20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Truly amazing!
The tour was so amazing! We had a wonderful experience! We learned so much about the Masai Mara and Kenya. The food was delicious, and the accommodation was really cool and unique! The only thing that was a little disappointing was that the itinerary said we would eat lunch by the Mara River (which sounded like so much fun!) but this was not the case.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Rwanda gorilla tours and other tours
All trips connected well, the tour guide had knowledge and experience and like to help us. They arranged some surprises activities that is wonderful experience.
BE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Big Five
From the moment we contacted Serengeti Smile, we had so many questions, and they patiently answered each one. Even during our trip, we sought their advice on hotels and trustworthy websites, and they were incredibly helpful.
Our safari was truly an adventure-filled, unforgettable experience, thanks to our guide Justin and his assistant Ombeni. They made sure we spotted all the Big Five and spent quality time with our favorite animals. We took hundreds of photos, and they always positioned us for the best shots. I still can’t believe how close we were to the animals! Over our four days together, we were never bored and shared plenty of laughs.
I highly recommend requesting Justin as a guide. His experience and constant big smile made the trip even more enjoyable.
Thank you again for this amazing experience!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.