AR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Funny
The guide gave funny explanations along the way. What I would recommend is that they give details about the itineraries.
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
7 Days Private tour 4x4 Minivan
We recently embarked on a remarkable 7-day private tour that took us from Nairobi to Ambroseli, Naivasha, Hell's Gate, Nakuru, and finally the renowned Masai Mara National Park before heading back to Nairobi. For our travels, we opted for a comfortable 4x4 minivan, which was perfect for the two of us. However, if you are traveling with a larger group, you may want to consider how everyone’s luggage will fit.
The roads connecting the parks primarily consist of one lane in each direction, often congested with truck traffic and occasionally in poor condition. As a result, expect a driving time of around 5 hours or more between parks.
Our accommodations were delightful. We particularly enjoyed the Sopa Lodge in Amboseli and Mara Kimana near Masai Mara, which stood out as top-notch options. The food served at the lodges was consistently delicious, except for the packed breakfasts and picnics. The Amboseli Sopa Lodge even features a restaurant within the park, offering meals that rival those at the lodge. It's worth noting that none of the lodges are located directly inside the parks, which necessitates a 20 to 30-minute drive to reach the park gates. This can slightly cut into your time for early morning game drives.
We scheduled our safari for the last week of October, just after the Great Migration had concluded, leaving only a few animals in the tail group heading towards the Serengeti. Nevertheless, we were fortunate enough to witness a diverse array of wildlife, with the exception of leopards.
Regarding the organization of our trip, there were moments of miscommunication between the office, our guide, and ourselves concerning the itinerary, activities, and special requests. This did leave us with a sense of disappointment. However, our driver/guide, Philip, was knowledgeable about the wildlife and local culture. He was also accommodating to our needs, such as arranging early game drives offering us his personal binocular (the company told us there were going to be binoculars available for both) and adjusting activities that had been unexpectedly canceled.
One particular activity we experienced but probably avoidable was a walking safari with the Masai Warriors, which began in a traditional Masai village located along the main road to Masai Mara NP. Here, we were provided with insights into construction techniques, cultural practices, and the local way of life. While there were attempts to sell artisan crafts (including a stick and a piece of wood used for old fashioned way of starting the fire for just 20 USD), we found the experience somewhat lacking in terms of genuine information and wildlife encounters. The walking safari took us through an area behind the village where we primarily observed Masai cattle, a few rats, and wild chickens, along with brief lessons about two plant species and a chance to use a traditional Masai bow and arrow. If you’re hoping to see zebras or giraffes during this activity, you may want to manage your expectations.
Lastly, we spent only one full day in the Masai Mara. Our guide did offer us the option to extend our visit for an additional half day before returning to Nairobi, which would require a new entry fee of $200 USD each.
In conclusion, our safari experience was indeed wonderful. With this review, I aim to highlight a few key points for future travelers, ensuring they have a clearer understanding of what to expect when signing up for such an adventure.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Small family owned tour company specializing in private affordable tours.
Our tour was overall quite nice. We were able to customize it to our liking, and taking the train to Morogoro is highly recommended. The game drive was the highlight for sure. The guides were knowledgable and catered to what we would like and our needs very well. The only negative was a logistical mix up on the return trip that resulted in us missing the train, however Asante Bibi put us up in a nice hotel and paid for it and the extra meals until we could get back to Dar Es Salaam the next day, showing their commitment to good customer service. Overall would recommend Daudi and his family.
DE
under20 years of age | Experience level: first safari
He is a nice and funny guy!
He tried hard to show us the big 5 and more. It was very interessting, since he provided us with some extra knowledge.
SE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Competitive budget prices but some money trouble
We did the budget safari 12d Kenya + Tanzania. Good value for money. Better accommodation than we expected.
Good communication before, during and after booking via WhatsApp. Good communications during the safari until there was money trouble, then harder to reach which was stressful. Make sure to get multiple numbers where you can reach them. Pesapal for deposit payment when booking worked very well.
As for reliability.. We suffered some money trouble. When we were already on our long journey to Kenya we received wishes about paying in cash which is a ridiculous amount of money. This because our tour started on a Sunday which caused some problem with banks, but they knew this for 6 months in advance. We ended up having to go extra to an ATM with them to take out as much cash as possible and pay the rest by card like we were supposed to.
Yet the worst part was that they had trouble transferring our money to the tour operator they cooperated with on the Tanzania side, and no one informed us about this until one day before heading to Serengeti the guide tells us we can't come because the money hasn't come to them. They wanted to leave us there and I had to try to mediate the communication between the companies who didn't seem to have good relations at all. Horrible stressful experience where we ended up taking a chance and desperately paying for the rest of the safari AGAIN by ourselves directly to the Tanzania tour operator. In the end the money ended up where it should and we got a refund from the Tanzania tour operator so we didn't have to pay anything extra. Allegedly this was all due to a public holiday and some kind of global transfer issues, but at least the holiday they should have planned for and done the money transfer in good time.
In general; beware of the nature of the joining safari (not special for this company), we didn't understand this before we went. Especially if you travel solo this can be good to know. It means that both the group, guide and vehicle can change everyday of the safari. The itinerary can change anytime and you rarely stay at the accommodation that you are promised in your quote. You have to be very Hakuna Matata about it.
We ended up having only one guide in each country but this seemed rare amongst the others we met (our group changed multiple times and we often stayed at different camps). We were satisfied with both Charles K in Kenya and Tony in Tanzania!
As for the tour; if I were to prioritize I would pick the following national parks: Maasai Mara, Nakuru, Amboseli, Serengeti and Ngorogoro. I would skip lake naivasha and lake manyara. If only one country I would pick Kenya and go for the three first mentioned ones!
I can recommend booking with Beast Spoor Safaris as I have faith they will learn from our money trouble and not let it happen again. However if I did it again I would book the Kenya side with them and separately book the Tanzania side with a Tanzania based tour operator.
NO
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Masai Mara National Reserve by Anne Berit Myrland
This is an amazing park, but it has a few downsides. It's very busy, and a lot of the drivers don't show the animals much respect. We also felt very pressured by the masai people to buy over priced stuff. The wildlife is amazing though.
NO
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Amboseli National Park by Anne Berit Myrland
We stayed at Manjaro Tented Camps. This is highly recommended and basically did our whole stay here. Otherwise being close to Kilimanjaro is great, but it's very dry and not very beautiful otherwise. Looots of elephants, which was cool.
PT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Namib-Naukluft National Park by Tania
The scenery is amazing and very pleasant. This is not a crowded area bringing the tranquility atnosphere that we were looking for.
The birds are all over the place and at night you can easly observe the starts.
PT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A beautiful, safe and interesting country with a variety of places to visit and friendly people.
Namibia is a safe and interesting country with great highlights. The sand dunes, Soussusvlei and the desert offer an unforgetable experience. The people are very friendly and prond to share their culture with turists.
IE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A professional safari tour operator with a decent office and spartan accommodation
Despite the four star rating of the Baboon Budget holidays, their freelance guide Titos deserves the full five.
He understands fundamental rules of customer care.
He is punctual, delivers the programme as it was outlined to a client.
He posseses a good local knowledge regarding the visited places, nature and beyond.
His English is of good standard and handles the vehicle professionally. This is something you will appreciate on the roads in Kenya.
Having a professional background in outdoor activity instructing and management I would happily employ Titos myself.
As for the overall performance of the company itself.
We had booked a six day private safari tour which has brought us to Massai Mara, Naivasha lake, Nakuru NP and Amboseli National Park.
This was a great selection of Kenyan experience and the company delivered it as presented in their quotation.
The communication prior to the tour was perfect and Dennis was in touch along the tour as well.
I have taken one star off from the best rating due to few events and suggestions.
There was a confusion at the initial briefing in their office about the type of the product booked. We were promised a private tour, however the representative seemed to have us scheduled on a group tour.
The last thing you want after tiresome journey is haggling about the basics, having children besides you.
This was rectified immediately by the owner.
Another thing which dashed our experience was my delayed luggage. I asked BBS to look after the delivery of the luggage considering it a courtesy since the delivery would be happening along the regular routes of the operator. This is based on own my experience from my former employer's customer service operating similar tours around Ireland.
I was hit by a hefty charge of about €50 at the end of our tour. I could have had the luggage delivered free of charge by the airlines instead.
One more rant about the accomodation in Nakuru hotel. The receptionist has allocated a room with a double bed and single bed to a family of four. The hotel manager fixed this for us after a complaint. The bathroom cleanliness in this place could improve.
Miti Mingi camp tents were quite tight, however I believe this could have been dealt with if we complained to the camp manager.
Then again a customer should be provided with a sufficient standard without the need of pointing out flaws and anticipating client's needs in the first place.
The Nyati safari camp was at a high level of service provided with spectacular views of Kilimanjaro.
We had a great adventure with BBS.
I would recommend and use them again.