African Paradise Safaris guide
Paradise in Africa Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2009)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $180 to $550 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Yvonne | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent. I went on a private 12 safari. I would recommend staying in the park.
My sister and I picked 5 national parks and resorts in the parks. This is very important to save time and maximize longer drives on your safari outings. We saw so many lions, approximately 100, cheetahs and cubs, leopards, rhino and the great wilderbeest migration! Our driver Lawrence was very accommodating and wanted to please us.
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Email Jin | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
13 days Kenya Tanzania safari migration trip
African Paradise Safari is the most reliable and flexible safari company. John peters is the most responsive, kind, flexible professional. He helped us to design personal tour for us 12 people and provided valuable advice. Upon our first day arrival, they gave each one of us warm welcome gifts - a big bunch of rose and hoodies & sweatshirts . That warmed each of our hearts. They also surprised us with holding a safari party for us at one evening time. We were enjoying the wine and watching the sunset with giraffe, elephants and all other animals surrounding us. What’s a pleasant experience ! John and Edwin, our tour divers in Kenya, is very enthusiastic, passionate and knowledgeable. Juma, tour driver in Tanzania, is also very accommodating and friendly. They all explained us animal name and habits details, patiently stoped many scenic spots per our request and helped us cross the border between Tanzania and Kenya smoothly. The company has good communication. They responded our every single question quickly. Best of all is that we saw Wildebeest Migration several times. Last day we would like to visit Nairobi NP which is not included in our tour package. John peters the boss offered us for free. APS is one of most experienced and trustworthy company, is strongly recommended.
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Email Josie | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing 13 days Kenya/Tanzania safari trip of a lifetime
I joined this Africa Safari trip organized by a friend of mine. Without being personally involve in the trip planning, I would say my overall experience was excellent.
My friend said she compared several well known East Africa safari companies and indicated APS was the most responsive, accommodating and flexible, that’s why she chose to go with the company for our 12 people group.
Our drivers/guides were very accommodating and experienced. We went from Nairobi to lake Naivasha, Nakuru, Masai Mara. Our driver John navigated the bumpy dirt / gravel roads like a pro. I felt very safe in all the rides despite the challenging road conditions. He was very patient and caring with all the passengers in the car as some asked to stop MANY TIMES to take pictures of the animals. Then we crossed the border to Tanzania Serengeti, Ngorongoro conservation area, olduvai gorge, the crater, manyara lake, Amboseli… etc. We even made a last minute itenerary change to visit Nairobi national park. John Peter made it all happen. All the hotels bookings, transfers, border crossing, drivers change… went smoothly. It’s is amazing that all could go so smoothly in a 13 day safari trip covering 2 countries with 12 people. APS is truly an experienced and knowledgeable safari company we can count on. We saw the big 5, beautiful birds, trees … the guides were able to answer all questions about the species and local cultures. We felt very cared for and comfortable experiencing the best wildlife and culture Kenya and Tanzania have to offer.
All in all I highly recommend APS for all my friends who want to experience a trip of a lifetime. I hope this trip would be the first safari trip and I look forward to many trips to the safari with APS.
NZ
Email Brett | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Untrue and dishonest to secure our budged joining safari booking
In Aug 2023 my wife and I signed with African Paradise Safaris (APS) to join a 6-day budget safari of Masai Mara, Nakuru and Amboseli National Parks. We loved the parks, saw plenty of animals, and enjoyed the park environments. We were very disappointed with the arrangements made by APS, the blatant untruths told to us in order to secure our safari booking, and the unprofessional manner in which they avoided addressing issues that we had regarding their safari arrangements.
Prior to arriving in Kenya, APS was very communicative in answering all of my questions. On the basis of the information they provided, we signed up to join their budget safari. Unfortunately, it turned out that a lot of the information provided to us was completely untrue.
APS guaranteed that we would be in a safari van with a maximum of 6 passengers, but the van had 8 seats and 8 passengers, which makes the small van too crowded, particularly when you are trying to stand on the game drives. It also means that at least two people sit in the middle, without direct access to a window.
We were told that the safari would be operated by APS and not by another company. On the day, APS was nowhere to be seen, and we were told that we were joining a safari operated by Big Time Safaris. There were people from 3 different safari companies in the van, all with different itineraries. When we raised these issues with Big Time Safaris, they told us to contact the safari companies that we had booked with. (APS).
We were told by APS that all participants in the safari would stay with the safari throughout. This wasn't true, with some people leaving the safari at different points.
We were told by APS that everyone would be staying the same accommodation on the safari (so time wouldn't be wasted picking people up before the game drives). This wasn't true. People were staying in up to three different lodges and both budget and moderate accommodation each night.
In our itinerary we paid for 7 game drives. 3 at Maasai Mara, 1 at Nakuru and 3 at Amboseli. Our safari van broke down on two occasions, taking a total of 5 hours to repair on the roadside. As a result, two evening game drives in Masai Mara and Nakuru were shorter than they should have been. Due to changes to the itinerary as a result of vehicle repairs, and to changes in Masai Mara ticketing fees that were not communicated to us by APS, we missed a further two game drives completely - 1 in Masai Mara, and one in Amboseli. When we brought all of these issues up with African Paradise Safaris, they completely ignored us, and would not correspond with us regarding all the misinformation they had provided, the issues with the vehicle, or the missed game drives. In fact, we never met or saw any APS staff at any time either before or after our safari. The other members of our safari were met by staff from their companies at the drop off in Nairobi and at least one received some compensation for their missed game drives. APS was nowhere to be seen.
APS have many great reviews and I suspect that if we had booked a private safari with African Paradise, our experience would have been completely different, but be aware that if you are booking a budget joining safari, there is a good chance that APS will tell you whatever they think will secure a safari booking, but it will not necessarily be the truth. I would recommend you look for a more trustworthy company for a joining safari.
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Email Rowena & Frank | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
African Paradise Safaris are the best!!!
Our very first trip to Kenya and African Paradise Safari made it an amazing adventure. First of all, our driver, Davido, was an incredible tour guide and driver with an amazing sense of humor. We saw all the animals and Davido made sure we were safe, but yet close enough to see everything. From the migration of hundreds of zebra and wildebeasts, to scores of elephants with their babies, lions on the prowl, many lions sleeping off their kills, a leopard kill, hippos galore grazing in the marshes, flamingos, hyenas, jackals, a pride of cheetahs, giraffes, water buffalos and the many smaller animals in the gazelle family. We loved seeing it all. The accommodations were always clean and had mosquito nets for the beds although we only saw one mosquito the whole trip and the food choices were good, all buffet style. Lots of Masai entertainers along the way in their bright red clothing. Just incredible. I cannot say enough about John Peters being in constant contact with us throughout the booking process. I was a little leery booking through a tour agent outside of the US but John did not disappoint. I highly recommend this tour company and would book again if I ever return for a trip to Tanzania. Thank you Davido, we miss you already!!!
Email |Pamela | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Holiday of a lifetime
Wow, wow, wow if the only way to describe our holiday. I will admit we were advised by many people not to book through a non-UK company - even our usual travel agent received a message from his Kenyan agent advising us to go with a known company. O|h we are so glad we didnt. Right from the start we received emails from John who helped us tailor make our own private safari adapted from APS 12 day Classical Safari. He helped us with our visa application and answered all our questions - of which there were many - within 2 hours. 48 hrs before we left we received an email telling us the name of the driver collecting us from the airport & how we would recognise him. The first morning John himself came to meet us & introduced us to our fantastic driver/guide Lawrence and went through the entire itinerary with us.
Lawrence was absolutely amazing and spotted lions, a leopard, elephants & cape buffalo on our very first drive - not to mention the hippos, giraffes, zebras etc, etc. We had to wait 3 days before we saw the rhinos!!!! Having Lawrence for the entire trip was fantastic, we learnt so much from him, not only about the animals but Kenyan culture and particularly his tribe. Lawrence ate most of his meals with us, which we really enjoyed as he was so much fun and informative. When we were on the drives if there was a bird he didnt' know he immediately looked it up in either his much used book or on his phone and if we asked him anything about an animal he also looked that up for us to give us even more information, although his knowledge was unbelievable. The advantage of it being just the 2 of us is we could change the itinerary on a daily basis - morning drives instead of evening or vice versa - and opted to have 2 half day drives rather than 1 full day - Lawrence was so good at assessing our needs and ensuring we got the very best out of the days - bearing in mind we are both in our 70's so not as agile as some.
The lodges we stayed at were very diverse but all were comfortable and clean , with an excellent choice of food - all but 3 meals were buffet style. Yes the roads on the safaris left a lot to be desired - but hey what do you expect on a safari, we are on unmade roads looking for animals in their environment not ours.
Some of the journeys between the parks were up to 8 hours - however the scenery was so varied the time just passed fast. The jeep itself wasnt the newest but I would be surprised if even the most up-to-date one would lessen the bumps, but again it was reliable, gave us absolutely amazing views and allowed us to get close up to the animals, so what is there to complain about?
The only glitches over the whole 15 days was one hotel where the room was more like a prison cell - this was sorted within 15 minutes with John being contacted & resulting in us being transferred to a neighbouring hotel and on arrival in Nairobi the hotel had a booking but with different names, however another quick call - and this was 11.00pm - by the taxi driver to John and it was sorted.
We paid our deposit on booking and the balance on arrival - again we were warned in the UK that this was dicey and what happened if there was no-one to meet us on arrival. Unfortunately we took American dollars some of which were issued before 2007 & therefore not accepted in Kenya. "No problem we will sort it when you re back" When we returned to Nairobi John didnt have his card reader with him, so believe it or not, we didnt pay him until we returned to the UK when I sent him a bank transfer.
To say we were warned about using a Kenyan company rather than a local UK company I have never met the owner of our usual tour company, never had email replies within 2 hours, never had hotels/rooms sorted in 10 minutes and NEVER EVER paid for a holiday on my return. Additionally I then received an email from John asking if we had returned home safely and hoping we had enjoyed the holiday.!!!
Thank you again John and Lawrence you promised us the holiday of a lifetime and you certainly gave us that - even with the bumpy roads and Lawrence not finding me my penguin!!!!!!!!!!
Email Salome | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good listener,helpful,friendly and patient
It was nice experience travelling with the support of APS Travel agency. They were very helpful in case we were stuck and they had given us the best options for hotels and places to visit in reasonable rates. If you want to travel they are the best option to opt for choosing best holiday package. Thanks APS for giving us this memorable trip. Keep up the good work.
CA
Email Palvi shanghvi | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent service by John and David
We booked our 9 day tour with APS. John answered all our questions and concerns in time via WhatsApp. The safari vehicle provided was a bit old however, our driver and Guide David was very knowledgeable and patient with us. Samburu national park was very dry due to on going drought in the area.
NL
Email Iddo | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing trip into Amboseli, Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara NP
Our feedback is grouped into the following items:
The offer
In the process of defining the trip and incorporating our wishes you have proven to be very flexible and inventive to address any of our needs. They always responded swiftly, and never complained if we wanted to do things in another way. Communication on the offer was very clear. On top of that, their offer was slightly cheaper than that of the competition, which convinced us even more to make the trip with Paradise Safaris. I would safely recommend this organisation to my friends. They were even flexible payments by bank account, and gave a total refund for one person that unfortunately had to cancel one week in advance.
Driver
Our driver, Stanley, was very experienced and such nice guy! He never did any reckless manoeuvres and was very keen to keep us safe. He had a healthy drive to ensure that we got to see as much game as possible (even spotting two rhinos five minutes before we were delivered to the JKIA airport!) . When my brother got sick, he assisted to think of the best solution to deal with the new situation. He was always sharing interesting facts about the animal life, but we also talked about cultural differences, politics, climate and whatever. Furthermore, he was flexible if we made proposals to change the schedule. We had a great time with him and gave him a good tip for his services.
Accommodation: We asked for average luxury in accommodation, I think we got more luxury than we had hoped for. AA Lodge was very good, Ziwa game lodge at Nakuru was even excellent. The last lodge at Masai Mara (Jambo mara safari) was generally good, although we thought that the staff hospitality was a bit poor (they were certainly very friendly, but very distant and with some strange ways in how they approached us). Nevertheless we were very satisfied with all of them. Also the food was generally good. One tip: better not eat from any food that is not cooked or baked. We have a high suspicion on the coleslaw salad for making my brother sick…
Travel itinerary
They made a great effort to make the most of our 6 day journey. That is certainly a good thing, although we thought that the itinerary might also have given some time to relax a bit. We were constantly on the move and really tired at the end of each day. Especially day 3 was very exhausting, because of the long trip from Amboseli to Lake Nakuru. In retrospect, the visit to Amboseli -though certainly very beautiful- could have been left out, in that way we had much less travel distance and more time for relaxation. Again, this is not a complaint because we have enjoyed every minute of it!
CA
Email Brian Jeffay | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing photographic journey. A wonderful and professional tour company.
After careful research and having talked to a person who previously did a safari organized with Peter, I decided this was the company I wanted to use. I did a messenger video chat with Peter and explained my interest in photography. He organized a 3 week trip in Kenya and Tanzania taking into account my wishes. It was all spectacular from start to finish. Our driver Davido went above and beyond to accommodate our small group of 3. He made sure we saw all the animals up close.
A couple things to keep in mind. A very good camera will definitely make the experience totally awesome.
The roads between parks and in the parks are at times an adventure.
The lodges that were booked were all clean , safe and relaxing.
If you sleep with a cpap, be sure to point that out in advance. Places will make arrangements for that. Otherwise in some places the power might not function overnight.
Africa is not like North America or Europe. Don't compare , just enjoy it. Please feel free to contact me for any additional information. Brian
*** Photos are just a few from my trip.
