From our first contact with Pius via email 5/23/22 throughout our trip which ended 7/15/22, Pius was nothing short of extraordinary. Although we have taken over 13 trips across the world, we have never had a company which contacted us so much ahead of our trip. We had the opportunity to have multiple contacts with Pius with our questions, and he always responded quickly and thoroughly. In addition, he responded to questions from the other members of our family group in the same way. Although there were a number of complications due to flight cancellations, he was very accommodating with the late arrivals.

He consistently asked all of the group members during the trip if they were OK and if things were going well for them. His personal relationships with each member of the group, including the children ages 11, 13, and 17, were beyond the usual expectations for a group leader. Everyone loved him.

Although there was a problem with lost luggage of 3 members of our party, Pius told me that he did not sleep until the bags were safely in the hands of their owners. And they were safe.

One of the reasons for our family trip was to renew our wedding vows for our 20th anniversary. It is our second marriage, and all 4 of our kids had stood up for our wedding ceremony. We wanted all of them to be present for the renewal. We informed Pius of our intention, and he asked if he could officiate. We loved the idea and asked him to do it in a Masai traditional way and help us find appropriate Masai clothing for the service. He arranged to take us to a local (non-tourist) Masai village to have the ladies help us find appropriate attire. That was an experience by itself. He also selected the perfect location at the border of Kenya and Tanzania. Additionally, he researched and designed a custom anniversary card for us and had a local (non-tourist) woodcutter make it for him out of wood from a Tanzanian tree. A herd of elephants was just outside the location of our ceremony. The drivers stationed themselves so they could keep an eye on them. In the middle of the vows, the drivers yelled: “Get in the Jeeps!” as the elephants were approaching! When it was safe to complete the ceremony, we did. How many people can say that their wedding vow ceremony was crashed by a herd of elephants? Later that day at the lodge, Pius arranged in advance a special cake for us and dance of the staff. It was really extraordinary, and we were deeply touched.

As if all of that were not enough, we saw the Big Five in the first day and a half! The weather was perfect throughout the trip, and we even saw a pride of lions stalk and killing a wildebeest. Finally, we were lucky enough to see thousands of wildebeests at the Migration crossing.

We learned so much about the people and culture of both countries with personal experiences.

It was the trip of a lifetime with pius and for all 13 of us and a dream come true thanks to Jartan.

Respectfully,

Leanne Kline

There's more to this trip that can be addressed. It is a life changing experience due to the itinerary and the excellent guides provided by Tanzania Safari Collection. It became much more than I expected, which was a safari to see wild animals. The experiences were constantly educating me more about Tanzania. The cultures, the people, the plants, and the animals. Our guide Pius is among the best in the business! Effortlessly, he wove a tale that enchanted each traveller and took us on a journey that will stay with us forever. I don't think anyone back came home unchanged. The incredible stories he told, the way he brought us into the local communities and made us feel part of their families, the knowledge of and concern of the environment inspired and challenged us. The people we met, as well as other guides, Elisante and Peter, informed us and welcomed us into their hearts.

I made friends with two other travellers. I know I speak for all of us when I tell you TSC has outdone itself with this opportunity for adventurers to really experience much of what Tanzania has to offer. I wanted to see wild animals, interact with locals, and learn about their cultures, and I did! However, my outlook and perception of this wonderful community has really given me hope for our future. The people were wonderful, and I am certainly richer for having gone on this trip.

It is with great pleasure that i have this opportunity to recount my observations of Adam Richard exceptional abilities.

Our plane arrived on time, but KLM had misplaced my travel companion Beth\'s duffle bag. I waited in the customs area for over an hour and was convinced that our guide and group were long gone. I had images of us alone in Africa trying to find a cab driver who spoke English and knew where the hotel was located.

The bag was finally located, and i had not walked far outside the terminal when Adam hailed me. He was warm and welcoming and displayed not a scintilla of annoyance that we had kept him waiting for so long. The minute i met him, i had immediate confidence that we were in the hands of a very capable man. I was 1000% correct.

Adam was exceedingly intelligent, knowledgeable, and articulate. He has a wonderful sense of humour, which we all enjoyed. His leadership is extremely calm,dignified, and quitely powerful. I think he shone brightest in all of the outings that were meant to be exposed to us to the daily life and daily culture of Kenya and Tanzania. He would carefully outline exactly what the day would involve, give us the historical background, tell us about the people we would meet, and then answer any questions.

We all learned a great deal from him. I had anticipated that i would love the safari, but i had no idea that the various optional tour activities and free time would be so wonderful. He did a spectacular job.

What i really want to stress, however, are Adams interpersonal skills. I will give two examples:

I had been trampled at the World Trade Centre on 9/11 and have bothersome knees. One day, we went to see hippos. The walk down the river was on a slight incline, and the ground cover was loose and rocky. I took the arm of a fellow traveller for the walk down. We were there for some time, and i suddenly realized that i was alone for the ascent. I turned around to find Adam right behind me, extending his hand. I thought, " Wow, how does he do that?. It still touches me that he was so kind and so vigilant.

Bill and his wife were long time veterans, and we had gone to a school and brought gifts. Adam gave the gifts to the head teacher to distribute, which i thought was really smart. Bill told Adam that he was disappointed that he didn\'t get the chance to give the gifts directly to the students himself. He felt "robbed" of a chance to interact with them. Adam immediately retrieved the gifts and told us to go ahead and give them to the students. He did this with grace and dispatch. I remarked to myself that it was clear that the most important thing to Adam was that each of us have the trip of our dreams. He displayed goodwill and made it clear that if anything was wrong, he wanted to know and address it immediately, which he did. I\'m so impressed. Thank you so much for a once in a lifetime experience guided by a gentleman of substance.

We did a South Africa trip in 2013 and loved it. But the sheer number and diversity of animals that you see in the East Africa Serengeti, Maasai Mara, Ngorongoro crater, and Tarangire, especially lions, leopards and cheetahs is so much greater! Trip leader Jartan Laizer was outstanding—best we’ve had from our African trips (even though the others were extremely good)! He’s extremely competent/knowledgeable, fun to be around, and makes sure every little detail is perfect. Beyond that, all of the people in the villages/tribes we met and camps/hotels we stayed at were wonderful—a special shout-out goes to Danny at the Kati Kati Tented Lodge.