PRIVATE TANZANIA SAFARIS · ARUSHA · EST. 2016
A Tanzanian family's safari company, built in Arusha
Maasai cattle herder turned celebrated chef whose forty-year career paid for his children's education. Today, Nelson and the founding team run private safaris across Tanzania the way the country deserves to be experienced.
They Story Behind the Name
"Emnel" is two names joined: Emily, my youngest sister, and Nelson — me. The company carries my family inside it.
But the story begins long before 2016, with my father, Anania Mesuli Laizer. He grew up herding cattle in Sekei, a Maasai village outside Arusha. Education was not in the script for the son of a herding family in his generation. He pushed his way into a kitchen anyway, then into a culinary apprenticeship, and eventually to Utalii College in Nairobi — the most respected hospitality training institution in East Africa at the time, and still today.
By the time he finished, he had become one of the celebrated chefs of his generation. He cooked across hotels and lodges in Tanzania and Kenya for forty years. Every shilling he earned went back into educating his children. Mine was one of those educations.
He's still in Arusha. Emnel Adventures exists because of him.
◆ How the Company Began
In 2016 I founded Emnel with $200 and a website I built myself. I taught myself Google Ads from YouTube videos. Most of the enquiries that came in went nowhere — I was learning, slowly, the difference between a curious email and a booking.
Then came Cornelia — our first direct guest. She came during COVID, when no other traveller in Tanzania was moving. I built her itinerary with more care than perhaps any I've built since, because so much was riding on it. She loved her trip, left us a five-star TripAdvisor review, and went home and referred a friend.
She also documented the trip on film. Her own words, no editing from us:
That feeling — the pride of having looked after someone properly, and the trust that came back as a referral — is the feeling Emnel was built around. Nearly a decade in, it's still the standard.
◆ What Emnel Does Today
We run private safaris across northern Tanzania — Tarangire, Lake Manyara, the Serengeti, and Ngorongoro — and the southern circuit (Nyerere/Ruaha) on request. We extend into Kilimanjaro treks and Zanzibar beach stays. We are headquartered in Arusha. Every guide we send into the field is Tanzanian-born, certified, and part of our core team — not subcontracted.
What sets us apart isn't the parks we visit (every operator visits the same parks). It's how we work. The person who builds your itinerary is the same person who meets you at the airport. We don't have a sales office in one country and an operations office in another. We don't sell trips we don't personally run. When you book with us, you are working directly with the people who will be in the vehicle with you.
That sounds like a small thing. In Tanzania's safari market, it's actually rare.
◆ How we work
A few principles that shape every safari we build
Private departures only. Your vehicle, your guide, your itinerary. We do not run group departures.
Tanzanian-led. Every guide we use is from this country, certified by Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA), and part of our team. Not freelancers brought in for the week.
Specific over generic. We name the lodge, the guide, the route, and the year — not "luxury accommodation in the Serengeti.
Hand Picked Experiences, Hand picked accommodation and any suppliers: This matters, we work with people we know and we know they can deliver. Other than just a guest, with the lodges we work with you are an emnel guest, known by name and every detail matters and is personalized for your stay
You don't book yet. You send us an enquiry. We send back a tailored proposal within 48 hours. We refine it together until it's exactly right. Nothing is paid until then.
Giving Back: Our Partnership with Ree-Pads Tanzania
We chose to partner with Reepads Tanzania, a Tanzanian-founded social enterprise that produces reusable, eco-friendly sanitary pads and distributes them — alongside menstrual health education — to girls in rural schools across the country.
Why this work, specifically:
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Across rural Tanzania, girls miss school during their periods because they don't have reliable access to menstrual products. The cumulative effect on their education — and ultimately on their ability to choose their own path — is severe.
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Reepads' pads are washable, reusable for up to two years, locally made, and locally owned. A sustainable solution, not a donated stopgap.
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Reepads is Tanzanian-founded by Rephrin Allan Kombe, with deep partnerships with schools, local organisations, and community leaders. The work is rooted, not parachuted in.
Our contribution:
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A portion of every Emnel safari booking goes directly to Reepads. [CONFIRM mechanism and percentage]
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Quarterly, our team travels with the Reepads team to distribute pads at schools in our region — including schools in and around Sekei, where my father grew up, and in the Maasai communities near Tarangire and Ngorongoro that several of our guides come from.
◆ The team
Emnel is run by a small founding team of Tanzanian-born, TANAPA-certified guides — all based in Arusha, all part of the company since its early years. We'll be introducing each of them properly, with photos and backgrounds, on our dedicated team page.
Rahim Maghimbi
Senior Guide: English Speaking
Gabriel Sanguyan
Senior Guide: English Speaking
Ally Msemo
Senior Fuide: English Speaking
Prince Charles
Safari Guide: German & English Speaking
◆ Licences & Certifications
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Licensed by the ministry of natural resources
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Member of the Tanzania Local Tour Operators Association (TLTO)
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Guides certified by Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA)
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5-star rated on TripAdvisor
