Kenya Travel Guide

Breathtaking

We had looked at different safari providers and after asking for quotes, we felt that Amazing memories Safari represented by Anne was the person who understood our wishes the best, and could incorporate some individual touches to our safari, e.g. we had planned to bring a friend to Amboseli Park with us and wanted to add Lake Naivasha into the itinerary including a boat tour. During the planning via email we discussed the choice of minivan vs landcruiser and which lodges to stay at.

Our safari started at 6.30 am mid December on a rainy day, however Steve and Anne picked us up from Nairobi Airport and our trip to Amboseli National Park with Steve started well, as we started to wake up and get to know Steve and vice versa. By the time we had arrived, the rain had stopped and we had already seen and stopped to see couple of giraffes and zebras outside the park on our way.

The choice of lodges suggested to us by Amazing memories Safari were great, always a kind welcome by the staff, very nice and clean tent lodges including mosquito nets, good food, either buffet or by menu. At the Flamingo Hill Camp at Lake Nakuru, at that time of year, we were the only guests by chance and they went out of the way and we had lunch close to the pool and a romantic dinner near the bar. The camp also had several bird species in their trees which I could observe and take photos off. Osero Camp in Masaii Mara had the best food and on our last evening at 6pm, we were lucky enough that a bushbuck stopped and looked at us while we were sitting outside the tent!

Out of all the places we visited, there was just one place, the Ark in Aberdare, that was slightly disappointing. It had rained the past days and rained in the evening, therefore buffalos, hyenas, birds, warthogs were at the salt water hole, however, no elephants or lion. Furthermore, one group was very noisy and smoked on the lower balcony and used a drone in the morning. We were glad that the staff actually told the smoker about the camp rules, however even though it was forbidden to use the drone, they still used it anyway.

Steve is a wonderful guide, he drove us safely from the airport to Amboseli, to Aberdare, to Lake Nakuru, Lake Naivasha to Masaii Mara and back to Nairobi. We had interesting discussions with him about Kenya, the world, the wildlife, any topic we came up with during our drives, inspired by what we saw or heard. He introduced us to the different kind of animals, and was able to find animals, that were hiding high up in the trees or almost hiding in a hole. We had a lot of fun engaging in searching for sometimes more difficult to find animals such as lions, cheetahs and leopards. Steve knew which animals we were particularly interested and managed to find ways in the different locations to get close to observe for example the flamingos in Amboseli (!),and hippos and crocodiles in the Mara river! We felt very safe in the landcruiser with Steve, even when the terrain become slightly muddier in some cases, as we occasionally had rainy nights and took some of the less travelled paths.

Thanks to Steve, we were able to take many great pictures and he managed to exceed our expectations of the safari! We take so many vivid and magnificent impressions home and highly recommend Amazing Safari and Steve!

It was unforgettable!

We went to kenya in December. Alot of people said it was the off season however we saw amazing wildlife and the weather was gorgeous. Accommodations were great however our experience at the mpata safari club was not great. Our guide Daniel was great!

Birthday Safari adventure of a life time

Wildlife - amazing to see animals in their natural habitat. Sounds, scenery - magical Kenya. Camps and lodges great, very nice people, good variety of food and excellent coffee. My guide Eustus from Beacon Safaries, went above and beyond duty to help me see elephants, elephants, elephants and enjoy my 50th birthday. Unforgettable trip to Amboseli, Tsavo West and Tsavo East!

Amazing wildlife and scenery - Kenya's National Parks in December

Our family of 4 went on holiday during the winter school break - we visited 3 national parks - Amboseli, Samburu, and Mara, with a day in Nairobi on either end. Overall the trip was excellent and easy. As first time travelers to Kenya, we decided to go high-end and use a tour agency to book everything, but with some experience we could have saved a few dollars and put the pieces together ourselves. In Nairobi, we visisted the Blixen Museum, the Sheldrake Elephant Orphan Center, and the Giraffe Center - felt they were all worth it. In each park, we did a morning and evening game drive and saw lots of wildlife including 1 cheetah, a pride of lions, and luckily a leopard very close up in Samburu. The guides were knowledgeable and very attentive. Our 12-year old got a little bored and skipped a few game drives (in the mornings particularly), and the trip would have been just as nice doing just the evening game drives. In terms of accommodation, we stayed at the Amboseli Serena Lodge (excellent), Samburu Shova (lovely just next to the river), and the Mara Serena (amazing view of the plains). The Mara Serena had a water pipe break while we were there and our room didn't have water for 24 of the 48 hours. While the hotel was very nice about it and apologetic, they offered no compensation/benefit, which I found odd. We had to use bathrooms in the lobby and showers in the gym which were not so far away.

Amboseli safari with Beacon Safaris - fantastic!!!

What a great time! From the well written communications for booking the trip via email with Robert, thru easy online payment to a great driver in Kevin, we had a great time going on a three day safari in Amboseli National Park in Kenya, all organized through Beacon Safaris. They arranged to have the driver pick us up from our golf course hotel west of Nairobi and took us straight to the safari camp called Kibo Safari Camp, a luxurious tented camp that I highly recommend. The safari itself was excellent with an abundance of animals. Kevin definitely knew where to look and he is very knowledgeable about them. Overall, it was a great trip and I highly recommend Beacon Safaris.

Fantastic

Everything was perfect and people were so friendly and nice

It has everything from the greatest concentration of animals, to incredible scenery with a lot of variety. It also geared for tourism, which makes it that be easier to get around.

Great country to do safari!

Great country to go for safari. The big 5 and more. Maasai Mara was great!

Great moment during my 3 days Safari

I had a great time during my 3 days SAFARI as i was able to see cheetah, leopard, and the rest of the big five.

The organization was perfect and everything was done as i expected.
I was picked at my hotel the day of the departure and dropped off at the airport at the end of the Safari.

I definitely recommend to have a Safari during a trip to Kenya, this is real wild life!

Trip of a lifetime

We decided to book our Kenya experience ourselves and not use a travel agency in Canada. The safari bookings website was a great help.
I send off e-mails to several companies and only heard back from a few. Tropical Vacations from the start was great at communicating and finding out what we wanted.

What we had thought we wanted and what we ended up with, we could not have been more thrilled.

We ended up with 6 days and 5 nights of the best time ever.

We managed to see Amboseli, Masa Mari and a few other parks.

We saw Kilimanjaro At sunrise and sunset. We saw the big 5 and came home with over 2,000 photos.

Matthew from Tropical Vacation met the needs of the three of us. One person in our group is a birder and he made sure she got to see many new birds to add to her list.

We are glad we followed his advise to upgrade our accommodation as we heard after some of the places we had picked were pretty rough. We did not go luxury and for the fraction extra we paid for mid luxury and to be a private group of three was well worth the small extra.

We thought this would be our onetime trip Africa, but we are already talking about going back.