HK
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great time!
I had a great time on my short safari with Rowly. The communications between myself and him was great. The animals at the reserve were magnificent! I think the trip was a great value for the money because Rowly is your private driver - you are not with a group. As such you are able to plan out exactly what you want to do and when. I would definitely recommend.
RO
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great adventure, very good organised
General opinion: Mr. Otieno is a reliable person, John (our driver) is a very good driver, the lodges were very nice, the safari car a little bit old but in general ok.
Me and my boyfriend booked a 4-days Safari Tour with Kenya Walking: Amboseli, Tsavo West and Tsavo East. Kenya Walking didn't have such a tour but we wanted very much to see both Amboseli and Tsvao West. Mr. Otieno was flexible with our request and organised this "special" tour and made us a good offer. We were skeptical of paying upfront with a deposit (and not with VISA/Mastercard as we are used to in Europe). But we did this and the payment was confirmed by Mr. Otieno.
We started the tour from Mombasa Airport. We were nervous if indeed somebody will wait for us at the airport. We were pleasant surprised as although we fixed a meeting time, John came earlier as he knew our flight details and estimated a sooner time for meeting us. In this way we didn't stay long outside airport. We were also pleased with the fact that Mr. Otieno called us to check if we landed ok and if we met our safari driver.
Related to the tour the first 3 days were intense. In the 1st day we were more on the road but we got to make a game drive in Amboseli park in the evening and the next day morning and saw many elephants, impala, a few hypos and ostriches. For Tsavo West it was as Mr. Otieno told us. There weren't too many animals but we got to see many giraffes and zebra. Our goal was to see also this part of the Tsavo park so it did worth for us. The surprise was that here we had the chance to see leopard. We stayed at Ngulia Safari Lodge where in the evening the personnel feeds the leopard: they arranged a place near lodge and they put meat and we were lucky that the leopard came to eat. Then in Tsavo East we stayed at the Voi Safari Lodge that allowed us to see all the park from above. (very nice lodge). Here our driver made his best in the evening to see lions, but we succeeded only in the morning to see 5 lioness. The great thing was that John guided us and told us when is best to begin the game drive. e.g. if we had stayed 5 minutes more at the Voi Safari lodge we would have missed the lioness.
The game drive from 4th day was short. We would have expected to stay longer in the park. But then we needed to be on road again for 200km to our next holiday destination Watamu beach.The great thing was that Kenya Walking drove us all the way from Tsavo East to Watamu with no extra costs.
So nevertheless a great experience! We will recommend Kenya Walking to friends.
Asante sana!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Tour of Bwindi & Murchison
Had a brilliant trip over Christmas & New year, David from Visit Uganda Safaris was absolutely excellent, even giving us a free tour around Entebbe before we left for the airport. Great driving, great knowledge of all the parks and really great flexibility & helpfulness throughout our whole trip.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
ACZ Safaris made my biggest dream come true!
Having born in USA but with roots from Kenya, I have always wanted to visit the land of my ancestors. Since I was a child I wanted to take a group of my friends to this beautiful country I only saw in pictures, I approached a number of tour operators and finally decided to try ACZ safaris. John promised to arrange everything for me and within a few minutes he sent some itineraries and their quotes for me to choose one that fitted me and my group best. I chose 6 days Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Amboseli National Park and my friends agreed on my choice since it was within our budget.
We arrived 2 days before the date we planned to start the safari, John advised us to try day tours within Nairobi city and we started with David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust then Giraffe center and the Bomas of Kenya where we were entertained with traditional dances, this was the best welcome to my ancestors land. The next day we visited Safariwalk in KWS Headquaters, KICC, Carnivore for lunch and lastly the Nairobi National museum.
On the day we were starting the safari our tour guide arrived 30 minutes earlier to the hotel, Martin our guide was well informed and he drove very safely. He always stopped for us to take pictures and to explain to us about the animals we spotted. I am very grateful for Acz safaris for planning our safari from the Hotel booking before and after safari and the whole safari package. I will definitely be back as soon as possible.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Best Safari Experience
This was by far one of the best experience. The tour was well organised from start to finish. Staff communication was great. The driver was quite patient during the tour allowed us to see the animals up close and shared insightful information about how the animals interact. Never seen so many animals in one place. The chance to meet the Masai community and learn their wau of life was also a valuable experience. I would highly recommend it!
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
best safari experience
We went on a 2-day Safari-trip to Mikumi NP Tanzania.
Gecko adventure was very reliable and answered quickly to all questions I asked per mail in advance. They called to confirm the Pick-up and were more than friendly. The Pick-up at the Hotel was on time and the Driver and tour-guide (Chris) was professional, well-informed and looked after us and our wishes. Thanks to him we saw a lot of wild animals and got informations about them.
Highly recommended!
AE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Just note this is the authentic safari any where else is a lie you will experience the best
Good and educative I look for another chance to experience it
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Pilanesberg Game Reserve by Tobie Schalkwyk
The only reason for not giving 'Wildlife' a 5-star rating is that the lions are in a seperate 'camp' where they can be seen at additional cost. Other than that accommodation is neat and well established with all your self-catering needs catered for. It has a nice restaurant next to a pool. The roads provide something different every day and are always full of surprises. I'd spend a maximum of 3 or 4 days here.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Undoubtedly South Africa's best safari destination!
If it's the Big 5 you're looking for in quite an extensive area, you can't go wrong with a Kruger National Park (KNP). You can not cover the whole park in a day - or two, or three - so I usually plan a tour spanning at least 5 days. If you're on a self-drive, firstly by a map. Take care - some of the older maps only cover the park up to Letaba - the older size of the KNP. Any of the Kiosks in the park sells a complete map in book format which also contains additional information for each specific area, as well as a summary of birds and mammals with pictures included. Also, if you can - buy a Wildcard. If you stay for a few days then it will cost you less than the conservation fees to be paid when entering the park. And entry to the park will be free.
I usually enter the park at the southern Malelane gate and sleep over in a different camp every night, exiting the park at one of the most northern gates (eg. Pafuri) on my last day. That gives me the opportunity to cover all of its habitat ( bushveld in the south, mopani bushes upper middle and raw bushveld north) and animal variety (from my experience rhinos and raptors occur mostly in the southern half of the park and smaller bird varieties in the north-most parts).
Lower Sabie is a good choice to start off your tour but avoid the tent-chalets in case you run into bad weather and and 'adventure' ends up in a sleepless, worrysome night! Lower Sabie has a beautiful restaurant with river view. Skakuza is also a well established camp - just make sure that utensils are supplied as some of the booking options don't. Satara is also well established and my favourite camp in the park. All your needs are catered for in the chalets and it also has a nice restaurant if you do not want to self-cater. The roads around Satara cover my favourite routes - make sure you get onto the S36 just north of Skukuza on your way to Satara. It's a reasonably long drive along a dirt road so pack a picnic basket and enough drinks for the day and start your trip as early as possible (6:00am at the latest). When at Satara, ensure that you drive along the S100 closeby - early morning as well as at dusk. It always has a surprise in store as far as lions / leopards are concerned! I suggest staying over at Satara for more than one night due to the abundance of wildlife in its vicinity and ample roads to go and look for them.
Take the S40 further north and keep your eyes open for the big cats. Stop for a rest at the Timbavati picnic spot and be aware that similar to the other official picnic spots in the park, you're proveded with free gass barbeques here if you have the ingredients for breakfast with you. And you don't even have to clean it yourself after use!
Sleep over more than one night at Elephants Camp. It has a great restaurant if you don't want to self-cater and the view is the most beautiful in the KNP - overlooking the Olifants River from a hillside. Raptors patrol the hillside in abundance from early to late so if you want to photograph Yellow-billed Kites, vultures and other eagles then this is the place to be. The bats enter the scene in droves at sunset and the kites actually wait for that moment, catching a snack just before bedtime!
I have not slept over at Letaba yet but it's one of my favourite stops for brunch / lunch at their restaurant overlooking the Letaba River. I have not slept over at Mopani yet but I usually drive through to Shingwedzi. This has a few nice dirt roads to be discovered in the area. Travel the S52 a bit to the south to Red Rocks. It has another official picnic spot close by with a nice river view and again - free cooking facilities.
The last sleeping spot is Punda Maria. But be aware - you have only community cooking facilities here and a little less privacy as all units are in 'barack' format. In other words, your room is adjacent to two other rooms on your sides. The roads in the vicinity do not disappoint yet again and be on the lookout for the big 5.
Pafuri is the northern most and one of my favourite areas in the KNP. Ever wished you could travel roads reminding you of the old Tarzan movies? This is the place! Unfortunately the Pafuri camp had not been restored (yet in 2015) after heavy floods in 2013 so if you want to sleep over in this area (which I highly recommend!) then book into the Pafuri River Camp 4km outside of the park and drive into the park early in the morning (and thank me for recommending the wildcard!). Drive along the S63 as early as possible and be prepared for something you'll never see again in your life! Up to about 8h30 thousands (I'm not kidding!) of crocodiles lay on the river banks waiting for heat from the rising sun. Just as many hippos show themselves and move along the shifting tree shades until it gets too hot, after which the croc's and hippo's disappear below the water surface and you'll never guess that the river is infested with them!
In general I'm not too fond of official day drives but do it once or twice just to say you've done it. The field guides provide great information about anything around you and who knows - you might just bump into a big cat feast or even witness a kill. Do a night drive as well as you'll see some nocturnal animals.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about South Africa by Tobie Schalkwyk
South Africa has numerous private and national Big 5 nature reserves in addition to the Kruger National Park. Some of these cater explicitly for your high-paying dollar / pound users with excellent personal service and packages tailored to your needs. If you can't find a most rewarding safari package in South Africa, you won't find it any other place in the world! For someone not wanting an expensive holiday you'll never beat the KNP!