US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great national park close to the city. Well worth the time and cost to enjoy nature near the city
Nairobi National Park is a wonderful place to take a day trip Safari. There is a great deal of wildlife and during our time there we were able to spot everything we were looking for. This is a unique opportunity to explore nature, but not have to go a long distance of your way. The costs are very reasonable and the park staff were excellent. I highly recommend a trip to this national park when you are in Nairobi. It is a great escape from the urban environment.
US
An experience in a lifetime
I journey to South Africa from the United States several times for business reasons. My last trip included a visit to Maputo, Mozambique, but between commitments, my friends and I stayed for a weekend at a private preserve in southern Kruger National Park.
I will never, ever forget this experience, and I can't recommend a trip to Kruger highly enough. On our guided early morning and evening tours, we gaped in awe at giraffe, impala, and elephants! It kept getting better: crocodiles lounging on the Crocodile River bank, hippos floating in the current, and cranes prancing along the shore. Jackals, hyenas, and the biggest herd of zebra I had ever seen -- not that I had seen a zebra anywhere other than TV or the zoo. The outstanding highlight of our outings was 20 minutes spent in the (distant, maybe 100 yards) of four male lions, who at one point began a chorus of roars. Our wonderful guide told us they were warning another lion of their presence. Also, we lucked on a leopard resting in a tree, visible by his legs hanging down from the limb.
Hundreds of photos help me recall this wonder. I plan to go back again.
I have written a series of blogs about my visit to Kruger. You can find them at http://bookviewcafe.com/blog/
I so appreciate this opportunity to share my experience, and hope others will be able to share the same some day.
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An unforgettable experience climbing Mount Kilimanjaro
We booked our six day climb via the Machame route on Mount Kilimanjaro with Kili Smile Trails & Safaris and we can only recommend them. Even before we left for Tanzania, they were very helpful and quick in answering our questions about the necessary gear and the planning. We flew via Dar-es-Salaam to Kilimanjaro airport with Fastjet where we were picked up and brought to Keys hotel in Moshi, which is a quiet and clean hotel.
On the night of our arrival, our guide (Bakari) checked our gear for the hike and recommended additional things to rent out for the hike, for example warmer sleeping bags. There is a lot of stuff that you carry up the mountain but only use during the last day, such as warm gloves, hat, trouser and jacket. But it is well worth it because you do not want to feel cold during the last bit of the ascent. It was no problem to rent out the additional gear on the morning of the first day. It was also possible to leave some of our stuff, which we did not need on Mount Kilimanjaro, in the hotel. Ezekiel from Kili Smile was kind enough to pick up our stuff and bring it to the gate after we finished our hike on the sixth day as we went straight on for Safari.
On the morning of our climb, we paid the outstanding sum (as we had transfered part of the whole amount beforhand). It was no problem to pay some of the amount in Tanzanian Shillings, although normally in Tanzania you pay larger sums in US Dollars.
During the late morning we arrived at the Machame gate and around lunchtime we could start our ascent. There is always some waiting time involved as some administrative procedures need to be done and the porters need to weigh their lugagge as they are only allowed to carry up to 20 kg. We had to guides (Bakari and Edi) who were very helpful and explained us many things along the way. While the first day of hike is through the rain forest, the vegetation is quickly becoming less dense at the end of the first day and from then one you will not see that many trees any more. The ascent is in generally technically not very demanding, but the Baranco wall on the fourth day is certainly more challenging.
Every evening we were cooked a nice dinner with a soup as a starter, a main (very varied including meat, fish, potatoes, rice, pasta) and some fruits. We also drank a lot of tea as it is very important to stay hydrated during the hike. After dinner, our guide would come into our dining tent and explain the next day, how long we would hike and what to wear. Every morning we were woken up around 6.30 am with a fresh ginger tea and then after a quick wash, had an excellent breakfast, including omelette, pancakes and fruits. Before breakfast we also packed our stuff as the porters would already start to load their stuff and dismantle the tent.
You normally walk about four to five hours a day and enjoy a beautiful landscape with great views on the cloud cover. If I had to do it again, I would certainly enjoy this unique experience more, as I was quite a bit worried about altitude sickness. Already during the first night at 3000m I suffered from headache and did not sleep very well. But from then on, I did not have any problems with headache again except for a short time at the Lava tower on the third day at 4800m. The both of us were very lucky not to suffer from strong symptoms of altitude sickness, but this can be very different from one person to the other. It is certainly important to drink a lot.
After four days of hiking Mount Kilimanjaro, the most exciting part came on the fifth day, the day of the hike to the summit. We started around midnight from Barafu hut (4600m) in a pretty cold and completely dark night. Equipped with a head torch we went up the last 1300m, which except for the first bit, is not very challenging but steep. Surrounded by many lights from other head torches you go up very slowly (one of the first words in Kiswahili you will learn is pole, pole, i.e. slowly, slowly). After walking up a few minutes, our guides offered us to carry our backpacks, which made the ascent even easier. During the ascent on the last day it is important to keep drinking and also eat a bit, but the breaks are relatively short as you get cold very quickly. Six hours after we left the base camp, we reached Uhuru peak at 5895m and were rewarded with a spectacular view of the rising sun.
Having just made it to the top of Africa, the following descent of about three hours to Barafu camp and then another three hours to the last camp are certainly less enjoyable as the first bit is on loose gravel and very dusty.
All in all, it was a great experience going up Kilimanjaro and we can only recommend Kili Smile as we always got the necessary support. We are also grateful because they arranged for us to be picked up at the gate on the last day in order for us to start straight away with our Safari.
Great Tour to the Murchison Falls
Thanks Stephen for the great trip we had with you. It was excellent, how you guided us around.
IN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Well organized trip
I would like to thank my kenyan friend to introduce me with this company.
I found victor as very professional person in karibu safaris.
Our driver also made good efforts to search animals on our game drive.
The trip to masai mara was perfectly organized.
Their rates are also competitive. So if you are looking for a reliable local tour company,they are the solution of your trip.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Friendly, organized, knowledgable tour guide -perfect safari experience!
We did a 9-day private Safari with Charles including Arusha NP, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro (including a day of hiking at Olmoti and Embakaai), Serengeti (including Balloon Safari), and Lake Natron in June 2015.
Charles is a superb guide: Well organized, always on time, responding to interests and requests of the travellers, keeping his vehicle in a good shape, responsible driver, fun to talk to and knowledgable.
When it comes to hunting down the rare cheetah in Serengeti he shows a hunting spirit as if it was also his first cheetah!
Thanks, Charles, for those memorable days on the Northern Circuit!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect honeymoon adventure
I can’t say enough good things about Endless Summer and our guide Anthony. My husband and I went to South Africa for our honeymoon, and when we picked a tour company to guide our Kruger safari, we pretty much expected to be thrown in with a larger group and have a fairly impersonal but still interesting trip. What we got with Endless Summer couldn’t have been further from that. After flying from in from the US we were greeted by a welcoming face at the airport, Anthony, who would would be our guide for the rest of the Safari. After he helped us get things squared away in the car, he drove the two of us the 5 hours from Johannesburg to Kruger while explaining a lot of things to us about South Africa that neither of us knew - everything from race relations to politics to "what kind of tree is that" to the farming and mining industry practices. But getting to the park was just the beginning. As soon as we entered the park it was pure magic: we saw hippos, elephants, rhino, giraffes, wild dogs, hyenas, lions, leopards, ostriches, warthogs, cheetahs, crocodiles, zebra, buffalo, wildebeest, baboons, even a black mamba -- just to name a few. In total Anthony spotted and pointed out over 60 birds and beasts that we had never seen in the wild before, and many that we had never seen before, period. Some of what you see when you're on safari is just pure luck - and we were lucky - but we would not have seen 1/10th as much without the benefit of such an incredibly experienced guide. Anthony could see things with his blind eye while driving that we didn't notice until we stopped and stared at where he pointed with binoculars (which we forgot to bring and he let us use his, because he's great), and he had his ear to the proverbial ground the entire time looking for recent sightings to give us the best possible chance to see some of the more impressive animals. We knew we were in for good hands with the animal sightings, but then the home-cooked meals Anthony made for us every morning and evening made it all the better. For four incomparable days we spent hours out in the bush watching amazing things and eating like royalty. Anthony was very easy to be around and a lot of fun; even though we just met him at the airport, in a lot of ways we felt like we were on the most epic camping trip of all time with a "old friend." It was an absolutely amazing experience and we didn’t have to do much beyond show up at the airport -- it truly could not have been easier. My husband and I cannot recommend enough working with Endless Summer for an tour activity while you are visiting in South Africa. Their expertise, personal approach, and experience make for a wonderful time.
US
Review about Hell's Gate National Park by PeeBee
Hell's Gate is a fantastic park, but not for safari. Take a guided tour of the gorge, climb Fischer's Peak, take in the scenery. But if you want a game drive head to nearby Nakuru National Park.
DK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Exellent & valuable organisation.
It was the best tour in my life. Everything was perfect organized by Cul Tours. Much better
as I expected. Our guide was very caring with a lot of knowledge about the country,
birds and nature was perfect. I miss Uganda of friendly people, discussions about the daily life was very interesting for us!
Coming to Uganda again, I would only choose Cul Tours & Safaris
US
Nice, easy game drive right in the city
Nairobi National Park provides a great game drive experience, at an affordable price, without leaving Nairobi city. The park is much smaller than other, more famous East African parks, like the Maasai Mara or the Serengeti or even Nakuru National Park. It's big advantage lies in it accessibility.
There are plenty of safari companies that do tours of the park in the standard pop-top vans or Land Rovers. You can also drive into the park yourself, which plenty of people do. The roads are all dirt and can be rough and dusty in some places, but a small SUV can handle most of it without too much trouble. This is how I experienced the park on my one visit, and we didn't feel like we missed anything. If fact, we even beat the professional safari vehicles to a couple of lion sightings.
The density of animal life in the park is fantastic. On one two hour tour we saw lions, giraffe, ostriches, warthogs, baboons and other monkeys, more birds than I could identify, and more. The scenery is beautiful, but you can see the city at the periphery from most places in the park. For some, that will ruin the ambiance, but it's not so hard to block that out and enjoy this park for what it is: a beautiful, wild, and somehow also very accessible and affordable mini-safari destination right at the edge of one of Africa's greatest cities.