This is what a safari should feel like.
Private safaris · Expert Tanzanian guides · UK-based planning
Booking a safari usually means a trade-off. Go through a large UK operator and you get convenience - but little soul, and a price inflated by layers of overhead.
Book directly with a local company and you get authenticity - but navigating the coordination from home can be genuinely complicated.
Makoma is the third option. Expert UK planning and personal support, paired directly with the finest independent guides in Tanzania.
Your Itinerary
Every itinerary is carefully paced to give you more time with the wildlife and less time on the road. But the real difference is your guide - the daily decisions about where to go, when to stay, and which corners of the park to reach first. Lodges and camps are selected with the same care, personally visited by our ground team.
Your Guide
The guide is everything. Not the lodge, not the itinerary - the person sitting next to you in the vehicle. We partner exclusively with Serengeti Wilderness Calls, whose guides bring decades of field experience and a genuine, lifelong connection to this landscape. Your vehicle is private. Your guide is exceptional.
Your Planning
From your first conversation with us to the moment you land back home, every detail is handled. One point of contact in the UK, a trusted team on the ground in Tanzania, and no gap between the two. You book with complete confidence.
We take care of everything else.
We work with one ground team. We chose the best.
Every Makoma safari is led by Willie Mollel and his team at Serengeti Wilderness Calls.
This isn't one partnership among several - it is the foundation the company is built on. Willie and his guides bring over two decades of experience across Tanzania's national parks, and a connection to this landscape that no amount of training can replicate.
The Expertise on the Ground
Willie grew up on the Maasai Steppe and trained at the College of African Wildlife Management at Mweka - widely regarded as the continent's most respected wildlife institution. He has spent over two decades guiding across Tanzania's northern circuit and knows this landscape the way most people know their own neighbourhood.
Every Makoma safari is led by Willie personally, or by a guide he has selected and trained to the same standard. You travel in a private vehicle, at your own pace, with someone who commands genuine respect from every guide and ranger in the parks.
Beyond the Wildlife
Florah grew up at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro and co-founded Serengeti Wilderness Calls with Willie. She runs the ground logistics - staff, scheduling, the countless moving parts that make a multi-day safari feel effortless - but her real passion is the cultural side.
While Willie leads the game drives, Florah shapes the experiences that happen around them. She has spent years building genuine relationships with local communities and designs encounters that go well beyond the performative - trying mbege brews, learning the preparation of Chagga dishes like machalari, and spending time with people whose way of life most visitors never get close to.
Karibu Tanzania.
"One member of our group has been on three previous safaris in both Kenya and Tanzania and said Willie was by far the best guide they've ever had."
Gabriel Liljevall, Sweden
"He knows nearly all the other guides from all the other companies. We insisted he eat his meals with us, where we continued to learn and became friends. I assure you, Serengeti Wilderness Calls is the best."
Tom Overbaugh, USA
"I'm a single woman with three children, so I found it quite exciting. But it was the most relaxing holiday I've had because I didn't have to think about everything or worry. We saw everything we wanted to see and did everything we wanted to do."
Judith, Netherlands
Itinerary Concepts
Every trip is different. These are starting points - we shape the route, the lodges, and the pace around you.
The Northern Circuit
Tarangire, the Serengeti, and the Ngorongoro Crater. Three iconic destinations, privately guided, in five days.
Starting from £2,495 per person
The Makoma Classic
Our signature 7 day itinerary. More time in the Serengeti, a cultural encounter, and the space to let your guide follow the wildlife.
Starting from £3,295 per person
The Grand Traverse
Beyond the classic circuit. 10 days across Northern Tanzania. The Western Serengeti, the Grumeti River, the Ngorongoro Crater, and a dawn walk with the Hadzabe at Lake Eyasi.
Starting from £4,695 per person
How It Works
Get in touch
Tell us a little about what you're looking for - when you're thinking of travelling, how long you have, what matters most to you. From there, we'll arrange a call to talk it through properly.
We design your trip
You'll receive a fully tailored itinerary with clear, transparent pricing. We refine it together - the route, the lodges, the pace - until every detail is exactly right.
You pack your bags
That's genuinely it. Once your trip is confirmed, we handle everything on the ground - park fees, accommodation, transfers, internal flights.
You just book your flight to Tanzania.
We'll tell you which one.
Why I Started Makoma
I founded Makoma after travelling with Willie myself.
I still remember sitting on top of a small hill in the heart of the Serengeti. There wasn't another vehicle as far as the eye could see. A few metres from the car, eleven lion cubs from the Makoma pride were playing. That was the moment I understood what a safari could actually be - and it's from that pride that we take our name.
I started this company because I wanted to make that kind of experience available to more people. Not a crowded game drive with twenty other vehicles. Not a big operator charging a premium for their own overheads. Just exceptional guiding, genuine privacy, and the feeling that you're seeing something most people never will.
Jake Ansell
Founder, Makoma Expeditions.
