The team
Karibu Safaris In Kenya
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 1986)
- Member Of:
- KATO, Tourism Regulatory Authority & Eco Toursm Kenya
- Tour Types:
- Small & medium group tours (Mid-range & luxury)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $80 to $280 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
ES
Email Didac & Meri | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very efective, simple, stright to what's to be done, no tricks or lies. Helpful people.
Our driver Edwin was very very good at spoting. We went by van but with 4WD and good tyres, which I think is very important. Although it didn't rain there was some places very muddy.
The camp site is also very nice. If you are expecting luxuries, this is not your camp. But if you want nice tents, with the basics but very clean, close to the animals (you eat spoting animals at the top odff the hill in front) so it is a more natural experience, this is definitely your place. William (the Camp manager) is extremelly kind, talk with him and ask him anything. He really likes helping others and making you comfortable! We love him! He gave us a nice experience.
The office personeel was also very kind, simple and without lies, also very important for us. They even helped us to pick a train ticket for the next day after safari.
We really recommend it!
TW
Email Wen | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Reliable, fair price, quick responses, friendly guide and host.
When I booked the trip, Robert replied my questions quickly. He also kindly offered some help or suggestions when I faced some problems.
The accommodation and food are also nice. Although they are not luxurious ones, but with this price, I am satisfied. The rooms are clean (I traveled alone, they gave me a single room every night). The food are also delicious.
During the trip, our guide, Edward, is really friendly and keen to search the great place for animals observing. It’s my first time joining safari, and I really had a great time. We saw lots of animals during game drive. It’s awesome!
As to the Masai village visiting, it’s good for us to have choices between joining or not (if you are not interested in joining culture trip, you could choose to go game drive at the same time. Everyone could decide individually). The camp host, William, who is also from Masai village, is friendly and willing to answer any questions we have.
I chose visiting Masai village, it’s interesting to get closer to observe how they live in daily lives. But be careful, at the end of the visiting, they will want to sell you some souvenirs with really high price. It would be better to ask William about the price beforehand if you are interested in buying those things.
Although there exist some small problems (ex: you need to remind Edward to get the drinking water on the first day; they changed the schedule promptly to accommodate other group members needs; at the end of the trip, they didn’t drop us off at the hostel we live due to the traffic jam), overall they still offered great services. If you are budgeting travelers, and your point is to observe the wild animals, I would strongly recommend Karibu Safaris!
AE
Email Sumit Bhattacharjee | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent experience with karibu safaris
It was an wonderfull five days in Masai mara along with Robert , Edward and william. We have enjoyed the over all trip and many thanks to Edward for showing us the big five. He is a nice, friendly person and have good knowledge over the forest. Also I will mention the name of William , the care taker of the mara camp who is one of the best person I have met in the trip. It was a budget safari but food and accomodatios are really good. Only the decasa hotel is not upto the standard though it was not in the contract. Also the food in transit kenya hotel was average. Finally it is Mr Robert who always supported us through timely communications and advices to make it a successful trip. I will recommend to go ahead with this team to get the smell of Africa.
Email Kenton | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent safari experiences with an experienced and knowledgable driver/guide.
The pre-tour communication was very good and Robert at Karibu managing to tailor the trip to our needs and dates. All staff were friendly and amenable. The driver/guide in Kenya, Arony, was excellent. He was knowledgable and experienced with a heightened awareness of the game areas. He did everything he could to ensure that we had the best possible safari experience and was in constant communications with other tour guides in order to ensure that we didn't miss anything. The accommodation was basic but clean and comfortable and everything lived up to our expectations.
CN
Email Jiabin | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was an amazing 6 days safari trip and totally worth it!!!
My friends was with Karibu in April and she made the recommendation to me. Turns out that Karibu is definitely the right choice. Their staff is really nice and Robert always with quick response. We had 8 people in a van and have enough space during the game drive. Our driver Laurence is a really good driver with good skills and experience in game drive. Laurence can make sure us to see the most of animals in Masai Mara. On our third day, Laurence ensured us witness the whole process of Cheetah hunting. It is breath taking!!!!! The food in the camp and picnic lunch is nice. Healthy and delicious. The hotel in Nakuru is great! All in all, the trip is amazing and totally worth it!! Thanks Karibu for the amazing 6 days safari trip and really enjoyed it!! Totally worth it!! Due to unusual rain from May to June, didn't see the great migration in Mara River. Bit pity, however, guess it is another reason to get back next year :)))
US
Email Christina | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Lions and tiger and bears oh my!!
We were a group of 4 and we did the 5 night budget safari (2 nights Masai Mara, 1 night lake Nakuru, 2 nights Amboseli) $650pp Driver: Edward
I highly recommend this tour company and would definitely use them again but would pay more for a private safari van next time!! Edward our driver is also excellent!!!!
From the beginning Robert answered all my questions and responded immediately to all my emails. I found Karibu Safari on safaribooking.com and decided to go with them because their prices were very reasonable for the budget Safari and they also have reviews on TripAdvisor so it gave me confidence to send my deposit and have trust that they were a valid company. Here are my observations and what we experienced
1) They recommended Decasa hotel in Nairobi... DO NOT STAY THERE! It was cheap at $32 a night but the neighborhood is sketchy and we had to have the hotel’s security guard escort us around the block to dinner where we also had to buy his dinner. The toilet was broken and the sink was clogged. There’s a tv but only god knows where the remote to turn it on is. Our friends didn’t take a shower for fear of electrocution due to low hanging wires. Find your own place and have Kirabu pick you up!
2) The van - it’s good and it’s the style that all the other budget companies use but.... it holds 8 people and 9 if someone sits up front with the driver but when you’re actually on Safari it’s not comfortable with 7 people which is what we had in our group!! 6 is the best but if you can afford the private safari van then DO IT!!! The front row is awesome because you get unobstructed views but very awkward as you have to stand on the seats but when you sit down you get your own side window, you also get jostled around a lot while on safari. The middle seats are 2 captains chairs and give lots of room but no side windows, the back row seats seats three and also good because you get unobstructed back views. The 7 of us switched seats everyday to give everyone a chance to get a different perspective and seat but if you have tall guys then the back row is best for them. It’s also a long drive to get to the different places!! 6 hours to get from Nairobi to Masai Mara, 5 hours to get to Lake Nakuru, 8 hours to get to Amboseli. It would be AMAZING if Kirabu would equip their vans with WiFi as some of the others had this feature to pass the time on these drives from place to place or have your drivers offer a personal hotspot via a company phone. *if you can sort out a SIM card before the safari do it!* oh and some of the other vans had coolers to keep drinks cold, that was probably the luxury safari tours but it would be a nice touch to add.
3) Lunch stops - it’s good! Usually a rice, bean, veg, meat buffet style with a bunch of other groups but they are efficient and it’s a decent meal to fill you up and you’re on your way. When you stop for lunch you buy your own water and drinks. They usually stop somewhere there’s souvenirs and a little market to grab a few snacks attached to the lunch place. ALWAYS carry toilet paper or tissues!!!!!! Also hand sanitizer is a good thing to have on hand as well.
4) Mara Springs tented camp - DO NOT USE their public toilet!! It is so gross!!! As soon as you get to the camp which really right next to the park and you can see the wild animals (zebras, giraffe) on the way there as you pass through these small villages and the camp looks directly on the hillside of the Masai (its a peek-a-boo view so don’t get your hopes up) still really cool though! The tents are what’s expected for a budget Safari but the beds look like the Great Rift Valley as they are very worn. We had 2 tents side by side and both bathroom windows the screens were broken so we had lots of bug visitors at night so keep that part of the tent zipped! I told them about this and they didn’t seem to be interested in fixing it. We also had to ask for chairs to sit on outside the tent which is a great place to relax at the end of the Safari day. The first night we arrived they didn’t have toilet paper or towels until around 8pm that night so again make sure you carry some. There’s power in the camp from 5:30-7:30am and then at night from 6:30-10pm and this is when you take showers and charge your batteries in the communal area. The showers were hit and miss the first night I got a barely warm shower and the second night it was HOT! With our friends it was the opposite so I guess it depends on your luck when you decide to shower. *pack shower shoes too* In regards to the charging area it was a total cluster!! The Chinese took over that area and almost all the available outlets so get in there quick!!! We forgot about our batteries one night and the next morning they were still there. Every one at that camp is very nice and accommodating. The food was good and I loved the packed lunch for the all day Safari day. The driver is given a case of water as soon as we arrive at the camp and I recommend you all divide it up as we only took one bottle and during dinner had to buy another bottle of water because the driver wasn’t sleeping at that camp so we had no access to the water that was included with the tour. I also recommend bringing a head lamp as it makes it so much easier to move around the camp and your tent when the power is off. There are no outlets in the tent.
5) Masai Mara Safari - BRING GOOD QUALITY BINOCULARS!!!!!! We were hoping to get to see the great wildebeest migration but missed it by a week. However...... the first night drive was fabulous! There’s a CB radio and all the drivers work together to find out where the good stuff is and then we get to see it! We saw two lioness and 3 cubs the first night. We also watched wild dogs on the hunt but had to leave because there’s a rule about having to be out of the park by 6:30?? The next morning we were told we would start at 6:30 as they start serving breakfast at 6:00. The all day safari was excellent! It’s kind of a traffic jam if something exciting happens and I mean 30-60 vehicles all trying to get their people a good view. Edward is AWESOME!!!! Incredible driving and maneuvering!!! He did his best to get us up front every time and he succeeded!!!!! He took us to the river crossing and there was not one wildebeest but lots of hippos. We had lunch under a tree which was so cool! This is where it gets a bit confusing. When I messaged Karibu I was told drivers can drive off road in Kenya which is why it’s better to Safari in Kenya but we were told by Edward that there’s a $500 fine for driving off the designated roads. Every time we saw something it wasn’t anywhere near a designated road and there were a million Safari vans and trucks there so I’m not sure what is up with what I was told by Karibu and Edward. On the final morning before moving on to Lake Nakuru you are given an option of Masai Village or Lake Navishu??spelling?? Half our group wanted village and are group of 4 wanted to do the lake. Both of these tours are $30pp extra and Edward was nice enough to allow us to do both. We went on a morning safari and then to the village where 3 people went in and we hung outside with some of the kids and played ball and tag the. Edward drive us to the lake (must pay in cash in local, USD or euro) where we got on our own boat and it was wonderful!!! So many different kinds of birds! Loved our boat tour around the lake. We had to drive an additional 3-4 hours to get to the hotel.
6) Citymax hotel- It was a nicer hotel than Decasa. The WiFi only works in the main lobby and for some reason when you charge your electronics and phones in the single room outlet it takes FOREVER! Shower was HOT and water pressure good! It’s nice to watch the sunset from the rooftop area but they don’t have any chairs to sit and relax which would make it so much better. We asked for ice and sparkling water and one of the guys at the hotel said he would run and grab it for us. He came back with a small bag of ice and 4 bottles of sprite and said it was $17. I don’t recommend asking them to run to the store for you!! We had been used to eating a buffet style meal and so when we sat at our assigned dinner time we had noticed the group before us had a nice buffet selection but with us they said that we would get fresh food brought to us. Well..... the plate had the tiniest chicken leg and tiny portions. We asked if we chould have more but they said we would have to buy it and gave us a menu. Half a chicken was $15usd and a bowl of soup $5. I would expect to pay these prices in a 5 star hotel but this was a BUDGET hotel ripping off the tourist in my opinion!!! It was just one night and we were off to safari around Lake Nakuru. The hotel was 3 minutes from the park but as with every park entrance (Masai, Nakuru,Amboseli) we sensed that there was some kind of underlying politics with the drivers and the parks where some vans went straight in and others had to wait in line while the driver sorted things out. We got into Nakuru and they don’t have the million flamingo like before and you have to stay on the road so we never got really close to the rhinos and we wished we had brought binoculars!! It was still sooooooo amazing to see them!!! We drove around the whole lake. I would have liked to have stopped at one of the view points but 2 people in our van were on a time crunch but I never felt cheated and enjoyed the Safari!! This is were we said goodbye to the couple and single guy as they were heading back to Nairobi and we continued on to Amboseli just the 4 of us and it was HEAVENLY to have the whole van to ourselves!!! I honestly think Edward is super human as he drove from 6:00am that morning and got us to Amboseli around 9pm that night without any rest!
7) Kimana tented camp - WOW!!!!! Talk about a night and day difference from Mara Springs tented camp. This place was fantastic! 24hr power, outlet in the room, 24hr hot shower, a bar!!, a chef that comes out and talks to you about the food, the staff that works there are incredible, public communal toilets are clean, the area is very well maintained, fire pit at night!!!! So happy to have finished with this camp!!! Also super close to the entrance of Amboseli park and looks directly at Mt Kilimanjaro! We were offered the nature walk for $10usd per person plus tip and this is a rip off. They just walk you in a circle and you don’t see much. We just saw an enormous bird on a tree and talked about dating and customs. Very underwhelming. They will also ask for a tip at the end and it was only 45 minutes. Amboseli however is the park to go to if you love elephants!!! So many and they are so HUGE!!! We witnessed huge male elephants refuse to let safari trucks pass on the road and made everyone back up. Edward read this one elephant family’s route and positioned us perfectly to have them cross right in front of our van!!!! What we didn’t know then was how lucky we were to see the mother with the twin elephant babies and then there was another baby elephant with so much attitude we were in hysterics laughing and watching!!! The elephants in Masai were very mellow but the elephants in Amboseli were so mesmerizing to watch!!! We saw hyenas in Amboseli that we didn’t see in Masai but we did see lionesses and the usual zebras and wildebeest. Loved Amboseli!!!
8) Edward our driver - He was not a man of many words but when he did speak his knowledge of the animals and the parks are incredible!!!! He had answers for every question we threw at him and he had to put up with 4 Americans, 1 single American and a Swedish couple and I commend him for really giving us a fabulous safari!!! I’m not the easiest person as we’ve travelled a lot and so my expectations and demands come in waves, fast and lots of them but he really was so incredible!!! He never lost his patience with any of us and truly tried to please everyone and get everyone exactly what they wanted! He is an incredible driver!!! He has been doing this for 9 years if I remember correctly and you can tell! He knew where to go and would be on his radio trying to find us good stuff!! Since we missed the wildebeest migration I asked him when we left him if he could do me two favors. 1) send a video of the migration as soon as he sees it 2)send a video of a kill which he did 3 days later and it was so sad I’m actually glad I never saw it in real life. It just reinforces my opinion of how awesome he is and that he did this for me after our Safari was over and we were out of the country but so I could see these things!!
Here is my list of packing essentials...
Packet of mustard!! Those packed lunch sandwiches are dry.
Safari hat!!! Just for the fun photos!!
Neck pillow- eye mask for the long drives
Bandana or surgical mask - lots and lots and lots of dust
Binoculars - no cheap ones!!!
Head lamp
Sunglasses
Toilet paper/hand wipes/hand sanitizer
Travel towel
IN
Email Ambarish Trivedi | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very good
Our driver was more like a experienced Guide and do EXCELLENT job so that we can see all Animals.since we are VEGETARIANS,food was a big problem for us.
But again I will say Driver Aruni was excellent and we see all big FIVES because of him only!!
Super
Super. Nice. Good. I like very much all. Driver - super.
BR
Email Fernando Loureiro | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very helpful and professional
The Safari was amazing and our driver Edward was excellent .
The only thing that we did like it was the food at the restaurants on the road. The rest was great . We had such a great experience and to be so close to the animals was awesome
AE
Email Daniela | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience! The whole safari was a great adventure. Good guides and good company! Recomanded!
Overall very nice and enjoyble experience. I made a lot of friends, the place and the arangements are suitable for single travelers also.
Highly recomanded
The drivers who were also our guide were very knowledgebles. I recomand Ken and Jackton!