PH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent Trip
We had an amazing, unforgettable experience. We settled for the Tembea Kenya safari on CATS Africa website.
The tour was very well organised, We visited 3 parks and saw loads of animals.
At the beginning we were not sure on which program to settle on but based on our budget CATS Africa recommended their program.
All we have is good memories. Thank you CATS Africa!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Not sure what happened here
5 of us booked a 3 day tour through this company for a quick safari. I am not sure what happened but it was absolutely ridiculous from the start. We were scheduled to be picked up at 8 am from our Nairobi hotel, no one showed up after calling they first said that the driver had been there and left with no explanation as to why, then immediately turned around and said that the driver could not find the hotel. We were picked up in another vehicle at 9:30 and taken to meet our driver. As per our itinerary we were told there would be no more than 7 people in the van, there was 8 which was not a huge deal just another inconsistency. After the late start we then ran in to an accident on the way there was no water supplied in the van we sat for quite some time in the heat before starting off again, at that point we were to late to get lunch at our lodge and had to stop at a buffet on the side of the road. We ended up getting to the lodge at 4:30 which is past the time when our game drive was supposed to start. We sat there as our driver and the lodge staff argued for an hour because come to find out despite the fact that we had paid months in advance Jocky tours had never actually booked our rooms. Once we were finally checked in it was almost 6 oclock. We ended up getting about 30 min worth of a game drive that night. The next morning we did not get into the park until after 9 oclock due to the constant delays of the driver. Once in the park he failed to point out any wildlife and drove around like a crazy man only stopping if we made him at which point he would then take off as we were trying to get photos. We talked to him about it multiple times yet he persisted. He continually almost hit animals as they crossed paths and even sped up at them several times. It appeared the only time he was interested in stopping was to speak to his friends which were other drivers. While looking at a pride of sleeping lions him and his buddy driving the other van went within 10 ft of the lions and began revving their engines to make them get up. When we protested he laughed. After our complaints he became sullen and began not bothering to respond to requests at all. He supplied no water for the entire day that we were in the park and blamed it on the hotel despite it being in the itinerary that his company would supply it. These issues continued throughout the entire rest of the trip and made for a very akward and dangerous ride back to Nairobi with all of the vans occupants asking him multiple times to slow down and stop driving so dangerously. The drivers name was Dalton nickname Ali, in my opinion and the opinion of everyone I was with he should not be allowed within the park and definitely should not be trusted to drive people.
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent safari with highly knowledgeable and reliable guide
I have done several safaris in Africa and Feline Safaris Tanzania is one of the best I have joined.
Bariki is extremely knowledgeable about the wildlife and could even name every bird we saw. He went to great efforts to ensure I saw cheetahs and lions and his eyesight is remarkable. He can spot an animal from afar, when I needed binoculars... I also enjoyed our conversations about Tanzania and Africa.
Overall service was excellent, easy booking process with quick communication, competitive prices, reliable and knowledgeable guide, save driver & good lunch provided.
I will highly recommend Feline safaris to friends visiting Tanzania.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Around Africa Safaris is the best.Thank you Okech for your good Job. You and your team are awesome.
You are awesome, everything went well beyond our expectation. Highly recommend Around Africa Safaris to anyone wishing go on Safari in East Africa. We did Rwanda, Volcanoes, Uganda Bwindi, Queen Elizabeth national park, Murchison falls national park.
SE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A nicely arranged trip where everything worked as expected.
I think it will be difficult to find an equally well-arranged safari for a lower price. For 300 USD (or 30.000 KSh, in our case), we got transport, accommodation, meals, and three days of guided safari (evening + full day + morning). The arrangements are not luxurious, but absolutely fine. Simple beds, Kenyan foods and bumpy roads are just perfect to me.
While some people in our group (who had booked through another company) were annoyed that their itinerary did not correspond with what they actually got, everything in ours was spot-on. They even managed to handle our weird food preferences with only a little confusion (vegan, gluten-free). Rose at the Safariline Defenders is very accommodating and helped answering all our questions before the trip.
When it comes to the safari, a lot depends on luck, but the guides communicate via radio and will make a good effort to show you what there is for the day. We saw lions, elephants, buffalos, hippos and giraffes up close, plus all the beautiful gazelles and other stuff. We were also lucky to have very nice company in our car!
KR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari... not what I expected... maybe...
First of all, I don't blame Axis Africa if my safari was less than ideal. I think for the price, I got a great deal. I saw lions, cheetahs. leopards, lots of elephants. giraffes, zebras. Pic-up, drop-off, camps and game drives were exactly as promised. I guess I really came with little experience and expectations. I was in a (nice) pop-up van with a bunch of foreigners (like me). The guide spent most of the time on a radio with other guides. We could guess when he spoke a lot and we say all the vans heading in one direction it was a lion or something "big". It did kind of feel we were harassing the animals, even caging them in with vans. Only once did our driver seem to participate in this (on the last day, he gunned the van to try to get a rise out of a cheetah, who did not respond-- and several of us let him know we didn't think it cool to do this-- but we did notice other vans harassing animals, shouting at them and trying to provoke them. I did get the feeling that the guides on these "budget" safaris would do "whatever" they thought made the guest happy and earn more tips. We clearly went off-road when it was marked. I also had a bad experience at the camp when a driver from another safari made sexual comments and reached into his pants and (well whatever) while speaking to me. (He asked it I was in a tent alone --I wans't) and then I just left.. I probably should have taken his name or photo-- but I was in shock! Anyway, this was not the fault of my company, but it did mar my experience.
In my further travels in Africa, I did another game drive in Botswana that was actually cheaper and more professional. We didn't drive as close to the animals but that actually felt better,
I did feel Axis Africa gave me what they promised in a budget safari. That said, I am not sure what i got what what I anticipated. I did see a lot of animals. They were mostly wild and free, except that we caged them in with our vehicles (and they did seem OK with this). Our guide, while not particularly knowledgeable ("there ix a big elephant and a little elephant") was pleasant enough. I hope this post alerts other women who may be harasssed to take a photo and report it as I wish I had.
FR
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
In a word, faultless
Our safari was tailor-made to our requirements by Daniel who was always available to answer the many questions we had. Our group comprised mainly French so a French speaking guide was essential. Tony fulfilled that role perfectly. We were very happy with the itinerary and the timetable ran like clockwork. Tony’s knowledge of the wildlife and Kenya in general is excellent, and he has the eye of a lynx! Although we saw no leopards we were never disappointed, and highlights included cheetahs in Amboseli and lions crossing the River Galana. All the lodges and tented camps were well chosen with friendly staff and good food. Personal favourites were Sentrim tented camp, Amboseli and Epia Chapeyu in Tsavo East. Our final 3 nights were spent on the coast at Chale Island. This involved a journey on the hair-raising Nairobi Mombasa highway, but Tony’s driving was irreproachable throughout.
Our safari fully lived up to expectations. The organisation was faultless and I have no hesitation in recommending Transtrek to anyone considering a wildlife safari in Kenya.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Stellar experience seeing the big 5 for the best deal
We had an amazing experience doing a 5 day safari with our guide Salehe Mkwanda who was an expert on driving, knowing the information about the animals and trees.
At first we were hesitant to go with this company because of how cheap the price was and the fact that we couldnt use credit cards. But everything worked out perfectly and I would highly suggest booking with this company. They worked with what we wanted to see and helped us get the best deal. All of the places we stayed at during the safari had great facilities. The only issue we had was the food which couldve been better. We felt the servings were small and not enough protein was provided.
The service of airport transport was very was very helpful and a determining factor. Our airport driver Saidi was great. This added benefit plus the great price really made the difference when we were comparing other safari companies.
Seth was also very good at replying to any emails or questions we had.
Overall all the people we were in communication with before and during the safari were very professional and never tried to take advantage of us.
We would highly recommend this company!!
US
Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and beyond
Erasto and his team at LOMO provided us with a fantastic safari experience in Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and surrounding areas. Erasto was dependable, knowledgeable and ever-diligent in assuring that we enjoyed our experience and learned as much as possible. He worked tirelessly to accommodate my attempts to photograph what we were seeing. I cannot imagine how LOMO could have improved on our trip. I would highly recommend LOMO's services to anyone and will definitely use LOMO again if I have the opportunity for another trip to the area.
RO
about them
This was my second trip with safarihub and i want to say that , they are simply the best !