IN
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A not so good experience. What was promised and communicated on mail and whatsapp, was not delivered
The communication with George was very good via email and whatsapp. The itinerary that we both agreed on was not followed. As soon as the balance of the payment was done before the journey, things were changed randomly. I had specifically asked George to start with a night at Nakuru and then 3 nights at Mara. The plan was reversed without being informed. After 2 nights in Mara, we were informed that we would be heading out to Nakuru and Naivasha for a day each. I had to put my foot down and show them the itinerary which clearly said 3 nights at Mara. The driver obliged and put us into another van. In 5 days, we changed 3 vans and drivers which was a put off. Also, the camps and lodges I had specifically asked for and agreed upon by them, was changed. Although luckily, we ended up being in a good camp. Unfortunately the lodge at Nakuru was pathetic, to say the least.
The safari itself was a fantastic experience. Maasai mara has to be seen to be believed. The sheer vastness of land exclusively for animals is something that blew us away. Will surely make it a once a year affair.
RU
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Service needs improvement
We got interesting experience and knowledge, having been on Safari in Selous. Familiarity with the nature and wildlife of East Africa will remain in our memory forever.
Safari with Selous Kinga Lodge can not recommend to other travelers.
At first there were problems with payment. The amount of the first Safari bill is less than 2 times the agreed amount. The Manager explained that it is necessary to pay the second part in cash on the spot. The day before departure, the accountant requires to make a payment through the Bank, but there is no Bank near me. Long corresponded, agreed on the first option.
Then the Manager changes the declared direct flight Zanzibar-Selous to another with an additional landing in Dar es Salaam. Additional landing on the way in both directions, which complicates the procedure of the trip.
No one met us when we arrived in Selous. Half an hour later, we drew the attention of one of the locals, at our request phoned the Lodge and notified them about us. As a result, we were picked up 2 hours after our arrival.
During the Safari, the driver drove off the road and got stuck in the mud. With the help of other people in 1.5 hours we managed to get out of the mud and continue on your way.
On arrival at the Lodge in the evening wanted to swim in the pool. The pool floor was very slippery. To go into the water failed. No one uses the pool and it is not cleaned.
CL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great trip but tour guide below expectations
We book a 5 day "High End" in Amboseli, Navaisha and Masai Mara. The email comunication to prepare the trip was tediuos. We expected the executive to give us better recommendations for planning the trip. They never let us know that they were going to pick us up at the airport in Nairobi! I had to made the transfer on my own.
Regarding our guide, he comply with the schedules and he was friendly. He was very worried that we could see all the animals as well. However, he did not communicate much with us during the games drives and did not keep us informed of what we were going to do during the day. Moreover, he was not very open to listen to questions or explain. Finally, the day we were arriving at Masai Mara's tented camp, the guide got lost along the way.
Accommodations were great. Excellent attention, great food, very comfortable rooms and very relaxing surroundings.
We had lunch outside our acomodation just once. The last day, when we went from Amani Mara to the airport we stopped for lunch on the way in a restaurant that was far from being the standard of the tour I booked (High End). I will not extend talking about the supposed high-end binoculars and the surprise charge of 3.5% to pay by credit card (unacceptable).
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Our guide Ben was nice but disinterested--he drove us to each place but stayed in the car mostly.
Communications from our coordinator Francis were great. He was responsonsive and great at answering our questions. The safari tour was a bit below expectations. Our guide would start driving when we were still trying to take pictures when we did see animals and overall didn't have much patience to go find/wait for more.
We also ended up getting to the baby elephant sanctuary 10 mins late for the show and the guide did not help us find a good spot. Spent the whole show looking between people's shoulders trying to get a peep. Very frustrating.
Giraffe conservatory was very fun and probably the highlight as we got to feed the animals but he was again not involved at all.
We made some random stop at the Kazuri beads factory which was sorta interesting but was just a stop to have more tips extracted from us.
Karen Blixen museum was okay and a self guided tour. He didn't even know that was in the itinerary and we had to remind him to call his boss to verify. He then tried to pawn us off to another guide at the museum which would just give us yet another person to pay which felt kind of weird.
Overall the guide Ben was a nice guy but just not engaged at all with providing us a good experience. Everything felt very transactional and very different from the safari/Kilimanjaro experience we just had in Tanzania.
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.
NZ
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Experienced driver who I felt was just doing his job.
Despite several emails as we had changed the pickup day to a Friday they never showed up on time.
Excellent driver ,answered our questions but not forthcoming with information.
Overall loved the Safari
CA
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
In the end, satisfied with the overall expérience.
Lodging and food were appreciated. Landcruiser in Tanzania was way over it’s usefull and safe life i.e. So old that there were no headrests!
Guide Moses in Kenya very sharp and dedicated. Guide in Tanzania inexperienced and too eager to please all in party at once. Did not spot anything on his on.
Visit of Massai village turned out to be stressfull for all in party as we were submitted to pressure and intimidation by the villagers. They were after our money, all our money and gang-up on us after we were separated from each
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Mixed feelings
We booked a 3 days/2 nights safari with Wildebeest Safaris in September 2019. The booking process was straightforward and we were really happy with the accommodation that was offered. We were picked up by our driver Joseph who was also our guide on the whole trip. First two days, we had a great time in Masai Mara National Park, we were lucky to spot the Big 5. Joseph did everything he can to find rare animals such as leopard and rhino.
The last day we set out to go back to Nairobi where we had a flight in the evening. Soon after we realised our driver was feeling very sick. He asked me to drive the safari jeep which I did. On the way, we stopped by a local clinic to make sure he had treatment. He was feeling better after two hours, so we moved on. The journey back to Nairobi was very long and because I wasn't familiar with that type of vehicle, so I struggled with driving it. We were supposed to go to Lake Naivasha and pay a visit to Masai village on that day, but Joseph again became sick and we had a plane to catch so we just drove on. We didn't want to take a break to eat or use toilet to waste time, yet again, Joseph stopped us at a souvenir shop which he had an agreement with. We then were stopped by a local policeman on the road who gave us a hard time, luckily I had my driving licence with me and he let us go after a while when he was convinced that our driver was sick. The whole journey took us 11 hours and when we arrived in Nairobi we had 2 hours left to our flight. Joseph asked us to pull over at their office where we were greeted by Noah. He had no idea what had happened, so when we said we were late, he immediately found a car to drive us to the airport. Unfortunately, the traffic was crazy in the city and we made it to the airport only 15 minutes before the check-in was closed.
We wish all the best to our driver and understand the challenges of ending up sick in a remote place. I tried to help him as a doctor and also as a friend. But it was a very stressful last day for everyone and the little things that happened there left a sour taste in our mouths. There was clearly miscommunication between the driver and the agency as they were not aware of what was going on. I hope Wildebeest Safaris take this review as constructive criticism and not allow the same thing to happen again.
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Did work out at the end !
The company may be a good tour company but certainly can’t carter to luxury travellers. The communication was nonexistent but most things happened as they our itinerary stipulated. Safaris’s experience was rushed for later part of the trip but that’s because of wrong flights booked and so on.
RU
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Tried to reduce our time for game drives
We did 2-days safari to Amboseli with our guide Eric. All was good - Eric took us to Amboseli from Nairobi very fast, then was a lunch in a very beautiful Kibo camp. First game drive was in the evening and we saw a lot of animals against the setting sun. But in Amboseli there are not a lot of lions and cheetah so if you see them there would be a looot of other cars (compared to Masai Mara). Eric chose different routes so we saw a big part of Amboseli park.
But at the end of our morning game drive when we had just passed the gate of Amboseli park was an accident. We had noticed that our morning game was started at 7:30 instead of 6:30, and it was ended at 10:00 instead of 11:00. Yesterday there was the same thing - we depart to our evening game at 16:00 instead of 15:30. Eric showed us that he had different plan with other departure times but it is so strange that it's difficult to understand is it an accident or the organisers specially reduced our time and hoped that we are not noticed that.
After that Eric offered to us to go somewhere in Nairobi for that 2 hours but it wasn't satisfied us. The problem is that we had a one enter ticket for a day to Amboseli park and we couldn't go back by no charge (another one ticket to Amboseli cost 120$). Then we paid additional 20$ to enter Amboseli again for that 2 hours.
The safari was really good so as our guide. But on vacation we wanted to relax but if you relax you may be tricked.