Taking you to the exotic African wild!
Morning Star Tours & Travel
- Office In:
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 2018)
- Member Of:
- IATA, KATO, AMREF & TOSK
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $134 to $806 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
CA
Email Joanne | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Absolutely amazing experience
In mid-September my friend and I did a private 5-day ultimate Kenya safari with Morningstar. Over our 5 days we travelled to 3 locations - Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara. It was a lot of driving but well worth it because each location provided something different. What we didn’t see at one location we saw at one of the others. By the time we were done, we saw all of the big 5 plus lots of other amazing animals. Our favourite location for animal viewing was Masai Mara. So much to see. We also did a sunrise balloon ride here. Highly recommend that. We chose to stay in tented camps rather than hotel rooms which was a really good decision. Our favourite was The Cliff in Lake Nakuru. It was definitely a 5 star resort. Gourmet food and the “tent” was to die for.
Our guide, Alex, was absolutely amazing. With 10 years experience, he was very well connected and was in constant communication with friends and colleagues sharing information on where certain animals were so we wouldn’t miss seeing them. Thanks to this network we managed to see 5 different leopards on our last day!! Alex obviously likes what he does. He was right there with us taking pictures and videos, which he shared with us at the end of our tour.
I highly recommend Morningstar, and suggest you ask for Alex if you want to be well taken care of and ensure you get the best experience.
CN
Email Becky | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not a pleasant experience - unpaid park fee and unfulfilled refund as promised
We recently booked an 8-day trip to Kenya and Tanzania through Morningstar, hoping for an unforgettable adventure. Unfortunately, our experience was far from pleasant.
While we were excited to see a variety of wild animals, our trip was marred by significant issues. We were forced to pay for everything twice in Tanzania, which was incredibly frustrating. Moreover, we lost a full day of safari time due to problems with our bookings.
Despite assurances from Dennis, the owner, we did not receive the promised refund for these expenses.
Additionally, we were disappointed to discover that Morningstar does not have staff in Tanzania. Instead, they work with a partner agency, which led to a lack of coordination and support on the ground.
We made our full payment two weeks before our departure, believing Dennis's claim that it was necessary to ensure everything was booked and our trip would run smoothly.
However, upon arriving in Tanzania, we quickly learned that fees-such as park entry and transportation-had not been paid. This left us in a difficult situation; we either had to pay again ourselves or risk being stranded in the Serengeti.
Dennis cited a hacked bank account as the reason for the missing payments and promised that we would receive a refund once we returned to Kenya. Unfortunately, this promise went unfulfilled as well.
In conclusion, our experience with Morningstar was disappointing, primarily due to poor management and lack of support during our trip. I cannot recommend them based on our experience, as the dream safari we anticipated turned into a series of frustrating challenges. Though our first guide Caleb in Kenya is great. He has 20 years experience and always wants to show the best to us.
Moreover, till today, we still have not received the refund. It's been 15 days since he promised to refund.
Reply from Morning Star Tours & Travel
Posted on Nov 20, 2024Hello,
We would like to take a moment to address the concerns raised in the review mentioned above.
Our client, Becky ( same group with Matt), had booked an 8-day Kenya and Tanzania Safari, starting and ending in Nairobi. While the first four days of the safari unfolded beautifully, our clients faced unexpected challenges as they entered the Serengeti due to unforeseen failures with our banking systems. We fully understand how frustrating this situation must have been for our clients, and we sincerely empathize with the inconveniences they experienced.
As soon as we became aware of the issue, we immediately prioritized communicating with our clients. To ensure that they did not miss out on their game drives, we suggested they pay the park fees directly with the assistance of the driver-guide, assuring them that we would refund these costs as soon as our banking systems were stabilized.
Our technical team has worked tirelessly over the past three weeks to resolve the issue, and we are relieved to share that we have successfully processed a full refund for our client.
It saddens us to see our clients dissatisfied, especially when we strive to provide memorable experiences, as evidenced by other client's feedback.
We are committed to learning from this incident, and the following actions have been taken to ensure a similar situation won't happen again in the future;
1. Transitioning our banking operations from the current bank to a new bank.
2. Adding an additional signatory to our banking operations.
We want to assure you that this situation is taken very seriously, and we remain dedicated to providing all our clients with the attentive service they deserve.
Thank you for your understanding and support.
FI
Email Tommi & Inka | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Dependable, with excellent service, and they really put in the effort to make our safari memorable.
We enjoyed every bit of our 4-day Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Naivasha private tour.
All our requests were taken into account before and during the safari, even vegan food was arranged at every meal. Communication was smooth and easy with Carolyn the whole time.
Our guide and driver Augustine was a true professional, knowledgeable about the wildlife and skilled at spotting animals. He was a genuinely nice and fun guy to be around, making our experience even more enjoyable.
Overall everything went better than well and if we get a change in the future, we will book safari again with them. Recommended!
SG
Email JB | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience overall
Overall, it was a fantastic trip.
Pros:
We saw lots of animals. Our guides in Kenya, Alex and Rino, and our guides in Tanzania, Jackson and Tony, were very helpful. They helped us spot many of the animals and helped us find good spots to video and photograph them.
We saw over 60 species of animals, including 28 mammals and 37 birds.
The tour guides were also very knowledgeable and were very familiar with all the animals in the safari.
We got to see a lot of different parks during the trip and many different landscapes.
Cons:
Some of the accommodation were very basic. We stayed in tents with no locks, and very limited amenities.
There was no air conditioning in the rooms. The air conditioning in the car also could not be used because of the dust in the safaris.
We spent a lot of time on the road, and the jeeps can be somewhat old, so they are not the most comfortable.
Overall, it is an extremely unforgettable trip that is very worth going at least once in your lifetime. Just be prepared for some discomfort along the way and embrace the nature.
US
Email Ashok | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Well organized tour operator with excellent guide!
We booked a 10-day private safari in a Toyota Landcruiser visiting Amboseli, Ol Pajeta, Lake Nakuru, and Masai Mara parks in Kenya. What a fantastic trip! We saw everything we expected and more -- including all the Big 5 and the Ugly 5. The number of animals and babies was breathtaking. Our excellent guide, Peter Rono, was a perfect match, providing the right balance of guiding us and giving us options to focus on what we wanted to see. Rono seemed to just know where animals would pop up next, and even managed to get us into great viewing positions even in spots that were crowded with other safari goers. All the arrangements were well made by Dennis at Morningstar, and he was patient and accommodating while we iterated on our itinerary. Highly recommend the folks at Morningstar!
Email Francesca | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent safari trip!
From start to finish, our experience with Morning Star Tours was great! Dennis was in regular communication with me to provide quotes and advice when planning our safari holiday. The accommodation was amazing, especially in Amboseli and Lake Nakuru. Food was great with buffet meals and variety to choose from.
James, our safari guide and driver, was simply the best. He was so knowledgeable and made sure that we covered as much as possible and saw loads of animals. He made our trip fantastic! Big thanks to James & Dennis! I would definitely recommend to others!
US
Email Parul | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best Guide Ever!
Thank you so much Morning Star for a fabulous Kenya tour and safari. You accommodated all of our requests and were flexible when we requested it. Our tour guide Rono was absolutely amazing - helped us find SO many animals and took us up close every time. He was very knowledgeable about the animals and their behavior patterns. We had a memorable once in a lifetime experience!
CN
Email Suki | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent safari journey with MorningStar
We 2 persons, chose Morningstar as our safari agency becasue of a quite detailed, prompt response from Alice. She is always helpful, patient and agile for all my questions or the situations we met. All quotations has the breakdown, even proposal changes, there will be a transparent update on the quotation which make us feel morningstar is reliable. It might not be the cheapest price but it's our choose to secure us a pleasant, expected journey in Africa.
Morningstar is quite reliable, you can also find that they had a good relationship with the lodges/camps when we check-in in different places.
Alice arranged Willy as our 10 days safari guide and driver, I highly recommend Willy as the safari guide because of his excellent drive skills (safety first especially you may have long-time drive from one national park to another), rich experience on animals behavior and habitat! The most important thing is that Willy highly repect the animals, he knows what kind of distance should be kept between the vehicle and animals, so that the wildlift can be respected and protected, while the guests can also get the good photoes. We should always respect the wildlife, this is their home.
I would recommend morningstar to our friends.
CN
Email Ric | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic! Brought us a fun & amazing safari adventure!!
Thanks Alice (our tour consultant) to design such amazing and interesting itinerary. Also very patient to answer all the questions about the journey with prompt reply!
Also a big thanks to Alex ( our driver guide) !! Alex is very good for finding animals! Also know where is the best view to take the photo, you could just make a wish and he will make it happen! :)))
Brilliant
Morning star was a excellent choice. What got exactly what was agreed, they shared multiple quotes promptly and kept in touch. Even though there were unforseen changes to one if tge resorts, alternatives were offered in advance.
This was a long planned trip and thanks to Morning star it turned out very well.
Wanya, Willy we thank you very much 😊