Big Time Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2006)
- Tour Types:
- Small & medium group tours (Budget & mid-range)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $450 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Marcus Nield | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Incredibly priced! You will not find a better value-for-money safari company than this!
I have spent days and days trawling through the internet trying to find the best budget safari. Everything was so expensive! However, Big Time Safari offered great prices. Our guide, Lawrence, couldn't have been better. He knew facts about every single animal in the Mara, from hunting habits to gestation periods. He was kind and knowledgeable, but not imposing or domineering. Not to mention, he also had an incredible eye for spotting animals (exactly what you want!).
I've had two safaris with Big Time now, and I wouldn't recommend anyone else. Both times were perfect. They are the best!
US
Email David | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
We had a fantastic driver/tour guide. He was extremely knowledgable and became a good friend.
The experience was great. Our tour guide John Wanjau was extremely knowledgabe and very concerned about my wife and myself having a joyful experience. John does an excellent tour. I would highly recommend him as a guide. The only negative we experienced during our 9 day safari was the tent camp where we stayed in Amboseli could have been better.
BO
Email Nayely | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
AMAZING SAFARI! MORE THAN EXPECTED
MARTHA MUTANU FROM THE OFFICE AT NAIROBI WAS VERY HELPFUL DURING THE WHOLE TRIP, SHE HAD SETTED EVERYTHING! EXCELLENT SERVICE AND COMUNICATION!
GR
Email Onur | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The Experience of Life
The 7-day safari tour that I had with BigTime Safaris LTD was by far the greatest experience of my life. I visited 3 days Maasai Mara, 1 day Lake Naivasha and Equator Line, 1 day Lake Nakuru and 2 days Amboseli. In all those places I had quite amazing adventures and captured those unforgettable moments with my photographic gears easily, because our driver and guide tried his best in order to approach at the closest the animals. I recommend everyone to arrange a safari tour with BigTime Safaris LTD, not only because it gives great service but also it is very much budget friendly.
CA
Email Gerry and Joy | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Terrific experience and wonderful vacation!
Right from the start, Martha's (and Big Time's) special attention was evident. She answered all my questions quickly and efficiently as well as catering to our requests for itinerary changes. With her input and experience, the package she crafted for us met all our needs and gave us a truly memorable and unique vacation.
James, our driver guide, was the perfect fit for us as well. He handled all our little requests and worked so hard to make our experience so marvelous. His experience with the animals and Kenya's history, geography and peoples made it a pleasure to spend our 10 days with him.
We also feel we received good value for the level of accommodation, meals and service we were given. We would have loved to have stayed longer at Sweetwaters and Lake Navaisha. BTW we are in our 60's.
We also consider to have made friends with whom we will stay in contact.
JP
Email Miky | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An unforgettable trip
During the end of August to September two weeks, I joined Masai Mara tour and Kilimanjaro trekking.
In Masai Mara, I watched wild animals in that national park. Their action are not same with zoo animals. Relationship of life and death is being seen vividly. In addition, I watched animals I've never known.
My favorite memory is girrafe and lion. We greet each other on 1 meter, and they worked naturally :-> so cute!!
We tourist stay with natural Masai tribe. Their every culture is fresh for us modern people.
Kilimanjaro trekking days depends on course. Malangu route takes 5 days to top. I spent with some porters to top. During the walking, they cheer up me with their kilimanjaro song. I love it!!!
Plants, animals, birds, and sky are changing when we walk, that's why it's not boring, of course tired haha
The top of sky is like an universe. I won't forget the view in the future!
This pack tour is not so sky high, so you guys should join to experience what we won't experienced in the future!!!
IL
Email TAL | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
exellant safari tour
we were couple we took safari 7 days from Big time safari
its was exellet
Martha was kindly and help alot
answer all my question till i book the safari
when we arrive everthing was well orginzed good hotels good care amaizing guides drivers
the price was really good
finally we enjoyied alot and we want send many thanks to Martha and all her team
Higly higly reccomned Big time Safari
THANKS ALOT
US
Email Chris | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience and value
I went on a 4-day Masai Mara / Nakuru camping safari with Bigtime Safaris.
Communications were consistently quick and polite. They always responded right away and were very helpful.
I was able to book by email remotely, which was important since I was coming from far away with a specific schedule in mind. They needed the deposit via Western Union, which was a bit of a pain, but understandable. It would be nice if they could have accepted something like PayPal.
They provided transportation from my hotel on both ends of the trip. The driver was on time for picking us up and that went smoothly. We finalized payment in the office and were off on our way.
The driver was great. He was very knowledgeable and was a safe driver. He was able to answer any questions we had about the areas and animals and provided lots of information. In the preserves, he had connections with other drivers to find out about animals.
We were able to see far more animals than expected, including a leopard, multiple cheetahs, and multiple lions. The driver generally struck a good balance of letting us spend some time looking and getting off to further areas where we would be likely to see the less common game.
The safari camp at Masai Mara was great. Comfortable beds and electricity in the evenings and morning.
The hotel for Lake Nakuru was not particularly great, but it was mostly due to my specific room having a lot of problems (leaking toilet that didn't flush, no hot water). The beds and pillows were also very firm. The food at the hotel was good.
The Lake Nakuru stop was great for seeing birds and rhinos. We also got a bonus stop in Naivasha for a boat safari, which was not on the original itinerary, but was a nice added bonus.
The van we were in was only 2-wheel drive. While the driver was very good at driving it, we did get stuck a couple times and have to push or get towed out by another van. It was never a huge problem, but it would have been nice to have a 4x4 van.
Overall, I felt the trip was a great value for the price. I got to see far more than I expected and had an amazing trip.
Email Eli | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience but you can probably get better value for money
I went with a friend to a 4-day budget safari which included 3 visits at Masai Mara reserve and one at Lake Nakuru. The price included pick up and drop off from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the safari and back to the hotel and to the airport, which was great. The car was a bit run down and we were sharing with 4 other people. At Masai Mara we stayed in pre-pitched tents with private toilet/shower at Miti Mingi Eco Camp, which was okay but there were no hot showers as advertised; we had an issue with rain in our tent and we were promptly changed to another one. At Nakuru we stayed in at City Max hotel, which was quite in the middle of nowhere and the wifi signal did not reach the rooms, but it did the job. Our driver Richard was very knowledgeable and could virtually answer every single question we asked him. He found all the animals almost on the first day and we ended up seeing everything we wanted to see. Unfortunately, the weather was not with us so on the 3rd day, the driver suggested to skip the 3rd visit at Masai Mara and stop at Lake Naivasha to do an activity at an extra cost, which we refused to but agreed to stop there for a walk; however, when we got there he advised that the weather was not good enough and we drove straight into the hotel without actually doing anything at all, other than driving, which was a bit of a waste of a day; a back-up plan would have been appreciated. My friend and I finished our safari earlier than some other people in our group and were put in a different car to go back to Nairobi. There, we learnt that the people from that other car had paid less for the same type safari (with a different operator), done more things (the activity at Lake Naivasha that was offered at extra cost was offered for free to them) and had a much better car so it annoyed us a bit but that's life.
In short, I had a great time in this safari and I saw all the animals I wanted to which was amazing but if I were to do another safari I would probably do a bit more of research and negotiate the price better.
Email Fazal Mohamed | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Safari visits, transportation etc were very good, but camp facilities were very below average
We were a group of 8 family members. The Planning Phase of the tour was good with proper communication from the team . The Safari rates were reasonable. The Airport pick up and the transport arrangement from Nairobi to Massaimara was very well coordinated. The game drives were also very well coordinated and we got opportunities to see many animals. Driver took special interest to take us all around.
However, the condition of the accommodation provided in the Camp in Massaimara was very primitive. Though the camp is well laid out, it was very over crowded and the staff found it extremely difficult to serve food properly. The individual tents were very poorly maintained, especially the 4 tents we got. The furniture including the cot was in bad shape, the bathrooms were not clean, flush was getting blocked, there was a bad stench during night in that part of the camp. All these were reported to the notice of Mr. Joseph in the camp who apparently was in charge of accommodation. He managed to change the cot but nothing more could be done though we requested for a change of tent that was not possible due to the large number of guests in the camp.
I personally feel a lot could be improved in the tents like, clean toilets and drainage, a mirror in the bathrooms, functional water taps, some toiletries like soap shampoo etc. There is definitely a need to check the condition of cots in each of the tents.
It will be Wonderful if a small cultural show by the local folks are organized every evening near the camp fire area. That can make the evenings lively and memorable. There is also a need to improve the food quality. All these may be facilitated to the customers even if it is at the cost of 10 or 20 USD more on package cost. These small deficiencies negatively impacted the overall experience which otherwise was a wonderful Safari at a moderate price.