Leopard Orchid Safaris

a lot of promises but reality was different

We chose this company because contact with Elija was very good... The company made a good impression and had good reviews...
We had a driver and guide Zachary... he was good at finding animals but he is not good guide. he constantly ignored our requests - it was private tour! he was all the time too late. We heard excuses all the time...
I would like to report briefly the day after the day:
1. On the first day our driver fell asleep while driving. We didn't feel safe... We thought - ok. it's first day... Maybe he had something important and couldn't get enough sleep
2. We started second day in Tsavo. It was nice there... We should go at lunchtime to Amboseli and have there afternoon game drive.. He informed us - He needs to have repaired his windshield wipers... he should know mechanic and it should take us 20 minutes. We spent 4 hours there and they didn't work. He didn't explain anything to us. we didn't get anything to eat... That day we still had to weld our shock absorbers...Zachary drove really fast on the bumpy road...
3. The third day in Amboselli was great. We hoped - it will be better... It won't be...
4. We came to Naivasha - he said us - we should pay for boat ride... we showed him on the program that this was included. He called long with Elija... In the end we didn't have to pay but that was annoying again
5. We wanted to change our program and do short hike - he told us that it will cost 20 USD... We either had to walk on dusty road or rent bikes because we couldn't get to this trail by car... we learned there that at beginn of this trail were a lot of cars... ok doesnt matter... everything cost almost 60 USD... Zachary should wait for us. We came back - he wasn't there. We called him - he said he had a flat tire on the way... We went there by bikes... that wasn't true. We waited in full sun for him one hour! We lost one hour of our game drive in the afternoon.
6. It was Friday... We were supposed to spend the afternoon of this day, the next all day and half on the next day (Sunday) in Masai Mara... Its the best park and we wanted to spent there at least. 2 days...
In the morning we were informed that the rules had changed and we would not be able to enter on the last day. If we want to do that then we have to pay extra 80 USD. Zachary advised us against it because we would have a long way to Nairobi... we suggested: we are going to Masai Mara as soon as possible and we spend more time there on this day. He agreed. On the way he didnt't talk to us... We drove to the camping site and waited there 2 hours - We didn't know what we were waiting for. We think that he didnt want to pay for 2 days in Masai Mara... It was emberassing...
7. It was great day in Masai Mara.
8. We visited Masai village and went to Nairobi... We arrived there at 4 pm and we Zachary wanted to take us to the airport (we should spent evening in restaurants... - we had a flight at 4 am and that's why we wanted to spend half a day in the national park and not in the city... I asked Elija for it in many of mails... We suggested too that we visit Masai village on first day (Friday) - Visit in Village took us only one hour... It could be a option... Zachary told us - It is impossible - Elijah asked us at airport - why didn't we do it so - We were surprised that he doesn't know it... Zachary called him a lot... Elijah did us offer and he should react if something doesn't work...

In summary: we heard excuses all the time. Driver was rude and did what he wanted. We suspect - he wanted to pay for everything and wanted to be home so fast as possible.
He suggested us that we go to airport at pm. It's not allowed in Nairobi to come into the departure lounge more than 3 hours before the flight... If we had listened to our guide, we would have spent 9 hours in front of the airport... That shows what a guide is he...

If you want to go with this company, don't pay the entire amount before the end of the trip. It was our mistake. But they made a professional impression.. I'm giving two stars because we saw a lot of animals... But the guide was unprofessional.
We want to visit Africa again but definitely not with Zachary... We thought that he didn't take Elijah seriously either. Elijah made a good impression but for a long time he didn't listen to us but to Zachary... At the airport he asked us how he could compensate us... -
(just one day instead of 1.5 in Amboseli, one day and 2 hours instead of 2 days in Masai Mara...) Sorry Elijah but you should take yours guests seriously...