20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unforgettable experience. Thanks to Grace.
Booked a 3 day safari to Masai Mara. Communication when booking and during the entire weekend trip was on point. Felt so safe with Grace and her entire team. Will definitely recommend safe drive anytime any day.
My savings for the trip was totally worth it.
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Ati are professional with attention to detail.
Ati were easy to communicate with via email and over the phone prior to our trip. They considered our proposed "wish list" and delivered. The six-day tour exceeded our expectations mainly due to our very excellent Guide, the friendly and comfortable Lodges where we stayed, and of course the activities and experiences along the way. I shall be more than happy to recommend Ati to friends planning a trip to Namibia.
HR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Deeply explained positive/negative experience
We found Namayiana Safaris by google. I thought it is a nice place to stay since it was a home stay with the Masai people, for 15 usd per person per night (hardly you will find anything cheaper there and so close to the park).
There are some good things (food, seeing all the animals, experiencing life in Masai village, having land cruiser) and some less good (trying not to buy us tickets, organized bad transport for the way back, entering in our room while we were not there, idea that the tourist is the bag full of money).
In each section i will write both sides in details. My boyfriend Yekta already left a review (should be 2nd review under mine... I will also respond to Mr. John who found himself offenfed after reading the review of my bf).
We paid daily 120 usd for the land cruiser (car, driver, gas included). We rented if for 3 days (was supposed to be 2, i will explain under why 3).
If you will have extra questions, ask me on my Instagram @thismorningiwokeupin. I was in about 60 countries, made many tours, so i can tell i am experienced traveler.
Let's start from the beginning:
Arriving there - we were coming from Narok to John's village. John offered us to use matatu for 1000 KES, but we didn't know what time it goes and we missed it. It was very hard to find another transport to the village, we had a lot of problems (because of the rain and going with the car which was not 4x4). However, John was always available by phone. I recommended you to organize the transport before coming (John can help you).
Accommodation - Masai house, one room for you, one room for John and chefs... It was nice to stay there, meet the kids, talk with adults, "play" with animals... Walls in the house are thin, so whenever someone is speaking you can hear. There is no electricity (we had to charge phones in the car. Keep this on mind if you are carrying camera!) or mosquito net over the bed. Shower and the toilets were outside, in the nature. They can make buckets full of the warm water for you.
Lock your room (bring your own locker?) - we noticed that some food is missing in our room, i also found the package of my chocolate out of the house on the floor... John told probably kids entered and took it...
I suggest you to bring some extra food with you before coming to the village. Shops are limited with choice, there are some restaurants inside of Masai Mara NP. Kids will be happy too to eat some cookies :).
One thing what should be mentioned before coming - if it is raining, it is extremely muddy, slippery and not everyone would be able or want to walk there. (For me it was not a problem, maybe only for my snickers :D)
Food - breakfast was one boiled or fried egg per person, butter and toast bread. Sometimes with extra beans and pancakes. Lunch was the same as breakfast (egg, toast bread, butter). For the dinner we would get a lot of rice with vegetables, some meat, fruits, chapati... Normally they would ask if we have some dinner wish. In total dinner was delicious. I was feeling a bit uncomfortable that 1 or 2 of them would stand next to us and stared at us while eating (they would tell they ate before, but as they were staring we would offer them to eat, they would tell they will eat after us - it confused us - we were not sure if all the food is really only for us (as they told at the start... or they are waiting to eat and if we eat everything they would have nothing?? ).
Restaurant lunch - one day John told we will go to eat barbeque in the restaurant instead of home. We told ok, barbeque sounded good :). When we arrived in the restaurant, they told they don't serve a barbecue... 2 of our chefs ate with us - when the bill came, they didn't offer to pay their part, it was expected that we pay (again not a big money, but it is polite to offer to pay your own part or tell thank you after someone else pays for you).
Safari - Be sure that they buy for you the entrance tickets!
We were able to choose between 2 options - to have land crusiser in the morning (aprx 6 till 9am) and late afternoon (aprx 3 or 4pm till 6pm) OR for the full game drive (8am-4pm). In total, we saw big 5 and many other animals.
1st day - We went to the river and short walk with the scout. We got stuck with land crusier in the mud near the elephant with the babies - it was a bit scary (it can happen to anyone:). I was surprised that they don't have any protection with themselves (like smth to make animal sleep if it attacks), but i don't know what are the rules about it so maybe it is normal not to have.
2nd day - we again gave160 usd for the tickets to enter the National Park. We noticed that John and, the owner of the land cruiser, Steven didn't buy the tickets so in the evening we asked if we can get our tickets. They told it was crowded on the entrance (how crowded it can be in the low season?), they decided to avoid that entrance and go directly in (and they told that workers on the gate know vehicle registration plate, they will charge them later for the tickets, that if they don't pay they can have serious problems). John mentioned in the answer to Yekta that they went fast inside to see the leopard --> on that day we entered twice in the NP. We saw leopard around 16:30 (we entered in the NP at 15 h!). Cheetahs were seen next day. First time we entered was around 05:50 and i didn't notice many cars around. Also, one thing they told was that we were allowed to enter in the NP earlier than normal. If so, how it could be crowded? Notice the contradiction?!
John is telling they bought the tickets next morning - no, they went to buy it after we insisted on them to go for it the same evening (they were telling before how the ticket will be for that day, but as expected he came back with brand new tickets for the next day. It was obvious he got nervous about the whole situation).
3rd day - since we got one extra day tickets for free we decided to stay and use it. That is the answer on John's question why we stayed 2 extra nights. We had to pay again 120 usd for the car. In the afternoon John invited 2 more Masai people to go with us, but he didn't ask us before if it is ok. He asked when we were already inside the car and we had no option, but tell yes. Honestly, i would like that we were alone with him + eventually one extra person sitting next to him, not having someone sitting back with us - then it is not anymore a private tour.
Leaving tips - Sometimes they would repeat multiple times to "take a good care of chefs/whoever". I think tips are optional and we should leave according to our satisfaction with the service. It is ok to mention once at the start to leave tips at the end if we liked certain service, but to repeat it multiple times is pressuring. Once, we asked 2 of them how much we should leave for the leader from the another village (they took us to see it + dance, in total it took inside max. 30 min.) - they told us some tourists leave few thousand KES (means 50 USD or so). We left less than that and the leader of the village didn't seem very happy about it (and all of them were staring to see how much we left, he counted money in front of us). Before leaving Kenya, we talked with some Kenyans in Nairobi and we asked is it normal to leave tips and how much - they told it is not normal, but we can... They told us 500 KES is already a lot for tips, but we didn't have the same impression from the village. People there have to understand that not all of the tourists are bag full of money, it is already expensive to pay for the tour itself. I suggest you to bring envelopes and give tips inside of it.
Going back to Narok - John organized '"matatu". That "matatu" was actually normal car for 5 people (not a van neither 4x4 wheels). Inside there were 10 PEOPLE (including John and his brother)!!! 3 sitting in front, 4 behind and 3 in the baggage. 3 of 4 doors were not possible to open from inside of the car, window on my door was also not able to be opened... You could hardly breath and ride itself was very dangerous. Car broke down after the certain point and we switched to the new car. They asked us to pay 1000 KES (~10 usd) per person for supposed to be 2 hours ride in such conditions. We believe that they overcharged us, because we are tourists. No one can convince me that all the people in the car paid 1000 KES each, it would mean about 90 usd total. Even when we were coming from Narok to the village, regular taxi for 5 people charged normally 600 KES per person.
Mr. John - despite some troubles up, i believe he si intelligent and friendly person. I wish him a good work with the company and i hope he will not get poisoned by the idea that everybody are "tourists with lot of money" and he will work with people as "travelers" who want to see, feel and enjoy the local culture.
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience!!!
We were very impressed about the detailed preparation and their afford to unsure themselves and us of a perfect stay in South Africa. Everything was planned and take care of and even our wish to have a fridge (for keeping medicine cool) was no problem. We would recommend Tailor-made safaris to everyone. With special thanks to Annelies, Angela en Geert.
PT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Everyone should do it, at least once! Unforgettable
Our guide was amazing, always patient and spoting the animals miles away!
The scenery and wildlife are incredible and worth all the effort and investment. The weather was perfect during the safaris, droping a few degrees only at night time (bring sweaters).
The food was ok but the accommodations could use some improvement! The tents weren't confortable and the bathrooms were so bad many people didn't even shower.
Aside from that, we loved everything and would do it again anytime!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Personal and Exciting
I travelled with Dusty Roads and was extremely well looked after. My driver was Geoff. He is extremely knowlegable' and can spot animals and birds and plants kilometers away.
We travelled to Ngorongoro Crater and Sarengetti. It was a fast but very informative and effective. The accomadation at Eileen's at Karatu and Tortilis Tented Camp was great in terms of comfort, food and hospitality!!
The sceneary was spectacular and the wildlife was plentiful. I have taken away wonderful memeories and great photos.
Highly recoemmended
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent service and outstanding professionalism, this is a company you can trust.
We contracted H to A to help us organize transportation and accommodations for a conference. Our organization is located in Canada, and we needed to organize these plans at a distance and on very short notice. H to A had the most competitive bid, and were able to accommodate us on extremely short notice (less then one week). They had everything arranged to our specifications, and worked with our travelers to resolve any challenge they had. From our side, the process of working with them was seamless. They kept us in communication to quickly resolve issues. The feedback from our participants was the same- they found the staff very kind and helpful, and the drivers were very detail oriented and professional. Overall, we cannot recommend them highly enough. If you are doing business at a distance, this is a partner you can trust.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Blew Expectations out of the water!!!
We looked into three different Safari Tour companies while researching the vacation of a lifetime. Discover Africa proved to be the best fit for us with seemingly unlimited options, flexible budget and the true ability to customize every step of the itinerary. After working briefly with Director Steve K. we were assigned Megan W. as our Personal Consultant. She was terrific!
After bombarding her with questions, which she answered each one calmly and thoroughly. We then proceeded to flip flop destinations, cut a few days here and there and switch a few accommodations that exceeded our budget. She handled all of this with ease. Her knowledge was impressive and her personal experience was more than enough to guide us and recommend different safari options and even a cooking class (which she had personally attended).
Once our rapid fire questions dried up, and the numbers fell to a comfortable place for those of us traveling, there was nothing left to do but get our shots and book our flights. Done and done.
Lastly, I would like to compliment Discover Africa not just for setting up our journey but also the incredible smoothness which we were able to get from one location to another. We traveled for 21 days, stayed in 9 different lodges/hotels, visited 4 countries and even rented a car for a portion; this could not have gone any better. Drivers and transfers were early, prepared with water and safely delivered us on time, like we were VIPs.
In one instance, our flight was canceled by the airline without our knowledge. When we returned to the lodge, we had an email from Megan plus a note waiting for us at reception informing us that the flight was canceled, we were being re-booked and we would have new boarding passes the following morning. This is what set Discover Africa head and shoulders above the rest.
Our trip to Africa was incredibly memorable, which it could have been with any of the tour operators, surely. I will however, recommend any friends, family and anyone who will listen to use Discover Africa for their travel to Africa. I cannot praise them highly enough. Thank you Megan, for making this special trip, just that.
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A Unforgettable and Amazing Safari, full of Beautifull moments with Proffessional /Friendly Guides.
This was the first time for me in Africa in Uganda. I came here because of a friend, she's from Uganda.
I enjoyed every single moment of the Safari tour, all the things and places that I have been able to see, especially the culture of how the people live, their food and clothes and the people are so friendly, polite and welcoming. (I couldn't stop taking photos, I was impressed by every moment)
The tour guides were all acting Proffessional, Caring , welcoming and nothing was too much for them, they kept answering my questions (as I couldn't stop asking things about their culture) their team is Amazing and Passionate about what they are doing.
The 5 nights -- 6 days that we were with them was very well organized..... and oh my god those accomedations were just so beautifull all the best of the best.
I certainly would recommed them if you ever plan to go to Uganda ... what a great Team.
Nasasira and all the other tour guides that I met at the Safari,,, just want to thank you all again...I definitley come back to see more. XXxxx
Cheers, Jannie
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent Services offered
I appreciate the services offered by you guys. Recommendable