US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I can't even imagine better service. I will always recommend them!
Hello Tanzania with Mrs Mwajabu Sultan exceeded our expectations. We exchanged about hundred emails before the trip. She was always answering our questions in minutes or few ours. Mwajabu Sultan goal is: "when you're on vacations, you want to have a great time - no worries". And this is exactly vacations we had. A great time during the safari and relax on Zanzibar. No worries. I can't even find one thing I would like to complain about.
Thanks to her, I will always remember Tanzania as a beautiful country, where we spent our best vacations ever.
Thank You!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent Animal Viewing; Beautiful Accomodations; Knowledgeable Guides
Our guides were knowledgeable and skillful as they not only found animals for us to view up close, but gave us time to watch the animals rather than rushing from one siting to the next. We stayed in luxury tents that allowed for additional animal viewing in the evening – and was environmentally friendly! Food was delicious and varied. Nothing but positive experiences from booking the trip to having our expectations met on safari. We’ve been on a number of safaris and this was the best one yet!
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Safari with a very nice and experienced guide!
We went on a 5 day Budget Safari to Masai Mara and the lakes and it was an unforgettable experience. Not only did we see the big 5, but we also had an incredibly cool group with people from all over the world and tons of fun with them on the road. This includes Richard, our guide. He made sure we had whatever we needed, be it information, food/water or anything else and shared his knowledge as well as many a joke. The accommodation was also much nicer than expected on a budget Safari, especially the camp next to a Maasai village and the sweet hotel at Lake Nakuru. Me and my boyfriend both recommend Lenchada - especially with Richard as your guide.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Safari and Maasai Village Experience — HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
From our first email communication and throughout our pre-trip preparations, Namayiana Safari always communicated clearly and quickly — it was a treat to discover another email from John or Corinna in the inbox, helping to arrange the details (big and small) for our 16-day trip to Kenya. Furthermore, they also helped us figure out pieces of our trip to Tanzania as well. We thoroughly enjoyed every day we spent on safari with Namayiana — particularly the five days we spent in John’s village at his house. Truly the highlight of a two-month trip to East Africa!! John and his capable and warm staff (a special thanks to Moses, Solomon, Mkuti, and all of our chefs!!) created a magical time for our family of four — whether driving in the van, hiking, hanging out after dinner, or spotting animals on safari. We learned so much and had so much fun. The safari highlight for us was definitely the Masai Mara. Thank you, John and Corinna!! Highly recommended!!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Caring thoughtful service on an adventure of a lifetime
Godson Adventures provided a fantastic safari from start to finish. Godson was flexible and fast to respond to all of our questions from the initial inquiry, graciously supporting us on our Kilimanjaro hike even though we had already chosen another guide company and helping us arrange logistics to Arusha. He was there to pick us up, found us a fantastic place to stay at Mann Peace of Mind Lodge, and covered us with all the gear we did not have.
The safari experience itself was fantastic. Godson is a fantastic guide and driver, knowledgeable about animals and keeping people happy. He was always able to wheedle us into the best spots for viewing, seemingly anticipating the animals moves. And he leveraged his vast experience in the parks to ensure we saw all the animals. Everything was well organized and yet felt entirely easy going and stress free. And the food was fantastic. He catered to all sorts of special needs with aplomb. When he woke up early to drive us to the airport and say farewell, we felt that we left with a true friend in Godson.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Lenchada Safaris offered a wonderful tour package and followed the itinerary beautifully.
The service and tour was exceptional. The van was very comfortable and clean and allowed for excellent viewing in all directions. The stocked water on the game drives was very helpful. Dennis was knowledgeable and personable as a driver and guide. Communication throughout the reservation process was always timely and I appreciated the morning call from Alex before the driver arrived the morning the tour began.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good Organization
Overall, Wildebeest Safaris did their job. An informed consumer should recognize, though, the limited role such “operators” play. The tour guides tend to be independent or third-party contractors who work with a variety of such operators. Similarly, the lodging is owned and run by some other organization. The operators merely serve as middlemen. They coordinate your adventure and thereby certainly add value. The quality of your experience, however, will ultimately be in the hands of the independent guides and lodges
Our guide’s vehicle broke down toward the end of our tour, which somewhat stifled it. The way in which this was handled, I think, was mediocre at best.
All that being said, I’d probably book another tour with Wildebeest. They’re reasonably communicate, I think they try to do a good job, and they paired us with a superbly good guide.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Truly amazing experience from start to finish
My wife and I (both late 20s) went on a 6 day (5 night) safari in July 2018. This included 3 days in the Masai Mara (and boat ride on Lake Naivasha), a day in Lake Nakuru, and 2 days in Amboseli. We had the most amazing time, a truly unique experience and memories which will last forever. And all for the best price we could find anywhere! Detailed review below for those interested.
As the other reviews mention, you cannot control the animals and so the driver is the most important thing for a good Safari. Our driver/guide was Isaac and he was incredible. Brilliant driving, a great eye for spotting animals and great knowledge of every animal in Kenya! Best of all though was that he picked up on what we wanted from our safari - avoid the other vans where possible and see the full range of animals including the birds and herd animals (i.e. Not just the big 5).
The accommodation was very good considering the price and the location. Electricity, hot showers, and good food (they even had the World Cup on the tv in the restaurant). There was wifi in the lake Nakuru hotel, though not in the tented camps in Masai Mara or Amboseli.
In advance of our trip we were in email contact with Lennox. He was always very quick to respond to every email and every question.
The transport is a Toyota Hilux van. It can seat 8, although we had between 5 and 7 on our trip so there were spare seats. The other people in our van were good fun and we got to know them well.
We visited a Maasai village in the Masai Mara. This was a unique and fascinating experience. This is "free" although tip is expected - perfectly reasonable after they have shared their culture and invited you into their homes. This can be paid as cash or by purchasing the souvenirs they sell. As some others have mentioned, there is also the chance to visit a Maasai village in Amboseli. This is not free and they do not tell you this in advance. It is $20 (2000 shillings) per person (which is a lot of money, especially since we had already visited a village). Fortunately we picked up on the price before we got there and so declined the invite.
There are a couple of other times when small tips are appropriate including the boat ride in Lake Naivasha and the river walk along the Mara river.
We would recommend this safari tour to anyone and everyone. Bring a camera and binoculars and prepare to be blown away!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amboseli, West and East Tsavo safari
This is a guy who loves his job, is very knowledgeable and totally looks after his clients.
We did a 4 night/5 day safari then a drop off at a Diani beach hotel - Amboseli, West and East Tsavo -
family of 5 adults
We arranged our trip to Kenya ourselves, choosing to book direct with a local guide rather than use a travel agent.
For our first night we booked an apartment close to the airport, as our safari was starting early the following morning. When we arrived at the apartment Samuel our safari guide had already contacted the owner to confirm our pick up time in the morning.
We started our tour driving to Amboseli, with a game drive on route to our first safari lodge. We stayed in that area 2 nights. Samuel made sure we had an amazing time spotting many animals and birds, the water levels were still quite high and some roads were flooded and closed. Samuel’s knowledge of the parks was amazing, he also had a good eye for spotting animals from a distance. At one point another safari jeep had got stuck, Samuel got his tow ropes to assist also giving advice on how to drive out of the situation.
We also visited Tsavo West, this area is a lot different, it was very interesting finding out about the geology of the area, especially the Shetani lava fields, again Samuel was very knowledgeable.
Our next stop was Tsavo East, here we saw the ‘red’ elephants that Samuel had told us about and also cheetahs, then the icing on the cake was lions with lion cubs about 3 weeks old.
Finally we had the last morning game drive then drove to Diani Beach. Samuel even gave us a mini tour of Mombasa on the way, stopping off to take photos.
On arriving at our hotel in Diani Beach Samuel gave us his contact number in case we needed anything - he was on his way back home to Nairobi that evening to see his family before starting a new safari.
Oh boy did we need him again - my son and girlfriend had left their passports and money in the safe in Tsavo East. Samuel contacted the hotel to see if any safari guides were coming down to Diani and could drop them off. He said leave it with him. The following evening Samuel turned up at our beach hotel with passports and money in hand. No one had been coming as far as Diani, only as far as Mombasa, so instead of going home to his family he stayed in Mombasa to personally bring the passports and money to us. For this I can not thank him enough.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We had some amazing guides and drivers who exceeded our expectations.
Levis was exceptional in his communications with us. We had an amazing safari experience thanks to the team he put together for our safari. We had to make some changes to our itinerary and they accommodated those changes. Would highly recommend Levis and Hallmark Travel Partners.