Great guide, ok lodge and excellent experience of wildlife
4 / 5
4
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5 / 5
5 / 5
5 / 5
4 / 5
Terrible roads into the Masai Mara NR, but stunning wildlife and acceptable roads and tracks inside.
Simon the guide and driver was very knowledgeable and and excellent driver.
The Miti Mingi Eco lodge had food and lodging that gave good value for money.
Keith Kurtz
US
Visited:
December 2019
Reviewed: Feb 3, 2020
Email Keith Kurtz
| 50-65 years of age
| Experience level: first safari
Kenya1
4 / 5
4
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5 / 5
5 / 5
5 / 5
3 / 5
I saw 4 of the Big 5 here in Kenya, the tour guides were very well versed on the wildlife there. The Lodges were excellent.
Andrew Ahn
GB
Visited:
December 2019
Reviewed: Feb 3, 2020
Email Andrew Ahn
| 20-35 years of age
| Experience level: over 5 safaris
Mixed bag.
4 / 5
4
/5
4 / 5
4 / 5
4 / 5
4 / 5
I already passed this onto our tour rep at mufasa tours.
The trip was mostly good.
Read on:
I note there's no star rating above for accommodation?
The driver (Joe) was great. No complaints there, he did a fantastic job, very happy with him.
AA Lodge Amboseli was not good. Badly run. So many things wrong with the place, mostly at the restaurant such as
- starting one meal an hr late with no excuse or apology given
-bones in the pork stir fry
- running out of food (specifically bacon and pancakes) 20 minutes before the end of breakfast service
-napkins always damp
- sometimes we had napkins, sometimes not. I saw one table with 7 places have one napkin in the table
- cutlery laid out randomly, I once had 2 knives 3 spoons and one fork.
-swimming pool not nice at all
- WiFi available only at cheetah bar, and very slow
-in our packed lunch there was
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a sandwich with one Slice of cucumber.
-no butter anywhere, only blue band
-OK selection of food but no chapatis or kachumbari
-waiters were often slow to ask us for drinks and to clear our table
-the layout of the restaurant meant it was difficult to get from our table to the food stations, as we had to squeeze through tables
-poor level of English spoken
On the plus side, the room was big and the bed comfortable.
I would recommend new management or remove them from your package tours.
In one game drive we stopped at serena lodge to use the bathroom and have a coffee. And the difference between the 2 places is simply _ridiculous_ .
Amboseli Park itself was great. Very enjoyable.
In Tsavo east the hotel we stayed in (name? ) is a bit old but the service and staff were MUCH better, and the restaurant was much better run.
Despite being older, and needing some refurbishment, this place was simply better in every way. And we managed to see a leopard.
The manager (Dennis) and all the staff were attentive and spoke good English.
Only recommendation for this place, other than refurbishment, is to use insecticide more liberally, as the insects are numerous. Not a problem for me but my partner hates insects. Also, new mosquito nets.
Nipon Voramethkul
TH
Visited:
January 2020
Reviewed: Jan 29, 2020
We took a three days safari in Tsavo East and Amboseli National parks, starting from Diani Beach. Seeing the wildlife in their natural habitat is really great experience which could have been even better if we took care of some details.
During these three days, we spent approx. 24 hours in the van, either traveling from one place to the other or within the national parks. It is very important to rent a good car, with good suspension and air conditioning. The air conditioning is not going to help much in the national parks, since the roof is open for watching the wildlife, but it is essential on the way back from Amboseli to Diani Beach (11hours in the car). Make sure the car is in good shape since we had two car problems which required us to leave the vehicle (in the national park) and stay on the road in the middle of the day. The people were very friendly and helpful. Our guide/driver was doing his best to fix the problem, even colleagues from other agencies stopped and helped.
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But we could have been much better without that experience.
Altogether, it was challenging and unforgettable. :-)
Francesca Holmes
GB
Visited:
December 2019
Reviewed: Jan 14, 2020
6 day tour of Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Lake Naivasha
4 / 5
4
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5 / 5
0 / 5
5 / 5
5 / 5
Considering we booked a ‘budget safari’ and were a little sceptical about how it would be; it was absolutely fantastic! The communication beforehand with Robert (the email correspondent) was great, he gave fast and thorough replies. Our guide for the 6 days was Aruni and he was amazing; so good that we were able to see all of the big 5 in two days! He was a great guy, very experienced, with a great sense of humour and his knowledge of all the animals was incredible .
The accommodation was basic but clean and fully fitted with mosquito nets; the staff in all places we stayed were very friendly and helpful.
The food, although nice, was often the same and after a while got a little boring, lots of rice, beef and spinach.
My recommendation would be to bring lots of snacks, as some days we would have breakfast at 6:00 and then lunch was not until 14:00.
Another great thing about the safari was that as we booked in advance and are a family of 5, we were able
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to get a private tour for no extra cost! This was really great especially as talking to other travellers through different companies, they said that often the logistics with van sharing was complicated and meant time was wasted helping people to swap vans.
Thought it was worth a mention, currently you cannot enter the gorge at Hell’s Gate, Lake Navaisha. However we thought the boat trip on the lake was amazing and a fantastic way to spend Christmas Day morning.
Yohannes Hagos
US
Visited:
November 2019
Reviewed: Jan 11, 2020
the wildlife was beyond belief; was very scenic. Accommodations with respect to the tent could be a little better; also, the food at the site could be improved. Also, luckily our drive, Aron, was not only a very friendly but answered all our questions and went beyond the call of duty to accommodate everybody in the van. We were so blessed to have him around. We have referred his to all our friends visiting Kenya Safari in the next couple of years.
Maefel
AE
Visited:
November 2019
Reviewed: Jan 4, 2020
Email Maefel
| 20-35 years of age
| Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Affordable!
4 / 5
4
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5 / 5
3 / 5
4 / 5
3 / 5
We are very unfortunate on our way to Masai Mara because our car had a problem and we were waiting for 2hrs to get it fixed. But despite of the misfortune, we had a good game drive. Masai Mara is so magical! We have seen Lions and Cheetahs, amazing! The camp we stayed which is the Enchoro Wildlife Camp was fantastic, they have a nice food too! Just one downside of the tour is the guide is not so informative.
Bartosz Guzy
PL
Visited:
December 2019
Reviewed: Dec 25, 2019
Email Bartosz Guzy
| 35-50 years of age
| Experience level: first safari
Wildlife at your fingertips
4 / 5
4
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5 / 5
4 / 5
5 / 5
5 / 5
The weather was poor due to climate change - the short dry season was supposed to be starting, but there were heavy rains and floods. Because of that there were less animals in Masai Mara than usually, but still there where plenty - I saw lions, leopards, cheetah, elephants, giraffes, hippos, gazelles, antelopes, monkeys, crocodiles, lizards and many species of birds. On the plus side - no mosquitoes and dramatic skies over the savannah. It was definitely worth to go.
Maikko Ibale
AE
Visited:
November 2019
Reviewed: Dec 19, 2019
Email Maikko Ibale
| 20-35 years of age
| Experience level: first safari
The place is very cool
4 / 5
4
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4 / 5
4 / 5
4 / 5
3 / 5
The beauty between the animals inside the cage and the free ones are way different. You will feel them alive and happy. It was very beautiful place to be!
However, there are part of the tour that we didnt do and did not advise us earlier why we are not doing it so. And im talking about the spring or thermal bath. We could have spend more time cycling than bringing us back to Nairobi, there are still plenty of time.