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 Sherrie Cronin | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A well-run and friendly company
We did the six day Maasai Mara-Lake Nakuru-Amboseli safari, and an honest review is complicated. (1) The company itself is five star. They are reliable, honest and easy to deal with and I cannot recommend them more highly. It is a little scary making arrangements with people half-way around the world in a place you've never been, so please let me assure you that if you use Flash McTours you are in good hands. (2) The Guide. He (I think they are all hes) is the most important part of your trip. Ours was top-notch. Leonard was knowledgeable and friendly, and he made our safety and enjoyment his priority, often going out of his way to make things right. He is undoubtedly a five-star guide and is probably a five-star human being as well. (3) The equipment. Here we didn't fare so well as two out of our six days were marred by car trouble. This happens. However, we spent two hours standing by the side of a dirt road on our first day due to electrical problems, and finally had to be sent on to our camp in two other vans kind enough to stop and give us rides. At the end of our game drive the second day, the problems resurfaced and although we wanted to go back to camp, we had to join another group willing to take us and spent hours more crowded in with them before we could get home. Leonard did his best under the circumstances and he deserves to be commended. Owner Peter apologized for the inconveniences, but of course it did detract from the trip. (4) Itinerary. It's hard to hold the tour company accountable for travel difficulties, but not offering more options and information is my one complaint. I do have suggestions to help others. You need to ask a lot more questions than I did! (4a) Travel time. Maps and tour descriptions gave me the idea that driving between game reserves would be a 3 to 4 hour process. This is NOT TRUE. Four out of the six days we spent 8 or more hours just traveling from place to place. Not game viewing. This is the time (not mileage) equivalent of deciding to drive from New York City to Salt Lake during a six day vacation meant for other sight seeing. The time on the road itself is exhausting. (4b) Road conditions are worse than you imagine. In particular going to Maasai Mara involves over four hours BOTH ways on a highly rutted single lane dirt road. I live off of highly rutted single lane dirt road in the mountains of North Carolina, so I'm pretty comfortable with one, and I thought the drive was brutal. (4c) Lodging. We all want to travel cheap but it isn't always wise. We paid $90 apiece to upgrade lodging for our single night in Lake Nakuru after reading reviews about the budget alternative, and we are so glad we did. The standard lodging in Amboseli was wonderful. But for our two nights in a budget camp outside of Maasai Mara, we got a substitute for the Rhino camp called Lenchada and we found it to be awful. (Read my review for the many reasons why.) I don't know what options existed for upgrading there, but I highly encourage prospective travelers to ask about them, or at the least to insist on the Rhino camp ahead of time.
Suggestions. Mitigate the driving situation. I wished we had cut out Lake Nakuru completely. While it was lush and pretty, we saw no flamingos and few rhinos and it had nothing else unique to offer. Cutting it would have eliminated 2 entire long days of driving, and another day in the massive Maasai Mara reserve, and one just relaxing in the beautiful Amboseli resort, would have been so much better. Also, consider flying either into or out of Maasai Mara. We were told it is about $300 per person and it would have eliminated one brutal 8 hour drive. Or consider upgrading to one of the jeeps. We thought about it, but it was about $300 more per person and according to Peter, just provided a little better suspension system. Trust me, a better suspension system would have done us a world of good in retrospect.
In summary, Flash McTours is a highly capable company dedicated to showing you as many animals as possible in a short time at a reasonable cost. You need to take responsibility to turn that into an enjoyable vacation. I found Peter to be quite flexible in making modifications that I asked for. I just didn't know what all I needed to modify. I highly encourage others to work with them to design an itinerary that is right for you.
you get what Peter says you would
Peter was transparent on what the safari (Massai Mara, 3 days) would be in terms of transport, accomodation, type of animals to be likely seen and all financial aspects. The journey back took more than 5 hours and were were tossed from one car into another, and given no clear explanation what was happening and where we are to be expected to be back to Nairobi. This didn't spoil the overall impression.
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Email Soon | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was good experience in kenya safari.
I am overall very satisfied on my safari trip. This tour co. specially tour organizer, Peter is very dependable person even though I never met him or was introduced from any body. One thing I wished was that it might be more helpful and save time to skip the place if there are similar safari animals(exam. Masai Mara and Ambocelli).
Because it takes another 6 hours rough drive specially for older clients to see both places( it was my initial request without knowing). Otherwise, we are satisfied with this trip.
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Email Jo Greene | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Affordable Adventures with my daughter
I really enjoyed my safari! The team picked me up from my hotel promptly and provided a detailed itinerary for our trip. The driver and support staff were patient and answered all questions. We made stops at small but clean rest points and restaurants along the six hour drive. We met tourists from other groups which provided reassurance as this was our first journey. I advise all to stay at a lodge instead of a camp. The camp is very affordable and the service is nice, but if you want hot showers, wifi and less mosquitoes... get the lodge packet! Our driver James was so wonderful and nice. He share cultural info, historical facts and really kept us safe and engaged! No question was out of line even when guests seemed to annoy one another! The team kept their word on all meals, breaks, photo opportunities and more!
Email Lexi | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing animal immigration tour!
Me and my friend booked this tour a few month ahead before we went to Africa. The total length of the tour is 6 days and 5 nights, we changed 3 times for accommodation during the trip because the places to see animals are quiet far from each other. It was so great to see so many wild animals, we saw lions, cheetah, flamingos, wildebeests, elephants etc in person! It was shocking by seeing them in real life instead of on TV programmes because they were so beautiful. And because of it is a private small tour, we had our private guide who's very friendly and helpful. We changed our guide for twice but both of them were very nice, nothing to complain. If there is anything that wasn't so perfect was the time traveled between destination to destination was way too long. I remember I spent almost 12 hours on the van one day for travelling and I didn't see any animals in that day, it was frustrating. And the accommodation wasn't very good to be honest, the last accommodation was horrible. They told us 3 days before we arrived at the camp there was a lion stopped by, and a week ago a group of elephants got too close to the camp that everybody stayed there had to leave for a while waiting for the elephants to leave. And the hotel was very poor. But consider it was in the Masai Mara reservation it's reasonable. After all we don't want human civilization be so close to that area of pure nature.
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Email SK | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Peter is very hands on and accommodating in creating the itinerary; very competitive prices.
Very responsive in a timely manner. Always accessible if in need. They try to accommodate to our requirements. Peter is so nice and trustworthy. I find he will match any rate I get and in fact gets better rates. Highly recommended.
Email Samantha | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic Safari and Beach Break
We chose to travel with Africa Flash Mc Tours because Peter was so open and willing to organise something exactly to our needs and that is exactly what the trip was. It was the holiday of a lifetime and we will definitely be returning to Africa on further safaris with Peter. He devised an itinerary to visit everywhere we wanted and more - Amboseli, Tsavo East and West as well as Watamu. Despite a few hiccups along the way all issues were sorted out in record time. The highlight for us was definitely our driver/guide Leonard. He was fantastic at spotting animals seemingly from nowhere and was lovely to get to know. When we return we will definitely be requesting him. All of the accommodations we stayed in were beautiful and for the length of the trip it was fantastic value for money. Keep up the good work!
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Email Mario | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Private 8 day, 7 night safari
Peter was fantastic throughout the whole process of organizing the itinerary, communicating promptly with us to the point of collecting us from the airport. Was very nice working and meeting Peter.
The safari was great. It was organised exactly as we had expected and our driver Leonard was awesome. The places we stayed in varied from good to fantastic and I recommend ending your trip at Amboseli National Park.
My only criticism would be that the safari van is in need of an upgrade. The window latches were broken so you could not lock them (bad on the dusty roads) and also some seats were unable to recline back. Also on the itinerary it stated binoculars and books would be provided, however, this was not the case.
I definitely recommend working with Peter again in the future and if I were to go back would look to have a safari organised again with Peter and MC Flash Tours.
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Email Leah | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Well organised, friendly and professsional
I booked and confirmed my 4D/3N trip to Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru with Africa Flash Mc Tours at extremely short notice during the Christmas/New Year holiday season. Although I had not received a receipt of payment, or details of my additional hotel bookings and airport transfer by the time I departed, I was pleasantly relieved to be greeted at the airport by a driver who took me to a hotel that was already paid for. My whole trip was smooth and very well organised, and the only thing I had to worry about was making sure my camera was charged! One thing to note, the actual programme did not exactly match the itinerary that was suggested - I understood my itinerary included 2 paid entires to Lake Nakuru, although our driver only brought us for 1 entry. Overall, I am extremely happy with the services of Africa Flash McTours. They are also kindly organising to send me my laptop charger which I carelessly left at the Masai Mara tourist camp. Thanks, Peter and team!
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Email Camilla Riel | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent value for money
We did a 3 day safari in Amboseli in November and had an excellent time. Communication with the agency was a bit slow before the trip, but once on the road everything worked out perfectly well. We were just a group of two but had the car to ourselves, which made it possible to get just the programme we wanted. Our driver/guide went out of his way to show us the best of Amboseli and delivered much more than we could have expected.