CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A fantastic journey.
Okay - so we have just finished an amazing tour of Kenya with Wildlife Sun Safaris. There were 8 of us travelling together in 4 minivans. We did an ambitious 16 day safari, visiting Meru, Samburu, Aberdare, Nakuru, Lake Bogoria, Masai Mara, Amboseli and West Tsavo National Parks.
From the start, James was fantastic to work with. He was a great help in assisting with the planning of the trip. He answered all our questions promptly and clearly. He was very honest and delivered our safari as planned, except for longer than expected travel times. For the number of parks we chose and the time we had, it was a very busy trip. Because some of the travel times were longer than expected due to traffic and road conditions, we really needed a few more days to make the trip a little more relaxing. But - this was the itinerary we chose and the company did their best to deliver.
The minivans were great to travel in. Our drivers were very good and knowledgeable. Kudos to Jackson, Simon, Toya and Sulieman. They drove very patiently and safely, and did their very best to find animals for us. (And we found many!!!). We could have had a little more input from them at times, but I think this was an unusual situation for them, where there were 4 of them travelling together, with 8 opinionated adults to deal with! But all of the drivers were very professional. They were always on time, kept the vans clean and fuelled, and could trouble-shoot any mechanical problems that arose. We always had plenty of water in the vans - a very important item when travelling all day in the heat. Our lodges were great. We were happy with all of them. The food, for the most part, was very good, and no one got sick. There was also the excellent service of picking us up and delivering us to the airport. Much appreciated!
Bottom line - it was a fantastic safari. I would definitely travel with Wildlife Sun Safaris again and would not hesitate to recommend them. In fact, I wish I were back in Kenya with them now!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Mind Blowing Experience!
Highly recommend this safari.
My wife and I were discussing where to vacation and she apparently really wanted to go on a safari. This was news to me as I expected her to name a beach she wanted to visit. Me, someone who can't stand heat, was apprehensive, but you know what they say, "Happy wife, happy life." So I did my research and narrowed it down to Compass Safari and one other. The prices for Compass were so much more reasonable than my other option so it was an easy decision to make. Boy am I glad the wife wanted to go on a safari and that we decided on Compass. We took the 7 Day Amazing African Safari tour and wow. The staff were all so friendly, knowledgeable and had us laughing almost the entire time. The animals and landmarks were mind blowing. Compass was very accommodating the entire stay. The experience, overall, was just plain surreal. I think I may have enjoyed it more than the wife to be honest. I'm so glad she had the idea. We have plans of coming back when our finances permit it again.
P.S. The temperature wasn't anywhere as hot as I had worked myself up to think. I didn't even pay attention really because I was having toomuch fun!
DK
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Tanja from African Savanna Travel is VERY professionel. Always fast to answer and very dedicadet.
Everything is just top top service. Tanja from African Savanna Travel is VERY professionel. Always fast to answer and very dedicadet.
We ave always been very happy to work with African Savanna Travel and look forward to more
HU
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
well organized budget tour
Everyone on the tour booked through a different tour company, so I am not sure who organized the tour itself. For this reason I can only rate Meru Slopes for the time before and after the safari. They are excellent: professional, with very quick reaction time, dependable and punctual, helpful and make sure their guests are satisfied. I'd use their services again.
As for the safari tour itself: I took part in the 4nights/5 days Tarangire, Serengeti, Ngorongoro budget camping tour.
With some previous experience throughout Africa on different safaris, my conclusion is this: expect to get exactly what you paid for. There are no miracles, have realistic expectations: this is a budget tour, with very basic camping facilities (good camping equipment!) and mediocre food, but the exact same astonishing nature as any higher priced tour.
Campsites are the same for everyone, but with special dietary needs, consider a more expensive camping tour. (For more money you will get much better food, question is if it is worth for one to pay approx. 500 usd more for 4-5 days of better camp food. Maybe, maybe not.)
Our guide was ok overall (the man had huge experience and the eyes of a hawk, but not very talkative, sharing very limited info even when encouraged. Luckily I had a fantastic animal guide book with me that explained all that our guide did not.)
To sum up: in case you have general interest in doing safari, no special food requirements, and prepared for wild-camping (literally :D) take this tour with Meru Slopes, you will not be disappointed.
If you are an animal/safari enthusiast, you can still take this tour (no guarantee for a better guide on a more expensive tour), but bring along a good guide book just in case - you will be happy.
If you are a hardcore wildlife fan, find a guide through recommendations, and book a tour with him/her specifically (or ask the agency to book you on a tour with him/her). However, for an exceptional guide, prepare to pay the price.
SE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
rather average compared to other safaris we did in the greater Krüger area
The flights and accommodation were arranged according to our bookings. Unfortunately, we could not do the promised last morning game drive, but dit a rather disappointing Panorama tour ( short stop the waterfall, not the Potholes ...) on our way to the airport instead. The other game drives were rather 'a hunt for the Sabi leopard' whilst kind of sometimes missing the overall safari experience .
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic service, will recommend
From Maggie's first e-mail reply it was clear Tekko Tours would attend to our every need, even though we booked less than 4 weeks in advance. We went 2 on a private safari ending with a few days at the beach. We had the time of our lives and every detail was taken care of (a room with view of the Kilimanjaro at the Amboseli Oltukai, for example). Also the driver, Jackson, made himself the best companion we could imagine. Right after our landing at Nairobi airport, when we silly tourists managed to call the attention of the police for smoking on the street (always ask first!), Jackson immediately got us out of trouble, and this would only be the beginning of his helping make this holiday a pleasure. His driving and spotting skills are superb.
The timetables were accurate, the road hours went by much faster than you would expect and the Land Cruiser worked like a charm. I will recommend Tekko when my friends ask for advice
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Efficient, helpful and knowledgeable.
Communication : excellent throughout
Service : excellent
Living up to expectations : yes
Safari : Guide/driver was excellent
Overall a stress free trip well organised.
HU
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing very well organized 6 days safari in Kenya
I opted for the budget option for 680 USD, which is an avarage price in Nairobi and most of the travel agencies will group people together for a tour. We were 7 people in a mini van for a 6 days safari in Kenya. The driver and guide was excellent, he really knew a lot about animals and made an unforgettable trip for us. We visited 3 national parks in 6 days , but also spent a lot of time on the road travelling from one national park to the other. The accomodation is basic, if you have the budget go for higher quality accomodations because the lodges in Kenya are amazing. I would highly recommend this trip to anybody, it was well organized and you can see lot of animals like in the Lion King movie (we saw so many elephants, zebras, cheetas, baby lions, wildbeasts, buffalos, ect.) in beautiful Kenya
BG
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unforgettable experience - thanks to the best guide Arony
It was very good safari, well organized, no any complains. We saw and pictured many animals, including those estimated rare, like leopard and cheetah. Our guide Arony was very good, he was obviously very experienced, many thanks to him. We will come again soon, probably with friends and again will do it through Karibu safari. Once again thank you guys for the beautiful moments. Wish all the best, hopefully see you soon.
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
An excellent six day tour to northern Uganda; great for new bird species
I had a work trip to Kampala and wanted to stay on for a trip to Murchison Falls and Kidepo NP, and contacted several tour operators for group or individual trips on the dates I wanted, some of whom responded, including Eco-Specialists. Communications in advance about the trip were good and revisions to the itinerary were made to take account of some of my suggestions. Other suggestions of mine were not realistic because of the distances involved. I chose Eco-Specialists on price and as a small, local company with strong emphasis on birds. I was met one lunchtime at the conference hotel in Kampala while I was working to finalise pick-up and other details.
The six day trip was excellent. Accommodation was at the simpler, cheaper end of the available range, but all worked out fine. Having worked and traveled elsewhere in Africa (but not Uganda), I had a reasonable idea what to expect. The guide had excellent ability to spot and identify birds, but also good general knowledge of history and life in Uganda (also important to me), which made for good traveling.
Eco-Specialists go more often to western Uganda and less frequently to the north. As a result, the tour guide was less familiar with the up to date situation with regard to things like road improvements, and did not know that a shorter route we could have taken had recently been surfaced. I have already recommended to them that they need to do a bit more checking in advance when going to areas they are less familiar with.
Overall, it was an excellent trip and I would recommend Eco-Specialists and would certainly go with the company again.