Our Consultants in the office
Meektrails Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2020)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $130 to $2,000 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Roopesh | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Meektrails delivered a well-organised safari with a fantastic guide & excellent wildlife experience
Booking Experience:
I found Meektrails on SafariBookings while planning a 5-day Amboseli–Nakuru–Masai Mara safari. After comparing quotes, I chose them for their fast responses, competitive pricing, flexible payments, and fully refundable cancellation policy. Paul was responsive throughout and helpful in finalising the itinerary.
Constructive feedback (reason for that one star less):
I would have appreciated stronger guidance on whether visiting three parks in five days was realistic. In hindsight, this made the trip very travel-heavy and less relaxed. More proactive communication around issuing invoices and payment receipts would have helped. While Paul was always responsive and trustworthy, the process felt a bit informal — especially when booking for Kenya for the first time.
Important Travel Reality Check:
Irrespective of what itineraries may state, our actual drive times were long: Nairobi to Amboseli took 6 hours, Amboseli to Nakuru took 9–10 hours, and Masai Mara to Nairobi took about 6 hours. We spent a significant amount of time on the road between parks, which reduced actual park time.
Arriving at Nairobi Terminal 1A was chaotic — long queues, no AC, and 2 hours at immigration. Departure was similar with multiple security checks, so allow 3 hours. Thankfully, Meektrails’ airport transfer was smooth and reliable.
Safari Experience with Meektrails:
The next morning we were welcomed at the hotel by Paul, Jamal (our guide), and other Meektrails staff. We completed the final payment formalities and received complimentary Meektrails caps before departure. We travelled in a Toyota Land Cruiser safari vehicle that was clean and comfortable, with 6 bucket seats, built for rugged terrain, and equipped with a fridge for water and juices. There was no AC, but that honestly wasn’t an issue. Tip: ask for binoculars in advance if you need them, as ours did not come with one.
Our Guide – Jamal:
Jamal truly made the trip special. With years of guiding experience and many friends across the parks, he was extremely knowledgeable, a safe and confident driver, passionate about wildlife, patient (even with our two noisy kids!), and always smiling despite the long drives. He went above and beyond, even negotiating lunch arrangements en route to a resort to keep things smooth. If you book with Meektrails, I would highly recommend requesting Jamal. Game Drives & The ParksWe visited in mid-February, meaning no wildebeest migration, but lots of offspring and easy spotting due to fewer water sources. The game drives were absolutely incredible. Each park offers something different and all exceeded expectations. Stunning landscapes, abundant wildlife and birdlife, sightings of the Big Five, and even a National Geographic-style lion hunt. Jamal knew the parks extremely well and positioned us perfectly for sightings. You simply cannot be disappointed with these parks.
Accommodation:
We stayed mostly in resorts inside the parks or very close to the gates. I would recommend staying inside or just outside park gates to maximise game drive time. On Day 1 in each park, entry formalities take some time, but after that it is much quicker. All hotels were lovely — it’s just a shame we didn’t have much time to enjoy the first two, as we mostly arrived, had dinner, and slept before moving on again.
Final Thoughts & Tips for Future Travellers:
If you’re planning a Kenyan safari, stay at least 2 nights per park for a relaxed experience. Distances between parks are significant, so plan realistically. Buy a Safaricom SIM card at the airport (best coverage) with at least 10GB of data. Kenyans are incredibly warm, welcoming, and almost everyone speaks English.
Overall Verdict:
Meektrails delivered a well-organised safari with a fantastic guide and excellent wildlife experiences. The main learning for future travellers is itinerary pacing — fewer parks with more time at each would make the experience even better. Despite the long drives, the wildlife experiences were unforgettable and truly once-in-a-lifetime.
FR
Email Jenifer | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very beautiful
Overall, we had a very good stay. Everything was done to make the trip enjoyable. Here are, in my opinion, the positive and negative points.
Positive points:
- Beautiful parks, we were very lucky since we saw many animals including 4/5 of the big five
- The landscapes were beautiful in every way: savannah, Kilimanjaro...
- The hotels were perfect: view, restaurant, pool... everything was gathered to spend a pleasant stay
- The exchange with Pauline was great, she booked us a program adapted to our expectations
- Peter, the guide, was very kind and knew many things about animals
- The guide gave us a pleasant surprise: we had the chance to discover Masai Mara on foot in order to observe crocodiles and hippos
- The guide was a very good driver regardless of the terrain we used
- Peter took us to the typical Massai village, we could discover their customs and it was very enriching from a cultural point of view
Negative points:
- Peter was regularly late, and did not bother to warn us
- Transfer times entered in the program were not real, distances between locations are very long (sometimes double what was written)
- Peter was regularly tired, especially in the afternoon, which made the safari less enjoyable. We were afraid that he would fall asleep at the wheel and had to be vigilant.... We told him about this problem several times.
To conclude, we highly recommend this company which has many assets.
Thank you to the whole team for letting us discover your beautiful country.
IT
Email Alessandro | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
7 Days Private tour 4x4 Minivan
We recently embarked on a remarkable 7-day private tour that took us from Nairobi to Ambroseli, Naivasha, Hell's Gate, Nakuru, and finally the renowned Masai Mara National Park before heading back to Nairobi. For our travels, we opted for a comfortable 4x4 minivan, which was perfect for the two of us. However, if you are traveling with a larger group, you may want to consider how everyone’s luggage will fit.
The roads connecting the parks primarily consist of one lane in each direction, often congested with truck traffic and occasionally in poor condition. As a result, expect a driving time of around 5 hours or more between parks.
Our accommodations were delightful. We particularly enjoyed the Sopa Lodge in Amboseli and Mara Kimana near Masai Mara, which stood out as top-notch options. The food served at the lodges was consistently delicious, except for the packed breakfasts and picnics. The Amboseli Sopa Lodge even features a restaurant within the park, offering meals that rival those at the lodge. It's worth noting that none of the lodges are located directly inside the parks, which necessitates a 20 to 30-minute drive to reach the park gates. This can slightly cut into your time for early morning game drives.
We scheduled our safari for the last week of October, just after the Great Migration had concluded, leaving only a few animals in the tail group heading towards the Serengeti. Nevertheless, we were fortunate enough to witness a diverse array of wildlife, with the exception of leopards.
Regarding the organization of our trip, there were moments of miscommunication between the office, our guide, and ourselves concerning the itinerary, activities, and special requests. This did leave us with a sense of disappointment. However, our driver/guide, Philip, was knowledgeable about the wildlife and local culture. He was also accommodating to our needs, such as arranging early game drives offering us his personal binocular (the company told us there were going to be binoculars available for both) and adjusting activities that had been unexpectedly canceled.
One particular activity we experienced but probably avoidable was a walking safari with the Masai Warriors, which began in a traditional Masai village located along the main road to Masai Mara NP. Here, we were provided with insights into construction techniques, cultural practices, and the local way of life. While there were attempts to sell artisan crafts (including a stick and a piece of wood used for old fashioned way of starting the fire for just 20 USD), we found the experience somewhat lacking in terms of genuine information and wildlife encounters. The walking safari took us through an area behind the village where we primarily observed Masai cattle, a few rats, and wild chickens, along with brief lessons about two plant species and a chance to use a traditional Masai bow and arrow. If you’re hoping to see zebras or giraffes during this activity, you may want to manage your expectations.
Lastly, we spent only one full day in the Masai Mara. Our guide did offer us the option to extend our visit for an additional half day before returning to Nairobi, which would require a new entry fee of $200 USD each.
In conclusion, our safari experience was indeed wonderful. With this review, I aim to highlight a few key points for future travelers, ensuring they have a clearer understanding of what to expect when signing up for such an adventure.
BE
Email George | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good 7 days tour with Meektrails with some room for improvement
We are experienced travellers in Africa, and this is our fourth safari destination. We had a good time in Kenya with Meektrails as we visited Amboseli NP, Lake Nakuru and Maasai Mara. Overall, Meektrails did well, we had good communication before our trip, our contact Eliud was very quick to reply, we had an experienced guide (Joseph) and they were punctual and professional. However, there were some small issues, many of which apply to most safari tour operators in Kenya. None of these issues, however, got in the way of the overall good experience.
Firstly - the car. We decided to save a bit of money and we went for a 4x4 minivan instead of the classic safari vehicle - Toyota Land Cruiser. We had done that before in Uganda without any issues and we were assured by Meektrails that their vans are new and in good condition. Well, our van broke on the first day, just 5 km after we departed. While this of course can always happen and there is never a guarantee that issues would not arise with any car, it was quite obvious that the van was not in the best condition and our guide was quite careful in driving it for the rest of the trip. Its important to say that they reacted quickly and another car picked us up (with other tourists) and we shared the car for our first day. Even though we had booked a private tour, sharing for a day was not an issue.
An important piece of advice we can give to any traveller is to make sure you have a clear understanding of how many National Park passes you have and for which days. Park fees in Kenya are especially expensive and safari operators usually play around with passes to make budget trips possible and of course have a better margin. We had some small misunderstandings with Meektrails on this point (on one of the days our programme included a game drive, but in practice, it wasn't because of a pass that Meektrails did not pay for). Overall I think it was a matter of misunderstanding and did not take a way of our experience, since on this day we had a long trip in any case.
What was a disappointment, however, is that we specifically requested that on the last day we do a game drive in Maasai Mara and our flight was very late in the evening - 01.30 after midnight. So we specifically paid for the park passes - a total of 200 USD for two people. Yet, both our guide and Meektrails themselves, on multiple occasions, told us that there was not much time for a game drive since we needed to have enough time to get to Nairobi. We insisted that there was more than enough time to get to the airport, and even if it takes 6-7 hours (which usually takes 5, especially on a Sunday), we could have a half-day drive. They didn't agree and it felt like they just wanted the trip to finish earlier, so we did not feel like arguing and our drive was only until 9:30. This felt like wasting 200 USD on park fees for a short game drive. In the end, we arrived in Nairobi at 17:00 (with several very long stops - we just felt that there is a lot of time to spare), or more than 8 hours before our flight.
