptional in every way. Festo was a knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful guide. The food was delicious and the rest of the team worked hard to ensure that we were comfortable the entire trip. Highly recommend Zara tours and Festo’s group.

Date of experience: January 11, 2025

My mountain team was amazing. Meru is done as a private hike and I had my guide, 2 porters, cook and a waiter as my team. The team was great, everybody was really friendly and I was happy with their service. My guide Philip offered to carry my daypack for the summit and asked me bunch of other times if I need a help carrying it. He was helping me the whole time so much with all different things like holding my poles, taking stuff out of my daypack etc.
The food was delicious and more than I could eat. The waiter was bringing me bowl with hot water every morning and after every hike, plus a hot tea, always asking me how I was, really friendly and accomodating all my requests.

The office people, though, was a completelly different experience. I was mainly dealing with a guy called Hasim. Bunch of messages and emails unaswered, sometimes I had to ask a few times about something to dig the answer out of them. Chaoting and disorganized, for example he told me a hotel I would stay it, while I got an email with a different info a week after. The hotel was Maru View Lodge and google maps shows 2 hotels with the same name. So I asked which one it was and surelly he told me the wrong one. I asked where I can keep my valuables and he told me to ask the hotel that they must have a safe. So he basically didnt even know if there was a safe place to keep my valuables there. The rooms in the hotel are all by a wall next to a road and I heard every single car and motorbike going by and after I ordered a pork meal from their menu and they brought me beef claiming it is pork and a chef and then even the owner herself came and gave me an attitude about that I booked myself another hotel and left. I requested a refund for the hotel which I was promissed to be processed and comfirmed through an email while I was at the mountain and that never happend.

So while the mountain team was nothing but amazing from the beginning to the end I would never book with Zara again.

Date of experience: January 11, 2025

I recently booked a trek on Kilimanjaro via Zara Tours, and after my trip, I can highly recommend this company. I had a team of five people with me on the mountain, and the guide, Joseph, was amazing - the whole team was. They were super friendly, and made sure I had the best possible trip. The equipment was good, the food was great, and Joseph was very experienced and had a lot of knowledge about the mountain whenever I had questions. I really don't have anything to complaint about. Prior to the trek, I stayed at Springlands Hotel in Moshi, which is a part of Zara Tours. I had a very comfortable stay there, where all the staff were super friendly and made sure I felt welcome. I learned that Zara Tours is a very responsible company towards its employees, the nature, and the society in general, which makes the experience of travelling with them even better!

Date of experience: November 24, 2024

In autumn 2024, we went on a three-day safari with Zara Tours and thoroughly enjoyed it. Through our guide, Regan, we not only got up close to the animals but also learned a lot about Tanzania, its people, and its traditions. He made the safari truly special, and we would book a safari with him again anytime. We also felt very comfortable with the friendly staff at the Springland Hotel in Moshi. We really appreciated how warm-hearted and attentive all the employees of Zara Tours were. Overall, we had unforgettable days and can highly recommend Zara Tours.

Date of experience: November 25, 2024

Trip of a lifetime! My husband and I recently got back from a month-long adventure in Africa and everything (apart from flights) was arranged through Zara Tours.

Our trip was absolutely incredible and I am so happy I was referred to them by a customer at my work.

I reached out probably a year and a half prior to when we wanted to go, and I was helped out by Mary. I told her what I wanted to do, and all the countries we were hoping to get to. She worked her magic and put together a detailed itinerary for us.

We wanted to start off with climbing Kilimanjaro (Lemosho route) and then do safaris in Tanzania and Kenya. Uganda for gorilla and chimpanzee trekking, and end in Zanzibar. I had some specific parks I wanted to see, and Mary made some suggestions too on additional sites. It was a jam-packed month of adventure and it was fabulous.

Here are my comments on the different parts of our trip:

-Before Kili we stayed at Springlands which was lovely and did the Materuni waterfall and coffee tour, so good!! Waterfall was beautiful and the coffee plantation was very cool. Rashid our guide was so nice and our driver was so sweet (Hassan) He taught me a phrase that I used my whole trip and made so many locals laugh because I could say it in Swahili.

- The Kili climb was so exceptional. Our guides John and Muhsin were both great! The whole crew that took us up were fantastic. They were all very kind and attentive. The tent was very nice and the food was delicious (Juma is the best cook!) They did a wonderful job with everything. No complaints at all. They got us to the summit, and we were happy and content the whole way through.

*I spoke with the guides both on Kili and our drivers, and everyone had positive things to say about working for Zara which made me feel good about choosing them. I do have one suggestion: please inform people to bring more to tip the Kili crew. You are told that each person should tip $250-$350 US per person. They do give you a guide what each staff should get. But then you see how big your crew is, and they work so hard, they deserve, and you want to tip them well. Luckily I had brought a lot of cash, but my husband and I thought we’d tip max $400 each, but that turned in to $860 EACH! We had 11 men on our crew for the two of us and they were wonderful and deserved the money so we happily did it. I’d just rather know ahead of time.

I asked one of the guides about this and he said it’s because some countries don’t really tip, so to not scare anybody away, they give a reasonable estimate. But really it’s not fair to the crew, or for those of us that are great tippers and would have felt awful leaving anything less than what we did.

- Next part of trip was safaris around Tanzania. We had the BEST guide/driver. Emanuel was such a wonderful guy. He was very chatty, knew so much about the area and animals, and was so thoughtful. I had a cough from all the dust on Kili and he picked up some limes for me to mix with tea. He was just incredible and made those days so memorable! All the lodges and parks were friggin amazing as well!

- Next part of the trip was Kenya. This was arranged with another company that Zara works with called Perfect Safaris Africa. The Kenya portion of the trip was great. We did Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru. The lodges were really great. Hot air balloon ride over Masai Mara was incredible. Our driver/guide Teddy was very nice too. He was very knowledgeable about the animals and took some nice photos for us. He also made some suggestions that turned out well.

I had communicated a few things to the office that didn’t get relayed to the driver, so a bit better communication would have been better to avoid confusion , but overall still a great time.

- Next stop was Uganda. There we were with another company that Primate Safari Experiences. I was very impressed by the professionalism of this company. The owner met us (with the guide/driver) at the airport both when we arrived and left. He also checked in to make sure everything was going well. He was very nice. Our driver/guide Moses was also amazing. Moses ate with us at a lot of meals and we got to chat with him quite a bit. He is very good at his job. It was a great experience. The lodges in Uganda were also all incredible!

- We wrapped up our stay in Zanzibar. We stayed at Cristal resort. First room we were put in wasn’t great, but after a quick text, we were moved to a new room no problem. New room was great. Beautiful beach and location amazing food and lovely staff. We arranged for some scuba diving on our own and did a few tours through the resort.

All in all, this trip was incredible. A couple minor hiccups, but pretty much everything was stellar.

Highly recommend booking with Zara!

Date of experience: August 28, 2024

I wanted to see all the animals in Tanzania without worrying about lodging, transportation or food. Zara set up EVERYTHING, and I never had to worry.

My driver, Salehe, was awesome, and so knowledgeable about the animals and birds. Any bird he didn't know he could quickly identify with a book. When I mentioned a specific animal, he without fail found them for me. It was very impressive.

I would recommend Zara to anyone who values convenience and comfort. I know there are cheaper options, but you pay to not worry and enjoy vacation. The lodging was stunning, the food was amazing, and the animals were out of this world. I never felt rushed or like I missed out.

Also to note, I was by myself and I never felt overlooked for groups that might be larger and provide more tips. Everyone seemed to care about me having a great safari, and I felt safe and happy the whole time.

Date of experience: September 13, 2024

We booked a 9 day tour through Tanzania with Zara, and they were wonderful. From the beginning, we were able to customize our experience so we got exactly what we wanted from our stay.
Our Guide, Hamisi, was absolutely wonderful. From the beginning, he went above and beyond to ensure we saw and experienced everything we hoped. He took time to ensure we were comfortable, and the more we got to know him, the more we really appreciated what a good person he is.

We upgraded all of our hotels, and when one of them was not to our satisfaction, Zanya went above and beyond to ensure we found the perfect hotel for our group.

Some key highlights from the trip I recommend you do not miss:
1. Safari, of course! With Hamisi, if you can
2. Staying at the Serengeti Safari Lodge in the Serengeti
3. The Pink Flamingo Hotel in Moshi was unbelievable. And the management was superb, even helping one of our group get to a hospital when he fell ill
4. We did the Materuni waterfalls that ended at the coffee planation. The people were lovely and it was a great experience. Our guide was great, and the owner of the Coffee Planation, Innocent, was incredibly helpful when our youngest fell ill
5. The Hot Air balloon ride over the Serengeti with Majestic was incredible and wonderfully executed
6. We stayed at the Osiligilai Maasai Lodge, which was an incredible experience. Definitely take the time to go. Our guide, Gabrielle, was interesting and engaging, and we learned so much.

Date of experience: September 07, 2024

Better than expected. From start to finish, everything was arranged, all I had to do was show up and enjoy myself. The accommodations and safari exceeded my expectations. Zara took into consideration my food requests and made sure I had everything I needed. Awesome trip!

Date of experience: July 24, 2024

Our experience with Zara tours was absolutely amazing. Our guide was very attentive, funny and experienced. We had a great safari. I would highly recommend for anyone wanting to visit Tanzania to contact Zara tours.

Date of experience: July 23, 2024