Reservations staff
Right Choice Tours & Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2005)
- Member Of:
- ASTA, KATO & KWS
- Tour Types:
- Custom luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $130 to $345 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
IE
Email John G | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Right Choice was the Perfect Choice for us time strapped travellers - only 2 days to see Maasi Mara
My work colleague and I were hesitant that with only two days available that our Maasi Mara tour would be a compromise.
However, Right Choice assured us via email that they could provide a tailored safari to ensure that we got the most out of it.
We were working in Kisumu, Kenya for a few days up until Thursday evening so we wanted to see Maasi Mara on the Friday and Saturday before our return flight home to Europe on the Saturday evening. We were on a very tight schedule. I looked at options for driving to Narok and joining a tour, and other ways of going direct from Kisumu. But in the end, it made more sense to just fly back to Nairobi on Thursday night, and start out early on Friday morning.
Right Choice picked us up from arrivals at Nairobi Airport on Thursday night. It was great to have this personnel guide (Jacob, I think) and he brought us direct to the hotel that I had selected - which was cheap @ $30 p/n pp. The rooms in The Decasa Hotel are very basic. You can sit on the loo while you shower - or vice versa! The bedroom was barely big enough for the single bed, wardrobe, desk and chair. The door couldn't open fully. You get the idea. Small cramped - but clean and cheap. This was fine for two guys and the 7 hours we would be there. They have an onsite restaurant so we ate there and didn't venture out into Nairobi as it was after 10pm.
(I would not recommend Decasa Hotel for families...Best Western @ $80 pp would be a better choice for comfort).
Next morning our Right Choice Guide (Lowie) arrived to the hotel in a seven-seater 4x4 Jeep at 5:30am, as per our request for an early departure from Nairobi . In fairness to Hotel Decasa, they especially prepared two take-away breakfasts for us as breakfast wasn't being served until 06:30am.
Getting out of Nairobi this early meant that we reached the Maasi Mara Ololaimutiek Gate by 11:00am, having taken time to stop for coffee and another breakfast en-route at Narok. The route from Narok to Maasi Mara Ololaimutiek Gate has been documented elsewhere as being bumpy, rough and bone-shaking. This is all true. But a spacious 4x4 jeep does make a big difference to the comfort of the journey.
Once through the gates, our first safari adventure game drive began! Within the first 15 minutes, we had seen the following:
Wildebeests (the few that forgot to re-migrate back to Tanzania), Zebras, Thompson Gazelles, Impalas, Water Buffalos and wild boars.
Lowie then drove us down a lesser use track where we spotted a cheetah and her two cubs. As it was close to noon and the sun was beating down, he said not to expect much action from them. Seeing them up close (from our spacious jeep) was wonderful. The cubs drank from nearby puddles on the road, the mother slouched around - ignoring us. And then she ventured off. We drove around to another vantage point, just in time to see her spring into action, sprinting after a young Impala. The chase was on! And then just as quick it was over. For the Impala. A successful kill. Wow!
In the next 2 hours, we saw elephants, lions (up very close) and a brief glimpse of a rhino and her calf. What a first game drive!
We could have finished and gone home very happy after such an eventful and absorbing 3 hour game drive. But it was only lunchtime!
We have selected to stay in the excellent Keekorok Lodge which is within the Maasi Mara Conservation, so we drove on there for a sumptuous lunch. There is nothing basic about the Keekorok. It has all the modern comforts (and service) that you would expect from a 5-star hotel.
We arranged with Lowie to go on another game drive at 4pm, so this gave us a two-hour break to chill-out. Within the grounds of the Keekorok Lodge they have a viewing platform at the end of their garden where you can safely observe Hippos wallowing in the adjacent river. So even when not on a safari drive, the wildlife is there to be observed.
Our evening game drive took us up to the border with Tanzania and then onto the Mara river, the site of the annual Wildebeest migration.
Sheila, a local armed border guard, showed us around the river banks - pointing out the hippos submerged in the river. At this time of evening the alligators were underwater, so we didn't see them. The river was also quite low, and obviously nothing was migrating! That happens July - Sept. On our drive back to the lodge, we saw lots of the same animals again including giraffes. And we caught a beautiful blood-red African sunset at 7pm just before we got home for hot showers, change of clothes and another sumptuous buffet meal (with some brief Maasi Mara entertainment thrown in).
Saturday was a 6am start for an early morning game drive. First Lowie drove us to a spot to spy on a family of hippos meandering around a small waterhole. Then onto a a location to catch the African sunrise silhouetting the Acacia trees. And then cheetahs, lions, elephants, giraffes and zebras - all at close quarters. While the previous day we hadn't seen any other Safari tours at all - it felt like we were the only ones in the Massi Mara - the Saturday morning drive was quite different. There were quite a few minivan safaris at the early morning spots so at times it was a bit of a caravan of vehicles. The vehicles all have CB radio so the guides can notify each other as to what they have spotted and where...
We felt quite privileged in our spacious 4x4, looking at these cramped minivans, each of which had 4 - 6 people in them. On two occasions this particular morning, we had to tow minivans out of the deep mud tracks that they had gotten stuck in. Get a 4x4 jeep would be my advice.
We continued our morning drive away from the caravan of minivans, and ventured out into the plains. A small herd of elephants feeding on shrubs close to the dirt track enthralled us. Just driving through this landscape, standing in the jeep looking out through the pop-up roof and feeling the warm African wind on your face is an experience to cherish and remember.
Back to the lodge for 9am breakfast and then out of the room for 10am departure. We still had another hour of a drive from the Keekorok lodge to get to the Maasi Mara gate for our return to Nairobi, so this felt like yet another game drive. Our excellent guide Lowie had offered us the opportunity to visit the local Maasi Mara tribe/village so we thought, why not. What a great decision this was. As there were just the two of us, the local chief gave us a really personal tour of his village, their culture and customs. He showed us how to make fire. He took us into his family hut to meet his children and wife - amazing. We danced and jumped with them. Well worth experiencing. And then we left for more bumpy driving.
And on our return to Narok, our guide Lowie helped us complete part of our work project (a filming project) - we filmed a short scene in a local bar with a cohort of eager Kenyans. More bumpy driving. Later a brief stop for lunch and the opportunity to purchase souvenirs. More bumpy driving. And then a stop at a high vantage point to view the Rift Valley spread out below and beyond us...
Then on to Nairobi Airport in plenty of time for an evening departure flight to Europe.
So, would I recommend Right Choice Tours and Safaris?
Absolutely, and without any hesitation whatsoever.
Our two day safari filled us with a lifetime of experiences and memories. We felt we had properly experienced the Maasi Mara within the meagre time available to us. And it gave us the incentive to return with our families for a longer trip in the future.
Right Choice Tours and Safaris did everything that they had promised to do.
From the outset, they made it clear that this Safari was for us - and that our enjoyment and satisfaction was their objective.
Our guide at the airport, Jacob was reassuring and friendly.
Our guide for the safari, Lowie was a gentleman, knowledgable, accommodating and very good company too!
On our return back to the airport, the company owner George rang to personally ensure that we had had the experience we signed up for.
So I can 100% vouch for the integrity, professionalism and service that Right Choice Tours and Safaris provided to me and my colleague.
The cost for each of us on this Safari tour was really great value at $ 480.
This included (costs below are per person):
Airport pick-up
1 night Hotel in Nairobi ($30)
Upgrade to 4x4 Jeep ($90)
Breakfast enroute
Maasi Mara Entrance fee ($80)
1 night Keerorok Lodge (sharing room, two single beds - $125)
- including Lunch, Dinner and Breakfast
Lunch enroute to Nairobi
Airport drop-off
The only additional costs for us were drinks with our meals and the Maasi Mara Village tour ($20 each).
For the level of service, the luxury of the trip (Jeep and Lodge) and the personal attention that we received - this was exceptional value.
I highly recommend this company.
John,
March 2019
BR
Email Ana Catarina | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very reliable. It is not a big company, but they personalize your safari as you want
We got to know it by one friend who had experienced them 2 years ago. George answered my email promptly and we built all the safari days together. Sometimes even by whatsapp calls. At the end, we got a very good plan, in a reasonable price for my family of 4. George suggested us some good tips and was very helpful. Our guide JACOB was there to meet us at the hotel as arranged and he was really an excellent profissional. His knowledge about the region and the animals was very important to our visit. We had a wonderful week together and I do suggest him to anyone looking for safari adventures. More than that, at the end we realised it worked out to a good friendship.
MO
Email Fazeena | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was an amazing experience.
Right Choice Tours & Safaris provided with an amazing experience. Everything was taken care of well customized according to our needs. It was our first trip to Kenya and a Safari like this, we did not know what to expect but by the end of the trip all we had was a memorable fun journey like never before. Special thank you to our guide Ken which made our trip more fun and informative. Me and my husband loved this trip so much that we would like to go back again sometime in the new future :) thumps up to Right Choice Tours & Safaris.
IN
Email Mriduchanda Nag | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent experience
We are very happy about our experience with Right Choice. They were always very prompt with their communication and provided me with all the options that I asked for. Even though I booked 6 months in advance, everything was provided as per their commitments.
Our guide and Driver was Ken. In spite of long journeys through difficult roads, he put his 100 percent efforts to ensure that our safari experience is outstanding. He was always on time and very cordial.
The accommodations provided were very very good. Overall, it is a hassle free, memorable experience.
RU
Email Valeria | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I would definitely recommend Right Choice and Jacob personally
First of all , the most important thing I wanted to say is that it was unforgettable trip with the impressions for the year or even more.
Some details I wanted to share which were important and better to know in advance:
If you go to Kenia you should be ready to face some "local specifics". People are not always very fast, they don't always provide what you paid for, sometimes they just don't want to listen and understand what you need. This is what Jacob as our guide should deal with on all the way and he did his job very well. If I ever go to safari in Kenia again, I will go with Jacob.
What I didn't like was accommodation. Right choice don't give any advice, just provide you the list of campings and they all are awful and the cheapest you can find (not for you of course).
There was one unpleasant issue with the train ticket for our way back because of this "local specific" as well. There was a mistake in date and we spent few hours trying to change it, which was critical for the timing. So be careful and check details.
Our route was the following: Masai Mara, then Nakuru and Amboseli. I would recommend to spend more days in Masai Mara and don't waist time on the way to Amboseli, we've seen there elephants and cheetahs, but they were in Masai Mara as well. So we spent a lot of time on the way and didn't see anything new. Maybe I'd better go to Naivasha instead. And by the way Kimana Amboseli Camp was awful, don't do our mistake and don't go there - no water, no electricity, no clean sheets, no wi-fi, torn mosquito nets, wild mosquitoes biting you all night long.
US
Email Chris & Laura | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Safari and Tesort Experience
We did the 8 day safari and 3 day all inclusive! What a great experience! The Right Choice staff was amazing an Millicent quickly answered any questions we had. Our driver, Wycliffe, was knowledgeable about the parks and animal and navigated through some tricky terrain like an expert.
The lodges we stayed in were top notch and the staff at each were helpful and kind.
Although there was more driving than we expected, the first time you see an elephant in Amboseli, you forget about the time it took to get there.
I cannot say enough good things about this company, the people, or our experience!
GR
Email John Pap. | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An amazing 5 days safari with an excellent guide.
An excellent 5 day experience with no bad surprises. Our guide, John, did everything to satisfy us. He was caring, punctual, informative, knowledgeable with a great sense of humor. We took more than 2000 pictures and videos from almost all the animals we could imagine. We drove to extreme places to meet the big fives, the small fives, the ugly fives or any fives. We are very happy having this journey as a positive experience. Thanks Right Choice Team and John. It was really wonderful. We strongly recommend it to everybody.
US
Email Scott | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great value, but understand what you are getting
We did a 20 day trip to Tanzania that included a Kilimanjaro Summit via the Lemosho Route (8 days), Safari to Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara and Tarangire (5 days) and finished with 5 days on Zanzibar. Add a layover day in Arusha and a travel day to get to 20 days. Overall, I would rate our RightChoice adventure as a 4.5 (4 star experience at a 3 star price). In summary, the Kili trip was 5++ stars (absolutely amazing). Safari was 3.5 stars and Zanzibar was 4 stars. The people were great and the food was excellent (I'm pescatarian/vegetarian and they did a great job of accomodating). However, to get the lower price, you do have to compromise, so read on for the details.
Kilimanjaro: We had the two best guides that you can imagine (Ismael and Mongo). If you book with RC and get either one of them, you will be in good hands. Ismael was our lead guide, picked us up at the airport and took care of us through our trip. NOTE: RC was pretty casual about "what to bring to Kili", so you really have to do your own research. We packed pretty well, but forgot a couple things (BYO TP...) and Mongo helped by loaning us an item or 2. The food during the Kili trip was very good. Hot coffee/tea w/ eggs for breakfast; soup, rice or noodles with veggies, etc for dinner - very good. There was a box lunch when we didn't have a hot meal. Meals were served in the mess tent and Abdul (our waiter) took great care of us. There is not a "toilet tent", so you use the public pits, which range from acceptable to disgusting. The toilet pit at the first camp was the worst, then they got progressively better. The park service is installing new toilets and starting to actually clean them, so the situation should improve. We carried our own day packs, snacks, lunch, etc, as we hiked to base camp (not a problem). On summit day, one of our porters became the "summit porter" and the guides carried our pack while the summit porter carried hot tea and snacks to ensure our success - this was critical and I would definitely elect for this. The guys that took care of us (12 in all) were great and we really bonded - lots of singing, etc. It was definitely a trip that we will very fondly remember forever. Remember that you have to bring a lot of tip money. The recommendations that we got from our guides on tipping the porters were much higher than what I read online (like double), but they deserved it. After being with a great group for 8 days, the last thing you want to do is leave them high & dry.
One other thing to be prepared for with RC is the transportation. We viewed the transportation as being part of the adventure. Our trip to the Kili gate was memorable as we were picked up by a minivan (we called it the Mystery Machine - scooby doo) that looked like it could comfortably fit about 8 people. We drove all around Arusha picking up porters, etc., and by the time we were genuinely on the road to the gate there were 11 porters, the two of us and the driver packed in. Again, its part of the adventure, but be ready for it.
We had one evening in Arusha (at Charity Hotel) prior to being picked up for Safari early the next morning. Charity is ok, but its down a crazy back alley, so if you are first arriving at night, expect this. The food at Charity was below average and there is no power (in most of Arusha) during the afternoons.
Safari: Safari in Tanzania is a little bit like going to Disneyland. There are tons of trucks, all basically the same Toyota Land Cruisers. Most seat 6 passengers in the back plus driver & passenger seat. They all have the pop-up roof. We were shuttled out from Arusha in a minivan to pickup more people at Lake Manyara, then head to Serengeti. Our agenda was changed at the last minute by RC, but it didn't really matter. RC paired us up with three other English speaking tourists (2 from Holland, 1 from Germany). It seems that RC subcontracts with other Safari providers to place you in trucks. We were with "Big 5" Safaris for the first two days in Serengeti. We had a fun group and a good driver, so it worked out. We also had a very good Safari cook who stayed with us for the entire 5 days.
The good thing about Safari was the wildlife (of course). We saw a lot more than I thought we would. The bad thing was that we were there during the "high season" - it was packed. I also thought that we might see the "great migration" in the Serengeti during July, but found that the main activity was about an 8 hour drive away. That said, we saw a ton of wildlife - no rhinos, as they mainly hide in July, but everything else. The camping situation at Serengeti and Ngorongoro is pretty bad (not an improvement from Kili) and we were in very old tents with broken poles and zippers that we put up ourselves - again, part of the adventure. However, since we aimed to get out of camp at 6am each morning, this seemed like a good compromise to staying at one of the hotels/resorts in the area. For the last two nights we stayed at Manyara View campground, which had permanent tents and cots (very nice) as well as cold beer in the fridge (very welcome). The last two days of safari we had different trucks (different companies). Again, it worked and was just part of the adventure.
Zanzibar: After safari, we changed cars about 3 times on the way to the Kili airport and checked in with George on our way to Zanzibar. RC did a good job of arranging all of the transportation, but expect to change cars a lot (are we supposed to tip every driver?). Willy picked us up in Zanzibar and we spent a few days in Stone Town prior to heading to Smiles Beach Resort. Smiles was very nice - again, friendly people, clean rooms, etc. The food was pretty average (overcooked seafood). It is located right next to the Hilton Doubletree. If you walk 100' up the beach you can pay about 4x for a meal that (probably) tastes better. We did two days of diving with Spanish Dancer divers (not through RightChoice). The diving was very good. Again, RightChoice got us from the north coast of Zanzibar via ferry to Dar as Salam for our flight to Kili and home. The transportation was definitely crazy, but we made it.
Summary: I'm really glad we chose RightChoice for our adventure in Tanzania. It wasn't the "high end" vacation, but it was the adventure that we were looking for. We may have preferred a little "upscale" at various times during our trip and I know we were both ready to be back in the US, but the trip was incredibly memorable and really had an impact on how we will view the world going forward. Thanks, RightChoice!
MX
Email Enrique | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very good experience in Kenya and Tanzania
Right Choice is indeed a very good option in case you are planning to go to Kenya. The communication by mail is very good and they answer in matter of hours. We had 3 guides in the different parts of our 15 days safari and the three were very nice, good drivers and with wide knowledge about wild life. About hotels, we have only to remark one place that did not meet our expectations, but in total we stayed in 8 different hotels, and besides the one exception the others were very good. People very nice and friendly. In summary we highly recommend to take into consideration this enterprise if you are planning to go to East Africa.
We had an amazing 3 days with Right Choice Tours and Safaris
The service surpassed expectations. Wycliffe ensured we saw all the Big Five in our day and a half safari. He was happy to stop for photos and drove very competently. The accommodation and food was excellent. Moses and Peter were also very obliging drivers.