Classic Journeys Africa
- Located In:
-
United States
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2010)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $280 to $600 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email David | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience!
The service was great. Communication was ok. The safari itself was amazing. We had great guides who knew a lot about the areas we were going and were highly experienced. The guides really tried to go out of their way to customize our experience and make it a memorable trip. The resorts that were selected were in general excellent but one of the resorts could have been of better quality given the amount that we spent. Overall, we had a great safari and want to do it again!
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Email Tonje | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic guide who really went out of HIS way to hive US the best game driveS
No problem with the communication. The tour went over and beyond our expectations. We saw an enormous amount of animals. Absolutely fantastic!
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Email Doug Brainard | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful Trip!
Classic Journeys Africa was wonderful. The guides were fantastic and we truly enjoyed our trip to Kenya and Tanzania.
Email Lela | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An amazing experience!
The safari was above our expectations. Our guide, Jeff, was very good and knowledgeable with great respect for the animals and nature.
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Email Thomas Lori Weisz | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great 22 day trip of Kenya & Tanzania
My wife & I took a 22 day tour starting Sept 29th to Kenya & Tanzania. We did a circle tour from Nairobi, Mara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Lake Manyana, Tarangire and back into Kenya via Tsavo & finally back to Nairobi.
We dealt with Elvis planning from May. We dealt with a few companies but as soon as we started communicating with Elvis, I knew we were going with Classic Journeys. He was always prompt & responding and gave all the right responses. Some of the things we liked was: all land cruisers & no vans. He even sent us a photo of the vehicle. He worked seamlessly connecting Kenya & Tanzania. They accepted credit cards at a lower surcharge rate than other companies. And Elvis was a very accommodating as I am very picky & made numerous changes. I put the whole thing together as to where & how many nights at each park & lodge. If you want they can put the trip together for you but for us we have been to Africa a few times so I enjoy putting the trip together myself. We were picked up at the airport, with a land cruiser waiting, and ready to go touring. The company is very professional, with good drivers, good vehicles & great service before & after the tour as well as during the tour. No major complaints with this company or tour so that's why the 5 stars. We were disappointed with Loyk Lodge where the swimming pool was closed the 3 days we stayed there. I don't know who to blame but nobody told us, it happens.
Now on to the drivers. We had Dixon (this is the correct spelling) for Kenya. No major problems, on-time, car clean, water in vehicle and basically all drives went well & he is an excellent driver, a little on the quiet side. One issue we had though was that he did not like to wake up too early. I assumed 6-9am morning drives. Never happened. He preferred 8 or 9 and we "negotiated" 7:30 for most days. I was not demanding & tried to be conciliatory but I got the impression he did not see the point of early drives. I felt awkward always wanting to start earlier. The itinerary said typical days would be up before dawn for a game drive. Never happened, we never got up before dawn. On the other hand he gave us very long game drives going into the 1 or 2PM range so even too long as my wife was getting tired after a few hours. Now being a 3 week tour, this became tiring with long game drives & no time to recover. We would arrive at the lodge at 1 or 2 and go for lunch & an hour later back for 4pm drive. No pool time, no recharging batteries time, and tough for a vacation. I would have preferred to be done by 11am & have 5 hours to rest. We skipped many nice swimming pools for lack of time at the lodge. So if you like long game drives, we got a lot of that & many people would love this. On a 5 day trip great, but on a 22 day trip, we didn't need the extra driving.
Another small issue is that the drivers seem to keep wanting to find that leopard even when we didn't and just wanted to see elephants & rhinos. Hours can be spent seeking the leopard for a tiny photo of the animals sitting or sleeping. I prefer the herds of active elephants. But it seems to be a badge of honor to get that leopard & drivers won't pay attention if you say no leopard.
By the way, Tsavo was the worst park. One game drive I took no photos at all. It was at a Tsavo conservancy. I asked Elvis for a few conservancy drives assuming that we would have off road driving. Loyk had a nice conservancy write-up in the Mara. This somehow fell through as we were not allowed in their conservancy (Orok) nor the other one in the Serengeti. Something about changes in rules or that Loyk is not inside the conservancy. I don't quite understand as other Loyk reviews talk about the great drives in the conservancy.
Other issues in the car was the refrigerator is actually just a box, not cold so keep that in mind. There was wifi in the car which worked for about 3 days, better than nothing. But we had a very good vehicle with no problems on some terrible roads.
For the Tanzania part we spent 8 days with Mirage. He was good humored and we enjoyed his game drives. However once again there were a few issues. He would get us to the lodge not at 10 or 11 nor at 1 or 2pm but at 4 or 5 pm! No pool time, no sit down lunch (packed lunches) and no time to rest. These were very long game drives & very tiring. I finally got us to start with lunches at the new lodges & end with breakfast, instead of start with dinners which meant packed lunches since we never arrived by lunch time. It is true we were moving from park to park & had a long schedule at times but still, the drives were too long & arrival at some really nice camps too late to enjoy them. I was also upset that we didn't get to see the migration crossing while others at our camp said they did. I initially did state: top priority is the migration viewing. We did see leopard & lots of cats. I really wanted to see a lot of elephants especially at Tarangire national park & we saw very little. Once again I think the leopard chase is more important to drivers even if you keep saying elephants please. So to summarize, too many packed lunches & always late arrivals to the lodges. Starting earlier would have helped.
I recommend this company with no hesitation. The price was a lot lower than others offered. We were very happy with the trip but would next time be more insistent on timing of the game drives. since each driver has his own pattern.
Bottom line: Great company, trustworthy no hesitation in using them again, but with a few recommendations for improvement.
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Email Ida and Guro | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing trip
We had an absolutely amazing trip with our guide Moses. We went to Lake Naivasha, Mt. Longonot and then to Masai Mara. Moses was very pleasant, kind and a good driver. We got to see so many beautiful sceneries and also so many more animals than expected. We feel very lucky to have had this experience!
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Email Ingrid | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great safari experience!
Charles communicated promptly and will all the information that I asked for when I was booking this safari.
I loved the program and all the parks that we visited in both Kenya and Tanzania - Amboseli, Tarangire,Manyara,Ngorongoro, Serengeti and Maasai Mara. Amir, our Kenya guide and Maji , our Tanzania drive drove safely and gave us a lot information about the area, the plants and animals and every park.
I highly recommend this company .
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Email Ray | under20 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Everything worked just as we had hoped.
Our 2 drivers were extremely professional, pleasant and just amazing. Our game drives turned to be quite successful based on the number of different wildlife we saw. I would use Classic Journeys Africa again without hesitation. The lodge where we stayed was just magical and the staff there were professional and on point. Thank you everyone at Keekorok Lodge!
Email Maureen | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great tour operator
Charles and his team offered us exceptional service and nothing was too much for them. Our guide Moses was knowledgeable friendly and made our Safari memorable. It was our in-laws first visit to Kenya and classic journeys made it a trip they will never forget. Thank you and anyone considering using this company you will not regret it
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Email Kathryn | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We had the most amazing safari experience with one the most knowledgable guides!
My husband and I went on a Classic Journeys Africa safari in August for our honeymoon. We worked with Elvis during the booking process and he was very responsive and helped answer all of my questions from day 1 to when we arrived in Nairobi from the US. Before booking our safari my husband and I had decided we wanted to go to Amboseli, Lake Nakuru and Maasai Mara. Classic Journeys had that exact safari and after reading through the amazing 5 star reviews I knew we wanted to book with them. Dixon was our guide and he was so knowledgeable and personable, it was a joy getting to know him during our 6 day safari and we couldn't have asked for a better guide, Dixon is the absolute BEST! Dixon has years of experience and we learned so much about the animals from him. He also was great in spotting out animals and making sure we got to see everything. We were lucky enough to spot all Big 5! Classic Journeys did a great job in all of our accomendations, we loved all the lodges we stayed in and thought the staff was so friendly and hospitable. We had a wonderful trip and recommend booking with Classic Journeys.
