Classic Journeys Africa
- Located In:
-
United States
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2010)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $280 to $600 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Ingrid | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great safari experience!
Charles communicated promptly and will all the information that I asked for when I was booking this safari.
I loved the program and all the parks that we visited in both Kenya and Tanzania - Amboseli, Tarangire,Manyara,Ngorongoro, Serengeti and Maasai Mara. Amir, our Kenya guide and Maji , our Tanzania drive drove safely and gave us a lot information about the area, the plants and animals and every park.
I highly recommend this company .
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Email Ida and Guro | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing trip
We had an absolutely amazing trip with our guide Moses. We went to Lake Naivasha, Mt. Longonot and then to Masai Mara. Moses was very pleasant, kind and a good driver. We got to see so many beautiful sceneries and also so many more animals than expected. We feel very lucky to have had this experience!
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Email Thomas Lori Weisz | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great 22 day trip of Kenya & Tanzania
My wife & I took a 22 day tour starting Sept 29th to Kenya & Tanzania. We did a circle tour from Nairobi, Mara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Lake Manyana, Tarangire and back into Kenya via Tsavo & finally back to Nairobi.
We dealt with Elvis planning from May. We dealt with a few companies but as soon as we started communicating with Elvis, I knew we were going with Classic Journeys. He was always prompt & responding and gave all the right responses. Some of the things we liked was: all land cruisers & no vans. He even sent us a photo of the vehicle. He worked seamlessly connecting Kenya & Tanzania. They accepted credit cards at a lower surcharge rate than other companies. And Elvis was a very accommodating as I am very picky & made numerous changes. I put the whole thing together as to where & how many nights at each park & lodge. If you want they can put the trip together for you but for us we have been to Africa a few times so I enjoy putting the trip together myself. We were picked up at the airport, with a land cruiser waiting, and ready to go touring. The company is very professional, with good drivers, good vehicles & great service before & after the tour as well as during the tour. No major complaints with this company or tour so that's why the 5 stars. We were disappointed with Loyk Lodge where the swimming pool was closed the 3 days we stayed there. I don't know who to blame but nobody told us, it happens.
Now on to the drivers. We had Dixon (this is the correct spelling) for Kenya. No major problems, on-time, car clean, water in vehicle and basically all drives went well & he is an excellent driver, a little on the quiet side. One issue we had though was that he did not like to wake up too early. I assumed 6-9am morning drives. Never happened. He preferred 8 or 9 and we "negotiated" 7:30 for most days. I was not demanding & tried to be conciliatory but I got the impression he did not see the point of early drives. I felt awkward always wanting to start earlier. The itinerary said typical days would be up before dawn for a game drive. Never happened, we never got up before dawn. On the other hand he gave us very long game drives going into the 1 or 2PM range so even too long as my wife was getting tired after a few hours. Now being a 3 week tour, this became tiring with long game drives & no time to recover. We would arrive at the lodge at 1 or 2 and go for lunch & an hour later back for 4pm drive. No pool time, no recharging batteries time, and tough for a vacation. I would have preferred to be done by 11am & have 5 hours to rest. We skipped many nice swimming pools for lack of time at the lodge. So if you like long game drives, we got a lot of that & many people would love this. On a 5 day trip great, but on a 22 day trip, we didn't need the extra driving.
Another small issue is that the drivers seem to keep wanting to find that leopard even when we didn't and just wanted to see elephants & rhinos. Hours can be spent seeking the leopard for a tiny photo of the animals sitting or sleeping. I prefer the herds of active elephants. But it seems to be a badge of honor to get that leopard & drivers won't pay attention if you say no leopard.
By the way, Tsavo was the worst park. One game drive I took no photos at all. It was at a Tsavo conservancy. I asked Elvis for a few conservancy drives assuming that we would have off road driving. Loyk had a nice conservancy write-up in the Mara. This somehow fell through as we were not allowed in their conservancy (Orok) nor the other one in the Serengeti. Something about changes in rules or that Loyk is not inside the conservancy. I don't quite understand as other Loyk reviews talk about the great drives in the conservancy.
Other issues in the car was the refrigerator is actually just a box, not cold so keep that in mind. There was wifi in the car which worked for about 3 days, better than nothing. But we had a very good vehicle with no problems on some terrible roads.
For the Tanzania part we spent 8 days with Mirage. He was good humored and we enjoyed his game drives. However once again there were a few issues. He would get us to the lodge not at 10 or 11 nor at 1 or 2pm but at 4 or 5 pm! No pool time, no sit down lunch (packed lunches) and no time to rest. These were very long game drives & very tiring. I finally got us to start with lunches at the new lodges & end with breakfast, instead of start with dinners which meant packed lunches since we never arrived by lunch time. It is true we were moving from park to park & had a long schedule at times but still, the drives were too long & arrival at some really nice camps too late to enjoy them. I was also upset that we didn't get to see the migration crossing while others at our camp said they did. I initially did state: top priority is the migration viewing. We did see leopard & lots of cats. I really wanted to see a lot of elephants especially at Tarangire national park & we saw very little. Once again I think the leopard chase is more important to drivers even if you keep saying elephants please. So to summarize, too many packed lunches & always late arrivals to the lodges. Starting earlier would have helped.
I recommend this company with no hesitation. The price was a lot lower than others offered. We were very happy with the trip but would next time be more insistent on timing of the game drives. since each driver has his own pattern.
Bottom line: Great company, trustworthy no hesitation in using them again, but with a few recommendations for improvement.
Email Lela | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An amazing experience!
The safari was above our expectations. Our guide, Jeff, was very good and knowledgeable with great respect for the animals and nature.
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Email Doug Brainard | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful Trip!
Classic Journeys Africa was wonderful. The guides were fantastic and we truly enjoyed our trip to Kenya and Tanzania.
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Email Tonje | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic guide who really went out of HIS way to hive US the best game driveS
No problem with the communication. The tour went over and beyond our expectations. We saw an enormous amount of animals. Absolutely fantastic!
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Email David | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience!
The service was great. Communication was ok. The safari itself was amazing. We had great guides who knew a lot about the areas we were going and were highly experienced. The guides really tried to go out of their way to customize our experience and make it a memorable trip. The resorts that were selected were in general excellent but one of the resorts could have been of better quality given the amount that we spent. Overall, we had a great safari and want to do it again!
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Email Derek Sunderland | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unbelivable experience
Chris, our guide in Nairobi, was very knowledgable and always on time. We never had to worry about anything. He took us to Wilson airport for our flight to Masai Mara and stayed with us all the way through check in and was waiting for us on our return. Amazing service. Classic arranged for us to stay at the Mara Ngenche camp and I cant even begin to describe the experience there. Our safari guide, Francis, was amazing and the service at the camp, especially the restaurant, was among the best we have ever received in 5 star hotels around the world.
Huge shout out to Classic for personalizing our trip and making us feel so special.
Proffesional Couteous Friendly Reliable
From the start of us enquiring about the Safari, through booking and our Safe return.
Classic Journeys were so proffessional. Everything was done in a timely manner. Great communications. Every part of our trip was on time, our guides were Friendly, always on time, Courteous and knowledgeable.
Our Safari guide went Above and beyond giving us the best views of the Animals and shared many experiances with us during our adventures each day. We had an open Jeep which we highly reccommend. With only 4 of us on the tours each day, it felt very personable, and first class
Our camp (The Mara Ngenche) had 12 Tents, that were super cool, all hidden from each other in the bushes, with everything you needed and so comfortable. The camps hospitaily was second to none from the Manager to the waiters, chief and all the staff. The food was superb. The Location was breathtaking.
Far exceeded my expectations for accomodations and wildlife spotting.
The choice of locations was great because each one offered more diversity and quantity of animals to view. The lodges and camps
were beautiful and meals were delicious. The staff at each location could not have been more accommodating and attentive (we have emails from so many and plan to keep in touch). But our guide Samme was the star of the safari...he made us feel like family! He not only was knowledgeable about the animals....but had an amazing background and passions for African birds....and would point out beautiful species on all of our game rides. This was my "bucket-list" birthday gift from my family....it really was a dream come true for me.