Reliable safari packages for international market
Africa Flash Mc Tours & Travel
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2008)
- Member Of:
- KATO, Ecotourism Kenya & Travelife
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $500 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Ian T | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
FlashMc delivers 6-star FOUR SEASONS HOTEL customer service!
Peter Macharia will be the guy answering your phone calls and emails from start to finish. He's DA MAN as Africa Flash McTours and Travel is his baby! He delivers 6-star FOUR SEASONS HOTEL customer service! Seriously, they should hire him! If you want to go directly to the source and not have a bunch of middlemen in between, then look no further! Before I settled on FlashMC (which I kept mistakenly seeing as McFlash) I did research on a dozen companies in Kenya & Tanzania, 6 companies in Europe & another dozen companies in the USA. If you've read until now then STOP YOUR RESEARCH and look no further - you're welcome!
So Peter delivers on speedy communication that is easy to understand. He delivers on obstacles; if you have one he can help you get around it. He's KATO-bonded. He delivers on helping you do a turn key solution from the time you land until you take-off! But can he deliver on the safari? YOU BETCHA!
I met him after his guide, Anthony Kimondo picked us up and brought us to a quick snack station and to meet Peter (see photo). All the lodges and tented camps were as advertised. FlashMC's website is transparent about choices of accommodations, upcharges, travel times, etc. Many other websites were "contact us for pricing" or some such malarkey (never used that term but trying to bring it back - LOL).
We did a 10 day Kenya & Tanzania LUXURY tent & lodge experience. The title says "11Day Best of Kenya and Tanzania Group Camping Safari" because I could no longer find this option. You may see it listed as "Great African Rift Valley Safari" on his FlashMcTours dot com web site. We chose the "Luxury Package" over the "Standard Package."
Anthony, our guide, smiles from ear to ear and with his eyes. He's 45 and has a wife and kids at home; it was nice to gain some insight into Nairobi living from him. He's genuinely happy and laid back enough to make sure this is all about you! You want to start at 6:30 am? No problem! You want to start at 9:30 am? Hakuna Matata! At breakfast, all the other private guides wanted to sit with happy Anthony! On safari, all the other private guides wanted to say hello to Anthony and share with him what they saw. He's like the MAYOR of the Maasai Mara! Oh, and he knows his stuff! He has eagle-eyes, his head is on a swivel but yet safety first!
When we got to the Kenya-Tanzania border at Isibania, Kenya, the crossing was pretty simple. They were already protecting against CoronaVirus (CoViD-19) even tho, at the time it was rampant in the rest of the world but for Africa! Each country protects its own tourism so there are arrangements for a hand-off to another outfit. Peter uses Emanuel at Tanzania Joy and his guide was PrayGod (not misspelled). PrayGod is 31 and has a wife and new (adorable) baby son at home in Moshi. PrayGod was a thinking-man's guide! You wanted superficial knowledge about an animal; he got that! You wanted to go deep about the eco-system? Just sit back and listen to the professor! He was college-educated in this area and it showed. He used his radio for information but also used his all his senses to search for evidence so instead of looking for the lion, he listened for the baboon in the tree. He once spotted a black rhino in Ngorongoro that must have been 5 km away. PrayGod was also flexible and patient!
Thank YOU Anthony & PrayGod!
What would I change? Well we saw 28 of the 30 animals that were on the check list (attached). 93% seems like you don't need to change anything but here's my take:
LODGING:
1) The hotel chain SAROVA is INCREDIBLE! They make you feel like family. Like genuine family you love and not faking it. We stayed in 2 locations and any chance I would to stay in more would be my choice. The Mara Sarova Game (LUXURY TENTED) Camp may have been one of our highlights!
2) The hotel chain Serena is very good. A blend of African welcoming hospitality and American service efficiency.
3) In Amboselli, we stayed at Oltukai Lodge though Peter's 1st choice was Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge; Oltukai was not bad and the scenery was magnificent as were the velvet monkeys but it seemed a bit 'rookie' compared to Sarova and Serena. In retrospect, we should have stayed in the Serena property.
ITINERARY:
1) Amboselli to Lake Nakuru National Park was a LONG day filled with a lot of peripheral Nairobi traffic so not so interesting. We saw much there including the White/Wide Rhino but not sure it was worth THIS drive.
2) Maasai Mara to Serengeti was also a LONG DAY. We had to drive hours North West to the crossing and then hours South West to the Serengeti and then much further to get to our lodging. We were warned that this was the longest day and to consider a flight from Maasai Mara airstrip to the Serengeti. Peter would have arranged it and maybe we should have considered it more closely. NO REGRETS tho!
3) Ngorongoro: We were there for one night - I would have made that 2! If we had to 'steal' from somewhere else, it would have been to ditch Lake Nakuru (1-day) or to poach (okay, bad word) one of the 3 days from Maasai Mara.
CAR/TRUCK:
Your cheapest option is a safari-modified mini-van. As soon as we heard that the Toyota Landcruiser had more comfortable seat/ride, we chose the up-charge. Here's a minor thing we did not know: There are 2 styles of Landcruiser - The standard 3-row & the extended cab 4-row. In Kenya we had the 4 row and in Tanzania we had the 3 (you can see one of the attached pictures side by side). Well we were 2 people so space was not an issue but I will just mention that the 4-row has windows that are larger and 'portrait-mode' vertical rectangles to better see out of whereas the 3-row windows are more square or 'landscape-mode' horizontal. In comparison to the mini-vans both our Landcruisers had much better visibility!
The book with the best stories should be your passport and FlashMc Peter delivered! Thank YOU Peter!
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Email Ruben | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent and once in a life time experience
We went on a private safari to Tsavo East and Travo West, and we loved it. Our tour guide John was great. He had so much knowledge, and he could answer all of our questions and he learned us alot. We couldn't be more grateful and happy with the safari and with our guide, John. Absolutely a once in a lifetime experience, and we highly recomened Africa Flash McTours and Travel and our guide John.
OM
Email Lorraine | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent!
I was impressed with the prompt communication with Peter to organize the logistics of the trip. He was able to answer any questions.
Our driver, John was amazing! He communicated beforehand and was time conscious the whole time. He was very knowledgeable about the animals and the surrounding area, because of John we were able to see so many animals and we truly enjoyed our time. The hotel (Zebra Plains Camp) was also very clean and the employees were helpful and friendly. The food was on point!
We would definitely recommend this company to our friends and family!
PK
Email Helene | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
One sentence is not enough to describe Simon's persistence to find at least one lion for me! He did!
The service was really good. Everything was well organized, I had nothing to do except to enjoy the view! I can never thank Simon & Patrick enough for taking care of me for 3 days.
Thank you again Peter for everything.
Wonderful Experience!! :D
The communication was good, Peter replied to all our queries, he even helped us decide which camp was good to stay in at the Mara and we were impressed.
0ur guide John was very knowledgeable about the animals and we learned a lot and he made sure we got to see all the big 5 animals and others. There was no problem he couldn’t solve and he was very nice all the way.
They gave us one of the best experience and we must say John was an amazing tour guide he made sure we had a good experience .
We were amazed by how good the service was.
Highly recommend and it was money well spent.
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Email MS | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The best experience EVER
I took a 4 day 3 night safari to Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru in February 2021 and had an AMAZING time. Peter was nothing but professional and trustworthy. I couldn't have had a better experience on our safari. Our guide's name was Edward and he was outstanding. Edward knew ALL of the animals and was a pleasure to be around and is now a new friend. I feel lucky that we were able to have Edward as our guide. We saw ALL of the big five several times. The hotel accommodations and food that we had was also outstanding. The safari vehicle was very big and powerful. This was a trip of a lifetime. I did all of my research and chose this particular company based on the reviews and the good things people said about Peter and boy were they right. Do not choose another company, this is the best. Our guide Edward was such a pleasure and made our experience that much more valuable. I saw so many animals it was like being in a movie. I am so happy that I chose this company and wouldn't recommend anyone else. Peter and Edward are amazing people. I have not one criticism of anything on this safari. There is not one thing that could've been better. The trip was 10 out of 10, just wonderful. You can't go wrong with this safari, I am forever thankful
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Email Chesalin | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The BEST trip of my life
This was my first safari experience and it was absolutely AMAZING!
I traveled from the US and worked with Peter to plan the trip and make my payment and he was so professional, kind, and prompt with his responses so he made the process very smooth and comfortable. My tour guide was Edward and he is the BEST! Edward knew so much about the animals and the land we were exploring. He does his job SO great and I’m so happy we had him as our guide. We got to see ALL of the Big 5 and Edward even taught me some Swahili! I would highly recommend this adventure for anyone, you will absolutely love it!
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Email Greg | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Incredible experience on 4 day Safari for Tsavo East, West, and Amboseli
I had an amazing experience while out on safari with Africa Flash. When I first inquired about doing a 4 day safari from Mombasa that took me to Tsavo East, West, Amboseli, and eventually back to Nairobi I got a very quick response from Peter. Any emails with any questions, were answered very quickly as well. Because of his quick and thorough responses I was at ease for this trip. Not only was it my first trip to Africa but it was also my first time traveling by myself and thanks to Peter and my safari driver Simon, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. All accommodations were taken care of before my arrival so I didn’t have a single worry. My driver Simon was just a really cool guy that made the entire solo experience much better. I felt like I was driving with a friend as opposed to just a guide. He was very knowledgeable about all of the animals and about the Kenyan culture. If I ever do have the pleasure of coming back to Kenya, I would definitely book with them again and I would certainly refer them to friends and family.
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Email Philip Hill | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
First class luxury wildlife adventure
We have never been on safari before and we booked this based on reviews and also that the accomodation seemed to be within the wildlife parks.
We came into contact with Peter and he was very clear about costs and the itenary, he helped to reassure us that we would be refunded if covid issues meant we couldnt travel from Sweden.
We didnt really expect the accomodation to be so luxurious, and we didnt realise that the tour was only for us. We were the only ones in the large 4x4 safari vehicle so we had great service from our two guides Edward and John. Between them they had over 25 years experience. I was baffled how they could find their way around the vast parks without using any kind of map. They were great spotters and we managed to see the big 5 and so much more because of them. I wouldnt hesitate to recommend this company to anyone who wants a great personal experience with top class service and accomodation.
Note about Covid issues in Kenya. On our last day (March 26 2021) the Kenyan goverment introduced new restriction, preventing travel between many regions of Kenya and caused the closing pubs in certain regions, with only take away food allowed. The Curfew time in Nairobi was reduced to 20:00 for instance. So this might affect future safaris in the region unfortunately. Please check the Kenyan goverment web site or contact Peter at Africa Flash Mc Tours and Travel.
RO
Email Cristian | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience!
We took 2 days safari in Amboseli National Park, it was an amazing experience with great guides. We discussed with Peter, via phone and e-mail about every detail of the trip without any hesitation.
Our guides, Edward and John were adaptable, responsive, with a true passion for making our journey as delightful as possible. Highly recommended!!