Twinkle Star Tours & Safaris Limited Staff Photo
Twinkle Star Tours & Safaris
- Located In:
-
United States
Taiwan
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2017)
- Member Of:
- KATO, Eco Tourism Kenya & KTB
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $60 to $500 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
EXCELLENT SAFARI!
It was the best vacation trip my wife and I have taken in a very long time and will be remembered for a long time.
This was a private Safari for 19 days in both Kenya and Tanzania for me and my wife.
Guides:
Both Guides were knowledgeable and informative. Their driving skills were second to none.
In Kenya, our driver George was great. We really connected with him. He went over and above what we expected. If we were to go again, we would want him as our Guide/Driver.
In Tanzania, Stuart was a great driver/guide as well.
Both allowed us to adjust our schedule to suit our needs and made sure we saw everything.
Lodges:
The Tented lodges exceed our expectations in every way. We would stay at these again.
The tour included a sunrise Ballon Safari in Masai Mara. it was a great addition to the tour.
Reply from Twinkle Star Tours & Safaris
Posted on Oct 3, 2022Hello Harry & Stephanie,
Thank you for choosing Twinkle Star Tours and Safaris Ltd as your Tour Organizer to experience your 19 Days Kenya and Tanzania Private Circuit. We appreciate for your five star review and acknowledging our guide George and Stuart for demonstrating great guiding skills during your safari. Thank you for recommending the accommodation we chose for you throughout the long-range safari. Hopefully, this shall not be your last Kenya & Tanzania Safari with us. We look forward to hosting you and your family again in the near future.
CH
Email Sharon | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A passion for delivering the safari of your dreams
I would thoroughly recommend using Twinkle Star Tours & Safaris if you are considering booking a trip to Kenya or Tanzania.
Having worked with James back in 2019 to create our dream safari, it was not until this year, 2022, that the dream came true. Starting in Nairobi, we were picked up by our guide, Abubakar. This being my first safari, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but Abu, put us at ease, kept us safe and comfortable and helped us see so many wonderful animals and their natural behaviours in the wild. We went to Samburu National Reserve, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Lake Nakuru National Park, Lake Naviasha, Masai Mara National Reserve, Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), Lake Manyara National Park and Amboseli National Park. I would recommend all these places. Each has its own unique character and ambience. If I had to select some highlights though, it would have to be Ol Pejeta because of the exceptional work they are doing to save the Northern White Rhinos; the Serengeti because it is truly a wonder and the Crater - because that is where we got to see all the BIG 5 in one day. In terms of highlights - I would also recommend paying the extra costs to meet the last two Northern White Rhinos in Ol Pejeta as the money you spend goes to a wonderful charity and also gives you the chance to meet face to face these wonderful animals. My eyes are welling up, remembering the time we got to spend with them. My husband also treated us to a balloon ride over the Masai Mara. I am not a brave flyer at the best of times, but I am so glad we did this. It was a wonderful way to see the Mara and the different animals across its plains.
The Guides
Abu was a brilliant guide with knowledge and experiences of the animals. His friendly disposition and network with fellow drivers meant we were always able to see really wonderful animals, and take as much time as we wanted to get our perfect pictures and memories. When we crossed over to Tanzania we had a new guide, Stuart from Raven Safaris. Stuart knows the Serengeti and the Crater having long years experience. Stuart's patience and knowledge of the animals was exceptional and we were both lucky and privileged to see 4 different leopards because of his brilliant guiding skills.
Value for money
If you are researching for your own safari, you will know, they are not cheap, however, considering the parks we visited, the places we stayed the food provided and the knowledge shared by our guides, the value for money was brilliant on this trip. It was also tailored to meet the requests we had and all our questions were answered without hesitations. If you are looking for a bit of luxury I would certainly recommend Ol Pejeta and the Intimate Camp in the Serengeti. As someone who doesn't camp a lot, both of these places offered camping tents which are honestly nicer than my own apartment back home!
I have wanted to go on safari since I was a young person growing up watching the documentaries narrated by Sir David Attenborough. Wildlife is not a documentary - however, we were lucky and privileged to get a small window into that world for a few weeks. I will treasure the memories and photographs forever and hope that in years to come those wonderful places and their inhabitants continue to not only exist but also thrive.
Reply from Twinkle Star Tours & Safaris
Posted on Oct 13, 2022Hello Sharon,
Thank you very much for choosing Twinkle Star Tours and Safaris Ltd to be your tour planner for the 17 Days Kenya and Tanzania Private Circuit Safari. Thank you for taking your time to give us a detailed five star review and appreciating our guides in both Kenya and Tanzania for the guiding professional skills they demonstrated during your safari. Hopefully, this shall not be your last Kenya & Tanzania Safari with us. We look forward to hosting you and your family again in the near future.
DE
Email Julian & Leslie | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent Safari Experience
Great Safari, very well overall planning, highly recommended to everyone!
We found twinkle Stars through SafariBookings.com and decided for them because of reasonable pricing and a fast reply. We were not disappointed. We were so satisfied with Twinkle Stars that we also planned other trips with them such as transfers, a visit to the Kisite Marine Park near Diana Beach, a Day-Hike up Mt Longonot and more. Everytime we got exactly what we wanted.
Some of the absolute benefits were:
- uncomplicated and highly flexible planning; even though we startet with a pre-planned 10 day trip, it was no problem to customize the trip according to our needs/wishes
- absolutely amazing guide; our guide was Albert and like most other reviews we can verify that the guides are one of the highlights; make sure you get along with your guide and he will provide you with a truck-load of knowledge, information and stories
-perfect nature/wildlife and accomodations; we saw everything we could have dreamt of and all accomodations were beautiful
Some tips:
-make sure you are in contact with the real Twinkle Star to avoid scams; during the planning stages you should only deal with James Collins Oketch; also cross-check Email adress and phone number with their website to make sure
-make sure to have a fixed agreement on everything including type of car, exact accomodations, activites etc. to avoid conflicts
Suggestions for improvement:
-make the payment process more transparent/accessible; payment is only possible through cash (who wants to travel with that amount?) or through a bank link (Credit Card); admittedly we did not feel well when we transferred a large sum of money towards an unknown Kenian bank account (no problems, but still scary); I am sure a payment method through PayPal or some official provider would reassure a number of customers
Thank you for an amazing time in Kenia
Julian & Leslie
Reply from Twinkle Star Tours & Safaris
Posted on Nov 11, 2022Hello Julian & Leslie,
Thank you for sharing your safari experience and taking your time to give us a detailed five star review. We are glad and thankful you found Twinkle Star Tours and Safaris Ltd very helpful in planning your 10 Days Kenya Trip plus transfer excursion to Lake Naivasha, Mombasa and Diani. Hopefully, this shall not be your last Safari with us. We look forward to hosting you, your friends and family in the near future.
Asante Sana!
Email Bryan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Booked us an amazing Safari
Twinkle star tours were incredibly helpful through the whole process. Helping us have an amazing honeymoon!
Our guide Moses was amazing, incredibly knowledgeable and couldn't do enough to help us
Reply from Twinkle Star Tours & Safaris
Posted on Aug 9, 2023Hello Bryan,
Thank you for sharing your safari experience and taking your time to give us a detailed five star review. We are glad and thankful you found Twinkle Star Tours and Safaris Ltd very helpful in planning your Trip. Hopefully, this shall not be your last Safari with us. We look forward to hosting you, your friends and family in the near future.
Asante Sana!
CZ
Email Richard | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Twinkle star, I can recommend. The guide really tried to make our experience as great as possible.
Kenya really pleasantly surprised us. Jameson, with whom we planned our trip from the very beginning, was always ready to help 24/7.
From the moment we arrived, we were surprised by the cleanliness, which we really did not expect.
Pleasant demeanor of local people and really nothing was a problem.
It was our first visit to Kenya and probably not our last.
Safari is an experience of a lifetime and our guide tried to make us enjoy everything.
We visited Amboseli park, where we saw a lot of animals, unfortunately not many giraffes, because there are not many trees, so we saw other animals well.
Tsawo west, there are already trees here and therefore the animals are not that big.
This was compensated for by the hotel's watering hole where we could observe the animals from the room or from the table in the restaurant.
It was an exceptional experience.
Thank you
Reply from Twinkle Star Tours & Safaris
Posted on Aug 9, 2023Hello Richard,
Thank you for sharing your safari experience and taking your time to give us a detailed five star review. We are glad and thankful you found Twinkle Star Tours and Safaris Ltd very helpful in planning your Trip. Hopefully, this shall not be your last Safari with us. We look forward to hosting you, your friends and family in the near future.
Asante Sana!
Email Daniel Downey & Lynne Kelly - Downey | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent from start to finish don’t hesitate just book your safari with Twinkle Star!!
This is the company to organise your safari it was AMAZING!!
So from the very first contact James was superb very keen to make our dreams happen and he for exceeded them!
If you are looking to book a safari do not hesitate contact James you will not be disappointed he is a genuinely lovely man and the Safari was epic!!
We had a private safari and our guide Kaleb was amazing it was like he already knew us and treated us so well he really is a great man and a brilliant guide.
Kaleb had amazing instinct and vision like superman we’d be driving along and he’d stop and say there’s a lion in that bush and on first sight we couldn’t see but then he positioned the vehicle and he was spot on every single time.
His love and respect for the animals was admirable he knew how long was too long and never disturbed them but at the same time knew where to put the vehicle so we had great views.
James/Kaleb
Thank you both so much it really was the trip of the lifetime and like I say anyone looking for a brilliant Safari contact James immediately you will love Twinkle Star Safaris!!
Reply from Twinkle Star Tours & Safaris
Posted on Aug 9, 2023Hello Lynne and Daniel Downey
Thank you for sharing your safari experience and taking your time to give us a detailed five star review. We are glad and thankful you found Twinkle Star Tours and Safaris Ltd very helpful in planning your Trip. Hopefully, this shall not be your last Safari with us. We look forward to hosting you, your friends and family in the near future.
Asante Sana!
FR
Email Cortes Françoise | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent organization
Great safari.....it's like a treasure hunt to spot and photograph animals. We had a great time and we have beautiful photos.....and unforgettable memories....
(automatic translation from French)
Reply from Twinkle Star Tours & Safaris
Posted on Aug 9, 2023Hello Cortes,
Thank you for sharing your safari experience and taking your time to give us a detailed five star review. We are glad and thankful you found Twinkle Star Tours and Safaris Ltd very helpful in planning your Trip. Hopefully, this shall not be your last Safari with us. We look forward to hosting you, your friends and family in the near future.
Asante Sana!
US
Email Gail and Lee M. | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Everything was perfect!
From start to finish, James and the Twinkle Start Team did everything to make things work for us --James was always responsive. We and our friends had a wonderful private exclusive 10-day Photographic safari experience at Lewa (Elewana Kilfuri House and Elewana Safari Camp) and at the Masai Maara (Amani Mara) based on his recommendations. Throughout the tour James stayed connected to be sure everything was as planned. We never had to worry about connections (Twinkle Start booked our Safarilink flights) or the quality of the Safari lodgings and game drives. This was truly an unforgettable adventure for all of us. We cared most about seeing the Kenyan animals, both large and small and their habitats, and we were not disappointed. All our guides were knowledgeable, entertaining and passionate-- Philip and Abdul at Lewa, Sully and James at Amana Mari. We also had superb accommodations throughout. We were treated like royalty at both Lewa (horseback riding with a giraffe and zebra joining in) and at the Amani Mara (which is wonderfully family run, at a beautiful location with gourmet food, private adventuresome safari drives, outdoor fire barbecue dinners complete with fun Masai entertainment, and lovely well-equipped camp rooms-- all simply amazing). In Nairobi we stayed at Severine Cottages in the Karen district --this was a perfect start to the trip-- the staff there even conspired to provide a surprise anniversary celebration. Each lodging was so special and authentic. We highly recommend organizing your safari with Twinkle Star-- James truly arranged everything to fulfill our desire for the African vacation of our dreams.
Reply from Twinkle Star Tours & Safaris
Posted on Aug 21, 2023Hello Gail & Lee,
Thank you for sharing your safari experience and taking your time to give us a detailed five star review. We are glad and thankful you found Twinkle Star Tours and Safaris Ltd very helpful in planning your Trip. Hopefully, this shall not be your last Safari with us. We look forward to hosting you, your friends and family in the near future.
Asante Sana!
US
Email Beth and Brian | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
organized and efficient
James did a great job organizing our safari. We started our journey with a pick-up in Nairobi which was well organized and made our way to Amboselli, which did not disappoint with lots of animal sightings. Next we went to Tsavo West and East. Tsavo was a bit harder to scout out animals, but our accommodations in Tsavo West had amazing views right from the open air dining area of so many animals visiting the watering hole! Overall we had an amazing experience seeing lots of animals and maximizing our time on Safari. James was very communicative and did his best to make sure we were satisfied.
Reply from Twinkle Star Tours & Safaris
Posted on Sep 14, 2023Hello Beth & Brian
Thank you for sharing your safari experience and taking your time to give us a detailed five star review. We are glad and thankful you found Twinkle Star Tours and Safaris Ltd very helpful in planning your Trip. Hopefully, this shall not be your last Safari with us. We look forward to hosting you, your friends and family in the near future.
Asante Sana!
FI
Email Touko & Noora | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unforgettable 10-day safari in Kenya and Tanzania
We booked our 10-day safari with Twinkle Star. We visited in Amboseli, Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara with our amazing guide Alfred. In Tanzania, our guide came from Twinkle Star’s local partner because the companies cannot operate on both sides of the border. Not only got we see the big five but also a lot of other species, beautiful sunrises, and great views.
To be honest, looking into safari operators and their reviews can be a lot of work and overwhelming. However, the work really pays off, at least for us. We wanted to book with a local company which turned out to be beneficial thanks to their contacts (for example when choosing the accommodations) but also in terms of the price (a Scandinavian travel agency would have added a large margin).
Our contact James was very kind from our first inquiry and was ready to go the extra mile to arrange our safari. We had never been in Africa before and James made sure that our arrival to Nairobi was convenient. We had the best accommodations for our budget even though we booked quite late, thanks to James. We really appreciated the care James took of us before, during and after the safari as well as all the time and effort he put into the arrangements. In particular, James responded always promptly and provided us with an itinerary really professionally – he made suggestions based on our wishes and made them come true.
When planning our safari, the price was pretty much our main factor in choosing the operator. Twinkle Star was able to meet our expectations without leaving anything out of the itinerary. The pricing was clear and transparent (a tip: always ask if there are charges for bank transfers or other hidden costs along the way which are not outlined in your itinerary).
However, during the safari and even more thereafter, we recommend looking into the guide even more than to the price. You’ll sit with your guide so many hours in the car that it’s essential that the guide is professional: knows the parks, animals and roads, listens to your wishes and is fun and trustworthy.
Our guide Alfred was amazing. He had been in the industry for long and had a lot of knowledge of all the parks we visited. Also, he was always early to our meeting times and hold on to his promises. Alfred helped us if we had any requests and proposed activities to be included into our itinerary along the way such us nature walks, visits to villages etc. We appreciated that he respected our wishes not to surround the animals with many other cars and go too near them which is one of the problems of the safaris from sustainability perspective. In addition to nature and animals, it was interesting to learn about local culture and history. Alfred really exceeded our expectations for our guide.
When choosing the operator, we also asked about their vehicles. It was important to us that they commit providing a 4x4 with a pop-up roof. In our opinion, this enhanced our experience.
In summary, we really recommend booking with Twinkle Star. We had unforgettable time and would definitely book with them if (when) returning to Kenya. You can make an inquiry with a low threshold and they are happy to help you further!
Reply from Twinkle Star Tours & Safaris
Posted on Oct 23, 2023Hello Touko & Noora
Thank you for sharing your safari experience and taking your time to give us a detailed five star review. We are glad and thankful you found Twinkle Star Tours and Safaris Ltd very helpful in planning your Trip. Hopefully, this shall not be your last Safari with us. We look forward to hosting you, your friends and family in the near future.
Asante Sana!