50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing safari and fantastic family holiday experience
My second safari with Transtrek Safaris and cannot wait until the next time. I am happy to recommend them for their expertise, attention to detail and making our trip so incredible.
Our thanks to Daniel for arranging a superb 10 day safari for us visiting different areas of Kenya. We enjoyed the trip from start to finish. Our time in Masai Mara stood out for us the most where we stayed in luxury camps. The proximity and abundance of wildlife as well as the landscape were altogether simply stunning with numerous lifelong memories. One very early start for a balloon ride was well worth the effort too.
Our driver Peter was tremendous and looked after us so well, helping to locate and identify everything we saw. We felt home from home when we were travelling in the vehicle and very impressed by the driving skills.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
FORT PORTAL ROAD TRIP
I could say Yaneta Safari is best your team is obviously awesome it was my first experience with you guys and you filled my expectations. I connected with Yvonne online but i could feel the passion she had while communicating though I had doubt, since I was going with people have never met before. Ocaya was our tour guide but guess what this guy have passion with what he's doing best. Thank you so much Yaneta safaris for your qualified team it's obvious everyone had fun that day. Looking forward for more tours with Yaneta safaris with my friends and family.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Tsavo West - Amboseli with Bosco and Seven by Far
We did our first safari for 3 night - 4 day safari to Tsavo West and Amboseli. It was one of the best times of our lives.
Our driver, Bosco, did everything humanly possible to insure this trip was comfortable, successful and beyond amazing.
Should you be looking for a Kenya safari - go with these guys.
Next time we visit Kenya, and God-willing we will visit again soon, we will, without hesitation, go with the kind hearted and brilliant Bosco and Seven by Far.
Oh and by the way, when staying in Tsavo, insist on the Kilaguni Serena Safari Lodge - it is a safari in itself. Animals, of all kinds, by the thousands, visit their watering hole daily.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Memorable experience
T-One Tours took care of my friends and me. They were prompt to pick us up and showed us a great time. Our tour guide, Basil knew the hiding spots for the animals which made our safari a memorable one. I highly recommend T-One Tours and Safaris.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Local business knows best
After getting consulting quite a few tour companies I was very happy to come across Seven By Far
Having a off the shelf tour that was very close to what we wanted
Sylvester was very helpful in changing the tour to our requirements, as well as offering great suggestions
A group of 4 couples we wanted something between Luxury and Backpacking
Our tour was definitely on the higher side of our expectations
We safaried in 2 Land-cruisers with 2 couples in each (Early Booking Bonus), the accommodations ( Lodges, Permanent tents & Tents ) where all unique in their own way and a pleasure to stay at
Samburu Shaba Lodge
Aberdare - The Ark
Lake Nakuru Lodge
Masai Mara - Sekenani camp
The Serengeti - Kati kati tented camp (free upgrade)
Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge
Lake Manyara Serena Lodge
Amboseli - Kibo safari camp
The guides where very friendly, knowledgeable and eager to find us as many animals as possible
After a very rookie mistake by our group leader (Me) I left all my valuables in the room safe on day 1
Sylvester and his team went out of there way to get my belongings to me
I cannot praise Seven By Far enough for all they did for us
This trip was everything we could have hoped for and more
Everyday we had a different experience
Asante sana Sylvester and your team
LK
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
An excellent tour operator who provided a very good service and strived to make your trip memorable
I was introduced to Seven by Far by a hotel reservation company. From the first email they showed their enthusiasm and commitment to accommodate our requirements . There were many mails back and forth acceding to our requests. We were inquiring about minute details about the hotels. transport and game drives. They patiently and efficiently convinced me removing any doubts. With their flexibility, approach and patience I was fully convinced that they were the ideal operator to organize our tour.
From being met on arrival by sylvestor the young energetic CEO of the company up until our departure from Kenya all arrangements from transport to hotels to game park drives to guides were handled with star class efficiency. Special mention must be made about the very new Landcruiser they provided us for our transport and game drives. Our energetic guide Peter was exemplary and he was all out to run the extra mile to give us the best game drives . All in all whole team including Sylvestor made every effort to make our trip memorable.In conclusion we wish to state Seven by Far is a very professional travel company who will make sure your tour with them is one of the best ever!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Trip of a lifetime with Bright African Safaris!
I apologize for the length of this review, but it's hard to be brief when singing the praises of Bright African Safaris. This wonderful company recently organized an adventure of a lifetime for me and my husband, and we have so many good things to say about it. When we decided to do this trip, we looked for a local tour operator, as we wanted all of our money to stay in Africa. After reading reviews, we sent inquiries to several companies, and quickly settled on Bright African, because they were the most responsive and offered the most reasonable prices. Their trip planner, Salim, patiently answered our questions and reworked our itinerary many times to fit our interests and budget. We had the pleasure of meeting Salim upon our arrival in Arusha, where he introduced us to “the other Salim”, who was to be our safari guide in Tarangire, the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater.
I knew we’d really hit the jackpot when I heard this second Salim was our guide, as I had read so many positive reviews about him. After spending eight days with him, I can confirm that all the rave reviews are bang on. Salim is a very kind, conscientious and caring person who made sure we were always happy and comfortable. He speaks perfect English and, to my delight, he is also very fluent in French. He is very engaging and intelligent. He has so much experience that he brought us to three Mara River crossings with virtually no wait time, and led us to the most remote corners of the Serengeti (without a single wrong turn!) for up-close animal encounters with no other jeeps in sight. He even took us to the Eastern Serengeti, where other jeeps do not seem to venture much, and although the wildlife was less plentiful there, we were very excited to discover a hyena den. He taught us the value of patience! The other guides have great respect for Salim and call him a walking encyclopedia, as he knows pretty much everything you’d ever want to know about every animal in East Africa. He is also absolutely amazing at finding the animals. I truly think he has eyes in the side of his head, as he is able to look left and right to spot animals, all while navigating very bumpy and challenging roads in the parks. With his eagle eyes, we were able to see pretty much every non-nocturnal animal in his wildlife handbook, even an African wild dog, which is apparently very rare in Tanzania. The only exception was the elusive rhino. Salim tried very hard to find rhinos in the Ngorongoro Crater for us, even stopping rangers to ask if they had seen them, but alas, the rhinos had decided to sleep in the deep forest that day, and not even the rangers had seen them or heard of anyone who had. We were one of the last jeeps to leave the crater, as Salim wanted to give us every possible chance to spot them. We have decided we will just have to go back one day to see the rhino, and if we do, we would certainly ask for Salim as our guide. Other than the magnificent animals, he was the best part of our safari!
We were also very happy with the tent camps and lodges arranged by Bright African, with their luxurious beds, hot showers and good food. Our favorites were the Tanzania Migration Bush Camp at Mara River and the Serengeti Safari Lodge. We were also particularly thrilled with our amazing lunches, usually eaten in the middle of nowhere! The few times we did eat at picnic grounds, we felt sorry for all the other tourists, whose companies just provide boring brown bag lunches, for not only did they have to see us set up a beautiful table, with a tablecloth and proper plates and cutlery, they then had to watch in envy as we indulged in a large selection of delicious food that had been kept warm in environmentally-friendly stainless steel containers. We even had coffee made fresh in a French press every day, and Salim always made sure I could top off my meal with chocolate! He kindly spent his own money picking up treats like avocadoes and bananas from roadside stands. He also got up early every morning to make sure our jeep was spotless and stocked with everything we’d need. Extra touches like these make all the difference and really set Bright African apart from other companies.
Bright African’s excellence even crosses borders, for we got the same royal treatment when we went on to the next part of our trip, in Rwanda and Uganda. Upon arrival in Kigali, we met our second wonderful guide, Bosco. He is also a very conscientious and kind person, and he did a great job driving us through the beautiful Rwandan countryside, with stops at the quaint Migano Café with spectacular drinks (Try the Bob Marley!), and a very fun roadside eating area where we got kebabs, hot sauce and banana beer. Bosco set up WiFi in his car so we could catch up on messages while driving, and he even got a link to a Canadian radio station to make us feel totally at home! We told him that we were so comfortable that we could happily spend the rest of our holiday in his car, but in fact, the highlight of our trip was yet to come….a gorilla trek in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest! I didn’t think anything could be more exciting than our safari, but seeing a gorilla in its own habitat is an experience like no other. Gorillas are so like humans, and being in their presence is indeed a magical experience that I’d suggest to anyone with a little adventure in their souls (and lots of money in their pocket, as it is quite expensive!)
We are very grateful to Bright African for arranging all of these wonderful adventures, and would heartily recommend them to anyone interested in travelling to East Africa. They are also looking at expansion into South Africa, and we hope to use them there one day. After our trip, I had a lovely email exchange with one of the founders, Msangi, who told me that after working as a waiter, and then as a driver/guide, he built Bright African from scratch. What a fantastic job he has done! In addition to our excellent guides, we had many lovely drivers on our journey, and each one of them seemed to take great pride in their work and their company. Many congratulations to Msangi and all of his team for creating such a special company, and many thanks for giving us the trip of a lifetime. I was a little nervous about everything that could go wrong on this trip (insect-borne diseases, tummy troubles, security concerns, etc.), but all of my fears were unfounded. We had nothing but pleasure on our holiday thanks to the excellent work of Bright African Safaris.
A few last useful tips:
We wished we had bought our Tanzanian visas online ahead of time. Although the visa process was very smooth in all other countries we visited, Tanzania is in the process of converting from a manual system, and the line-ups to purchase a visa can be extremely long, so I would not suggest waiting to get the visa upon arrival.
I would not fret too much about insects in the dry season. We sprayed all our clothing with permethrin and brought 100% Deet, but never actually saw a mosquito. It’s probably better to be safe than sorry when mosquitoes carry malaria, but having spent much time in Canadian woods, Africa in September seemed like an insect-free paradise in comparison!
If you travel with Bright African, you probably don’t need to worry about bringing binoculars. They had excellent ones in the jeep. We also could have left behind our anti-bacterial wipes, as they provided them for us.
The toilets in East Africa were surprisingly clean, and we tipped every bathroom attendant to show our gratitude (After a recent trip to China where the bathrooms were filthy, I was hugely relieved!) That being said, there are not a lot of them in the parks, so you will need to be ready for “bush pees”. Bright African kindly supplies toilet paper, but I must say I was grateful not to have any tummy troubles!!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Experiencing Kenya absolutely amazing in every single detail
I really appreciated the e-mail communications early on, as this was our first African safari and we had many questions. Sylvester of Seven By Far covered every aspect of our visit, from meeting us at the airport on arrival for transfer, to detailed safari and lodge experiences, to securing a last-minute hotel room on our last day. A great surprise was an unexpected cake during one of our dinners to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary, very nice! The Safari Guide provided, Nick Kiritu, was absolutely the best guide ever, experienced and knowledgeable, his understanding of the animal habits allowed us to get photos and video of incredible wildlife events that would not have happened without his "reading" what was taking place and moving us into position before it happened. From a cheetah pair taking down a wildebeest right in front of us, to a Giraffe funeral, amazing footage and experiences. Nick we cannot thank you enough. Seven By Far arranged our stay at four different Sopa Lodges in Kenya, which were all impressively nice, especially considering their remote locations. I highly recommend Seven By Far, Sylvester and his team are the ONLY way to travel for the best safari experience "by far" in Kenya. One last word, WOW!
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Well organised and very good service. Our best trip to Kenya.
We were extremely happy with choosing Spirit of Kenya for our 4th safari trip to Kenya.
We had Joseph as our guide during our 6 days in the Masai Mara (3 different locations) . He truly is an exceptional guide who was very flexible, experienced and went the extra mile and gave his all to make our safari experience one of the best we have ever had.
We saw absolutely everything in the Masai Mara. Some very special moments! Seeing the wildebeests cross the Mara river and see Cheetahs hunting. Things we had never seen before. In total we saw 87 different Lions, 4 different Leopards, 14 different Cheetahs and one Black Rhino during our 6 nights in the Masai Mara.
We had Charles for our days in Samburu. He was also an excellent guide and although we only had him for two days, we found him very pleasant and talented. We celebrated my wife's 40th at Ashnil Samburu and on that day we were lucky enough to see a stunning male Leopard with his kill up in a tree. What a great sighting! We stayed there and watched him for at least 1,5 hour. We couldn't have ask for more.
The whole trip was organised perfectly and we would definitely use Spirit of Kenya again.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
We expected more animal-watching
We booked 4 day trip to Masa Mara. According to the schedule, we will have afternoon safari on first day, full day safari on 2nd and 3rd day , morning safari on the 4th day. Below are our actual activities:
1st day: We arrive hotel at 2.30pm. Our guide arrange a walk near the hotel with the hotel staff for us from 4.30-6.00. We didn't go for the game drive as the schedule said.
2nd day: We went hot air ballon. After the breakfast of balloon, other company have their guide pick them us at the breakfast place. We have no one to pick us up. The ballon company ask us where is out driver we have no idea. They try to call the hotel and the driver but he can't get in touch with the driver. He was not at hotel by then. So the ballon company let us share the car with others. After send them back to their hotel, then send us back to ours. We arrive our hotel at about 12, our car was not at the hotel, nor the driver. We talk with another guide from Classic Journey, he said our driver told him we would like to start the game drive by 4pm which is never the plan. The driver back to hotel at about 12.30 and we had game drive 1.30pm - 5.30 pm.
3rd day: We departure about 6pm, had picnic breakfast & lunch and back about 4pm.
4th day: No game drive in the morning. Check out at about 8am and back to Nairobi.