Baboon Budget Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2006)
- Member Of:
- KATO, KTB & Ministry Of Tourism
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $700 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Muireann | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Cheap price but overall a pretty average, stressful experience
We had a very mixed experience on our 11 day Kenya/Tanzania safari. We booked with Explore Africa Holidays but never met anyone from that company – seems to be another trading name for Baboon Budget Safaris. In Tanzania they contract out to 7 Wonders Safaris.
Pros:
- Overall we had a great time - got to all the parks we had planned and saw incredible wildlife. All the Big 5 in both Kenya and Tanzania; views of elephant families in front of Kilimanjaro a definite highlight at Amboseli!
- One of our guides in Kenya was fantastic – Isaac. He was from a different company called Jocky Safaris that we’d been handed over to for the day
- We really appreciated the opportunity to stay at Masaai-run camps in Kenya & chat with the guys working there (Miti Mingi Eco Camp & Kimana Amboseli Camp)
- In Tanzania the camps were extremely basic (more below) but on the plus side was really cool to stay right inside/very near the national parks, with visits from elephants, hyenas and zebras in the night
- Kenya/Tanzania border crossing was managed pretty smoothly, though communication could have been better. We just trusted the random people who presented themselves to us which might be stressful if travelling by yourself.
- Price is very cheap compared to other operators
Cons:
- In Kenya we had 2 different guides for the 3 parks we visited (Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru & Amboseli), plus another driver at various points. This meant changing vans every single day & a lot of time spent on logistics that often felt very disorganised, sometimes chaotic. On our third day we waited 2.5 hours for our pick up to go to Lake Nakuru. We hadn’t expected to be with a different group and different guide almost every day & ended up feeling like cargo being passed around impersonally. The constant change made it hard to relax into the trip as we were never sure who we’d be passed to next, what our group would be like, if they were going to deliver or we'd miss out on something.
- For the third Kenyan park we were placed in a car that wasn’t a safari vehicle. The windows didn’t wind down and were tinted so it was completely unsuitable for game drives (I’m not a tall person and would have had to sit on cushions to see out! :-)) When we asked about this it was resolved and we were able to do the game drive with another company (Isaac with Jocky), which we appreciated.
- Our first guide in Kenya, Josef, didn’t volunteer any information on our first game drive and talked the group out of doing an early morning game drive in Masai Mara on the main day there. Thumbs down.
- We were told we’d be met off the bus in Arusha and dropped off at our hotel however the person (Sayid) didn’t show up. Luckily the lovely bus driver seemed familiar with 7 Wonders way of (not) doing things and dropped us at their office. There we were quickly briefed by the manager of 7 Wonders, Evelyn, who informed us of multiple changes to our itinerary including a different Arusha hotel (Stereo – absolutely fine), reversing the order of parks & a different campsite for Ngorongoro. When I asked why we hadn’t been met off the bus as arranged Evelyn dismissively said she didn’t know anything about it. Very poor first impression.
- In Tanzania we again had 2 different guides for the 3 parks we visited but much less chopping and changing. Had one of the guides for 3 days in a row, Florian.
- During the whole time with Florian we felt there was a lot of cutting corners and general lack of service/professionalism. To his credit he made sure we saw lots of amazing animals in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater and was mostly happy to answer questions when we asked. However the biggest negative for us was that he rushed through every single game drive – our group was always first back to camp (by an hour or more), a couple of times we saw male lions or elephants he told us there was no time to stop, but each time we passed through a park gate we had to wait 45-60 minutes (we could see there were no queues at the ticket offices; we suspected it was to make it seem we’d spent longer at each park than the actual allotted 24 hours). Florian and the chef Ibrahim also spent a fair amount of their free time flirting with the one single woman in our group.
- The Land Cruiser safari vehicles in Tanzania were far more comfortable that the converted Toyota vans used in Kenya, however on our second last day the safari vehicle stalled on the steep road out of Ngorongoro & we had an uncomfortable 10 minutes while Florian tried to stop it rolling backwards and get it started again. Luckily another vehicle came along and gave our group of 6 a ride to the top while Florian drove up ahead & park rangers had also arrived quickly. We imagine this is probably a common enough occurrence as the road out of Ngorongoro is very steep. Having said that, our guide didn’t seem very familiar with driving on mountain roads.
- The camps in Tanzania were not of an acceptable standard. We were fully aware we’d booked a budget safari and are not precious, but if you’ve paid for a tour we think basics like drinking water and toilet paper should be provided (or at the very least a heads up from the guide to remind everyone to stock up before leaving a town). We stayed at Jambo Lodge near Manyara, Pimbi in the Serengeti and Simba near Ngorongoro.
Couple of other pieces of info that might be helpful: in Kenya fixed camps are large canvas tents, often with a private bathroom at the back (though very basic we had decent mosquito nets in each place); in Tanzania camping is actual tents with bed rolls and sleeping bags, you are expected to help set up your own tent and the overall experience is fun. Food in Tanzania was much nicer than in Kenya (except for the lunches which were all pretty awful). Kenya/Tanzania crossing: you get driven to Namanga, met at Immigration office & helped to navigate the departure/entry process (very simple), directed to public bus that then drives you on to Arusha (we had to wait about an hour).
We hope this is useful information if you are thinking of booking with Explore Africa Holidays or Baboon Budget Safaris. Overall we had a fantastic time in terms of unbelievable wildlife but would not recommend either Kenyan safari company, and definitely wouldn’t recommend 7 Wonders. We completely understand this is a budget tour at budget prices, but for us it was still a fair amount of money to spend on 10/11 days of our trip and we felt that basic service was totally overlooked. If you can afford to spend a little more we think it’d be worth it to feel looked after, have one guide & one group for the duration of your safari, and generally be able to relax and fully enjoy the experience!
CA
Email Gail | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very pleased-Baboon Budget Came Through with some Compensation For changed itinerary in Tanzania.
I wrote a review for my tour in March 2018 and this is my followup to it. Baboon Budget Safaris was honorable in compensating me for the change in itinerary in Tanzania. I also found out that the Tanzanian part of my tour was in the hands of another operator and it would seem this tour operator is no longer being used by Baboon Safaris due to the poor service they provide to clients, I am very glad to hear this. Baboon has pretty good reviews, so I was very shocked with my tour in Tanzania. It would be wise I think to verify if you are being handed off to another tour operator in the future, then, we, as tourists are able to research that company too. I was unable to edit my previous review unfortunately, so I have done this update.
I appreciate your efforts Mr. Dennis, and thank you again for the compensation.
TH
Email Haty | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
it was amazing trip with Baboon Safari.
i really enjoy this trip, especially the driver. he has a strong power and skill to drive on the road in Masai Mara which lot of muddy, not flat way but we pass throug it smoothly. he try to drive to find animal without exhausted.
CA
Email Gail | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Untrustworthy, changes to itinerary, skipped site, misleading communications...
I do not recommend this tour company. No compensation for changed itinerary with a site completely skipped that was on my tour, no pickup in Arusha on arrival, poor customer relations and misleading communications from day to day, difficulty with payment at national park resulting in lost time on drive, not enough room in vehicle for equipment so stacked tents on top resulting in no pop up viewing one day. It just seems the operator wants money and cannot deliver what is promised. Be very wary when touring in Tanzania. Enough said. I have experienced several safaris, and this one is the only one that I can say was regrettable.
NL
Email Gigi | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
7-days budget trip
Just finished the Kenya trip. On the back to NL. When the memory still fresh: I chose tbe budget 7 day safari trip via Mojhi.com: Nairobi - Masai Mara- Nakuru - Amboseli - Naivasha - Nairobi. If this is not your first time, no need to go via Mojhi (they charge 10% fee), but since it was my first time alone in Kenya and due to lack of trust in the varied quotes and quality from local travel companies, I did it via Mojhi and the fee was worth it. I was grouped with other six people (fortunately they were all very lovely which was obviously very important). The first two nights in Maaisa Mara was in a campsite (as I chose): in my tent there was no hot water for shower the first night, but in general a good experience, the sky in the night was amazing, btw, no internet in campsites (no surprise), there was mosquito net but I still got bitten a lot, mosquito spray is a MUST; one night in Nauru was in a hotel with 3- star hotel condition (with WiFi); in Amboseli it was campsite again but operated differently; till the last destination to Naivasha I was the only one left (other people in my group had shorter program), so got a private tour. Got to say it was pretty decent that the service quality remained the same: I wanted to take a walk in the town of Naivasha and didn’t plan to bother the guide (Bonifse if I spelled it correctly) since he had been driving long hours and it was not in the program, but he insisted to come along which turned out to be very necessary: there were not many tourists going into the town, I was stared by people along the way, some drink guys on the street were saying something (I suspected not nice things) and my guide now turned to a security guard. The hotel in Naivasha was decent too. Last day when I was brought back to Nairobi, my program officially ended, but since my flight was in the midnight, there were still a couple of hours so my guide arranged a smaller car and another driver Teddy showed me around a bit of Nairobi for free and dropped me off at the airport in the evening. Very happy with it. Had a pleasent chat with Teddy. Coming to the driver+guide, ours Bonifse was very punctual (actually he was one hour earlier to pick me up the first day because he took the traffic jam into account in the morning), not super talkative but very responsible person. Man, the roads conditions were tough especially in Amboseli. Be prepared.
Got to say the trip with Baboo was a good one, felt taken care of, turely enjoyed it.
NL
Email Rogier and Izee | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We had a great adventure!
We had a really good and experience. we had a 4 day safari to masai mara and lake nakuru. excelent driver and gide (ask for Stanley). we saw the big 5, we had a very nice stay in the tent and hotel. and the price was fair. thank you so much for the safe and nice safari we had.
Rogier and Izee, the netherlands
Email Matt | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great service at budget prices
We did a 10 day safari with baboon budget through Kenya and Tanzania . We visited Masai mara , Lake Nakuru , Ambroselli , Lake Manyara , Serengeti & Ngoro ngoro crater . Saw the big 5 and much much more . Camping most nights but nice tents , good food and great guides - highly recommended for the price . We also booked our Kilimanjaro climb through baboon budget which again was great value for money and well organised . If you want a budget safari look no further !
SK
Email Rastislav | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
3 days Maasai Mara
I would like to thank this way to the Baboon Budget Safaris company which has provided a great experience in Maasai Mara reserve. We have booked a private 3 day safari and it was incredible. Special thanks to the driver and guide Mr. Ambros, not only that he is very experienced driver, also knows everything about animals. I am very grateful. I would also want to thank Mr. Teddy, who has taken care of us after the safari. Hope to see you again, keep it up guys :)
Rastislav from Slovakia
HK
Email Chan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Safari Experience
This is our first safari experience. We were a bit lost and did and a lot of researches! Eventually we chose to go with Baboon since Dennis was very responsive when we inquired about the tours.
We went for a 6 days budget tour that includes Maasai Mara, Lake Nukuru and Amboseli. Visit to Maasai Village and Lake Naivasha was optional.
We saw Big4 and a lot of other animals in Maasai Mara, our guide Sammy has excellent eyes for animals and told us a lot of fun facts about the animals. April is a good time for spotting a lot of new born babies, baby lions and elephants are absolutely cute. In Lake Naivasha you can see many birds and hippos but I think it's optional. In Lake Nakuru we found rhino finally but there are not much else to see. Amboseli there are not as many animals as Maasai Mara but they all peacefully stay together on the grass field (it's like a heaven there) which was a very different experience from Maasai Mara. If you like elephants, definitely go to Amboseli because there are hundreds of them!
Accomodation was basic but we had everything we needed. There are only a few hours of electricity in Minti Eco camp but everyone had their electronics well charged. You need to turn water on for about 10 mins for warm water but water is so scarce in Africa so a lot of people just had cold shower. Food was great. City Max hotel was excellent with hot shower, excellent food and very friendly staff. Kimana Camp has a stunning view towards the Mt. Kilimanjaro which was fantastic.
It will be a long drive between the places so be prepared. Or we might also suggest to do 3 days Maasai Mara tour first, and if you think it's not enough, you can join separate tours for Amboseli since they are not really in the same area. Also Maasai Village is definitely an excellent experience but they try to sell you jewelry 10 times of the price they should be. Feel free to say no and buy them at the market directly if you want.
All in all we think it's been a fantastic safari experience for us. Thanks Sammy and Dennis! Would definitely come back again!
SD
Email Wallis Green | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was all that I hoped for...and more.
I had a wonderful 7 day safari. I spent two nights at a nice, very friendly hotel in Nairobi before starting the tour. I spent one day with one of the drivers on an excellent city tour. The next day the safari started. I went To Masai Mara, Lake Naivasha, Lake Nakuru, and Ambroseli. We stayed in comfortable places. I am a vegetarian and I was pleased with the meals. The drivers were all very competent and I met nice people. Before the trip I was expecting to be with the same driver and the same group for the 7 days. Instead I had 4 different drivers and 5 different configurations of people, but it was just fine. All the drivers were excellent and I met a lot of nice people. Baboon Budget did everything possible to see that I had my entire program. I would certain recommend the company to other people who are interested in learning about the area and want to see the animals where the animals belong.