US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Total disaster
I have travelled extensively for many years and this has been the worst experience by far. Departure to Amboseli was delayed by 8 hours which I had to spend hanging around in Nairobi because infamous Mr Rufus kept making up incongruous excuses every 10 minutes. Before paying, Mr Rufus categorically confirmed I would not be sleeping in tents. Instead, he said I would be sleeping in a lodge made with "local materials", "like a proper house". The reality was that I had to spend two horrible nights in the filthiest cheapest tent I have ever seen. Mr Rufus did not make arrangements for me to leave Amboseli. After making up loads of stories and delaying the agreed departure time by about two hours, he offered me the option to take a matatu (unsafe public bus) back to Nairobi by myself, which I had no choice but to accept since Amboseli is in the middle of nowhere. Do not trust the positive reviews because I suspect they are fake. Simply do not take the risk of going on a safari with this agency.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Best Tour Operator
We have just finished our safari in East Africa a family of with 3 young children including an infant and we have been humbled by the professionalism of Zippy who was pronto in replying the emails and making sure that she picked the properties that were child friendly and she was spot on. We requested for a flying safari as we were worried of the kids and the long drives but it was very nice as we didn't have to endure the long road. The guides were brilliant in every park that we visited and we were so grateful to receive some souvenirs from Zippy on our last day. It was the best holiday that we have had in a long time.
AR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Incredible experience!!! :)
We had an amazing experience! We spent 4 nights with them: 1 in Tremisana lodge and the other 3 at Katikana lodge. I want to point out Elias as guide and the quality of the services in Katikana. Joanne and Mira were very kind and generous with us. They help us with everything and the food was incredible every single day. Thanks for this fantastic experience! Kruger Park game drive was grate as all the other activities. We were able to see a lot of animals very close! An experience to be repeated, no doubt!
CL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
100% Recommended! Excellent staff, fantastic safari tour!
We took this safari agency from Chile without knowing anything about the company and the results were excellent! Exceeding our expectations!
The staff of the company is very kind and prepared for all that we needed, but the most remarcable thing was the guide's knowledge about animals, safari, nature and country.
Absolutely recommended.
US
Basic accommodations, excellent guides
ACZ Safari is one of the most affordable options available for a Maasai Mara safari, well organized, and has excellent guides. But because it is really affordable, the accomodations are very basic and a bit old/worn out. For example, I had to ask to replace the mosquito nets in our tent because they were torn and dirty. Despite the basic accomodations, the food was very good. My position on safaris is that you are going to see the same animals whether you pay for luxury accomodations or basic ones. So, if you want glamping, this is not the right option. But if you want to see the Mara at a very affordable rate, ACZ is a very good option.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Our private safari was ruined due to the incompetence of this company!
I booked a private 3-day safari in Amboseli National Park with a friend at the end of November. I spent six months arranging all the details of the safari via email with Michael, the owner of Ancient Wild Safaris. This was my fourth safari, so I was very clear about the services we wanted.
I was coming from Tanzania and met my friend Sergio and the driver Joseph at the Namanga border. 15 minutes on the road to Amboseli the car broke down. The driver was clueless how to fix the problem and didn't communicate any information to us. We waited for two hours on the dirt road until a taxi arrived to take us to the entrance gate of Amboseli, an hour away. The driver, Joseph stayed with the broken down car. Once at the park entrance, we waited another hour for a van to take us on our first "game drive". We booked a private safari, but were forced to join a Danish couple's tour. This game drive was really just driving across the park to our hotel, on the opposite side.
I contacted Michael several times during the first day, but he never communicated to me what the plan was for the next day. Eventually, Joseph told us that we would join the Danish couple's safari again the next morning. This became our second group game drive during the trip. Also, it was not our driver or tour company, so we had no choice in what we visited or where we stopped or for how long. We were just along for the ride.
After the morning game drive, we were dropped off at our hotel with no driver and no car. I had originally arranged an all-day game drive on the second day. Instead, we spent most of the morning and afternoon being bored around the camp. Eventually, Joseph contacted us to say he would pick us from the camp at 5pm! He arrived with the mechanic and we did a one-hour game drive before the park closed.
The next morning we did the only full, private game drive before returning to Nairobi. So we got 1 proper game drive out of the 4 we paid for. In Nairobi, Michael failed to show up at our hotel to discuss the poor service. He kept trying to make excuses instead of taking responsibility for the problems with the safari. I kindly requested a partial refund since we didn't get the private safari that we paid for and he refused. There was zero accountability!
I would never use this company again due to the lack of professionalism and costumer service. Throughout the entire ordeal, there was almost no communication and direction from the owner.
CL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Trip of a lifetime!
From start to finish, Zambezi took care of everything. They were flexible, helpful, attentive and responsive. Once we embarked on our trip, we did not have to worry about a thing - we simply woke up and were whisked around from point to point. It was a wonderful experience and I would recommend Zambezi to anyone.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Self driving in Uganda is great!
I made a self driving tour for three weeks all around Uganda with a car from Self Drive Uganda. The car was great and reliable. It was an old (but very robust) Rav 4 that managed all the roads without any problem.
Also the service is very good. I got my car directly on the airport. Billy made the paperworks and showed me the roads of Entebbe early in the morning. He also gave me some tips about the ferry, where to go and so on. A very nice guy!
The tour itself was amazing. I was absolutely free what to do and see. For some game drives I hired a guide who spotted animals and sights while I could concentrate on driving and taking pictures. It is really easy to drive here although some roads are really rough and it is very dusty. As single European self driver I was known immediately everywhere ant it was really fun to talk to people I met during my journey.
Also returning the car was very uncomplicated. Moses picked it up at the gusethouse. There was no hassle, everything was fine with the car and the guys. I think it was a good decision to chose them. They are reliable, very kind and - very important - local!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great Experience
We booked the 3 day safari. Annette did a wonderful job in arranging our tour, the accommodations were great, Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara and the drive along the way were amazing. The service was friendly and on time at every part of our trip. The safari was fantastic!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic last minute safari in the Mara
We decided whilst on our honeymoon in Kenya that we wanted to do a safari in the Mara, James at Wildlife Sun Safari’s was very highly recommended to us and I can fully understand why. We wanted to head to the Mara in 4 days time and because James was so quick at sorting this for us it meant that we were able to get the last 2 seats on the flight.
Due to the planes that take you to the Mara being so small there are weight restrictions on luggage, this meant we were unable to take our main suitcases, James was brilliant with sorting this out for us and arranged for our suitcases to fly to Nairobi with us (We had to pick up some passengers from Nairobi on the way to the Mara), our suitcases were then stored at the airport ready for us to collect after our Safari.
We were given 3 options of where to stay, we chose ‘The Fig Tree’, it was a really friendly and welcoming camp in the Mara. We had a fantastic guide and driver and were also lucky enough to have a safari truck to ourselves.
When we left the Mara we were heading to Nairobi to carry on our honeymoon, James surprised us by meeting us at the airport and had already collected our large suitcases for us.
I cannot recommend James or Wildlife Sun Safari’s enough, he was brilliant from the beginning right through to the end of our trip.
We are hoping that we will be able to return to Kenya in the near future and will not hesitate to contact James to help us organise our trip.