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
IN
Email ABHISHEK | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Totally professionals. our special thanks to Mr David who made our trip memorable.will surely go aga
It was a memorable trip. We were six in a group and had a gala time. They are really professional and really took care of us. Be it communication, livings and the safari it was of a high standard. Mr David beside being professional is a good human being who really planed and executed our trip very well. Our special thanks to him. It was really awesome going around the grassland andand Mr Patrick who was our guide and driver really shown all possible animals surviving in the land. His one liner was really a killer which always left us laughing. Would certainly like to go again with my wife.
Mr David once again Thank You to make our trip memorable.
IN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Definitely go for a second time!
Right from the moment you land at Nairobi to the end of the trip I was very well looked after by David Safari and his team. I saw almost all the animals and the food and stay at camp was very nice. The trop was well organised and comfortable. I definitely want to do it a second time.
US
Email Annika | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Experience varies with drivers/itineraries
I booked with Absolute Holiday Safaris based on price and the superb, friendly communication with David prior to traveling. I was so happy that David really is as kind and genuine as he seems through email! I was very pleased to meet him in Nairobi.
I booked 8-day safari: Maasai Mara, Nakuru, Naivasha, Amboseli. We began the trip with John AKA Animal for 3 days in Maasai Mara, and learned from other passengers that he is one of the best drivers. He was very knowledgeable about the animals, and very professional. Sadly, we only had him for 3 days and were bounced to 4 other drivers for the rest of the trip.
The other drivers were Sammy and Stanley. Neither of them was at the same level with Animal. They both sped in the parks, and Sammy actually almost hit 3 zebra (I was riding in the front seat and was horrified). There was also a small child in the back seat who was bouncing around and flying off the seat. Both Sammy and Stanley were on their radios talking and laughing (presumably not about animals, since we weren't really seeing much...) the whole day and it ruined the peace of the experience.
We were also abandoned one morning in Hell's Gate National Park. We were to be picked up at 10:30AM and were not picked until around 1PM due to miscommunications within the company. We luckily had David's business card on hand and the kind women working at the park let us call David several times until we were picked from the park. Other changes were: switching hotels in Nakuru with no notice, changing our itinerary around during the trip itself. We never got offered a boat ride at either Lake Nakuru or Lake Naivasha, and we missed one morning's game drive in Maasai Mara which was on the itinerary.
The overall experience was wonderful; I love Kenya and want to come back already! However, I would book with this company again only with guarantee of a great driver (Animal) for the entire trip. Now that I have more awareness of how things work I would try to lock things down a bit more.
Email Suchetha Krishnan | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best Safari Experience of our lives
We were with absolute safaris for 7 days and had the best time. We had read a few reviews before booking them but didn't really know what we were up for. Ben picked us up at the Nairobi airport and he was a very polite shy man. He was our Safari driver and guide too. He did the best to show us all the animals to his level best. He seemed quite popular too with the other safari drivers. He made sure we were comfortable at every stage and was patiently answering all of our questions. We had a few amazing game drives. it was quite thrilling. Nothing like what we had expected. The highlight was that we saw leopards which are very rare in that season to be spotted.
David, at the Safari office was extremely accommodative and booked for us our numerous journeys within Kenya,other than the safari. He helped us with our airport transfer back too. On the whole, and amazing experience and i would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone why maybe thinking of going with them.
Thanks to Ben, David and Albert for making our Kenya trip the most memorable one :)
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.
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.
Email PJSM1956 | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Tour operator is good. The fact that they subcontract out the driving/facilitators creates problems.
We got what we paid for, so the following is not a complaint, but information that you may wish to use to improve your experience. Please note: subcontactors/drivers are not usually directly employed by the tour company, so get phone numbers that you can use in each country, and use local SIM cards.
1. Communications can be improved significantly, as we did not have a local telephone number to call when we went from Kenya to Tanzania - the border crossing "facilitator" was hopeless and left us to stand in the sun waiting for a bus we did not personally have tickets for. A local was kind enough to ring the Kenya phone number we had, and the company then verbally kicked the "facilitator" into fixing the issue.
2. The 2WD small vehicles used in Kenya are very uncomfortable for tall people like me (195cm or so), and get bogged easily - pay for an upgrade to 4WD Landcruiser safari vehicle if it is offered at a fair price. 2WD is adequate, incidentally, but expect the driving to be faster on the rough roads than you would expect. There were only 4WD Landcruisers in the Tanzania part of the trip, and they are much nicer, with plenty of head-room when the pop-top roof is open for animal viewing and photographing.
3. Water is supposed to be supplied on safari - it often wasn't in Kenya. I got a dozen bottles of water for myself and my wife, and the other passengers were so thirsty that they nicked most of them. I do not blame the passengers, incidentally. Water in Kenya was a problem, not in Tanzania.
4. Hot water was not often available for showers.
5. "Eco" camps that we used TRIED to do well, and in Kenya were at lease moderately comfortable (with beds) - but did not care that the roof leaked water onto the bed during a storm. The ones in Tanzania were camps (i.e. tents that were not waterproof , sleeping bags that needed fixing and washing, no hot water for showers, oh, and no towels supplied if we decided to have cold shower). Pay for upgrade in Tanzania, please.
6. i.e. Kenya basic cars, adequate accommodation; Tanzania much better cars, terrible accommodation. Even in the Serengeti there are proper hotels near the camps - pay for an upgrade if you hate tents and boring food, trust me. The tour company can juggle just about any request.
7. Finally, some changes were made without our permission, such as the order we saw some parks, and where we were staying or camping. We did, however, go to each and every place we were supposed to see, just out of order a bit.
Overall, I have to say that the tour operators are extremely competent, offer good value for money, and can accommodate almost any changes within reason.
(It was not my first safari, but the camping issues and my age has made it my last, as I am not a kid anymore and I have now seen what I want to see in Africa - don't let this affect you, as I am just commenting. Also 2 fellow travellers were a pain in the arse, complaining again and again about everything from not seeing lions feeding (they mostly rest during the day), to not getting the photos up close that they wanted IMMEDIATELY, wanting to change drivers because he could not arrange for a pair of binoculars to be returned {left, by them, in another vehicle} IMMEDIATELY, and so on. Animals move, so opportunities change, they were carrying a 65x zoom camera so should not be bitching about the photos of animals being too far away. My Nikon and 200mm lens was more than enough, and sometimes we were so close to animals (especially lions) that I had to change to a 18-55mm lens. I got photos of everything from lions in trees, leopards, cheetah, spotted hyenas, all sorts of herbivores imaginable, flamingos (2 types, up close) and more. In fact I photographed even more variety of animals than I expected (and expectations were high), and was simply blown away by the Serengeti migration. The animal numbers are simply staggering over a vast area. Seeing Kilimanjaro is fantastic, as was the photographs of elephants with Kilimanjaro in the background. Good trip, recommended highly, and my comments are just for your information should you want to do a similar 2 week Kenya/Tanzania budget trip.
Email Renee | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Highly Recommend!
This was a great budget company to use. The planning from Nairobi was done so well and we were given everything we were promised plus more. Our guide Richard was a great guy who was easy to get along with, laid back and eager to make sure we had a good experience . In Masai Mara we were out on the main days game drive for 11 hours- it was beyond our expectation.The accommodation is very basic but it was clean, the beds were comfortable and we had hot showers wherever we went. The food is simple and similar every day but really tasty and great to experience local food. I would definitely recommend this company. Good value for money!
ES
Email Stefano | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
David, you make the difference
Thank again David for the arrangements you prepared for me. Ten days on safari, 3 in Tanzania and 7 in Kenya. I had great time, all was according to the agreements and I had the opportunity to enjoy game safaris, wonderful landscapes and nice people. David helped me beyond the safari, since the first moment I contacted with him he helped me for the preparation of my trip (I have been around alone in East Africa for 40 days), like in the reservation of bus trips and domestic flights. He also hosted me at their office in Nairobi any time I needed. Thank you again brother!!!!!
DE
Email Ajay Kumar | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We had an absolutely amazing experience....
We were a bunch of dive friends plng a trip to east Africa but had absolutely no clue as to where to start from . Then a friend gave us the number of a person by the name David . Little did we know that this name is going to create magic and wonders for us in days to come . We contacted David and right from our first interaction we knew we are with the best guy in the business . David took all the pains not only in plng our itinerary but also went that extra mile in helping us book reasonable hotels , giving travelling tips , helping us book transports etc . Off course when we met it was further cemented that he is not only a thorough professional but also a wonderful human being . He took all the measures to ensure we had a hassle free trip to Kenya and Zanzibar but what left us absolutely in awe of him was those personal touch they give to this trip . All along we felt that there is a family member with us to help and guide and take care of us . I would also like to make a mention of other two super guys ...Cyrus and Jackson ...because of whom this trip became super successful . Jackson is an amazing driver a nd has a sharp instinct to spot wild animals . It was only because of him we were able to spot all " the big five " during our safari . I can assure everybody that they will have the time of their life with big time safari and their team of wonderful professionals . I wish big time safari , David and the complete team all the very best and hope to meet u guys very soon in future ....