Guide Richard at Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge
Lenchada Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2015)
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $50 to $400 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
DE
Email Cecilie | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great 4-day safari to Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru
Can highly recommend Lenchada Safaris and Dickson as guide.
Pros: smooth communication before tour, great rate also for a single traveller, Dickson was an extraordinarily great guide in Mara and went out of the way to give everyone a good experience. All food and accommodation was really good and far better than I would have expected from a budget safari. The groups I was with were also great fun, and the ambience was good altogether.
Cons: Had chosen Lenchada because they had promised I’d stay with the same group throughout the 4 days but in the end I had to change on day 3. Communication about this was confusing, and it meant that I had no activities apart from driving to Nakuru on day 3 as the other group had agreed on a different program with their guide.
DE
Email Vishnu | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent, well organised, good communication.
The safari was an incredible experience for us first timers. The game drives were quite well planned, and we got to see all the big, but also the small animals and plants! We did a total of 6 days, covering Masai mara, lake Nukuru, Naivasha and Amboseli.
I also have to give a special shout-out to our driver and guide - Gerald, aka, G-Man. If you are to go with lenchada, I highly recommend you request him. The man is not only incredibly knowledgeable but someone who is genuinely passionate about the job. He provided us with a lot of information about nature, culture, society, etc. He was a fantastic companion to have and always took special care of us and our requests.
I also want to give a special shout out to the boss, Mr. Alex, he not only checked on us throughout the trip, but always helped and communicated with us if we had any queries, and we highly appreciated the level of attention to his clients. He is someone who clearly cares about the welfare of the customer and this is the biggest asset to taking Lenchada.
Overall I would give the experience a 4.7/5!
If I had to put any areas of improvement, it would only be our first camp (Mara Lenchada Camp) in Masai Mara, which could be a bit better. There was a bit of mould on the floors and roofs of the camps and the toilets weren't functional. However, the remaining hotels and camps (Buraha and AA Lodge) camps were beyond incredible with excellent amenities and services, including the ability to wake up to a private view of the Kilimanjaro which was a stunning experience, WiFi, bar, room service, incredible buffet and more.
Can highly recommend their services and you will thoroughly enjoy your time.
IN
Email Nishad Tirur | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent Safari with Professional Operators
Kenyan Safari
We planned 2 night in MasaiMara with stay at Lenchada camp, third day in Nakuru to see flamingos with stay at Buraha Zenoni and Finally Naivasha boat ride and Hells gate visit with stay at Dove Nest Resort. Assigned guide cum driver was Mr. Dickson
Positive experience: All staffs including our guide cum driver were professionals and helpful. We could spot all the top 5 animal right near without any issues, animal knowledge and MasaiMara place knowledge of Mr. Dickson was outstanding. Our team were well connected and nice. Mr. Dickson explained the plan every time we stopped and it was healthy.
Stay at Lenchada camp was good, clean and no mosquitoes or flies.
Nakuru visit was worth too with flamingoes, Rhinos etc. stay and good at Buraha was excellent too.
Naivasha was excellent with its boat ride with wide variety of birds, Hippos etc. Boat driver John was very friendly. Whereas Hells gate was not upto what they say, except if we could see steam coming out of ground in a nearby point and waterfall.
Areas of improvement : Mr. Dickson had lot of connections all across these places and getting incessant calls which was slightly annoying though he was asking us are you ok?
Some small changes in the plan was bit annoying too.
Dove Nest stay in Naivasha was terrible due to lack of cleanliness and I got food poison too.
Cost of souvenirs were extremely overpriced in the tourist locations whereas we found the same at 10% of its price in a best shop in Galleria Mall at Nairobi further low at Masai Market near diamond Plaza in Nairobi. Mr. Dickson informed the price would be around 50% of what they say but in reality less than 10%.
CA
Email Terry | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very easy to organize and book our amazing adventure!
First the best...Lenchada were very easy to book with and Alex was always accommodating with communication, making plans, customizing and even helping to book our train tickets. He and his team were very easy to work with. The price was very competitive and we were all happy with our budget accommodations. The various booking agents seem to subcontract to different drivers that coordinate to transport clients that are staying at a variety of locations and have booked with different agents. This would be fine as we knew this was not a private booking but our only complaint would be that the advertised vehicle was not our transport and we were very crowded with 8 passengers rather than the 7 maximum. We spent many hours in the jeep and unfortunately it was very old and uncomfortable with inadequate suspension and no padding on the seats. I had a variety of bruises from being banged around in a crowded vehicle. This wouldn't have been an issue if all of the vehicles were in such poor condition but there were many jeeps that looked much more comfortable. Our driver/guide was wonderful and tried his best to make sure we had some amazing experiences and juggle the needs and wants of a very mixed group of passengers. The co-ordination of drop-offs, pick-ups, and trying to please everyone led to some stress but in the end Dickson tried his best to make everyone happy. We had an amazing time and are now laughing about the hiccups. If you are realistic about your expectations for a budget safari than I would recommend Lenchada.
IE
Email Naiadi | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Trustable
Lenchada did a very good job. Alex is a committed person, really professional, he aligned and clarified everything with me by email and manage to attend to everything, with no need for us to keep chasing him all the time. Also, he kept an eye on the Safari always calling the guide driver to make sure that is everything going smoothly as it should be. The guide WILSON, is definitely an experienced person on safaris, he has knowledge about animals and knows the park and the places. We saw the BIG5 and arranged breakfast to be taken in the savanna to optimize the time, was a nice experience.
ES
Email Nuria | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A good experiencia and nice animals
The landscapes, animals and all the experience was great with Dickson
DK
Email Oliver | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
They provided all the experiences we had hoped for
Our guide Moses was 11/10, absolutely amazing. We saw all the animals you could wish for and more, beautiful landscapes, were told plenty of interesting information and as an added bonus he had a great sense of humor. I would without doubt recommend this trip and company to everyone. It was a once in a lifetime experience and well worth it! I would however say that the different parks are much further apart than we had thought, so be prepared for a few 8+ hour transfers with little to no safari on some days. In hindsight I would definitely have opted for the mid-range package not the budget, the mid-range accommodation we saw was many levels above the budget. Happy safari-ing
DK
Email Elli | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent safaris and guide, long drives
The communication and service was good, Moses our driver and guide has been amazing! He had so much knowledge, took us on great game drives and was super nice and funny! Some of the hotels have been of not very High standards even for budget and there are some very long drives between the parks. We Saw all kinds of animals including the big five. Especially Masai Mara and Amboseli are worth the visit!
IE
Email Siobhán | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Professional, reliable, did not disappoint
From start to finish the Safari was fantastic. Alex's communication was very reliable and we felt the company was very trustworthy.
Our guide Khalifa was punctual and engaging and told us all about Kenyan culture and Safari.
The 3 day Safari did not disappoint. Khalifa went to great lengths to get us to observe the Big 5.
Our Safari was somewhat curtailed on the last day by our decision to go to the Maasai camp. It would have been nice to have more time on the reserve that day.
Have money for activities and Safari ready in advance.
US
Email Aditya | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Wonderful more than Budget tours
Thank you Lenchada for a wonderful safari experience. Alex is very good with communication so it was easy to plan the safari. Our driver and tour guide Dickson was knowledgeable and good with showing us all he could. We got to see lot of animals like lions, cheetahs, leopard, giraffe, elephant, hyenas, wildbeasts, Buffalo hippos, aligators and Ostrich at Masai maara NP while both white and black Rhinos at lake nakuru. In October we didn't get to see great migration.
The lenchada camp was better than our expectation. The deluxe tent comes with charging ports inside tent so it was helpful to charge stuff rather than going to common area. The Lanet matfam hotel in lake nakuru was below expectation as the room was very bad but the hotel amenities like swimming pool and stuff were good.
Food throughout the trip was good and all included. Plan to carry some snacks as the lunch is mostly delayed. The start of the trip was delayed by almost 2 hours waiting in the car which made the first day very hectic.
Final Notes: In all if you plan to do both masai mara and lake nakuru there is lot of travelling by car for 3 hours at lake nakuru NP so if you really want to see white Rhinos only then I would advise doing it. Our pickup and drop-off was from our hotel where we kept our checkin bags as only carry on bags were allowed on safari.