65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Dream come true!
We would happily recommend indigo safaris to organise your holiday found through Safari Bookings. We had a few ideas on what we would like to do, the accommodation type and travelling we were happy with, but were struggling to put it all together. Ines responded quickly to our request, and sent us ideas on how to collate our trip to Namibia, Victoria falls and Botswanna. We exchanged a few e mails, and, everything fell into place very easily. Payment was simple through a gb account.
Our trip to Namibia turned out to be be far better than we imagined. Everything went smoothly apart from an onward delayed flight with Namibian Airways. Our guide Rudy was a star throughout our tour of Namibia. He had a passion for his country and its peoples and wild life which he shared with us throughout our trip. We always felt safe in his care, and he went out of his way to help us enjoy our first visit to Africa. His knowledge of his country was extensive and we were sad to see our trip come to an end. Rudy kept our mini bus clean and we always had plenty of water on board. He drove safely, even when the days were long and the drive was hard. We had plenty of room in the bus as we chose to have a small group, so we shared with three other people. Expect very bumpy roads and long days, with early starts but it was worth every bump to experience such diversity. The landscape is stunning and so diverse.
Th accommodation was spot on. We decided we didn't want to use tented accommodation, and so the lodges we stayed in were very clean and comfortable. The food was delicious with lots of choice at the evening buffet. It was good to try Springbok, Kudu, Oryx, Impala and Zebra! Most of which were very tasty. Breakfast was also plentiful, with fresh cooked eggs etc if you wanted it.
We were so lucky to come across the Desert adapted elephant on our trip, and to see lions, zebra, impala, springbox, rhino, giraffe and water buffalo. Couldn't ask for anything more!
Thank you Ines, from Indigo Safaris who organised our extended trip to include Victoria Falls and Botswana. ITs been an amazing Trip. Your help and guidance made it happen?
DE
Chris and his team were the perfect partners for our 8 day film shoot in Kampala, Uganda.
Encounter Africa Safaris and Film Crew Fixers Uganda are a highly professional service production for your project in Uganda. Communication was clear and fast from beginning to end. Everything worked out perfectly, our team was safe and in great hands. The cooperation was friendly and uncomplicated. Highly recommendable professionals! Thank you Chris and Steven!
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect family Safari
Tanzania and the northern circuit are great. Lot of wildlife, nice people and an ever changing scenery. We found mild weather, great lodges and good food. Roads are everything from completely new to terrible. Expect no more than 30 kph average after entering ngorongoro area. Guiding was great und reliable, we always felt safe and well taken care of.
CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Once in a lifetime experience without any worries
Darren and his team were fantastic to work with. From the first email exchange where we described what we were looking for through the final day on the ground, working with Compass Odyssey made the whole experience exceptional. Darren's pre-trip communication is fantastic - he responded to all of our inquiries within 2-3 days (usually faster) and was very thorough and knowledgeable. His on the ground team knew the areas we were visiting, had great recommendations and were able to add both commentary and color to the various locations we visited. They made sure we didn't have to worry about a thing - we just relaxed and enjoyed our holiday. We would (and already have!) highly recommend working with Darren for any Southern African adventure.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nice gamedrives, excellent driver, bad accommodations, miserable customer service from the office
We’ve been doing a tour for 16 days/15 nights with this company. We visited several nationalparks and destinations in Kenya.
Nairobi-Amboseli-Mount Kenya-Thompson falls-Lake Nakuru-Kakamega forest-Kisumu-Masai Mara-Naivasha-Nairobi was our tour
First of all we can say thanks to our driver and guide Evans, who was very friendly and helpful. We enjoyed all the game drives with him, we were able to spot all of the big five and he was able to tell us a lot about all the animals we saw. He’s very experienced and has a lot of knowledge.
So on the first day in Nairobi we’ve been picked up on time at our hotel and drove to the office to do the outstanding payment with our creditcard. The office wanted to charge us 5% on that amount, which we refused because it was not a small amount and we already paid a lot, it was never mentioned or written anywhere that paying with creditcard will be charged with 5%. If we would have known we would have paid full in advance. We started our program in Nairobi, it was fine and in the evening we arrived at the sopa lodge in Amboseli. The hotel was good and the first game drive the next day was great. On our way back to the lodge our drive told us our program the next to days will change.
There the disaster began, they wanted to fool us the first time. Our schedule was to visit the Mau Mau caves on the way from Amboseli to Mount Kenya the next day but it was not possible due to lack of time (whole day driving). So he told us we would postpone it to the day after and skip a whole day gamedrive/visit in Ol Pejeta Conservancy (Sweetwater Rhino Sanctuary). That’s ridiculous, they obviously really tried to fool us and why was the visit to Mau Mau caves planned anyway, if they now it’s not enough time for it? So of course we’ve been insisting on our gamedrive in Ol Pejeta.
So after the second night in Amboseli we spend the whole day on the road to Nanyuki (Mount Kenya) and arrived at Sportsman Arms Hotel in the evening. Horrible hotel, unfriendly and inconsiderate staff, dark rooms with a lot of broken items (lights, dustbin) and water dripping out of the bathroom light from above. Restaurant also very dark and uncomfortable, staff as mentioned, buffet very small and not tasty at all.
The next day our gamedrive at Ol Pejeta was great but we had to quit in the early afternoon due to one out of four persons was already feeling bad because of conditions of the last night... sad because of the nice conservancy and bad because of returning early to that hotel (we just thought ok we’ll tolerate one more night there).
The next day we went to Nyahururu to visit the Thompson falls, spent few hours on the road and arrived at the lodge for lunch. Already two out of four persons felt bad/were ill due to the last two nights. Lodge was very old and rustical but had charme but could definitely be maintained better, especially the showers.
The next morning we took off to check-in to our hotel in Nakuru and left with picnic lunches for Lake Bogoria which was a nice trip. We arrived at our hotel (Hillside Court) in the late afternoon and took a first look into our rooms and we’ve been disappointed again. Dirty sheets, leaking toilets, dirty towels and so on.
That was the point we decided not to be disappointed about accommodations anymore and just to look forward to get back to the hotels late and wake up early the next morning for gamedrives/excursions.
The next day we had our gamedrive at Lake Nakuru, which was as enjoyable as the other gamedrives! In the evening we had to go back to our hotel, at least the staff tried everything to get us comfortable.
The next day we went to Kakamega forest and finally had a good accommodation again, the Rondo Retreat. Really charming, quiet and in the middle of the forest! After a good night we had a guided walk into the forest the next morning and went to Kisumu arriving at our hotel for lunch.
In Kisumu we decided to upgrade the hotel in advance on our own cost to have two comfortable nights with a day at leisure in between! Later it paid off...
After two nights in Kisumu we took off to Masai Mara with a stop at the soapstone factory in Kisii which was quite interesting. We arrived at our camp in the Mara at dinner-time. The Lechada camp is not maintained well, the mattresses are done, the showers are very dark, dirty, no hot showers, all in all very poor bathrooms, food was okay but the dining hall also very dark. Staff and the Masai have been friendly.
The gamedrives the next two days have been amazing, the Masai Mara is really awesome.
After three nights in the camp we took off to Naivasha and we’ve been really excited about our hotel, the Lake Naivasha Resort was on the program for two nights. Arriving at Lake Naivasha our driver told us we’ll stay in the ‚sweet lake resort‘ which is a totally different price category than the Lake Naivasha Resort wish we found out really fast online, so we told the driver and insisted on to stay in the Lake Naivasha Resort as per program. As we were doing our boatride before lunch, our driver was to sort out with the office. As we came back I had to talk with the boss Lucy from the office for the first time, the lady really told me that the hotel was changed and we’ve been informed about, which was not true and a lie! After me still insisting on us staying in the better hotel as per program she was shouting at me on the phone!!! It was getting later and later so that we even had no lunch and we finally accepted to stay in another hotel called Masada resort, because Lucy was not reasonable and insisting to her lie the hotel was changed and we knew. So we checked in at around 6pm in the Masada Resort without having any lunch (all meals included) and the hotel was also definitely not the same category as the hotel on the program, the hotel that we have paid for! How can a hotel/program that we have paid for be changed?
The next day we went to Hells Gate Nationalpark and had a gamedrive in the morning to back at the hotel for lunch and afternoon at leisure. After another night at that hotel we took off to Nairobi the next day.
We would never recommend that agency to anybody, please be careful!
Our driver/guide Evans Ngigi was really excellent but the Office/the boss Lucy really unprofessional, customer service was very bad or no customer service at all! She tried to fool us with skipping Ol Pejeta Conservancy which is 95 USD per person, in total almost 400 USD. And finally she corned us with our hotel in Naivasha and saved a lot of money (hundreds). This lady is criminal! Sadly we had no chance to react because it was already paid and booked directly with that agency in Kenya.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing safari experience with amazing service
We had a truly amazing safari with Tammy tours.
I was worried at first about planning our safari from home but everything was so easy with Tunu. She was always in contact with us before we left and while we were in Kenya, she's such a lovely lady. She really reassured us and answered every question I had. Tunu even helped my boyfriend with planning our engagement while on safari, which was an amazing suprise!
The safari was amazing, we saw the most amazing places and animals with Alpha. We did a 4 day safari, which I really recommend to have enough time to really experience everything and see a lot. The lodges we booked were really comfortable and good. The salt lick game lodge is a definate must, this lodge is amazing!
Kenya is a truly magical place!
Thank you again Tunu & Alpha!
PL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The best time in Tanzania, I highly recommend it!!!
We chose Safari: 4-Day Tarangire -Serengeti -Ngorongoro Big Five Safari in configuration for 4 people.
The office was found by two additional people. The atmosphere with the Mosses guide and chef Erick the best! The cook cooked the most delicious dishes we ate in Tanzania. We saw a big five (but a rhino was very far away) and all other animals. Mosses told us a lot about animals and Tanzania. We spent the night at the campsites, we are very happy and recommend it with all my heart!
DE
under20 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Whenever you have a problem Patrick will be there to solve it and trys to fit your needs.
Everything was best organazied and we had very well selected lodges!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Experience!
The 3 day Safari was incredible. We were able to see pretty much all the animals there besides the Rhinos.
We got very close encounters with an elephant that walked straight into our campsite and also zebras.
The first night while sleeping we were woken by lions just outside from our tent.
A leopard also came out from the rocks and crawled straight underneath our Jeep!
The food that our chef cooked was delicious and there was plenty to go around. Our driver was very friendly and took us to all the great spots to see all the animals.
I had the best time and I completely would recommend this company!
Reasonably priced, good service, memorable trip
I would thoroughly reccommend Kenya Day Tours & Trips for a budget visit to Masai Mara. Our driver was very pleasant, the camp was basic but conveniently located and served its purpose, and the activities are as communicated