Perfect for Bird Watchers - visiting the Great Rift Lakes, where thousands of pink flamingos, and other birds migrate to and hiking in the Kakamega rainforest, the only rainforest in East Africa
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 - Lake Baringo Pick up from your hotel and drive through Limuru tea farms, descending to the floor of the Great Rift Valley with a brief stop at the viewpoint. Mt. Longonot (which is of volcanic origin) and Lake Naivasha can be seen from far. En-route to Lake Baringo. This is one of the two fresh waters lakes in the rift valley and a bird watchers paradise -it has over 460 recorded bird species and a number of hippos. Check in and lunch at Lake Baringo country club of which the rooms have plenty of information on the areas bird life or campsite. A resident ornithologist leads walks before breakfast and in the evenings. Dinner and Overnight at campsite.
Day 2: Lake Baringo After breakfast, take a 1hour bird watching trip by boat to the island to view more birds and hippos. On the island you can organise short excursions at an extra cost to see the njemps village (local tribe) and dancing, or a local snake farm. After proceed to the nearby Lake Bogoria 1 hour away. Lake Bogoria is a shallow soda lake hosting thousands of pink flamingos, a large number of other birds and the lesser kudu. Scalding hot springs and geysers at the southern end of the lake spurt and steam their alkaline waters. The bubbling of hot springs, hundreds of singing weaverbirds and a million flamingos feeding in the bluish water presents a rare scenic beauty. Dinner and overnight at the Campsite.
Day 3: Lake Baringo - Kakamega After breakfast, drive to Kakamega national reserve. This is the country’s only tropical rain forest and formed part of the dense rain forest that stretched from west Africa, across central Africa and in to the highland areas East and West of the great rift valley .The forest is world renowned as home to several hundred species of birds including rare snake eating birds, insects, monkeys and other mammals as well as countless exotic tree species. Dinner and overnight at the campsite.
Day 4: Kakamega Forest After breakfast, spend a full day in the Kakamega national reserve with bird walks accompanied by game wardens and our driver / guides. Dinner and overnight at the campsite.
Day 5: Kakamega – Lake Nakuru Drive to Lake Nakuru national park after an early breakfast arriving at the Lake Nakuru lodge in time for lunch. The park is a home to stunning flocks of lesser and greater flamingos, which literally turn the Lakeshores in to a magnificent pink stretch. The bird life here is world renown and over 400 birds’ species can be seen like, white pelicans and the marabou stork, all water birds that breed in the lakes alkaline waters. You may also spot white rhino, rare Rothschild giraffe, and other plain game. Dinner and Overnight at the campsite.
Day 6: Lake Nakuru – Lake Naivasha A pre breakfast bird spotting drive in the park and around the Lake before returning to the campsite for breakfast. Drive to Hells gate national park with a brief stop at the lake Elementaita viewpoint. The park is famous for its natural steaming geysers and a haven for birdwatchers. The walking/hiking in the park gives one a sense of freedom, open space and a clear view of wildlife. The cliffs are breeding grounds for vultures, verreauxs eagles, augur buzzards and thousands of swifts. Over 120 species have been recorded here. Lunch at the campsite and the afternoon is spent at leisure either to explore the rich, bird filled gardens or an optional boat ride to Crescent Island (at an extra cost). Dinner and overnight at the campsite.
Day 7: Lake Naivasha - Nairobi After a leisurely breakfast drive back to Nairobi and drop off at your hotel or drop off at JKI Airport to catch your flight back home.
Includes: All National parks entrance fees All game drives Professional fluent english-speaking driver cum guide Comfortable transport in our safari vehicles with hatch-roofs fitted with VHF radio All campsite fees in all the above mentioned parks All camping equipment (except sleeping bags, which we have available for hire in Nairobi) Two man mosquito-netted canvas tents Africa Jungle comfortable seats Comfortable foam mattresses 2-4 inches and ground sheets in the tents. Three meals per day safari
