Reviews

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Nicola Burrows   –  
New Zealand NZ
Visited: March 2023 Reviewed: Apr 2, 2023

Email Nicola Burrows  |  35-50 years of age  |  Experience level: over 5 safaris

The review below is the personal opinion of Nicola Burrows and not that of SafariBookings.
Disappointed by last minute changes and miscommunication
3/5

A wonderful safari was let down by a last minute accommodation change and miscommunication between the tour office and my guide.

I'll start with the positives. Communication with Perminus at Africa Marvel Tours was quick and easy. He was helpful with making itinerary suggestions. I was able to call via Whatsapp before I left NZ. He was quick to let me know that my guide was running late for my initial pick up - which I appreciated.

I loved my stay at Tsavo East Voi Safari Lodge - the view overlooking the plain below was MAGNIFICENT!!! I highly recommend staying there. I have never seen so many elephants before. They were everywhere!

Amboseli had incredible contrasts between the dry landscapes and marshes. Overall Amboseli seems more affected by the current drought than Tsavo East. But I have no idea what they were like before the drought, and I was still able to see many animals at both. There are lots of carcasses at Amboseli due to the drought.

My guide was mostly good. He was knowledgeable and professional and I felt very safe as a single woman.

My disappointment came when my accommodation outside Amboseli was changed the day of arrival. I was most disappointed as I was moved to accommodation that was more basic than I had expected. I communicated my disappointment to Perminus, who said his supervisor would be in touch with me. That never happened. This last minute downgrade of accommodation left a sour taste in my mouth.

The other disappointment was a miscommunication between the Tour office and my guide. My guide told me that I HAD to do a full day in the reserve as I would have had to pay for an additional entry fee, if we wanted to enter again. So I agreed, even though I would have preferred a morning and afternoon drive. Full day drives are tiring and less enjoyable. (At this point I had forgotten that my itinerary specified that I had a morning and afternoon game drive.)

At the end of that day, as we were confirming plans for the next day, my guide told me that we wouldn't be able to enter the park again on my last morning as we didn't have an entry. This time I remembered that my itinerary specified that I had a game drive that day, (and lunch in the park). I had to contact Perminus to get this cleared up and was able to have that final game drive. I wish I had done this the previous day.

Make sure that you get what is written in your itinerary!

I had my hot air balloon ride moved to another day, as the day it was scheduled was already booked. This was mildly frustrating, as I had booked this months in advance, but Tour Office only booked it a few days before. The one positive of this, was that I was able to see 5 cheetah the morning I would have been on the hot air balloon ride.

Going on a safari is a wonderful thing to do. Both Amboseli and Tsavo East are very different. The accommodation at Tsavo East, probably means I rate it more highly.

Unfortunately the accommodation downgrade, lack of follow up and miscommunications between the office and my guide, means that I would not book with Africa Marvel Tours again.

Reply from Africa Marvel Tours
Reply from Africa Marvel Tours
Posted on Apr 4, 2023

Jambo Nicola,

Thank you for entrusting us to do your safari to Amboseli and Tsavo. Glad to hear that you had a great safari and that you managed to see all the big 5. Great that you enjoyed your stay in Voi Safari lodge at Tsavo. Again accept our sincere apologies for the disappointment with the accommodation change in Amboseli and not getting back in time. This occurred due to the closure of the original camp booked which was a mid range type of accommodation and when you made the call to Perminus there was an agreement for a free upgrade to a luxury type of accommodation. However due to the changes happening close to safari start date we could not confirm the upgrade due to the luxury camp being fully booked. We had to look for an alternative which we got at another mid range type of accommodation which is the same level as the initial camp(closed camp).

Its great to hear that your guide was mostly good, knowledgeable and professional and that you felt safe as single a single woman traveler.

As for the game drives the options are either a morning and afternoon game viewing drives or alternatively a full day game viewing drives, this is always agreed between client and driver guides depending on how the previous day was, some clients prefer full day while other prefer morning and afternoon game drives. With either of the arrangement there should not be an issue of extra park fee, so we are going to look into this and work on the same.

For the balloon safari while doing the reservation there was no enough load(people) to fly on the original date of booking and we could only get the same the following day hence the move to the following day. Glad that you had a chance to see 5 cheetahs on the morning you should have been on the balloon safari.

We appreciate your feed back and going forward we guarantee working to improve on our services to ensure seamless safari experience for your next safari expedition with us.

Brandon   –  
United States US
Visited: January 2023 Reviewed: Feb 13, 2023

Email Brandon  |  20-35 years of age  |  Experience level: first safari

Africa Marvel Tours Made My Dream Come True
5/5

From the very beginning of my journey of planning my safari to Kenya Africa Marvel Tours there every step of the way. I reached out to Perminus via WhatsApp and he was very quick to respond and answer every single question I had over the year of planning which I throughly appreciate. He suggested the perfect itinerary for my wife and I, and was even willing to make small last minute adjustments to accommodate us. Upon arrival to the airport our driver met us outside of arrivals with our names held up so it was easy to locate him he then took us to our hotel for the night in Nairobi before our safari began. The next day we were met by our fantastic tour guide Joe who from the very beginning briefed us on what we could expect throughout our journey. Joe was a pleasure to have as our guide he has a very extensive knowledge of the animals and made sure to try to gets us as close as he could to get the best pictures. You can tell he really loves his job. Everything from the beginning was seamless, there was a little issue we ran into when we arrived to our accommodations in Diani beach apparently the accommodations hadn’t been paid for yet so I had to pay for one night after already paying however Perminus kindly refunded me for that. Inconvenient but not a huge deal to me I’m sure they will try their best not repeat this mistake. All In all this was a safari experience of a lifetime!! My dream trip realized thanks to Africa Marvel Tours.

Becky & Daryl H.   –  
United States US
Visited: January 2023 Reviewed: Jan 23, 2023

Email Becky & Daryl H.  |  50-65 years of age  |  Experience level: 2-5 safaris

Amazing, attention to detail, very professional, knowledgeable, informative!!!!
5/5

Africa Marvel Tours did an amazing job with communication and attention to detail. They were prompt and on-time. Their service was top-notch and their driver (Joe) was incredibly knowledgeable of the Masai Mara and animals we saw. If you want a fun tour guide/driver, make sure you ask for Joe - he was great. He allowed us all the time we wanted for pictures and answered all our questions. He provided a detailed itinerary each day but allowed us to make any changes we wanted to ensure we had the safari of a lifetime. The tent camp we stayed at (Enkorok) was very inviting, the food was delicious, and the pool was an added bonus. The views were breathtaking when you sat out on the porch of your tent. Africa Marvel Tours is 5 STARS and we would highly recommend them. We have had previous safari trips with other companies and Africa Marvel Tours far exceeds other tour companies in value, safety, communication, and professionalism. Well worth the money spent - you won't be disappointed. Any future safari trips will be booked through Africa Marvel Tours! Great job!!!

Janki Bhatt   –  
India IN
Visited: December 2022 Reviewed: Jan 2, 2023

Email Janki Bhatt  |  20-35 years of age  |  Experience level: first safari

Awesome experience!!
5/5

Everything was so well organised.
We had an awesome experience at masai mara and had a delicious food as well.
Everything was perfect as per the plan.
I will definitely go with the marvel tours while visiting my next african destination.

Luiz F Castro   –  
Brazil BR
Visited: December 2022 Reviewed: Dec 9, 2022

Email Luiz F Castro  |  50-65 years of age  |  Experience level: first safari

Amazing experience! Very well organized trip. Services rendered with professionalism.
5/5

Fairmont Masara Safari Club has excellent facilities and very attentive services from all the team.

Louis-Arthur N.   –  
Switzerland CH
Visited: October 2022 Reviewed: Oct 29, 2022

Email Louis-Arthur N.  |  20-35 years of age  |  Experience level: first safari

Perfect safaris with amazing guide !
5/5

From start to finish everything went smoothly !
Perminus was very flexible and showed great reactivity when organizing our safaris in the Mara and Amboseli.
Our guide/driver Joe was amazing in finding all the animals and getting all the great photoshoot angles for the big 5 ! He was very knowledgeable and it was a pleasure to spend 6 days with him !
Accommodation was good, especially Tulia (ex Zebra Camps) in Amboseli.
If you're looking for a memorable experience at a great price, look no further !

Alison Fontaine   –  
United States US
Visited: October 2022 Reviewed: Oct 28, 2022

Email Alison Fontaine  |  20-35 years of age  |  Experience level: first safari

Absolutely incredible, our tour operator was so quick to respond and wildly accommodating.
5/5

If I could give them ten stars, I would. My friend and I did the five day, four night tour to Amboseli, Lake Nakuru, and Masai Mara. By the end of our trip, we were in tears having to say goodbye to our guide, John. He was the kindest, friendliest, and all around best tour guide I’ve ever had (and Ive traveled a lot.) The accommodations were amazing, at each location there was a steward waiting for us with fresh juice, and I don’t think I carried my bag once. The game drives were absolutely mind boggling, we saw the big 5, and by the end of the trip we were having to pick specific things we wanted to see. We had close encounters with elephants, cheetahs, and lions but never once felt unsafe. I cannot say enough good things!! I will absolutely be using them again.

Ryan   –  
United Kingdom UK
Visited: October 2022 Reviewed: Oct 28, 2022

Email Ryan  |  20-35 years of age  |  Experience level: 2-5 safaris

Joe was great at finding all the animals for great pictures
5/5

Took my parents on their first safari, which they loved. The food and accommodation was great, especially the accommodation in Amboseli. I wouldn’t recommend the extra boat and walking safari but everything else was amazing. Saw lions, leopards, cheetahs, rhinos along with heaps of zebras and elephants. A great trip.

Catherine   –  
Switzerland CH
Visited: October 2022 Reviewed: Oct 18, 2022

Email Catherine  |  50-65 years of age  |  Experience level: 2-5 safaris

highly recommend for professionalsm and very reliable
5/5

I highly recommend Africa Marvel Tours for the organization of your safari and their professionalism.
Perminus immediately sent me a clear proposal and always reactiv to answer to my various emails.
For each transfer (airport, train station, etc.) someone came to pick us up, which is very appreciable.
Our guide Malvin accompanied us for 7 days through Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, Naivasha, Amboselli and transferred to Diani Beach.
Malvin, speaks perfect French and knows everything about Kenya and the animals. We had the chance to see the big5s in different parks.
Malvin offered us some alternatives to our day and route.
We had a great week with him and always felt safe.





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Anne Sloth Bidstrup   –  
Denmark DK
Visited: October 2022 Reviewed: Oct 17, 2022

Email Anne Sloth Bidstrup  |  20-35 years of age  |  Experience level: first safari

Very professional safari tour with the best guide
5/5

Easy communication with the front desk in planning the trip, the payment in front was easy, we gave our wishes for the trip, and our driver gave us his recommendations for adjustments, and they made the trip perfect!

Our driver David was always in good time, he helped us with every questions we had, he was very nice and friendly, and last but not least - he showed us so many animals on our game drives, was such a good driver in and outside the parks, and just did everything to make sure we had the best trip.

Average User Rating
4.9/5
Rating Breakdown
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