CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Epic summit experience, very low budget tour
+ price
+ trek team of porters, chef and guide
+ food
+ prompt email communication with office
+ day 2+3 great hiking, epic summit sunrise experience
- transportation from Nairobi to the mountain and back is public transport (no mentioning before)
- first day wasted with transport and gathering food+equipment, only started hiking at 3:30pm, 2 hour paved road hike to Moses camp
- tent was dirty, old, zipper not working
- mattresses dirty, one day unacceptable
- rest day should be skipped, no relaxing possible in raining season, facilities dirty and low budget
- last accommodation at Bandas unacceptable, unsafe tenting with wildlife at tent, washroom unusable
- last day useless, several hours on 4x4 road with constant discussion when to call for transport at our costs for the entire team. Need to be clarified before. Costs up to 80 USD for vehicle.
Overall fair price, but also very low budget. Day 1 and 5 need to be discussed and agreed on before payment. With reasonable fitness only 2 days and 1 night at Shipton Camp needed. Fantastic summit experience, great chef, porters and guide. Communication with guide was limited, we always had to ask for info.
CA
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good 12 Day Tour Around Namibia
I initially signed up for this tour because it was for an extended period, took in many of the highlights around Namibia and because I was traveling alone. Many of the landscapes we encountered were absolutely amazing and I will remember them for a long time! The only locations that I wish we had time for were the Fish River Canyon and Luderitz, but this would have extended the tour significantly. Myxo is new in the travel tour industry and to Namibia itself. Myxo was a good travel companion, was helpful, accommodating and had a good sense of humor. The tour vehicle was a newish Toyota Fortuner SUV. It was comfortable to ride in, had air conditioning, was kept reasonably clean and did not have any major breakdowns during the tour. There were many changes in accommodations from the initial proposal until the actual implementation, which I found to be disappointing. Three of the accommodations (6 nights out of 11) were unacceptable to me and Myxo agreed to upgrade the room or accomodation location at my request. In the end, all accommodations were good to very good. On the last night Myxo upgraded the accommodation to a Lodge rather than a Safari Camp, without my request, which I was thankful for. Breakfasts and dinners were good but lunches were hit and miss. For long trips through remote areas where services were not available, lunches should have been pre-ordered. This was provided towards the end of the tour at my request. Overall I believe that Myxo has gained a lot of valuable experience in organizing tours through Namibia as a result of this tour and I wish him great success in the future.
HK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Active and vibrant
The safari tour is too expensive and the animals in the nature reserve are not that exciting. The road is dirty and too many people on the way are selling stuff in a forceful way.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
You can find better.
We (a couple) booked a 5-days safari tour with Beasts Africa to begin last September.
We really enjoyed our experience: we got to see so much, our guides were so knowledgeable and made us feel safe and looked after. Our accommodations were nice, clean and hospitable. The transfers between each stop were long, but overall the rides were comfortable. We feel like we had the experience we were looking for and more.
However, there were also a number of issues:
- Our airport pickup was over an hour late. After a very long flight and without much internet connection, we had to phone the tour operator over and over: it took so long to get through and even longer to finally be picked up. No apology was offered for this massive inconvenience, nor explanation.
- Changes were made to our pre-agreed itinerary without our knowledge/approval, and only communicated to us few minutes before departure, without giving us the chance to amend or discuss.
- In regards to two different excursions (Masai village visit and boat trip), we specifically asked if there was going to be a surcharge, and we were told there would be none. However, both of these turned out to be at an extra cost once we got there.
- We had to insist to had a physical invoice given out to us, and the one we obtained had a different company's letterhead -an alleged "sister company".
- Included in the agreed fee, was a supply of bottled water for the duration of the tour. However, we for the first 2.5 days we were not provided this and our driver/guide stated that he had not been informed and he was not equipped to provide it. We had to therefore buy water at our own expense.
- We were not told that we would not travel with the same group and guide, but switch party depending on who was headed where next. We ended up switching twice and only finding out about the changes only a couple of hours beforehand. The second time we were assigned to the wrong group and ended up going in the wrong direction, which resulted more than 3h lost on our itinerary. Once again, we received no apology, in fact we were never even contacted to ensure the issue had been resolved.
All of the issues we experienced ultimately relate to how the tour was managed: the lack of communication, transparency and organisation. Even though we had a great trip, the merit goes to the guides and hospitality structures -both of which are not affiliated exclusively with this tour operator specifically.
Upon our return, we reached out to Beasts Africa to feedback all of the above: we were given contradictory justification for some points and dismissal for others, but no admission of responsibility nor apology.
Our advice is to definitely book a safari tour of Kenya, but with a different company.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very excellent guide and hotels, but not exactly a “luxury safari”
We started Safari with a van that, fortunely, had a problem before we started the road to Masai Mara. They kindly give us a jeep to excuse of it, but to reach the car the travel was very long and “adventurous”. First guide was very helpful, but for a “luxury safari” we were expected to have a different treatment.
When we reach the jeep in Narok, our guide was excellent. He knew very well masai mara and show us bigs 5 and all possible kind of animals live in Mara.
Ilkeliani camp was very good, in service and for food!
Lunch for the last day we were expected Spirit of Kenya provide a en route lunch packed by the hotel, but we payed a full day safari but Did only 2 Hours in the morning without a hotel meal.
Last thing that can’t allow to us to define this a Luxury Safari was the cars condition ( vero vero old) and lack of uniform for guide.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
They are friendly & time conscious
Super Eagles 'Rhino'
They picked & dropped us at the agreed time & place.
The tour guide was friendly & cooperative.
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Well organised, great trip
We had a wonderful and amazing trip!! Apparently good hotels, but dinner and lunch were a big disappointment on every safari day
.. that was a shame. But the country and the safari days made up for that.
(automatic translation from Dutch)
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Disorganised 9-Day Kilimanjaro Hike, Coffee, Camping Safari & Culture
9-Day Kilimanjaro Hike, Coffee, Camping Safari & Culture
If I had not chased Nasr prior to my arrival, my tour would not have started at all due to a lack of organisation. I was then told to ignore my itinerary as all my activities would be in a different order. This meant that I had no idea what I was doing, when, who with or where I was staying day-to-day which I found stressful as a solo female traveller. Nasr did meet with me to try and help the situation but it did not improve due to an ongoing lack of open and honest communication.
Due to the change in order, all of the hikes were back-to-back which was exhausting. The activities themselves were incredible and most of the guides very friendly and informative. Unfortunately I missed out on the natural springs visit due to a lack of organisation. The best part of the trip was the safari in Lake Manyara, Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater which was outsourced to another company called Meru Slopes. If I had booked the whole trip with them I would have saved $500USD!
Overall, the activities are unbelievable and so worthwhile but I cannot recommend this company.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tour did not deliver what was promised.
Don’t get me wrong, the safari was amazing, our guides were knowledgeable, our lodges comfortable. Our group of 10 women are disappointed because we were told the trip was all inclusive, included was a balloon ride & Champaign brunch, a flight out of the Serengeti, & NO tipping other than for our guides. Well you can guess that it was not all inclusive & we paid out of pocket for drinks. Our balloon ride never happened & instead of flying back to Arusha from the Serengeti we spent a whole day in a van ( which broke down & had 3 flat tires). We spent hundreds of $ tipping throughout the safari.
FR
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Lake Mburo National Park by Isabelle
good to rest but not as interesting as other NP