safari yellowstone day trips

My wife and I spent three days with Carl. We were very happy that we chose him to help us tour Yellowstone. He we extremely knowledgable about park history and where to find wildlife. We would never have seen half of what we observed without him. He was very professional and taylored the tour to our interests and physical capabilities. Well worth the price! A wonderful journey!

We spent 3 long activity-filled days with Carl. We saw a black bear, wolves, elk & bison to our hearts content and even a coyote trotting by. Carl is a professional, with tremendous knowledge about the fauna and flora of Yellowstone NP. He made our daughter feel very special, and she is already asking about when we can go back. Carl was the key to our 3-day Yellowstone experience for us,

We spent five days/four nights in mid-June with Safari Yellowstone in Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks. Having never paid for a park guide, I had mixed feelings going in, but no reservations afterwards -- definitely worthwhile! Pat (first day) and Carl were great -- informative, eagle eyed, interesting. Given the immensity of the parks, this is the efficient way to see everything - they know where and when to go and where not to. I know we would never have seen the wildlife that we did without Carl (e.g., watched a wolf pack for two hours, saw a badger and pups, an otter and pups, grizzly and cubs, black bear, moose, elk, beaver, big horn sheep, cayotes, and, of course, bison).

We spent three days with Carl last weekend and had the best experience we've had in years! We have two kids and they both fell in love with Carl. We saw at least 20 different kinds of animals, including 8 wolves, 5 grizzlies, black bears, hundreds of elk and of course thousands of bison. Carl's expertise and experience, as Welles his insider knowledge ofmwherento find the wildlife, were invaluable. But it was more than just wildlife. Carls intimate knowledge of the park and its geological and political history gave us both a history and a science lesson. Super interesting.THe best part though is that you don't have to worry about a thing. they pick you up bad drop you off at your hotel or the airport, and take care of all the details. Worth every penny and then some!

I only wish we had read Kevin H.'s review of Aug 25, 2012 before booking our 'safari' with Carl - because we had an almost identical, disappointing experience. We've been to Africa 5 times on safari and - don't believe the web site - this experience is the furthest thing from an African safari as can be imagined. Carl's idea of great wildlife viewing is looking for animals through a scope while standing on the side of a hill at dawn. This was certainly not our expectation, especially given our experiences and Carl's own description of his experience and business. Watching animals the size of amoeba through a scope is interesting for the first hour or two but, frankly, rather unreal - seeing a live animal with one's own eyes is what we were expecting. After the wolves moved up into the forest and didn't return, we were ready to move on, but the other wolf observers and Carl were stickin' to their scopes. More "mundane" wildlife were of little interest to Carl and, indeed, we saw more on our own than we did with him. To quote Kevin H. : "If your goal is to have a great chance of seeing bears and wolves through a spotting scope, and watching them at a great distance for hours, Safari Yellowstone may be the perfect tour for you." Amen.

We went on a afternoon/evening trip with Carl in early October. We did not see any up close animals but after talking to others who were with different companies it seemed that we were the only group that day to see any animals (which included wolfs!). I loved the "insider" perspective Carl provides and that he has a close relationship to many of the rangers at the park. We were able to see how they all work together to monitor the wolfs and how important it is to the park to make sure they are safe and tracked for research purposes. His equipment was top notch and we were even able to see some wolf's past dusk because his scopes were of such high quality. I went with my partner and his mother and Carl really made sure the trip matched what we were looking for...for example my MIL is a biologist and when he found that out he took us on a short hike and we showed us a bison carcass, which we all loved and learned a lot from! We did not see a "ton" of animals but our 5 hour trip went quick, we learned a lot, had a great time and honestly he is a great guy with lots of interesting stories. It was also fun to hear about the changes in the park the last 20 years. I also think he would be great for those who are a bit more "hard core" and adventurous so if you are looking for a guide who isn't afraid to get a little dirty to see an animal Carl is your guy. (Though we were not so "hardcore" and he still did an awesome job making it a very memorable experience).

For our August visit to Yellowstone, we wanted to get away from the crowd, enjoy wilderness and see a few animals. We spent two perfect days with our guide Lynn. Without him, we would not have gotten up at 6:00 and seen wolves, we would not have even known where to go and see them, we would not have understood the dynamics of the different wolf packs, we would not have dared hiking by ourselves in the backcountry for fear of bears (possibly unjustifiably, but still), we would not have discovered this incredibly beautiful creek. In brief, I would have been driving all day long and we would not have made the most out of our stay. Sure, we did not see any bears. Lynn tried really hard to find some but none showed up! Lynn is very knowledgeable and enthousiastic. Our stay in Yellowstone has been a real success. Swiss family of six.

We chose this activity because of the perfect 5 star rating and rave reviews on TripAdvisor. We were looking forward to it more than anything else on our vacation and, unfortunately, it did not even come close to meeting our expectations. We had Carl as our guide, and I had spoken to him personally before booking our trip and, I thought, made it very clear what type of experience we were looking for. He confirmed our reservation via email and sent us a description of what we would be doing. Carl met us on time at the designated location, and we were off on our safari. Early on there was a group of people watching something through their spotting scopes. Carl pulled over and set up his scopes and we watched a grizzly in the distance. Shortly after that, the same scenario was repeated except that the objects of everyone's attention were three wolves. Again, we watched them through spotting scopes. That was great, but after more than an hour and a half of doing that, we were ready to move on - but Carl was not. Our whole family sat in the truck waiting to move on, while Carl stayed outside talking to his fellow wolf observers for what seemed like forever. When he rejoined us, he was clearly perturbed. He told us "If you want to just see animals you should go to the zoo and not pay me. The real enjoyment is in studying the animal's behavior." If Carl had expressed that sentiment to me prior to the trip, we would not have booked the safari with him. If your goal is to have a great chance of seeing bears and wolves through a spotting scope, and watching them at a great distance for hours, Safari Yellowstone may be the perfect tour for you. That was not what we were looking for, and Carl was either unwilling or unable to adjust to meet our (his paying customer's) desires. Quite frankly, we hated it - especially after he became clearly irritated with us that we didn't share his view of what a great safari should be. Not only was it unpleasant, we lost 8 hours of our day when we could have been enjoying stopping and looking at the animals that Carl seemed to deem too mundane to waste his time on. If I had it to do over again, I would have taken the several hundred dollars that I spent with Safari Yellowstone and bought a spotting scope with it. If I had done that, we not only would have had a better experience, but we would also have had a nice spotting scope to keep and use for the rest of our lives. We could have stopped where the crowds were in Lamar Valley and seen exactly the same things. Carl didn't "find" the bear and wolves, he just stopped where there was already a crowd watching them and set up the spotting scopes. It is not difficult to know where the activity is - those with spotting scopes already set up make it pretty apparent. Carl did not do, or make an attempt to do, all of the things that he had indicated on the itinerary. We chose not to make a big deal out of it because the whole experience was already way too uncomfortable for our family and we had no interest in further irritating him. I debated between a rating of 1 or 2, but decided on the 1 for this reason - every business is responsible for serving the needs of their customers and delivering on what was agreed to. In my opinion, that did not happen for us on our safari. There was no effort made to react to a car full of paying customers that did not want to look at the same three wolves through a spotting scope for several hours - and that total lack of customer focus rates a 1 from me.

What a fabulous week. We spent 7 days with our guide Pat. We travelled approximately 1000 miles seeing Yellowstone National Park and The Grand Tetons. Pat's knowledge was amazing he told us about the history of the area explained about the geology but most of all he knew how to find wild animals. We saw brown bears and cubs, grizzle bears, wolves, bison, elk, moose, bald eagles,pronghorn, trout spawning and some of the most beautiful waterfalls and lakes one could imagine. We were out early morning and again after dinner so we could see as many animals as possible. We stayed in lovely hotels or cabins had meals either at the hotel or perhaps a local point of interest. We usually had a picnic lunch sitting by a magnificent lake or running stream. If you want to see animals as we did after travelling all the way from Australia I think this is the only way to do it. In short we had the best time saw all and more than we would have hoped for in what is a truly beautiful part of the world.

Our guide, Lynn, was incredibly knowledgeable about the park, its wildlife, and its history. He pointed out the megafauna of the park, rapidly set up spotting scopes, and let us spend as much time watching romping bear cubs, gnoshing grizzlies, pronghorn, shy river otters, and spent an hour watching the elusive wolves of the park with us. His enthusiasm and love for the park is genuine, and he was very informative for our kids without being condescending at all. He went over and above, after our tour was to be over, he drove us to the peregrine falcon nest to show us the chicks. When he took us to see the river otters, he tearfully told us that one of the kits would not survive the winter because of an injury. He clearly loves this beautiful place in the world, and shares it responsibly and thoroughly. Not insignificant, also, is that a day in the park with Safari Yellowstone meant that our entire family could look for animals together. The pressure of planning a day and driving through the park was completely lifted. We felt comfortable with our guide and had a great tour. Also, the average visitor does not have access to the network of the wolf program personnel. All of the guides @ Safari are in contact at all times, share the location of animals, and ensure everyone gets to see as much as possible. An experience of a lifetime, truly.

We spent two full days with Carol the owner of Safari Yellowstone. This guy is amazing. He will find any animal in yellowstone for you to view. The purpose of our trip was to find wolves. The pack was very hard to find as they are smaller and spread out. However he found two wolves nesting and one standing beautifully on a rock for us to view. Rick the lead for the wolf project at yellowstone told me that Carl can find a pup behind a mushroom. We did not just see wolves though. We saw grizzly bears, black bears, Elk, Rams, Deer (many types), bison and more bison. We also saw Periquen Falcon babies nesting. We did some very nice hikes and some very educational walking trips of Mammoth. The main thing with Safari yellowstone is comfort and education. He picked us up each morning promptly at 5:00am (our choice to see the animals) and spent 12 hours with us each day. Provided anything we wanted as well like water, coke, coffee, muffins, sandwiches etc. My wife needs a gluten free diet and he even provide for that as well. His personality was great and the suburban was very comfortable. However the key to this trip was finding animals and we found lots of animals. I totally loved it and will spend two more days with him next year. Well worth it as you will also learn what to do when you visit yellowstone on your own. Too many people go to yellowstone and just drive the roads. They miss so much doing this. Being with an educated biologist made the trip into yellowstone much more exciting.

We spent a full day with Carl, the owner of Safari Yellowstone, and it was an amazing experience. Carl is well connected to other guides and wildlife people, and we were able to watch a pack of wolves for close to two hours with scopes and binoculars supplied by Carl. We also saw lots of elks, bison, prong horns, deer, long horn sheep, mountain goats, a great owl in nest with its young, and other birds. Carl was very knowledgeable and knows where to look and how to spot wildlife. He is friendly, engaging, and fun to spent an entire day with (which says a lot!). The experience far exceeded our expectations. DO NOT CONFUSE HIS COMPANY WITH YELLOWSTONE SAFARI. Despite the similar names, they are not the same business.

We booked our trip with SAFARI Yellowstone and we were completely satisfied. Our tour guide was so knowledgable and personable that we felt we had taken a college course in the park. We saw the animals of the areas, both Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, in their natural environments, the rivers, lakes, geysers, and sulphuric pools. It is as if two separate worlds collided into one place. Be sure to go with Safari Yellowstone, those 2 words in that order, you will not be disappointed.

My husband and I booked a one day excursion to yellowstone with Carl and we were greeted promptly at 6am at our hotel in Livingston. Our guide, Pat, is the most amazing individual we came across while in Montana. He was so knowledgeable about the animals, plants, rocks, history of the park and all the surroundings. We had a million questions and he answered them all. I truly can't say enough great things about Pat and the trip! Unfortunately for me, I got sick while on the trip and Pat was so accommodating and caring about the whole event. He even took me to the medical office at Fort Mommouth and sat with my husband in the waiting room and then took us back early to the hotel. He is such a great person and made the shortened day just fantastic! In my mind, there is no other company to book when you need a guide through Yellowstone! We saw so many bears, elk, buffalo and mountain goats while on the trip. The SUV was very clean, and they provided us with binoculars, drinks, food. Just fabulous!

I can't stop talking about the fantastic day my friends and I had on our Safari Yellowstone tour! Our guide Lynn was so great and super friendly. He knew all the places to go to find wildlife and I think we saw almost every animal in the park. We got to see wolves with cubs, 2 bears, bison, elk, mountain goats, pronghorn. We had a running joke with him that the only animal he didn't find us was a unicorn! LOL! Lynn also took us on a hike around Trout Lake which was so beautiful. Book a tour with these guys, you will NOT regret it!