Charles, our Director, by our safari van.
Tilman Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2019)
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $150 to $700 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
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If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
CH
Email Carlos and Lea | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Top carriers but not the best guide
We are a really sporty couple who decided to take the challenge and hike Mount Kenya in 3 days up to Lenana.
The first day everything was perfect we got picked up at the hotel in time and we drove all the way through. We met our team and after lunch we started the hike.
The second day (at 3200ms) we had to wait around 20 mins for the guide to pick us up and start the hike.
During the hike we had not so good experiences as he was stopping by himself and saying keep going I will catch up. We ended up losing him for almost one hour. Meeting him after one hour being angry with us. Since then, the whole experience changed. During the hike I experienced altitude sickness and the recommendation from the guide was to “take a nap and drink water”. This is what I did, but I started to feel worse and worse, almost passing out, we were lucky to talk to a medical guy who was there who recommended us completely the opposite: go outside, small walks, dont lay down, drink a bit of coffee and some breathing techniques. He also said that in this condition is impossible to go to the summit the day after and that we should descend as soon as possible.
That night we talked to our guide and we were surprised about him trying to convince us to go to the summit. After a long talk we told him we are not in condition and that we would love to go back.
The last day we started the descent and we were even more surprised about our guide not talking at all to us, going 300-400 meters in front of us the whole way. Specially knowing that we were not in good conditions. It really gave us a bad feeling, that we were not in good hands and that we were not accomplishing anything.
As a summary I would say the food was super nice and the carriers (special mention to Nelson and Taylor), but the guide has sole room for improvement.
I am pretty sure I was not the first and wont be the last having these problems so I would recommend the guide to be informed on what to do in case something like this happens. And also to try to be a bit closer to us, guiding should not be just walking but also ensuring we are save and that we are having a good experience.
Reply from Tilman Safaris
Posted on Feb 19, 2026Dear Carlos and Lea,
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your detailed feedback about your recent Mount Kenya trek up to Point Lenana. We truly appreciate your honesty.
First of all, we are very sorry that your experience did not meet the standards we strive to offer especially on such an important and physically demanding adventure. You deserved to feel fully supported, safe and well guided at every stage of the climb.
We are glad to hear that the pickup, cordination, food and the support from our porters especially Nelson and Taylor met your expectations. We will certainly pass along your kind words to them.
However, we are genuinely concerned about the guiding experience you described. Losing contact with your guide for nearly an hour, feeling unsupported during altitude sickness and experiencing emotional distance during your descent is not the standard of care we expect from our team.
Your feedback regarding the advice you received is taken very seriously. Proper altitude management and client monitoring are critical, and we will be reviewing this internally with the guide involved to ensure improvements are made immediately to prevent such situations in the future.
Please accept our sincere apologies for the parts of your trek that made you feel uncomfortable or unsupported. Your feedback helps us grow and we are committed to improving where needed.
Wishing you both good health and many more successful adventures ahead.