50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Tekko Tours arranged an excellent trip for us. I highly recommend them.
I was highly impressed by the way that Maggie personally handled our request for the tour, the level of itinerary detail she provided, the choice of routes/parks/hotels we could use, her prompt response to our emails and her managing the late change from 8 days to 7 days when I found I had given the wrong dates for our flights coming home!
Note - we had bought our London/Nairobi flights direct from BA several months before booking this 7 day tour as an add on to our time in Nairobi.
BTW - the means of sending online payment to Tekko was easy for us to make from our UK bank account.
We thank Maggie for her great support in setting up our trip - this makes Tekko Tours stand out in a crowded safari market. We were most pleased with our service from Tekko Tours.
Sadly this level of support and organisation was missing from the 3 other Nairobi based tour operators that I had communicated with. Their poor communications and lack of detail lost them my business - but was clearly Tekko's gain.
We enjoyed the 7day tour with Stephen our driver and guide. He arrived at the start point early and throughout the trip he was always ready to go when we had agreed. He is a very good driver - we never had any concerns about the way he drove and overtaking slow vehicles was always done safely. We got on with him very well as we had a lot in common with him - which is important on a 7 day trip like this. His experience and knowledge of the parks and the animals is excellent - and this helped make the tour for us.
The Landcruiser vehicle was well suited for the roads and terrain that we covered. With just the 2 of us we had plenty of space and the viewing though the roof whilst on game drives was ideal. Indeed a group of 4 would have been accomodated equaly comfortably in the vehicle. Stephen had two minor issues with the vehicle whilst on the tour (loose battery terminal and radiator overheating). He dealt with these professionally and they did not impact our travel.
The hotels we stayed at were all good quality - but with different aspects about them that made for a most interesting time -
Ikweta Safari Camp - we had good personal service at this camp. It is a small operation (10 substantial tents) managed by Susan the American lady owner and her husband and employing local female staff. A excellent ethos. The food was very good - no choice as they freshly cooked the same dish for every one. Some fruit and veg were grown onsite. They went out of their way to provide my wife with personalised food for her upset tummy. The tented bedroom/bathroom was excellent. It was only 2Km from the main Meru park entrance so we quickly got on our game drives. However the roads to get to Ikweta were rough and potholed for many kilometers and so we arrived very shaken up after our 7 hour drive from Karen. Note - the animals were harder to find in Meru than Samburu - but it was more natural as there were very few vehicles in the park.
Samburu Sopa lodge - is well sited in the middle of the park. Excellent large bedroom with unique ventilation which kept the room cool when very hot outside. The animals came right up to the bedroom so we could see them from the bed! The food and service was good. Good choice of food options for every meal - indeed we tended to eat too much! Very few people were at the lodge whilst we were there so we had personalised service. Note electric power was off between 9am and 6pm - but this was not a problem for us. Lots of animals around - many by the lodge and lots by the nearby river.
Mt Kenya Safari Club - is a completely different up market place. It is situated right on the equator - which exceeded one of my requirements to stop on the equator. The equator runs right through the main bar! Food was taken in the Northern hemisphere and our bed was in the South. Our bedroom was a small cottage with plenty of space and well appointed. As it was cold outside (snow on top of Mt Kenya) we had the wood fire lit in our room so we went to bed cozy. Food options were the best we had on the trip. Service was good - even though this was a busy popular place. We enjoyed walking in the grounds and also our time visiting the animal sanctuary which is on site. Boniface gave us an excellent guided tour of the sanctuary.
Treetops - is an experience that I am glad we were able to have. Not the same building that The Queen (then Princess) visited in 1952 - but a most iconic place and setting especially for a Brit like me. When full it can take 80 guests - but we were 2 of only 6 guests staying that night. We had good personalised service from all staff. The food choice and quality was good. We were pleased it was not full as it would have been a different experience with so many people contained in the building. I noticed there had been days back in August & September when 70+ people were staying (mostly Chinese from the comments in the game record book). The building is set between 2 waterholes giving us easy viewing of the animals as they came to drink. We did not leave the building during our stay - security dictated that we had no unaccompanied outside walks. Our bedroom was small but OK for a one night stop. We had a good view of one waterhole from our room. Whilst we saw a lot of common animals and birds, there were no elephants, rhinos or leopards visiting at that time. The record book showed that they did come - but not always every day.
Note - all hotels we used had a good free wifi service which enabled us to keep in daily contact with our family back in the UK.
Overall we had a great time. We felt that we had an excellent experience which exceeded our expectations. We thought it was good value for money - not the cheapest maybe but a good price for the service and locations we visited. We have already recommended Tekko to our friends who live in Nairobi and I have no hesitation in recommending anyone reading this to contact Tekko to see what they can arrange for you.
Many thanks to Maggie, Stephen and Tekko Tours for fixing our wonderful experience.
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
fantastic
we have had an excellent safari; very well organised ; very nice and comfortable accomodation; we have seen a lot; we had a fantastic and knowledgable guide, with very good suggestions for our daily programme
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
two of us with private guide and vehicle for photography at Mana Pools
Camp facilities as expected, camp staff all excellant as was food and drink. Guides super knowledgeable and drives/walks very good with some adrelin fixes thrown in. As a photographer the only grouse I have is the vehicles used have a large cab on the front, (normally customised and removed). This prevents photo opportunities over the heads of the guide /driver and also inhibits ineraction with guide/driver as communication is through a "window". Having said that it didn't really affect us as we were "only two" and had plenty of room. I wouldn't want to be sitting on the front seats on a full vehicle as undoubtedly your view would be inhibited. Still, had a brilliant time and Mana Pools is a must................will go again and Naturways if I'm sure of the vehicle utilisation.
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing trip with African Exposure.
We traveled with African Exposure for 4days safari and 6days kilimanjaro mountain climbing. Really was very funny, charming and kindly people. Giudes, cook and porters was very cooperative, hard workers and helpers.
I can reccomend this company to my friends and i wish to go back Tanzania.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Holiday of a lifetime
KWSS tours went way above what we expected we saw every animal possible in Kenya,Tanzania,Uganda our budget accomadation from tented Camping ,lodges,motels were all acceptable,Our drivers Zac ,David,Ossi were Fantastic full of knowledge helped us wherever possible.I highly recommend this company
NP
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing safari and unforgettable experiences in our life time.
We traveled with African Exposure for 5days safari at Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater.We had amazing safari never forget. Our Tour consultant Mr.Aidan was very fun,charming,cooperative and helpers with our guide Simon. We really enjoyed a lot with them and we recommend African Exposure to every one. We cant wait more for next year to do kilimanjaro with them fr 5days marangu route.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Affordable & Accommodating
Ewamanns Safaris is an affordable and accommodating company. My friend and I booked a safari within a week of our departure and about 36 hours in advance I was able to call and delay our departure as I had a last minute deadline come up at work. Our safari was also during off season, but I definitely appreciated the flexibility.
During off season you may not get see as many animals, but the perks include easy booking, cheaper rates, and an uncrowded campsite and reserve!
Accomodations
I believe the accommodations were commensurate with the rate. The campground was accessible to the Reserve and comfortable for a 2 night stay. Ewamanns did a great job setting up accommodation expectations as they sent me a picture of the tent/campgrounds while I was booking it, so there were no surprises here.
Food
Food was inclusive of the tour and they provided vegetarian options for those with some dietary restrictions. Note if you have more strict dietary restrictions like celiac it would be best to bring your food!
Safari
As far as the safari goes it was incredible!!! Everyone had a window seat to it was pretty easy to take pictures and take in the sights. Our driver didn't talk that much as was hard at first to know what was going on. However, in context our tour had 3 groups in one bongo speaking 3 different languages, within a day we were able to get in groove with communicating with one another. Overall it was a great trip.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Northern Circuit Safari
In September and October of 2016 we went on a 6-day northern safari circuit route in Tanzania (excluding Ngorongoro, but with 3 days in Serengeti). We inmensely enjoyed our travels there, thanks to the excellent personal service by Flash Photography;
We were picked up by the managers from the airport, had a briefing and stayed in a relaxing hotel before we set out on the safari. Our suggestions on what we wanted to do were taken seriously as were our dietary requirements.
We travelled with an excellent guide who had more than 15 years of field experience in every safaripark in Tanzania and Kenya, who was able to spot wildlife much better than most guides (Big Nine, witnessing multiple kills). During safari we stayed in comfortable tents and were taken care of very hospitibly.
At the end of the safari we were again helped out with services to the airport. In all, we have little to no complaints and only positive memories of our trip. Hope you enjoy it as well.
US
A wonderful holiday
It was a wonderful holiday.
We were very happy with all the places we went to and felt that Safarihub had found places that really suited us. Everything worked like clockwork until the last flight home. We would (and did) recommend your company to other people and if we do another trip to Africa would certainly consult you.
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great car, excellent service
I booked my entire holiday in Uganda myself: car rental, lodges, trekking permits.
Had lots of email contacts with a lot of people to arrange it all, but Paul from 4x4Uganda was the one I could rely on to reply prompty and accurately. Knowing what I know now, I would have asked Paul to take care of the trekking permits as well, and would have consulted him abour our lodge reservations. I got a good price on the car, and it performed great. Yes, there was a problem: a shock broke down. Within 3 hours after I phoned Paul there was a mechanic at the (remote) lodge where I was staying, with a replacement shock. At no extra costs for me.
I also had to drive the car over a flooded road, and the one meter high water proved too much for a bigger toyota safari jeep, but the prado came through without problems. (Made for some nice video's to:-)
In short: good car, good price, great service! Highly recommended!!!