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
Email Cezar | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was a great experience.
I like the hospitality of the drivers and the experience we had with the safari itself!
just had few comments on:
food - a little bit repetitive.
person-in-charge in the camp - I feel like he should be a little less serious and should make the tourists more feel at home.
Masai Mara Village- I had a traumatic experience here when we entered the house of the tribe. They showed me some "souvenirs" but then eventually they said it's for sale. You have to advise other travellers not to visit this village anymore as this will affect your credibility. I already saw some comments in the internet discussing about this matter.
PH
Email Ren | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our guide was great
No complaint about our guide, he was absolutely great. He tried his best to make us comfortable and satisfied with the tour. He also shared a lot of wonderful insights about safaris and the animals in the savannah. 5 stars for Lion!
However, the road going to Masaii Mara from Nairobi was terrible and we were not informed beforehand. The driver also made a lot of detours before we got to our destination. On our way back to the airport, the traffic was terrible and we almost missed our flight, not to mention, the hotel we booked for us to get a shower before the flight.
AE
Email Ender Tan | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good value for money but definitely needs improvement!
Tour started as promised. Julius was excellent on transfers from/to airport to hotels. Our first 3 days were great with Stanley in Masai Mara ( very friendly / good driver) and Lake Nakuru. Our hotels Masai Mara Lodge (very good) and Lake Nakuru (average) were both in excellent locations. We had a very short game drive in Lake Nakuru so it was a bit of a waste of time. Last 3 days of the tour after Nakuru turned into a nightmare, spending long hours in the car with a non-company driver with zero knowledge in animals / safari, Amboseli tour was complete waste of time and very tiring... the connections/ timings / this trip could be improved. Suggest 3 days in Masai Mara and 2 day in Nakuru. Overall great experience seeing all of the animals (we have seen them all) but the entire experience could have been better...
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.
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.
BE
Email Siska | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Nice safari, but please stick to your promises.
The safari was nice but we do have some complaints. Karibu safaris promised us we would be with 7 people in the van at the most (they also say so on the website). But we were with 8 people (+ driver). The van was crowded. Luckely everyone was really good company and so we all worked it out, but that was definitely not because of the driver. The driver didn't even say anything about it, as if it was completely normal. They say on the website that you get free water during the drives. The driver bought 12 bottles of half a liter water. For 9 persons! We were on a 5-day safari and had to buy our own water in the camp shops for 4 days. It's not that the water is like a huge cost or something, but just keep true to your words please. Overall we had a nice safari, the hotels and camps were good, we saw a lot of animals and we had a good atmosphere (but that was more thanks to the other tourists in our group rather than our driver).
MM
Email Myintmyat | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
One thing I had never done in my life
It was pretty nice game reserve drive. I enjoyed most of the time. But the tant wasn’t what I expected. It was a bit cold at night, maybe cuz of the season. The ranger was very skillful one and he also explained everything he knew, make us to be comfortable. I liked everything overall.
Thanks for everything