Epic Game Drive in Masai Mara
Lenchada Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2015)
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $150 to $750 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
Email Andrew | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Worst ever experience
As expats in Kenya, we have taken many safari trips, and the recent one to Masai Mara with Lenchada was unfortunately our worst ever experience. We chose this company out of their overwhelmingly good reviews on safaribookings.com. That probably means that most of their drivers are excellent. But our driver, named Tony, was an exception by a large margin.
Tony clearly hates his job and was cold and rude to us throughout the trip. Every time we met at the beginning of a game drive, he never greeted us and only responded to our greeting with a node. He never helped with our luggage either. During game drives, he never asked us or even notified us before starting the vehicle after a stop, never caring if we wanted to stay for longer. In several cases this interrupted our ongoing photography of animals, and sometimes even worse—the abrupt move of the vehicle on the bumpy road of Masai Mara caused us to fall on the seat. All three of us hit our knees on the armrest of the seats for a few times, and we all got bruises. Having paid a little more to take a private tour rather than a shared one, we expected that we could customize the game drives to a reasonable extent. When we tried to communicate with him about our preferences in animal viewing, however, Tony responded impatiently with cold words such as “You have to be patient,” “I have to follow instructions from the radio.”
And his words about following the radio turned out to be a lie, because his vehicle was not equipped with a radio! A radio is important for any safari trip, and especially for Masai Mara, since the natural reserve is simply too large. Even during the migration season, most part of Masai Mara at any given time would still be empty, and without a radio, on which dozens of drivers share their findings real-time, you will very likely end up not finding anything interesting for a whole hour. Two of the three of us fell asleep for around twenty to thirty minutes during the game drive. In the past we have taken safari trips in less renowned destinations and during low seasons, but the experiences have never been so boring for us that we fell asleep. It may be unbelievable that this happened in Masai Mara during the migration season, but when you don’t see any noteworthy animal for dozens of minutes it would be hard to stay awake. We did get to see some big cats, but that was only possible when we luckily encountered another vehicle that had radio, whose driver kindly shared the information, and our vehicle then made a U-turn to go back in the opposite direction for some fifteen minutes to get to the spot. With a radio we would probably have spent thirty minutes less to get there.
When we realized this problem, we contacted Alex, the managing person of Lenchada. Alex was responsive and attentive. He apologized for our experience, clarified that the driver’s practice of not carrying radio to a game drive is intolerable and against the company’s rules, and told us that he will soon make a thorough check on all the vehicles of his company to make sure that they must have radios. For us, however, the only thing he could offer as a remedy was to extend our final game drive by departing the lodge one hour earlier than planned. We appreciated his supportive attitude and accepted the offer, understanding that it was probably already all he could do within his capability. Tony was late, cutting the extended game-drive time from one hour to less than forty minutes. But the length of the trip turned out not a big issue, because during that extended final game drive, we again fell asleep, for the simple reason that the vehicle still didn’t have radio and we still had not much to see most of the time.
Although Tony had no radio, he attempted to cheat us by saying that he had one. It was only during the second day of the trip, when we heard him responding to another driver asking about information on animal spotting, saying in Swahili “Sina redio” (I don’t have a radio) that we realized he had been lying. When we contacted Alex about this concern, Alex hosted a three-way phone call with us and Tony. To our surprise, in the phone call Tony lied to his boss and insisted that he had a radio which he simply turned off because it was noisy. On our way back to Nairobi, Tony even blamed us for telling his boss about the radio issue, and still insisted that he has radio. When we pointed to the antenna holder in the front of his vehicle, where there was no antenna at all, he said that for some vehicles the antenna is in the back. But one only needs to get off the vehicle and look at its back to know that there’s no antenna there either. For so many times, Tony lied through his teeth.
Tony also told us that because of our complaint, he was going to lose his job. Due to his repetitive blatant lies, we would not believe in what he said. But if what he said is indeed true, that would be an indication that Lenchada really cared about their customers and promptly fired this unprofessional, dishonest, and rude employee. Such a person should simply not be allowed to work in this industry.
In other aspects of our trip that are unrelated to the driver, our experience was mostly positive. For example, the lodge was a good balance of quality and price. It is way cheaper than any accommodation inside Masai Mara, yet it’s only a ten-minute drive to the gate. Since their boss Alex is a responsible and honest person, and since there are many good reviews out there, choosing Lenchada for your safari may still be a good idea. But you have to make sure that your driver is not Tony, otherwise all those good reviews will be totally irrelevant to your actual experience.
ES
Email Lourdes | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Correct
The program was ok, we watched lots of animals, but it would be fine if you change the jeep, ours was very old and dirty!!
DE
Email Juergen | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Unique animal diversity
We did a 6-day trip with Lenchada Safaris in September 24. Massai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Amboseli. All parks have their own character, the variety of animals is fascinating and unique. Unfortunately, the operator only informed us of price increases 2 weeks before the start of the safari and only after we asked. Communication was problem-free, however. Lenchada and Jokey Tours are apparently one and the same operator.
Massai Mara: large herds, many wild cats and the impressive Mara River with hippos and crocodiles. Accommodation: Lenchada camps. The tent was clean and spacious. The facility is getting old. There were no chairs on the terrace and the dining area was a disgrace. There was no “campfire feeling” here.
Lake Nakuro: lots of water birds, rhinos, monkeys and buffalo. Accommodation: standard hotel in the Buruha Zenoni Hotel not far from the park entrance.
Amboseli: impressive backdrop with Kilimanjaro in the background. Large herds of elephants. Really great. Accommodation: highly, highly recommended the Manjaro Camp. Super friendly, good tents and good food.
Travel times/driver: The distances between the parks are very long. The main roads are heavily congested. Travel times of 6-8 hours are the norm. Our driver drove extremely carefully, but was not very taciturn.
Conclusion: The parks are truly uniquely beautiful. Lenchada Safaris can only be recommended to a limited extent. They look everywhere for savings. For example, they drove to an inferior lodge without prior agreement (but we were able to successfully refuse). You should have everything confirmed in writing beforehand.
(automatic translation from German)
IE
Email Alan Carr | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great safari and saw tons of wildlife but operations need some work
3.5 stars - Overall the tour was great. If you are looking for a budget safari this is for you.
Pros
- saw loads of wildlife
- tour guides David and Evans were helpful and informative (Evans especially)
- accommodation was clean and very comfortable
- food was very tasty
Cons
- the tour charged us a 5% FX fee which is outrageous (extra 25 USD)
- long periods of driving with no breaks or snacks (6/7 hours)
- we had to ask for bathroom breaks
- couple of other hidden charges that weren’t clear (bicycles in hells gate were extra and so was Masai Mara village tour)
- hot springs were in our itinerary and we never went
Fine
I had to share my room with a stranger. So I contacted the safari company in may ways. What they did was just ignoring me. I think that is not the way.
By the wat the tour guys were great!
Email Svenja Alexandra Reincke | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great camp, delicious food but guide was just a driver and did not explain anything.
Good communication and very punctual. Excellent food throughout especially at the camp. No water was provided however even though this was supposed to be included. Beautiful camp but guide was utterly useless - very good driver but he did not explain anything at all so really disappointing.
IN
Email Maddy | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Richard Rocks
We had good experience with Mr Richard who was very polite & straight forward guide who explain each & every thing raw, this safari is lifetime experience.
CA
Email Smzranz | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Affordable price
We took a 5 day safari with lenchada. Our safari was great, especially Joe was awesome. He did a great job and he is very honest and friendly person.
CA
Email Alex | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Funny and caring Titiku, it's nice
You don't have to worry. He. The guide was there for us and explained everything to us just so we don't
Not think and go to the pleasure...to like hit
(automatic translation from French)
FI
Email ”Lioness” | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Organized a well planned, smooth trip
3 night trip including Masai Mara and Nakuru. Start and return point Nairobi.
Communication: quick responses by whatsup and email before safari. During the trip updates/reminders on travel itinerary could have been a bit more thorough.
Service: well planned breaks, devoted driver/guide on game drives - effort to spot several animal species, no issues with anything, social, friendly and easy-going guide happy to answer to any questions. Experience of the guide/driver was noticeable.
Value for money: hard to compare but having a feeling that expectations were met.
Relialibity: no delays or other issues, felt safe and taken care of. Traffic safety (on transits) might have had higher expectations - local traffic and roads, seat belt quality and phone calls during drive rose some concerns.
Tour itself : many animals (including big 5) spotted providing many memorable moments. Had time to observe animals from close, mostly with a feeling that their space was respected. In total, the tour, including game drive, accommodation, food and transit, worked out very well.
However, be prepared that quite some time is spent on transit from Nairobi to the destination (and back) and the roads are partially in poor condition.