The team
Karibu Safaris In Kenya
- Office 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
Email Adrian | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Travelling around Kenyan nature parks (Masai Mara, Amboselli, Nakuru Lake)
Karibus Safari, represented by our tour guide Aroni, showed us the true beuty of amazing Kenyan nature. The connection of his experience, involvement and our luck allowed us to see everything we could imagane. Increadible views, every possible animals and perfect organization made this trip become unforgatable.
Email Karolina | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari in Massai Mara, Nakuru, Amboseli
We saw a lot of animals, spent amazing time with our guide which show us real, wild africa. It was one of my the biggest dream and I feel complet. Aroni is the best guide, the best driver and very kind person.
PL
Email Jarosław | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari 6 days /5 nights Masai Mara Nakuru Amboseli
Our Safari was perfect , We saw big 5 , and many other animals and butiful places . Our driver Aruni is very good guide & driver , He was always on the time and his knowlage about Kenia , parks and animlas was very very good. He was also very tactfull , We was happy that we spent our Safari with Karibu Safari and with our guide Aruni
Amazing tour!
We really enjoyed our tour in Kenya with our tour guides Raymond and Kevin.
They were happy to accommodate us each day and gave us the freedom to spend our time. Even if we wanted to change location or spend extra time elsewhere they were happy to do so without any bother.
Raymond very knowledgeable about the animals and all questions asked were answered.
Always on time and reliable if we wanted to meet and certain place or if we was late there was no issues at all.
CA
Email Melanie | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Budget should not mean poor quality....
We read many reviews of various companies and chose Karibu because they seemed to offer a very professional service, they guaranteed maximum 6 people maximum per van (so everyone has a window seat) and apparently had good guides (so many reviews said the driver/guides were excellent!). We chose a 7 day safari to Maasai Marai, Lake Naivasha, Hell’s Gate, Lake Nakuru and Amboseli. Unfortunately, we were somewhat disappointed.
Booking, communication with Robert, payment and initial pick-up all went smoothly! Yay! But then…things started taking a downward turn…first, we were told that the planned itinerary was changing because we had 4 people joining us later…no worries. This change ultimately meant we spent more time in the car (so less time doing activities) and almost 2 hours waiting for the people to join. During that first day’s amended agenda, we went to Hell’s Gate park. Our driver/guide Castro kept telling us we needed to rent bikes and that he could not drive in the park…he pretty much dropped us off to negotiate bike prices on our own, it was a rather uncomfortable situation (which quite honestly should have pre-arranged or the negotiating done by him…the guide). Being new to Kenya we had no idea what would have been a reasonable price. Anyhow, we took bikes and rode into the park with a different guide who was assigned to us without any previous explanation. We did love the experience of riding the bikes, but it became obvious that our driver had not been fully honest with us as there were many groups driving through the park and disembarking for photo opportunities. Let’s just say that this first bit of “dishonesty” did not set us up for a relationship of confidence with our guide. Many little things like this kept happening along the way and it just made us uncomfortable and even frustrated at times. In fact, on more than one occasion, so-called “optional” activities were assigned to us without choice nor with any prior information and then the person providing that activity would expect some sort of extra payment, which we were never made aware of before.
That first night we were driven to a hotel that was not in the planning that was sent to us by Robert and when we asked about it, Castro said that the other hotel had called him to say they were fully booked and that we should go to this one. Again…seemed strange but, whatever, we went with the flow. A similar thing happened to us in Maasai Mara when we arrived at a different camp than what was on the planning. Since there were now 6 in our group at this point, everyone questioned the situation and Castro just seemed annoyed with us. He did not exhibit any sort of patience and eventually, in a huff, drove us off to the other camp at which apparently no reservation had been made and we were again put in an uncomfortable situation….we were told by the camp staff that the only tents available were “luxury” tents and that we would have to pay extra. Of course we refused, and after waiting for about 20 minutes…we were all assigned regular tents, although one couple (newlyweds) had to sleep in separate single beds. Just another awkward strange situation. Something similar again happened when we arrived at our assigned camp in Amboseli. Upon arrival, we were told that the reservation for our group had never been confirmed so that they did not really have the correct number of tents for us. So as a group, we ensured the newlyweds had the best accommodation, but that meant that the other two couples ended up with subpar, lower quality rooms (not tents) for their stay there. Don’t get me wrong, the staff at this camp were outstanding and they really did everything they could to make us comfortable (thank you Henry), the problem here lies with Karibu.
We did fully enjoy the game drives though and I must say, Castro was an excellent driver. He got us close to the animals and did everything possible to find them. That being said, he was really not a good guide. I realize this was a budget safari but basic guiding is not hard to provide (having worked in the tourism industry I feel I am well placed to say so). Simple basic information about the animals, people and places would have been appreciated. Common courtesies such as saying “Good morning, how are you?’’ or smiling on occasion do not cost the company or the guide any more and they make a big difference in the client’s experience. On some days Castro barely spoke to us and getting simple information about our day’s itinerary was at times like pulling teeth. We had to ask for water on many occasions and it felt like it was an inconvenience for Castro to give it to us, when it was supposed to be provided. Some days we got a small bottle each, some days we didn’t even get any. On one day, when we mentioned this, we got a snarky response from Castro of “well…did you ask for it?’’. Unfortunately, his attitude made us feel unwelcome and more of a burden to him than anything. We eventually all just pretty much stopped asking questions and tried to enjoy our game drives as much as possible.
There are probably another half dozen situations I could describe here that made our experience much less enjoyable than it could have been (not to mention the vehicle break-down which ended up having us wait for 5 hours for a replacement vehicle….these things happen of course, but it was the poor communication of it all and the lack of apology or any sense of compassion that made it a bad situation or the fact that there ended up being 7 of us in the van and we had to argue to ensure we remained at 6) , but I will limit myself to these.
Again, we saw some amazing animals. The game drives were excellent. But the guiding, organization and communication were very disappointing and quite below even a budget safari standards.
I would think twice before booking with Karibu.
IE
Email Robyn | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great tour guide, king of the safari
The tour was fantastic, the guide worked to our times and interests. There was a great rapport between Raymond and our group. He provided entertainment and was good to bring us to the Maasai village on the last day on the way back to Nairobi.
IE
Email Lisa Jean | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Absolutely Amazing
This safari was one for the bucket list, I had the time of my life! Raymond was our driver and he knows everything about the Mara. He made our trip so fun and surprising. I would recommend you request for Raymond for your safari experience!!!
If you are vegetarian or vegan, the lunches will be problematic. It is a bread roll, coleslaw, a boiled egg, and a chicken leg and fruit. Request a different packed lunch the night before if you are vegan/ don’t like this lunch!!
Overall 10/10 experience and I loved it
BG
Email Lyubka | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience
We booked the 5 days Masai Mara-Nakuru-Naivasha budget tour with Karibu Safaris in Kenya and we are definitely contented with the choice.
Starting from the pre-booking communication, trough reservation process, pick up, drop off and the safari itself, everything was smooth and easy. They waited for us at the airport even though our flight delayed and drove us to join the group.
Then we spent 5 unforgetable days. Edward was a great driver and did his best to allow us see as much animals as possible. We saw all the big 5 and many more animals.
It was our first safari and we are very excited by the experience.
DE
Email Jonathan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Driver was excellent.
communication was good.
Pickup in Nairobi from the Bus-station we arrived at, shuttle to airport afterwards.
Driver and accomodation during Safari was excellent.
Saw a lot of animals really close
IQ
Email Raied zewar jameel | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
They are really good, communication with office were perfect
Ohhh it's a life time advanger, the tour was from dreams we did see all the animal including the lions when they were laying down and when they hunting and eating, the driver Raymond was perfect , he risked everything to give us the closest view and all the animals , the tour was perfect , the car was comfortable and really good like a tank, the staff was so hospitality , nice and friendly., Thanks for everything you deserve 6 star .