Samsons Safaris tour Group
Samson’s Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2009)
- Tour Types:
- Mid-range & luxury tours with set start dates and a fixed itinerary
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $210 to $315 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Julia | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Nairobi National Park
I booked a tour to the park and it was amazing. Spotted 3 of the big 5 among others. Guide was very nice and knowledgeable. Will book again and again.
QA
Email ARUN KUMAR | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
They are professional tour operators and our requirements were well taken care.
We had booked for 3 nights 4 days. We travelled to Masai mara , lake Naivasha and Nairobi. We never had any problems and all our requirements were taken care right from the booking. Thanks to Stacy @ Samsons safari who was immediate in her replies. Overall we enjoyed the trip. Will be using them for our future trips.
Regards
Arun and Milan
DE
Email Christian | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Individual tours with professional tour operator.
We did 5 days Safari in Maasai Mara and Laka Naukuru National Parks plus Lake Naivasha Resort and it was great!
Very well organized!
Thanks!
US
Email Kelsey | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great animals/accommodations/food but poor organization for our safari
I'm writing to review our safari with Samson's Safaris. We were a family group of mothers and daughters from the United States. Overall, we had a disappointing experience due to poor organization by our guide and the company.
Our experience with Samson's Safaris started well -- they were enthusiastic about our addition of some experiences (a Maasai-run eco-camp and Mau Mau history) and were communicative during the planning process. However, our bad experiences started the first day when we got up early for the 7 a.m. departure time given to us by Samson's, but our driver was 30 minutes late. His vehicle had awesome wifi, but two broken seatbelts in the two prime seats, meaning we had to sit in the back of the vehicle to remain safe while driving on highways. The guide backed into a parked car at the beginning of the day, and later took a wrong turn and had to stop for directions and then backtrack.
The second day, our guide failed to game out the breakfast options at our lodge, which conflicted with his initial proposed 7 a.m. departure time, so he moved departure to 8 a.m. without discussing options with us. When the morning's local guide took longer than expected with a hike, so we didn't get to lunch until 3:30 p.m. and missed the rest of the day's planned activities. Rather than offer us options for what to cut or how to adjust the schedule, our guide simply moved it to the next day, creating an unrealistic schedule for the next day (we would learn) that required starting at 6 a.m.
The third day, the guide was then a half hour late for our 6 a.m. start, which was explained later in the day as a flat tire, though when we called, it sounded as if we woke him up. We had a good morning, but then our guide got the vehicle stuck in the mud for over an hour. We realized after being pulled out by a similar Toyota Land Cruiser that our vehicle's tires were nearly bald, and on several occasions later in the trip we were nervous about anything involving water or mud where we might get stuck again as the wheels just spun. On the way to lunch, the guide took another wrong turn, but by this point we had started tracking logistics through Google Maps, so we alerted him and helped him get to the restaurant. Again, the times presented for the day were not realistic, so we started managing the plan, cutting a hike short ourselves and missing our first glimpse of the Rift Valley before dark. Our guide took us to the wrong hotel, which had closed but had the same name (in his defense it was in the wrong place on Google Maps, but still made for a long and frustrating day.).
Each of these issues individually would have been understandable and excusable -- one late arrival, a broken seatbelt, one messed up schedule, these things happen. The fact that they kept happening was representative of the fact that neither the guide nor the company was communicative about problems or opened up a dialog with us. We would have preferred that the company let us know when the schedule changed, or the guide sought our feedback about how we wanted to prioritize limited time and activities -- but these changes were made without our involvement and without realistic estimates of time/distances.
When we sat down with our guide at the end of the third day, we requested three items for the rest of the trip: that he be on time for morning departures, that he brief us about the timeline for the next day's activities (there were no daily briefings like you'd expect for this type of trip), and that he discuss changes to the schedule with us before making them. We then shared those requests with Samson's management, who again were very responsive and re-assuring that those issues would be addressed. After a fantastic fourth day with all problems addressed, we were surprised upon returning to the hotel that Samson's management drove all the way from Nairobi to Nakuru to join us for dinner and that they'd arranged a boat ride on Lake Naivasha the next day to make it up to us -- both of which were changes to the schedule that hadn't been discussed with us, which was specifically one of the things we'd asked. More frustrating, the new plan was completely unrealistic -- described as the "same drive time" but actually adding another hour in the car that combined with the boat ride would have made it impossible to join the afternoon cultural activities at our next lodging. Again, this was presented as a done deal (we have changed your schedule to add more activities to make you happy) rather than as a discussion about what would address our concerns, which is what we would have preferred. We politely declined the offer of the free boat ride and requested to keep the original schedule.
Our worst experience was our final two days in Maasai Mara. At the end of the trip, we planned to be dropped off at the Tanzanian border at Isibania to continue with a different company in Tanzania. We learned from Samson's on day five that what was listed as an "optional game drive" on our last day was in fact an $800 four-hour shortcut through the park for what would otherwise be a six- or seven-hour drive on the road. The "optional game drive" price was not listed in any of the preparatory materials. After talking as a family, we decided we would take the short cut and pay the extra fee. However, on day six when we arrived at the Maasai Mara entrance for the game drive included in the safari price, we were asked to make the next day's $800 payment that day because it would save time for both of us to buy tickets at the gate at the same time. Our guide waited for the line with his uncle -- letting other people go first for the other line -- in what we came to suspect was a plan to have us pay the $800 fee for the first full day and then the next day he could pay just $200 for a transit ticket -- since we were transiting the park -- and save/pocket $600. We paid for one day via credit card, but then were told that he wouldn't buy the tickets for the other day that day, he would pay the following day.
The following day (our last of seven days), our guide ended up being a few dollors short to pay the park entrance fee, so we had to pay the extra. The guide said the company had not given him enough money to pay the expected fee. We texted the company, who said they would send the funds to the guide by Mpesa, which we could pick up at a roadside stand, but we didn't want to spend any more time with Samson's and just wanted to be done.
There were some highlights: the wifi in vehicle was a nice surprise, the accommodations and food were great, and we did see the Big Five and many more animals. However, we cannot recommend this company to other travelers at this price point. If you're a student or trying to save money, this could be a great fix if you don't really care about time and schedule. For us, we paid $2500 each for a seven-day trip ($10k total), and the experience did not meet our expectations for guided trips with our parents.
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Email Anne in Kenya | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Memorable & fascinaitng! (a few problems with our guide)
We saw a ton of wildlife. The guide was knowledgable about what we were seeing and of course his own Maasai culture. He was interesting to spend time with. He taught us songs and Swahili words. He went out of his way to get us close to amazing sightings of animals and teach us about the animals and scenery
We had been intent on using a company that was locally owned so our investment in this experience stayed in the country. Samson’s Safaris coordinators, Stacey and Kimani, were eager to please us and responsive to our feedback or questions during our safari. We could reach them by WhatsApp. The lodging they assisted us in selecting for this private safari was good, as was the food. The tea farm tour they booked for us was thorough, interesting, participatory and the lunch there was delicious. Our stay at Maji Moto Eco Camp was my favorite. Each hotel or camp was between good to outstanding.
I would have chosen a 5 star rating except for our guide being repeatedly late when we'd made the extra effort to awaken very early for his specified pick up time. Waiting for him continued, even after we asked him to be prompt. Also once he didn't have enough money to pay for our park entrance (hundreds of dollars) and asked one of us to cover for him. His Land Cruiser had at least three seatbelts that didn't work, so we couldn’t use the row behind him, which would have been the best place to be to view the sights. It would have been easier get in and out of the side doors from there too, and be able to hear his descriptions of the scenery and animals.
