US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great 3 Day Safari with Bonfire Adventures at the Mara Sopa Lodge!
This review is specifically about Bonfire Adventures & the Mara Sopa lodge. My friend and I booked a private, custom 3 night/4 day safari with Bonfire. The regular package is 2 nights, 3 days, but since we were traveling from far away we wanted an extra day. Bonfire is a Kenyan based (and owned company) that plans safaris & other excursions. They offer many lodging options, from budget to luxury, so there's something for everyone.
We live in the United States. Bonfire was very responsive over email and priced out the package. I was in Kenya for work, so I went to a Bonfire office to pay via credit card in person, which cost an extra 3%. Right now, the only other option is to do a direct bank transfer to their account (which I did not want to do from the United States). Hopefully, Bonfire will have an online credit card pay link soon. But, everything worked out fine.
Our guide, Duncan, was wonderful. He picked us up in Nairobi and drove us the 5+ hours to the Mara. We did 2 bathroom stops (on the way out and in). Bring snacks and extra water for the journey! It's a little bumpy at the end, but it's so great to see what Kenya really looks like.
Duncan was professional and polite and very knowledgable about the animals and plants of the Mara. We saw so much wildlife! He was very patient with all of our requests to take photos. He had a great eye for the photos himself and even helped us set up some sunset and animal shots.
We stayed at the Mara Sopa lodge, the most "hotel" of all the options on that side of the park. It's beautiful and comfortable, especially considering how remote the Mara is.
The Mara is a magical place and I highly recommend it.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Cardboard Box organized a self-drive trip with the convenience of a tour but without the hassles
We were impressed with the service and attention to detail by Cardboard Box Travel Shop. Friends of ours have traveled twice with them so we decided to try them. We wanted a self-drive adventure in Namibia but not the headache of finding guesthouses, a rental vehicle and other logistics. Allison, our agent, was terrific in helping plan our affordable trip. She frequently offered several options or alternatives for lodging and seemed to understand what we were looking for. That's quite a talent when all you have to work with are emails! She included enough details to help us make good decisions. Allison perfectly estimated necessary travel times that allowed us to really enjoy our journey from place to place. Allison also responded to our questions quite promptly. Once we emailed to ask about an alternative driving route and she responded within minutes! The information packet(s) we received both through emails and upon arrival at our hotel were very informative and useful. We received an excellent map of Namibia marked with all of our destinations (as well as ATMs and petrol stations) and suggested routes, along with little local maps on our vouchers for finding each guesthouse/lodge. Also included was a little Namibia guide book that was a surprisingly helpful addition to our own Bradt guide and a SIM card for our phone. It seemed to us that Cardboard Box had managed to book the best rooms in our chosen locations and reserved an excellent 4X4 vehicle that was in very good shape with almost new tires (and two spares, which we did not have to use). The accommodations ranged from luxury tent camps to lodges and B&B's. All of them were comfortable and included at least breakfast. Many were astoundingly beautiful. We recommend trying to stay 2 (maybe 3) nights in the nicest areas to give time to explore and to book side trips. We are Americans in our late 60's and found that it was not difficult to drive around the country (on the left side), as long as you respect the suggested speed limits of the rental car agency and roads. Namibians are incredibly friendly and helpful. Both of us have traveled and worked at times in African and we found Namibia to be very safe, with clean drinking water and lots of healthy, delicious food. We enjoyed spotting wildlife on our own at waterholes in Etosha, as well as some guided game drives/walks offered by the lodges. We loved the freedom of taking our time and stopping where we wanted, while knowing that we had an in-country person to contact if we had questions. All the convenience of a tour with none of the constraints. We hope to come back soon!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Classic Journey is great!
It was so easy working with Charles and Classic Journeys Africa for my safari to Kenya. They were very informative, friendly, professional, knowledgeable, quick to respond and tailored a custom safari just for me.
I would recommend this company for anyone going on safari in Kenya or any Travel Agent looking for a DMC in East Africa.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Definitely recommend!
First off, I needed a stress free holiday with my friend so thought we would try to use a company to organise our holiday and I must say I had an unbelievably amazing time the company staff knew exactly what do to and the times for different fun activities, everything was sorted for us. We had our money's worth!
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Safari Tsavo
We spent an excelent trip of 3days and 2night Safari at Ngutuni.
They arranged us a pick from Taveta borders(Kenya) and dropped us in Diani beach near Mombasa
The lodge was very clean, staff very attentive the program very interesting , we saw a lot of animals even the sheeta and lion. The place was amazing!
Mahmoud our guide was very kind and professionnel .
Every thing was perfect and we really apreciate the exchange and flexibility of Ton and Janet.
We recommend Netherken and we won't hesitate to travel with them for our next trip in Kenya!
IN
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Average, not personal and providing misleading information.
Uhuru travels had given name and no. of person would be our guide and driver for 3 days. They changed the person without even informing us. It seemed Uhuru has sub contracted our trip to someone else. There was no personal contact. The driver himself did not know who he worked for.
Did not get value for money on this trip.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
ALways a good time
I have not only used this esteemed company once but like 5 times the most recent being a package to the Sands of Island. With Classic, you are not only assured of quality but of the best customer oriented service i have experienced so far in the market. This guys are pure professionals especially Mathew who has planned all my holidays. No hidden charges, no bull, just pure honesty, excellence and value for your money.
US
Experience level: 2-5 safaris
We had an amazing experience in Tanzania with our guide Ephraim
We wanted to share we had the most wonderful and magical trip in Tanzania. We thought South Africa with Cape Town and Kruger park was special but the Serengeti with Ephraim as our guide was moving and breath taking as was Zanzibar as an ending to our travels. Everyone should be so lucky to experience Serengeti once in their lifetime. Thank you all so much for your help and arrangements. Every place we stayed was perfect and will give good reviews in trip advisor
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A holiday to remember, a truly memorable experience
Our 13 days trip to Kenya was our first experience in Africa, Kenya and on Safari. As we didn’t know what to expect we did research and found Amazing Memories Safaris to be the best choice for our holiday (based on client reviews, proposed programs, flexibility in adjusting proposed programs based on our requirements and general level of professionalism).
We did our trip in September 2016
Anne was really helpful in configuring our holiday. We ended up with a program making it possible to visit all top rated parks in Kenya spanning over 13 days. During our trip we visited Tsavo West, Amboseli, Aberdare, Samburu, Lake Naivasha, Nakuru and Maasai Mara. On paper this looks like a great trip, actually doing the trip is an experience of a lifetime.
A big part of this experience is dependent on the guide you get. Joseph, our guide for the 13 days, was amazing (which is important as you spent a lot of time in a car with this person). He did everything he could to make us comfortable, feel safe and make sure we got the most out of this experience. The fact that he knows Kenya, is a good driver and knows the parks, animal behavior and movement was perfect. We managed to see all of the big 5 (including both white and black rhino’s), cheetah’s hunt (2 times), pride of lions hunt, wildebeest crossing of the Mara (and a crocodile just missing the opportunity to grab one) and an Impala being born.
Tips: As a starting photographer I didn’t take a lens cleaning kit, this is a must due to the high amount of dust. Take warm clothes, it cools down in the evening. Make sure you have the local currency (Schilling), preferably in small denominators, to tip all the people that help you in the lodges.
Travel tip: Most of the main roads in Kenya are fine (decent tarmac), however to reach the parks you will have to leave them, which means you will find yourself on dirt roads. Dirt roads greatly increase travel-time, however we took this in account when configuring our program (we left out 2 parks and decided to spent more time at others (Samburu and Maasai Mara were our choices) to avoid driving every day). The only really bad (and long…..) dirt road was on our way to Maasai Mara, but…. it is all worth it when you get there.
All in all probably our best and most special trip ever and, on a sad note, it made us realize that our kids are probably not able to see the same animals in 20 or 30 years.
BG
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very good safari
Safari in Masai Mara is once in a lifetime experience. It's amazing to be that close to nature and observe the greatness of the circle of life. Bushtroop offered us a great organization for the 3 days that we had there, a comfortable car and excellent accommodation as well. Our driver Joseph had spent more than 15 years in the Kenyan national parks and was really competent to answer all of our questions and give us more information about the animals. He was very kind and organized our time perfectly. Besides the animals, visiting a Masai village is a must-do.
Online communication with Jacqueline was very good, we made the payments over a secure website and overall we didn't have any problems.
The transfer from Niarobi to Masai Mara is a bit long- 7 hours so for more comfort you might consider flying