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 $700 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
US
Email Katie | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The director Dennis Solomon is a incompetent and is only worried about money. No respect.
I was super excited about the safari, and the lady who helped us book was so nice, even our driver to the safari was so nice. The issue was on the second day ( we did only two days one night), logistics was awful. We were told to meet the tour guide at 6 am only to find out, the tour we were suppose to be on left. We spent the next 45 mins in the safari searching for that said group, only to find out they were finished in the park, so we parted the park to return to Nairobi. We were suppose to spend three hours in the safari. All while my husband did not have a seat in the van ( over crowded) so he sat on the floor- literally where you put your feet. When we discussed this with the direct of baboon budget his response was; “ who told you you would have a seat, you can stand”, which was not of course what we paid for. After some time explaining his only response to our cristicms was, “ oh you people- I know people like you- you are just never sastified, you just want to complain and get money”. We were of course only relaying our complaints. We ( my husband and I) spent 520.00 usd ( 240 a person, plus surcharge for using debit machine), and spent less than three hours actually touring the safari. Logistics are awful and the director does not care about the costumer.
IL
Email Sergey Priven | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Patrick Atweng'a (introduced to me by at baboon office) stole 500$ which left as a deposit
A year ago my parents rented a car trough babbon tours from guy named Patrick Otieno Atweng'a...
after 3 weeks of using the car my folks returned it but never saw any of the the deposit, they were left to wait for couple of hours for the thief to come back - which never happened.
Baboon tours admitted their responsebility for Patrick Otieno Atweng'a action and promising me to deal the issue and return the stolen money..
I was in touch with mr. Dennis across the year via watsap and every time he gave me another excuse.
Beware of Baboon budget tours and other scammers...
Thank you for nothing mr. dennis behalf my parents and me
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.
IL
Email Vladimir | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
They behaved dishonorably
I signed a lease contract with Patrick for Nissan X-Trail from 5.09 to 25.09.17, I've paid him for rentingת and left him a deposit of 500 USD.
At 25.09.17 I've returned the car. Patrick examined her and then drove her to the parking lot. He said that he have to go to the bank to refund me a the 500 dollars. Patrick did not return with the money.
Email Naz | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Give them a miss
I booked a 12 day tour through Kenya and Tanzania. Seven wonders managed the Tanzanian side and I couldn't have been happier with them. The Kenyan side( Nakuru, Masai, Amboeseli) was managed by Baboon budget who the booking was made through. It started of badly with being collected late at the airport and having to run around in trying to find a person, who wasn't there. The accommodations throughout were poor esp the Eco camp in Masai with very poor quality food. The worst was the lack of personal attention, we were passed like luggage from one driver and group to another depending on their schedules, groups, etc. one traveler had been with 5 different drivers/guides in 5 days! The quality of drivers was potluck. Michael our initial guide tried really hard, but was with us for only one day. Another driver/guide, Jackson, (apparently quite senior )who had previously been haring around at ridiculous speeds , all of a sudden started going at a crawl in circles for more than an hour and included a pitstop an hour into the trip "to stretch our legs". We later determined that a vehicle transporting a traveler who was due to join our group after a balloon ride got stuck in some mud and teh driver was unable to provide co ordinates so we drove in circles trying to connect with them. Jackson initially tried to deny this but i had my GPS on so showed it to him. His response was that the tour hadn't stopped as we were "moving". The point of this trip was to observe a river crossing. It was clear to all that the second day this may happen. Approximately 20 othre vehicles waited patiently along the Mara for this to start. Jackson in his wisdom decided it wouldn't happen and drove off. Needless to say he was connected on radio to say it had started and we raced back . already an eighth of the herd of thousands of wildebeest had crossed. WE all thought we wre in for a treat as so many more had to make their way across. Again Jackson surprised us, we observed for about 5mins( I filmed it, so it was actually less) and he started driving off. We though this was to secure a better vantage point. But no, he drove out the park! Then proceeded to dump us outside the accommodation to await another person to conduct the tour to the Masai village. Clearly he had another pressing appointment!
Things just went downhill...
There's many other companies available , however it seems that they operate differently from other countries group tours. Schedules and people interconnect throughout, with no personalised service or accountability.
They should take some tips from Seven Wonders on how to operate...
AE
Email Bhat | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Disappointing - Would not recomend them to any of my friends.
Communication- Fair
Service- was pretty bad. they dont stick to the timings . On the day we were to leave from Nairobi to Masai Maara, we were quite appalled with the quality and cleanliness of the mini bus that we were driving to Masai Maara. When we were told that this would be the vehicle that we would go on the game drive , we politely refuse to take that vehicle considering the rough terrain that we would be covering as the Van was in really bad condition without propoer upholstery and bad seats.
when we insisted they had the vehicle changed to a slightly better one.
Day 1- Evening -on reaching MM ,our Tour guide (Fred) was not able to locate our lodge amidst the Savannahs and we aimlessly wandered for about an hour searching and then he decided that we would go on the game drive after which we will find the lodge.
Day-2 was the best day of the 3 day tour as we were on the game drive from morning to evening. Packed lunch was provided.
Day-3 : our schedule was to leave for another game drive from 630 to 830 am after which we were to drive back to Nairobi. However when the tour guide came to pick us up he said that there was some technical snag and the car battery was having problems. We hardly took off and the van stopped twice in the grasslands. We then suggested that he go to the mechanics available in the town to which he agreed and after a 40 mt drive we reached the place but none of them were available. it was already 820 by then and he quitely filled petrol and said that he suggests that we skip the drive as we would reach Niarobi only between 7pm-9m if we went for the drive. We agreed to that as we were a bit concerned about the Vehicle giving way in the middle of the Savannahs with animals around us.
Little did we know that this was a ploy by the tour operators as half way through on our way back to Nairobi , the guide stopped for lunch and after lunch he told us that there would be a change in plan and that we had to move into another car which was parked beside ours and that the passengers in that car would travel in the vehicle we came from MM and we would go to nairobi in their car.
at that point of time we actually wondered how could they take them on a game drive if the van had technical snags (stoppped at least 3 times in Masai Maara when we started the game drive)??
It was just a pretext used by these guys as they needed the car by noon to make the swap.
Overall - Althoguh i would want to visit MM again , i would not take another package with them as their service was quite disappointing and would not recomend them to any of my friends.
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.
CA
Email Melanie | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing safari, not the most professional company
I travelled alone to Tanzania and booked through Baboon Budget. Let me state that the guides were great and the location amazing. What was not the best was the communication ahead of time. I chose a total of 4 lodges for my 10 days safari between Serengeti and area and Selous. I only stayed at 1 of the 4 I chose. Abram who handles trips in Tanzania seemed a little sketchy. He tried to change my itinerary and changed my lodges. Warranted I ended up in better places. I would go back there in a heartbeat but I probably would not book with them again. I didn't appreciate itinerary changes and not knowing where I was going to be staying.
FR
Email Loïc | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
a little disappointed 4 days masai mara nakuru family with 6 childrens
5 stars for Kim our driver
4 stars for transfers between airports and hotels
after paying the safari, Dennis tells me he has a budget problem and that the third day safari is canceled :(
here is the real program :
day 1 : 6h drive between nairobi and masai mara 2h of safari
day 2 : 10 h of safari
day 3 : 5 h drive between masai mara and naivasha 30 mn boat and 2h drive between naivasha and nakuru
day 4 : 4h safari nakuru and 4h drive between nakuru and nairobi
In summary 16h of safari 17 h of drive