The Team Behind Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris
Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris Ltd
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2003)
- Member Of:
- Eco Tourism & Kenya Wildlife Services
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $64 to $490 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
DE
Email Bastisn + Nicola | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
kenya-uganda-gorillatrecking-tanzania-kenya
Hey we are a couple (29 - 31 years). We booked an individual 16 days safari with a lot of different national parks in kenya uganda and tanzania and gorilla trecking. Because we prefered some more comfortable hotels, we chosed the hotels by our self, which was no problem.Of course it was a little bit more expensive. Also with the route we spoke to Mr Otieno and made an individual route, so we could see everything we wanted. On our trip we had 3 different guides, all of them more less likeable and good driver and guides. We saw all of the wildlife we dreamed of and the gorilla trecking was every dollar worth. All in all the price was very fair but you allways have to look that you do not get cheated. If there are any problems - and of course in africa are some- Mr Otieno and the guides alway try their best to solve them. For those who can not handle with stress I would recommend an more expensive tour organized by an european compamy. If you are relaxed and you can handle with problems I can recommend kenya walking survivors.
Thanks a lot to Mr Otieno and hiy team
IN
Email Adv. Bharati Laddha | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Perfect Safari Operater
I am not having word to share experience of safari, service provided by kenya walking surviviours safaris ltd was mind blowing, great experience, its value for your money.
mainly it's safe wich was my basic concern as my two small kids were with me.
Any time i plan for africa country i will like to go with kenya walking surviviours safaris.
IN
Email g.jaya | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
it was too good to be true experience for me, a home away from home kind. Thank you.
All the lodges provided were excellent and the experience of this wild Africa is unforgettable. Let me also put in a word about our guide Mr.Peter who was indeed a model figure on such a tour, he knew the needs of his guests and was always prepared in advance,All in all a trip to cherish.
IN
It was a marvelous experience for us with excellent safari experience and wonderful stays.
It was amazing at Samburu, Mara, Nakuru, Nayvasha and Amboseli. The trip arrangements, stay and safari are of superb quality. Yes many of our friend in India are eager to make their African Safari through Kenya Walking Survivors Safari Ltd after hearing our narration about the experience in Kenya. Yes Mr. Otieno I will be coming again to make it to Kenya and Tanzania, as we discussed when met at Nairobi on 29th August 2015
Thanks a lot
US
Email Jie | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic solo safari in Kenya and Tanzania
It was such a great fun travelling in Kenya and Tanzania for nearly two weeks. But without Kenya Walking, I could not do it on my own. Of course I saw all the big five and many other animals. The name of my driver for Kenya side is Livingstone, he's very good at tracking down footprints of different walking animals and he never missed one during my trip. The accommodation was great and comfortable in Kenya side. Tanzania side was comparatively much more expensive I guess so for budget reason mostly I stayed in tented camp. Really enjoyed my whole trip!
NZ
Email Graeme Beals | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
More than We'd Bargained For
We come from New Zealand and are in our late fifties and early sixties. When booking, we were wanting some adventure without backpacking, and we were wanting to deal with African owned companies so that the money we spent in Africa, would stay in Africa. Our aim was for middle of the road comfort and top of the range adventure.
We found KWSS along with a number of other possibles and after speaking with Mr Otieno, decided to give them KWSS our business for a 12 day tour of gameparks in Kenya and Tanzania. You can imagine we were very pleased to find them waiting for us at the hotel and for our adventures began.
But the thing that makes me vote a big five stars to this company, is the last adventure we had with them, when at 4pm, after a great game drive in Serenghetti National park in Tanzania, and making ourselves comfortable in our overnight hotel, we discovered to our dismay, that we had made an error and booked an airflight for the next part of our trip, such that we were due to fly the following morning, early, from Nairobi – in Kenya!
Changing the airflight was not possible due to the irregular nature of flights; we had to get to this flight!
We got the hotel to ring our KWSS guide who had dropped us off, and the next thing the whole organisation had swung into action to help us. Our guide drove us to the border where another guide from Nairobi had driven down to meet us. We were whisked through the night to a Nairobi hotel where we arrived a little after midnight, then picked up again in the morning to get us to the airport on time. We don’t feel you could have done what we did anywhere but in Africa, with a special company like KWSS.
When I asked Mr Otieno how much we owed, he wouldn’t hear of payment! “All part of the service,” he assured us. Amazing.
A word to those who are booking, like us, a mid priced tour. We discovered that our expression that we wanted mid range, meant that at times we got far better accommodation than expected, and sometimes, a little less than expected, as it all depends on the park you are visiting, how wealthy it is, and what mid range means to them. We would suggest you send Mr Otieno some indicative pictures of what sort of thing you think you’d like as accommodation, as it will make it easier for you and them to get it right. Also on the ‘power of words to convey meaning’ theme, be aware that ‘en suite’ and ‘private bathroom’ do not necessarily mean the same.
IN
Email Amruth M, PhD | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Smooth, Courteous, Hassle free
Of course wildlife citing is a matter of luck and everyone know about it, but our (seven of ours) safari through the major wildlife regions in Kenya was simply a matter of fulfilment to the max. degree of perfection possible. Filled by excitement of rare sitings (Cheetah’s twice, leopards more than thrice, wild beast migration – crossing of Mara river, breathtaking view of Kilimanjaro at Amboselli National Park with elephants and more than forty Ostriches, about 35 mammalian species in ten days). Our safari team was blessed by the company of Mr Peter, the dedicated guide-driver who is gentle and no-nonsense by disposition, and highly experienced in safari and wildlife regions with a significant degree of understanding of the wildlife especially the birdlife of Kenya. He picked up us from the Nairobi airport and left us back to Nairobi after 10days of wonderful safari was take us to right locations. Mr. Otieno - the key safari itinerary planner with Kenya Walking Survivors Safari made our trip a glitch free event. I would recommend services of this team and would-like to plan another journey soon.
Our travel plan was roughly like this:
Day1 (20-08-2015 ) : Arriving to Nairobi on 20-08-2015 and overnight
at Hennessis Hotel.
Day2 (21-08-2015 ) : NAIROBI-SAMBURU
0600am Breakfast
0700am:Driving to Samburu
1230hrs:Arrive for lunch and check inn
1500hrs: Afternoon game drive
1800hrs Back at Samburu Game Lodge
Day3 (22-08-2015 ):SAMBURU
0600hrs breakfast
0630 Proceed to Morning game Drive
1200Hrs lunch at the lodge
1530hrsAfternoon game Drive
1800hrs Back at the Samburu Game Lodge
Day4 (23rd -08-2015 ): SAMBURU GAME RESERVE TO LAKE NAKURU
0600hrs breakfast
0630 Proceed to Lake Nakuru
1100hrs :Stop for Thomson falls
1400Hrs lunch in the park
1500hrs Arrive in Lake Nakuru park and Evening Game drive to see flamigoes
1800hrs Back at the lodge Lake Nakuru sarova lions hills.
Day 5 (24-08-2015) : LAKE NAKURU -MAASAI MARA
06oohrs Breakfast
0630am Morning game Drive enroute,
0715am we proceed to Masai mara.
1400hrs Lunch at AA lodge,
1530hrs:proceed for the first game drive at Masai mara.
1800hrs back at the lodge Mara AA Lodge
Day 6 (25-08-2015): MAASAI MARA
0600hrs: Breakfast
0700hrs:Full day game drive at Masai mara with packed lunch boxes.
1800hrs :Back at the Mara AA lodge
Day7 (26-08-2015): MAASAI MARA
0600hrs: Breakfast
0700hrs:Full day game drive at Masai mara with packed lunch boxes.
1800hrs :Back at the keekrok lodge which is inside the Park
Day 8 (27-08-2015 ) MAASAI MARA TO LAKE NAIVASHA PARK:
0600hrs Wakeup early and Morning Game drive
0800am Drive out and Proceeding to Lake Naivasha .
1400hrs Lunch at Sopa lodge and check in te lodge
1500hrs Evening walk at Crescent Island and stay at
Naivasha Sopa Lodge.
Day9 (28-08-2015 ): LAKE NAIVASHA TO AMBOSELI
0600hrs breakfast
0630 Proceed to Amboseli park via Nairobi
1200hrs :Drive for lunch
1530Hrs Afternoon Game Drive in Amboseli
1800hrs Back at the lodge Kibo Luxury Tented Camp
Day 10 (29-08-2015) AMBOSELI TO NAIROBI
0600hrs Breakfast
0630 morning Drive to NAIROBI
1030hrs Arrive at the airport.
The tour ended at the Jomo kenyatta Airport
US
Email LG | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Fabulous!!!
I'm a Travel agent in the US. I had a few clients that wanted to join me on a safari. I found KWSS on Safari Bookings. One of the first things that I like was OT's prompt response. I hit send and in less than 20min he was calling me in the USA about my enquiry. From that day to this one I have found a new friend and supplier for future customers.
Now for the good part... OT was hands on the entire time. We spent 3 weeks in Africa...
Kenya Highlights... Maasi Mara Great Migration, Hot Air Ballooning
Uganda Highlights... Gorilla Treking... Saw 4 silver back, 1 female and a juvenile...will do again
Tanzania Highlights...Serengeti. Stayed in a tented camp and hyena's all around my tent yelping all night...scary but a true adventure. And of course we saw all the big 5, and more.
Highly recommend we had a wonderful time.
Thanks OT
AE
Email Muhammad Osama | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Kenya Walking Survivors Safari - 7 Day Tour in Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru
We booked 4 nights in Masai Mara and 2 nights in Lake Nakuru with KWS. I should say that it was a life time amazing experience with KWS. Representative from KWS was waiting for us at the Nairobi airport, who then took us to the KWS office, and then we started our journey towards Masai Mara. It took us almost 6.5 hours to reach our camp 'Mara Sidai'. I must say here that the vehicle 'Toyota Hiace' which transferred us from Nairobi to Masai Mara was in a quite poor condition, and at one point its front tyre broke. it took us 45 minutes to repair it.
very next day our amazing journey started, the guide provided to us by KWS was local from Masai Mara. He was an excellent guide with immense knowledge of the area as well as animals. We were fortunate enough to see all the big five within our 4 day stay in Masai Mara. As promised by KWS, they provided us with the cook, who was excellent.
Same side from KWS took us to lake Nakuru where we stayed for two days. Again the guide showed us at least 10 rhinos and 4 male lions on our very first day in Lake Nakuru. we also visited lake Begoria and Lake Naivasha. For all of you who are interested in Flamingos, lake Begoria is the rite place. when we visited lake bagoria there were thousands of flamingos.
Overall i would really recommend KWS to everyone, and i would be definitely booking with them again. Thank you OT and his team!
Areas of improvement:
-There should be more coordination between the management and the tour guides
-Would expect to provide a bit more hygienic accommodations. Toilet of our hotel in Lake Nakuru was extremely dirty and flush was also not working.
Overall 5 stars for KWS!!! keep up the good work.
Email Zahid | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Truly a memorable safari.
Firstly I must thank Kenya Walking Survivors and Mr Otieno for helping me and my cousins have the experience of a lifetime. We visited Tanzania and Kenya for two weeks in August and were sincerely amazed by the African wildlife, scenery, and people. We stayed in some of the most amazing lodges and camps and were taken care of well especially by our wonderful guide Fred ( who we called Uncle ) in Kenya.
This was our first ever trip to Africa and our very first safari. We had been researching for tour operators and safari packages for months prior to our trip. We chose Kenya Walking Survivors because of Mr Otieno's quick communication, the ability to customise our itinerary according to all the places we wanted to go, and also according to our strict budget. I was very hesitant wiring a large amount of money to a strange foreign account! Nonetheless, we are still grateful to have experienced so much for the price, but feel that it's important for other prospective travellers to be aware of some aspects of unprofessionalism & problems we encountered. These things whether big or small added up to create an atmosphere of distrust for us. Particularly when everything ran smoothly in Kenya and things went sour as soon as we met the tour leader Mike in Tanzania.
Examples of unprofessionalism:
-Multiple last-minute hotel changes, including changing our tented camp in the Serengeti to a lesser quality one without informing us.
-Mistakes on itinerary dates. Even after reviewing our itinerary before and upon arrival in Nairobi.
-Car problems, wasted many hours which could have been spent on game drives
-Asking for park entrance money from us. This favour was asked as a loan until our driver received the funds. Suffice to say we firmly refused. Unfortunately this resulted in us sitting around for hours at the park gate seeing lots of other people going in.
-Told multiple lies by tour leader Mike in particular regarding our internal flight times, resulting in us having to leave Tarangire Park hastily to drive hours to get to Arusha to catch a so called early flight to Zanzibar. It was only revealed until we had woken up early in Arusha and had checked out of our cosy room, that our flight was at 1 pm! Mike was extremely distrustful as he had changed our accommodations several times without requesting our permission or even informing Mr Otieno.
-Waiting almost two hours to be collected from the Tanzanian Border, resulting in us missing the Giraffe Centre and Elephant Sanctuary in Nairobi before our flight home to London.
I hate having to make this list, because until I began to write this review, I had actually managed to forget all the negative aspects of our trip and only think of the magic moments we had with countless animals up close and seeing breathtaking savannahs, and being looked after by a great driver like Fred in Kenya.
Even with all the drama of our trip, I don't regret choosing Kenya Walking as I'm not sure we could have packed everything into our time and budget with a different tour operator.
I have only the best wishes for Mr Otieno and his company, as he did try his best to rectify the problems that Mike created in Tanzania.
If you decide Kenya Walking Survivors is the best fit for your trip, please be prepared to respectfully advocate for yourself and your itinerary.