65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park by Bird Brian
This is one of South Africa's top parks. Not only are there vast herds of grazers, there are a large number of predators. One would be unlucky not to see one of lion, cheetah or leopard on a visit. It is a large park, with a wide variety of camps and accommodations, of high quality.
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
This is an enchanting, small park, with a wide variety of animals and birds, easily viewed by car.
Quite small by South African game park standards, the Mountain Zebra NP has a wide range of wild animals and birds, easily viewed from a good road network. Although there are a small number of Lion and Black Rhino, which one would be lucky to see, we saw large numbers of Red Hartebeest and Cape Mountain Zebras, also Kudu, Springbok, Buffalo and Wildebeest. There is also a special walk available to track Cheetah. The birdlife is varied and quite beautiful, generally quite easy to spot and photograph, either from the car or on walks around the camp.
As a spectacle, this is a peaceful park, perched in the beautiful mountain areas of the eastern Karoo. It has a unique beauty, which is not spoilt by humans, as the numbers of visitors are limited. There is a variety of accommodation types. The two bedroom chalet that we stayed in, near the main reception building, was comfortable and well equipped for self catering. There is a restaurant and small shop in the main reception area, which was well patronised when we were there. As we were self catering, we did not have the opportunity to sample the fare. We walked around a well maintained camping site, with a large ablution block, so campers are well catered for.
The fenced camp is quite extensive, with two short, but enjoyable mountain side walks and a large swimming pool, which was well patronised when we were there.
All in all, a wonderful natural location for a peaceful 2 or 3 night break.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Tanzania by Bruce Finocchio
I have also been Kruger National Park in South Africa in 2005, and our Tanzania guide kept saying that Tanzania is even better for viewing and photographing wildlife, and at the end of our trip I had to agree with him. Kruger is great place, but the Serengeti ecosystem is even more spectacular.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Uganda by Val and Simon
Such beautiful scenery with terraced fields on all hills and in Murchison Falls and QE National Parks, a wealth of game. Very friendly people and lovely lodges in scenic surrounds. Few other tourists so got very private views of the game
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about South Africa by Bird Brian
This is an enchanting park, located in an arid mountain location, with a wide variety of animals, easily viewed because of the low vegetation and excellent road network. The accommodation and other facilities are of a high standard.
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great trip, very flexible and accomodating
Ask for Steve to be your guide and you will have an amazing experience.
JP
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Poorly organized, attempted price increase/bait & switch, change of details, unnecessary delays
I have some really mixed reviews about this operator, I honestly wanted to give them a good review and communication during booking was good, but then just before we arrived in Kenya things started to quickly unravel. In short, I can't in good conscious recommend this operator to anyone after the experience we had with them. I went with a 4 day package that was to include Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara. Our flight arrived in Nairobi after noon and most package tours leave in the morning, so I emailed several about this and most were receptive to taking us straight from the airport to our first stopover point right away (we didn't want to waste a night in Nairobi as we had limited time on the trip). Santos from Kenya Bush Excursions got in touch with me and they were the first one to offer the Lanet Matfam resort in Nakuru for the first night rather than the budget hotel in town that most operators seem to use, so I went with them because of that reason. I sent the requested deposit and all was well.
Problems:
1st) 2 weeks before our arrival Santos emailed me and said there was a problem, he said another client cancelled the Nakuru part of their trip and wanted to do Masai Mara only and tried to convince me to do the same, or else pay more to keep our scheduled trip as a private safari. I simply said neither option was acceptable, that Nakuru was part of our plan and we still wanted to go but I saw no reason to pay more since it was already agreed from the start that we were going to Nakuru in a private group due to our mid-day arrival at NBO and our minimum booking number was only 2 for that price anyway. I asked that he either honor the original agreement or cancel and I'd rebook with another operator. (There were no shortage of operators willing to offer nearly the same price). He then said he would work on it and get back to me. A week later he still hadn't gotten back to me so I followed up myself and he said all was fine, that he'd arranged to drop us with another safari operator on the second day to go to Masai Mara with their group. Generally that was fine with me as all operators to Masai Mara were pretty much the same from the quotes I received.
2nd) After arriving at NBO, our driver and Santos met us at the airport. I quickly noted that the car picking us up was not a 4x4 Safari van as quoted, but a small Toyota station wagon unsuitable for a game drive. After leaving the airport Santos again tried to convince us to give up Lake Nakuru and go to Lake Naivasha instead, which I again declined since we wanted to see the flamingos at Nakuru. He was trying to say that maybe the roads in the park at Lake Nakuru were too difficult since it was rainy season (they were fine BTW, and if they would have had the promised 4x4 van then it wouldn't have been an issue anyway). After paying the balance, we had expected to be on our way immediately to Nakuru, but instead they had to take us into the City Market area so he could exchange dollars to shillings on the black market because he didn't have money to pay the driver and our park fees. He was completely unprepared, and if he wanted paid in Kenyan shillings then he should have said that in the booking emails as I could have easily gotten them at the airport saving A LOT of time. It took them over an hour to get the exchange done and payments sorted out as we drove around the city market over and over in the heat with no A/C. Now finally it's well after 3pm and finally we're on the way out of the city. We arrive in Nakuru well after dark.
3rd) After arriving at Nakuru and checking into the Lanet Matfam resort, our driver said that his boss wants to talk to me. I get on the phone and it's Santos again trying to convince me to give up the Lake Nakuru game drive in the morning and just to do Masai Mara because he doesn't have the cash to pay for it all. He said if we want to do Lake Nakuru in the morning (as per the original itinerary) that he wanted us to pay another $150 for the park fees. Of course I refused and said I still don't understand why he's trying this again and reminded him that I gave him a chance to cancel 2 weeks before. I also reminded him that if we were to cancel the Lake Nakuru game drive then it was a complete waste of time to drive there that night, since it's a good 2 hours north of the turn off to go to Masai Mara from Nairobi. Finally he said it's fine and he'd pay the difference out of his own pocket. (I will never believe he paid anything out of his own pocket, maybe he didn't make money on us since other people cancelled but I added up all park fees and they are about 50% of our total package cost, so there was plenty left to pay drivers and budget accommodations).
4th) The Lake Nakuru game drive was in the Toyota station wagon that picked us up from the airport. It was poor because it doesn't have the proper ground clearance for the dirt tracks in the park, no pop-up roof for taking pictures, and is low to the ground hurting chances at seeing animals at a distance. Where was the 4x4 van we were promised?
5th) We'll skip to the last day when arriving back at Nairobi since the part of the tour after joining the other operator and group to Masai Mara was really good. When we got back into Nairobi the driver we were with was already planning to go to the airport to drop off someone else with a similar flight time as us. Instead of leaving us with them to go to the airport, Santos brought his own driver to meet us in the city center to take us to the airport. That in itself was fine, however once again they were totally unprepared. To drop off other people, the van we were in drove through the city market area and went to another parking area about 15-20 minutes away (in traffic, really only about 1km in distance). One parking, Santos and the driver were there waiting, but informed me that the car was actually "a few" meters away. Turns out after walking and following them, the car was actually parked well on the other side of the city market where we had just driven through, at that point nearly an hour before. So here we're dragging our luggage through hot and crowded Nairobi center streets to a place we had already passed once and if he had communicated with the driver of the van we were in, could have been dropped at that spot as we passed earlier. To add insult to injury he made us wait on a street corner for a good 15 minutes after getting back to the city market area waiting for the car to show up from its parking spot. Needless to say I was extremely irritated at this point since the van we started in was going to the airport anyway and all of this was completely unnecessary, my impression was that he was intentionally causing us delay in retaliation for not cancelling Nakuru. There was no other excuse or explanation for it. I was frankly ready to just call in an Uber car and be done with him at that point, the nearest Uber car though was about 15 minutes away and the regular taxis nearby were all pretty shabby looking. His driver did show up finally with the car but by this point the heavy traffic on the road going out to the airport had started and it took forever. We made our flight but had little time to spare thanks to these antics.
Now, the good parts... as far as Kenya Bush Excursions goes, there aren't any, but the operator they passed us off to for Masai Mara was excellent. I didn't get their company's name unfortunately (certainly wish I had because I'd give them a great review), but the driver is Joshua and knows the Masai Mara very well. The first day evening game drive and the last day morning game drive were so-so, but I will blame that mostly on the part of the park near the camp we stayed in, he said the Maasai people drive their cattle through there and it scares away a lot of the animals. The full day game drive he led us on however was really good. He was on the radio the whole day getting locations on big cats and really made an effort to get to them before they disappeared into the bush. We saw more lions than one can count (at least 20 in total), a cheetah mother with cubs, and finally a leopard. Of course plenty of all the common animals too (elephant, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, etc.) but the real gems were the big cats. The cheetah, leopard, and at least one of the really good lion sightings would not have likely been found on a self-drive without someone on a radio.
All in all we had a really good Masai Mara safari and a really poor Lake Nakru one. But the frustrations of dealing with Kenya Bush Excursions were terrible and uncalled for. They are absolute professionals at trying to convince you not to take what you've already paid for or pay twice for the same thing. There is no shortage of tour operators willing to offer the same price with a minimum booking of 2 people. For people doing Nakuru with other operators, I highly recommend requesting the Lanet Matfam resort instead of the budget hotel in town. Considering where we were at, the Lanet Matfam was actually pretty decent (far from luxury, but nothing like the terrible reviews the budget hotels in town get).
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great help with planning our trip and excellent arrangements.
Nyati Travel listened to what we wanted from our first ever trip to Zimbabwe, made some excellent suggestions and great choices on our behalf. The 17 day trip went like clockwork. The driver provided, Cranius, was thoughtful and careful, and tried to make happen whatever we wanted to do! Even visiting a coal mine!
We started at Vic Falls, went to Chobe, then on to Hwange (Sable Sands and elephant tracking with Roy Aylward - ask for him by name .....all superb), then to Matopos and rhino tracking with Andy , (again ask for him by name). Then on to Great Zimbabwe, and finally to HIFA in Harare.
Nyati even booked tickets for the festival as soon as the festival programme came out.
Zimbabwe leaves us full of smiles, sunshine, colour, gentleness, grace. Not once did we feel uncomfortable or concerned.
It's not a cheap destination, but tourism brings jobs for local people and we were always made to feel welcome wherever we went. If you have the chance to visit, don't let it pass you by!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Extraordinary Journeys is the best!
Extraordinary Journeys is the best! Planning a trip to Africa can be a daunting experience if you try to do it on your own. There are so many options and price points to decide on and enlisting EJ to plan all the details is the best decision I made when planning my trip. They got to know me, my interests, my budget and put together the most amazing trip that was completely customized for me. No trip detail was overlooked. Pre-trip I received advice of what to bring and a detailed itinerary. While traveling, at every transition point someone was waiting for me and I was warmly welcomed at the lodges. I had no travel “hic-ups” but if I did I had an emergency EJ contact just in case. I can’t wait to go back and explore more of Africa and EJ will definitely be planning my next trip.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great six day safari to Samburu, Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru
I rarely write reviews but BigTime Safaris gave me an excellent trip and there aren't a lot of reviews for safaris, so I thought it would help people by seeing a review. I did a six day safari to Samburu, Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara. Martha was extremely responsive to all my questions and always replied back to my emails within day. She scheduled my pickup to and from the airport also. Martha was phenominal. Rarely have I had someone be so responsive and helpful. Animal (or Animo) was my guide and driver and was fantastic. He was extremely knowledgeable about the animals we saw and had a great personality. Big Time Safaris was priced well. Lucky for me, no one signed up for the Samburu portion of my trip, so it was just the guide and myself. The fourth day we picked up a second tourist for the Masai Mara portion of the tour. Even though I went in April and in the rainy season, it only rained two days. One day it rained 20 minutes, the other day it rained for 1.5 hours. So even if you can only go in April, still go as the weather was gorgeous and I had no issues. Also, Samburu was better than the Masai Mara in my opinion. There was a higher density of animals and the landscape was a bit more hilly/picturesque. Lake Nakuru was nice to see rhinos and rock hyrax.