I'm going to get flack for this, but Ngorongoro was my least favorite safari location on my trip. From a geological perspective, I thought it was fascinating and I liked driving along the rim, but when we descended the crater for our game drive, I was struck by how busy it was down there. It was far more crowded with game drive vehicles in the crater than it was anywhere else, even in the Serengeti. Part of this is due to the fact that it's a relatively small area to drive, especially in comparison with Serengeti or Tarangire. There's just not as much area to disperse the vehicles across. Charles also noted that there were not many vehicles in the crater, due to it being green season and that there are often hundreds of them in peak season. I don't think that experience would be for me.
Ngorongoro Crater view point (Kassandra Magruder)
We also didn't see many predators or what I would consider to be compelling game. We did see good numbers of zebra, wildebeest and buffalo. We saw some very charismatic warthogs, hippos out of water (which is always a treat), and rhino from up on the crater rim.
I definitely appreciated driving around the rim and I realize that game viewing is super hit and miss, from day to day or even hour to hour. I don't think I would call Ngorongoro a "miss" at all, but I would temper my expectations and realize that this will always be a busy part of the itinerary.
Excellent travel advice and service
This is my second experience working with Adventure Life. I’m sold. Jess Heuermann is an experienced traveler and provides a lot of useful information when planning a trip. These are the questions I like to ask at the outset - What’s it like to go here, there, what would you suggest, what do people report, can we add any additional side trips? Jess took the time to answer my questions and seek additional information to share with me. Petchie Colina is outstanding in helping with travel logistics and final preparations. Adventure Life has excellent guides and offers private guides and small group adventures. We enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the guides and drivers to learn more about their countries, cultures and histories. A highlight was having the guides pick local restaurants where we could share meals together. Highly recommend.
Claire Cordon
5 days ago
Our six-day tour in Iceland went smoothly with one exception. We had asked for two rooms each night. Somehow we were booked with one room with three beds. It could not be fixed at the first hotel in Reykjavik because the hotel was fully booked. Once informed of the problem, however, Adventure Life rebooked for two rooms for the remainder of the trip. As an 85-year-old traveler, I appreciated that one could participate at different physical levels at many of the stops. Iceland is a great place to visit but on the expensive side.
Mary Warren
6 days ago
Jess was very easy going and answered all our questions. It’s not easy dealing with 6 people at once but she did an outstanding job!
Diane Foster
1 week ago
Kassandra and the Adventure Life team have been incredible! Kassandra was very knowledgeable and attentive to our asks while making sure we kept within our budget. This was our first experience with a travel agent and we were blown away by the booking/initial exploration service. We will use Adventure Life again.