Samsons Safaris tour Group
Samson’s Safaris
- Office 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:
- $220 to $329 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Lydia | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Once in a lifetime adventure !
Excellent.
As a solo traveler, I rely on a trusted company that can get me safely from one point to another. This trip was truly a trip of a lifetime for me. Not only did I see sights about which I had dreamed my whole life, I got to experience everything close up and personal.
Email Jayne | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The tour to the Nairobi National Park was exceptional and most amazing experience.
The driver was amazing, knowledgeable and an excellent tracker.
Te services were amazing from pickup, to the actual tour were he communicated clearly and fluently and was able to answer all our questions and give us so much information about animals, nature, the parks and lots of other materials, all the way to the time he dropped us of.
It was awesome and outlived our expectations.
Kudos.
Amazing Trip at Nairobi National Park
l booked my Family for a Nairobi National Park Tour with Samson's Safaris. David was our guide for the day. He was really Professional and Helpful in spotting the Animals during game drive. His also really good with Children and managed to teach them alot on wildlife. After a wonderful drive we waited for the sunset at the Hyena dam overlooking the city which was magical.
l highly recommend Samson's Safaris.
Thank You David for this Amazing Trip!!
Reply from Samson’s Safaris
Posted on Aug 25, 2020Our passion is to deliver the best of services to our clients. We continue striving to improve on our tours and ensure that our clients get magical experiences while on Safari.
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.
Email Esther | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great
Samson is an excellent tour and travel guide. He will go extra mile to keep one comfortable and happy during the trip.
Email Alex | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
I really did enjoy our evening game drive yesterday organized by Samson's Safaris. Thanks Kimani!
From our morning calls to finally meeting Kimani at the main Park, he kept me well informed. His knowledge of the animals and the entire eco-system is very good, well informed! Thanks for the ride home.
Email George | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Breathtaking tour of the Nairobi National park and the City tour
Samson Safari’s offers top of the range tour services, with very warm and intelligent guides. Our experience in the Nairobi National park both in the Savannah and the forest gaves us a new perspective of how rich the Nairobi national park is. In addition the extensive knowledge of the animals and the big five locations made our tour one of a kind. The well spoken tour operators, explained and guided us through the park. Besides that, the city tour from David’s Sheldrick to Giraffe manor made the trip a total fun experience. Bravo to Samson Safari’s!!
Email Nyokabi Kamau | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Olpejeta Conservancy Nanyuki exceptional experience
Olpejeta Conservancy Nanyuki
The safari tour was exciting ,exceptional customer service, the drive to the park was smooth and safe. Time management was excellent from pick up point throughout the tour to drop off point.
My most memorable moment was when I saw Waterbuck family
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.
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!
