Big Time Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2006)
- Tour Types:
- Small & medium group tours (Budget & mid-range)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $450 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
IL
Email TAL | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
exellant safari tour
we were couple we took safari 7 days from Big time safari
its was exellet
Martha was kindly and help alot
answer all my question till i book the safari
when we arrive everthing was well orginzed good hotels good care amaizing guides drivers
the price was really good
finally we enjoyied alot and we want send many thanks to Martha and all her team
Higly higly reccomned Big time Safari
THANKS ALOT
US
Email Chris | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience and value
I went on a 4-day Masai Mara / Nakuru camping safari with Bigtime Safaris.
Communications were consistently quick and polite. They always responded right away and were very helpful.
I was able to book by email remotely, which was important since I was coming from far away with a specific schedule in mind. They needed the deposit via Western Union, which was a bit of a pain, but understandable. It would be nice if they could have accepted something like PayPal.
They provided transportation from my hotel on both ends of the trip. The driver was on time for picking us up and that went smoothly. We finalized payment in the office and were off on our way.
The driver was great. He was very knowledgeable and was a safe driver. He was able to answer any questions we had about the areas and animals and provided lots of information. In the preserves, he had connections with other drivers to find out about animals.
We were able to see far more animals than expected, including a leopard, multiple cheetahs, and multiple lions. The driver generally struck a good balance of letting us spend some time looking and getting off to further areas where we would be likely to see the less common game.
The safari camp at Masai Mara was great. Comfortable beds and electricity in the evenings and morning.
The hotel for Lake Nakuru was not particularly great, but it was mostly due to my specific room having a lot of problems (leaking toilet that didn't flush, no hot water). The beds and pillows were also very firm. The food at the hotel was good.
The Lake Nakuru stop was great for seeing birds and rhinos. We also got a bonus stop in Naivasha for a boat safari, which was not on the original itinerary, but was a nice added bonus.
The van we were in was only 2-wheel drive. While the driver was very good at driving it, we did get stuck a couple times and have to push or get towed out by another van. It was never a huge problem, but it would have been nice to have a 4x4 van.
Overall, I felt the trip was a great value for the price. I got to see far more than I expected and had an amazing trip.
Email Eli | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience but you can probably get better value for money
I went with a friend to a 4-day budget safari which included 3 visits at Masai Mara reserve and one at Lake Nakuru. The price included pick up and drop off from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the safari and back to the hotel and to the airport, which was great. The car was a bit run down and we were sharing with 4 other people. At Masai Mara we stayed in pre-pitched tents with private toilet/shower at Miti Mingi Eco Camp, which was okay but there were no hot showers as advertised; we had an issue with rain in our tent and we were promptly changed to another one. At Nakuru we stayed in at City Max hotel, which was quite in the middle of nowhere and the wifi signal did not reach the rooms, but it did the job. Our driver Richard was very knowledgeable and could virtually answer every single question we asked him. He found all the animals almost on the first day and we ended up seeing everything we wanted to see. Unfortunately, the weather was not with us so on the 3rd day, the driver suggested to skip the 3rd visit at Masai Mara and stop at Lake Naivasha to do an activity at an extra cost, which we refused to but agreed to stop there for a walk; however, when we got there he advised that the weather was not good enough and we drove straight into the hotel without actually doing anything at all, other than driving, which was a bit of a waste of a day; a back-up plan would have been appreciated. My friend and I finished our safari earlier than some other people in our group and were put in a different car to go back to Nairobi. There, we learnt that the people from that other car had paid less for the same type safari (with a different operator), done more things (the activity at Lake Naivasha that was offered at extra cost was offered for free to them) and had a much better car so it annoyed us a bit but that's life.
In short, I had a great time in this safari and I saw all the animals I wanted to which was amazing but if I were to do another safari I would probably do a bit more of research and negotiate the price better.
Email Fazal Mohamed | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Safari visits, transportation etc were very good, but camp facilities were very below average
We were a group of 8 family members. The Planning Phase of the tour was good with proper communication from the team . The Safari rates were reasonable. The Airport pick up and the transport arrangement from Nairobi to Massaimara was very well coordinated. The game drives were also very well coordinated and we got opportunities to see many animals. Driver took special interest to take us all around.
However, the condition of the accommodation provided in the Camp in Massaimara was very primitive. Though the camp is well laid out, it was very over crowded and the staff found it extremely difficult to serve food properly. The individual tents were very poorly maintained, especially the 4 tents we got. The furniture including the cot was in bad shape, the bathrooms were not clean, flush was getting blocked, there was a bad stench during night in that part of the camp. All these were reported to the notice of Mr. Joseph in the camp who apparently was in charge of accommodation. He managed to change the cot but nothing more could be done though we requested for a change of tent that was not possible due to the large number of guests in the camp.
I personally feel a lot could be improved in the tents like, clean toilets and drainage, a mirror in the bathrooms, functional water taps, some toiletries like soap shampoo etc. There is definitely a need to check the condition of cots in each of the tents.
It will be Wonderful if a small cultural show by the local folks are organized every evening near the camp fire area. That can make the evenings lively and memorable. There is also a need to improve the food quality. All these may be facilitated to the customers even if it is at the cost of 10 or 20 USD more on package cost. These small deficiencies negatively impacted the overall experience which otherwise was a wonderful Safari at a moderate price.
Email Claire | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience and nice staff
we have our own group and signed up for a 9 days safari tour for both Kenya and Tanzania. the communication with Martha was very effective and she replied to our queries with no delay.
As it's a budget tour, we didn't expect much for the accommodation, most of tour was camping, the camp site is clean and well set up, most sites even had hot water for shower, meals were considered quite good given it's cooked in national park with limited resources. Camping at Ngorongoro is freezing cold during night but we were not well informed, so all of us couldn't sleep on that night, but animals visiting made up some of the bad feeling. hotel in Arusha was quite terrible, but no harm done for just two nights stay.
both our tour guides were very good, 4wd in Tanzania was very nice, only the road to NP was very bumping, which couldn't do much about it.
overall the safari was amaizing, saw lots of animals, all big 5 we had spotted, Big time's service was very professional, the tour was at great value for its cheap price.
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Email Franseca | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Dissapointing
We chose big time safari for our Safari on the class called budget mode so of course we did not expect great luxuries but unfortunately we had so many problems we wanted to share the experience.
The total days of safari were 11 days.
The worst episode was the second day in Serengeti where the car just broke down, old jeeps are used and you will have many chances that this will happens to you. The whole day was lost and nothing was seen that day.
After the Safari was over once in Nairobi we did complain at Big time safari offices to get some compensation as the service offered was not given to us.
The manager, John, was careless and unprofessional as he was more interested in what was happening on the TV than on our complain. He made us waste a lot of time in the office for nothing. The discussion ended up telling us that under his point of view we were not humans as we did not understand his problems and than worst would have been to die in the safari. Once he has your money in his pocket his behavior changes he won't call you back or he will tell you he is busy in some meeting.
Other problems we had was the guide in Tanzania was bad no interest on us. The camp in Amboseli was dirty and no mosquito net was given in one of the beds.
The picnic meals very poor some of the days.
In summary the safari was ok because the landscape and the animals are great but sure thing we would chose different company for a safari.
IL
Email Karen | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful experience with Big Time Safaris in Kenya and Tanzania
Our experience with Big Time Safaris was simply extraordinary! We took a 9 day safari in Kenya and Tanzania and also a daytrip to Amboseli and couldn't be happier we chose them! We were well taken care of since the moment we arrived in Nairobi until the moment we left.
Everything went smoothly and according to the itinerary. The guides were punctual, kind, very knowledgeable and they made it their priority that we saw as many animals as possible; always trying to get us close to them and always looking for the best angles for pictures. John , our guide in Tanzania, was exceptionally good. He was amazing tracing the animals -thanks to him we saw the big 5- but he was also fun to talk to. We learned so much about the Masai and the wildlife in general thanks to him.
The accommodations and the food provided were both good and just as promised. Special food requests are accommodated without a problem.
If you have the opportunity to visit a Masai village, do not skip it. It's really a memorable experience. Just make sure you bring some goodies for the kids (they love candies and coloring books for example) and a little money so you can buy some of the beautiful things the Masai women make and sell over there.
Special thanks to the lovely Martha, for impeccably preparing and coordinating our whole safari to the smallest detail, and for kindly answering all of my questions and attending every request I had. Since the first time I e-mailed her she stayed in touch and within reach, even while we were on the safari, which we really appreciated.
Thanks to Geoffrey as well, who drove us within Nairobi and was always so friendly and kind to us.
I can't praise the Big Time Safaris team enough for the once in a lifetime experience they gave us. It was simply incredible!
IN
Email Dipak Guharay | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A lifetime experience in Kenya & Tanzania with Big Time Safaris
We had visited Kenya & Tanzania from 22nd May 2017 to 1st June 2017. We booked the trip from Kolkata, India with Big Time Safaris and initially I was a little unsure about the arrangements as we didn't have any prior experience with them. But we were told by some of our friends that they were very good and I found how true it was when I reached Nairobi and got picked up from Airport. Since then they took the complete responsibility of us and we didn't have to think about anything else other than enjoying the safaris. Martha and her team took excellent care of us, the camps and lodges were excellent. Our guide and driver and Kenya, Patrick was very passionate about the wildlife and has a huge knowledge on flora and fauna of East Africa. Not only we thoroughly enjoyed the trip but also we learnt a lot about Africa, it's wildlife, the people and their culture. Our guide and driver in Tanzania was a young lad called Ziggy, he also has good knowledge about all the things we wanted to know and was very helpful.
I would definitely recommend Big Time Safaris to all my friends who want to visit East Africa, a big big thumbs up to Martha and her team!
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Email Ishita Ghosh | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Lifetime Experience .... Spectacular & Amazing
Tremendous team-effort , highly professional attitude & coordination , mind-blowing guides & their game-drives , neat arrangements even in very adverse situations , superb hospitality from each & every employee..... BigTimeSafari made us feel at home from the very moment we stepped in Africa. Thank you BTS .... Thank you for everything you did to us. Our trip wouldn't be so pleasant & successful without you :D
The Best!
From the minute we come out of the airport until we were dropped off, Big Time Saris took excellent care of us. I can't say enough good things about their drivers. They were professional yet sensitive and fun. We used their services for several full days. They were very accommodating to all our wacky requests. They never complained or were put out. I felt their prices were fair and they were very honest. Not only were their drivers on time, they were early! I highly recommend using them on your trip to Africa!