ES
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The tour and driver IS fantastic, but the operator have a importante mistake
The tour is very good and the driver is fantastic. I had 2 single rooms reserved and they wanted to give me one for two people. It was not what was contracted. You had to suffer to get what you contracted. Unfortunately this error undervalues the tour, if it had not been for this it would be perfect
(automatic translation from Spanish)
NL
50-65 years of age
Reliable organisation
From the beginning, Felistus was a very dedicated and patient organizer, she answered every question I had very soon and was very helpful. The trekking to Point Lenana was beautiful, and with funny guide Elijah, quiet cook David and nice companion Joy we had a very good time. The bandas were very simple but clean and nice, and less cold than a tent. Transport to and from the gates was also good.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Kenyan hospitality
The good
Our guide Robert was very kind and wanted us to have a good time. We saw all of the big 5 except leopards but saw LOTS of other animals and got some amazing pictures. Robert seemed a great tracker always listening to the radio to find out where to find the best animals. For some reason we got given a Jeep when we were expecting a mini van which was much better for Masai Mara. Communication with the company was good. All plans were executed smoothly. They even helped us to book train tickets for our onward journey as we didn't have an Mpesa account. All the camps and meals were very clean and we'll located. Meals were buffet style and very nice and plentiful.
On the last part of our safari we had a new guide Kevin who was also very nice and organized.
The bad
Even though it says a maximum of 6 guests in the vehicle we had 8 guests + the guide. This meant that there wasn't enough room for everyone + their luggage so we ended up leaving over an hour late because the guide was trying to shove it all in, and we ended up boxed in with luggage in the aisle of the vehicle. When we asked the guide about the 6 maximum rule he said "But this is good for me." We then got pulled over by the police on the way to masai mara because our TLB (tax) was out of date which delayed us for another couple of hours. To be fair to Robert he was very apologetic and dealt with the situation as best he could and made up the time on the safari the next day so we didn't really miss out, it was just frustrating.
Overall
I would recommend booking Karibu for a safari, but I'd check the itinerary on their own website before you do, as it doesn't seem to match what is written on 3rd party websites.
PL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good safari, thank you
Tour went well, food was great, spacious tents and comfortable mattresses. Great adventure all together thanks to Emmanuel and Gody!!! Would definitely recommend.
OM
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Responsive team available at a reasonable price
We booked 6 day trip visiting Amboseli NP, Lake Nakuru & Masai Mara via Image Travels ltd. Team was super responsive to every query I had before the trip started.
During the trip, everything was planned by Image travel team. Our guide, Edwin was extremely knowledgeable & friendly, while he also knew when and where to spot the big five. He helped me plan the proposal while also capturing the moment.
Image travels provided us with great hotel & travel options as per our budget and can't praise enough the hospitality we enjoyed at every place we visited. Though i believe for scope of improvement in Food and room service being provided at Mara Serena Safari lodge.
Also , i request team to arrange for better lunch in transit.
Highly recommend Image travels for the safari experience.
CA
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A good place, parks are nice, wildlife viewing was excellent, people were nice and very accommodating
Good place, nice people, good food and culture experience. Parks are very beautiful, game sightings excellent
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A truly special and successful 4 days of spotting game.
This was an unbelievable experience for the 5 of us , visiting Tarangire , Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater. Our guide on day 1 (Kelvin) took us to Tarangire and we spotted plenty of elephant and impala, as well as lion. Day 2 and 3 in the Serengeti were truly special, managing to spot all the big cats and witness the beginning of the great migration. Finally, our last day in Ngorongoro was a rather large contrast to the endless plain of Serengeti, in what felt very enclosed yet natural down in the crater.
The trip was adequately organised, as we were given a different guide after day 1 due to demand and what was meant to be 3 nights camping turned to 2 nights in lodge and 1 night in the tent (a pleasant surprise for many I'm sure, although I was wanting the true Safari experience).
What can be said though is that Abu (guide day 2-4) and Richard (chef) were fantastic, both providing impeccable service in their fields and ensuring we were spotting the best game on full stomachs.
I'd recommend this experience to anyone on the fence, however be prepared for changes in plans.
BE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good 7 days tour with Meektrails with some room for improvement
We are experienced travellers in Africa, and this is our fourth safari destination. We had a good time in Kenya with Meektrails as we visited Amboseli NP, Lake Nakuru and Maasai Mara. Overall, Meektrails did well, we had good communication before our trip, our contact Eliud was very quick to reply, we had an experienced guide (Joseph) and they were punctual and professional. However, there were some small issues, many of which apply to most safari tour operators in Kenya. None of these issues, however, got in the way of the overall good experience.
Firstly - the car. We decided to save a bit of money and we went for a 4x4 minivan instead of the classic safari vehicle - Toyota Land Cruiser. We had done that before in Uganda without any issues and we were assured by Meektrails that their vans are new and in good condition. Well, our van broke on the first day, just 5 km after we departed. While this of course can always happen and there is never a guarantee that issues would not arise with any car, it was quite obvious that the van was not in the best condition and our guide was quite careful in driving it for the rest of the trip. Its important to say that they reacted quickly and another car picked us up (with other tourists) and we shared the car for our first day. Even though we had booked a private tour, sharing for a day was not an issue.
An important piece of advice we can give to any traveller is to make sure you have a clear understanding of how many National Park passes you have and for which days. Park fees in Kenya are especially expensive and safari operators usually play around with passes to make budget trips possible and of course have a better margin. We had some small misunderstandings with Meektrails on this point (on one of the days our programme included a game drive, but in practice, it wasn't because of a pass that Meektrails did not pay for). Overall I think it was a matter of misunderstanding and did not take a way of our experience, since on this day we had a long trip in any case.
What was a disappointment, however, is that we specifically requested that on the last day we do a game drive in Maasai Mara and our flight was very late in the evening - 01.30 after midnight. So we specifically paid for the park passes - a total of 200 USD for two people. Yet, both our guide and Meektrails themselves, on multiple occasions, told us that there was not much time for a game drive since we needed to have enough time to get to Nairobi. We insisted that there was more than enough time to get to the airport, and even if it takes 6-7 hours (which usually takes 5, especially on a Sunday), we could have a half-day drive. They didn't agree and it felt like they just wanted the trip to finish earlier, so we did not feel like arguing and our drive was only until 9:30. This felt like wasting 200 USD on park fees for a short game drive. In the end, we arrived in Nairobi at 17:00 (with several very long stops - we just felt that there is a lot of time to spare), or more than 8 hours before our flight.
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari is budget; experience is exclusive.
Booked via Trip Advisor. Went smooth and all was planned perfect. We were picked up at our hotel in downtown Nairobi and droppen at our car and driver. What I can say about our driver. Steve was a very good guide and an experienced driver. We had to return early and he showed flexibility and delivered us a the airport on time.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
It was a wildly beautiful experience.
I really enjoyed my trip. Being my first time to go to the Mara i must say it didn't dissapoint one bit. The travel logistics from time keeping to the accomodation, to the game drive it was all quite commendable. If you plan to travel stress free reach out to Jocky Safaris they're your go to safari booking experts.