50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Lake Nakuru National Park by David
The driver did not seem to be very keen to show us the best or may be there is no "best" there. I am not sure which one is the reason for my disappointment for having chosen this one as part of my vacation package.
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
a very professional team but lacking enthusiasm
The supervisor of the compagny took into account all of our requests but communication could sometimes be difficult. The food was good but the lunches were not very varied. During the game drives, our guide didn't give much explanation or commentary but he willingly answered our questions.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Hell's Gate National Park by Alice Bonaiti
Good park to visit by bike. I wouldn't recommend a safari here as the park itself is nothing special the only intersting thing is that you can rent a bike to go to the gorge. Girges are really nice!
IN
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Execpt antelopes and giraffies nothing much
The accomodation at baluleni safary lodge was excellant.the staff were very curteous and accomodative .
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari Adventure was not quite what I expected. The housing was primitive and unacceptable.
The communications were average the service was very poor the tents were absolutely terrible. No hot water for 3 days no way to flush the toilet. Could not take a shower for 3 days
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
a little disappointed 4 days masai mara nakuru family with 6 childrens
5 stars for Kim our driver
4 stars for transfers between airports and hotels
after paying the safari, Dennis tells me he has a budget problem and that the third day safari is canceled :(
here is the real program :
day 1 : 6h drive between nairobi and masai mara 2h of safari
day 2 : 10 h of safari
day 3 : 5 h drive between masai mara and naivasha 30 mn boat and 2h drive between naivasha and nakuru
day 4 : 4h safari nakuru and 4h drive between nakuru and nairobi
In summary 16h of safari 17 h of drive
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Lake Nakuru National Park by Chiara Giussani
It is a pity that the Flamingos are not present anymore
CA
Very good driver/guide, but we were badly misled about the accommodations.
Booked 3 day Masai Mara months in advance with Noah. Promised accommodation at Lenchada Camp (which is great, by the way). On the way there, our driver/guide, Alex , was searching all over for another camp (Eco Destination or something) that not even the locals had heard of. Apparently, without telling us, Noah had changed the booking to that place. When we finally found it (after an hour and a half of searching), we discovered that it had really limited facilities and was not very clean. When we finally got Noah on the phone, he told us he had made the change because the Lenchada Camp was full. As I say, we had booked months in advance and, as it turned out, the Lenchada Camp was not full at all. By the time we got to Lenchada though, we were too late for the afternoon game drive that was part of our safari package. Happy ending: a great time in the Masai Mara with Alex who took us out for almost 12 hours the next day to make up for the screw-up the previous day. Saw lots and lots of animals.
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful Safari-Best driver-be careful with pricing
We were supposed to be a group of 4 Italian friends; we ended up being only 3 as one of us could not travel at last minute because he got sick. We had a 10 days tour touching Tarangire, Manyara, Lake Eyasi, Ngorongoro, Serengeti and Lake Natron. We were extremely happy about the places, animals and tribes we have visited. All very authentic except for the Masai tribe in Ngorngoro that was quite touristic (paid 20 dollars each for 15 minutes very touristic tour); they were asking for money every now and then. Lake Eyasi and Lake Natron are out of the touristic places and so worth visiting. Other tour operators refused to offer Lake Natron as the road to get there was adventurous, and it was indeed. The best part of our trip was Chediel, our fantastic driver! He has never been tired of showing us things, telling us stories about animals (African tales and scientific things as well); he was able to spot the farthest ceetah and taking us close enough to count all the spots on the fur! He was joyful and nice all the time. He also very quickly solved the only problem we got while driving. The jeep sank into the sands and he worked hard to take it out. If you ever choose this tour operator please ask to have Chediel as your guide!!
Unfortunately we could not say exactly the same about Joseph, the tour operator leader, as he was paying more attention on money than on services. He did not provide us with a detailed program and he did not provide us with useful information for what is surely a difficult trip. For example, he did not send us general information on what to wear, what to bring, how a day/meal/dinner was supposed to be (I had contacted 25 tour operators for a quotation and most of them sent these on quotation without even waiting for us to book the tour). For example we were not told to wear a bathing suit when visiting the waterfalls in Natron; we were said we would have had wifi in every lodges while this was not the case for two out of seven lodges (and in other two the wifi was not really working although apparently available). At the end of our trip he helped us to arrange our connection from Dar es Salaam Airport to the ferry harbor (tricky! please allow you lots of time in advance as the traffic is horrible). We thanked him for this, but listen to my consideration: he charged us 50 dollars for the ride (which was absolutely fine) plus 7 dollars each on top of the price for the ferry ticket (that we had booked in advance) because apparently he had to change shelling in dollars to buy the tickets and the commission was to be payed by us (which I absolutely agree), BUT I disagree on EACH of us. Do you really think he paid three commissions and not one? do you ever change money in three different rounds for three friends or would you change money all together to avoid three commissions? Also, as said, one of us could not travel last minute. He gave us back less than 1/10 of the money paid by him saying it was just because of my kindness otherwise he would have not given the money back because apparently he had already used that amount to book the places and even payed the ticket to the parks (which were not). I understand this was last minute and high season, but let's try to be reasonable and honest. I do not believe he could not save money from all the amount my friend had paid and I explain you why: we had paid in advance only 1/3 of the whole trip, but we had not signed any type of contract. What if the all of us had not shown up at all? would he have risked to loose all of those money?? i don't believe so. And by the way when asked to provide a receipt he only issued one for the money we paid there and not for the ones we had send by bank transfer... One last thing... (and ok maybe this was a genuine mistake but when you have more things to complain about it's better to say)...he took me to the counter to change money I needed to give him... he gave me back 8 dollars less than due...
Having said all of this, I am not "Not suggesting" to book with Tomodachi, I am only suggesting to make sure your driver is Chediel and you make clear everything with Joseph before agreeing.
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
great safari with very good Gide/driver and amazing cook.
We just had an amazing safari in selous-mikumi-ruaha (7days). The driver (William) drove really safe and had al lot of knowledge about the animals and provides answers to every question. He's really experienced, knows the parks and the surrounding areas. Even when the car broke down he made sure it was fixed as quick and possible and that the safari wasn't compromised. The cook (Amos) was really friendly and happy all the time. He made delicious food (even for us vegetarians). We loved his veggie pies and he even made bush pizza! He made a lot of delicious food (often more than we could eat) and enjoyed taking care of us.
All the places we stayed where good especially the one in Ruaha which was inside the park! Because it's a rather new company we didn't really know what to expect. Just make sure to check beforehand if you sleep in or outside the park!! There where some small misunderstandings in our case but the company is open for feedback and we are happy with the way they solved the issue.
The only thing we didn't like was the walking safari. You won't see any animals and it outside the park. We also didn't like the way the bushman acted out all the things the local people did in the past. Some of the information was interesting but he was pretty loud and he was pretty focused on elephant dung (drinking from it, smoking it etc).
Concluding: great safari with very good Gide/driver and amazing cook.