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
KR
Email Areum | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best guide is Mr. Arony! He goes beyond expectations! Honeymoon left with magical experience!
My Husband has been on many safaris and told me that this was his best experience.
Thanks to Mr. Arony my first Safari became the most magical moment for our honeymoon experience!
He is very knowlegable and in one day saw most all the animals including big five!
He is a humorous and most excellent guide and I highly recommend his wisdom! You can never go wrong with him!
Thank you Mr. Arony !
it was a magical moment!
DE
Email Vera | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unforgettable Experience with Aruni and Karibu Safari!
We have been on a 3 days Masai Mara Trip with Aruni and it was completely perfect.
Everything was perfectly arranged! The trip was comfortable, the guide was amazing and the animals exciting.
I loved it and would highly recommend it!
DE
Email Michael Summer | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Aruni is an amazing guy who made our trip perfect
Aruni is a safe and good driver. The was always very kind and made the safari special. He gave us a lot of interesting information and fit the trip individual for us.
Thanks Aruni, we will always remember the mara!
KR
Email Don | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Arony the SUPER guide! He goes above expectations! Our Honeymoon ended with a Magical experience!
People may search for luxurious and expensive tours, BUT as a person who grew up in Kenya I can confidently say that Karibu safaris is all you need.
I highly recommend our super guide "ARONY"! He is very passionate about his responsibility as a guide who is very knowledgeable and educated us about each and every animals we saw on the safari.
Thanks to his huge network with others, in a one day safari, we saw the whole big five except sadly the rhino.
Arony knows what you need and his passion will not fail you! Once I am back I will recommend Karibu safaris~ ESPECIALLY ARONY!
Thank you for your great service Arony, thanks to you my wife and I had an unforgettable experience!
US
Email Amelia Cindy | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Memorable Safari with Castro- Thumbs up
Friends
I had no idea of how I should go about it until I was referred by a friend who had done the safari with Karibu safaris kenya. We were a group of five people and we decided to do 3 days maasai mara and 2 days Nakuru National park. Since it was a group safari Robert gave us friendly prices which was our expectation to be honest..haha. We met Robert when they came to pick us at out hotel in Nairobi with Casro being our guide. This happened really fast and within 20 min we were all packed and off to Maasai Mara with Castro. We had an opportunity to take photos at the great rift valley which was our first stop. Maasai Mara is far from nairobi so travelling as a group make it more enjoyable. also, our second stop was for luch...sorry I cant remember the place but it was nice because of the food and even the services were exemplary. Ohhh..."forgive me" for this one...The road towards maasai mara after the some point was rough considering that it is a rural area but I consider a great experience since I had not done it before. We got to maasai mara at 3 pm and we were assigned our rooms by the welcoming staffs (thanks to Samuel & Joseph) after getting coffee. we were ready by 4.30 and Castro was there to pic us again for the evening game drive. Yeeeeeey...I had been waiting for this..The process at the gate was fast since there were not many cars waiting and in a few minutes were got into the park. The first day was great and we were able to spot lions ( just one of the big five to say) and other few animals since the game drive was brief on that day. we had to go back to to the camp at 6.30 and later dinner. The following day was great since Castro stated that it was a full day game drive and we had to carry packed lunch. we had the opportunity to spot all the big five expect for the Rhino . I really appreciate how Castro and his friends communicated when they saw the animals. this helped us to see many animals unlike other groups in the park. besides, the mara river was great with crocodiles. However, by the time we were travelling there was no wildbeast migration - we felt sad and my friend Sandra thought one could maybe cross on its own. The afternoon game drive was easy as we went back to the camp. It was such a great day. Thank you Castro
The last day at mara we decided to visit the maasai village for cultural dances and learning about their culture. We later left for Nakuru and arrived at 4 pm foe evening game drive. I enjoyed the serene environment with plenty of Flamingos....wait wait...I had not seen a Rhino at Maasai mara... Now this was the home of Rhinos. I saw close to 10 rhinos at a close range. also, we decided to book Nakuru Lodge which is one of the best places you can choose to be. the following day we did an early morning game drive until 11.30 and left for Nairobi.
This was such a memorable experience. Thanks to all the staffs that facilitated and made our experience better. Robert, Castro our guide, Samuel and joseph at mara Camp and not forgetting those at nakuru, you did a commendable job.
I would recomend karibu Safaris when you 're planning yours.
Email Adrian | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Travelling around Kenyan nature parks (Masai Mara, Amboselli, Nakuru Lake)
Karibus Safari, represented by our tour guide Aroni, showed us the true beuty of amazing Kenyan nature. The connection of his experience, involvement and our luck allowed us to see everything we could imagane. Increadible views, every possible animals and perfect organization made this trip become unforgatable.
Email Karolina | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari in Massai Mara, Nakuru, Amboseli
We saw a lot of animals, spent amazing time with our guide which show us real, wild africa. It was one of my the biggest dream and I feel complet. Aroni is the best guide, the best driver and very kind person.
PL
Email Jarosław | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari 6 days /5 nights Masai Mara Nakuru Amboseli
Our Safari was perfect , We saw big 5 , and many other animals and butiful places . Our driver Aruni is very good guide & driver , He was always on the time and his knowlage about Kenia , parks and animlas was very very good. He was also very tactfull , We was happy that we spent our Safari with Karibu Safari and with our guide Aruni
Amazing tour!
We really enjoyed our tour in Kenya with our tour guides Raymond and Kevin.
They were happy to accommodate us each day and gave us the freedom to spend our time. Even if we wanted to change location or spend extra time elsewhere they were happy to do so without any bother.
Raymond very knowledgeable about the animals and all questions asked were answered.
Always on time and reliable if we wanted to meet and certain place or if we was late there was no issues at all.
CA
Email Melanie | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Budget should not mean poor quality....
We read many reviews of various companies and chose Karibu because they seemed to offer a very professional service, they guaranteed maximum 6 people maximum per van (so everyone has a window seat) and apparently had good guides (so many reviews said the driver/guides were excellent!). We chose a 7 day safari to Maasai Marai, Lake Naivasha, Hell’s Gate, Lake Nakuru and Amboseli. Unfortunately, we were somewhat disappointed.
Booking, communication with Robert, payment and initial pick-up all went smoothly! Yay! But then…things started taking a downward turn…first, we were told that the planned itinerary was changing because we had 4 people joining us later…no worries. This change ultimately meant we spent more time in the car (so less time doing activities) and almost 2 hours waiting for the people to join. During that first day’s amended agenda, we went to Hell’s Gate park. Our driver/guide Castro kept telling us we needed to rent bikes and that he could not drive in the park…he pretty much dropped us off to negotiate bike prices on our own, it was a rather uncomfortable situation (which quite honestly should have pre-arranged or the negotiating done by him…the guide). Being new to Kenya we had no idea what would have been a reasonable price. Anyhow, we took bikes and rode into the park with a different guide who was assigned to us without any previous explanation. We did love the experience of riding the bikes, but it became obvious that our driver had not been fully honest with us as there were many groups driving through the park and disembarking for photo opportunities. Let’s just say that this first bit of “dishonesty” did not set us up for a relationship of confidence with our guide. Many little things like this kept happening along the way and it just made us uncomfortable and even frustrated at times. In fact, on more than one occasion, so-called “optional” activities were assigned to us without choice nor with any prior information and then the person providing that activity would expect some sort of extra payment, which we were never made aware of before.
That first night we were driven to a hotel that was not in the planning that was sent to us by Robert and when we asked about it, Castro said that the other hotel had called him to say they were fully booked and that we should go to this one. Again…seemed strange but, whatever, we went with the flow. A similar thing happened to us in Maasai Mara when we arrived at a different camp than what was on the planning. Since there were now 6 in our group at this point, everyone questioned the situation and Castro just seemed annoyed with us. He did not exhibit any sort of patience and eventually, in a huff, drove us off to the other camp at which apparently no reservation had been made and we were again put in an uncomfortable situation….we were told by the camp staff that the only tents available were “luxury” tents and that we would have to pay extra. Of course we refused, and after waiting for about 20 minutes…we were all assigned regular tents, although one couple (newlyweds) had to sleep in separate single beds. Just another awkward strange situation. Something similar again happened when we arrived at our assigned camp in Amboseli. Upon arrival, we were told that the reservation for our group had never been confirmed so that they did not really have the correct number of tents for us. So as a group, we ensured the newlyweds had the best accommodation, but that meant that the other two couples ended up with subpar, lower quality rooms (not tents) for their stay there. Don’t get me wrong, the staff at this camp were outstanding and they really did everything they could to make us comfortable (thank you Henry), the problem here lies with Karibu.
We did fully enjoy the game drives though and I must say, Castro was an excellent driver. He got us close to the animals and did everything possible to find them. That being said, he was really not a good guide. I realize this was a budget safari but basic guiding is not hard to provide (having worked in the tourism industry I feel I am well placed to say so). Simple basic information about the animals, people and places would have been appreciated. Common courtesies such as saying “Good morning, how are you?’’ or smiling on occasion do not cost the company or the guide any more and they make a big difference in the client’s experience. On some days Castro barely spoke to us and getting simple information about our day’s itinerary was at times like pulling teeth. We had to ask for water on many occasions and it felt like it was an inconvenience for Castro to give it to us, when it was supposed to be provided. Some days we got a small bottle each, some days we didn’t even get any. On one day, when we mentioned this, we got a snarky response from Castro of “well…did you ask for it?’’. Unfortunately, his attitude made us feel unwelcome and more of a burden to him than anything. We eventually all just pretty much stopped asking questions and tried to enjoy our game drives as much as possible.
There are probably another half dozen situations I could describe here that made our experience much less enjoyable than it could have been (not to mention the vehicle break-down which ended up having us wait for 5 hours for a replacement vehicle….these things happen of course, but it was the poor communication of it all and the lack of apology or any sense of compassion that made it a bad situation or the fact that there ended up being 7 of us in the van and we had to argue to ensure we remained at 6) , but I will limit myself to these.
Again, we saw some amazing animals. The game drives were excellent. But the guiding, organization and communication were very disappointing and quite below even a budget safari standards.
I would think twice before booking with Karibu.