Trip Advisor Africa Safaris
Trip Advisor Africa Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2012)
- Tour Types:
- Short mid-range tours (½ to 3 days)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $300 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
SG
Email Bhaskaran | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good but can be better ...transparency is the key !
When we decided to experience the much famed African Safari, stumbled upon the online market place “Safari Bookings” which has thousand over African Safari operators offering either standard packages or some of them can customise according to traveller needs. It is quite overwhelming to choose from the list of operators – in spite of applying certain preferences. We wanted to cover Masai Mara, Serengeti, Amboseli, Ngorongoro and Lake Nakuru. We saw the standard packages from 3 operators offering these and one of them was TripAdvisor Africa Safaris. We usually rely Trip Advisor reviews but we couldn’t find any review for “TripAdvisor Africa Safaris” which created a suspicion if this could be a scamster operator. But their itinerary was definitely better than others we compared; while Safari Bookings assured that they do verify the tour operator licenses, they cannot guarantee things cannot go wrong with the operators listed under their wings. So we took a chance with TripAdvisor Safaris as Vincent Seth assured us that we wouldn’t regret taking up a package with them. I should add, we mentally prepared ourselves to expect some disappointments based on the past reviews and hoped we weren’t one of those who had to face severe disappointments. Our 11 nights 12 day (Jul 13 - Jul 24 2019) African Safari in Kenya and Tanzania definitely met our expectations though we there were some items of the itinerary had to be skipped – the distances between the national parks are very large and it is not possible to jam pack so many. We had to skip the baby elephant and welcome dinner at Carnivore on day 1 – this I guess depends on the arrival time. We had to skip the Hells gate national park on day 3 so that we shall be able to reach Masai Mara before the stipulated park closure time. Our major gripe is about the accommodation in Masai Mara – we were put up at Sun Lodge which is very far off from the game viewing areas, though it is located inside the park. While the location of the lodge is exotic, the difficult terrain and the long drive makes it very a very demanding. Contrary to the itinerary we were booked for 3 nights here and we were the only family in the entire lodge – that made us wonder if Sun Lodge was so infamous such that even in peak season no one prefers it. I guess this was booked pretty cheap compared to any other lodge in Masai Mara. But it would be bad on my part if I don’t appreciate the service of the most friendliest staff I ever came across in Africa and the sumptuous dinner they had prepared for us. It would have been perfect if not for the difficult terrain and long travel to the park every day. The game drives in all the national parks were very good; the guides were knowledgeable, pleasant – Jacob in Kenya for Lake Naivasha, Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara; Ezekiel for Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Tarangire and Richard for Amboseli. Lion Hill lodge at Nakuru, Kati-Kati tented camp in Serengeti (best experience of the entire trip and sumptuous dinners), Ngorongoro Wildlife lodge, Amboseli Sopa Lodge were all very good and matched our expectations; again in Tanzania, we had a terrible experience at the Twiga camp site – this was not as per the itinerary and a rundown place; food was not good as well. We were supposed to travel to Tarangire and accommodation was Tarangire Safari Lodge but ended up in this Twiga camp site. The border transfers were smooth with the drivers/guides waiting on time – I was quite apprehensive if things would be smooth after reading some experiences. Overall except for the accommodation mess up in Masai Mara (since it was 3 nights high level of inconvenience) and 1 night at Twiga camp site, we had an excellent gaming experience. I am thankful that Vincent made sure that the gaming drives were good, sent us reasonable drivers/guides and most importantly border transfers were smooth with the drivers waiting there on time to receive us. Vincent Seth seems genuinely interested in improving the quality of tours he offers; he can definitely achieve that provided he tweaks his itinerary not to over promise and to be transparent about the accommodation if in case its different from that of the itinerary. One more vital point is to communicate the agreed itinerary to the drivers/guides and stick to it.
AT
Email Michelle | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Easy and friendly cancelation due to car problems
We have booked a safari when we ended up having troubles with our car. We forgot to tell the office so they contacted us since they were waiting at the pick up location to get us. The service was very friendly and easy, we could cancel the trip with no problems. Thank you very much!
Email Dev | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Nice trip
Staff are very welcoming. Had a nice trip on a budget basis. Tour, site seeing, safari went well and even liked the lodging facility.
Email HS 2019 | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic experience with this company, well looked after and great knowledge
What a great tour!! Travelling in a group of 9, the 2 safari drivers that we had were excellent! Boss man Tommy and Ken were extremely accommodating to specific needs and both had fantastic local knowledge of the roads and consistently got us to the required location in good time!! Amazing communication with other safari drivers to ensure we saw the best animals when they were out. Also, they were conscious of all tourists ensuring that everyone had the chance to view at the best position. Service stops for food/breaks were planned well. Overall, a fantastic, out of this world experience, feeling safe and catered for throughout.. I would highly recommend this tour!! Finally, a massive thanks to Trip Advisor Africa Safari!!!
Email David Borovsky | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
African Safari Dream Come True With Seth Vincent
Hi
I just returned to California from 13 days African Safaris in Kenya and Tanazania including Zanzibar.
I spent August 2019 in Africa and a week in Germany on my way back to the US.
I had a dream vacation.
I was picked from Nairobi airport by Eric, a kind fluent English speaking guide and was brought to the fanciest
hotel you can imagine namely Sarova Stanley where I met Seth.
Seth is the organizer who arranges different guides for different activities and countries.
Eric was with me in Nairobi for the elephant rescue center, giraffe center and Tribes of Africa experience.
Another Guide, intelligent, fluent English speaking and kind by the name Morris drove me to dream places
including Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara and Lake Naviasha.
Upon crossing to the Tanzanian border I was picked by Sam Biagga. I enjoyed the company of a college educated,
kind hearted guide who even invited me for dinner at his house in Arusha Tanzania. Sam took me through the Seregenti
to Lake Maynara and to Arusha. Every question about wildlife was answered with thorough knowledge.
The selection of places and activities was excellent. I saw the Big 5 , wildebeest migration and much more.
In each border crossing and each airport the guides were waiting for me upon arrival.
Seth was monitoring each step of my trip and talked to me through whatsapp routinely to make sure everything is allright.
All the lodges and hotels were of top quality. Even in the middle of the Seregenti, surrounded by baboons and hyenas, the
lodge had electricity and wifi as Seth promised as I needed electricity for my CPAP breathing machine.
Each advice that Seth gave me came true: I went to Kruger in South Africa to see another safari. Though I do not regret visiting
South Africa and Kruger is an experience by itself, yet like Seth told me you can see all the wild life you desire in Kenya/Tanzania
and there is no need to go to South Africa.
Seth told me in Nairobi how much cash to prepare for tips and casuals. I did not listen and ended up wasting time on unnecessary trips to ATMs.
In my view Seth can arrange a dream safari/vacation for you for your money. He knows the travel business inside out. He knows to hire/contract the highest quality tour guides. He cares about you.
Before my trip people asked me in California: "What you are not afraid to go to Africa by yourself?"
Now Africa is big, but in Kenya and Tanzania you will enjoy hospitality, English speaking population and you are in countries
that respect tourism as it is so crucial to their economies.
Also if you are afraid that you will wire money to an operator on SafariBookings and you will become a victim to a scam, it
is very unlikely to happen. My Tanzanian guide explained to me that operators who appear on safaribookings are tightly licensed and
regulated by the governments of Tanzania and Kenya.
To conclude: Trust Seth Vincent and you will have a great vacation
Safe Travels
David Borovsky
Email Kirit | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very experienced tour operator with professional drivers who really know how to look after the tours
Very good tour company with a lot of experience and very well English speaking drivers
CZ
Email Lubos Dvoracek | Experience level: first safari
Everihning OK
The company accommodates.
Everything OK.
Thanks for everything
Email Sophia | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good value
It was a good tour (we went masaai mara, lake Nakuru and amboseli). We opted for budget and luxury on the last 2 nights which was great. Overall it was great value as you saw a lot at a good price. If you don’t have much time I recommend just the masaai mara as that was by far the best! I really recommend Geoffrey the driver if you have the choice - he is so experienced, very friendly and seems to know everyone!! We were in a mini van as it was cheaper and it was very comfortable and did not feel as though we needed to pay more for the car! I will warn... There is a huge amount of driving so be prepared (again maybe a reason to just do masaai mara) and at times it was a bit disorganised - having to drive into Nairobi at the end when we stayed outside meaning we had an extra 2 hours in the traffic. So perhaps try and make other arrangements in advance or if you can make plans for pick up and drop off to avoid this. Seth is friendly and trustworthy - just be clear on exactly what you want.
IT
Email Massimiliano | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic! Amazing!
Fantastic tour, better than I expected, best experience of my life
IN
Email Tivin Thomas | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Kenya-Tanzania safari with Trip Advisor Africa Safaris
Folks,
When I had to book a short 8-9 day Kenya-Tanzania safari to suit in my available holidays, was checking a lot through various channels in internet. Finally came across this one post in Safari Bookings made by one operator by name TripAdvisor Africa Safaris, which was tailor made and definitely suiting my tentative itinerary. So decided to approach them with a query.
Then onwards everything was fast forward. Mr Seth Vincent from the Safari agency was of quick in his responses, and why not we we were ready to have a close wildlife experience in quick time.
The hotel n Nairobi was too good. The one in Nakuru was good, the ones in Maasai was fine. And then we ended up in tented accommodation which was of the first kind of experience we had. Even though we were notified about it, we were less prepared for it and it's deficiencies.
Anyhow, the trip ended up really well. Very much above our expectations with the guides Mr. Wikilife in Kenya and Mr. PrayGod in Tanzania was so helpful and spot on in their job. Their eye sight and attention is commendable without compromising any matter of safety. The chef masavi was clinical in his meal preparation throughout the stay in serengeti and ngorongoro tents. It was like woow, and we were like how did he do so with limited space in common kitchen and lesser time and items.
Herewith let me conclude this review,
Definitely these guys are recommended.
Regards
Tivin Thomas
+91-9901252761
India