Team Hyrax Safaris
Hyrax Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2018)
- Member Of:
- KATO & TOSK
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $150 to $250 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
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for a custom tour
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Reviews
AT
Email Max | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Hyrax Safari a solid choice ( Mount Kenya & 5 days Safari)
I wrote several safari operators before travelling to Kenya. I was keen to fix the departure dates for the hike and safari so I made a reservation well in advance (2 months). In retrospect I could have easily made a suitable booking 2-3 weeks before the trip.
I chose Hyrax as Emma was answering my questions via whatsapp and email quite quickly. The price was within my budget and other operators offered similar trips at similar prices. My guess is if you want better accommodation & transport you increase your budget, the experience on safari and hiking is more or less the same. A lot depends on your specific guide, but this is impossible to know beforehand.
About the trips:
5 days mount Kenya:
Daniel picked me up on the first day in Nairobi at the office in Nairobi centre. We took a matatu to chogoria (4-5h drive). There he gathered his crew of 5-6 porters while I was having lunch. Then we went drove to the national park gate and further to the first camp (Bandas) including a short hike on the road.
The highlight of the trip was definitely the hike in the early morning to watch sunrise at Point Lenana around 6 am, Daniel was a reliable tour guide and all the porters (Simon,Daniel, Douglas,Kim, Daniel) were friendly and cooked more than enough dishes (the food was good, the portions were more than enough).
Apart from the fourth day the hikes took around 3-5h, so the afternoons and evenings I spent camping in a tent, talking with the crew and a second hiking group of New Zealanders and South Africans.
After the hike I'd say 4-5 days is a good time to hike to the summit. For me 5 days were a bit too long, but there is not so much room for shorter hikes (even though the hiking itself is quite easy for experienced people) as the altitude sicknesses poses the highest risk. Therefore taking it it slowly is the right approach ("pole-pole") going up that mountain. I recommend also to hike via chogoria as that sight of the mountains offers a nicer panorama than the ascend from the west (Nanyuki/Sirimon).
What I did not like was the fact that I did not now until the first day who my guide was, how we would get to mount kenya (you are going with a Matatu; that's absolutely fine once you get used to it, I just did not know), the last evening we camped next to Old Moses camp instead of being accommodated in Old moses (as the description would have implied) and the fact that I went alone to Nairobi and someone should have picked me up from the bus station, but that person wasn't there when I returned to Nairobi (with a working phone during the day it was easy to find my way back home myself). Furthermore I had to pay 5% extra as I did not have the money in cash (it was mentioned in the word description of the tour somewhere, but I did not notice)
However those are minor points, I would have wished more transparent communication beforehand. Also I guess similar issues might have occured at a different provider. I had luck with the weather and enjoyed really nice,easy short hikes, everyone was very polite, maybe not always completely open.
The 5 days safari
I was in a group consisting of 3 Germans, 2 Italians, 1 English, 1 Chinese and me. Our guide was Robert, he was an excellent guide, good sense of humour, trying to show us as much as possible during the days in Mara, telling us a lot about the wild life.
Personally, I recommend everyone to add Nakuru to the safari trip. Masai Mara is certainly the most impressive one, but also the most popular.
The accommodation was really good for its budget. Slightly outside the mara National park accommodated the first two days, we would then stay in nakuru in a nice hotel. Certainly you get better accommodation, but for that you need to pay roughly double to have camps closer to European standards and within the national park.
The game drives are for everyone the same, it probably depends very much on the guide and more importantly on the season. We had great luck to have Robert to show us all the animals!
One minor detail that I did not like about the safari was the departure on the last day. As our group was slightly mixed in the last two days (our group booked via different safari operators partly different long safaris 5 days, 6 days, 7 days) we lost time waiting for at least 2h overall. Not unusual in Kenya, but if you plan to return to Nairobi until late afternoon and visit Hell's Gate in the morning the same day, 2 hours matter. Here, from my understanding, the different operators failed to coordinate the different schedules of the participants. The guides/drivers of at least 3 different groups not knowing whom to pick up from the other group when caused confusion that let us make wait that last day.
Here again more transparency would have been fair. Apart from this incident the safari was amazing!
Long story short - Hyrax is a solid choice (among others), but don't have expectations of a perfectionist. Otherwise you start bothering about the little things that did not go as planned.
US
Email Tory | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Massai Mara adventure.
This was the trip of a lifetime. We were amazed with the service, the knowledge, the generosity and the splendor of the environment. Hyrax treated us so well and answered all of our questions. We felt safe and well cared for by all of our drivers, the staff and the local people. Our Driver Ben was so known and his wife made the adventure more down to earth. We saw more animals than we could believe and were able to see nature up close. The Massai staff at the lodge were so friendly and caring. They really made us feel safe, even standing guard at night outside our tent. We can’t say enough good things about the entire experience. I would recommend to everyone.
Email Ella | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
This was a great budget tour and our guide really went above and beyond.
Thank you to Irene for being so helpful with my booking and communicating all the details with me timeously. Our guide Moses was amazing as he really went out of his way to make sure we had the best view of all the animals, it was such a fun trip and I met other wonderful people as I was traveling solo. I would highly recommend it.
JP
Email KOJI | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent service! The guide is best!!
Quick response for booking! Reasonable price! Very knowledgeable safari guide, Peter! He is amazing! The guides in the Masai Mara were also excellent! I highly recommend this tour company!
MA
Email Marouane Bennamara | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Just excellent !
I had the chance to do a Safari with Hyrax Safaris and all I can say is that it was the perfect tour company for the Safari. I really enjoyed my time . Best quality price ratio for a 2-3 days Safari.
Thanks Irene for all the help and Albert (best Safari driver).
CO
Email Laura | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent service and great location
I was travelling by myself and I always felt very safe thanks to the great service I had. Totally recommend it
Email Natalia | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Above & beyond
I was looking to book a family trip for my dad's 70th birthday and contacted several agencies. Emmah was absolutely stellar, getting back to us quickly, answering all questions and offering several options to choose from. We picked a four day safari through masaai mara and lake nakuru, staying in aa lodge and sarova woodlands. Both were excellent value, clean and comfortable, and totally appropriate for my parents. Our guide Sammy was amazing, kind, knowledgeable and a great laugh to boot. He didn't rush us at all and was happy to stay later in the park until we spotted all the animals. The experience is unforgettable and I totally recommend Hyrax. Emmah also helped us out with finding tickets for the elephant sanctuary in Nairobi at really short notice, which was incredible as we thought we wouldn't be able to go. Emmah, you really made our stay in Kenya - thank you!!!
PL
Email Maria | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience and experienced tour operator
Me and my sister booked 5 days safari trip. Emma was very helpful with booking explaining everything and answering all our questions and offered a help with visa and all necessary stuff. She presented us many tours to choose from and we ended up choosing amazing 5 days safari trip (Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru, Naivasha and Hell's Gate ).
Our driver guide Ben was great. He is friendly and experienced, he told us many interesting things about animals, answered all questions. Ben always tried to take us to witness as many animals encounters as we could. We were able to see lions hunting!! We loved those drive games.
We were picked up for a tour from our hotel and then dropped off after the tour to our hotel as well which was very convenient.
Overall, we highly recommend Hyrax Safaris. We had the best time!
KR
Email Kim | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Making an unforgettable trip to Kenya
Thanks to Emma, I was able to enjoy the perfect Masai Mara safari trip for three days. She was very kind to arrange our itinerary.
Our tour guide was great, too. Yasin's excellent driving skills and wide knowledge made my trip more enjoyable.
I highly recommend Hyrax Safaris.
Email Luke | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Trip of a life time!
Can't recommend Hyrax Safari’s enough! Ben our driver was amazing and got us right next to all the most amazing animals in the Serengeti!
The whole experience was once in a life time and of all the safaris we've done this was the best!
