Meet your expert travel guide
African Habitat Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2010)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $90 to $320 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Mahen P | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very well organised and the best guide
We visited Masai Mara Reserve and Nakuru National Park in July this year, so apologies for the late review. As other have said, there are two parts to the safari: the organising and the guide who takes you on the safari. We had Rachel from African Habitat Safari Holidays, who organised everything for us and Obama was our guide for the 5 day/4 night safari.
Rachel is a professional. She knows what she is doing and is very good at putting together an itinerary based on your needs. We wanted to spend as much time as possible at Masai Mara, so we had two whole days in the park plus an afternoon game drive. Rachel did a complete itinerary for us which explained everything in great detail – right from airport pick up to drop off at the airport. The day to day itinerary also showed us what to expect on those days. She kept in touch throughout the whole process and answered our emails very promptly. You cannot go wrong with Rachel.
Obama, our travel guide is much more than a guide. You would expect most guides to just learn on the job but it was immediately obviously that Obama has gone beyond that. It was only later that we found out that he had studied much more than what was required for this job and that he was still studying to go to the highest level possible. His knowledge on the Kenyan flora and fauna is phenomenal. While we all wanted see the big cats (which we saw plenty of), we were also interested in the unique trees and different types of antelopes. Obama knew it all.
Obama is also has a very calm and friendly personality which shows in his driving skills and how he treats the environment around him. He is a very safe driver and is very considerate of the park requirements. He is very patient and relaxed which makes our experience so much better.
If we ever go on another safari, my family have already asked me to have it arranged by Rachel and insist on Obama as our guide!
DK
Email Ken Costa | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Private safari in Masai Mara and Amboseli
Except for a minor misunderstanding around the pick up in the Airport...wich was taken care of and solved quickly...everything went perfect. We had ordered a 5 day private safari in Masai Mara and Amboseli and through the whole planing there was a close and good contact and communication with Rachel and Simon in Nairobi.
Our driver and guide Simon picked us up at our hotel and was with us all five days giving us and incredible experience. Being very much down to earth, uncomplicated and flexible Simon did his outmost to fullfill our wishes and he did tell us about not only the wildlife in the nationalparks but also alot about everyday life in Kenya. So thank you Simon for choosing the most bumpy roads in Kenya :0)...Thank you Simon for getting us out of bed way to early in the morning :0)...and thank you Simon for sharing our car with 5000 flies from the buffalos :0)
We had an unforgettable experience on the Kenian grassplains watching zebras, wildbeast, giraffs, gazelles, elephant herds, a feeding cheeta, lions, crocodils and hippos in the Mara River. Did see Mara waking up from above in the hot air balloon and in Amboseli going to sleep with the view to Kilimanjaro and the sound of the hyenas in the distance.
Got memories for life of Kenya and for sure hope to visit again some day.
RO
Email Oana | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Dream trip
If you want to find yourself amazing new friends in Kenya, not just a business selling a service, this is the tour agency you need to contact.
And I mean it! My 10 days solo trip to Kenya became a trip of a lifetime, mostly thanks to African Habitat Safaris. From airport pick-ups and drop offs to everything else during my 6 days safari (Masai Mara, Nakuru, Naivasha, Amboseli), all was amazing, comfortable and safe.
Rachel is the super hero, the one that had to deal with all my 30 emails during 2 weeks and she handle it brilliantly, with patience, understanding and commitment to help me organize a dream trip, keeping in mind also the budget. And so we did! The transport with the van was comfortable enough, the accommodations in the camps: I couldn’t ask for more in the middle of the savanna, the food very good, and the game drives just WOW! We spotted all the big five and enjoyed a wildlife paradise. I was also lucky to be in a wonderful group, we all started in Nairobi and very soon we became friends. And I can’t forget our amazing driver and guide, Richard. I did read about him before, from other reviews praising his qualities. He is indeed very experienced when it comes to wildlife and game drives in the parks, he knows everybody, gets the best info and we used to joke that he is so famous around that even the lions know him well. Thank you Richard for all the adventures, for taking us off the crowded tracks, close to the elephants and the giraffes, for all those moments that made us richer! And for the night safari, haha.
US
Email First time visitor | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
First time on a safari (10 day) and had a mixed experience
I did the 10 day kenya/tanzania safari tour and went to all the main, big parks...(Maasai mara, Amboseli, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater)
The 10 day safari tour went to a lot of great locations although you spend a lot of time traveling between destinations....The airport pickup didn't go that smoothly and we got stuck in Nairobi rush hour traffic for a long time....I ended up having 3 or 4 guides during the 6 day Kenyan portion of the tour..(felt like a hot potato).....They were good guides/drivers but it would have been nice to remain with one of them for the duration..(I think the original plan was to have one driver/guide)....Obama was the best driver and pretty knowlegable....
By contrast, the guide/driver for the 3 to 4 days in Tanzania, Sayed, was very hard to understand half of the time and a very poor listener.....(poor english skills overall)....He couldn't find animals on the game drives, had lots of engine problems in the Serengeti and generally complained way too much about a variety of things......To try to compensate for his many inadequacies, he resorted to offering to buy us beer and ganja/marijuana for us in the van ..(which I think is illegal in Tanzania).....I was told that African Habitat safaris wasn't going to use him anymore as a guide....Excellent choice..
Overall, it was a good time... August is a good time to visit Kenya/Tanzania with a large concentrations of animals... But the tour seemed disorganized at times, the accomodations a mixed bag and the quality of guides dropped a lot in Tanzania...
Email Christopher | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Satisfying
African Habitat Safaris never disappoints,
I was a bit stranded on how i'll find a perfect fit place in Kigali, and they just came in handy- the operators are super Friendly (Rachael Obonyo), good customer service and experience..Thanks African Habitat Services, you are literally making lives easier out here :-) Cheers!
DE
Email Lavender | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We enjoyed our trip with African habitat
We had 4day safari with African habitat safaris. That was Organized by Rachel Obonyo.everything was okay and went as planned, food and accommodation, we enjoyed our drive game. I really Thank Rachel Obonyo and her team for the good service.
DE
Email Ephy | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We enjoyed our trip with African Habitat Safaris
We had a 6 day safari with African Habitat safaris . Organised by Rachel Obonyo . All things went as planned accomodation, food above we enjoyed our game drive. I thank Rachel and her team for great services.
AE
Email Laura | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic Experience
We have just arrived back from a fantastic safari with African Habitat. From the start of the booking process till the end of the trip - they were great. They kept in touch with us, allowed u to plan our own route, were very flexible to let us decide what we wanted to do and extremely knowledgeable during the game drives. They went out of their way to ensure that we had a great time. I cant thank they enough for the experience we had.
DE
Email Kira | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
No help in problematic situations with Tanzanian subcontractor. Poor!
We booked a 5 day Tanzania safari (lake manyara, Serengeti, ngorogoro) through African habitat safaris who ended up subcontracting to Sandland. We prepaid 25% and were supposed to pay the rest in cash on arrival which we did. We then started our tour in a completely old car with a driver for one day of the 5 day tour, since the other driver was not available on the day of departure.
We then took of to Make manyara where we were lucky seeing lots of animals, however not so lucky with our guide. He seemed utterly disinterested and at was constantly either talking on the phone or checking Facebook. Once when we stopped to look for elephants and looked down because we heard some weird noise from his phone we even caught him watching porn.
When we arrived at our lodge for that night (Manyara wildlife lodge- amazing place) the bill was not paid and we had to wait 90 minutes for the matter to be resolved. And thus began the nightmare...
Next morning we were picked up by our new driver, Deo, who was with us for the rest of the trip, and picked up another couple from GB.
When we arrived at Serengeti entrance it turned out, that Sandland had not paid for admission so the shady guy from Sandland, Abraham, had told the British couple to settle their outstanding balance by paying the park fees. Turned out they were paying for all four of us. Here again, we were facing considerable waiting time to resolve things. After game viewing we arrived at our 2 night accommodation Kenzan tented camp (lovely place!) Where after 2 nights it had turned out - surprise - that there was an outstanding balance (which Abraham probably did not pay until this day). Luckily they let us leave based on Abrahams hollow promises, however, we had gotten up super early to do sunrise early game drive which we then missed due to having to settle this open balance. 1000 thanks to the Kenzan people for their understanding!
We then drove direction Ngorogoro where, at Serengeti exit point we had an unsettled open fee again, however everyone had at this point in time fully paid off their safari. We spent 4! hours where Deo, and all of us tries to resolve this matter with all sorts of people - Abraham himself, Derrick/Simon/Rachel from African habitat, however Abraham was only making false promises (he probably had already spent all our money on other things) and the people from African habitat were completely useless and said it was not their fault and we should talk to Abraham. Honestly, if you subcontract someone you are still responsible for a service that YOU sell to someone!
After not being able to settle the issue, we decided to overpay in order to leave and get to Ngorogoro before nine. 600$ on top and we had to drive in the dark (not the nicest thing with all the animals around). We arrived at Rhino lodge and instantly asked whether accommodation had been paid. Surprise-it had not.
However, they let us leave the next morning to see Ngorogoro based on Abrahams false promises that it would be paid by 8 in the morning.
After game drive we drove direction Lake Manyara again, however, at Ngorogoro gate they had gotten word from Rhino lodge that the accommodation had not been paid and so they would not let us leave and even confiscated the car!!!
After 2 hours of more calls and discussions we convinced the people there that we would drive straight to the police in Arusha and they let us go.
People like Abraham and Sandlands should be in Prison for the way they operate and companies like African Habitat should have to take responsibility for who they are subcontracting.
Name of the Sandland guy is Abraham Shaidi in case he changes his name or anything. Stay clear of this guy!!! And should you still want to do safari with African habitat, make sure who they subcontract to since they will not take responsibility! Neither Rachel, nor Derrick, nor Simon were of any help. Whenever the situation got bad they stopped replying on WhatsApp or were suddenly offline... poor behaviour
Reply from African Habitat Safaris
Posted on Nov 23, 2018Hello Kira.
Thank you very much for the feed back and for sharing your trip experience with the rest of the world.
We really do appreciate it and do take clients feed back and recommendations seriously as it helps us work toward achieving a better tomorrow and improving our services for the best.
Its unfortunate that Abraham for some reasons best known to him till date intentionally just messed up a trip that would have given you the best of safari experience.
Kindly we don't go silent on our clients, we walk every step these trips with the.You can also confirm that Derick was on phone with you most of the time and may be if he went silent could be just because of Network problem.
When you first got into contact with us, you mentioned you were referred by a friend who had taken the same trip with us and the experience was awesome and that is why he/she did give you our contacts.
We are ever to the tusk. Yours was just a bad day.
Our superior has a feeling that the Urgent was not happy we are setting up an office in Arusha and for some reason intentionally sabotaged this job. They are handling it though and will get intouch with you where need be.
We no longer work with Abraham, we are done setting up our office and is fully operational. We don't subcontract our Tanzania trips any more.
We have clients who took their trips after your trip and had an excellent experience. If you wish to have their contact, I would gladly pass you at least 8, soon they will be sharing their experience here too.
Thanks and my sincere apologies .
Rachel.
US
Email Chris | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
I was cheated by a subcontractor -- Sandland Tours and their manager Abraham Shaidi.
I dealt only with Rachel Obonyo from Nairobi in arranging a ten day tour of Kenya and Tanzania. She was most helpful. However, the subcontractor told me that I must pay "as much as I could" toward trip expenses when I met him. He then told me to pay an additional $800 "entry fee" when we arrived at Ngorongoro. I refused! In addition, I was promised mid-range lodges and only received budget tent accommodations. After four days of this treatment, I bailed out of the safari. I'm not certain Rachel even aware of these problems. STEER CLEAR OF SANDLAND TOURS and Abraham.
Reply from African Habitat Safaris
Posted on Oct 19, 2018Dear Chris.
Thank you very much for the review and feed back on your planned trip. It was unfortunate you could not take the whole trip as planned. You did opt out of the trip by yourself otherwise we had all the arrangements in place.
Its unfortunate that you were accommodated in tents as opposed to lodge safari accommodation as was suppose to, Abraham did confuse your booking with another Chris taking the same safari package and started a day earlier than your date, This was not within our knowledge till the last day as we were suppose to pick you up fro the Kenya side.
Kindly if you would have told your guide you booked lodge safari package, this could have been corrected but we assume since you were on this trip with all the money/ Balance you decided to keep mum on it.
If at all Abraham did ask you to pay some money, it was out of the 75% balance that you were to pay but dint pay. When we realized you were taking camping safari package, we asked you not to pay Abraham knowing we will deduct the difference when you are clearing the balance in Kenya.
We no longer work with Abraham though, we have partnered with a local and today we operate all our jobs.
Thanks for the review and kind support business wise.
Warm regards and stay blessed.