20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great Affordable Option
As a student working in Tanzania, I had very little money to work with, but wanted to have a decent break that was memorable and fun. I'm situated in the south, so I did the Southern Circuit (excluding Ruaha, because I already work there).
This was a fantastic service. The safari was excellent and I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone looking for a good value, professional and exciting experience. I am really glad that I chose this company and would happily choose to go on safari with them again in the future, pending a few minor adjustments. Nothing serious, but I would advise anyone going on a safari anywhere, with anyone to make sure that they explicitly tell the company what they do and do not expect of their guide. It is important to remember that you are in another country with different cultural values and norms, so be patient and understanding - realise that your standards and expectations may be different to those of others, and politely discuss them with your organiser/guide to ensure that there are no misunderstandings and everything goes smoothly.
The positives:
1. Food and accommodation was excellent! The guide made every effort to make a long and bumpy journey by road enjoyable. Having a few snacks for the road really made a huge positive difference.
2. Hippo Camp in Selous was beautiful. The staff were really friendly and did all they could to make guests comfortable despite having a few unexpected technical difficulties while I was there. I would highly recommend this camp to anyone.
3. The guide was very knowledgeable and did his best to answer my questions about plants and animals.
4. The vehicle was very comfortable and reliable.
5. The program was excellent, lots of game viewing time and the guide was kind enough to include some short stops in transit between parks for me to be able to talk to local people and learn more culturally when I told him that this was an interest of mine in addition to wildlife. So I really appreciated that.
6. The cost of the safari was very reasonable considering all that was included. I feel that I definitely got what I paid for and would recommend your safari business to others.
Thank you once again for a really enjoyable experience! Highly recommended.
RU
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Well organized, punctual, honest, attentive, and surprisingly cheap.
I was looking for a safari tour to the best national parks in Kenya on SafariBookings, and the 6 days safari MaasaiMara-Naivasha-Nakuru-Amboseli seemed to be the most interesting and availiable. The tour offered by the AbsoluteHolidaySafaris could start any day, it was possible for a single traveller to join the group, and it was the cheapest on the SafariBookings. Besides, the agent made me a discount! I did not even write to other operators. The guides met me on my arrival, gave me prescious advices about my stay in the country, arranged the transfer to Malindi after the safary & back to the airport. All the guides were extremely attentive, polite and honest. They spoke English excellently & were perfect drivers. Due to them the very safari was realy great - we could see almost all the animals we wanted. The groups are quite small - up to 6 persons in a car, but the last 3 days I was alone with the driver and the chef, who were doing everything I wanted. They dropped my extra luggage to Nairobi and were waiting with me 3 hours for my bus to Malindi etc. I travel a lot (Europe, South America, Asia), but I have never met such a honest and attentive tourist agency, which does not just want to earn money on you, but really wants to get you pleasure and save your money!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Camping in Botswana = Adventure!
Recently we had the pleasure of having a participation camping safari with Naga in July. During out planning months in advance, we had a very hard time finding the safari that would cater to what we wanted to do and experience. Short of doing a self driven tour, we knew we wanted to be camping in the bush without all the luxury of a catered service or a lodge, and with a knowledgeable guide. We finally came across Naga which had exactly what we were looking for.
Communication up to the actual safari was great and punctual. We had a lot of questions in regards to logistics and they were answered. They were even able to customize the route we needed from Maun to Kasane. They even helped with a transfer we needed from Kasane to Victoria Falls.
Our guide was KG who quite literally was the best. Easy to talk to, very knowledgeable of everything we asked, and his timing and sense of where to find wild life were precise. Every other group we ran across seemed to know KG and respect his experience. Mpho was a helper with the supplies, and KB was a guide in training along for the safari as well. The type of safari we did had us camping and preparing our own meals. No cook, no waiter...just sitting on a chair, under the light of the moon, near the heat of the fire...camping.
Our 7 day trip was mapped out after we had told Naga the sites we wanted to see and the places we wanted to go. We went through the Okavango delta for the mokoro ride, Moremi game reserve, Khwai concession, Savuti in Chobe, Ihaha in Chobe, then dropped off in Kasane. There were some non-scheduled encounters along the way, but that is part of the experience of camping in the bush and I do not for one second regret the decision. Our truck along with others was stuck in a deep sandy area and needed to be towed out by another truck. Our last camp site was occupied by another safari who "mistakenly" took our better site for their own. KG handled every situation masterfully and we felt completely assured under his tutelage.
From beginning to end, the safari was an experience of a lifetime and I thank Naga for being able to share this experience with me. I would definitely use again and recommend friends.
DK
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent primitive 5 days safari Kenya - 3 different parks
7 people (age 18 to 58) - 5 days
Masai Mara Game Reserve, Lake Nakuru National park and Amboseli National Park
Sammy - our safari guide and driver was excellent.
The tents and tentcamps were primitive, in the nature, but OK - nice staff.
Some of the beds in www.enchorowildlifecamp.com at Masai Mara Game Reserve was not comfortable.
Food prepared by "our " chef in the tentcamps could be better.
We can recommend Deep Forest Safaris :-)
Magnificent!!
Breathtaking experience I had in Masai Mara, July 2016. Will definitely do it again, bigger and better. I have just referred someone to you, they will be contacting you.
MX
Very good places and extraordinary guide
* Communication, very good
* Service; very good and sensitive to our needs
* Expectations: very good
The only suggestion will be that the last day of the tour (28Th) there was anything interesting on the agenda, and the sense was as loosing one complete day.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best planners and executers along with hand holding for a memorable safari
Can't begin to say enough about the experience we have had with Ubon safari. From the minute we started planning the safari itinerary a few friends mentioned we should look to book with Ubon safari as they all have had such great experiences and I can't begin to thank my friends for their reference. We worked with Umang at Ubon(it was our much awaited African adventure as a family) and he certainly understood how much we needed this to be memorable and on his part did an excellent job and guided us, in fact, held my hand long distance along the way and it seemed so much easier than I had anticipated it would take to plan this. I had many requirements that my family had asked for and all along Umang said he understood them and made them happen. The minute we began our safari we knew we had done this right. Our tour guide Moses was so helpful and sweet right from the beginning and spoke English and Swahili so well. The best part of having him as our tour guide was the amount of years of experience he had in helping make the game drive so much fun. We had made a wish list of the wildlife we had hoped to see in Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater and we were so exited when we saw all and more than expected and at times it seemed so surreal and breath taking. All along Moses was patient, knowledgeable and fun to be as these were long days in the jeep and not once did we feel that we were not comfortable or bored it was incredible. In the end all I can say are the hotels were superior, our guide outstanding and the scenery breathtaking. Thank you Umang for making this a trip of a lifetime for us. We certainly plan to be back for more!
AE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
courteous staff with extensive knowledge of the parks. They were really helpful and transparent.
Safari tour at lake nakuru and Masai Mara were as per our expectations, which were set and communicated to us in advance. The driver cum guide has ~20 yrs of cumulative experience in this field and it aptly reflects during the game drive and off that as well.
We booked our safari pretty late, just 4 days before travel but I think the travel operator did a good job in making best out of it. I would highly recommend them to anyone planning to travel kenya.
NL
great experience, fun, impressive and unforgettable
Communication is very good. On any question you get an quick answer. Service is very good too. We travelled with the guide, Stephen, before, 2,5 years ago, and we knew this trip would be excellent, and it was. He is living up to your expectations, and tries to make any wish you have safari wise, happen. Very good lodges, clean, and very nice welcome, good beds.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing vacation!!
Kenya walking survivors tour was above and beyond what my family expected. They quickly responded once I put an inquiry with safari bookings (which is a great search engine I must say). From their the owner OT, was on top of our email conversations and was able to make the upgrades we requested. He even took the time to call me several times to answer any questions . I felt confident that Mr. Ot was going to deliver what he promised. Once we landed he had one of his drivers Sami meet us at the airport. From their he took us to meet with OT, and he briefed us on what to expect. It was a pleasure to meet him. From their we were driven to our hotel that we booked the night before the safari started. He didn't have to include this and he did. We greatly appreciated this. The next morning , we met our driver who would be with us for the next 9 days, Sam. Words can't express how impressed we were with his knowledge, education and professionalism. We loved our driver!! Sam was super patient and caring. We were a party of 6 and my husband and I where with our 4 kids. Couldn't have done it without such a nice guy. All of our lodges were superb and the food at these lodges were great. All in all for a budget safari I felt like I was on a 7 star luxury safari. In fact all those fancy tour companies stayed at the same place. The key with KWAS is that their is no middle man. Super impressed I definetly recommend KWSS. Super professional and our expectations were by far exceeded. They were above and beyond. I promise to recommend this company to my friends and family. Hopefully, in a few years we can go back to Kenya and use KWSD.