Kenya safaris by a 4×4 land cruiser jeep
Tall Masai Safari
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2021)
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $25 to $350 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Alexander Hoch | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Budget Friendly Tour
My recent safari with Tall Masai Safaris was an experience I'll cherish forever. The organization of the trip was top-notch, ensuring a smooth and comfortable journey through the stunning landscapes and diverse wildlife habitats. Our guides were knowledgeable and passionate, sharing insights that deepened our appreciation for the natural world and the majestic animals we encountered. Accommodations provided were comfortable, blending seamlessly with the surroundings, offering a truly immersive experience.
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Email Jordan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great
Really enjoyed the safari. Our driver was Eric and he was great. We saw so many animals including lions, cheetah, elephants, giraffes, zebras, rhinos, etc. The camps were really nice, better than the hotel in my opinion and the food was good as well. The van had a little trouble in the muddy terrain of Amboseli but there were plenty of jeeps to help tow us out and it an interesting experience. Good value for the money and would definitely recommend
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Email Kc | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Disorganized
Ok I’m going to be completely honest and be the review that I wish I would’ve seen, because this would’ve led me to book differently. Let me start by saying KENYA IS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL! There were moments where I wanted to cry tears of joy from what I was experiencing and pinch myself because the beauty there is unmatched. Now for Tall Masai as a company, they were completely disorganized. To begin my pickup time was severely miscommunicated by Benson. He messaged me saying my pickup time was 6pm and actually ended up being 6am! MAJORRR difference as I almost booked an extra hotel night to accommodate for the late pick up. So I had to rush and pack all my items last min due to this major error. Then I get in the van and I’m requested to pay the remainder (being that you only pay half prior to booking) in USD. I travel with the country’s currency (Kenyan Shilling) never with usd because it’s not smart. My driver tells me Ben should’ve told you to have usd but he didn’t! So we call and I ended up going back and forth until I was allowed to pay online in which Ben asked me to pay MORE to accommodate for the exchange rate. That was completely unfair and disrespectful. These two errors happened within 40mins of being picked up so I was already super annoyed. All I received was a weak apology from Ben and nothing else. Once the safaris started because we were super delayed things got a little better.. until it was lunch time. The lunch was absolutely horrible and not safe. The meat was not properly refrigerated and the fruit was not fresh. Honestly the food at all the accommodations was pretty bad except Nyati, which was decent. Citymax hotel was disgusting and I would’ve rather slept outside. Please bring a bunch of snacks because the food offered is the worse I’ve experienced in my life. The game drivers were shady and didn’t speak much which was weird. For some of us this is a once in a lifetime experience so engage and explain to us what we’re seeing…. Some did but a lot didn’t and drove with no purpose. However the people I’ve met and the locals, Masai tribe, the wild life was absolutely perfect. If it wasn’t for me making the best out of it and being in nature I would’ve easily gave this company a 1 or 2 star. Yes I understand this is marketed as a budget tour,however no one should be fed old bread and cucumber and sleep in vermin infested hotels for $600 + dollars. NO ONE! this is greedy and not humane. To wrap this up look into higher priced options with a different company if you want to have a full great experience. I would not recommend Tall Masai at all sadly. Hopefully they can take this review as constructive criticism as this was my true raw experience.
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Email José Antonio Bermúdez | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The tour and driver IS fantastic, but the operator have a importante mistake
The tour is very good and the driver is fantastic. I had 2 single rooms reserved and they wanted to give me one for two people. It was not what was contracted. You had to suffer to get what you contracted. Unfortunately this error undervalues the tour, if it had not been for this it would be perfect
(automatic translation from Spanish)
Amazing safari experience
We did the Amboseli NP safari 3D2N. Total price for 2 adults + 1 child (3 yo) was 540 USD inclusive of transportation, accomodations, food, park tickets. The communication during booking process was amazing (300 USD downpayment via Pesapal). On the other hand, the pick up was a little bit messy (it was supposed to be around noon but ended being closer to 1pm). From the hotel we were taken to a tour operator office on Wabera St. where we paid the rest of the trip. After that we were taken by car to Shell gas station south of Nairobi where the safari van with our guide, Maxwell, and the rest of travellers were waiting for us. We started the journey to Nyati safari camp, arriving there right after sunset. We were greeted by the camp staff, assigned rooms and given buffet dinner. (I would like to say the camp is very good, staff is friendly, rooms are comfty and buffet breakfast and dinner are very good).
The day after, early morning (6am) we did the morning walk (10 USD pp, worth it), came back to the camp, had breakfast and started the full day safari around 8am, returning to the camp around 5pm.
The last morning we departed around 6am for a half day safari and we were dropped off back in Nairobi around 4pm.
I would like to thank everything and specially our guide MAXWELL who is just amazing, very knowledgeable and honest. Looking forward to coming back to Kenya and doing Masai Mara with him!
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Email Riasat Ullah | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Flexible, responsive, affordable and absolutely amazing!
I come to Kenya for work quite often, but I had never been on a safari before. So this time when my family was coming over to Kenya and Africa for the first time, we decided to go on a safari together, and Tall Masai Safari made it surreal for us.
I connected with Benson (from Tall Masai) two months before we were to arrive and started planning the trip. Despite the several times I changed the tour itself, he was always very considerate and responsive. We were able to customize the tour according to our needs. For part of trip we were able to arrange our own accommodation while only using their transportation and game drives. Their pricing was extremely reasonable to begin with, but the flexibility we had made the trip even more affordable.
Benson was very attentive all throughout and came to pick us up from the airport. At the airport he introduced us to our driver Tushara. From there we went on a 4 day trip to Amsboseli, Naivasha and Lake Nakuru. Tushara was an absolute delight to have around. He was remarkably knowledgeable about the landscape and the wildlife. He could spot a bird in the distance and identify the species.
He took it upon himself to show us the big five. We only missed the leopard by a minute but got plenty of time with the rest. We saw two different lion prides feeding! People may think that they are going to see all the wildlife by just going on a game drive, but it is not easy to always spot every animal, at least in the smaller parks. It really depends on knowing when and where to be, and that depends on your driver. And Tushara made a genuine effort to be at the right place at the right time. He always communicated with other safari vehicles to figure out where we need to be. Sometimes he would tell us to hold on and drive fast through the tracks so we could get to the animals before they wandered off into the bushes. It is truly because of him that our trip became so spectacular.
I will strongly recommend Tall Masai Safari to anyone who is considering a safari. They were absolutely amazing!
NG
Email Janet | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Flexible
I was able to arrange a safari tour on short notice (day before departure) with Tall Masai Safari. I appreciated Benson's flexibility in tailoring the itinerary to my needs and the guides/drivers were good and accommodations reasonable for the price paid. I just wish I would have been able to pay at least a part of the tour by card and also the itinerary was not completely followed as I was told day 3 would include a game tour of Nakuru park (time permitting) plus a Nakuru game drive on day 4 before going back to Nairobi. Though we arrived in Nakuru with a whole afternoon to spare on day 3, the guide told me only one Nakuru game drive was included, either on day 3 or 4. On Day 4, I was able to go on boat tour and Crescent Island on lake Naivasha but had to pay the entry fees for those on top of the safari tour price.
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Email Volker | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Non-delivery and bad delivery of promised service
I really cannot recommend this company Tall Masai. My pickup at the airport for which I paid extra was 20 min. too late. My free pick-up from the hotel which was included in the price was 40 min. too late, because they combined it with another paid airport pickup. Be very careful which pick-ups are included in the price and quote they offer.
However, free pick-up from the hotel was included in the quote of Tall Masai, but suddenly Bensson wanted extra money for this.
I selected Tall Masai for an 8 days tour because Bensson indicated in the quote that safari start at 6.30 in the morning. On the first morning, they did not get one customer placed in another accommodation into the care in time, thus, the safari in Masai Mara started at 7.00. Then, the 2WD car got stuck in a mud-hole and we were lucky that there was another car around to pull us out. On the second day at 15.30 the second car broke, they managed to continue to drive slowly on the straight way back to the camp reaching already there around 5pm while the parks closes at 6.30 (and the walki-talki was turned off, thus, not hearing where interesting animals could be to drive to). Hence, the “late afternoon/early evening game drive was no real one” because no walki-talki was used and because they indicated if we stop we might not be able to continue. Thus, we hardly dare to even asked them to drive slower as they already did for taking photos.
The worst thing was in Amboseli where the (fourth or fifth) driver I had indicated already in the evening that the game drive the next morning starts at 8.30 (despite the agreement mentioned above to start at 6.30). Bensson did not intervene despite being reminded about the contract but tried afterward to justify this very late start with some Amboseli entrance fee issues, but he apparently does not understand what it means to agree on terms. But he just promises and then does not deliver.
They also work together with a hotel in Naivasha called Leisure Apex Resort. When I need to get medicine with a five-minute one way car ride, the receptionist told me that he called a driver who does it for 500 Kenyan Shillings in total for both ways. But then he informed me that he has to inform his manager "Sylvia" about this. And afterwards he suddenly informed me that the trip now costs 1000 Kenyan Shillings .... . And when that driver arrived he immediately also claimed 1000 Kenyan Shillings. Guess what happened.... . I cannot recommend to stay there. Even not jam or honey was provided, also not upon request, for the breakfast bread with butter.
Apparently, Tall Masai works together with a bunch of other companies, and you feel like cars are filled up every day newly just to maximize profit. For example, People who have seen for six days Zebras are suddenly confronted with one person of a one-day safari who's main goal it is to find a Zebra (not that easy in our case in Amboseli). Customers in the same van who contracted with one of the other companies (Karibu) said that they were promised that there would be only 6 people in the car during their 7-days tour but occasionally we were 9 people in the car.
I took the 8 days tour with two full days Massai Mara at the beginning. I ended up having the same route two times (main road via the viewing point to Mara River and back). They just put me consecutively on two vans which start in the Mara.
On the vans: they provide 2WD vans also during the rather rainy and muddy season in April. While you get what you pay, it is rather inappropriate in my opinion to offer at all 2WD cars in this weather conditions. And then get stuck in the mud in the first morning and the breaking down of the van on the second day just supports this opinion. In general, I got the impression that 2WD vans tend to stay mainly on the main roads, which reduces the covering range of the safari.
I asked for a financial compensation proposal after the journey, and since then I have not heard for several days from Bensson/Tall Masai.
As mentioned, I really cannot recommend Tall Masai safari, or you should try to at least not to pay the full amount.
I do not understand how a company like Tall Masai with such an opinion about an agreement can be further listed on this webpage.
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Email Jim Cradic | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
EXCELLENT CHOICE
I set my safari up with Benson a month or so before traveling, and he made everything so easy. Being my first trip to Africa, I didn’t have a good handle on which company to pick, but Benson did exactly as he said and took good care of me. I was traveling alone and my son was worried about all the unknowns, but my guide, Geoff, contacted my son via WhatsApp and stayed in contact with him my entire trip. That’s excellent customer service! The 6 days were filled with exactly what I want from my trip. The staff are very knowledgeable and very helpful. Being a senior citizen, they took great care of me the entire time. It was the trip of a lifetime, and I’m glad I picked Tall Masai Safari!
AE
Email Tatiana | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Decent and affordable.
I booked the tour 2 days before it started. This was the best offer for the price. At my request, a transfer was provided. Everything was worthy. Despite the rainy weather, we visited all the stated locations. The staff and drivers are friendly. If you are offered additional services, simply refuse if you are not willing to pay extra. I recommend.
