The team
Karibu Safaris In Kenya
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 1986)
- Member Of:
- KATO, Tourism Regulatory Authority & Eco Toursm Kenya
- Tour Types:
- Small & medium group tours (Mid-range & luxury)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $80 to $280 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
FR
Email Florent | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Average
I did the 6 days safari. The parks are nice, it was a good experience, but I'm a bit disapointed about the tour operator.
Firstly, my plane was late, and I got blame for that because other people were waiting for me, but it's not my fault and nobody told me before the hour of departure of the tour, so I couldn't know.
Then, few times during the trip, we lacked of water and I had to insist to them to buy me some (it's supposed to be included).
The accomodations are very "basic", but it's the same for all tour operators within this range price.
The overall organization was pretty bad, I can understand it was during the COVID pandemy and it was harder to fill groups, but still.
I had to check the day by day program on Safaribookings otherwise the tour guide would have skip some parts.
The tour guide for the last part (Ambelosi) was from an other company and was pretty bad. He was not honest and just rushed the tour.
I guess if you want something really serious, you have to pay much more.
Reply from Karibu Safaris In Kenya
Posted on Feb 10, 2021Hi Florent,
Trust that you arrive back home safely.
Thanks for the feedback and we will work to improve the quality of the service.
It just that due to the covid-19 effects on business we had confirmed group departing the same safari with you but the family did not get there covid negative test certificate on time so they count make it for the safari on the same day and as per our professionality we could NOT cancel your safari even if you were a solo traveler and we put you in a group doing the 4Days Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru and the part of Amboseli we put you in the Kimana tented camp safari van where by you joined the camps group safari and did the amboseli part. we had to make you finish the 6Days safari as planned.
We will improve to streamline the quality service, it has only happened during this pandemic. it has never happened before.
Thanks for your feedback.
Kind Regards
Wanjiku
Guest Relations
AR
Email Virginia | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Polite, Nice, good company
Overall the safari was good, except for the accommodation. They had told us we would be staying at enchoro camp in massai Mara, and they took us to another camp, that was of remarkable lower quality!! We were really uncomfortable there. The bathroom was all dirty, the floor of the tent too. And we had no hot water. Really disappointing and made us really mad they changed the camp without telling us. We even asked about it, and they answer it was the same, which was clearly not.
FR
Email Judit | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Budget experience for MidRange price
First of all - National Parks are amazing!
However, this was no value for the price. I paid midrange and got budget service.
Generically, on the 7D trip 3 middle days are resting. No game ride in the morning before leaving Masai Mara so we arrived early to the next city and nothing to do. Next day after the morning ride there is the optional lake but again quite early finish especially if you dont want to pay for the lake extra. Lastly, again morning park and full day just driving. No sunset game. These 3 days could have been 2 and use the extra day for amboseli/masai mara or anything. Amboseli “full day” is 9.30-16.30 only.
However, more than anything your guide can make it the best experience or the worst. Mine was the latter - Castro. I see some other reviews mentioning his communication skills.
The guide’s communication was lacking. He was not giving us information. Which made the experience lesser. He was straight out annoyed when clarifying questions were asked. Especially about times. 30 min difference is huge when you wake up almost every morning at 6am.
We got very little information about the animals, except the name.
Then, he used our car as a taxi as well between cities.
The promised 1l water was not given. When asked the guide got aggressive. Like you got some in the hotel. That is none of your business. I paid 1l water a day with you and your company.
Everyone in my group paid budget and only me the mid range category. Really have the impression that I also got the budget driver.
Cherry on the top, he started to punish me. Dropping the others first eventhough my hotel was before and making an extra hour of bumping road. He thought I wouldn’t notice but I have GPS and connection.
Finally, I was told 1300$ after paying the deposit they told me 1300$ more to pay. It was quite unpleasant surprise as I checked at least 5 times for the price.
I would have expected higher standards from KATO member company.
CH
Email Ainara | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The guide made our experience pretty disapointing
The organization and comunication with Karibu has been great. The lodge we stayed at was also very nice and price for the services was also fair.
We are disapointed at the guide. Was not explaining anything to us unless we were asking for something specific and even then he could be wuite rude sometimes. He did not explain what was our program, what we were doing that day, what were we trying to see....nothing at all. He was in the phone all the time and not cooperative at all. Even after the lunch break all the people would be ready and waiting for him to keep going and he would be talking to others, or just chilling or on the phone.
We gave him tip just because we were suppose to and was highly recommended to do so, not from the heart. If I would go back in time I wouldnt give him a cent. He did not do a good job and he knew it, and despite that he was acting quite arrogant. So sad that such a experience was not enjoyed to the fullest.
US
Email Megan | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Group tours include many changing itineraries and the require flexibility
Karibu Safaris was responsive in the lead up to my tour and picked me up on time.
One thing I wish I knew beforehand is that a "group tour" includes people from different travel agencies with different itineraries. I thought it would be a group of people with the same itinerary, sharing the same experience. However, we would sometimes have to drive people out of the way so they could meet their next driver, or wait around so we could pick-up new people. I wouldn't have minded this if I had known ahead of time. Also, every time we asked our driver/tour guide questions about the itinerary he would get very annoyed. It wasn't until the last day I realized he didn't know the answers either! I wish he had just told us what was going on - it's not his fault the agenda kept changing.
DE
Email Maja | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Cars completely uninhabited and in need of repair. Too many and long car breakdowns.
We were picked up from our accommodation, but in a very different place from our hotel, dropped off by zhe driver on the road. Despite our please to help us, he drove off on the grounds that he had to pick up people from the airport. This situation was NOT safe for us as women, especially as we had all our luggage with us.
The following has to be mentioned about the Tour: The trip with our jeep on the first two days was very pleasant, that the driver was very familiar with the road holding and conditions. His driving style was extremely professional. The problem is that we had a 45 minute breakdown after only a short time after the departure, because the radiator was defective. This took away precious time from our Masai Mara Tour.
We liked the accommodation in the ENCHORO WILDLIFE CAMP because of the very good and personal service very much. However, we are not sure if it really was this camp!
Day 3: Masai mara/L.Nakuru: We were assigned a new driver, another car, other people who had already established a friendship in the previous 2 days. It made you feel like an outsider. The bus was completely overcrowded. All the seats were occupied and far too much luggage was loaded. Sitting was possible only to a limited extent, even though we do not have long legs! The drinking water that was booked was distributed only after repeated demand, after many hours. 500 ml over that long period of time, after so many hours of waiting, just not correct. Why does the driver moult the drinking water like that?
Day 4: Day Lake Nakuru/Nairobi: On our way out of the Maasai area, our bus got stuck, so the passengers had to push the bus out of the mud, as the two buses were blocked. The entire day had to be spent with dirty clothes and smeared skin. It also happened that we had a broken axle on the way. During these, over three hours of repair, we stood by the road in sunnier heat. That time was missing from the Lake Tour.
In hindsight, it should be noted that the cars provided do not match the conditions for such trips. The cars are too old and too fragile. As travellers, this cost us a lot of time from our holiday.
LV
Email Ilunia | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great safari and cute animals, drivers with attitude, providers with misleading info.
- Safari experience 5 out of 5 stars, lots of animals, beautiful nature - love it.
- We had 3 different drivers, 2 of them had attitude. One made us wait in the morning for him, the other one argued with our safari member and did not want to make an effort to communicate with us.
- The nice driver always had water was us, explained about animals, made an effort to make sure we saw every animal. Thank you Felix!
- The other 2 drivers - did not have water. One of the drivers - did not get water even after we had asked several times and then later reminded us we had to give tips. The other driver did not have enough but later brought us water.
- Hidden extras that were not mentioned - bicycle ride in Hell's Gate 10 USD extra, Walk in natural reserve in Naivasha 30 USD extra (otherwise we would not do anything else), Amboseli morning walk 10 USD extra
- Some game drives were shorter and started later, and the reason was not explained.
- We were promised that there would be 6 passengers in the van and one day we 9 people, most of the days 8!!!! I have messaged the tour provider and they have kindly ignored it.
- Overall experience with tour provider -> It was OK, all animals and birds are cute and beautiful. I would recommend being aware of all the negative sides and if you are happy with those, go ahead and book. If you complain during your trip to the tour provider, most likely you will not get a refund/discount/apologise, you will be ignored. I have a feeling all tour providers are one big organization, promising things, prices might be different, but they are all the same if you go for a budget option.