Beacon Safaris Team in Masai Mara
Beacon Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2010)
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $50 to $200 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
AE
Email Alex Yee | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
3-day Kenya Safari - Maasai Mara and Lake Nakuru
My 3-day safari was full of fun and I had a great experience! My initial flight was cancelled and I had to book another flight to Nairobi the next day. Robert changed the itinerary immediately when he was notified. John, my safari guide, took extra miles to ensure that I had a great experience. And I did! John is also very knowledgeable and accommodative. I highly recommend Beacon Safaris and John! By the way, I went during the rainy season and saw the big five, including the elusive black rhino! Thanks, John and Robert!
The safari was magic, and our guide (Kenneth) has a lot of knowlegde, always smiling and helpful.
It was a wonderful holiday.
A lot of driving, but when we arrived at the park every mile was forgotten.
And all the magnificent animals.
Our guide (Kenneth) is a very nice, polite and smiling man.
NL
Email Robert | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Safari lived fully up to our expectations due to excellent guide Antony
The reservation process with Beacon Safaris went smoothly, feedback was swift and complete. The Toyota Landcruiser used for the safari was only one year old and well maintained.
The tented camps, where we stayed during the 7 day safari, were luxurious, clean and the food was good.
Our guide Antony was punctual, friendly, very knowledgeable and a safe driver.
We truly had a great safari and can heartily recommend him as well as Beacon Safaris.
HR
Email Agnezija | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beyond our expectations!
My husband and I booked a safari trip, but also requested a few add ons. Robert did a great job organizing everything on our trip and came to greet us at the airport and say bye before we departed. Our driver Ashton was fabulous ... Always on time, informative, friendly, and even helped us sort out a banking issue. Had a great time and my next trip to Kenya will be handled by Beacon Safaris again and hopefully we'll get Ashton again.
Highly recommended!
Great experience
Just came back from a 3-day safari in Masai Mara with our friendly guide Anthony. It was an awesome time; saw lots of animals (no leopards or rhinos, though) and had a great experience. Robert was professional, quick to respond to changes in our itinerary and quick to respond to our inquiries. Anthony was friendly, always smiling and knowlegeable about the park, the animals and Kenya in general. Sad to see that so many animals seem to have disappeared compared to 20 yrs ago, but would definitely recommend safari to anyone, especially with Beacon. We stayed at the Sopa lodge, which was luxurious, had great food and drinks! Relaxing to come back to after a day of driving on rough terrain :)
AE
Email Philippe | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Well organised and good follow up.
After an initial glitch where our contact had our dates mixed up, the recovery plan worked well as we stayed in two different lodges in stead of one and were able to see more animals in two different locations.
Having said that the second lodge ( Ashnil Game Camp, our initial plan) was much nicer than the first one (Sarova Mara Game Camp). Ashnil is positioned on the edge of the Mara river and is a great location to view the Migration crossing.
CA
Email Phil | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing Kenya Safari Experience
The trip was everything we expected and more. As a photographer I wanted to experience the true nature of Kenya and Beacon looked after everything to make our experience truly unique. Robert booked all our hotels and organized the trips and accommodations, he also made great recommendations for us on the trip. Johnny our driver was awesome and he always got us to the animals fast so we got to spot lions, leopards and everything else almost daily. He knew the park roads well and accommodated our needs at all times. I would definitely recommend Beacon for anyone considering a Safari with a trusted company. Also consider flying into some of the parks as the roads can be very long and are rough, a short flight from Maasai Mara back to Nairobi was well worth the extra costs. Check out photos from our trip on http://www.pbeckermann.com
US
Email Shelly | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing knowledge, professionalism, service, and accommodations while viewing incredible animals.
I had a wonderful experience with Beacon Safari and have already recommended them to several close friends planning trips to Kenya/Tanzania. The staff, led by Robert, was very knowledgeable, professional and flexible with my schedule and interests. By very prompt emails, Robert worked with to me design a safari that fit my wishes for the trip and my budget. After some discussion, I ended up doing a private safari so that I could be sure to see and do exactly what I wanted. Josh, my guide on the safari, was very friendly and fun to be around and had an extensive knowledge of the animals in the Maasai Mara. He never rushed or pressured me and was very accommodating to what I wanted to see and do in the park. At my request, he took me to visit a Maasai tribe village which was incredibly interesting and not touristy like I expected. The mid-range priced lodge (Mara Sopa Lodge) I stayed in was also very nice. I was very surprised by how luxurious it was and it had great food, a pool, entertainment, etc. I really was so pleased with the entire experience and amazed by all the animals we were able to see in just a 3 day safari. My safari was during the migration so, we literally saw thousands of zebra, wildebeest, impala, water buffalo, etc. We also saw giraffes, lions, hippos, crocodiles. I was amazed by how close our Jeep got to the animals. It was a life changing experience.
Josh and Robert were two of the kindest and most fun people I met in Kenya. I cannot recommend Beacon Safaris more highly!
CA
Email Vinay Sarin | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent experience (with couple of exceptions)
I had booked on behalf of a party of 7 (3 couples and an adult child). Pre-trip communications were good. The safari was mostly as expected and our driver/guide, Antony, was excellent. He was especially good at finding out about places where things were happening and getting us there quickly, and into a good viewing spot - most of the things that make up a good safari tour. Sadly, but through no fault of his, we did not sight a leopard but did run into the other big 5, and plenty of zebras and wildebeest, including a river crossing by a herd of the latter - a spectacular sight.
I would note two exceptions, both of which relate to the central office and not to our driver/Guide, but which led me to rate less than "Excellent":
- When our itinerary had us setting out in the morning to arrive at our destination for lunch, we did not expect the ride to be almost 7 hours, i.e. a very late lunch. This was entirely the result of the fact that the road into and out of Masai Mara turned from paved to a dirt road (very bumpy) well before the reserve, which was the only thing in the itinerary that surprised us. It would be helpful to note the major transit times in the itinerary. If this had been our only gripe, I would have given the excellent rating.
- More serious was our baggage situation. Prior to arriving for the tour, the group had visited Cape Town and Victoria Falls. I had advised the tour office that we would be travelling with one checked bag and one carry-on each and could consider leaving some bags in Nairobi to be picked up on our way to departure from Nairobi airport, but was assured that the LandCruiser had ample room to accommodate that. And that is precisely what we arrived with. Unfortunately, there was not sufficient space for all the luggage nor sufficient time to rearrange our packing (we arrived Nairobi very late night preparatory to a 7 a.m. departure). The matter appeared to be resolved by the fact that a smaller group was undertaking a similar tour with what we were told were two minor differences - at Lake Nakuru they were staying in a different place but not far and they were leaving from Nairobi on a different flight, but in a similar timeframe. Seemed like a simple solution for them to transport some of our bags. In reality, further differences emerged - the other group had some other excursions also planned so our departure/arrival times were not perfectly coordinated. It also appeared that they were unhappy having to carry our bags and having to make some timing accommodations for that. Finally, we learnt that they were not in fact flying out of Nairobi the same day as us. As a result, we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to arrange for the bags to arrive at the airport with us, without risk of any delay. This preyed on our minds and the time spent on this detracted from our enjoyment of the tour. On the last day, we agreed that we would take with us the bags of 5 of us who were leaving on an earlier flight and that the remaining 2 of us leaving on a later flight would pick up our bags from the other vehicle once it arrived to the other group's hotel in Nairobi. Well, even that plan got changed as we were advised, at the eleventh hour, that the other driver had some other engagement as a result of which we met on the roadside somewhere and transferred our other bags into our vehicle - making our last hour pretty uncomfortable. It seems that the other group's itinerary and the other driver's schedule should have been known by the tour company in advance and that we were misled as to what the true situation was. It also seemed to us that any solutions they proposed were to their convenience and not ours. Hence, the reduced rating.
Antony, thanks for your service. Despite the issues noted, we did enjoy.
BE
Email Patrick | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing 10-Day Magical Kenya Highlights Safari
Booked with Beacon after reading all the reviews. Robert responds very quickly, usually within a few hours, even during the weekend. He was extremely helpful and we enjoyed a perfect organisation of the whole safari trip. So lucky we had John as our driver/guide. He is an amazing driver/guide and we enjoyed his sense of humor as well. On the third day, we had seen already the Big Five. This safari trip was the best I have already experienced. Kenya is truly an amazing country. Thank you Robert and John!!!