This safari visit the Ngorongoro Crater which is regarded as a natural wonder of the world (the 8th) and has been declared a World Heritage Site. You will encounter a large variety of wildlife.
Overall operator rating 9.4/10 from 16 trip reviews
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We loved our 8-day budget camping safari. Esther , who organized the safari, was excellent in all her communications and really took our needs into consideration. I was four and a half months pregnant when we went and she made sure I was reassured about the trip and comfortable.
Our driver, Paul, was also very considerate about my pregnancy: he drove very carefully and was very accommodating and knowledgeable. The food was great too - nice range, healthy, and delicious fresh fruit.
We started with the Masai Mara and had fantastic game drives for 3 days there. We also loved the campsite we stayed in there. We were less keen on the next day of our trip to Hell's Gate park, partly because it was overcast and partly because the guest house in the suburbs of Naivasha had no view and didn't really feel like a 'safari'. But we enjoyed spotting rhinos on our next day at Lake Nakuru. We finished the trip with a superb two nights in Samburu Lodge (we paid extra for this).
I've already recommended the tour operator to a couple of friends who have seen our pictures and want to go on safari now!
We found this safari extremely enjoyable and met our expectations or even exceeded them in some areas.
The driver/guide, Paul, was extremely warm, humorous, knowledgeable, informative and professional in all ways. He also has a very good understanding of the animals and the knack of getting into the right positions to view and photograph them. He also provided a lot of general information about Kenya. He really made the experience special.
The food prepared by our cooks, Justice and George, was also excellent and varied for this sort of tour.
The camps, particularly Camp Manyatta in Masai Mara, Stayed 1 night in Nakuru in a 1-star hotel which was clean and comfortable and the food was quite good.
Whilst we had a great safari in Kenya, the Tanzania safari was a disappointment
We could not recommend this operator for the Tanzania Lodge Safari. They themselves do not operate in Tanzania and operate through an Agent.
There were changes in the Itinerary and the lodges from what had been booked and paid for.
The driver/guide was incompetent as a guide. He was rude, uncommunicative and ill-prepared. His vehicle did not even have a radio. He could not even position himself properly when trying to look at and photograph game.
We never knew what we were doing from one moment to the next and he had the distressing/disgustingly annoying habit of ignoring any questions we asked or any requests we made.
Whatever the reasons for this he went a long way to really spoiling the total experience. If it wasn’t for the places and sights along the way, the wildlife, the people at the hotels and some of the other guides we talked to along the way, we would have had a hard time recommending anyone to Tanzania itself.
We would certainly have been better off booking the Tanzania safari through someone else.
Tour Operators Reply:
Thank you for your feedback, we sincerely apologise that the Tanzania safari did not meet your expectations and your complaint will help us strive to do better in the future which will help us to provide future clients with a better level of service
Changes do very occasionally occur with regards to transport and accommodation and this is often beyond our control. We did try and rectify the situation but it out of our hands.
We are very sorry to hear that the guide did not provide the level of service expected. I am surprised as this is the first complaint we have received about him, but we shall be taking the matter up with our agents in Tanzania.
We are pleased that you enjoyed your safari in Kenya and wish that your safari experience had not been marred by the events that occured in Tanzania, but thank you for taking the time to send through your feedback.
We were on safari from 19th - July 27th 2010 and had a fantastic experience!
From the beginning of our inquiries with them, Esther was very helpful and accommodating with all our requests from wanting to see the wildebeest migration in the Masai Mara and suggesting the best time of the season to experience this to traveling to a variety of game parks. She was very flexible and accommodated late requests to add an extra day at Lake Naivasha and a bike trip through Hell's Gate Park.
Our driver and knowledgeable safari guide, Joseph, was excellent! He was very prompt with all appointments and delivered impeccable service to our family of 4 (parents and our daughter and son 21 y.o. and 18 y.o. respectively). We visited Masai Mara, Lake Naivasha, Lake Nakuru, Samburu and Aberdare while staying at a mix of campsites and lodges. It was very enjoyable to have a pre arranged visit to a Masai village and also to be lucky enough to see all of the "Big 5" thanks to Joseph. He was untiring in his service to us even though there were some long driving days between game parks.
Overall, we had an excellent experienceand our family would definitely recommend a safari with them.
That was a marvelous adventure.Safari was perfectly prepared and conducted.
Our driver/tracker and cook were outstanding team with first always knowing the best places to watch and photograph animals and second taking perfect care for our health and well being. Although the price was located in between ridiculously low and real bargain and no luxuries were expected we were nicely surprised by the quality of the camps.
The tour operator has my highest recommendations and grades for their outstanding quality and proffesionalism.
The parcs that we visited were: - Ngorongoro Crater - Tanzania - Masai Mara - Kenya - Lake Nakuru - Kenya.
We traveled by car / bus (with driver) During our trip we stayed in Lodges.
We had a great time in Africa. We saw a lot of wild animals, had a good view of the beautiful countryside and had a very pleasant holliday.
The operator organised the trip very well. We were picked up at all the different places and everything was booked in advance. We will recommend them to everybody we know if they will plan a safari in these countries.
Thanks again for the wonderful time we had at the Nairobi Game Park. Esther and her crew were promptly waiting for our arrival at the airport.
They whisked us off to a safari where we saw lots of animals. Giraffes, warthogs, baboons, impalas, etc. to name a few.
We then headed over to the Carnivore Restaurant for dinner. Esther had made all the arrangements for our group of 23. We were able to reflect back on our day as the waiters at the restaurant met our every need.
It was a wonderful day and we thank the operator for making it be so great, especially Esther!
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Itinerary
I T I N E R A R Y
Day 1: Nairobi – Ngorongoro Crater After breakfast, pick up from your Nairobi hotel. Depart for Arusha town via Namanga border town for immigration formalities. Arrive in time for lunch then proceed to the crater rim for dinner and overnight at the campsite.
Day 2: Ngorongoro Crater After breakfast, taking picnic lunches with you descend down to the crater floor for a 1/2day of tracking game with your guide. The crater is 670m deep and 260km2 wide, making it the largest in the world. The crater contains all the big five; hippos, cheetah, antelopes and spotted hyena. Black rhino and leopard can only be seen with luck as the two are extremely shy and elusive.
The birds seen here include eagle, vulture, and flamingos in the Crater Lake, stork, bats, giant vulture, sacred ibis, kori bustard, blacksmith plover, long necked heron and the cattle eagle. Other game such as vervet monkey, jackal, foxes, rock and tree hyraxes, warthog, gnu, zebra and hare can be seen with relative ease. You will have a break for lunch at the Ngoitoktok springs picnic site. In the evening you will descend up and out of the narrow and steep crater walls, which is a thrilling exercise. Dinner and overnight at a campsite.
Day 3: Ngorongoro - Nairobi After breakfast, drive back to Arusha for lunch, by passing maize and coffee plantations in the crater’s immediate environs. After lunch, drive back to Nairobi arriving in the evening.
Package Price Includes: all game parks or national parks entrance fees all game drives in the various parks professional English-speaking driver cum guide transport by comfortable safari vehicles with hatch-roofs all campsite fees all camping equipment (except sleeping bags) use of our two person mosquito-netted tents jungle-stools foam mattresses three sumptuous meals per day whilst on safari
Price Excludes International Flights Visas Items not mentioned in above itinerary Items of a personal nature
