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
NL
Email Yolanda Moerkens | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great safari
We’ve had such a great safari from 7 days. It was a budget safari but we saw just as much as with an expensive tour. The drivers make sure you see the most. Just make sure you keep all writings and agreements and you will have a wonderful trip!
HU
Email Csilla | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Helpful, always available.
The first day's game drive was missed. The camp is well equipped.
CL
Email Kátia | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good
the services are good, compared to the price paid.
SI
Email Vesna | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great tour to experience Kenyan wild life
Be prepared for some improvisation concerning logistics when joining a group tour but in the end, everything has been delivered and the program was respected. Communication was smooth as well. The safari itself was an excellent experience. Our driver was well experienced and patient, he provided the group with clear information. I loved the accommodation in a camp, it was simple but cozy. It allowed for bonding with other members of the groups so it's a great option of you're travelling alone. The tour offers good value for money and gives you a unique experience of the Kenyan wilderness.
LT
Email Neringa | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A bit chaotic but realiable
We wanted a simple, budget safari, so we chose to visit the Masai Mara and Nakuru in a short time.
As we wanted to avoid overpaying, we didn't really care about where to stay. The tented camp in the Maasai village did not disappoint. Citymax - a run-down, simple hotel, adequate. It is better not to have high expectations for this hotel. But it does its job.
The food was filling and good.
The safari programme was well thought out: one evening game drive, a full day in the Masai Mara, then a swim in Lake Naivashu, which I consider a good introduction to Nakuru. Once you know about the small creatures, you can go deeper. We enjoyed it all very much, although it actually takes half the time just to go from park to park.
The driver, Richard, was a great companion, a very nice, responsible, fatherly person. He maintained privacy (he was not one for joking and fraternizing) and we apreciated that. Richard had his own style of driving, approaching the lions first and adding knowledge to the tour. Be curious, it pays off!
About the organisation: we were happy with the route, although the organisation was a bit chaotic. We were communicated quickly, but had to keep revising the details (the prices were different, please update!), and when we left, it turned out that the itinerary we had received was the opposite (not Nakuru-Masai Mara, but Masai Mara-Nakuru - which is better by the way). There was a bit of a lack of live contact when paying, so we were a bit hesitant about whether everything would be OK. However, everything is reliable: we got our invoice, we were picked up from the hotel on time, and the programme and the guide service really exceeded expectations. So overall I rate the safari as good.
If you are looking for a great safari experience without demanding too much from the conditions, this is for you!
US
Email Michael Lee | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Graceport Ecotours Kenya was excellent and very helpful with booking our tour.
Our Driver Guide was Peter Anyona and he was very good. Peter was on time everyday and answered all our questions about the different animals. Although we did not get to see the migration river crossing Peter had us perfectly located had it occurred. I highly recommend Peter for your next safari.
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
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.
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.
US
Email JOHN AND CAROLINE | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
SETH WAS VERY RESPONSIVE AND ATTENTIVE. TRIED VERY HARD TO PLEASE.
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!