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
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
DE
Email vertical integrator | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tom the tour guide was a legend! - amazing experience, good value for money!
Communications:
The communication was very good! Our agent responded very quickly and answered all of our questions. Also, the agent was very flexible about the payment and met us at an agreed-upon destination to collect a deposit, which saved us a lot of effort. We paid the remaining amount upon arrival. Great!
Service:
The service was satisfying. We got picked up at our hotel (even though they were a bit late). We arrived in time at the Masai Mara and had a very nice chat with our fellow travelers on the bus. Another big benefit was that not all seats on the safari van were taken which was splendid if you are a dutch boi with long legs (or any other national with long legs). At our arrival at the camp, we were served lunch, which was really tasty and then rested for an hour after. Then we headed out for an evening safari, which was an amazing experience. However, it was much shorter than described in the description and we spent a long time waiting to be granted entrance to the park. Dinner was also very nice, however, there were not many veggy options.
The second day was a full day game drive. It was amazing! We saw long bois, bouncy bois, bity bois, sleepy bois, many stripy bois and emo bois. We also saw parts of the great migration! It was great and was a dream come true. We also went to Tanzania for a photo stop, so I can cross that country off my bucket list ;-).
On the third and last day, we headed out very early (6 am) to meet with a Masai. We went to an amazing place to watch the sunrise. Then we headed to their village and they gave us a tour. They were very welcoming, they even allowed us to wear the Lion Head hat, which is a traditional thing in their culture. Afterwards, they tried to sell some souvenirs to us, but there was nothing special so we didn't buy anything. After that, he brought us back to the camp and we drove back to Nairobi.
Point for improvement:
First, I think that more time in the park on the first day is a must. We only spent 1-2 hours, which was not what we were promised. Also, we had to explicitly ask for the tour to the Masai village, and our driver initially planned that we sleep in on the last day to take us back to Nairobi. That was not the plan!
Second, we had to go with a different van back to Nairobi. Not only were the people not amused to host us in their van, but the driver was also mad at us to have to drop us off and initially insisted to drop us off somewhere in Nairobi and that "we can take an Uber back to your location". In the end, he dropped us off at our place, but you could feel that there was a hostile atmosphere in the van. Not our problem...
Lastly, more time in the park (as described) would be great. At least living up to promises.
All in all, it was an amazing experience for good value! I suggest this safari to everyone who doesn't have much money but would like to do a big safari!
Email Martine | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good Budget Safari
Had a great few days in the Mara, Peter our guide was friendly & knowledgable. Rhino camp was good, food not the best but it was fine, it is a budget Safari after all! The price went up just days before we travelled but we were given the option of a different camp for the same price. Overall we enjoyed ourselves greatly and would recommend.
Email Jason | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Outsourced to another operator that provided poor service; bad client service after paying money.
The review is a bit lengthy but please read in full. I booked a 3-day shared tour in Masai Mara from 10-12Aug with 7 other travellers. Tour is operated by Bencia Africa Adventure & Safaris (I wasn't informed of this whatsoever until boarding the van).
Pre-tour: agreed on 2-person tent on SMS with Roselyne who had a friendly tone.
Day 1: Was picked up at 8:30am as scheduled and arrived at office at 9am to get into an uncleaned safari van. Other travellers were told to arrive at the office at 8am, meaning they had to wait for 1 hour pointlessly due to tour operator's poor arrangement.
Arrived at Miti Mingi Eco Camp, waited for 10 minutes, no reception at all and of course no room plans. Had the evening drive and returned to the camp at 630pm. Had a 30-minute wait for dinner, during which the tour guide did not give information on room and meal arrangements until we searched for him around the Camp. After dinner, waited for 1 hour to ask for information ourselves by searching for Camp manager / tour guide / etc. At 9pm, Camp manager said the camp is overbooked and asked me and another male traveller to stay in a 4-person tent (with 2 other people), and said "will talk about other things the next days". The other 6 travellers (1 man 5 women) were driven for >15min to another lower-quality campsite.
Day 2: Tour guide gave minimal explanation of animals (total talking time <15min). Definitely not the best guide as Roselyne described, despite his ability to follow other vans to spot the big 5. Visit to Keekorok Lodge was great.
At the Camp, we found the Camp manager for refund arrangements given the inconvenience and no 2-person tent as agreed due to overbooking. He argued he delivered his services because we spent a night at his tent. He refused to provide refunds because he claimed only the tour operator (Bencia), not the travellers, are their customers. His attitude was poor despite we the customers kept calm.
That night, my roommate and I stayed in the same 4-person tent (with no other people). Note that 4-person tents has worse facility and sanity levels compared to 2-person tents that other travellers stayed in.
Day 3: Had an early morning drive. We weren't informed by the driver of when and where the van will stop for lunch during the drive back to Nairobi.
Went to Bencia's office to complain the above issues and asked for some refunds. Bencia said they need to discuss internally for 2 days and will inform me of the decision. No follow-up since then.
Messaged Roselyne to complain politely. She said "There is no refund! You never slept outside. You ate and used water in the camp." "We don't refund clients after they have done a safari and feel like they need their money back. This is fraud!". No reply on messages sent over various days afterwards.
Fraud or not, my fellow travellers, it's your decision.
ttdr: didn't understand the overwhelmingly good reviews of Hyrax Safari and Roselyne.
FR
Email Marie | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
First safari in Kenya
Hello! thank you very much for the excellent safari. Roselyne is quick to answer questions, John has made a good meal and Peter has funny stories. We saw the big five. We will never forget the experience.
FR
Email Lyord | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very good!
Thank you Roselyne and your team for everything. The whole family enjoyed the safari. I highly recommend Hyrax Safaris!
PK
Email Omer | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent Service - Value for Money
I booked 3 nights 4 days Budget Safari with Hyrax and all their services were great. Guide / Driver, Chef , Communication everything was perfect and as per the agreement with them. I would definitely recommend them. I'm a Muslim and required Halal food only. Chef Tony made sure of it.
DE
Email Martin and Catherine | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic Private Safari
Communication was prompt and fast. Roselyne is so efficient in communication. Service is as described in the itinerary. We were so impressed.
The safari exceeded our expectations.
The people in the office are funny and friendly. Our driver George is interesting and knows a lot about animals.
I highly recommend them.
Cheers!
Email Paulina | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An Amazing Family Safari With Hyrax
This was our first safari in Kenya and first time in Africa.
When we made an inquiry, Roselyne was fast to respond to emails. She answered all our questions. Peter, our guide and driver was professional. He entered we saw the big five and much more. John, our chef made delicious meals at the camp. We loved the hot showers in the camps. The people I'm the office were friendly.
The tour was exactly as Roselyne told us.
We saw the big five and my children were extremely elated.
We will come back to Kenya for another safari.
I will recommend my friends and family.
We are forever grateful to Hyrax for the good safari.
Kudos team Hyrax!
CH
Email Simona | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good relationship with price and service
It went really well as both the guide and cook were nice. However, the only complaint is that for our stay in Nakuru we ended up staying at another hotel which was not planned. The hotel where we stayed was old, dirty and not what we expected. I would recommend that the safari tour informs people before about this change because it came as a surprise . I think paying 100 usd per person for one night in this hotel was too expensive.
QA
Email Bristow Joseph | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Good experience
Good communications and service even my request was late they were able to manage the safari .
Thanks a lot