Absolute Holiday Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2006)
- Member Of:
- Ministry of Tourism Kenya & Kenya Tourism Federation.
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $600 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
FI
Email Mikko | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very good safari experience
The safari was arranged in a group of about 8 people. Everything important worked fine. The driver/host was adequately on top of things and knew the masai mara area and wildlife well. There were smaller issues like we had to do some negotiations to get our waters and some hassle around they drives (expected in africa, though). I would really recommend this operator taken, of course, that this is a budget safari.
Recommendations:
- Surprise, surprise 1 litre of water is not enough per day -> buy some of your own
- The food is provided but sometimes the gaps between are quite long -> if you get hungry easily take for example protein bars with you.
- If you do participate the visit to masai village, prepare for an interesting evening but also some quite manipulative selling situations.
IN
Email Tepa | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Absolute Holiday Safaris do know their territory, and their birds and animals.
It was a pleasure to do the safari with Asolute Holiday Safaris.
The booking of the hotels took some back and forth-ing and while responses were very prompt it did require constant input from us. We were fortunate to know friends who had been on a safari before and could guide us.
The vehicle was slight disappointing. We expected much better for the price considering the fact that we had booked the high end luxury tour. The guide was loud but good natured, and once we understood each other the holiday was good.
The biggest negative however, was being told how much to tip (which was exorbitant, by every standard), and not on the basis of the overall experience. We gave what we felt was very fair, even generous, but the guide's annoyance at this was not at all pleasant. Sadly it was not a happy end to a good safari.
Reply from Absolute Holiday Safaris
Posted on May 4, 2016Hello Tepa
Great to know the experience you had with us and really appreciate,we are concerning on what spoiled the good trip,i as the contact person am shocked to know that you were told how much to tip. Kindly we does not work like this as the clients experience determines how much to tip.
We are also shocked that the driver was annoyed..... Kindly you came for the Holiday while i was too on holiday and on behalf of the entire office i really apologize for that.
Kindly we will make a follow up and make sure this does not happen to our future clients.
with kind apology
david
IN
Email Narayanappa Kodandaramaiah | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very good. Ever rememberable, money's worth. I
Communication service excellent. Service good.living upto expectations. Safsri tour was very enjoyable.
CA
Email Betty | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Will dfinitely come back to David, for any Kenya trip
My husband and I had a safari trip in Kenya and Tanzania from June 25-July 7th 2016.
It was en excellent experience in Kenya. We started with a pick up from the airport provided by the company at 11pm as promised, very impressed. We saw lots of animals, the driver made effort to find exotic animals for us. We even saw Mount Kilimanjaro . Tent and bed were as advertised., clean and comfortable. Food was ok. I have recommended this trip to my friends already.
Disappointed for the trip in Tanzania. It was passed on to another company on Tanzania. We have lots of problems with the land cruiser provided by the company, food was bad, accommodation was dirty. However, the driver, his name was Salee, was very experienced, careful and dedicated tour guide. Even with all the beautiful and exotic animals that we saw, we would not recommend the Tanzania trip at all.
The reason we would go back to Absolute Holiday is because , David, the person we booked the trip with is very approachable, responsible, friendly and available all the time during the trip to help to solve any problem.
He did briefing before the trip, debriefing after the trip. He listened to all our concerns and was willing to help us to solve the problems during and after our trip. We felt being treasured as a customer and enjoy the service that he provided. Will definitely go back for his reliable service.
DK
Email Cecilie Lykke | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic experience, but a horrible, bumpy ride.
AbsoluteHolidaySafari offers safari trips where you get a lot of value for your money. We chose a 3 day safari in Maasai Mara, and really looked forward to it. We were picked up at the airport and driven to our hotel on our first day in Nairobi, which saved us a lot of hassle finding taxis at the airport. They also picked us up on the first day from the safari and to the office where we met up with the others we were sharing a car with.
I was expecting like a range rover safari van, but when the trip is as cheap as ours was (300$ pr. pax) we had to settle for a Toyota van with 9 seats. And trust me, the trip to Maasai Mara and during our safari was horrible. If I could choose again, I would spend a little more money to get a better car, but we made the best out of it.
The safari in general was amazing!! We had Richard as our driver, and he's sort of the veteran of all drivers. He really gave us a nice experience and we got to see so many animals. We saw cheetahs 2 times, which we learned was very rare, and a lot of lions, elephants and other animals. You really get to see all the animals you want to on this trip, and if you're going on a safari to see animals and not for luxury, I would highly recommend this trip.
The beds are hard, the facilities are on a low standard, but not too bad. The food was okay, but as others have written here, there can be quite long gaps between every meal, so you should bring some snacks. And remember to bring water, you only get 1 litre per day, which is NOT enough...
We really enjoyed our trip and got to know some really nice people during our stay at the camp. If it's your first time on safari, this is a very nice tour that is affordable, where you still get to see so many animals.
TN
Email Haifa | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A great tour and a great guide
The tour was great, Masai Mara was everything we expected it to be and more: Wildebeest, Antelopes, Cheetah, Leopards, Hippos, Elephants, Lion cubs, sunrise over the hills... Lake Nakuru was also lovely.
Gibson, our guide and driver was perfect
Safari Kenya - Tanzania
By the end of June I travelled for 11 days with Abolute Holiday Safaris to Kenya and Tanzania. First half - 6 days in Kenya was absolutely amazing. We had a great guide, he told us that his name in Swahili means animal and we should call him John (Onejohnny?). He knew very interesting facts about all that we saw, he knew every animal, he knew a lot about the culture and politics of Kenya and he could find the animals very quickly. We had a lot of interesting experience during the journey. Unfortunately, after the end of the Kenya tour, the problems began. First, the trasfer to the Tansania border in the end turned up to be a public transport transfer. I spent several hours in a bus full of noisy kids and ill people travelling with a lot of stuff. I walked alone the Tansania border and I was met by an agent in the bus station in Arusha. He drove me to the hotel in Arusha - in this matter everything worked OK. In the morning our 5-day tour in Tansania started. The conditions of the accomodation and most of all the guide were not great at all. His name was Good Luck. As a driver, he did a good job. But as a guide it was a total disaster. He was arrogant and lazy. He did not speak about almost anything at all. Because of him every day of our tour was destroyed for me. This is the reason why I gave four stars - five stars and a + for Kenya, and three stars and a minus for Tansania. Tours offered by Absolute Holidays Safari in Kenya are amazing. But they should pay more attention to choosing their partners in other countries.
IN
Email REX B M | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A buget safari with all details coverd
I went to Masai Mara-Nakru-Amboseli 6 days safari in Sep-16 ....3rd week
Highlights:
1. A worth visiting place & safari...a must see place
2.. Absolute Holiday Safaris is a reliable company and the Manager David was polite and good to us.
3. Driver cum Guide Stanley was extremely good. Initially he looked to be little different but he made the trip enjoyable
4. Stanley took us every where ... even near to the animals when other vans did not dare to do it.
5 . When I lost my video camera in Lake Nakuru and traveled 15 km with out knowing it , Stanley took every effort , called some one there and got back my camera safely.....Weldone....Thanx Mr. Stanley. God Bless you.
7. We enjoyed every hour of the day ....especially Amboseli,,,, but could not see Mount Kilimanjaro due to misty condition.
8. Over all the safari was well organised.
Negative points:
1. The tented accommodation was not up to the expectations.
2. Always the food was bread, jam/butter/ Watermelon /some rice/etc .
But I really enjoyed the safari .
Email Simone | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Awesome 12-day Kenya & Tanzania Safari
We did the "12-day best of Kenya and Tanzania Safari” end of September/beginning October 2016 with Absolute Holiday Safaris and we had a great time. As a note, you will get lost in the thousands of companies, but a lot of the safari companies are actually the same (I think Big Time safaris and another one is the same as Absolute). We started in Nairobi, where we were picked up at the airport (be it a bit late) and the day after for our safari. Mind that you will be taken to the office first to pay and transfer to the safari van. Traveling with a backpack is recommended, you don’t have to walk with your luggage a lot, but it will fit in the vehicles a lot better. Obviously visa, vaccinations (yellow fever is mandatory) are required and malaria pills recommended. After this safari we went to Zanzibar on our own, highly recommend Demani Lodge in Paje, and Stone Town is good for shopping. I've reviewed Kenya and Tanzania separately below, with as a main message: the Kenya part was awesome with a great guide, the Tanzania was good too but the experience suffered from bad management.
Kenya (Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru, Lake Naivasha, Amboseli): As we had seen his name mentioned in good reviews, we requested Patrick as our guide. We were very happy he could guide our trip, we felt very well taken care off and he made sure we saw all the animals and he was in touch with all the other guides through his radio. This part we travelled in a Nissan 4x4 pop-up van, which was actually quite comfortable. We travelled with 7 for a few days (which is a bit crowded) and 5 for the most part. Travel times in between parks can be long, with a big part of it on dirt roads (ladies, consider bringing a sports bra). The tented camps were a lot better than expected with actual beds and private bathrooms (including the one in Amboseli, which gets bad reviews online - we stayed in the wooden cabins which were great), and food was simple but really not bad and there was lots of it. Do bring some snacks, because there is not a lot of opportunities to buy something on the way and ‘picnic lunches’ are not great. I personally loved Maasai Mara for all the big cats and Amboseli for the elephants and hippos (take note that for Amboseli - in rain season it is just a big lake and animals won’t need to all go to the swamp to cool off so it is less fun). Lake Nakuru was good for views and we saw some (really far away) rhinos too. However, the flamingo’s have left that lake because of flooding. We made a stop and boat ride in Lake Naivasha which was really fun, seeing the hippos and there’s lots of birds if you’re into that. Patrick helped us getting over the border onto the shuttle to Arusha, Tanzania.
Tanzania (Arusha, Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro crater): The Arusha Center Inn hotel (were the office of the safari company is based) is awful, consider getting an upgrade or pick out another) hotel yourself (we did this for our second stay in Arusha). The city itself is not very nice either, not much to see and unsafe. The safari company here (led by a man called Abraham, subcontracted by Absolute Holiday Safaris, we never really found out what the name of this company was, really vague) was not great, bad planning and scheduling all around. We were picked up very late on our first day, and got put with people staying at different places. This meant we all had to wait for each other each day, which made it impossible to get into the parks in time to see the rhinos and lions awake. We had researched our trip extensively and knew the ‘budget camping’ was not for us, so we upgraded to lodges and luxury tented camp. This was one of the best choices we made, these accommodations were fantastic. The lodges in Manyara and the crater were close to the camping site where the others were staying, however, the tented camp in Serengeti was different from what was in our itinerary and an hours drive from the others. Not ok. We travelled in a 4x4 pop-up landrover, which was allright but surprisingly less comfortable than the van. Also, when you’re tall you might want to check whether you can stand up comfortably (I’m 1.82 and just about could in this vehicle). We were with 5 people in total, however, some of the longer drives we had to take the chef in the front seat, which meant we were a bit crammed in the back. Our guide Estomy was allright, he made an effort to make sure we saw all the animals, but I feel like he was a bit to timide and could have taken a stronger standing point at times (‘if you want to see the animals awake we have to be there at 6 and not sleep in’). Also his radio was not working, which really is unacceptable because you’re always the last to know about the animals. I loved the Serengeti, and the crater was cool too. Even though we saw a lot of giraffes in Lake Manyara, it was not a spectacular park (again no flamingo’s and lots of smelly pelicans). When we had to be taken back to Arusha by another car, we waited on a junction for 45min for someone else to join, without any explanation or apologies. Very unprofessional.
FR
Email Anna Maillard | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing adventure with a professional team
Kind, friendly and profesional staff.
Simple but original place to sleep (tent).
Good food.