family-pumpped-up-for a classic family safari
Doyen Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2004)
- Member Of:
- Kenya Tourism Board
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $480 to $1,200 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Donna Jordan | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful!
I feel like it was such a wonderful experience, at a very good price. It's tent camping, but I always felt safe and taken care of. They feed you all your meals, and water, and there is not an animal I can think of, that we didn't see on this Safari. Our guides did their very best to find every single animal possible for us to see. It truly was a wonderful experience!!! I am so glad I did it!!!
Email Sam | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Reliable, friendly and client-centered service
My family and I had a wonderful experiemce visiting the Masai Mara for 2 days tour, organized by Kennedy Sagwe of Doyen Safaris. Kennedy was very helpful right from the first start when I made an inquiry all the way from Solomon Islands. He kept advising both by email, phone calls and WhatsApp to ensure I received the required info on time to inform my decision. Kennedy organized comfortable accommodations and great meals as part of the package, and I must say my wife and kids had a great time.
I intend to visit Kenya again in Dec 2017 or Jan 2018, and I shall confidently rely on Kennedy's advice to plan the activities of this second trip with my family.
Kennedy was entirely trustworthy with money and we got exactly what we paid for. He was humble and respectful to us during our entire engagement with him.
AE
Email Ashley Vera | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Liar, Thief, Coward and an Overall Scam!
I am absolutely disgusted with how horribly I was treated during my stay in Kenya after booking through Doyen Safaris. The owner, Kennedy, is the biggest liar, thief and coward I have ever met in my life. When we booked the trip in December, Kennedy was very responsive to my questions and concerns and gave me an itinerary with all of the hotels I would be staying in, so I felt comfortable and excited for the trip. But that was all a lie. From the moment we arrived in Kenya, there were several mix-ups and we were not delivered what we were promised. The hotels we stayed in were 3 of the most disgusting, dirty, old, and unsafe accommodations I have stayed in. The sheets we marked with blood from the mosquitoes and the beds had dirt on them. We were supposed to stay in glamorous tents when we went to Masai Mara, but I was shocked when we got there and I learned that first off I had to share a tent with a total stranger I had met in the car an hour before and second the place was a complete dump and even had a mouse in it. My group was promised a private tour but soon realized Kennedy had placed us with two other travelers. Every time we tried calling Kennedy to fix these issues he would tell our driver, Stanley, he was too busy to talk. The one great thing about the trip was our driver. Stanley was absolutely amazing and made the safari worth it, but anything else Kennedy was involved in was a complete disaster. The food was included in our package and it was the worst food I have ever eaten and I actually came home with typhoid fever because of the dire conditions of the camp. On my last night in Nairobi I was supposed to stay at the hotel Kennedy listed in my itinerary but of course when I got to Nairobi he said the plan had changed because the hotel was booked (he had already done this to us the day before with another hotel as well). I became very angry with Kennedy and began listing all the things that had gone wrong since the start of the trip and he acted like this was brand new information to him even though Stanley had been telling him all along what was going on. He denied everything and seemed shocked when I told him I had to share a tent with a stranger and he blamed the camp. He refused to take any responsibility and promised me he would put me in a 4 star hotel to make up for it. He had a driver take me to another hotel and as soon as we pulled up I knew this was not a 4 star hotel. It was a complete dump. They showed me to my room and when we walked in it turns out there was someone staying in that room already, so we went back to the lobby. I called him and told him this was not acceptable and that I had paid him a lot of money in order to stay in a nice hotel. I sent him several pictures of acceptable hotels I had found online and told him any of those would be fine. He asked me to go to booking.com and pay for the room and that he would send me money a week later through PayPal. Obviously I refused and told him he had to come to the hotel and sort it out right away. He finally came to the hotel and looked upset and annoyed and tried to convince me to stay there. I told him I would not stay there and he just sat around not saying or doing anything for about 20 minutes. Finally he got up and walked out of the hotel without saying a word. After 10 minutes I had the driver call him and he said he was figuring something out. An hour later I was still sitting in the lobby and now he was ignoring the driver's phone calls. I had the hotel call him and he told them to tell me I could either stay there or find my own place and pay for it myself. I was SO upset. What a liar, thief and a coward. Absolutely disgusted that these kinds of people actually exist. Do NOT book with this company. This man is only out for one thing. Your money. My goal is to spread this to as many people as possible so they don't have to experience what I did.
IN
Email Madhukar B | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience!
We were 4 family friends who visited Kenya in March. We got in touch with Kennedy in February, much before our visit to Kenya. He was very responsive right from the get go and gave us a very good deal :) We visited Masai Mara, Nakuru and Naivasha for a 4 days and 3 nights safari package. At one point Kennedy was so nice to accommodate a boat ride. The driver who led us to the game drive, Joseph was very experienced. He knew the exact corners and places in Masai & Nakuru where we were fortunate to witness all the BIG 5 of Kenya! We got lucky :) I'd really recommend Kennedy for anyone who is willing to explore true wilderness of Kenya :)
CZ
Email Jaroslav | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Safari with Doyen Safaris
It was really nice Safari, very pleasant staff, nothing is problem for them. I was very satisfied.
Especially driver called Ambros knows, how to do his work for your best enjoying!
I recommend for everybody
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Email Prakash n Disha | Experience level: first safari
Great experience
This was our 1st time to Kenya. We really enjoyed every moment of it. It surpassed our expectations. Our trip organizer (Kennedy) did a great job arranging everything. All my communication was through email and did not have any issues. He was very flexible with payments and quick at replying back. Our driver (Jackson) for the safari was great and was very knowledgeable. The accommodations were suitable. Food was good as well. Masai mara was a good location. Lake Nakuru - did not see as much, but good for flamingos. Lake Naivasha- great for bird life. Safety was never an issue. Overall great 1st experience.
US
Email Titi Woki | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A great experience all round from the pick up at the airport to the Mara drive! Great people!!!
The Safari was excellent! Our driver Mr Wanjau was excellent!
DE
Email Almar | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great 7D6N Safari through a variety of parks
We were with a group of 3 people when we booked a safari with Doyen. Kennedy was our main contact and was very responsive to any questions we had. We compared price and variation with some other tour organizers and Doyen was better in all aspects.
The tour itself. Both Kennedy and our tour guide Zak (Zakaro) picked us up perfectly on time from our hotel. They allowed us for some breakfast and then we went off. We had one of thos pop-up roof buses with a strong engine. So it allowed us to go everywhere throughout the parks and gave us some perfect picture opportunities. The first days we had 3 other people in our bus but the last days we were the only guests.
We went to the following parks: Masai Mara, Nakuru, Naivasha, Amboseli.
Our guide knew the park by heart and together with the other tour operators they used the radio to direct them to places where some rare animals were found. Zak gave us the chance to see the big 5 multiple times and we got some excellent photos of a leopard that would make a professional photographer jealous.
Masai Mara: Has the largest variety and is a great park. You can see all the big 5 although a rhino is slightly more rare as it has a lot of hiding places.
Nakuru: Park is smaller but we have seen lions and we got to see the Rhino from very close. Hotel was goof
Naivasha: We could mountainbike through the park. A unique experience with Giraffes, Zebras, Buffalos and a wild variety of other animals around. (off course this park has no lions, hyena's, elephants, rhinos or hippos). At the end you could do a walk through a gorge.
Amboseli: This park is set at the foot of the Kilimanjaro. A unique ecosystem there provides all animals with water from the Kilimanjaro. Excellent park to see Elephants, Hippos and Hyenas.
The food at all times was more than enough and the sleeping places were good and all had hot water.
Great experience and would love to do it again at some point. The guide and organization made the experience very enjoyable and were always very quick and timely.
KR
Email Hyunchul | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safaris were so great
They were helpful enough for our honeymoon and appreciate everybody people in Doyen. hope business better see you soon again
BE
Email Matthias | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Reliable company, great safari to Masai Mara
We had a very good experience with Doyen Safari for a 3-day trip to Masai Mara np.
They fulfilled all expectations. Comfortable van, nice food, nice stay (miti mingi eco camp) and offcourse 3 amazing game drivings thru the park! All this for an affordable price without unexpected extra costs!