AMS Directors and Tour Guides
Amazing Memories Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2012)
- Member Of:
- ASTA, KATO, AMREF & Eco Tourism
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $130 to $500 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
IT
Email Marco and Francesca | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Wonderful trip to Kenya, but bad experience with driver
We spent 11 days in August with Amazing Memories Safari between Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Amboseli, after spending 6 days in Tanzania with a very good guide (Karim) from an excellent tour operator (Amazing Memories Safaris).
The trip in Kenya was overall very nice, the parks visited were undoubtedly amazing.
Coming to talk about the organization of the trip, it is fair to mention some positive aspects:
- the tour operator was always prompt in responding to emails;
- the accommodations where we stayed were very nice (even if very expensive, but of course we knew that);
- the 4x4 car was in good condition.
The strongly negative aspects, on the other hand, concern the driver/guide. Indeed:
- he spoke difficult-to-understand English;
- he had a fair knowledge of the parks, but still a not acceptable level for a guide (e.g., at the first lodge in the Masai Mara he arrived using Google Maps; he struggled to locate the locations indicated by other guides where sightings were taking place, with the result that sometimes we were late and almost missed important moments of the sightings);
- he had just an elementary knowledge of animals (e.g., he struggled to distinguish different types of birds or even antelopes from each other, and gave us systematically wrong information about animal behavior);
- he had no strategy for exploring the parks and looking for animals. On the second day we realized that we had to organize our tour independently (we have a fair knowledge of African nature, having traveled a lot, watched for documentaries, "Wild Earth" and read books) and, in fact, we managed to make excellent sightings (but always struggling to get the guide to go to the best places possible);
- he did not know how to position himself in the best ways for sightings (which is certainly complex in Kenya due to the large number of vehicles, but which should still be a prerogative of a good guide);
- we never managed to start the game drive at dawn because he needed at least 30 minutes to eat breakfast.
We did game drives in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Argentina, USA, Norway, Poland, Italy, India, Indonesia, Australia: we never saw such a low level of guiding, especially if compared to the high cost of the trip. In conclusion, our substantially negative opinion of the tour operator is conditioned by the guide (for the rest, we have no particular complaints). However, we believe that in a trip of this type the real added value is the guide and, therefore, as said before, we can only express a negative opinion on the tour operator as well.
HK
Email Ng | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bad car and non-professional drivers
Bad cars, bad car driver.!!The car and driver used in Kenya are worse, the driver not professional and always keep using his phone even when he is driving. The car used in Kenya is worse, compared with Tanzania, the car seats are bad, very dusty inside and no cleaning. Also, the arrangements of the transfer between Kenya and Tanzania is horrible. The drivers always late, if you told us to wake up early and leave at 5:45am, we won’t suppose for an hour waiting of the another driver . During the whole trip, only one driver in Tanzania is good, helpful and diligent.
US
Email Christine | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Caution to travelers considering Amazing Memories Safaris
Our 15 day safari tour was met with 3 days of frustration when the upgraded hotel accommodations we had contracted were not paid for in a timely manner. We contracted for all services in January 2018, made the $4K deposit and paid the balance prior to our departure from the USA as the Contract required.
It was not until the night before we were to arrive at the Mara Serena that we were told by AMS that the hotel had over-booked and our reservation was not available. We did find out from the hotel manager that AMS had been contacted for payment due, and when it was not received they released our reservation. The same situation for our reservation at the Ngorongoro Serena.
We feel AMS broke our Contract by not paying for our hotel reservations in a timely manner and not providing the accommodations in our Contract.
FYI - these tour companies must pay upfront for hotel reservations. Our advice if you plan to use this tour group, demand that before you leave home you have Vouchers for all hotels in your possession. This is your guarantee the reservations have been paid for and will be there when you arrive.
We also coordinated a visit to Zanzibar for 3 days to relax at the beach, following the safari. AMS did a good job scheduling the airlines and driver for pick up. AMS recommended The Sands on the east side of the island. There is a floor of coral and sea urchins at the shoreline, so this is not a beach you can run out in bare feet and swim. It is a good choice if you just want to relax at a quiet location with lounge chairs and covers from the sun provided on the beach at no additional cost.
9 Day Safari Tour
We absolutely loved our 9-day safari in Kenya with Amazing Memories (AM)! We chose AM as they offered very competitive prices but also had some of the best reviews.
Booking Process
- Booking with AM was very easy. Anne (manager) is very responsive and provides lots of information. Likewise for the rest of the team.
Accommodation
- We opted for the premium accommodation. All of the lodges were of an excellent standard other than in relation to Samburu (which was still nice but I would not expect in the premium package).
Vehicle
- We opted for the Land Cruiser over the standard mini van. This is essential in my opinion as the mini van is far more limited off road (which much of the Safari is).
- The vehicle was very comfortable, spacious and well maintained.
Guide
- Our guide was full of conversation, patient and made sure we got the most out of game drives- I’m sure he would have driven us around the parks all day if that was what we wanted! We learnt a lot about the Kenyan culture and the different animals found on Safari. Overall he was very good.
- We were slightly disappointed by the extent to which the guide spent time on his mobile phone - this was both on game drives and travelling on main roads between parks. This lead to many instances where either the the guide did not pay attention to questions asked or it slowed down the travel in general.
Schedule
- We really liked the schedule that was offered for the 9 day safari and were generally very pleased.
- We did find that the itinerary differed from what we had originally received. We were meant to be arriving at the lodges by lunch time with time to enjoy the lodge before our afternoon game drives. As the drives between parks often took longer than stated we missed this on a couple of days and in one instance missed 40 minutes of our evening game drive.
Overall we had a fantastic experience and would definitely recommend others to use AM! The entire experience was excellent and the service offered at all stages was very good.
CI
Email Jaekwnag Lee | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Feel the wild animals in Africa.
There was no major difficulty in preparing for my first trip to Africa with sufficient advance guidance from this travel agency.
The safari was very informative with Peter's ample explanation.
The hotel restaurant was well served without any problems for Koreans to eat.
US
Email Jill B | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Memories certainly lives up to its name!
My sons and I traveled to Kenya where we were met at the Nairobi airport. In spite of travels being delayed, they were able to adapt to our changing itinerary. From the minute we were picked up until the moment we left, there was nothing for us to worry about. James M., our guide, took care of every last detail. If we needed something, he took care of it.
Our accommodations were great and the game drives were amazing. As we explored the country, James shared his knowledge of the country, the people, the environment, the animals, etc. We learned so much from him! If you need a guide, he is your man.
When we return to Africa, Amazing Memories will be the first call that I make.
Email Sylvia | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Service all around
I booked with Amazing Memories 1.5 years in advanced and coming into it, I had the highest of expectations for my once in a lifetime trip. I wanted to see the wildebeest river crossing and see animals catching prey. Although I was two weeks too late to watch the river crossing, our guide Joseph made sure we saw the Big 5 in the Masai Mara within 2.5 days. We saw 3 leopards and 1 rhino up close! The service from Joseph was top notch and he was very knowledgeable in the animals, birds, plants, and Kenya in general. He knew where the animals will move to next and ensure we get the best view points for our photos. He has eyesight like my binoculars and is consistently on the ball.
The itinerary itself was a bit confusing because it had said we were getting unlimited game drives almost every day, but it didn't seem to be the case. There are set time slots during the day that game drives are designed/organised which did not allow for as much flexibility as I expected.
Email communications in the planning stage were relatively good. We were able to change the accommodation for some legs, and add extra days to the itinerary and costs would be adjusted. They sent through an information pack which was helpful to get you ready. It would be good if they included a warning very on dusty roads, so you can prepare for it.
The buffet at the accommodations were amazing, esp Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge. Although for some reason we kept getting the furthest room from the reception area throughout the trip.
For our Serengeti leg, we got Santos as our driver from Migada Tours. He was always punctual, which I appreciated. He took us to see the lion's nest, hippo pool. We saw two leopards, one which walked right in front of our vehicle!
Overall, the package, service, organisation was great and turned out to be me and my partner's best holiday yet.
Email Mel | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
We had a fantastic safari!
All in all I'm really pleased with the service provided by Amazing Memories Safaris, with only a couple of minor issues encountered (hence why I felt I couldn't honestly give the full 5 stars).
Right from the beginning in the planning stage, Anne was super helpful, replying to all my emails and giving plenty of information. We ended up doing a 12 day tour of Kenya and Tanzania. When we arrived at the airport the driver's were already waiting for us and were very friendly and welcoming.
Our driver for the Kenyan part of our trip (9 days) was Joseph, and I cannot speak more highly of him! He was incredible! He was so friendly, always chatted to myself and my partner on the long drives between national parks, was extremely knowledgeable and very good at spotting wildlife. He was very patient and worked hard to spot the wildlife we wanted to see, and as such Kenya (the Masaai Mara in particular) was the most successful part of our trip, providing sightings we will never forget.
Our driver for the short Tanzanian part (3 days) was still very good, a nice guy who did his job just fine, but we felt he lacked the passion and enthusiasm of Joseph so that part was not quite as enjoyable for that reason.
All the accommodation (except one night) exceeded my expectations as we had just booked a mid-range tour. The lodge/permanent tents were very clean and comfortable and some in particular were in such beautiful locations, with the food always amazing and all the staff extremely well trained with brilliant customer service. The only night we had an issue was our third night near Lake Naivasha/Hell's Gate. We were only told that morning that our accommodation had changed from the original plan as Anne had wanted to give us an "upgrade". Obviously after hearing this we were quite excited and expecting something lovely. On arrival at the hotel, we found it lacked that "African bush" feel all the other lodges had as it was part of a small but busy town and was set up as a normal hotel with rooms in buildings rather than separate permanent tents. We were greeted by the only other tourist in sight (it seemed to cater more to locals) coming up to me and warning us to be careful as she had her wallet, phone and passport stolen the previous night, which instantly made us uneasy and worried about this leg of our trip. Our room was clean and comfortable enough, but the food was absolutely shocking, almost inedible! Furthermore, whereas all the other lodges welcome tour guides and accommodate and feed them, this place would not take our guide Joseph who then was forced to leave and find his own accommodation elsewhere, which we felt was very unfair. Upon further investigation we learnt the lodge we were supposed to be booked at was currently under renovation, so we would have much preferred the honesty of being told this rather than being told we'd been "upgraded". In the end it was only one night of the trip and not a huge deal, but it perhaps would have been nicer to have been told more in advance and offered to upgrade to one of the nicer lodges in the area (of which there were a few), even if that meant we paid a bit more.
The only other issue we faced was when we left the Serengeti we questioned whether a single day there was really enough. When we later looked at our itinerary we discovered we were supposed to receive an additional evening drive (usually 4pm-6:30pmish) on our first evening there, which was never given as an option. We also were never given the optional activity of a night drive, which the camp offered, and were not told the camp had no ATM facilities which meant we weren't able to book this ourselves as we didn't have enough cash.
I will counter these small complaints with a couple of ways in which Anne did go out of her way to provide us with good service, though. Our last day I asked to visit the Giraffe Center and the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, which was not included in the original itinerary of the trip. She provided these extras to us with not additional charge, even though it meant a whole extra day on the tour, with us just paying for the additional nights accommodation.
On our final night we were supposed to stay at the Hilton, however due to the controversy with the Kenyan elections Anne thought it was unsafe for us to stay directly in the city with all the protests happening, so last minute she managed to change our accommodation to somewhere equally as nice, but further out from the city so much safer. We really did appreciate this.
Besides the couple of small issues, our safari really was amazing and myself and my partner are extremely grateful and generally very happy with the experience. Thank you very much, we definitely would consider booking through Amazing Memories Safari's again, especially if the itinerary is able to be followed more closely!
Thanks again,
Mel and Jared
US
Email Koshy | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing Safari
4 of 5 stars
Pending review
AmazingMemories is a genuine and reliable Safari / tour agency. Anne and Joseph were very prompt and patient with the answers to our numerous questions prior to our trip. We wre met at the airport and escorted to the hotel on arrival and the drivers were courteous , knowledgeable , patient and helpful. the accommodations were excellent and food very good and hygienic.
The wild life views were stunning and truly Amazing. We visited 7 parks / game reserves in 12 days and all had its own charm. The only difficulty we experinced was the bad condition of the roads in the national parks and the long drives between the parks . Had we known we would have flown the long segments. Overall we strongly recommend Amazing memories Safaris.
Visited September 2016
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g294207-d10755751-r426966867-Amazing_Memories_Safaris-Nairobi.html#
AE
Email Shuaib | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nice experiance with amazing memories... Everythng was perferct ...
Excellent since we called Ms. Ann ( Amazing memories ).. All process picking from airport .. Game drives ( arranged perfectly...Mr. Peter ( experianced guy ) who was with us for game drives... He knows the areas we can see almost all animals... We got only one and half day game drive.. He showed allost all animals except rhinos... Next time as per his advise we wil go for minimum 7 days.. So i will prefer all of you that if your are planning kenya safari trip please plan for minimum 7 days...