35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A Tsavo East Epic Adventure!
Arriving at the famous Tsavo East National Park at the Voi Gate Headquarters, we were greeted by smiling rangers and park staff. We were quickly processed and were into the park within 10 minutes.
Rounding the first corner, no more than 200 metres in, we saw our first elephants, a small family group grazing in the bush by the side of the track. Elephant would prove to be our ever present in the park. It was full of them all over the whole park.
Our first night was spent camping at Ndololo Camp. This is a public campsite, with a shower/toilet block. There was a very helpful caretaker who brought us wood for the fire! Camping was fantastic due to the fact that the campsite is unfenced and animals can wander in at leisure. The highlight was a bull elephant not 50 meters from where we sat reaching up into a tree with his trunk and using his body weight to pull a branch down. Exhilarating!
Game drives were constantly stopped to look at elephants and the plentiful game. Our guide found us lions lazing in the grass. You have to be pretty fortunate to see them moving around or hunting apparently! They were an amazing sight though!
The bush is thick in places and the guide is crucial as they know where the game hangs out- we saw everything we wanted to!
We then moved up to the northern area to stay in a luxury tented camp called Galdessa on the Galana River. One word- spectacular! The river was full of hippos and crocodiles and just sitting there we saw elephants crossing- who can resist seeing a baby elephant swimming across with only it's trunk visible above the water?
Lions came down to drink nearby in the dark and the noises of the bush at night were sensational! The camp was awesome! Great food, helpful staff and the highlight was a bush walk with a guide and a ranger down the river from the mighty Lugards Falls. We saw a leopard! The elusive animal was on a rock waiting for us it seemed! It soon disappeared as we stopped to look at it, ranger on guard just in case!
We took a sundowner trip to a place called Mudanda Rocks. Perhaps on of the greatest views in the world! We climbed to the top and sat over looking a waterhole, watching giraffe, elephant, impala, warthog and gazelles drinking as we sipped a cold Tusker beer- heaven! The view from the rocks out across the vast expanse of Tsavo East was simply stunning and I never wanted to leave!
All in all our safari to Tsavo East was amazing, well worth the money! In fact, for the experience we had it was cheap!
Kenya is such a fascinating country and I would recommend visiting it to anyone. We took our two small children aged 8 and 6 with us and never ever felt unsafe. The guides and rangers were incredibly professional.
Kenya- visit it now!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Kenya by Dan
Kenya has so many different parks to choose from- visit the Maasai Mara to see everything but Tsavo East and West for the real bush!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Tanzanian Safari
The safari exceeded my expectations for seeing wildlife. I had taken a 2 day safari and saw everything I had hoped to see. The driver, Kakasii, was an experienced local who knew the parks and the animal hangouts like none of the other companies. His eye for spotting animals in the brush and trees was phenomenal. Communication was a breeze with Kakasii's perfect English and his enthusiasm and friendly demeanor made the trip a blast. If I plan another safari, it will definitely be with these guys. Thank you so much for the wonderful adventure!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The Rhino Walk was one of the highlights of our vacation
My daughter & I spent 17 days in South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe & Botswana. Going on the rhino walk with our guide Chiwele was one of the things we both enjoyed very much. I really liked being able to walk for hours across the open savannah instead of being in a vehicle or a boat. Naturally we were not able to get as close to the animals but I wouldn't have wanted to (especially the big herd of hundreds of Cape Buffalo & zebras). I liked the perspective and the slower pace. Chiwele was extremely knowledgeable about the plants and animals and we learned a lot. Seeing the rhinos at the end of the walk was a great ending to an already spectacular morning.
BE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfectly organised trip for a family.
The trip to South Africa was good organised with a lot of variation ( also for the children).
We can recommend Tailor Made Safaris to everybody that want to make a carefree vacation where all the preparation is very well done.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Awesome holiday
Communication from the beginning with Anthea was excellent, we planned our trip months in advance & were kept up to date throughout. she listened to everything we asked for & tailor made our trip which turned out to be one of our best ever at Ulusaba. All our transfers arrived on time & drivers were very polite & friendly. Accommodation was first class. The cost was comparable to other companies & we are already planning a return trip to South Africa only this time to see the garden route & will definitely use them again
CZ
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing safari with Kili Slope
The tour operator was good. The agency manager is very kind and you just feel right about going on safari with his company. What we really loved was our guide Emmanuel and chef Masaka. It is true that the whole safari thing relies on the guide and he was just amazing. For example he was able to ensure the sleeping bags for us because the operator somehow forgot to provide them... Otherwise we had good tents, nice food, great group and lot of fun! I can only recommend Kili Slope as these guys really know what safari is about :)
AR
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great service, very reliable
When I first contact Matoke last september 2015, Lionel was very helpful and try to suit my requirements(budget accomodation, lazy camping, meet local people) and design a package full of fun and amazing experiences.Our driver/guide Big Sam ( Munene-Munene)was very helpful, knowledgeable and try to show us the best Uganda has to offer the traveller,great scenery, stunning game driving, unforgettable gorilla tracking.Thank you Matoke!! Gracias!!
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Worst experience ever ! Total scam.
We met with mr. Rufus in Kenya to discuss our tour and our accommodations. We booked luxury tented camp accommodations during our safari and when we met with Rufus he told us the reservations for these camps were confirmed and we paid him. However on our first day of safari we got dropped off at a different very low budget tent camp which was not the camp he promised us we would stay at. 2 days later we went to a different national park and also there Rufus had arranged a totally different accommodation (less expensive and more basic) than was described in the booking. The last two days we would go to amboselli national park and we were supposed to stay at kibo Safari camp. However on our drive there we asked our driver where we would stay and suprisingly he was told to take us to a very low budget, crappy tented camp. We called Rufus to discuss this problem (again) and he told us we were on a waiting list for kibo camp. We didn't believe him and called Kibo camp ourselves and they told us they had plenty of tents available and they never had been in contact with "visit mount Kenya tours" or someone named Rufus. As Rufus was not answering his phone anymore we told our driver to go to kibo camp. Eventually the driver paid our first overnight there as Rufus was not responding to any calls. However the next day we called Rufus again and he was very aggressive and yelling that we costed him too much money and he wasn't going to pay our last night accommodation (even though we already payed him for a 6 day safari in advance. In the end we had to stay at the kimana amboselli tented camps, the camp Rufus wanted to accommodate us in the first place. This was the worst place I ever stayed. The toilets were disgusting with bugs in them, as was the shower (cold). Furthermore we both got sick from the food, as did others in the camp and our tent was full of holes and the sheets of the bed were full of stains. In short: don't travel with this tour operating company, it's a complete scam !!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful Safari - Experience of a lifetime
We went on a four day safari of Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru with Beacons Safari. From the beginning, our experience of Beacons Safari has been outstanding. Responses to our emails by Robert were always extremely quick, professional and courteous. He showed great flexibility e.g. greeting and picking us from airport at the early hours of 3.30AM. But the main reason that our Safari was exciting, interesting, fun, informative and an unforgettable experience was our guide John. John was very knowledgeable, very enthusiastic, very keen (and one with a fantastic eye sight!) - making sure that we see, hear and experience the beautiful wildlife of Kenya! We saw the Big Fives, the Cheetahs, the Crocodiles and also the fabulous Wildebeests Migration – the Mara river crossings! Thanks John!! All our logistics and accommodations by Beacons were just perfect – making our Safari truly memorable – the best ever holidays for my family and I.