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Maree
AE
Visited:
August 2019
Reviewed: Sep 17, 2019
Email Maree | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Felt like I was in an national geographic episode
Was all amazing, different options to suit everyone.
Charlotte
AT
Visited:
August 2019
Reviewed: Sep 12, 2019
Email Charlotte | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Awesome
Went in a group of four (private safari) with Charles Classic Safari. They were very flexible about the program and stayed in permanet contact.
Our guide Elkanah was not only speaking an excellent English but also very attentive.
We were very lucky and saw a lot of animals and even gnus and zebras at a rivercrossing.
Loyk camp in Masai Mara was well chosen. And the staff were very friendly and helpful.
Nurlan Kubeyev
KZ
Visited:
August 2019
Reviewed: Sep 11, 2019
Email Nurlan Kubeyev | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A must experience at least once in your life. Amazing, beautiful, unbelievable.
It was one of the best experience in my life and my daughter (10 y.o) enjoyed it. We stayed in the middle of mara near the river and was surrounded by wildlife such as buffaloes, monkeys, hippos, crocodiles, wildebeests etc... Since it was migration time we saw almost all animals, thanks to our guide who made this possible. Even though the whole trip is a loooong drive: 14 hours to and from Nairobi and 22 hours of game driving it didn't feel tiring because of beauty, excitement and professionalism of our guide.
Lee Cooper
GB
Visited:
August 2019
Reviewed: Sep 10, 2019
Email Lee Cooper | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The most complete safari experience - ever!
On arrival at Nairobi we were met at the airport and taken to our Nairobi hotel the Ibis Styles Hotel. This was perfect for a short stay, with a good restaurant on the top floor and a buffet dinner on the ground floor.
Early the next morning we were picked up to start our Safari.
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We’ve had the most fantastic Safari experience ever.
A huge factor in that was our hugely knowledgable guide/driver Evans..
he was truly a star!
We visited the amazing Meru National Park - a seldom visited park , in fact we only saw one other group of tourists in 4 days, and yet the variety of wildlife and scenery is truly stunning. We saw Lions , hippos, buffalo, lots of giraffes, many many elephants and large numbers of white rhino. Along with a huge variety of antelope and birds. Amazing!
Of course for us the reason we visited Meru was the connection with the story of Elsa
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the lioness as told in the film/ book Born Free. The film is the thing that ignited our interest in Kenya. Visiting Elsa’s grave was a very special moment for us.We stayed at Ikweta Camp just outside the park. This was a relaxing place to refresh between game drives and the staff were lovely. They have limited Wi-fi so be sure to turn off any background apps ( iPhone auto picture uploading to the cloud quickly used up the lot) but apart from that there were no issues- the luxury tents were very nice.
We then travelled on to Buffalo Springs and in to Samburu National Park. We stayed overnight at the Samburu Sopa Lodge - we’ve stayed in a Sopa lodge elsewhere and true to form this one was spectacular and the staff as helpful as ever.
The scenery in Samburu is rugged and beautiful.
We completed the ‘Big 5’ here when we spotted a family of Leopards.
Again the variety of animals was diverse and wonderful.
Along with the family of leopards we saw many lions and some cheetah ..and even more leopards!
Then there was huge numbers of elephants and a wonderful variety of smaller creatures including uncountable numbers of brown mongoose. Again the variety of birds here is huge. From smallest to the mighty ostrich.
After Samburu we moved to Ol Pejeta Conservancy and stopped in Ol Pejeta house.
Ol Pejeta is the most amazing building, our room had fantastic views of sunrise over the majestic Mt Kenya. The catering here is simply the best you’ll find in Kenya. Anywhere.
The Ol Pejeta Conservancy is somewhere we’ve visited before (1998) and was on our list of must visit again for a reason- it’s just amazing. There is a chimpanzee sanctuary here that’s a must see ( founded by Jane Goodhall) and a sanctuary for rhino. We got to meet and hand feed one of these gentle giants close up.
In the wider part of the Conservancy the range of animals was vast ..lions again.. and rhinos, so so many wonderful rhinos. For me a highlight was seeing the very rare striped hyena- something I’ve never seen in the wild before - and spotted hyena.
( I find hyena fascinating and think they deserve a better reputation)
After Ol Pejeta we returned to Nairobi, stopping off on the Equator.
We again arrived at the Ibis Styles Hotel and were sad to end our Safari and our time with Evans.
Next day we visited the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage on the outskirts of Nairobi National Park before catching the new train from Nairobi to Mombasa. Be aware there are no luggage trolleys within the new stations at all so don’t make our mistake ( we had soft heavy luggage without wheels - ideal in a Safari van not great to carry hundreds of meters across the vast stations) also be ready for the tight security and ensure a lot of time. We traveled 1st class, the seats were comfortable, the staff were plentiful as were the complimentary drinks and snacks.
The views from the train are a Safari in itself- we saw herds of wildebeests not long after leaving Nairobi and as we passed through Tsavo National Park I lost count of the number of elephants at about 40!
We were met on arrival at Mombasa and transferred comfortably to our chosen hotel. Savora Whitesands is a Hotel we’ve visited before , it was lovely to meet up with old friends and make new friends - we will visit again without doubt. At the end of our stay we were picked up bright and early and returned to the station for the train back to Nairobi. This time we traveled in standard class which was interesting but less comfortable - I’m a Railway worker so wanted to experience the full package but I’d stick with first class next time.
On arrival at Nairobi we were met again and as our flight home was late night we visited the Giraffe Centre where we were able to hand feed these beautiful creatures. Then we returned to the airport for our long haul home.
All in all we’ve visited fantastic places and seen so many beautiful creatures, we’ve stopped in delightful places, ate delicious food. We’ve met so many truly wonderful people and made so many fantastic memories.
I’d highly recommend it to anyone!
Davinder Aggarwal
GB
Visited:
August 2019
Reviewed: Sep 9, 2019
Email Davinder Aggarwal | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent experience--look forward to doing it again !
Everything was absolutely superb, most enjoyable and faultless.
Had taken 5 grand children ages 16 to 19. Each and everyone of them came back with precious memories.
Jennifer
US
Visited:
August 2019
Reviewed: Sep 6, 2019
Email Jennifer | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Absolutely superb.
Everything was amazing - land cruiser, driver/guide, accommodations, food, weather, friendliness of Kenyans, and we got to see all the animals, even up close. It was the trip of a lifetime.
Yu Luduo
CN
Visited:
August 2019
Reviewed: Sep 6, 2019
Email Yu Luduo | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An amazing view to wildlife
Our guide is Charly,a Samburu people with excellent driving technique and abundant knowledge of safari, which let me witness the hunting of lions in Amboseli and the new life of lions in Masai Mara,we got optimum shooting angle fortunately by his exquisite driving technique so that I can take documentaries-rivalled photos,but only a moment lasting in order to give other people chance to enjoy the rare scenes by the gentleman's manner of Charly. He also introduced us Samburu people after we visited Masai village，with his concern for compatriots，it is really an unusual experience to let me have acquaintance of the two big peoples of Kenya.
The only deficiency is in Sopa Lodge,there was network wrong with their card-reading,which let me wastage unnecessary
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money to pay again for the same goods,it is really absurd to let me assumed the liabilities of the fault making by Sopa Lodge’s bank.Although Classic Journeys had help me to negotiate about it,I still do not get responds till now,the Sopa's service is not sopa at all.Overall，it is a satisfying trip to feed our sight on Africa,letting me fall in love with Africa.Classic Journeys is the best choice of travelling in Africa
JB
US
Visited:
August 2019
Reviewed: Sep 5, 2019
Email JB | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Incredible safari
Amazing safari. The Masai Mara in amazing how much life there is. Every where you look there is something and you camp right in the middle of it. I've done two other safaris in Africa. Another one in Kenya and one in Bostwanna/Zim.
Olena Andryushchenko
IT
Visited:
August 2019
Reviewed: Sep 5, 2019
Email Olena Andryushchenko | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Must do experience in Kenya
Beautiful country, excellent food and courteous people
Mindy
US
Visited:
July 2019
Reviewed: Sep 3, 2019
Email Mindy | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Most exciting and amazing vacation ever!
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about the wildlife and Kenya in general. We had a pop up van that I would not recommend. The roads are VERY rough. I think the 4x4 pop up would have been more comfortable for the number of days on Safari(12). After safari we spent 3 days at the beach in Mombasa. Unfortunately, it rained the entire time :(, but it was still a relaxing finish. GREAT trip!
