IN
under20 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great trip. Experienced guide. Simple food. Scenic beauty. Perfect combination.
Since our guide was experienced and enthusiastic about showing us all the animals, he went the extra mile to do so. He succeeded and made us fall in love with wildlife.
The food was simple. Less oily. Less spicy. We ended up losing weight
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
well aranged and friendly people
Had a great tour and saw the big five. We're very pleased with the guide, he told us a lot. Had communication with Denis. Hope to back one day.
SE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Big five, two parks, three days
Fantasic! Exellent guide Hamisi and chef Damien on three days safari with sunny safaris!
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A really tailor made safari holiday with outstanding services and places to stay
Tailor Made Safari's really has succeeded in delivering us an outstanding holiday. It all started on the Holiday Fair in January 2014 in The Netherlands were they had a very well organized stand. On basis of our wishes Tailor Made Safari's worked out very quickly a very well balanced trip to make in the Kwazulu Natal province of South Africa. One week before leaving the Netherlands we received a mobile telephone for emergencies, a navigation device and a fotobook with description and gps locations of places to stay and places we were going to visit. All pre-prepared for our trip to make by ourselves in South Africa. This made it posible to start directly our trip in a very relaxed way, directly after arrival at the airport. The rented car, the places to stay overnight and the host services were of a very good quality and the people we met were very friendly. With the mobile telephone we had received we kept sms contact with Tailor Made Safari's. They always reacted promptly and this gave us a very save and secure feeling. Tailor Made Safari's made it possible that we were able to make this trip on our own without their help, just as they had told us.
We thank all the teammembers of Tailor Made Safaries for this unforgetable trip. Lambik (53), Sandra (52), Tanja (20) and Daan (18)
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
AMAZING
Hi everyone! PSA - This review will be long only because I want to answer all of the questions I had before this trip and could not find the answers to myself (and then I will rave about this awesome tour group!)
First and most importantly - You NEED a visa to enter this country! They cost about $100/$120 pending on the site you get it from, it's detailed and you have to fill in a lot of questions and send pictures of your passport to them (I was nervous to do that but it is real).
Make sure you buy hiking boots/shoes! You will thank yourself later.
When originally booking this trip I talked to many different tour companies and found myself unsteady when each of them told me to pay via Money Order/wire transfer or a third party website if I wanted to use a credit card (and a % fee for doing so). I was looking all over TripAdvisor for the answer because I didn't know what to do so I used a credit card incase it was a fake website so the fee kept my mind at ease. WELL, I am here to say, trust it! Don't stress that this isn't a real company because it is! (If I saw this during my booking I would've easily felt better).
The companies all email back and forth very quickly and will answer any questions you may have.
After picking my resorts & add ons like the Hot Air Balloon ride (DO IT!!) I had to ask for a detailed itinerary of our trip because it's not like Expedia where its all right there. This is a very, "Relax and trust me" system in Kenya, which made much more sense once I got there.
My originally weariness of "What if we get there and no one is actually coming" went away right when we got off the plane. We met with our driver Joseph right away! He had a sign with our names on it and everything.
I also suggest opting for the Land Rover because you will NEED the leg room. This country looks small but its not! We got off the plane only to sit in the car another 5 hrs to get to our first game park, and these roads are bumpy! Bring some motion sickness pills if you have problems in the car. We then had another 4 hr drive the next day to the next game park; followed by 8.5 hrs back to Nairobi at the end of the trip, and we did all of this driving on a 4-day tour. Not expecting that much driving time I'm really happy we opted for the Land Rover so we could all spread out and get comfy.
Make sure you get the shots and heavy duty bug spray! I know it's an unexpected cost but having food poisoning or travelers diarrhea is no fun and will make you miss a day of the beautiful game parks. The food was amazing everywhere we stayed so none of us got sick thankfully! We did buy packets of pedialyte (amazon) and drank one every day just to make sure we stayed hydrated because it is HOT HOT HOT there.
Lastly, they like tips and payment for things in US dollars. I went to the bank and ordered Schillings ahead of time thinking I was ahead of the game, but all of the shops we went to, the driver, and even the add ons to our packages (the hot air balloon ride) they all preferred US dollars. If you have schillings they will take that too but you could save yourself a lot of money in fees by not even worrying about transferring US dollars to Schillings.
For some people this may matter - there is wifi in most of the resorts except it is only in the lobby and for limited hours of the day due to not having power! I was worried about "incase of emergency" exceptions so I added the international plan to my phone - which will run you about $70-$80 for a month because Kenya is not part of the cheaper plans. However, I did feel better that if we got lost in the middle of the park/ran out of gas, I could call for help.
Ok - enough about the little details - lets talk about this amazing company- Beacon Safaris!
From the moment we arrived we were greeted with a smile and excited face from Joseph! He was awesome!! He was so very personable and went above and beyond to do whatever he could for us. We even got to meet Robert quickly, which made me feel so much better to be able to put a face to the name of the person I was emailing back and forth with for the better part of a year.
Anything we wanted to do and even our last-minute change of plans never upset him. We asked to stop many times for some snacks, beers, shopping at these awesome little spots in the villages that we saw, and especially the bathroom and he was happy to accommodate. (The places you will stay have toilets and toilet paper but some of the places you stop for the bathroom are just a hole in the ground so buy some travel size toilet wipes on amazon to keep on you at all times - just incase). He was so personable and really went above and beyond to meet our needs. We had some very long car rides from Nairobi to Lake Nakuru to Masai Mara and then all the way back to Nairobi, and Joseph never complained once.
Instead, he was just as excited as we were to see the animals, which made us even more excited too because it felt like it was all of our first experiences. His personality is vibrant and he really is a shining light for the company!
I was nervous at first that we wouldn’t see any animals but Joseph made sure our day was never boring! We saw endless amounts of zebras, lions, giraffes, elephants, a leopard, cheetahs, and even the black rhino! You can't get out of the car but you will get very very close - get the 4X4 Land Rover because the roof goes up and you can put your head out the top to see the animals better.
Our morning hot air balloon ride got cancelled on our first attempt due to weather one morning, and Joseph had to rush to come pick us up unexpectedly. When he arrived, we were so hungry and asked him if we could stop to get breakfast somewhere but to our amazement he already thought of that in his rush to get to us and pre-packaged breakfast for each of us. He truly went above and beyond for us each day and I don’t think we could thank him enough.
Joseph is not just our driver, but we now consider him family! Thank you so much for the experience of a lifetime to both Robert & Joseph.
Maisha Marefu! (Cheers to a good life)
Mariah
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fabulous trip to Rwanda
The Safari Partners were recommended to us by some friends who travelled with them in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. From the beginning, Chris was super helpful, very knowledgeable and really helped us to plan our trip. From the moment we arrived and were met at the airport, we had a fantastic experience. Everything was smooth, and our driver/guide, Duncan, was incredible! He made sure that we had an amazing experience in the parc, and we saw two gorilla families. Both experiences were awesome, the hotel was great and Duncan made sure that we had great trek experiences. We also enjoyed our time in Kigali, where Duncan took care of us as well. Chris was really helpful too and I would recommend Safari Partners to anyone.
CL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing
Jaco the best Tour guide. Everything was perfect. Nos quedamos en skukuza y superó mis expectativas. El lugar perfecto. Vimos muchos animales. Realmente buena agencia y fue un viaje maravilloso.
La persona que contesta los correos también excelente.
Muchas gracias por todo!!
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A perfect stay
It was a wonderful wk. we saw many animals thanks to our driver .Peter was a good driver,guise,person and very safe with the Carlos.Accomodations really good(Bush Camps and Lodge).
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Adam was a brilliant guide, we saw so much, a leopard and cheetah,a well as the expected animals.
The wildlife was spectacular and really good views, Adam got us to the right spots.
The accommodation very comfortable, tents that make glamping look down market. We were well fed and watered, even if a kite tried to steal our lunch. A very good view of the offender.
Thanks again Adam.
US
Abundant, photogenic, and unique wildlife. Good hotels and food. Friendly people.
Tons of wildlife, from lemurs to endemic birds to lots of reptiles and butterflies. Most of the wildlife is tame and photogenic. The local guides are very skilled at finding whatever you want to see, especially lemurs. Hotels and food are surprisingly good. Some of the roads are decent, while others are poor, and drive times can be long. The Malagasy people are friendly and hospitable. Overall, a magical destination that is completely unlike any other place on Earth. I can thoroughly recommend the services of 8th Continent Expeditions, a Malagasy-owned tour company that made the bookings for my trip.