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
DK
Email Emil | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Energetic, open, all smiles and helpful
Helpful transfer from the airport to the Safari Camp.
We changed vehicle dowtown Nairobi where we Got to meet our tour guide James - From there on it was all smiles and High spirits while he guided US through the masai mara park over three days.
He managed the Daily planning, had information about the animals he showed us and helped us a lot with practical stuff during our three Day stay.
Great experience !!!
US
Email Ban | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great value safari!
We did the 6-day safari through Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, and Amboseli. Overall the itinerary was good but a little too long. It involves a lot of driving to get to and back from Amboseli. I’d recommend a shorter tour and prioritize Masai Mara. Although getting to see Mt Kilimanjaro from Amboseli was worth the long drive. We didn’t see as many animals in Lake Nukuru. You couldn’t get as close to the animals as in Masai Mara. I was hoping to see more flamingos but it may not have been the season.
Karibu is a solid tour operator. They offered their home stay apartments for our one night in Nairobi before the safari started. They covered the driving from the airport and to/from the start of the safari. Their communication was fine... I found I had to probe and ask a lot for details. It would have been better if they had an itinerary or set expectations the day before the trip. The planning at times felt rushed or last minute with the camp managers.
The safari driver, Edward, was good as well. He showed us a lot in Masai Mara but I think he got tired as the tour went on.
Since we picked the budget option, the accommodations were as expected. Simple tented camps but unreliable hot water. If you want better accommodations I’d sprint for the pricier tours.
For the money, I think the safari was great value! We saw a lot of animals and felt we got the full safari experience from the trip.
9 days safari
We booked last minute a 9 days safari tour. Communications with Sandra were fine and we could find an agreement on pricing. Unfortunately there weren’t any groups interested in the same itinerary and we needed a private one.
Itinerary was the one we propoused but maybe we missed some suggestions and more clarity.
Regarding the driver-guide, Freddy did a good job in general: he always drived in a secure way during transfers. On the other hand, he was often in the telephone and we missed some briefing before the safaris and some further informations.
Overall it was a nice experience and we reccomend Karibu safaris in Kenia!
US
Email Jimmy | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Efficient
Pros: Overall great experience. Saw all the animals on the bucket list. Our guide was great about following any leads from other drivers to make sure we saw the big 5 and more. He was responsive to when we wanted to stop and was genuinely friendly and kind.
Cons: You are on a trip with multiple people on different itineraries, so there is some extra travel between safaris and differing accommodations, which takes up some extra travel time. Also because of this, there is some group decisions that need to be made that may compromise what you want to do. We were also never offered the boat trip the at was supposedly available on my itinerary because others had it scheduled on a different day, which was frustrating. Additionally, this trip is in a van vs jeep/Range Rover so there are limits as to speed and locations where you can drive. It did not seem to affect the total animals we saw but luck may have been on our side.
Overall the trip was awesome, but if you want full control of your itinerary, there may be better options.
BE
Email Xavier | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent quality/price ratio
Really good value for money.
Tour was perfect with Edward, met our expectations and was listening to our requirements.
Communication with office before the tour could be a little bit improved.
Special mention for the last camp in Amboseli, Manjaro ! Excellent place !
AT
Email Sina | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Well planned and it was worth the money
First of all, the communication with the agency through the email was flawless and very efficient, the detail of the tour and all the costs were clear. The both drivers Mike and Rymond were very helpful and had quite good knowledge about the visited places and the animals. The accommodations were not the best but ok, foods (3x per day) and water were provided, so I can say it was worth the money. We did a 5-day tour including lake Nakuru, Masai Mara, and lake Naivasha and we enjoyed everyday of the trip. The only thing is the first hotel in hotel Nakuru could be chosen better. In summary, I recommend this Safari, if you don’t spend too much money on the Safari.
DE
Email Matthias | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Reliable with some small buts!
We (couple of two) did a 6-day budget tour through Kenya including Massai Mara, Nakuro and Amboseli and as everybody says here, the places are simply amazing and soooo worth a visit. But I'd rather focus on the agency and overall organizeational aspects here.
PROs:
+ agent Robert helped us book train tickets between Nairobi and Mombasa
+ overall the tour was without any problems and everything worked as planned
+ our guide (Simon) was amazing and super helpful with absolutely everything. He really made sure we get the best experience during our 6 days. Even when there was a minor issue with the car, he went on and fixed it himself. Felt safe all the way in the crazy Kenyan traffic.
CONs:
- We were told we could pay in EUR OR KES, which was true, but on location it turned out there would be two conversions of EUR over KES to USD, which would have increased the price by nearly 10 %. Even the payment in local KES then included a small upmark. This was in no way communicated transparently from the start and for sure left a bad first impression.
- The tour was advertized as max. 6 people in a car. For the first two days of the tour, we were 8 pax in our car though, which meant one person had to sit in the front and couldn't enjoy the open roof view.
- For our last stay in Amboseli, our accommodation was changed without us being able to find out if it was an up- or downgrade, but pictures showed that our replacement room at the new camp was rather worse off (the camp itself was great however). After our guide asked us what we think about the new place and we expressed our concerns, we were offered a better room for the second night without us explicitly requesting it, which was far better and more spacious and left us satisfied (thanks again Simon!).
US
Email A... | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great time with Karibu!
We had an excellent trip with Karibu Safaris. Our guide was wonderful and we saw lots of animals. I have rated 4 stars as the van we took was very old and broke down twice in 4 days.
ES
Email Anthony | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing
The whole trip was amazing. We really had a very good time with our guide, Castro. He was always the first to be in the right place to see the animals during safaris. And he has very good driving skills!
NL
Email Stan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great and Affordable Safari Tour Operator!
What a great company! I walked into the office to see what they had on offer - the next morning I was on my way joining a 5-day budget Safari to Masai Mara, Nakuru, Naivasha, and Hells Gate led by our amazing guide Dan Castro. His talent and experience really showed as he made sure the whole trip went smoothly - and more importantly that we spotted a wide-range of different animals (incl. The Big Five and the wildebeest migration). Dan really went out of his way to make sure we had a front-row seat to the spectacle of Kenyan safari. To give an example: we had a rare sighting of a leopard, saw two lions successfully hunt a zebra and spotted a lion high up in a tree. I feel very lucky and privileged to have seen such sights.
Dan's ability to drive in difficult circumstance also really stood out during the trip as the park provide some challenging terrain. I personally also very much appreciated the music he would play (Dan has excellent taste) during long hauls between different national parks.
Karibu safaris was also really flexible when I wanted to make a change to my booking. I initially booked a 6-day safari, but asked to switch to 5-days during the safari in order to stay with the group (as the others were staying for only 5-days). Dan contacted the office in Nairobi and ensured this was no problem.
Do make sure to bring enough extra cash during the safari, because there are some hidden costs, such as bike rentals, Masai village entry and of course lots and lots of tipping.
