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
DE
Email Manuela | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good Experience
We had the 6 day safari which included masai mara, lake nakuru and amboselli.
First of all David was a very nice person that cared much and answered all our questions. He helped us even during our time that we stayed in Nairobi.
The driver (Jackson) was okay. I think he had good and bad days.. Sometimes he didnt tell us anything about the animals without asking - but when we asked he always had a good answer. Sometimes he was driving to fast in the parks. But all in all he was a nice guy. We were most of the time only 3 people in the bus so that was really nice. We could make stopps and breaks whenever we wanted and had a lot of space in the van.
Also we had some difficulties with the shedule. We left "late" from Nairobi - but i guess thats just Afrika.. You are always late and you always need to wait!
But on the third day our driver changed the shedule without really asking us (he wanted to go to another park where we didnt want to go - of course we would have need to pay more) so we did have some difficulties there but i didnt care much and we only had to wait in the car until the other person was done with a boattour.
But we did see sooooo many animals! We saw almost everything we wanted and didnt expect to see that much. The parks are all diferent and i think a very good mix!
The camps and hotels were really good. Everything was new and the people in the camp were very caring. Food was also good just the lunchpaket was a bit small and always the same. So if you dont like meat (like i do) there was almost nothing. Breakfast and dinner was mostly in buffet so you could take what you want.
I think the price here is reasonable and we are really happy we did it! It was the best time that we had in Afrika because its just an really great experience.
I do think that with another driver it would have been perfect and i would give 5 stars. Our driver was fine but i would have wished that he talkes more (also about his life and the culture etc..)
But all in all i would defenetly do it again!!
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic trip in the world of the lion king.
I travelled on my owned to Kenya this summer and loved it. I was paired with people my age and who had similar interests. Young, fun, smart people from all over the world. Everything was awesome, guie, food, tours. Got to see the big 5 and so much more. Got to be close to all the animals roaming freely in the Masai Mara, meet people and stay in decent places.
Logistically, it wasn't perfect, but you can roll with the situations.
Loved it and David made it really simple and was very responsive.
Highly recommend them.
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.
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.
TW
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
6 days safari in Nakuru, Navasa, Masaai Mara, Amboseli
This company take cares of customers a lot, . I feel very warm of my contacter, David.
However, some of the accomondations they cooperate weren't good. One camp electronics had problems, we didn't have power all day and had to prepare troops by our own. One camp didn't save enough showering water. And cooks always cooked so late and sow, one night we ate dinner at 9pm, and one day, our driver told us leave at 5:45am, but cook served us breakfast after 6 am. And cook still ask us give him tips. And they didn't give us one liter water every day as what contract said, in Nassau Mara camp, when I asked water, the staff of the camp told me with bad attitude said no more water, don't ask me more water!
But the driver of the safari was experimened, he found many animals, we saw many animals in our trip.
IN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful african safari experience
We used to know about it from the NatGeo and Discovery. But this time I saw them with my own eyes. It was truly a wonderful experience.
IN
Email Sunandan Bhatta | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A 'get away from the routine' was a wonderful experience
The trip was well planned out and co-ordination was good. However, the camping facilities at the park were quite basic; for instance electricity for only 4 hrs in the evening and no charging points in the room.
The itinerary, though packed, was fun filled - with lots of time spent inside the park.
Worth recommending to friends.
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
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.
BD
Email Adiba | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Reassuring, friendly and quick at problem-solving
Had an amazing 7-day Safari tour with Absolute holidays. David was our contact point for the whole tour and when we arrived in Kenya and met him at his office in Nairobi we felt tremendously reassured. He helped us exchange currencies and arranged for one of my missed luggages from the Nairobi airport to be sent to Masaimara on the following day. We booked the 7-day tour package (amboseli, masaimara, nakuru) and saw all the magnificent animals in all its glory. Our tour guide Richard even took us to an additional place out of the itinerary --Lake Elementeita -- where we got amazing views of flamingoes. We spent a lot of time on the road but it hardly seemed tiring because the weather was fantastic as was the driving by Richard. All in all, an incredible experience that I will cherish for life.
