US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Tsavo West National Park by Russell Corbett
I did not have great luck here, especially since I arrived at noon. I did like the guided hike at Mzima Spring.
FI
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A budget safari with some challenges
We booked this safari well in advance with Donatus from 'selousrufijihippoadventure' who works with Ngalawa Camp. We tailor made the safari to be 4 days including a boat safari, 2 days of game drives in Nyerere, a visit to maasai village and a walking safari. Our day 1 drive from Dar Es Salaam to the camp took about 6hrs. It had rained the night before so our car got stuck in the mud twice and had to be pulled out with some help of locals. We also spent 2hrs just getting out of Dar as the "guides" went to do their foodbuy for the trip after picking us up. The person who was our driver was also told to be our "guide" but throughout the whole 4 days he did not give us any information and was purely the driver. In Ngalawa we got another local expert who joined us for the boat safari and the game drives. The boat safari was really nice and we enjoyed it a lot. On Day 2 we got a bit unlucky as it was raining and we didn't see so many animals during the game drive. In the morning we got stuck in the mud again and had to be pulled out with some help. To be noted, our safari car was not a 4 wheel drive so it got stuck very easily and our driver wasn't experienced with driving in mud. After lunch our driver headed to a route where we specifically told him not to go as we had seen the condition of the road. Immediately after we got stuck in the mud and spent the next 3hrs trying to push the car out of it without any success. Our local guide didn't have a radio to call for help and the mobile reception was coming and going. This part especially felt quite unsafe. He told us that some help was coming but didn't know when and after 3hrs trying to push the car out of the mud we ended up hitchhiking 50km on a truck to get to the gate of the park and to get out before dark. During the Day 3 game drive we told our driver to stay only on routes that didn't give us a chance to get stuck. Of course this limited our chances of seeing all possible animals. In the end of the day we visited a nearby maasai village. This visit wasn't really planned beforehand and the maasai didn't seem to know that we were coming. On Day 4 we did a morning walking safari with Didi who was a great character! He really made the walking safari very interesting and fun! The Ngalawa Camp itself was nice and the staff were friendly. It would have been nice to have a choice of dishes for meals instead of set plates. Our drive back to Dar took about 5hrs and in the end we had to renegotiate the price of the safari due to the circumstances.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Hell's Gate National Park by Sophie C.
Very dusty if you hire a bike. You have to stay on the track so get clouds of dust when vehicles pass.
AT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Mkomazi National Park
The tour guide Thomas was so nice and we had a really good time with him!
Sadly we were not informed before we paid that the animals in Mkomazi are very shy. Therefore the animals were far away. That wouldn‘t have been a problem if the tourguide had provided a binocular, but on both days we had none eventhough we asked…
But to see the rhino was a once in a lifetine experience!!
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari was great! However, we had some problems on the 3rd day and missed two planned game drives.
We booked a four-day safari in Masai Mara and Nakuru. The 3 out of 4 days went as planned. On the third day, however, we had problems. We planned a morning game drive in the Masai Mara, but our driver refused to take us there and instead took us to visit a Masai village (which we did not request and which we did not like, being an extremely touristy and rather sad activity ... and with a surcharge of $10 per person!). Also on that day a "game drive en route" was planned, which we did not have. So basically the day was wasted, with one hour at Masai Village and the rest of the day driving back to Nakuru. We were quite disappointed. The good thing is that we managed to contact Ann, who was very helpful and gave us back 3000 Ksh each (which was the equivalent to one entrance fee to the park in Masai Mara). Still, we missed something we had booked. So be careful, try to defend your rights with the driver, and in case contact the agency while you still have time! (from what we have heard is a very common thing that has happened to many).
Apart from this, we can overall say that it was an amazing experience and we really enjoyed it! The parks are beautiful, we saw so many animals. The lodge in the Masai Mara was also really nice, and we liked so much to be in nature for a couple of days. The people working there were also really friendly (also the food was great!). Ann was always helpful and stayed in contact with us before and during the safari, which was really much appreciated.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Supreeth Herle
It was okish since we could spot mostly baboons and elephants and nothing else
CH
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Tarangire National Park by Herbert Assigal
Far to many cars around animals!
SG
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good overall but 2 bad experiences! Do your research before booking
We booked a 4D3N midrange safari to Maasai Mara and lake Nakuru with hyrax. We had a great time with Hyrax Safaris and both my parents were extremely satisfied. We saw the Big 5 and our guide Solomon went the extra mile to show us the animals. He did all he could to show us a leopard and we ended up being the first ones to see it. He was also very knowledgeable on all the animals and shared interesting facts about each animal. He was also quick to rectify any problems that came up along the way. On the first day we had a flat tyre and Solomon took care of it quickly with the help of his other Safari guide friends. He also placed my bag in the wrong camp but quickly realised and had it brought back to me without 15 minutes. With the above being said, we had 2 BAD EXPERIENCE which you should read before booking Hyrax
Roselyn agreed to provide us Jambo Mara lodge and Saravo woodlands in her original quote. After we made the down payment, she told us that saravo woodlands is no longer available and instead proposed another accommodation. However, the other accommodation is much cheaper and there was no mention of discounting the price difference until I brought it up. She also did not apologise for her lack of oversight in accepting down payment before checking availability of hotel. After I brought up the price discount, she quoted us a discount which definitely did not seem enough. True enough, when I checked the hotel price online, the discount was supposed to be greater. When I brought this up to Roselyn, she did some calculations to show us that she was right. However, in her calculations she calculated the hotel price per person instead of per room, so the total cost was higher than what it should be. I pointed this out to her but she didn’t agree. In the end, I made it a point to call the hotel and recorded our call with them showing that we were right. Afterwards Roselyn told us that the hotel told them the higher price at first and that she will check with them and in the end she gave us the correct discounted price. While I do appreciate that she finally gave us the right price, it should not have been after such measures from our part. Also, it’s extremely hard to believe that a tour company which has been booking hotels for their business does not know that hotel prices are usually quoted per room and not per person. I do suspect that it was an attempt by Hyrax to take a larger profit but I will give them the benefit of the doubt.
Secondly, before our safari Roselyn provided us with an itinerary. However, during our Safari, our guide changed the itinerary without asking us first. To be specific the change was as follows. We were originally supposed to have a pre-breakfast game drive on Day 3. However our guide changed it to Day 2 and on Day 3 we did not have the pre-breakfast game drive. Yes, in the end we got the same amount of game drive. However, I want to point out that entrance fee to Maasai Mara is on a 80 USD/24 hour basis if you are staying outside the reserve. By doing this shift, Hyrax is able to pay only 80 USD for entrance instead of 160 USD. However, they were not transparent with this information. I believe this is done so that when unsuspecting customers such as ourselves ask for the safari price breakdown, they can quote the entrance fee as being 160 USD but get away by only paying 80USD and hence have an extra 80 USD profit. We would have been okay with this had they been transparent. It is not professional to change an itinerary after we paid for it.
The above experiences might not be unique to Hyrax and might occur with any tour companies possibly. So for anyone reading this review, please do your research beforehand and do not let them get away with your money! If the review is confusing but you want to understand more, feel free to contact me.
AR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Polite, Nice, good company
Overall the safari was good, except for the accommodation. They had told us we would be staying at enchoro camp in massai Mara, and they took us to another camp, that was of remarkable lower quality!! We were really uncomfortable there. The bathroom was all dirty, the floor of the tent too. And we had no hot water. Really disappointing and made us really mad they changed the camp without telling us. We even asked about it, and they answer it was the same, which was clearly not.
OM
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Hell's Gate National Park by Deepesh Panicker
I could not spot any wildlife barring few zebras and the landscape there was my least favourite in comparison to the Mara and Lake Nakuru Park. Lake Naivasha though must not be missed though.