50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great 22 day trip of Kenya & Tanzania
My wife & I took a 22 day tour starting Sept 29th to Kenya & Tanzania. We did a circle tour from Nairobi, Mara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Lake Manyana, Tarangire and back into Kenya via Tsavo & finally back to Nairobi.
We dealt with Elvis planning from May. We dealt with a few companies but as soon as we started communicating with Elvis, I knew we were going with Classic Journeys. He was always prompt & responding and gave all the right responses. Some of the things we liked was: all land cruisers & no vans. He even sent us a photo of the vehicle. He worked seamlessly connecting Kenya & Tanzania. They accepted credit cards at a lower surcharge rate than other companies. And Elvis was a very accommodating as I am very picky & made numerous changes. I put the whole thing together as to where & how many nights at each park & lodge. If you want they can put the trip together for you but for us we have been to Africa a few times so I enjoy putting the trip together myself. We were picked up at the airport, with a land cruiser waiting, and ready to go touring. The company is very professional, with good drivers, good vehicles & great service before & after the tour as well as during the tour. No major complaints with this company or tour so that's why the 5 stars. We were disappointed with Loyk Lodge where the swimming pool was closed the 3 days we stayed there. I don't know who to blame but nobody told us, it happens.
Now on to the drivers. We had Dixon (this is the correct spelling) for Kenya. No major problems, on-time, car clean, water in vehicle and basically all drives went well & he is an excellent driver, a little on the quiet side. One issue we had though was that he did not like to wake up too early. I assumed 6-9am morning drives. Never happened. He preferred 8 or 9 and we "negotiated" 7:30 for most days. I was not demanding & tried to be conciliatory but I got the impression he did not see the point of early drives. I felt awkward always wanting to start earlier. The itinerary said typical days would be up before dawn for a game drive. Never happened, we never got up before dawn. On the other hand he gave us very long game drives going into the 1 or 2PM range so even too long as my wife was getting tired after a few hours. Now being a 3 week tour, this became tiring with long game drives & no time to recover. We would arrive at the lodge at 1 or 2 and go for lunch & an hour later back for 4pm drive. No pool time, no recharging batteries time, and tough for a vacation. I would have preferred to be done by 11am & have 5 hours to rest. We skipped many nice swimming pools for lack of time at the lodge. So if you like long game drives, we got a lot of that & many people would love this. On a 5 day trip great, but on a 22 day trip, we didn't need the extra driving.
Another small issue is that the drivers seem to keep wanting to find that leopard even when we didn't and just wanted to see elephants & rhinos. Hours can be spent seeking the leopard for a tiny photo of the animals sitting or sleeping. I prefer the herds of active elephants. But it seems to be a badge of honor to get that leopard & drivers won't pay attention if you say no leopard.
By the way, Tsavo was the worst park. One game drive I took no photos at all. It was at a Tsavo conservancy. I asked Elvis for a few conservancy drives assuming that we would have off road driving. Loyk had a nice conservancy write-up in the Mara. This somehow fell through as we were not allowed in their conservancy (Orok) nor the other one in the Serengeti. Something about changes in rules or that Loyk is not inside the conservancy. I don't quite understand as other Loyk reviews talk about the great drives in the conservancy.
Other issues in the car was the refrigerator is actually just a box, not cold so keep that in mind. There was wifi in the car which worked for about 3 days, better than nothing. But we had a very good vehicle with no problems on some terrible roads.
For the Tanzania part we spent 8 days with Mirage. He was good humored and we enjoyed his game drives. However once again there were a few issues. He would get us to the lodge not at 10 or 11 nor at 1 or 2pm but at 4 or 5 pm! No pool time, no sit down lunch (packed lunches) and no time to rest. These were very long game drives & very tiring. I finally got us to start with lunches at the new lodges & end with breakfast, instead of start with dinners which meant packed lunches since we never arrived by lunch time. It is true we were moving from park to park & had a long schedule at times but still, the drives were too long & arrival at some really nice camps too late to enjoy them. I was also upset that we didn't get to see the migration crossing while others at our camp said they did. I initially did state: top priority is the migration viewing. We did see leopard & lots of cats. I really wanted to see a lot of elephants especially at Tarangire national park & we saw very little. Once again I think the leopard chase is more important to drivers even if you keep saying elephants please. So to summarize, too many packed lunches & always late arrivals to the lodges. Starting earlier would have helped.
I recommend this company with no hesitation. The price was a lot lower than others offered. We were very happy with the trip but would next time be more insistent on timing of the game drives. since each driver has his own pattern.
Bottom line: Great company, trustworthy no hesitation in using them again, but with a few recommendations for improvement.
DE
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Ist's OK.
Guides James ist a great Guide. Bis German is perfect. He hat many ideas. He is great.
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very good
Perfect Safari and good guide.
Very respectuous of animals.and safe.
IL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful safari with our guide Seif!
On April 2017 we travelled to Tanzania serengeti, ngorongoro, tribes and more. Seif from bobby safari company was our guide all along the way - a great private guide, driver and friend!! It was a great safari trip, we saw a lot, all the big five and more. We learned a lot from Seif, slept at the best lodges and truly enjoyed our trip (and our pictures).
The vehicle was also great and well equipped, cleaned every evening.
We met murtaza (bobby) in Arusha - he personally helped us get a sim card (although the store was closed - he had it opened for us) And helped us change our money.
It shows that he truly cares about his clients.
We highly recommend using Bobby safari company for an organized safari trip. They took care of everything we needed from a to z. Thank you!
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
All around well organized safari on a high level
Clear and fast communication (especially with Esther). Very well located noble lodge (Ashnil Mara) with excellent game drives. And on top of that we got nice presents for our guests. Transport also went smoothly. All animals seen, gladly again. Asante!
IE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Omg!!!!! Such an amazing time.
can't recommend Bobby Campaign enough. The trip was extremely well organized, everything was ready on time and to high standard. The staff, from the get go, were very professional and accommodating.
We had a fantastic time in all legs of our journey with Bobby Campaign, from Tarangire to Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Thanks to our driver's resourcefulness we had the opportunity to encounter The Big Five, including ever elusive Leopard and, very rare these days, Rhino. Not to mention the large heard of Wilder Beasts crossing the river.
Both chef and driver (who doubled as a guide) were very knowledgeable and patient, ready to answer any questions we might have.
Food we have been served was delicious and portions were substantial (especially dinner).
When you book your safari adventure make sure to request Seyf and Mirage, they look after us very well :)
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Safari Tour Experience
People working at Okoa are so nice and everything is made to be sure you are always happy.
Our driver Mansour was incredible. He knows everything about animals, about the parc, history, cultural things and so on. He made sure that we were able to see all the big 5 animals. Also, he was very accommodating when needed.
All the eco camps we stayed at were very nice and we met a lot of very nice people.
I definitely recommend Okoa Africa Tours for people who want to live an amazing safari experience !
IL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
I and my friends had a great experience
I would say this was our best safari experience.From James with his quick email response to John the driver guide who was with us in Masai Mara. The plains fulfilled our dreams of getting first hand experience in the wild.Big five animals and cat hunt was just so fascinating.Thumbs up Saunterland tours for the experience!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The Uganda we experienced was a taste of a real Africa we didn't have to share with usual crowds.
Marc gave us his full attention from our first communication. Emails received fast and full replies.
We were met at the airport by a Realm representative and whisked to the beautiful Karibu guest house which we were later informed was once Idi Amin's residence.
Rafting the Nile at Jinja is an adrenaline rush like no other.
Marc talked us into staying in a village outside Murchison Falls. Here we came up close to African villge life.
Ugandan wildlife is wond erful and varied. Elephant, giraffe and smaller animals can be seen from one spot and we were usually the only humans in sight!
The mighty mountain gorillas are worth every step of the hike thru impenetrable jungle.
Through it all Marc was there for us, organising any variation we asked for and welcoming us after each adventure.
Accommodation was sometimes a bit more basic than we envisaged. Perhaps we should have been more specific on our needs.
Overall the trip was just fantastic!
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Holiday in Uganda - AWESOME !
It was our first trip to Uganda. Thanks to our guide Ivan we had an amazing experience! He took care of us all the times and I learned so much about people and country. He answered all my questions and I had many :-).
Mainly we came for the Gorilla Tracking, which was definitely breathtaking. However today I know Uganda is so much more ... so many different landscapes. I‘m thrilled by all this beauty. Without any doubts, this has been a holiday that changed my perspective.
5 Stars for Speke Uganda Holidays and for this beautiful country. Weebale!