US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A well-run and friendly company
We did the six day Maasai Mara-Lake Nakuru-Amboseli safari, and an honest review is complicated. (1) The company itself is five star. They are reliable, honest and easy to deal with and I cannot recommend them more highly. It is a little scary making arrangements with people half-way around the world in a place you've never been, so please let me assure you that if you use Flash McTours you are in good hands. (2) The Guide. He (I think they are all hes) is the most important part of your trip. Ours was top-notch. Leonard was knowledgeable and friendly, and he made our safety and enjoyment his priority, often going out of his way to make things right. He is undoubtedly a five-star guide and is probably a five-star human being as well. (3) The equipment. Here we didn't fare so well as two out of our six days were marred by car trouble. This happens. However, we spent two hours standing by the side of a dirt road on our first day due to electrical problems, and finally had to be sent on to our camp in two other vans kind enough to stop and give us rides. At the end of our game drive the second day, the problems resurfaced and although we wanted to go back to camp, we had to join another group willing to take us and spent hours more crowded in with them before we could get home. Leonard did his best under the circumstances and he deserves to be commended. Owner Peter apologized for the inconveniences, but of course it did detract from the trip. (4) Itinerary. It's hard to hold the tour company accountable for travel difficulties, but not offering more options and information is my one complaint. I do have suggestions to help others. You need to ask a lot more questions than I did! (4a) Travel time. Maps and tour descriptions gave me the idea that driving between game reserves would be a 3 to 4 hour process. This is NOT TRUE. Four out of the six days we spent 8 or more hours just traveling from place to place. Not game viewing. This is the time (not mileage) equivalent of deciding to drive from New York City to Salt Lake during a six day vacation meant for other sight seeing. The time on the road itself is exhausting. (4b) Road conditions are worse than you imagine. In particular going to Maasai Mara involves over four hours BOTH ways on a highly rutted single lane dirt road. I live off of highly rutted single lane dirt road in the mountains of North Carolina, so I'm pretty comfortable with one, and I thought the drive was brutal. (4c) Lodging. We all want to travel cheap but it isn't always wise. We paid $90 apiece to upgrade lodging for our single night in Lake Nakuru after reading reviews about the budget alternative, and we are so glad we did. The standard lodging in Amboseli was wonderful. But for our two nights in a budget camp outside of Maasai Mara, we got a substitute for the Rhino camp called Lenchada and we found it to be awful. (Read my review for the many reasons why.) I don't know what options existed for upgrading there, but I highly encourage prospective travelers to ask about them, or at the least to insist on the Rhino camp ahead of time.
Suggestions. Mitigate the driving situation. I wished we had cut out Lake Nakuru completely. While it was lush and pretty, we saw no flamingos and few rhinos and it had nothing else unique to offer. Cutting it would have eliminated 2 entire long days of driving, and another day in the massive Maasai Mara reserve, and one just relaxing in the beautiful Amboseli resort, would have been so much better. Also, consider flying either into or out of Maasai Mara. We were told it is about $300 per person and it would have eliminated one brutal 8 hour drive. Or consider upgrading to one of the jeeps. We thought about it, but it was about $300 more per person and according to Peter, just provided a little better suspension system. Trust me, a better suspension system would have done us a world of good in retrospect.
In summary, Flash McTours is a highly capable company dedicated to showing you as many animals as possible in a short time at a reasonable cost. You need to take responsibility to turn that into an enjoyable vacation. I found Peter to be quite flexible in making modifications that I asked for. I just didn't know what all I needed to modify. I highly encourage others to work with them to design an itinerary that is right for you.
BR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Kenya and Tanzania
We had a great time with Wildebeest in july, in a 8 days private tour safari between Kenya and Tanzania. The camps we slept were great and the landscapes were amazing. We saw the big 5 more than once. Our only complains are that one time we had to stop on the road for 2 hours because we were supposed to change drivers and the next one was late; and the lack of care of the Masai Mara driver with our luggages - they got ruined because he didnt use blankets to protect it.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
a wonderful day !
A great game reserve around a beautiful lake, with numerous wild and some unique groups of animals and coloured birds. But don't forget your telephoto lens ...
A well organised trip with an interesting guide being also a safe driver, a correct lunch after the game drive before going back to Nairobi.
Globally delightful !
SG
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Awesome Safari at Masai Mara
The only wildlife I'd ever seen was in the zoo. I'm so blessed to be a part of this trip to see the African wildlife national geographic style in real life! Sachin has spoilt us rotten and shown a part of life that I was never exposed to. While technology has made this a global village and connected us with each other, Mowgli expeditions has helped me connect with nature and that's immensely satisfying beyond words. Am already looking forward to the next trip - Botswana or Congo? One must do such trips as often and as regularly as possible. My only request for the next trip is to have a break in the afternoons or have a day off in between to rest up.
SG
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our first ever trip to African continent.
Our first ever trip to the African continent came with lots of pleasant surprises initiated with magnificent views of the wonderful landscape and a sea of wild animals viewed from propeller plane (from Nairobi to Masai Mara). The ever changing wildlife experience and landscape from lush green field to the golden savanna grassland to rugged terrains changed within a short driving distance. This wonderful memorable expedition is going to linger in our memories for a very long time. Thanks Mowgli for making this expedition happen. We are looking forward to our next mountain gorilla sighting trek!
GR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A well-organised,pleasant and reliable company
The staff were professional and reliable while being amicable and approachable.Services rendered were very satisfactory,with exceptional cuisine.A truly worthwhile experience.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I couldn't have done it without Tanzania Choice Safaris!
Everything from the Safari to the mountain climb, Tanzania Choice Safaris was excellent! The guides for the safari knew so much, they really taught us about the parks, the animals, and even the plants/trees. It was amazing! The guides for the climb were unreal too. I honestly don't think I would have made it to the top without Festo, our main guide. He was so encouraging not only for me but to our whole group..."Go Big Red!"
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Makasa managed to organize an unforgettable vacation for us
Pleasant and personal communication
Flexible to our wishes.
Well organized safari with pleasant, reliable guide with al lot of knowledge
Beautiful lodges in beautiful locations.
It was nice that, thanks to Makasa's selection of small-scale lodges in close cooperation with local people and local projects, we could return something for the population.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great customer service and amazing safari experience
I have to point out that generally I do not write online reviews. However, I really found other people’s reviews about Uniglobe Let’s Go Travel very useful in helping me decide to contact them, so I figured it is not too late to help future travelers with a review of my own.
First of all, I like to thank Angela Githatu from Uniglobe for helping me plan an amazing trip. After doing a lot of research and reading reviews, I decided to contact Uniglobe, among other agencies, to get a quote for my trip to Kenya. I received a quote within a couple of days. The personalized quote was very detailed and included all the information I originally requested. After reviewing the quote, I had more questions. Angela very promptly replied to my emails, and that really helped in fine tuning the details of the trip in a very short period of time. Before making the payment for the package, I called Angela to ask her even more questions and requested that she walked me through the purchase process. She was available during office hours and was very attentive in answering my questions. In case you are wondering, I bought an international calling card to be able to speak with her directly. Angela helped me plan everything, from local air and ground transportation to securing my place in the safari. I did 4 days in Masai Mara (at Ilkeliani Camp), 1 day at Lake Nakuru (at Sopa Lodge) and 2 days in Nairobi. My safari experience at Ilkeliani camp was amazing, from the food, to the friendliness of the staff and the game drives with the awesome safari guides (John Mark and Eric).
When we arrived to Kenya (group of 4 adults), a Uniglobe representative was already waiting for us. She called the driver and he took us to a city hotel for an overnight stay. The next morning, James, our second driver, picked us in the morning to take us to Wilson airport. James was very friendly and courteous. Once at Mara, we spent 3 nights in our camp before Jimmy, our third driver, drove us to Lake Nakuru. We did two game drives at Lake Nakuru before driving back to our hotel in Nairobi. Jimmy was very friendly, very easy to talk to, and knew a good deal of information about the animals we were spotting. On our departure day, a fourth driver, picked us timely at the hotel and drove us to the airport. All of this ground transportation was arranged by Uniglobe and was arranged based on our itinerary preferences. Having local and knowledgeable drivers makes all the difference. Trust me, you need a local to be able to navigate through the traffic. Thank you all!
I was extremely pleased with the great customer service offered by Angela. I even recommended to my friends to finish their travel arrangements with Angela, and once again Angela delivered. Even during our stay she was very helpful. We had some issues with the departure time for our return flight that required modifying our itinerary. We called Angela to her office in the middle of our trip and she was able to make the necessary arrangements for us. In addition, we were traveling on a budget and we did not wanted to sacrifice certain elements of our trip (we wanted a specific camp/safari dates) and Angela/Uniglobe Let’s Go Travel made it possible for us to have an amazing experience for a reasonable price. Thank you!
After some initial confusion with pick up the whole trip was very professionally conducted
This was our first safari experience and we loved it. Jeffrey our guide and leader of the group was always finding ways to enhance our experience. The drives were exciting and excellent. Quite late in the evening he organised our balloon safari for the morning. We would highly recommend this if it fits the budget ($450 pp). Our guides and staff at the lodges were very friendly.
The only negative was the initial pick up which could have been better coordinated and enhanced our experience at lake Nakuru. But in nature holidays these things happen. So overall very good.