Come As Guests, Leave As Family.
Odyssey Safaris
- Located In:
-
United States
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2002)
- Member Of:
- APTA, ATA & KPSGA
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $400 to $600 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Eliza | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari in Kenya, A trip of a lifetime!
Our safari trip to Kenya with Odyssey Safaris was an one amazing experience, a trip of a lifetime!! Unreal and nothing like any trip I took before, and I do travel quite a bit.
Our driver and a guide James is an extraordinary person, a great guide and an awesome driver, very knowledgeable about the wild life and cared very much about our well-being and safety. Our trip would not be the same without him. He literally made our every single request and every wish come true. We joked with him which animals we would like to see next and we had seen them right after. He said that we are a lucky group to see all the animals we wanted, as other groups did not. But all that "luck" was truly his hard work. He knew where to take us to see the particular animals and he spot most of them for us. He is a definitely a great asset to Odyssey Safaris, hardworking, loves what he does, and does an outstanding job. Thank you very much for this experience and for assigning James to our group (small private group of 4 people). We had so much fun and came back with great memories and tons of awesome pictures.
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Email Aleks | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Ecxellent Trip
the trip was just excellent, we loved how personalized it was. We saw tons of wildlife (including a leopard), great scenery, and the accommodations and food were good too (exceeded our expectations). The only negative was the amount of driving, especially on bumpy and unpaved roads, that needed to be made between the desired destinations. I guess we all didn't realize how long the distances were between all, until we actually got there. However, James, our driver truly made up for it. He was the best driver/guide we could only imagine to have on such trip - very experienced (certainly not easy to drive in these conditions for such long amount of time), knowleable, flexible, delivered everything we asked him for, and most importantly - funny as he kept everyone in great mood from the start of the trip till the end. I would appreciate if you could give him some big Kudos from us as he truly desrves it.
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Email Liz | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Simon was the best! Incredible experience!
Odyssey safaris completely delivered on an incredible, once in a lifetime trip. The accommodations were wonderful, food was great, free wifi at most hotels - and most of all, we saw almost every animal there (even during off season). Our driver Simon was so great. He went above and beyond to make it a great experience. We requested to see specific animals - and he delivered every time! He genuinely cared about our well-being and made sure we had the best experience. I highly recommend doing a safari through Odyssey Safaris!
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Email Naomi | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent guide, very lovely accomodations, I recommend them to the adventurous person.
Our experience was more than we expected. We had an excellent and knowledgeable guide. Our vehicle was comfortable and even had an outlet for battery charging. Two people can move around freely for picture taking.
The accomodations were very nice, some were rustic and some more luxurious. Breakfast and dinner were full course; lunch was brown bag and somewhat repetitious in it's menu but certainly enough to satiate. Ample bottled water was available and our guide even made hot tea for our lunches. We went off season and were glad we did as we had no crowds fighting for spots to take photos. Wifi, even when claimed was hardly functioning. Texting probably works best.
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Email Bané | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Simply amazing
I and my 16 yr old daughter have taken the trip in April 2017 and there really are no words to express our satisfaction with the complete experience. From the moment we have arrived in Nairobi and transport to the hotel, to the last minute and the drop-off at the airport.
Our guide for the week was Erastus and he was in good part responsible for the whole positive experience. He is extremely knowledgable (by the end of the trip we were joking that there is no question he can't answer), curteous and pleasant to be around.
Hotels we were accommodated in were all really nice, clean, all had free wi-fi. The food was very good and there was always plenty of choices (buffet style for all meals). If you are expecting to have filet mignon you will be disappointed but otherwise plenty of variety. All in all, highly recommend it to anyone looking for safari experience!
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Email RandyM | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Trip of a lifetime
After receiving quotes from many safari companies and after reading many reviews, we chose Odyssey Safaris. Mark Cahill offered a private safari that matched everything we said we wanted to see. He got us good flights and helped to resolve a last minute flight change due to an American Airline cancellation. Lucy and Beatrice made sure we were fully prepared for the trip. Our accommodations were great at all locations. The food was great and plentiful. We saw rhinos, leopards, cheetahs, lions, hyenas, and a multitude of grazers. We saw the great migration and river crossings at the Mara River. We spent three nights in Masai Mara, two nights in the Serengeti, two nights at the Ngorongoro Crater, one night in Lake Manyara. On the last day we visited Arusha National Park before traveling to the airport. Our Kenyan guide, Erastus, and our Tanzanian guide, Tadei, were exceptional. They got to where the animals were and made sure we had perfect spots to do our viewing. They were very attentive to our needs and our desires. Many thanks to everyone involved in making this a perfect trip.
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Email Pamela Witzmann | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The most outstanding trip we have every had ,as the accomodations, food and Safaris were spectacular
This was a trip of a lifetime for us, and by choosing Odyssey Safaris we were not disappointed. The accomodations were first rate ,the food
was always delicious and presented well, even the boxed lunches. The Safaris , however were the main thrill. We cannot say enough good things about our driver Simon. Not only was he a very careful driver, but attentive to our needs and was a great source of information.
All of our arrangements were prefectly timed and smoothly made. Odyssey did a wonderful job of making these arrangements so hassle free.
We were treated to some of the most outstanding views of this country and were never disappointed in the wild life we were able to observe in it's natural habitat. We cannot say enough about how welcomed we felt by the Odyssey staff, all of the hotel staff and the peopleof Kenya and Tansania overall. It was a such a memorable trip.
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Email Brenda and James [Les] | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
First class Odyssey Safaris enabled us to see African wildlife in their lovely natural surroundings.
Fun and different and one from our "bucket list"! Everything about this safari exceeded our expectations. We were very impressed with the expert handling of any concerns both before and during the tour. Each day went very smoothly. The lodges where we stayed were really comfortable and delightfully unique with service that was friendly, welcoming, and professional. We appreciated the good food too! We enjoyed the company of all the people in our group [fifteen, including us]. Our very competent driver/guide Simon went out of his way to give both us and the other couple in our land cruiser a great "safari experience" [We loved the land cruiser!] Simon provided us with expert information about the numerous beautiful animals we saw [ the cheetah was one of our favorites], with plenty of photo opportunities, as well as information about Kenya in general. We learned a lot. He made plenty of "comfort" stops along the way and time to souvenir shop! We thoroughly enjoyed the well-planned optional activities : the Masai village in Amboseli, the boat ride on Lake Naivasha, and the elephant orphanage in Nairobi [where we "adopted" a baby elephant]. This was a great and unforgettable experience. Thank you!
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Email Richard | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Bargain Groupon delivr what we paid for - 4 off-season Kenya resorts, +game drives but long xfer
It was a bargain Groupon trip WELL WORTH the MONEY - especially incl. air travel. Four quality Kenya game Park resorts (no Tanzania) about 2 days at each but transfers between each (plus repack/ checkout) rather grueling for 8 days game safaris ("10d/9n" package). Long resort transfer travel times included rest-stops (even some box-lunch stops) at the ubiquitous curio shops. Had we been in the market for negotiating carving/artwork prices I might have looked forward to stopping but with 5-6 hr travel times between Parks, "running the gauntlet" of sellers to use the [very clean, BTW] bathrooms in the back got rather old, fast. But I'd be singing different tune if I bought more trinkets.
Choice of Game Parks and resorts quite good. Nice mix. Amboseli. Lake Naivashu (even Lake Nakuru without Flamingoes) and the top Masai Maru NR delivered all that was promised. Just transport between them was grueling.
[perhaps "road travel" transfers could be done at night?]
Other safaris have flown us by prop plane to the grass strip at Masai Mara, but not at these prices (or gear weight limits) - so once again, this was well worth the price.
Other pluses included roomy Land Cruisers - only 4 pax in our vehicle + guide. Great! Guide (Francis) was tops. Vehicles maintained well. Food was great with variety. Photo ops at the resorts themselves were great - game right outside windows.
Extras requiring cash (~$30) included Maasai Village visit, the water safari by boat, tips, curios, plus the $50 cash entry visa fee.
Plus we sort of lost a day of touring Nairobi by arriving from US so late in the evening. Due to 9 pm arrival, traffic jams at the airport and streets of Nairobi, there was nothing to do but sleep at first Nairobi motel.
Communication-
Could have used more communication between Odyssey vehicles (our radio was down) and...once we paid Groupon, I was apprehensive about lack of communication from Mark at main office (is there one? or just an answering service?). The "Odyssey Chatter" link to help us prepare was broken. Beatrice was unreachable. I had fears about "hidden extras" - there were none. I had questions for Mark about Entry Visa, Immunizations, cash needed - but, when needed, Mark really delivered on Emirates tickets from our home gateway city. That too, was a great deal.
Time of year - April - for Kenya not the greatest but we saw the big 5, numerous cheetah cubs, Hippos, Snake, colorful big and little birds. Even dung beetles. Great backdrops of Kilimanjaro. Fish eagle fishing on Lake Naivashu was quite unique.
Long story short - I would book Odyssey again. I would recommend them. They could improve on communication to customers and between drivers.
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Email Maura | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing trip of a lifetime!
Booked a groupon for the Kenya Safari. The booking process and communication process went smoothly thanks to Beatrice and Mark and I felt comfortable with all arrangements prior to the trip. Francis was a very good guide and driver throughout the whole trip. I recommend adding a day and seeing the elephant orphanage and giraffe center. The temperature and weather in April was very nice with rain usually in the evenings (I think we lucked out with good weather though) and everything was so green and the animals were all fat and happy! All four lodges were very nice at Safari Park hotel, Amboseli, the lake, and Masai Mara- can’t pick a favorite because each had their own charm. I do recommend trying to request a river view room at the Masai Mara camp- if I did this trip again that’s the one thing I would try and do (everyone in our group got bush views). Don’t skip the boat ride at the lake! I also recommend the horse riding at the lake lodge if you like horses. The safari trucks were comfy and roomy with plenty of water bottles available. I added an extra day at Masai with a bush flight from the park back to Nairobi which was a nice ending. One thing to keep in mind is that the driving time between parks is long and may not be comfortable for small children, especially during rainy season in April when delays and detours can make the driving time around 7-8 hrs. Overall this trip greatly exceeded my expectations!
