Tanzanian-owned, and you deal with us directly.
eXvo Travel is based in Arusha and run by Tanzanians. The person planning your safari is the person who has stood in the places you are going.
Why we started
Most safaris sold to visitors in Tanzania are not sold by Tanzanians. An agency abroad takes the enquiry, marks it up, and passes the actual work to a local operator the traveller never speaks to. The traveller pays more, the operator earns less, and nobody on either end can answer a specific question about where the herds are this week.
eXvo exists to remove that middle. You talk directly to the people who will run your journey, in the town it starts from.
What we believe
- Say what is true about a season, a camp or a sighting, even when a vaguer answer would sell more easily.
- Publish guide prices so you know roughly where you stand, then quote one all-in price for your dates and hold it. No hidden fees, and none appearing after confirmation.
- Fewer places, more nights. Depth beats coverage on every length of trip.
- Guides are the product. Pay them properly, keep them for whole seasons, and let them make decisions in the field.
- Never promise an animal. Position travellers well and be honest about the odds.
- Community visits only where a community has agreed to receive visitors and benefits directly.
Who you are dealing with
You deal with us directly, start to finish. The person who answers your first message is the person who plans your route and meets you in Arusha, and one guide stays with you for the whole journey rather than handing you over at each lodge. Where a journey needs specialists (mountain crews, coastal partners, light aircraft), we work with people we know and tell you who they are.
John is a wildlife biologist and guide, and founded eXvo Travel in Arusha to put that expertise directly in the hands of travellers.
He holds a degree in Wildlife Management from the College of African Wildlife Management at Mweka, East Africa's most established wildlife college, where he graduated with honours and was named Best Upcoming Researcher in 2024. His research on invasive plants and butterfly populations in the Kilimanjaro region is under review for publication, and his fieldwork across northern Tanzania has covered human-elephant conflict, bird populations under changing land use, and forest encroachment.
He has been leading field safaris into Tanzania's protected areas since his time at Mweka, and since 2025 has taught in the Tourism Department at the National College of Tourism in Arusha, guiding student groups through the same parks these journeys travel, and fielding considerably harder questions than the average traveller asks.
What that means on safari: you are travelling with someone who can tell you why the elephants are where they are this month, not just where to find them.
How we work with our guides and staff
Our guides are employed, not casually hired per trip, and are paid whether or not the season is busy. They hold current professional guiding certification and first-aid training, and we fund their continuing assessment.
This is not a marketing point so much as the reason the safaris are good. A guide who has worked the same parks for a decade, and who is not worried about next month, notices things a rotating freelancer cannot.
On conservation and community, carefully
Tourism in Tanzania funds conservation directly. Park and conservation fees are a substantial part of what you pay, and they are what keep these ecosystems protected rather than converted. That is real, and it is the honest version of the claim.
We are not going to tell you a safari is carbon neutral, or that a percentage goes to a project we cannot name. As specific commitments become real, such as a named partner or a measurable contribution, they will appear here with numbers attached.
Registrations and memberships
Our licensing and association registration numbers will be published here and appear on every quote and invoice. Ask us at any point and we will send them.
Questions travellers ask us
Yes. Our licensing and association details are available on request and appear on every quote and invoice. Ask and we will send them immediately.
Yes, on the northern circuit. For flights, the southern parks and Zanzibar we work with named partners, and we tell you who they are rather than presenting them as ours.
How that translates into an actual journey.
