Melvin and Ann from our office during a game drive
Africa Marvel Tours
- Office In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2014)
- Member Of:
- Kenya Association of Tour Operators
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $130 to $450 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
US
Email Madi J | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
He could have provided more information on ALL the animals.
Great safari! The location was great. We were able to see all big 5 animals! It was timed out just right where we were able to rest for a bit after lunch. The hotels/accommodations were very nice. The food was very good while at the resort and they had excellent service. However water was not provided on our trip and we had to purchase drinks if we wanted them. And the tour guide was very short and didn’t provide us with very much information about any animals. After 3 days of drives he didn’t even bother to ask our names or get to know us on any sort of personal level. The experience would have made a difference if our driver put in some effort for us to have a good time.... As far as location and number of animals we saw in tsavo west and amboseli they were great!
Reply from Africa Marvel Tours
Posted on Apr 9, 2021Jambo Madi,
Thank you for entrusting us to do your safari to Amboseli and Tsavo. Glad to hear that you had a great safari and that you managed to see all the big 5. Great that you enjoyed your stay in the lodges and camps we had booked for you. As for the water, we always provide bottled water on the safari vehicle just like we did however the hotels and lodges do not include drinks(including water) as we had mentioned on our email communication.
Its a regret that the driver guide did not meet your expectations, as a company we promise to work on this by continuously training our driver guides to ensure every one of them meets the highest standards possible and make every safari a great experience for all our clients.
Many thanks for the feed back and hope to see you again on another great safari expedition.
NZ
Email Nicola Burrows | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Disappointed by last minute changes and miscommunication
A wonderful safari was let down by a last minute accommodation change and miscommunication between the tour office and my guide.
I'll start with the positives. Communication with Perminus at Africa Marvel Tours was quick and easy. He was helpful with making itinerary suggestions. I was able to call via Whatsapp before I left NZ. He was quick to let me know that my guide was running late for my initial pick up - which I appreciated.
I loved my stay at Tsavo East Voi Safari Lodge - the view overlooking the plain below was MAGNIFICENT!!! I highly recommend staying there. I have never seen so many elephants before. They were everywhere!
Amboseli had incredible contrasts between the dry landscapes and marshes. Overall Amboseli seems more affected by the current drought than Tsavo East. But I have no idea what they were like before the drought, and I was still able to see many animals at both. There are lots of carcasses at Amboseli due to the drought.
My guide was mostly good. He was knowledgeable and professional and I felt very safe as a single woman.
My disappointment came when my accommodation outside Amboseli was changed the day of arrival. I was most disappointed as I was moved to accommodation that was more basic than I had expected. I communicated my disappointment to Perminus, who said his supervisor would be in touch with me. That never happened. This last minute downgrade of accommodation left a sour taste in my mouth.
The other disappointment was a miscommunication between the Tour office and my guide. My guide told me that I HAD to do a full day in the reserve as I would have had to pay for an additional entry fee, if we wanted to enter again. So I agreed, even though I would have preferred a morning and afternoon drive. Full day drives are tiring and less enjoyable. (At this point I had forgotten that my itinerary specified that I had a morning and afternoon game drive.)
At the end of that day, as we were confirming plans for the next day, my guide told me that we wouldn't be able to enter the park again on my last morning as we didn't have an entry. This time I remembered that my itinerary specified that I had a game drive that day, (and lunch in the park). I had to contact Perminus to get this cleared up and was able to have that final game drive. I wish I had done this the previous day.
Make sure that you get what is written in your itinerary!
I had my hot air balloon ride moved to another day, as the day it was scheduled was already booked. This was mildly frustrating, as I had booked this months in advance, but Tour Office only booked it a few days before. The one positive of this, was that I was able to see 5 cheetah the morning I would have been on the hot air balloon ride.
Going on a safari is a wonderful thing to do. Both Amboseli and Tsavo East are very different. The accommodation at Tsavo East, probably means I rate it more highly.
Unfortunately the accommodation downgrade, lack of follow up and miscommunications between the office and my guide, means that I would not book with Africa Marvel Tours again.
Reply from Africa Marvel Tours
Posted on Apr 4, 2023Jambo Nicola,
Thank you for entrusting us to do your safari to Amboseli and Tsavo. Glad to hear that you had a great safari and that you managed to see all the big 5. Great that you enjoyed your stay in Voi Safari lodge at Tsavo. Again accept our sincere apologies for the disappointment with the accommodation change in Amboseli and not getting back in time. This occurred due to the closure of the original camp booked which was a mid range type of accommodation and when you made the call to Perminus there was an agreement for a free upgrade to a luxury type of accommodation. However due to the changes happening close to safari start date we could not confirm the upgrade due to the luxury camp being fully booked. We had to look for an alternative which we got at another mid range type of accommodation which is the same level as the initial camp(closed camp).
Its great to hear that your guide was mostly good, knowledgeable and professional and that you felt safe as single a single woman traveler.
As for the game drives the options are either a morning and afternoon game viewing drives or alternatively a full day game viewing drives, this is always agreed between client and driver guides depending on how the previous day was, some clients prefer full day while other prefer morning and afternoon game drives. With either of the arrangement there should not be an issue of extra park fee, so we are going to look into this and work on the same.
For the balloon safari while doing the reservation there was no enough load(people) to fly on the original date of booking and we could only get the same the following day hence the move to the following day. Glad that you had a chance to see 5 cheetahs on the morning you should have been on the balloon safari.
We appreciate your feed back and going forward we guarantee working to improve on our services to ensure seamless safari experience for your next safari expedition with us.