US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very exciting 12-day, 2-person private safari in Kenya and Tanzania
We booked with Amazing Memories for our trip to east Africa. Our 12-day itinerary was: Nairobi, Nakuru, Maasai Mara, Serengeti, Ngorngoro Crater, then Amboseli. Dennis from the company was waiting for us when we arrived at night in Nairobi and led us to Daniel, who was our driver the whole time we were in Kenya. Daniel was a good driver/guide and had a good eye for photography, which I appreciated since I wanted to take a lot of pictures. Examples would be him positioning us so that we had a good angle on the animals, instead of just getting us as close as possible. Or when there was water, stopping in a place where we could get a cool reflection. In Kenya we were in a large van with a popup roof, which worked well. There was plenty of room for the two of us to stand on the game drives. The van came stocked with a lot of bottled water.
Our driver in Tanzania was Donald, who was also very nice and did a great job of finding a lot of animals in Serengeti. We were in a pop-top Land Cruiser, which was more comfortable to sit in and drive around in, but not as good to stand in while moving because the top opening was narrower than the van. The seats were also higher, so it was harder to look out the windows. But the vehicle was still perfectly good for game drives; we'd just sit until we got to the animals instead of standing the whole time.
Communication was all via email with Anne and was a little delayed at times, but overall was fine. She did a good job answering all my emails and sent an informative PDF with details about east Africa, like the money and climate and things like that.
One (very minor) negative from the trip was that the border crossings were confused. They still worked out fine and ended up being quick (30 mins for one and maybe 60 for the other), but especially when we went from Tanzania back into Kenya through Namanga no one seemed to know what the process was or where we should go. But they got it figured out in 30 minutes or so and then it all worked out fine. It sounds like the process is ever-changing, so some of this is to be expected, but it was still a little weird to just sit in the car while our driver tracked someone down to figure out where we needed to go.
One other general comment: The roads in east Africa are not good. A lot of them are dirt and very bumpy (especially the drive into Maasai Mara, which is at least in the process of getting paved), so if you get carsick, you might want to take some medicine. It's also very dusty, so everything you take will get covered in a layer of dirt.
The parks:
We're glad we went to all the parks that we did. At Nakuru we saw 9 rhinos and only saw 1 the rest of the trip, and from far away. We also stopped by Lake Naivasha on the drive to Maasai Mara to go on a boat ride, which was pretty cool since it was different than the drives. In the Mara we didn't see much one day, but the other day, saw at cheetah and least a dozen lion, four of them in a tree. Serengeti was the best park for us. We saw multiple trees with lions in them, including one tree with seven. We also saw a few huge herds (1000+) of zebras and wildebeest and a couple cheetahs. The landscape was huge, wide, and open, which was good to see large groups of animals. In Ngorongoro there were lots of animals everywhere and we saw a few lions as well as a black rhino. We didn't see many animals in Amboseli (though still did see a family of lions), but did have a good (but brief) view of Kilimanjaro, which was only out of the clouds for about 45 minutes right after sunrise.
The camps:
We enjoyed all the camps in which we stayed. Nairobi: Sarova Stanley, very nice hotel and room and very good breakfast. Nakuru: Flamingo Hill, nice tent room, could walk along the fence and see zebra, baboons, and buffalo. Maasai Mara: Ashnil Mara, very big grounds, but really nice tent room with a nice shower and toilet, room was right by the river so we could hear the hippos, buffet-style meals; also had a great souvenir shop with great prices. Serengeti: Kati Kati, small tented camp right in the Serengeti (no fences) which was really cool to be so close to the animals and nature, saw some giraffes and heard hyenas at night, very nice staff. Ngorongoro: Serena Ngorongoro, nice hotel with great views of the crater, very refreshing to have an actual hotel instead of a tented camp for a night, good food. Amboseli: Ol Tukai Lodge, great location right in the middle of the park, nice bungalows with good bathroom, fun to watch animals just outside the fence; would recommend the elephant view rooms because Kilimanjaro was in the clouds 23 out of 24 hours of the day, but mountain rooms could be good if you know it will be clear; also had a very good gift shop.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Solaris is an absolute fraud, DO NOT BOOK YOUR SAFARI WITH THEM. If I could give 0 stars, I would.
Solaris Safaris is an absolute fraud, DO NOT BOOK YOUR SAFARI WITH THEM.
We booked a 6-night safari with Solaris in Tanzania. We prepaid everything in two installments, as they required, and they promised to provide 6 nights of hotels, all of our park fees, a private car/driver for the two of us, and all of our meals while on safari. In short, they provided almost none of these things and we ended up paying additional thousands of dollars to keep our safari going that has not been refunded to us despite many promises from the company that it would be.
Hours after we arrived, the problems began. Our driver (who was not a Solaris employee, but rather a local guide contracted by Solaris) was several hours late to pick us up because Solaris did not provide the necessary funds and information for our trip to begin. We missed out on a few hours of game drives that day, and Solaris had not organized our lunch for us. Later that evening, our local driver came to find us at the lodge to tell us that Solaris was supposed to have sent him money that evening for the next day but had not yet. We had to call Solaris several times to try and figure out the issue and they wouldn't do anything for us. The next morning, our driver was again several hours late because Solaris kept telling him they'd send money and never did. We ended up having to pay our driver directly for 4 of the 6 days out of pocket on top of what we had already paid - this was required up front to allow our driver to get enough fuel for our 4 days in the Serengeti where there are only dirt roads and no gas stations. We also had to pay for all of our park entrance fees, which were supposed to have been included, plus a balance on our final hotel. We ended up paying another 50% on top of the total trip cost while on the ground in Tanzania just to continue our trip. Meanwhile, Solaris kept telling us everything would be fine and they would sort it out and this never, ever happened. We wasted several expensive hours on the phone with them instead of in the parks doing game drives.
At the end of our safari, Solaris agreed to refund us everything we paid out of pocket and set a date to do so a few weeks later. We never received the refund after several reminders and emails to them, and they have stopped responding to our emails. This company is an absolute fraud. We have reason to believe they embezzled this money for their own personal gain.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
8 days Safari + 3 days Zanzibar
My husband and I had an amazing time for our 8 day safari in Masai Mara and Tanzania thanks to Alex and Meshack. They are knowledgeable, trustworthy and very responsive to emails, which made the itinerary preparation easy. Our guides, Stephen and Santos were very professional, knowledgeable and friendly, so we couldn't ask for more. We saw plenty of animals (all of the big five, yes!!) and some amazing landscape. It was definitely a trip of a lifetime, even though we had some minor hiccups along the way. We loved being in nature, going on daily game drives and be rewarded by nature's beauty. We definitely recommend All Seasons safari, as this was our 2nd safari with them!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very easy to work with, great communicators, amazing experience.
The tour exceeded my expectations and was amazing. They did a great job of setting everything up for us even when we kept changing the schedule and amount of people coming. I’d highly recommend them!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very thorough, responsive & professional.
Wild Destinations was very organized & detailed in providing information leading up to our safari at Masai Mara.
Highly recommend booking thru Wild Destinations.
The safari that was booked at Mara Serena exceeded our expectations!
Terrific!
Thank you!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Once in a Lifetime
great. every detail taken care of. Love Camp Xakanaxa the most. Truly an exceptional experience. Megan was an excellent resource throughout the whole experience
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Exceptional tour company who covered all areas perfectly!
Our 21 day trip To Kenya and Tanzania was amazing. Susan had planned out and took responsibility for every detail of our trip. Niko, aka DB,was the head guide. All of our guides were extremely knowledgeable and answered the many questions we had about the animals, the people and culture. No question was too small. Thanks for the joy filled education,our trip of a life time!
MX
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
PERFECT PRIVATE SAFARI EXPERIENCE - FULLY CUSTOMIZED TO OUR WISHES
Our honeymoon safari with Fika Safaris has been absolutely fantastic!
Before the safari:
A friend of mine recommended me to contact Fika Safaris if I wanted to go on a customized private safari, with great value for money. And that is what we did. We had a first conversation with Robert - our contact person at Fika Safaris - via Skype. I noted that Robert was first of all really friendly. I also noted that he really tried to listen to our wishes and to understand what type of travelers we were. Based on that conversation, Robert made a first proposal for a safari itinerary. We had a couple of iterations with him to further customize the private safari to our exact wishes. That was a smooth and very pleasant process, in which Robert showed to be both a great listener and great at converting our demands into the program. Warning us when we would made a bad decision, and finding the exact hotels / routes / experiences that we were looking for. Any questions we had beforehand, we would ask them to Robert and he would give us all the guidance that we needed.
During the safari:
Be absolutely got what we signed up for: an incredible journey of two weeks through both Kenya and Tanzania. All the hotels, restaurants and safaris were exactly how Robert had described us to us, with the same look & feel as we had imagined beforehand. Robert checked in on how everything was going every 3-4 days, to maker sure nothing was missing and to ensure himself that the guides were doing a great job. Given that it was our Honeymoon, Robert had also arranged a special detail in each of the hotels / tented camps were we stayed.
ABSOLUTELY RECOMMEND TRAVELLING WITH FIKA SAFARI - THE BEST FOR CUSTOMIZED, PRIVATE SAFARIS WITH GREAT VALUE FOR MONEY
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Most amazing wildlife adventure of my life.
I traveled on a safari with my family in 2016 with Destination Consultants and returned again in 2018 bringing my university class of 19 people with me. The highest recommendation is to journey with the same company again. Every link was perfectly organized. Even with the 2018 floods and needing to change some of our accommodations, Niko and Susan are filled with the joy of living and a passion for the wildlife and ecology of Kenya and Tanzania. The guides are the highest quality with great senses of humor and deep knowledge of the area. We asked to visit a school in Tanzania as an extra component of our trip. Susan even delivered the school supplies herself. I have learned so much about the animals, the geology, the ecosystem and the culture of Kenya and Tanzania. I give this company the highest recommendation and plan on bringing back another university class in the near future. Niko and Susan are some of the most delightful people that I've ever met. The safari exceeded my dreams in every way.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great experience.. Best tour operator in Kenya!!!!Very professional service offered..
My expectation was met and even surpassed. AVS is the best tour operator service in Kenya..