Beacon Safaris Team in Masai Mara
Beacon Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2010)
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $50 to $120 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
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Email CMK | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great Safari
Beacon Safaris did a great job. Robert was very responsive, answering all my e-mails and questions very promptly. We were sent a detailed itinerary and instructions about pick-up the morning our safari started. Our guide/driver, Antony, was right on time. He was very knowledgeable and went out of his way to make sure that our safari to the Maasai Mara was what we wanted. No one can guarantee what animals you can see, but Antony kept his ears open to the chatter and was able to show us the entire big-5 within 24 hours of our arrival at the Mara. He showed respect for the animals and did an excellent job telling us about them. We had a choice of lodging and the one we picked was great, more than living up to expectations. All in all, our experience with Beacon Safaris was excellent.
BE
Email Koen | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
10 days magical Kenya
Once again, we asked Robert to organise a 10-day trip to Kenya seeing Tsavo East and West, Amboselli, Lake Naivasha and Nakuru and Masai Mara as we did also september 2016. This time, Ken was our driver/guide. This time we came with four friends/family and reserved a jeep.
We were astonished about the number of animals, the beautifull scenery and all the adventures we had underway. Having a leopard at the front door in Tsavo West was a special experience. But every day has been great from beginning to the end. We thank Ken for his friendliness, his professionalism, his helpfullness and guidance. We liked him a lot as a person. Ken was GREAT.
Thx a lot as well to Robert for organising.
We were able to see so many animals, lions, cheeta's, leopards, rhino's (black and white), elephants and so much more.
Only (little) minor thing was the change in our itinarary and the fact the four of us never could stay close to eachother (tents and lodges never together). But overall, it was an excellent holiday and safari.
BE
Email Patrick | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
10 days MAGICAL Kenya !!!!
Second safari with Beacon!
As expected from Robert, he was extremely fast in his communication and the organisation of the whole trip was superb again.
This time, we had Ken as our driver/guide. Extremely nice friendly guide who was always smiling. So each day started perfectly with a smile. He can handle the most difficult traffic situations in the "jungle" of Nairobi, on the dangerous Nairobi-Mombasa road and in the reservation parks. You always feel safe when he's driving.
During the game drives, he brings you to the spot where the action is. Sometimes, he drives away where the rest of the Jeeps try to get in. It doesn't make sense at that moment, but a few moments later, you are at the front seat. It is like he can predict the animal's behaviour. This happened on several occassions with a leopard and 5 cheeta's. A really amazing guide.
I believe that the standard of guide/drivers is high for Beacon Safaris, but you really got the best! Our previous guide/driver was John. He' was also amazing.
So Beacon Safaris is certainly a five star company which I can only recommend.
US
Email Aly | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing animals and nice accommodation, but poor guide communication and incomplete itinerary
My boyfriend and I did a 3-day safari into the Maasai Mara on a private tour. I chose Beacon Safaris because they were quick to reply to my request for information, thorough in their response, accommodating to my customization for our trip, and reasonably priced within my budget. Overall, we had a nice trip - we saw a ton of animals and stayed in a nice accommodation just outside the park gate. The pop-up van was nice and it was great that it was just my boyfriend, our guide and me. Our guide was nice and did a good job of finding the animals, including a leopard, and getting us close to the animals.
There were a few things that made the trip less enjoyable:
1)We were told during the planning that the van had 4-wheel drive, but it did not. Instead, our guide had another van/guide travel with us and when we got stuck (2-3 times), the other van pulled us out. It was fine, but I would have preferred to have been told the truth up front.
2)We were disappointed with our guide, Eric.
* He had shared that he had just come off a long safari trip prior to ours and appeared to be very tired and trying to do the bare minimum.
* His communication left a lot to be desired - He didn't talk with us much and never discussed our plan for the trip or for each day. This was our first safari and it would have been nice to know what to expect each day (e.g., the overall day plan, how long the game drive would be, when we would be back to camp, when we would stop for lunch, etc.).
* During the safari, he seemed rushed and often didn't stop even though we had asked to stop to watch the animals. He would start driving off without warning and while we were still taking photos or observing the animals. Part of this could have been due to our short safari tour and him feeling rushed to get where we needed to go, but he could have communicated this to us. We were in the dark.
* Our guide was late starting every morning, at least 15 minutes. The second day, we were waiting out front at the meeting time, and he had just walked into the lodge to sit down for breakfast. The third day was a mess in the morning (described in the next point.)
* Our guide did not follow our defined itinerary. Our itinerary dictated early start times, but he attempted to start later than planned which we pushed back on. Our itinerary specifically said we were supposed to have a game drive in the early morning on the third day and then a visit to the Maasai village before heading back to Nairobi; however, we were told by our guide that we could do one or the other. Although, from the first day, our guide suggested we do the village tour on the first evening instead of on the last day so he could get back to Nairobi earlier on the last day, leading us to believe that he had never planned to do the drive the last day which was agreed during the trip planning. We disagreed and told him we wanted to stick to the itinerary. I had attempted to get the itinerary from my tent to show him what was agreed, but when I came back to the lodge, he was gone and there was no way to get a hold of him (he wasn't staying at the lodge).
On the third day, he told us to do the village tour in the morning and he would pick us up at 7:30 AM. He did not show up. We waited for 30-minutes before the hotel offered to call him, only to learn that he had intended for us to walk to the village without him, but this was never communicated. Our guide said the village tour was supposed to be 2-hours, but it was barely one hour. When we met up with our guide at 9 AM, he told us it was too late to do the game drive, he had never looked at our itinerary and didn't remember we were supposed to have a game drive. However, early in the trip he had been pushing us to get back to Nairobi as soon as possible on the last day.
Through this experience, we learned that the guide can make or break the experience and you don't always know who you are going to get. We also learned from a later safari (with a different company) that a lot of the safari company's hire independent contractors as guides. I recommend proactively reviewing the itinerary with the guide from the start and sticking to the plan.
Despite the shortcomings, we really enjoyed our experience and time in the Maasai. The abundance of animal life was incredible!
DE
Email Vitha | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
7 Day taste of Kenya
The communication between Beacon Safaris was professional, courteous and efficient. Robert put together several itineraries and we selected one that best suited our needs. The guide and driver Daniel was excellent. I can highly recommend Beacon Safaris.
JP
Email Nana | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beacon safari did an excellent job making our first trip to Kenya a wonderful time!
First, we were very worried about our first trip to Kenya. However, Beacon safari (and all other safari tours that I requested quotes to) replied quickly and politely which helped me a lot to compare and choose the best tour for me.
The tour service was great, we were able to go to all the places we wanted to go. We were able to see almost all the animal we wanted to see (due to the season, and they’re WILD animals so it can’t be promised that there will all be there). Our tour guide, James ,worked so hard to look for all the animals for us. He also told me a lot of information about Kenya, the animals and the cultures which were very interesting.
I would highly recommend Beacon safari and will use it again if I have another chance to go to Kenya again.
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Email Andrew Gable | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beacon Safaris is awesome!
My girlfriend and myself both went on our first Safari and trip to Kenya with Beacon Safaris. What an amazing trip!
We planned our trip with Robert and had a very smooth process figuring out our trip and sending the payment. Once we arrived into Nairobi airport we met our driver for the week Ken.
Ken is undoubtedly the best safari driver and such an awesome human! We saw the entire big five on our 8 day safari and could have easily stayed for another week with Ken and the amazing wildlife. He was able to guide us around the park with ease, teach us about Kenya, and get us in the perfect position for amazing photos.
I would never hesitate to recommended Beacon Safaris and Ken to anyone I know.
Thanks again for the awesome trip,
Andrew & Hillary
DE
Email Jannis Meng | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great experience with a great guide but too high expectations due to safari description
4 day safari Massai Mara & Lake Nakuru
Sekenani Camp
Flamingo Hill Camp
Safari Van
+ Amazing guide (Eustace) super friendly, super knowledgable, super driver, great personality
+ Everything went according to plan, very reliable
+ Great selection of lodges
+ Clean and tidy vehicle (especially in comparison to some others we saw)
- With the safari description guaranteeing the encounter with all of the big five, our expectations were extremely high and we did end up quite disappointed after not having seen all promised animals. We would recommend some changes to the safari description!
FR
Email Pierre-Olivier | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
AMAZING ONCE IN A LIFE SAFARI
For our first time in Kenya we chose Beacon Safari with my girlfriend, following the good reviews on the internet. I really appreciated how Robert was responsive and acurate in the details, by showing us the car we will have, the guide that will do the game drive etc. At no point he put any pressure for the payment or to speed up the process (and of course I was a bit picky..!). He can answer directly on Whatsapp which makes the conversation way quicker. Our driver was there on time to drive us to Masai Mara and Amboselli (trip we personalised, you don't need to do a package), in a nutshell it was AMAZING. Our guide Eustace is passionate,doing his job since 16 years. So friendly and helpful, he never counted the time spent to do the sightseeing or to help with ANY request/help needed. We've seen the big 5 (okay maybe not the shy rhino :) ), he has like a 5th sense about which decision to take to spot animals, and of course he's in touch with the other guides of the reserves to tell each other infos. The vehicle was way more recent than the average other companies. We laughed so much together that it was a real pleasure to wake up each morning to go for the game drive. I will totally recommend this company..
LB
Email Walid | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
The Best Safari Tour, it exceeded our expectations
We went on a four day safari tour with Beacon Safaris. We visited lake Nakuru and Maassai Mara. Beacon Safaris made all the arrangements, hotel, car, game drives etc. On the first day, we were picked up from our hotel in Nairobi at 7:00 am and driven Lake Nakuru where we spent our first afternoon, made our first game drive, and spent our first night. The next day we were driven to Maassai Mara where we spent the last three days and went on multiple game drives. At Maassai Mara Beacon Safaris booked us at the Ashnil Mara Camp. An excellent hotel. The highlight of it all were certainly the daily game drives. Our driver, Ken, was fantastic. Thanks to him we managed to see four of the big fives, plus many other animals. He knew were to go to find the animals, and how to position the car to get the best pictures. When we booked the tour we did not expect to see so many animals, and so close to them. Ken is kind, pleasant, patient, accommodating, very knowledgeable, and an excellent driver. Thank you Beacon Safaris for making our safari trip a wonderful and memorable experience.
