Guide Ken with one of our 4x4 Land Cruisers
Spirit of Kenya
- Office In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2014)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $150 to $300 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
Email Nikhila | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
#JoelTheGenius
Right. On with the improvements so I can get to how perfect our experience was thanks to Joel. The company, It Started in Africa, was communicative and offered options at reasonable prices (we wrote to 15 companies and had two weeks to plan this). They helped us secure some great accommodation within our budget and were quick to respond. Overall, really easy doing business with them. That said, there are a few areas of improvement:
1. Although we confirmed our arrival time multiple times via email, there was some mix up with the operations teams and the person meant to pick us up didn't have our names or details. Getting into an unmarked car with an unknown driver who's identity we could not confirm at 10PM was nothing something my friend I were okay doing, which added an hour to our transit time. However, once we started our journey to our hotel in Arusha and got to know the driver, we shared some laughs with him and he shared lots of interesting snippets of what to expect from our first safari. We also received an email from the company apologizing and explaining the cause of the mix up.
2. The safari vehicle seemed like it needed to be serviced properly. Although Joel cleaned it everyday and did his best to maintain it, there were a number of mechanical issues we encountered during the course of our trip, including a couple of stops at mechanic shops for repairs. The company really ought to ensure that the vehicle tourists are being sent out in are road worthy and not in need of constant repairs.
3. The interiors could do with a face lift - the cold box needs repair and it would be great if the company could arrange for dry ice to keep the drinks cold. The dusty and sunny climes of the national parks meant we ended up with luke warm water every afternoon. Just some small suggestions to improve the overall quality of the experience.
On to Joel. He is an incredibly gifted guide and was truly invested in ensuring that we had the best safari, given our time constraints. Not only did he make every effort to show us the Big 5, which we managed (hurrah!), he was genuinely excited every time we saw a big cat or a herd of elephants or even zebras. He was patient with all our picture taking and just wanting to stand and stare endlessly at the animals; even took some great shots of his own with our camera. So we didn't miss a big sighting, he listened to the "ranger" radio station intently and passed all exciting discoveries we made on to other groups as well.
In three and a half days, we witnessed a cheetah hunt an antelope, several prides of lions, a pregnant lioness going off to give birth, several herds of tusked elephants (some raising their trunks to smell, to grab leaves off of trees, which is relatively uncommon), schools of hippos, a rhino, hyenas, two leopards in trees and a countless number of gazelles, giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, hartebeest, dik-diks, mongoose and flamingos. He even knew birds' names just by our (rather inaccurate) descriptions and showed us the differences between them in his trusty book.
As this was our first safari, we had a number of questions (sometimes inane), all of which he answered enthusiastically. Honestly, this safari would not have been half as interesting without Joel. He made it a trip of a lifetime for us, going so far as to wake up at 3AM so he could collect a park entry card from a colleague (there was some mix up owing to the last minute increases the government made to park fees) to make sure we didn't miss our early morning drive in the crater. Joel went above and beyond all expectations and I recommend him unequivocally to anyone looking for a trusty guide with a fantastic sense of direction and humor.
Finally, thank you to all the people who recommended Joel in their reviews - we got really lucky and are trying to pay it forward!
Email Lorraine | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Brilliant safari, splendid animals and great guide... could not want any more
The recent 8 day migration safari out did my expectations on every level. From my smiling, friendly guide who welcomed me at the airport, my wonderful accommodation and the variety of landscapes seen was impressive. Then you add the wonderful animals which I was able to see close up and personal along with the excitement of the migration of the animals was superb. Experiencing life in the bush with a guide Shiraz who exuded his love of the bush, the animals and shared his extensive knowledge added so much to my brilliant experience. Will be bringing my friends back. Thank you for my lasting magnificent memories.
AE
Email Stefano | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent organisation and effective communication
We had a great experience with It started in Africa.
Our guide Joel was very knowledgeable on the best spots to see animals, in planning our schedule and in setting everything up everything to provide us with the best experience.
The service our cook David provided was very good, all food was excellent and prepared in a timely and professional manner.
We will definitely recommend these guys to colleagues and family who already asked for contact reference.
BR
Email Denise Grott lobo | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect safari
It started in Africa was perfect organizing our safari. Since our first contact they were very kindly and they atended all our needs. The hotels were excelents and the food also.Our guide Heaven Temba was the best! Responsable and always with good humor he made our tour amazing. We will never forget this experience and we recomend It started in Africa.
IN
Email Lakshmi | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Thanks to all of you for arranging such a beautiful holiday. Special thanks to Athuman and mandi
I got immediate response to all my mails. Service was superb. The pilot Cum guide Mr. Athuman was beyond comparison. The food prepared by chef Mr mandi was tasty and his setting of tables was very nice. In every respect our safari was a great experience.
PT
Email Isabel | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent organization
Thanks to all your staff for a beautiful holidays that we have been spend in Africa.
Good choices for the hotels, good food and a very experient guide driver "Martin".
We really appreciate also your good cooperation with our portuguese travel agency.
Thanks a lot to give us a unforgettable travel.
IL
Email Ido | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Operators!
After talking with some other operators I decided to go with "In Started in Africa" and I didn't regret it for a second.
The company quickly responds to emails and almost all day long, tries to suit the best trip for your needs while gives you a lot of flexibility to change whatever you want.
All the crew in the trip, especially the guides (of course) know english very well and are really kind and supportive.
RU
Email Svetlana | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
WOW-Safari
First of all I want to thank manager Luis, who helped me to organize a very specific trip with my special requests and wishes in a very short term: we had 2 weeks only before the trip.
I changed an itinerary about 10 times as I tried to make it work in a best way and Luis helped me with so much attention to my needs: the trip was organized perfectly and we didn't need to think about anything during our travel.
Another great thing about this agency - they have special quotation in some hotels, so you have a chance to get hotel price much lower than via official hotel website or booking/hotels.com etc.
Safari:
We had a good guide Estomih, who did his best to show us as much animals as possible and also followed our wishes (we wanted to see lions most of all). He listened to game radio with attention and could find out animals' location very quickly. He is also a great driver! I can say that because we saw so many cars got stuck and we never had this problem. He was driving very carefully but not too slow.
Thank you very much! I hope to come back very soon!
Best regards, Svetlana
IE
Email Louise | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
An excellent experience
We had a fantastic few days with Dio as our driver and Peter as our cook. We had so many great sightings. Dio answered all our questions and gave us lots of information while Peter kept us well fed. We had a great atmosphere throughout the trip was and would highly recommend.
PT
Email Ariana | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Kilimanjaro trek fantastic
It's incredible to realize it has been a week since we were in the roof of Africa,. We did the 8 days lemosho trek and can say that the logistics were spot on. Great advises before coming, excellent hotel recommendation before trek (African tulip). Great punctuality on transfers and an amazing team who went the extra mile to keep us motivated and safe until we reached our big dream.
We recommend this company to everyone.