CH
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Rich in landscapes, wildlife, cultures, hospitality, but suffers poverty, drought, and corruption.
As a four-member family we booked 2 weeks safari and one week Diani Beach south of Mombasa. Both my wife and I had been in Kenya before, decades ago. Kenya has changed, but not as much as we had expected. True, Nairobi is much bigger and more dangerous, but the countryside, the towns don't seem so different. The tour operators, Best Memory, were very friendly and professional, met us at the airport to take us to the hotel.
It was surprisingly cool throughout our safari, it being technically 'winter' there, but quite a bit warmer near Mombasa.
The safari, conducted by the very sympathetic and knowledgeable driver Patrick, went through the most notable parks and a stimulating change of scenery and lodges/camps. Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru were great, Amboseli and Tsavo East a bit disappointing because there were few animals due to the bad drought there. On the whole there seemed to be fewer animals, which is not surprising. Still, we saw almost everything there was to see, except for a leopard. And we were exposed particularly to the fascinating Masai culture. We did learn to check the exchange rates carefully and haggle at the souvenir shops along the way.
The final week at the Baobab resort at Diani Beach was all-inclusive, very nice, we were spoiled. The monkeys were a constant interest for the children but they could quickly grab a sandwich out of your hand. Water and pools were a nice temperature and the food good. There was nightly live entertainment in an amphitheatre by a well-trained troupe called the Jambo Team.
We left on election day. Campaigns were obviously well-funded. Everyone was hoping there would be no violence but they didn't believe a change in leadership would bring about any meaningful change to widespread poverty and corruption. It is a fascinating country with great but yet unrealised potential. well worth a visit.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tsavo West - the mountainous rustic gem of the Kenyan safari parks.
Tsavo West was one of three national parks we visited while in Kenya, along with Amboseli and Tsavo East. Each of these parks has its own special characteristics and charms. Of the three, Tsavo West is certainly the least visited, which helps to give it a more secluded and natural feel. The relative lack of tourists means that even when impressive groups of animals are spotted, only a few safari vehicles will converge, and so are less likely to spook them away. Additional plusses for Tsavo West are that the terrain provides a beautiful backdrop as this park is the most mountainous of the three, and that there was the opportunity to see animals that we were not able to spot elsewhere. For example, Tsavo West was the only park where we observed leopards, hippos (at the Mzima Springs pools within the park), and several kinds of monkeys. Mzima Springs in particular was an exceptional treat since it was one of the few opportunities on safari to leave the jeep while in a park, though in exchange, the guides needed to be armed just in case a hippo or other large animal decided it did not like our presence. Luckily, incidents almost never occur, so the result is just that one can get closer to the natural environment and have a slightly elevated sense of adventure while doing it. Tsavo West also contains a black rhino preserve, though we were unable to see any rhinos while there. Not being able to see a rhino was perhaps the only major downside with our visit, though I am sure other visitors don’t have this kind of bad luck. Others potential criticisms of the park are that because it is so remote, the lodging services are a little rougher and that because of the terrain, there are no locations to get expansive photos of hundreds of animals of different species together as far as the eye can see. We personally found the lodging in the park to be pleasantly rustic, and thought the change of background scenery provided a good compliment to the other parks on the trip. Assuming you can fit it in your itinerary, a visit to Tsavo West is certainly recommended along with the other fine parks in the Kenyan park system.
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Life-changing, life-affirming and one of the most beautiful places I have been to on Earth.
We had a true outback experience. Staying in the tent camp, the facilities were good but basic and the food was excellent. The afternoon tea was a welcome addition to each day! It was easy to fall into the natural rhythm of the place - we got up with the sun and tracked elephants, leopards, lions and many other animals while taking in the beautiful scenery. Days filled with 4x4 drives and walking tours with experienced, witty and knowledgeable guides - perfect! Weather was just right; a few cloudy days but always warm and enjoyable. The highlight of my visit was climbing up the ridge known as the ampitheatre and sipping a beer while watching the sun set on elephants playing in the river below. The game reserve was a lot greener than expected, due to visiting near rainy season time. Many interesting locations to visit that offer amazing views and a superb range of animals: Eagle Rock, Baobab Rock and the Ampitheatre were just some of the places I enjoyed visiting. Spotted some Marshall Eagles and European Rollers, which were amongst my favourite sightings (apart from the elephants of course!). I highly recommend a visit here, it's somewhere to be truly at peace with yourself and with nature.
Loved this Park
this has been a wonderful travel for me. I really enjoyed it. The scenary was spectacular, the weather awesome. I really loved it.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
5 months in the harsh but beautiful Makgadikgadi Pans National Park
I have been volunteering in Makgadikgadi Pans National Park for the last 5 months with the charity Elephants for Africa (http://www.elephantsforafrica.org/) so this review might be a little different from others. I arrived in Makgadikgadi at the end of May. Having visited other national parks one of the first things I noticed was the harshness of the environment. Around the Boteti river which has only started flowing in 2009 after 20 years of being dry there is some green vegetation but the further you go into the bush the drier to gets to the extent you start to wonder how anything can survive but out in the grasslands you can see gemsbok, steenbok, ostrich and the elephants and zebras making their long trek to the river. The river is where everything happens with large herds (sometimes up to 30 individuals) of male elephants playing in the river and cooling off. Since I have been here we have started seeing female herds moving into the area but they are very nervous around vehicles and tend to move off very quickly.
Lions can be herd at night and there is a local pride in the area but you have to work hard to see them. Early starts down at the river trying to pick up their trails are your best chance but like any safari it can come down to luck like when we bumped into two cheetah in the middle of the day. Wild dogs have also been seen in the area as well.
I'm not a birder but there is plenty of action down at the river in this department with fish eagles, lappetfaced vultures, tawny eagles and a mix of other birds to be seen.
The road network in Makgadikgadi isn't very extensive and if only here for a short period focusing time around the river would be the best use of effort. If you start heading North after the river or too far South of the Khumaga gate you just end up following the national parks fenceline. If you are staying for longer it might be worthwhile travelling east towards the pans and the open grasslands to get a feel for the harshness of the area. However, if you do this you need to be very self sufficient as there is not a lot of traffic in the park so if you get stuck you need to be able to get yourself out.
I stay in the parks area where the SKL office is but have visited the SKL campsite where they have a very nice ablution block where you can get hot water for showers and wash up after a busy day in the field. The SKL guys are also really useful. If you ever get into difficulty they have a vehicle and are willing to go and help you if you get stuck anywhere.
4wd is a must in the park as it can get quite difficult to drive in the sand.
In terms of weather it was warm back in May during the day and cold in the evening but now in October the temperature has really increased and has got up to 40 degrees celsius during the day and still warm during the nights.
In this park you really have to put the time in and if you are expecting to see lions and cheetah left, right and centre this is maybe not the right park for you. However, when you do get these sightings it makes it much more rewarding. That said I might be biased on this but there is nothing better than seeing a herd of elephants playing in the river in the afternoon and makes for some very scenic views.
Also something I forgot to mention but at the moment at the Khumaga gate because of the Boteti river flowing and vehicles being unable to cross there is now a small car ferry that charges Pula 130 each way which often tourists don't know about.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Matusadona National Park by BiJian Fan
Our camp is on an island of lake Kariba, great place for birding and fishing. A good break of travel pace. To see the animals from water gave us a different perspective.
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A lot of variation in 1 park
Tsavo west is a very variously. I liked the different vegation in het park, althougt in some parts its very hard to spot animals because off the dense vegatation.In this park lives a lot of animals, but you do not see tem all. In other, less vegatated, parcs it's easier to spot animals. But sometimes the animals are crossing the roads, we almost hid a giraffe, because we didn't see it coming because of the vegatation. Luckaly our driver didn't drive to fast.if you only visiting 1 parc and you want to see a lot of animals, you better choose a different parc. But if you're visiting more parc, Tsavo west is a lovely suprising change to other parcs. To bad there is very long fence next to 1 of the roads. This fence is neccesary because of the elephants, but it's a pity that it's directly besides the road.
In Tsavo West you can also spot some history, like bridges who are builed in the 2nd world war. Whe had a very good guide from Pollmans, he had a lot of stories about the places the Germans fought with the British people. Do'nt know if it was all truth, but you have to believe your guide...
When your in Tsavo West you really have to go to the places with the black lava. It's like your on the moon or something, everywere you can see it's all black...
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Uganda is amazing!
Visiting Kibale was part of our trip in Uganda.
We really loved Kibale. We were surrounded by chimps! They were everywhere, playing, fighting, screaming, grooming and mating.
One female stayed in her nest in the tree.
She had a young baby and we think she just didn't want to come out to join the rest of the group.
They were noisy!
It was very impressive, a completely different exerience than the gorilla's.
Our guide was really good. He had lived in the forest for years during the Amin-regime and told us really everything about plants, trees etc.
We stayed in the primate lodge which is only 5 minutes away from the startingpoint for the chimp-tracking. So very convenient.
We liked the lodge. Stayed in one of the cottages.
VG
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Garden of Eden
My trip was wonderful. I did four days in different parks including the Serengeti. My only disappointment was on my last night in the tent. It was not designed for the cold weather and it was not compatible with the luxury package that I chose. So my last night was not fun at all.
CH
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Amazing people in an amizing landscape
We visited Tarangirie, Ngorongoro an Serenget Nationalpark. All are very different and worth to visit. During migration the Serengeti is unbeatable!
Being accompanied by papagei tours made us feel in professional and careful hands.