20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Amboseli National Park by Sulman
The giant elephants here are famous and it is worth getting up early for a chance to see Mt Kilimanjaro before the clouds descend.
Bird lovers in particular, this is a must-see. The wetlands are unique and SO many rare species are here to see, including rare heron, sacred ibis and other wetland birds.
under20 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Masai Mara National Reserve by Gabrielle Wilson
The Masai Mara was great as for reasons above.
under20 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Amboseli National Park by Gabrielle Wilson
The animals were amazing and you could get up close to them easily.
US
What a country!
We had a wonderful visit in South Africa (Cape Town, Johannesburg, Kruger Park). Fantastic scenery and wildlife, great weather, excellent food and wine (particularly in Cape Town), rich culture, warm people...definitely worth returning and highly recommended!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
unforgettable safari with friendly and knowledgable hosts
Kenya was an unforgettable destination. We had previously safari’ed in Kruger national park, South Africa. Whilst we enjoyed this immensely, we were looking for something more ‘off the beaten track’ and less touristy. Our trip to Kenya did not disappoint. We stayed 3 days in Masai Mara, 2 days in Lake Nakuru/Lake Naivasha and a day at Amboseli, taking in the different national parks and their wildlife. August is the dry season so bush was low and game spotting absolutely fantastic: many lions, elephants, giraffe spotted, we witnessed the wildebeest migration which was an amazing highlight. We even saw the rare leopards and cheetahs and the elusive black rhino up close.
In terms of who to book with, we found Australken Tours through the safari bookings.com website. From initial enquiry to the very last few minutes in Kenya, Australken were fantastic. Special thanks to Zippy who customised our trip, was very quick to respond to our email queries and was full of helpful suggestions and ideas to create our perfect break. She was very flexible and accommodated all of our requests, even very shortly before we were due to arrive managing to secure a booking for a balloon trip.
Once we arrived, the free airport transfer was a welcome extra and from the moment we met our guide, Moses, we knew we were in safe hands. Moses’ knowledge about the parks and animals was incredible and he had a knack for finding amazing encounters off the beaten track, where no other safari jeeps were around. We felt like we had the Masai mara to ourselves!
We chose to stay in the tented camp lodges (Osero, Flamingo Hill and Amboseli Sopa). ‘Tented camp’ in fact meant a four-poster bed and fully tiled bathrooms under your canopy so we were very comfortable. The staff were without exception friendly and helpful. The lodges are in beautiful locations with luxurious communal areas, from which it is often possible to spot birds or passing wildlife. The food was always very good; the Flamingo Hill being a particular highlight.
The balloon safari option is very highly recommended; although pricey it was a wonderful way to see the sunrise and the beautiful landscape and having champagne breakfast in the bush afterwards was very special.
Our vehicle was comfortable and always clean; Moses cleaned the park dust off every evening. We had plenty of bottled water supplied for the trip.
At the end of our break, Zippy even met us at the airport to say goodbye.
Overall, we had a wonderful trip and cannot recommend Australian highly enough if you are planning on visiting Kenya
under20 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The wildlife is amazing!
We were luckily able to spot the big 5, including the rare black rhino so that was fantastic! The weather was great, there were plenty of picturesque sunsets. The accommodation at the Sarova Mara Game Camp was very nice and the staff friendly. Our guide Danson was amazing, he went out of his way to find animals that we really wanted to see and it was always polite.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
My experience with Nshongi Tours was excellent.
The entire experience with Nshongi tours was so excellent more than I thought. The safari tour was great, the guides and the staff, the hotel and room services were all so good and professional. I would like to visit again.
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent service through the entire process
We could not be happier with the service that Maggie provided us with creating and revising our itinerary to our personal needs until it was perfect. William, our guide during the safari, did all he could to ensure we saw as many of the animals as possible including of course the big Five. Definitely recommend this company to anyone else.
CZ
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Kenya and Tanzania safari
We booked an 11-day continuous safari trip in Kenya (Masai Mara, Nakuru, Naivasha) and Tanzania (Tarangire, Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro) from Ancient Wild Safari. Our guides (Patrick in Kenya and Estomi in Tanzania) followed the plan exactly as it was was agreed before, they were very friendly, had a good knowledge about wildlife, and did their best to show us as much as possible. We saw probably all big mammals that are living in these areas and many different species of birds, some small mammals and some reptiles. A visit in a Masai village was also very interesting. Accommodation and catering was in camps and hotels, relatively modest but reasonable given the price. If you go there, you have to be prepared that some roads can be very dusty, not everything is really clean and you will be camping in field conditions, but it is what the camping safari is about. The guides do care about our safety. Actually we felt much safer among lions and hyenas than in downtown Nairobi. I would recommend to take your own sleeping bag with you even if you receive an information that you do not need it, to prevent a disappointment from being given a small or not totally clean local sleeping bag. If you camp at Ngorongoro, be prepared that nights can be very cold because of the high altitude. In August mosquitoes are very few, but there are some. At the accommodations sites beds had mosquito nets or tents could be closed with no gap left for mosquitoes to enter. There were hardly any mosquitoes during the daytime. We were taking antimalarics to be on the safe side, but looking back, I think it was probably not necessary. Vaccination against yellow fever is necessary and officers at the Kenya-Tanzania border require this to be confirmed in you Vaccination Certificate. In general, this trip was a great experience: I would recommend it to everybody who is interested in nature and likes camping. And I can also recommend Ancient Wild Safaris - they are reliable and do a good job.
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Terrible experience, Seka gave us a lot of trouble
Do not book with this company! We had a terrible experience with Taste of Afrika for our five day safari in Tanzania. First of all they mixed the dates up. When we arrived and called they knew nothing about our booking, even though we had paid a deposit. Then on the morning of our safari they told us we weren't going that day, but the day after. Instead the offered us a coffee tour, which was very boring. Then they were going to send us to the wrong national park. When we told them that we booked for another park they send us with very last minute with a different guide. We had to join our original guide later that day, but our guide refused to bring us there initially. When we insisted he became very angry and unpleasant. We tried to bargain for a discount for the inconvenience and after a long discussion we were promised a discount of 400USD. But then later that day they denied this promise and threatened to skip our last day if we didn't pay up. Especially Seka, the owner, was very unpleasant to deal with and made a lot of mistakes in communicating with us.