Beacon Safaris Team in Masai Mara
Beacon Safaris
- Located 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 $120 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
DE
Email Ina | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
the tour operator is a liar!
I went with some friends to the Amboseli NP, which was great. But the thing we didn´t like, was the organization with Robert. We booked the tour already well in advance, specifically with the hotel in the park. The communication with Robert was already a little bit difficult from the beginning on - he did not answer fast and in detail, but I had to ask a lot in order to get information. On the way to the park, he called and said there was a conference in the hotel we booked, so no space available anymore and we had to go to another hotel outside the park. He did not offer any compensation or apologize. We told him, that this is not ok, since we had a different deal and that we are really disappointed about not being in the park. After a long discussion, he agreed to give us a disount of 20$ each. Of course we did not get our money. First he told us, that we would get it after we return in our hotel back in Nairobi. There he told us he could not come and he would send it to us via Paypal or to a bank account. That never happended and when asking and asking again, the only reply he is giving, is that he has a problem with Paypal, that he would send the money next week and so on and so on......but he is only lying all the time, he never wanted to give some money back. It is kind of sad, because we really liked the experince we made in the Ambosli NP and now we have kind of a bad memory on the organization company.
US
Email AD from NJ, USA | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
DID NOT RETURN MY DEPOSIT
Beacon Safaris (Robert) failed to refund my deposit. I had written agreement with him that he would return within 2 weeks of request.
I have been following up for 11 months now. He has been evading with different types of excuses. Now stopped responding to emails as well.
Pl. do not send him any advance.
US
Email Adi | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unprofessional
We planned a 5 day safari with Beacon via Robert. What should have been a memorable and enjoyable experience turned out to be full of stress thanks to their mismanagement. Avoid if you want a company that works with you to make your trip enjoyable!
Beacon/ Robert promised and received payment for a customized 5 day safari. Our driver was Anthony and it was apparent early on that Robert did not discuss the itinerary with Anthony. Anthony would frequently refuse to follow the itinerary saying it was impractical/ unfeasible. When we tried to contact Robert to mediate, he would be unavailable. Ultimately, we were made to skip game drives or pay extra to go on game drives that were already included in the original invoice. We were told to pay extra because Robert wasn't aware of change in park fees. At the end of the trip, we were dropped off not at our hotel but in the middle of Nairobi. Again thanks to miscommunication between Robert and Anthony. The only reason this isn't a 1 star review is that Robert agreed to split the cost of the additional safari drives even though he had already received payment for it.
I wish this review was about Kenya's beautiful parks and the game drives we went on with Anthony. But our lasting impression of the trip was uncertainty and stress. Robert and Anthony at Beacon, while not dishonest, were disorganized, unprofessional and uncaring about giving you an enjoyable safari experience.
RU
Email Anastasiia | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Tried to reduce our time for game drives
We did 2-days safari to Amboseli with our guide Eric. All was good - Eric took us to Amboseli from Nairobi very fast, then was a lunch in a very beautiful Kibo camp. First game drive was in the evening and we saw a lot of animals against the setting sun. But in Amboseli there are not a lot of lions and cheetah so if you see them there would be a looot of other cars (compared to Masai Mara). Eric chose different routes so we saw a big part of Amboseli park.
But at the end of our morning game drive when we had just passed the gate of Amboseli park was an accident. We had noticed that our morning game was started at 7:30 instead of 6:30, and it was ended at 10:00 instead of 11:00. Yesterday there was the same thing - we depart to our evening game at 16:00 instead of 15:30. Eric showed us that he had different plan with other departure times but it is so strange that it's difficult to understand is it an accident or the organisers specially reduced our time and hoped that we are not noticed that.
After that Eric offered to us to go somewhere in Nairobi for that 2 hours but it wasn't satisfied us. The problem is that we had a one enter ticket for a day to Amboseli park and we couldn't go back by no charge (another one ticket to Amboseli cost 120$). Then we paid additional 20$ to enter Amboseli again for that 2 hours.
The safari was really good so as our guide. But on vacation we wanted to relax but if you relax you may be tricked.
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!
CN
Email Mia King | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Recommended guide Anthney
Out of 5 points, 5 points go to Anthney, the driver and guide, he is really nice. And 3 points go to Robert, he often answers questions that are not relevant. And he is very slow to respond, and he was even slower to respond after signing the contract and paying the money. One time, he even took 15 days to answer our question. Moreover, we agreed in the contract that the total fee includes the landing fee of Crescent Island, but when we arrived at Crescent Island, we were still required to pay the landing fee ourselves, which is really too much.
HK
Email Katherine Chan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Meet with expectation
We booked the safari tour from Beacon Safaris in2019 but had to postpone until this year because of covid.
The rescheduling wasn’t too smooth as the contact was not very responsive. We had to keep following up to ensure our confirmation. The total price also went up 19% at the end as we were told the price is adjusted because of covid.
As for the safari tour, we stayed at 4 days at Masai Mara and 1 day at Lake Nakuru. The game drive duration is quite short - we left hotel at 730am most of the days and return before 4pm if we didn't request to stay late. Very luckily we saw Big 5 and a mini migration during our trip. Daniel our driver is nice and will get to the animals asap when he heard the updates from the radio.
The hotel (Mara Kimana Camp) that we stay is nice too - food is good, staff is friendly, room is clean. Just the hot water supply is not stable and yellowish most of the time and the electricity is not stable occasionally as well but it’s understandable.
Overall, the experience is good and we enjoyed the safari tour.
US
Email Patricia Corns | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Robert was responsive as we worked on our itinerary. After booking, it was hard to get replies.
We had an amazing time on our 7 day safari with our awesome guide Carlos. We did 2 nights in Amboseli, 1 night in Lake Nakuru, and 3 nights in Masai Mara. Carlos was so kind, patient, informative and was a pleasure to be around. I wish we had opted for the Land Cruiser for a more comfortable ride through the bumpy roads. Our van was quite old and has seen better days for sure. Robert was very responsive via email to answer all my questions and work on our itinerary in the beginning. But after we booked the trip, it became harder to get responses from him. Nevertheless, he was very nice and all went well. We would love to go back and would use Beacon Safari again.
CA
Email Simon | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very good operator! You can trust!
We went for a 3 days / 2 nights Safaris in the Mara at Basecamp Explorer. Beacon Safaris have planned all the trip for us! We had a great experience with everything (accommodation, meals, etc.) The driver (Antony) is Excellent! He was explaining us a lot about the animals, the Mara, The Maasai people, etc. We really appreciated that he took time to explain us a lot of things during the Safaris!
Email Louise | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good experience with Beacon Safaris
We had a good experience with Beacon Safaris for a Masai Mara 3-days Safari. The exchanges with Robert during the preparation of the journey were very easy. Our driver and guide Daniel was also very professional and flexible.