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
PT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A great experience with Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris
We love the experience. Professional and dedicated staff, good driver, good accommodation, very good food.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beautiful experience; stressful circumstances
First, I must thank Kenya Walking for helping my husband and I have the experience of a lifetime. We visited Tanzania and Uganda and were sincerely amazed by the African wildlife, scenery, and people.
We chose Kenya Walking because of Otieno's quick communication, the ability to customize our itinerary, and the price. We are still grateful to have experienced so much for the price, but feel that it's important for other prospective travelers to be aware of some aspects of unprofessionalism we encountered. They are mostly small things that added up to create an atmosphere of distrust for us.
Examples of unprofessionalism:
-Multiple last-minute hotel changes, including skipping Lake Bunyonyi in Uganda to stay at a poorly rated, loud city motel with water problems (original hotel was around $100, changed to $10 room)
-Incorrect itinerary dates. Even after reviewing our itinerary upon arrival in Uganda, both Otieno and our driver forgot that we were staying two days in the gorilla park to do extra hiking. We had to fight pretty hard to convince them to correct this.
-Over-worked, tired driver speeding considerably and close to nodding off during long drives (I would highly recommend flying into Kisoro to do gorilla trek, or at least requesting a Ugandan guide. Our Kenyan guide had to drive overnight from Nairobi before picking us up and continuing the drive. We also suspect he took a wrong turn which we followed for 90minutes before correcting.)
-Borrowing gas money from us. This favor was asked as a loan until our driver found an ATM, though we never found one. We ended up letting him keep the money as part of his tip, but the company never followed up to thank us or ask whether we got our money back.
-Other small inconveniences included late departures (2hours on our first morning in Tanzania with no communication on their end), spotty attitudes from guides (our Kenyan guide did not like Ugandans... and we were in Uganda), considerable time waiting for guides to deal with problems in banks, broken jeep roof in Tanzania (fortunately this didn't happen until our last day there).
I hate to make this list, because until Otieno asked me to write this review, I had managed to forget all the negative aspects of our trip and only think of the magic moments we had with elephants, lions, gorillas, mountains, and new friends. 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 also suspect travelling with Kenya Walking Survivors may be an entirely different experience in Kenya, rather than Tanzania and Uganda where we visited. I have only the best wishes for our guides Mike and Jonas and for Otieno.
If you decide Kenya Walking Survivors is the best fit for your trip, please be prepared to respectfully advocate for yourself and your itinerary.
Reply from Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris Ltd
Posted on Oct 20, 2014Hi Sarah, thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear you were disappointed with your Part of the trip while on safari.
ACCOMMODATION
I would like to confirm with you that before you use the facility ,we had to talk and discus with you and you agree, This was because you took a lot of time at the equator stopover and by the time you arrive at the town which is 12kms from lake Bunyoni Resort it was late in the evening and due to the security alert I could NOT let you Drive to your booked Hotel at Bunyoni Resort due to security on the way.So I had to give you the briefing and also alert my Driver and we did this because We value our clients life after discussion with you.Then the following day you where transfer you your early booked Hotel
The loud music was from the Neigbour hotel and the accommodation was well and it was the same rate but in town compare with lake Bunyoni Resort which was at the lake side,I admit thus was the difference. And we apologized for that difference if you did NOT like the facility
ITINERARY
I would like to Re-confirm with you that we discus with you all the program in Uganda and all was fine,And I accepted you to add your Exra activity which you did the following day trek to the Rwanda boarder at no Exra cost to the company.
Secondly our drivers always wake up early and sleep early,They are to have at least minimum sleep of 8hours.I apologized if truly you saw him nodding ,because he is the same guide who has been doing a lot of the trekking for Gorilla tour to our clients
GAS
You remember when you ask the driver to drive you upto the boarder of Rwanda to go and see the Batwa tribe.
I would like to inform all the travelers that due to security we don’t give or make our Drivers carry more than USD$200 .why?Due to security , if they miss/lose the money the clients will be stranded and they always carry the money which is fine for them for the fuel depending on the distance,
Now you made a decision of the change of itinerary after the Gorilla trek that he was to drive you about 80kms one way for the Batwa tribe ,there was no ATM anywhere he could get money for fuel and he inform you ,But he had to do this because you told him you will top him up the gas,because he wanted to drive back to look for the ATM to top up the Gas,
So im again sorry for topping the driver up at no Exra cost for your benefic and he Refund it back ,But at the end of the day when he wanted to refund the cash you told him this was his tip the money which you gave the drive was totaling USHS.150,000 which is equivalent of USD$58.
EXPEREIENCE
As you said you suspected the driver to take wrong side,but what happen is that he was told that the route you took was block a head so he had to turn back for another route which was NOT block.so thus why he return and took another turn,
Most of our drivers are over 15years in this land and very experience on guiding and driving.
If he did not communicate on this We apologized that next time you will have the communication on any small change on road from the driver to any clients.
LANDCRUISER 4X4
I would like to inform all our travelers that we have bad roads in Africa especially in the parks which make vehicle both 4x4 and 2x2 breakdown i.e on the wheels,body parts, engines so you should expect this as part of Africa Road which we don’t have nay control but should we have any breakdown we always make sure we fixed them to control the waste of time for the game Drive.We again apologized for this and im happy you where happy when it was solve very faster.
REVIEW.
I would like to confirm that I ask you to write a review on this trip ,so that both positive feedback to be maintain and improve and Negative feedback should be check on so that the next group don’t get to the same problems again.
Otherwise im very happy again that you are fine with our organization and we apologized for any aspect which did NOT make you enjoy your trip.But you are still welcome to East Africa next time. We promise all our clients will NOT have the same mistake.
Thanks you again for all the positive and negative feedback you have given us,This will make us to be on our watch list on the services we provide our clients.
Thanks a lot Sarah and Partner
US
Email Chintan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Awesome safari experience!
Me and my wife did a 9 day safari in Kenya with KWSS; our first safari ever. Otieno is a very soft spoken, hardworking entrepreneur. He was the point of contact for all reservations and took care of us very well. He was responsive and answered all our questions. Before landing in Nairobi, we knew what to expect throughout the safari.
All our lodges were amazing, especially the Samburu lodge. Being vegetarians, we were skeptical about our meals but were surprised to learn how delicious our meals were. At several lodges, we were actually consulted by the chefs before preparing the meals.
Our driver/guide Nguta was very knowledgeable and since it was a private tour, he was very accommodative with our schedule.
Overall, I would say we had a once in a lifetime safari experience with KWSS. Thank you KWSS!
ES
Email Maria | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Simple, easy, and authentic
We head towards Kenya after the exchange of a number of emails with Mr. Otieno. It was a family thing: Me (61) my husband (70) and our daughters (25 and 29). My oldre daughter had to cancel in the last moment because of her pregnancy. Mr. Otieno discounted the advanced payment that was already done and charged no extra for this despite the short notice. We were then the three of us on the car with the driver-guide and the cook. The Kenya experience was great. I want to mention especifically Mr Otieno (who was there waiting for us at the Kenya airport) and, very important, Kenn, the driver: Careful, patient, silent when it was to be silent and talkative when explanations were due. Always friendly and repectful. We had some diarrea issues: He helped us into a pharmacy (kind of) where miraculous pills were delivered. He noticed that we enjoyed watching the animals in silence and we had plenty of occasions for this. Mr. Otieno changed the original itinerary without charge to visit places where more animals could be seen, and upgraded one of the nights to a very nice resort near Amboseli (a wonderful place to visit). The Tanzania part was also worth (Gorongoro crater) but with we had an almost unpleasant driver: Mike and worse lodging conditions. Sure turist in Keny receive a better accueil than on Tanzania. Overall this was a memorable safari prefectly managed by Mr. Otieno (we are still waiting for the very nice T-shirts that were to be sent to us but time in Africa runs slowly).
PL
Email Monika | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great safari and wonderful time with KWSS
We choose this company because they have very good reviews on the Internet and I can only say that Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris was the best choice I and my friend made.
They gave us more than we expected!!!!!.
The hotel in which we spend first night was really nice and clean. Even the tent had a toilet and shower inside. What is more, we had private driver and private cook. That was a huge surprise to us. The food was healthy and delicious. And the most important thing we didn’t have any problems with stomach so the pills we took were unnecessary. The driver was very patient when we were taking pictures during the safari and he tried hard to be very close to the animals. Mr Otieno and other members of stuff took a good care of us. I felt really safe with them. We had no problems with the communication. They were always on time.
KWSS is a trustworthy company!
Not only they picked up us from the airport, but they were also so kindly that they dropped us off to our friend in Nairobi and the next day they dropped us off to the airport.
I highly recommend Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris. If I come back to Africa, I will ask KWSS to organize me a trip.
KWSS thanks for great time!
PL
Email Marcelina | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I had amazing time in Kenya thanks to KWSS. They took care of everything! Excellent service!
When I started to plan my safari trip I have written a message to at least 10 companies. Only Kenya Walking Survivors Safari replied to me within one hour! They not only offered me many choices, so the safari could be tailored to my needs, but also guarranted pick up and drop off to the airport. I guess for someone like me, who was in Kenya for the first time it meant a lot. I have mostly contacted Mr. Otieno, he always kindly answered my questiones. In Nairobi KWSS put me and my friend in a nice hotel in city centre, the next day on the way to Masai Mara we had very positive surprise. It occured we had private cook. I knew before, we will be provided with 3 meals, but didn't except private cook ;). Thanks to that we didn't have to worry about stomach problems and the food was really good. During our 5 days trip (Masai Mara, lake Naivasha, Green Crater lake) we felt safe and could focus on relax, which was the main aim of this trip. Our driver was a good guide, during games ride in Masai Mara he told us some good facts about animals. All I can say about KWSS that they provided me with excellent services. They offered me a drop off to my friends house in Nairobi and a next day to the airport. I have only good memories and if I come back to Uganda or Tanzania next time I will definitely ask them to organize my trip :) Thank you KWSS! :)
SG
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Experience of a life time in Masai Mara with KWSS
This Masai Mara trip with my wife and 2 sons was really an experience of a life time. Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris was unmistakably the right choice we have made. From the start of our plan till the end of our trip it was superb. We arrived early in Kenya on 01/08 and within 15 mins KWSS staff were at the airport to pick us up. We were brought to the office ,where we met Mr Oteano . Mr Oteano was so warmth and after briefing us on the trip , we had lunch and were sent to our hotel to rest for the day. Our trip starts next morning with the driver , Julius being attached to us. On the way we picked up our cook , Jacob. Julius, an experience driver and Jacob a good cook understand very well what we are looking for. Our food are superb.
Overall the game that we went through for the 3 days was amazing. Looking forward for a comeback. A very good experience with KWSS.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great safari from a wonderful staff!
These guys were great! A trustworthy company with fantastic drivers. Jones and Julius did a great job putting me in position to get great views of lions, elephants, rhino, cheetah, and a plethora of other animals.
Review about Mr Otieno
I want to emphasize the great job of Mr Otieno in my family's trip to Kenia. He was always available for us, kind and correct. He certainly improved the quality of the safari and made all the arrangements extremely easy. If I book another safari in Africa, it would very probably be with you because of Mr Otieno's job.
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful trip!
We had a really nice trip that covered all our expectations. People from the Safari were really nice and friendly. We had a wonderful guide who explained us a lot of things from the country and his lifestyle. Accommodation was also very good and comfortable with all the necessities covered. The visit to the national parks were amazing and we could see all different type of animals from a very short distance. Highly recommended trip!