US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
One of the most magnificent adventures of my life.
Naledi Bush Lodge and the entire staff were helpful, gracious and knowledgeable.
SA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Selous Game Reserve by Mr. Algwaiz
Selous had more animals than Mikumi National Park , and we saw the African wild dogs there.
SA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Mikumi National Park by Mr. Algwaiz
I think the Animals were hiding from us that day.
CH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tanzania would be nice - with good roads and less dust.
Hello.
I was surprised that 2019 Dar Es Salaam still has bad roads, almost no modern supermarket and some people living in a box of the size 2x1x1 meter (next to the bus station at the fish market)!!
Arusha has some good roads - from the Kilimanjaro Airport to Arusha and from Arusha in the direction of Tarangire and Ngorongoro - and some bad roads. But WHY are there NO paved roads from Ngorongoro to the Serengeti?? Now in July the dust on the road was so massiv, that you COULDN'T see the cars crossing your way - and that IS VERY DANGEROUS! My driver was caughing every few minutes. He had a chronic caugh, because he was inhaling this dust since months - or even years (he is doing this job since 15 years). For him it's like working in a mine!
Please pave those roads!!
I might visit the Serengeti again - but I will NEVER EVER drive in to the Serengeti again! Next time I will take the plane from the Arusha Airport to the Seronera Airstrip.
The wildlife inside the Serengeti and in the Ngorongoro Crater is fantastic. You can see a lot of animals. Ok, sometimes you feel a bit like in a "drive in zoo".
The accomodation was superb - better than I ever expected, even in the tents. Hot shower, very nice furniture, great food and so on.
Food: Well, I am NOT a vegeterian, but in Tanzania i didn't eat meet anymore. The quality of the meet is not like in Europe. But that's ok - the rest of the food, the dinners e.g. were fantastic. I just had more potatoes, rice and mash potatoes... :-) and vegetables.
My driver was a very good driver and his English was fantastic. I'm glad, in Tanzania English is important too :-)
So - all in all - I have a bit mixed feelings. The Serengeti is very nice, but the distances to get there are too long. On a nice road - like they have to the National Parks in the USA - it would be much more comfortable. The reason why the USA has nice roads in to the parks is that older people, retired people with a lot of free time, can drive in to those parks as well and be close to the fantastic nature.
Best Regards
Urs
.
PT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
What could have been a dream trip, ended a disaster
The wild life, the sun stets and sun rises, the scenery were spectacular. All this, that could have been the trip of our lives, was immediately reduced to a "not doable again", because of the following history. This was a 2 week trip to Zanzibar with a passage on Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. Every days were scheduled, by the minute. The Safari was scheduled for 3 days and 2 nights. We were arriving at Arusha at 9 o'clock, and we were supposed to join a group for the safari. In the day after the safari, the agency called us, saying that we couldn't join the group, because we were arriving at 9 and it was not possible to delay the safari because of us. We were really disappointed because we had the written confirmation by the agency, and now it was not possible... We force them to get a solution for us because everything was planed, and at the time, nothing was possible. So we managed a solution with another jeep just for us, but we had to pay 800 dollars more for this solution. In the day we arrived at the airport, there was the guyed and the agency lady, that in the moment asked us for the money of the safari, and the extra money for the change that it was not our mistake, it was theirs. We pull out a credit card, and we were about to have another problem. The machine wasn't working and we had to go to the near bank, that it was a 50 minutes drive. So if were late at 9 we were late 3 hours more for this trip to the bank. At the bank we couldn't withdraw money in the bank, we had to do it form an ATM machine. we had to use the card 8 times to withdraw money and we paid 12 dollars of taxes more for each withdraw. It was an extra 300 dollars for the safari. After this we were really late to arrive at the park to set up the tent. The trip was a completely adventure, the pour guyed that showed us the park had to drive like mad to get to the park on time, we had to lunch during the drive, we had to stop to pick up our materials for the tent.
So we arrived at the park, and of course it was dark already. For our surprise and one more time the agency lied to us, we had to set up the tent instead of having dinner and have the tent prepared after it. After a dangerous travel by jeep, and a very quick but very taste dinner from our chef, we had to set up a tent. After this we sow that there were no wood beds for us, just like the ones we sow on the picture that the agency sent us before confirming the safari on tents. We sleep on a small mattress in the floor of the tent, that didn't had any time to clear the air inside of it, the smell was really bad. Despite all this in the next day we had to pick up and disassemble the tent for the 1st day in the safari, we were more tired than the day before. We visit Serengeti, and we enjoyed it very much, but of course we arrived at another park, where we saw all tourists with their tents set up, and we had to set up our tent once again and in the next day to disassemble it once again.
What could have been a dream trip ended up like a tiring one.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Enjoyable but didn't get full itinerary!
Positives.
Good communication whilst booking safari.
Good friendly guide"jacktone"who got us to the major sightings in the parks and safely transported around in his clean safari van.
Overall the accommodation was good for a budget safari
Enjoyable safari overall.
Negatives.(minor)
Offering transport on our free day in Nairobi for $260 which we did by uber for $30!!
Telling us enroute that our naivasha boat ride was optional (included in itinerary),which we got a day late after sorting things out.
Not stopping at suitable picnic area on way back to Nairobi.
Cold breakfast at miti mingi camp,and no hot water for over an hour one morning,plus tough meat in stew in evening.
Towels taken from our tent by staff at kimana camp(you have to provide your own), on morning we were leaving so unable to shower,and tent in poor condition.
Family tents not adjacent in spite of booking months ahead and safari company promising to secure good tents for us.
All the above are acceptable by us as part of travelling on a budget.
Negative(major)
However this was not,
The itinerary we had agreed and paid for said we would get a full afternoon game drive upon arrival at nakuru,and a short one the following morning before departure,with possibly one on arrival at amboseli later the same day.
Due to rescheduled boat ride we arrived later than expected at nakuru and were told we would have a longer game drive in nakuru the following morning (which meant no chance of getting to amboseli in time for one same day),but no game drive at nakuru on arrival.Upon pointing out what itinerary said I was informed that the itinerary was inaccurate and that it should have said only one game drive in nakuru,I made it clear that I was unhappy about this,and was assured that something would be arranged to make up for it.
Nothing was done to make up for it,in spite of us having a spare day in Nairobi after end of safari.
Stephen has since informed me (in one email),that nakuru game drives were 2hr upon arrival and another 2hr before departure,so 4hr morning of departure should have been enough.
Stephen has also by email agreed with staff member telling me at the time that we were only supposed to have one game drive!.
The fact that emails conflict and neither agrees with our itinerary (which he admits was cut and pasted from elsewhere) means we still feel short-changed.
We received an apology after returning from Kenya but that was too late.we expected something (at the very least an apology whilst still in Nairobi.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Kaitlin
We had a "poor" day in Lake Manyara in comparison to the rest of our safari days. The scenery was beautiful and felt like a jungle, but it also meant that animals were often hard to see. The flamingos were very far away to the point where you could only see them on the horizon.
SE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Nice but way too many hours in the safari vehicle driving between the parks!
Unfortunately I can not recommend this tour (5 days Kenya Safari). We were spending considerably more hours in the vehicle going between the three parks than being on an actual safari. Very unexpected I must say... It was a 9,5 hour drive between Lake Nakuru and Amboseli (although our guide told us we would be there "before lunch" as we were starting our journey in the morning around 08:00 hrs...) and once we got there, exhausted, hungry and dusty, there was no time for a safari. Huge disappointment as we were supposed to go on a safari that afternoon. The following day, a few hours safari as we rushed through the park and then headed back to Nairobi (another 6 hrs drive). We had lunch in the vehicle as there was no time to go back to the camp.
All in all; very nice conversation with the tour operator before the safari, nice and friendly driver (who unfortunately rushed through the parks to keep the schedule together) who was also a good driver which we appreciated, and we also liked the vehicle.
The lasting impression however was that we were rushed through the parks and that we paid a lot of money for spending most of our time on the Kenyan roads and highways.
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent
We had appreciate very much all regarding our trip, nature, landscape, wilde animals ecc. We would like is better for tourist more restaurant when enjoy dinner. Our guide ( Gomez) was also an excellent driver other a very good guide.
SG
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari experience is good but met an unfortunate scam from a local tour company
Safari experiences on wildlife, scenery and weather are good. Food are generally ok for all meals except for lunch, there is no option for lunch as it is pre-packed by the accommodation and it is always the same food despite from different accommodation. There are many different range of accommodation which I mostly enjoy except for 1 or 2 places that are too small but decent with hot shower.
The only disappointment I have is being scam by the local safari company which I paid 50% deposit (in March 2019) prior my trip (in August 2019) but the company was uncontactable, their website is down and various travel websites alerted about this company scam. I choose this safari company (Kenya Walking Safari Survivors Ltd) based on the good reviews given in your safaribooking website listing. I was pretty affected by this whole incident to be left stranded at the airport for > 6 hours and trying to make a police report and find alternative safari tour so last minute.