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
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Email Sarah | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Stellar experience seeing the big 5 for the best deal
We had an amazing experience doing a 5 day safari with our guide Salehe Mkwanda who was an expert on driving, knowing the information about the animals and trees.
At first we were hesitant to go with this company because of how cheap the price was and the fact that we couldnt use credit cards. But everything worked out perfectly and I would highly suggest booking with this company. They worked with what we wanted to see and helped us get the best deal. All of the places we stayed at during the safari had great facilities. The only issue we had was the food which couldve been better. We felt the servings were small and not enough protein was provided.
The service of airport transport was very was very helpful and a determining factor. Our airport driver Saidi was great. This added benefit plus the great price really made the difference when we were comparing other safari companies.
Seth was also very good at replying to any emails or questions we had.
Overall all the people we were in communication with before and during the safari were very professional and never tried to take advantage of us.
We would highly recommend this company!!
JP
Email Kota | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience in first Africa
It was awesome experience for me. Driver took me around park and well known about animals. His talk about his grand farther is so interesting.
Shef is excellent too. His cuisine is little bit customized for travellor so we can enjoy with no problem.
Hope to participate again with them!
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Email Rosa | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing MUST DO experience
This tour was exactly what I needed.
It’s been my mom’s dream vacation to experience an African Safari and this tour delivered!
It was budget friendly which I really needed being that I was footing the entire bill for the two of us lol, while still providing priceless memories.
We got to see all of the big 5 on day 2/6!!!
Our guide was awesome though atm I can’t remember his name. Visiting the village was humbling and I’ll cherish the time spent.
You do have to get used to the tent life. There’s no power during majority of the day, cold showers, not much variety of food but this is a budget friendly tour. Win some, lose some lol.
I’d do it all over again with the exception of the first camp, would opt for the nicer stay up the street.
CA
Email Will Date | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The biggest test of his capability was when we entered a restaurant for dinner.
I must congratulate Trip Advisor to have such a dedicated tour leader like Seth Vincent Oketch, who has served the company loyally for more than 10 years and handling the African market.
With experience, naturally comes maturity and confidence in handling our tour itinerary.
Simple things like seat allocation were firmly settled by his clear instruction and explanation. Some places were closed due to activities organized by local government or strikes. But Seth Vincent was able to make us understand and make alternative routes and times to visit the location on another day.
With his leadership, all our members are 100% happy and followed him for all the side trips, which makes it more enjoyable for our group and easier for him to organize the trips.
This review cannot truly encompass all the good acts, professionalism, responsibility and dedication Seth Vincent Oketch towards our group, but I must say my and Friends, Thormas, Daniel & Marc including the whole group felt at ease and thoroughly enjoyed the trip and we look forward to more trips with Trip Advisor
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Email JOHN MOORE | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
SETH WAS VERY RESPONSIVE AND ATTENTIVE. TRIED VERY HARD TO PLEASE.j
COMMUNICATIONS WERE FINE. ONE PROBLEM WAS THAT TWO OF OUR SAFARI DRIVERS DID NOT ALWAYS COMMUNICATE BETWEEN THEMSELVES WELL. ARRIVED LATE TWO OR THREE TIMES TO OUR LODGINGS WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED WITH BETTER TIME MANAGEMENT.
ONE DRIVER, DICKSON, WAS OFTEN ON HIS PHONE WHILE DRIVING, CHATTING WITH FRIENDS OR WIFE.
THAT SEEMED TO BE HIS PRIORITY DESPITE OUR COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS. NOT GOOD.
OPANY AND ALI BABA WERE GREAT AND KNOWLEDGEABLE.
RIFT VALLEY ROUTE VERY CROWDED AND FRUSTRATING...BUT TRIP TO MASA MARA FROM LAKE NAKURU WAS BRUTAL. FORTUNATELY, THE GAME VIEWING AND VISIT TO THE MASAI VILLAGE FAR EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS. WELL WORTH IT, VERY MUCH SO. P.S DO STAY AT THE WONDERFUL, CHARMING SAROVA NELSON HOTEL IN NAIROBI. OUTSTANDING STAFF!
DK
Email Eddy | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Nice, understanding and great tour guide.
Do yourself fervor and book Safaris with trip advisor Africa safaris!
This was fabulous trip from start to the end. I have to say we were a bit
apprehensive when initially booked with Trip advisor Africa safaris,
because it’s not a big travel company or household name. I have a feeling
that is going to change. Everyone that we dealt with was courteous and
professional. Our guide Jacob was absolutely fantastic. He made sure that we were able to see different animals while on game drive. There was never request that he did not try to full fill and he was
never under any impression that he was out of impatient. He spent the
entire week driving us from Nairobi to Maasia mara, Lake Nauru &Lake
Naivasha.It was beyond our expectation in every way from food,
accommodation &to the entire beauty of Kenya. In deed its a trip advisor as
the name sugest.Thank you again for memorable experience with you,
particularly to Seth Vincent who arranged for us safaris and to the entire
staff.
Email Tina | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
4-Day Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru Safari
Initially, correspondence with the company was superb and we had all details about order of locations and accommodation confirmed in October 2019 (we were asked which accommodation we would like to stay at and after specificity were told they were confirmed) I had been emailed with a daily reminder to pay the deposit up until the day I actually paid it, and then I did not hear from the company/ receive a completed itinerary. We next heard from them in February 2020 on the day before our safari only to make sure we had the remaining balance.
On the DAY of the safari, we met up with an employee to pay the balance and were told that the proposed details had been flipped and locations were changed. We did the safari backwards and did not stay at any of the confirmed accommodation that was specified in our initial correspondence. We were in a van and whilst ours did not break down, there were a number of them within the park which did break down.
Despite this, our guide was spectacular!! Eric had extensive knowledge of all the national parks we visited and knew of all animals and their habits. We saw the Big Five as well as a number of different animals; I feel as though we did not miss out on seeing anything.
Eric would break down the course of each day the night before with locations, game drives and time allowances for each activity throughout the day. We also had people in our car that were on shorter safaris, so he had ensured their departures were sorted for all car pooling changes.
Overall, it was a fantastic experience and I loved getting to interact with the other members of our group. If anything, it would be nice if we were notified of changes prior to departure.
Reply from Trip Advisor Africa Safaris
Posted on Feb 24, 2020Jambo Tina,
Thank you very much for wonderful review, it was pleasure saving you during your 4 days stay in Kenya , am looking forward to serve you again in future.
Regards
Seth Vincent
Director
Trip Advisor Africa safaris
Nairobi branch
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.
ES
Email Ramon | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Exciting experience to get the best of both Kenia and Tanzania
Our trip was a magnificent experience guided by the wise planification of Seth and his team, always taking care of the needs of our group and in constant comunication with our group leader. Also the drivers, Alan and Goody trying to give answers to our demmands and the helpful assistance of the cooks Calvin and Goody jr. Our trip was beyond our expectations and we were really satisfied with the organization and the final result.
Email Joseph | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience
There was good communication with Seth Vincent using WhatsApp to arrange a good driver named Peter to pick me up (for free) from the apartment to the bus in Nairobi. He did the same for me at the end and even met me in person to ask how it went.
I was happy with our bus driver Sami who got to places on time, and made sure we were where the animals were at.
I was happy with the food that we had for free on our travels and at the camp.
The 4 day safari itself was great and going to Lake Nakuru after Masai Mara was a great combination. Also, the price is a bargain really for such a great experience.
Asante sana