Our Kenya and Tanzania guides smiling to a photo
Oakland Tours and Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2009)
- Member Of:
- Tourism Regulatory Authority (TRA) & Kenya Tourism Board (KTB)
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $130 to $320 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
perfect trip ever with Oakland Tours anf Safaris
The communication was good, they had the best services and I would like to complement them for that,amazingly their standards are up and classic , everything about them is excellent.Good work Oakland Tours and Safaris I enjoyed every moment.Good joblL
Email Shannon | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
We did not get what we paid for
On the 5, 6, 7 May, my two colleagues and I went on a “classic” three-day, two-night Maasai Mara safari with Oakland Tours Kenya.
It was critical that we booked a private safari as the three of us rarely, if ever, have the chance to meet in person.
Felistus from Oakland confirmed that this would be the case.
We were also told that we would be staying at Fisi Camp, as per the information on the website. However, on Friday we were driven to Manyatta Camp. (Felistus told me after I telephoned her that this was an “upgrade”, but I had made the booking purely on the fact that we were to stay at Fisi.)
On the Friday evening, as we were heading back to the camp after a game drive, our driver, Patrick (who is the saving grace in this whole debacle, because of his exemplary attitude) ran into some troubles with our vehicle, and we had to abandon the vehicle and catch a lift with another group back to camp. We were told that the vehicle would be fixed and ready for our game drive the next morning.
However, the next morning, the van was not fixed. Patrick told us that a part was being delivered from Nairobi which would be used to fix the car. He arranged that we joined another group (of 4 other people – not a private safari). We did not even have the chance to sit together.
At the end of the day (4pm), the part had not yet arrived from Nairobi, though by 7pm it had, and we were absolutely assured that we would have our private game drive the following morning,
Again, we were disappointed: the car was not fixed and we joined another group (5 people) for the morning game drive. We were also told that we would be driven back to Nairobi that morning in a rather beaten-up saloon car.
When we arrived back in Nairobi, Felistus and her business partner were there to greet us and offer their apologies. We had told them that we sought financial compensation because we had paid for a service (in full) that was not delivered. The best they could offer us was local currency for a trip back to the airport. (Which we did not need, but took.)
We found Felistus' attitude to be not at all what we had read about online: she brazenly told us that she would not take responsibility for what had happened, and she proceeded to blame poor Patrick for any wrongdoings/bad decisions made on her part. She didn’t seem in the least bit interested in the fact that we had paid for a private safari, but had not received one, telling us that they “got us to the Masaai Mara and back” and that was the only responsibility that they had.
What’s more, on our itinerary, it was listed that we would enjoy a trip to a local Masaai village on Sunday. This did not happen, and when we questioned Felistus on this point, she said it was “optional” (but, clearly, not our option, as we were never given the choice)!
I had spent some time investigating the wealth of companies that run safaris in the Mara and budget camps. It’s frustrating that nothing that I thought I had chosen was eventually delivered.
I understand that a safari is a complex product, and that things go wrong. But it's how you deal with it, Felistus and Oakland, that is of the utmost importance for continued business.
Email Gidion | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Convenient
Communication is effective through phone calls, email & Whatspp. Good customer service with good customer based needs addressed.
Your safari is safe and enjoyable in the hands of Oakland Tours, friendly and respectful drivers who can adjust to reschedule when need arises.
Email justus | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
excllent reception,guidance and arrangements were properly done. Follow up was appreciated.
communication was nice, welcoming and clear.the service was okey. the process met our expectation.one can make a repeat
AE
Email Karen | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Felistus arranged our tour on very short notice.arrangements were good n gave us a good deal.
I would say Felistus n the entire team did a fantastic job. And exceeded our expectations, n made Mum n me have a wonderful n memorable holiday. I would certainly recommend Oakland tours to friends n family.
Email julius | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
it was smooth and on point.
they exceeded may expectation despite me making last minute changes to the trip.
Email Onsongo | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
World Class service as always
The hotel that was recommended to me by Oakland exceeded my expectation. The booking was seamless and I enjoyed the experience of having all the billing and booking handled by Oakland. The communication was timely and complete and assisted me in planning my trip.
NO
Email Andreas | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Flexible and good safarioperator
Oakland Tours and Safaris helped me to arrange safaries to Lake Nakuru, Hells gate, Masai Mara and Samburu/Buffalo springs. They were very helpful and flexible in arranging safari tours for me and they were very easy and nice to communicate with. They tried to do their best to find good solutions for me in accordance to my wishes, my economy and my time table. For example did I very much want to go to Samburu/Buffalo Springs. While other safari operators dismissed any option for these parks if I was not willing to pay a really high price, Oakland helped me to find and arrange a solution that made it possible for me to do this safari within my budget.
So to some comments on each park:
Hells gate: I really liked this park. You can do the safari by yourself by bicycling or walking in the park. It is really different felling than being in a car. It is a unique experience to watch animals from the ground with no fence between. I had for example zebras just 6-7 meters away and a giraff just 15 meters away. The landscape is also special and very nice: it is like walking in the movie Lion King. The price for doing safari here is also much lower than in other national parks. I saw a lot of common zebra and warthogs, a big heard of buffalos, in addition to baboon, hyrax, thomson's, grant's, eland, impala, hartebeest and giraffe.
Lake Nakuru: It is a nice park - epesially the view from the baboon Cliff over lake Nakuru is stunning. Because the van i was going with started from Nairobi in the morning and would continue to another place in the evening the time we got in the park was in the middle of the day. To see especially the carnivors it is probably better to be there in the morning and evening. But just before we were to leave we saw both lion and striped hyena. We saw also animals like rothschild's giraffe, buffalo, waterbukk, zebra, impala, eland, hyrax, thomson's, grant's and baboons. White rihno did we see far away. There were unfortunately also very far away.
Massai Mara: Unfortunately I was there a little bit to late to see the big migrations. But even though, we saw a lot of different animals. We saw 10 different species of antilopes/gazelles and in total 22 different species of Mammals. The hightlight was probably to the lions and cheetahs just some meters from the car. We saw several different groups of lions - many of them moving around. I had 3 days for this safari, including transport to/from Nairobi. But the first and last day we just did a couple of hours with game driving because the transportation to/from Nairobi took so long time. So it was mostly the second day that was the day of time for game drive. The park is also quite big and therefore it takes a long time to transport between different parts of the park (for us for example the mara river was very far away). I would therefore suggest to focus on getting whole days in the park, rather than just morning/evening drives. We were also 8 people in our minibus, which in my opinion was too many becuase it gets quite crowded. I would therefore suggest that one ask to not be more than 5-6 people in the minibus one is traveling with. The second day we also got away from our camp late because the lunch we were going to have was not made ready.
Samburur/Buffaloo springs: A very nice parks that have a landscape and nature that is quite different from the more popular southern parks; it is much more dry. I saw all the "special five" (grevy zebra, oryx, gerenuk, reticulated giraffe and somali ostrich). Not at east the gazelle called gerenuk is very faschinating: it has very, vey slim legs and neck and it stands on just its hind legs and eats from bushes and trees. I also saw the lions very close to the car (these male lions have just a very tiny mane because of the heat) and a lot of elephants. Can really recommend to do a trip to these parks in the northern parts of Kenya.
Excellent day tour of Nairobi
Excellent day tour of Nairobi. No problems at any point. Many thanks!
US
Email Ella | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent safari in Kenya and Tanzania
We had a wonderful experience with Oakland Tours from beginning to end! All the drivers/guides were extremely professional and made sure we had fun! Felista - manager was very helpful and accommodated our every need from pre-planning the trip to last minute hotel change when we were there. All her staff is excellent, trying to make sure that you enjoy every minute of your trip! We saw all Big 5 and so much more with their professional guides! They also planned extra trips to Lake Nakuru, Lake Naivasha, Mountain Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar for a beach get-a-way. Thank you Felista, Ruth and all the guides for an unbelievable trip! Ella, Alex, Sofya and Sasha