OM
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A trip of a lifetime thanks to Moonlight!
The trip was long but comfortable from Arusha to Serengeti through Ngorongoro. It was scenic and the weather was great. The car was clean and the guide Mtina was awesome and entertaining! He went above and beyond to make sure we sure the most amazing and rare animals! Accommodation of Melia Lodge was breathtaking. I would definitely recommend this tour company!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
So and so
I did a slight variation of the 12 day safari that the company offers in January 2021 as a solo traveler. I paid $2820 + 3% credit card fee. The trip included 3 nights in Masai Mara, a day at Lake Nakuru, a day at Mt. Longonot + Hell's Gate, a day in Amboseli, and 3 days in Tsavo (1 in West, and 2 in East). I had previously done a safari in Tanzania in August 2017 for 8 days in Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngororongoro, and therefore I will compare this safari with the previous safari experience. There were both good and less good things about this safari in Kenya.
First, I think that visiting Kenya out of the high season in Masai Mara, which is July to October, may not be a good idea. I knew that the wildebeest will not be in Masai Mara in January, but I was expecting that there would still be many other animals. The wildebeest also had left Central Serengeti when I visited it, but there were still many other animals left there. In Masai Mara in January, though, there were very few animals with the exception of a small area near the gate. You could drive around sometime for an hour without seeing any animals. On the other hand, the animals migrate much less from the other parks, so the experience there was probably as expected.
The second issue to consider is that while the safari was advertised as 12 days, and there was some sort of game drive for all days except the last when we traveled from Tsavo back to Nairobi, the actual number of 24 hour periods for which permits were purchased was in fact 8. This is partially due to the long distances that need to be covered between parks, but also because the company wants to minimize the number of permits it has to purchase, so it includes quite a good amount of downtime in the itinerary, which is not evident when booking a trip. For instance, in the first day starting from Nairobi at 8AM, one could do a half day game drive in Masai Mara starting maybe from around 1-2PM at the latest. Instead, because of several stops along the way, including a half an hour stop a tourist shop right before the 1 hour stop for lunch, and also a stop at the lodge right at the gate of the park, one enters Masai Mara only at 4PM, for a relatively quick game drive. Similarly, on the day when we entered Amboseli coming from Naivasha, we could have entered the park at about 1PM, but instead, we entered at 4.30PM (we got to a lodge right at the park entrance and then stayed there for 1.5 hours). That was so that the next day, which was supposed to be a full game drive in Amboseli, we would not have to exit the park too early, because the company only wanted to pay for one 24 hour permit. These are just some examples - the whole schedule is affected by this. On top of that, the driver further cut the available time in the park. For instance, for the full day Amboseli game drive, he exited the park at 3.15PM, although the permit would have allowed exiting at 4.30PM. And he cut other days short as well. These being said, it is likely that other companies use the same strategy when setting itineraries in Kenya. What I can compare with is the itinerary that I had in Tanzania, where out of the 8 days I paid for, we actually stayed in parks for 7 days because they were very close to each other, and once we entered Serengeti, we stayed there for several days continuously, with the camps being right in the middle of the park.
Third, the accommodations that were offered varied quite a lot in terms of quality. The lodges where I spent 5 nights near Amboseli and Tsavo were very nice, while the rest where I spent the first 6 nights were much less so, with the hotel in Naivasha barely meeting the minimum for a tourist grade hotel. The food at the good lodges was good, but for instance, at the hotel in Naivasha, the breakfast was one fried egg, two pieces of toast and a little bit of fruit. This is very poor for an almost $3000 safari. In general, for the first 6 days, the food was quite poor in terms of quality and quantity, and I had to buy myself more food even though I don't usually eat a lot. The packed lunches during these 6 days were also insufficient. For instance, in Masai Mara, they were consisting of a small chicken leg, a banana, and a small vegetable sandwich the size of a closed fist.
Fourth, the van that was offered, while not a 4x4, as stated in the tour description, was relatively new and reliable. And since there were Land Cruisers to get us out when we got stuck a couple of times in Masai Mara, I would say that it was perfectly fine. In Tanzania all tours are run by Land Cruisers.
Fifth, the experience with the company's manager, Silas, also had good and less good parts. The communication prior to the trip and during the trip was very efficient, most times with almost instant responses. However, there were some things that were not as expected. For instance, he agreed that I would make the payment with the credit card upon arrival in Kenya never mentioning that he would expect me to pay a 3% fee until right when I had to make the payment, even though there were plenty of opportunities to do so during our prior communication. Normally, if the seller expects the buyer to pay that fee, that is clearly stated when agreeing on a price and payment method. Second, while he promised prior to the trip that I would be able to set my own game drive schedule during the trip since I had booked a solo trip, in practice that did not happen. As mentioned above, that was partially to avoid paying too many park fees, but also because the driver, Nelson, did not really care about what Silas had promised even if I mentioned that to him, and exited the park when he wanted to exit it even when I explicitly said that I would want to stay more on that day. The driver basically said that whatever I discussed with Silas has no bearing on him and I should talk with Silas if I have anything to discuss on that topic, that "this is Kenya and promises don't mean anything", and so on. While I can say that I did see enough of each of these parks, maybe except for Amboseli, I would have liked to make the most out of the time in Kenya and spend it in the parks even if sitting around looking at some animal, rather than in lodges. In Tanzania, I had no problem accomplishing this, unlike this safari in Kenya. However, for people who are fine spending more time in lodges, this may not be an issue.
As for the guides/drivers (I had two of them since the first one had a family medical emergency after the first 5 days), they also had good parts and less good. They were both very knowledgeable of the parks and of the behavior of the animals, and while in the parks, did their best to show me the animals and the various landscapes. The first guide, Jackson, was also perfectly fine to interact with. The second guide, Nelson, was quite weird. Much of the time, he was a perfect guide, but when contradicted or disagreed with using some objective facts, he was starting to say some really unpleasant things that I had never heard on any other guided trips I was on. Like if you were to tell someone that 1+1=2 instead of 3, as they claim, and then hear him telling you some unpleasant personal things because you dared to contradict him even if you do it in a casual way. I tried to not be too affected by these and I was mostly able to accomplish that, but it may ruin the trip for people who would be a little bit more affected by such discussions. Also, worth mentioning that both drivers were saying at times things that were clearly not true when it was serving their purpose, as I could tell from other sources of information, like asking other people there. But probably this is not too surprising.
Overall, I obviously enjoyed this trip through Kenya, although it could have been better on several dimensions. However, for people who think that they may do only one safari in their lifetime, I would personally recommend to do that in Tanzania in July-August, with time in Tarangire (which is a really special park even if less known), Serengeti (including a day in the North part at the Sand River to see the wildebeest crossing) and Ngorongoro Crater. You can do that in 8 days for less than the cost of this 12 day Kenya safari. That safari I did in Tanzania was perfect - it couldn't have been better - and was probably 10 times better than the one I did now in Kenya. On the other hand, if you have already been to Tanzania and want to also see another country, then Kenya also has interesting places and somewhat different landscapes and it is also definitely worth visiting if time and money allows you. As for the operator I booked with, it may well be that in that price range, all companies offer similar services, but just prepare yourself to be a little bit disappointed every now and then relative to what you would expect or was promised. However, you should still be able to enjoy the trip eventually if you can get over these issues.
CA
Best trip of my life!
This trip was one that I will never forget! I do a lot of travelling and have seen many beautiful parts of the world but nothing will ever quite measure up to this safari experience. Tanzania is so incredible but the tour with Moonlight Tours Expedition is what really made the trip as amazing as it was. Our guide was so knowledgeable and knew exactly where to take us so we could see everything we wanted to. We saw literally everything from adult lions, baby lions, cheetahs, leopards, elephants, giraffes, hippos, rhinos, zebras, wildebeest, and so much more. You name it - we saw it. They really went above and beyond to meet our needs from arranging our covid tests, picking up items that we discovered we needed along the way but had forgot and made sure everything was nothing less than perfect for us this entire week. I will 100% be coming back to do another tour with this company on my next trip to Africa. Highly recommend them, you won’t be disappointed :)
CZ
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
4 days safari, 6 days machame route
We booked 4 days safari in Tanzania and 6 days Kili climbing. Everything was great. We quickly received all information which we want, both guids were nice and we learn lot of information. Definitely recommend. Ones of best days in my life!
CZ
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience
Nice time in Tanzania. We booked 10 days trip including 4 days safari and 6 days Kili climbing. All people were nice and we enjoyed our time do much.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A one day tour at Nairobi National park
A solo tour at Nairobi National Park and the experience was amazing. I recommend parrot to any client cause there services are extraordinary. There products are worth.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
6 day tour was really amazing!
Well organized, awesome service provisions and professional planning of the trip. I really enjoyed my 6 day tour with my family and would love to use this company once again in the future! Joseph was a man of action, very thoughtful and he was able to answer all questions concerning the tour. Thank you so much and keep it up!
OM
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Desperate customer service
Again I am waiting on a refund promised by the managing director to pay at the end of Feb, Jan and also December. So far having committed to payment and having submitted account details at their request I have not received anything. The airline refunded in 1 weeks, hotels within 2 weeks, and even the government refunded the visa fee due to us not being able to travel on account of an international travel ban. I feel like I have been robbed, with repeated requests to honour their word being ignored.
PL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
it has been the journey of our lives!
We have just come back from Uganda - it has been the journey of our lives!
The country is beautiful, friendly, full of amazing views, animals, and people. We highly recommend it to anyone considering a trip to Africa.
As for the organization, it was at the highest level. Magda - our guide is a professional in every way. She thought through the trip plan from beginning to end, she was also able to quickly replace attractions that we could not attend for reasons beyond our control. There is no better guide, organized, qualified, and knowledgeable about the region.
Summing up, we rate 10/10, recommend it to everyone and we hope that we will have the pleasure of using Hekima Safari services again.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
6 Day 5 Night Safari (2 Masai Mara, 2 Amboseli, 1 Lake Naivasha)
We got different quotes for safaris before we booked with kenia explorer. The price was fair and we read a lot of good reviews. Our guide was Jonathan. He answered all the questions that we had and he adapted to our interests. He also knows a lot about photography and so he always positioned the car in the right place to take the best pictures. The safari itself was very good. We saw incredible scenes of lions in masai mara and took great pictures in amboseli of elephants infront of the Kilimandscharo. We were very happy with our choice and jonathan as our guide.