Safari vehicle in Safari
Spirit of Kenya
- Office In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2014)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $150 to $300 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
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Email Donna | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Trip of a lifetime
This was my second time using Spirit of Kenya and I highly recommend it. Vanessa was awesome helping us plan the trip. So much patience for my endless questions. Our driver John Kitonga was exceptional. So patient, very knowledgeable, safe and respectful. All of the tented camps we stayed at were all we could have asked for and more. We did Nairobi national park (Nairobi tented camp), Ol Pejeta (Serena Sweetwaters), Lake Nakuru (Ziwa bush lodge..they support an orphanage),Amboseli (Kibo safari camp), Tsavo West (Voyager Ziwani)Tzavo East (Sateo Camp), Lake Naivasha (Naivasha Kongoni Lodge)Masai Mara (Julias river camp)
Email Lingling Wu | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An amazing and unforgettable adventure with Spirit of Kenya!
Both my husband and I agreed that the trip to Kenya was one of our best and most memorable trips! Our daughter also loved it, she told everything to her nursery friends and teachers the second day we went back to the UK. Then the nursery even organise a Show and Tell session, to let her share pictures and stories. Furthermore, the nursery took the chance to taught the little ones about Africa, Kenya, and Masai :)
The trip designed by Spirit of Kenya was a good combination of excitement to see wild animals, experiencing different cultures, and the relaxation on beautiful beach. Our hosts were super hospitable. We particularly love the Legend Camp in Masai Mara. My husband joked that we should be grateful that the hotel booked initial didn't work out, or else we would miss this good experience :) They were especially kind and nice to our daughter. When they asked if we will come back someday to see big migrant, particularly emphasized "Please do take your daughter with you......":)
We have to emphasize that the trip would be completely different without our lovely guide Samuel! He is very knowledgeable that we learnt not only the landscape and travel about Kenya, but also the culture, ethnicity, even political of Kenya. He is super friendly to all of us especially to our daughter. When we said goodbye at the airport, our daughter was so sad said she missed Samuel very much!
Our amazing personal journey designer Venessa is also essential to our trip! I chose Spirit of Kenya initially from all other options, mainly because she always responded in such a good time manner. We highly appreciate her assistance during the whole trip as well!
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Email Shane W | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing and unforgettable safari experience
I honestly cannot rave enough about Spirit of Kenya. This was our first ever trip to Kenya and our first every safari. We didn't have any information on what companies were out there and what reviews to believe. I did a lot of research before finding Spirit of Kenya and I'm so glad I picked them. Tiago and team are fantastic to deal with. He explained everything clearly, gave different options, was extremely fast at responding to any questions and just made the whole process very easy for us. The safari itself was amazing. Our guide, John, picked us up right on time from our hotel in Nairobi, drove us out to our camp and waited while we freshened up before going on our first game drive. It was amazing. He was very knowledgeable about the area and knew all there is to know about the animals we saw. Our camp, Mara Bush Camp, was far and above expectations with comfortable luxury tents, amazing staff and fantastic food. All in all, an unforgettable experience. I would recommend Tiago and the team at Spirit of Kenya to anyone looking for a safari in Africa.
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Email Bob | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
10 d safari in Kenya & Tanzania at Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire
My wife, daughter and I just got home from a 10 day safari in Kenya and Tanzania, including time at Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire National Parks.
We had a FANTASTIC TRIP!!! It was unbelievable. They helped us design such a great Safari and then delivered. They exceeded all of our expectations. Both of our drivers were great but in Kenya, Joseph really stood out and we are so grateful for all his efforts. He was really amazing and knowledgeable. All accommodations were incredible as was the balloon ride and champagne breakfast out in the middle of the Masai Mara.
We took so many awesome pictures. We saw the big 5 many times over and so much more. At one game drive we had over 25 lions come out of the grass and paraded in front of us in the Mara. INCREDIBLE !!! We had a trip we will never forget!!! WOW!!
We would highly recommend booking a safari with Spirit of Kenya. They are a great company to work with!
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Email Prashanth | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect trip
The trip was perfect. Everything from the location to accomadation was top class. The tour guides are very experienced and super friendly.
Email Karen | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect first safari experience!
We first spoke with Tiago from Spirit of Kenya back in 2019 when we originally booked our trip to Kenya, for July 2020. With everything that then unfolded with the Covid-19 pandemic, we were forced to reschedule our planned trip to 2021, and subsequently to 2022. Tiago was nothing but incredibly helpful, absolutely nothing was too much hassle and he was always so quick to respond to queries. He explained everything perfectly, and made us feel at ease ahead of traveling. We had always dreamed of staying at Giraffe Manor, and despite the hotel being fully booked on our desired date, Tiago continued to follow up with the hotel for any cancellations and we were able to secure a room for our trip! The safari experience was incredible, from the moment we landed in Kenya we were looked after by Spirit of Kenya staff members, who ensured seamless transfers to and from airports. Our guide while in the Maasai Mara was called Joseph, who was also excellent! He was really knowledgable and ensured our needs were catered for at all times. We stayed at the Neptune Mara Rianta camp, and we cannot recommend the staff / accommodation and food highly enough! Now we're home, and can reflect on the trip of a lifetime, we can say wholeheartedly that we would definitely use Spirit of Kenya to book any future trips!
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Email V Lewelling | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Wow!
What a wonderful experience! Spirit of Kenya planned and executed an exceptional safari in Kenya for us that exceeded our expectations for wildlife, nature, and culture, all of the things this beautiful country has to offer. In preparation, Tiago responded promptly to all of our questions (and we had many), eased our concerns, and put together an excellent itinerary and accommodations. Our guide, Anthony, was so knowledgeable of all the species we encountered, made sure we saw everything we wanted to see, could spot most any bird or animal from far away, and was a lot of fun! We felt very well taken care of. Great value for money.
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Email Evan | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Trip of a lifetime!
Six of us just finished the most amazing trip to Kenya provided by Spirit of Kenya. From pickup at the airport, through several day outings around Nairobi and through our nine day safari, everything was error free. We had planned to do the trip in 2021, but canceled at the last minute due to Covid fears. Their trip planner, Tiago, graciously rebooked the entire trip for this year. Our guide, George, was a flawless driver and had the eyes of an Eagle while on safari, seeing and identifying things that we had difficulty seeing with binoculars. Even though we chose only moderately priced hotels, all of the lodges exceeded our expectations many times over. The people everywhere were so friendly and took such good care of us. Our only complaint is that we all gained weight from all the great food!
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Email Michael | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Exceptionally Incredible Safari, Thank you!
Exceptional!!! Our 14 day private, customized (base on 11 Day Spirit and Soul of Africa) safari was incredible - exceeding our expectations. BIG Thank you to Sandy, our trip designer/main contact; and all 3 of our incredible guides: Nesta(Lake Nakuru, KE), Julius (Masai Mara, KE), and James(TZ - Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire).
From the start, Sandy was great and answered numerous questions, discussed park options, travel times and options transferring between parks, etc.. to create an incredible private, custom safari for us. She also helped communicate and coordinate changes during the trip due to flight cancellations. Thank you, Sandy!
A huge THANK YOU!!! to all 3 of our guides: Nesta(Lake Nakuru, KE), Julius (Masai Mara, KE), and James(TZ - Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire). All 3 had eagle eyes, spotting animals big and small. Guides make or break a safari trip. We simply cannot thank each of them enough for their contributions that made our safari absolutely incredible and the envy of other safari travelers we shared our experience and photos with during our travel home.
We saw all of the “big 5” during the trip and 4 of the big 5 on several days. We saw 2 male white rhinos fighting…We saw lions daily; including cubs to full adults both male and female….We saw leopards and cheetahs several days…We watched lions and cheetahs hunt and eat….We saw servals cats in two parks. We say hippos, giraffe, and elephants in almost every park; along with a variety of smaller animals and birds. Yes, we have almost 5,000 photos and videos (high end 400zoom camera rental from lensrentals.com) documenting our incredible trip. We highly recommend Soul of Tanzania and Spirit of Kenya; along with our guides (Nesta, Julius, and James).
Here are the items we customized and what we would do differently….if you are interested….
We customized their 11 Day Spirit and Soul of Africa trip), removing Lake Manyara, adding an additional day to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater parks, and replaced Amboseli Park KE with Tarangire Park TZ. We were very pleased with our substitution of Tarangire for Amboseli and highly recommend Tarangire. It wasn’t on the original itinerary, but we (and our guide James) would highly recommend Tarangire. We saw and watched several different large elephant families (infants, adolescents, and adults) on every game drive. We saw more elephants in Tarangire than at all the other parks combined. We also saw leopards, lions, and cheetas; along with many other animals. The park swap allowed us to avoid long travel drive times to Amboseli and from Amboseli to Nairobi by flying directly from Kilimanjaro airport to Nairobi.
We recommend spending at least 2 nights or ensuring a full day of game drive (6-8 hours) in each park, i.e. spend more time on game drive(s) in a park than it took to get to and from a park; otherwise reevaluate why you are going to that park… We would drop Ngorongoro Crater completely and shorten the trip or add those days to Masai Mara or central Serengeti. Yes, we saw some huge herds of buffalo and wildebeest, and the landscape itself was unique being inside a crater. But, we didn’t see anything new, the crowds around an animal sighting were huge (40-50 vehicles) – making actual viewing and photography difficult; and beyond buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, and gazelles… other animal sightings were sparse and often from a great distance.
We replaced any drive between parks that was over 4+ hours with air transfers (SafariLink, Coastal) – think large (10+ passenger) propeller airplane “bus type service” between park air strips (aka these are not private, direct charter flights). Inter-park Air Transfer Recommendation: If your considering inter-park air transfers: Don’t just focus on the travel drive time, but also on road conditions…i.e. ask if the inter-park road is paved versus unpaved… if unpaved – travel by air. Unpaved roads = cross breed a motel vibrating bed with a mechanical bull ride. 3 ½ hours between Serengeti and Ngorongoro was absolutely brutal and exhausting.
If you are transferring between parks by air…get the name and phone number of the guide(s) you are meeting at the next camp/location. If you have any flight delays or cancellations, this will provide you a way to communicate and coordinate accordingly.
African airlines (both commercial and those providing transfers between parks) are known for delayed and cancelled flights… plan as best you can…then go with the flow . Flying between parks/locations definitely increased game drive time…but with added complexity, hassle, cost, and risk versus driving. Honestly, if the roads between the parks/locations are paved – I would drive instead of fly. Note, air transfers between parks are at an additional cost and you will likely have a new guide at your destination. Driving = same guide through all parks in a country and no additional costs.
Cost & Accommodations
Private vs Shared safari/vehicle – the guide and vehicle were $560US per day…the more people you have in a vehicle = lower cost per person (Shared option). We saw many vehicles packed to their maximum 7-person capacity which looked quite cramped… In our opinion, a maximum of 4 persons per vehicle is ideal, providing room to move and the ability for everyone to easily reposition to see things. I would also expect a “shared” safari would likely limit your ability to customize it, but I’d ask accordingly.
Accommodations – This is likely the largest cost component of the safari. We were offered 4 levels from budget to luxury ranging from $100-200 per person per night up to $1000 pp/night. Do your research and read the reviews… Is the accommodation in the park? How far/long is the drive from the accommodation to the main game drive area? One of our accommodations was in the park but 1 hour away from the main game drive area, hence we wasted 2 hours’ round trip each day. Tent Camps can be better than large lodges, don’t automatically discriminate. Our tent camps were far superior in service and quality versus a couple of the lodges we used.
If you are still reading and interested, here is a list of questions I compiled to compare operators, tours, etc… Good Luck
Categories Question
Company How Long Have or Your Safari Company been in business?
Company Do you run your own tours or outsource to others?
Contract What are your deposit and cancellation policies?
Contract Require Vouchers for all accommodation 1-2 months prior to departures…to ensure the room is booked and paid for(avoid canceled accommodations/last minute changes)
Insurance Do you offer trip insurance? Can I get a ballpark quote?
Company Where can I find reviews of this trip, you, the tour operator(if different), and the guide?
Contract Request detailed Itinerary, including travel time between locations.
Contract Ensure contract lists of what is included; meals, lodging, beverages, park fees, game drives, airport transfers…
Contract, Extras WHAT NATIONAL PARKS FEES OR CONSERVATION / COMMUNITY FEES ARE NOT INCLUDED?
Contract Payment terms? Payment Options(direct transfer, credit card, etc…)
Contract/Rates Are all Taxes included? If not what & how much is it?
Extras What Extra charges should I expect at each accommodation and how can I settle them?
Tour WHAT CURRENCIES ARE ACCEPTED at each destination/accommodation?
Tour, Game Drive Ensure this is a Private tour…what part of this tour will be shared with others…such as game drives? Vehicle type, max people?
Travel, Transport How many days/hours of travel between each leg?
Travel, Transport What type of transportation for each leg? Vehicle Type? Amenities?
Travel, Transport If driving between legs, is flying an option? Cost?
Travel, Transport Is transportation between legs/locations included in this package?
Guide Who will our guide be? Same or different for game drives?
Guide How well does out guide speak English?
Game Drive Does the game drive have a CB radio? Sharing/Receiving sighting information?
Guide How many years of guide experience does he/she have? Feel free to ask for a specific driver?
Guide, Contract If I am not satisfied with the guide during the trip, what are my options and how would I exercise them?
Guide How many times has the guide done this tour?
Game Drive Are game drives included in every accommodation? Any limitations, like # I can do per day?
Game Drive What is the game drive schedule and lengths at each accommodation ?
Game Drive SEATING POLICY ON GAME DRIVE VEHICLES
Tour, Game Drive How accessible is each park relative to its accommodation? Is the accommodation inside the park?
Accommodation Any special/required attire for dinner at any of the accommodations?
Accommodation Can you tell me about the accommodations, amenities, communication facilities?
Accommodation What are the laundry options at each accommodation? Cost?
Accommodation Sustainability and ECOTOURISM PRACTICES, Policies, etc...?
Accommodation, Food Are the meals included individual, family style(limited to our private tour, or buffet?
General What sort of day and night temperatures can be expected?
General What is the malaria risk in the area you are travelling to?
Tour, Game Drive Which of these are national parks versus private reserves? If private reserves, are they open or fenced?
General What are the tipping and gratuity expectation for every aspect/activity/accommodation of this tour? Are they included?
General What animal interaction, private interactions, etc… are possible? Cost?
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Email Maggie | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I had high expectations before going and they exceeded each and every one of them!
We had an incredible time. I really appreciated all of your communication before and during the safari, even though we were hours apart, you were so incredibly informative and helpful throughout the process! Thank you André! It was great knowing the coordination was completely taken care of for us to only enjoy the safari once we arrived.
Our safari guide, Simon, was wonderful! He made us feel welcomed and safe. Not only was Simon well versed in all of the wildlife, but he also seemed to know all the best spots to see the animals and was able to spot them no matter how far off they were, he had such an incredible eye! I also appreciated that he suggested some edits to our days so that we could take a boat trip on Lake Nakuru and see the hippos!
It was amazing that they were able to set up our hot air balloon trip over the Masai Mara as well, that was the best experience of the entire trip!
The lodging Spirit of Kenya offered was some of the best lodgings we have ever had! Talk about incredible luxury, it was amazing, 5 stars!! The food by the way, yum!! We loved seeing Kenya and cannot wait to go back! I've already shared information with my friends and family, it was the trip of a lifetime!
