Reviews
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Email Raj | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing safari experience
We initially started researching the tour we wanted a few months before our scheduled trip in March. We had other commitments in Mombasa and were travelling with our children and parents so wanted to stay within Mombasa. We chose 5-Day Unique Luxurious Kenyan Coast Tour which featured Day 1 Tsavo East National Park- Day 2&3 at Amboseli National Park, Day 4 Tsavo West National Park and then returning to Mombasa airport on the 5th Day.
Jack from Loushir African Safaris was very communicative and also assisted in some modifications to the accommodation that I wanted. Jack was able to meet all my requests. The tour started off from our hotel and we met the staff from Loushir African Safaris which was appreciated. Our tour guide John was fantastic and part of the success of the tour was becuase of him. He was friendly and respectful and very knowledgeable about the safari and the animals. He was also a very skilled driver which is really needed in this part of the world!
We did encounter an issue with the tour hence the slighly less score. The original package put together by Loushir African Safaris listed the journey time between day 1 and day 2 and driving to Amboseli National Park as being three hours; however, it was actually an 8 hour drive, followed by an additional 6 hour drive back to Tsavo West National Park. This would have made it impossible to have the scheduled number of game drives. The children and my elderly parents were in no position to sit in an unconditioned car on the highway for 8 hours.
When our tour guide John informed of the timings we showed him what we had agreed to as part of the tour and we refused to go to Amboseli National Park. Rearranging the tour became a little stressful and somewhat ruined my experience. Initially Loushir African Safaris explained the constraints and financial pressure they were under to amend the tour and urged us to continue to Amboseli. However, in the end they did agree that it was an oversight on their part and did the honorable thing by amending the tour so we had two days at Tsavo East National Park and two days at Tsavo West National Park.
I hope that Loushir African Safaris learn from this experience and review the importance of diligently checking tour timings and reporting these factually to potential customers. It later transpired that the people organising the logistics of the tour had not consulted with the tour guides who would have spotted this error earlier on. This is not good planning and needs to be improved.
Despite the issue we had, I was very happy that we were able to resolve the situation and so Loushir African Safaris should be given credit for this. The tour was otherwise reasonably priced and was good value for money. I would happily recommend Loushir African Safaris to others and strongly urge anyone considering a tour to ask for John as a tour guide. He is an amazing person!
The safari itself was an amazing experience. We had realistic expectations, anticipating that some drives would be less eventful than others but overall, we were lucky to see a lot of wildlife. The landscape in East Tsavo area was mostly flat, arid landscape characterised by vast savannah plains, thorny bushland, and arid acacia scrub. The flat landscape was ideal for elephants giraffes. West Tsavo was similar but the landscape was a little more varied, featuring some mountainous terrain and with slightly more greenery
We stayed at a lodge - Ashnil Aruba Lodge in Tsavo East and then at Taita Hills Safari Resort & Spa in Tsavo West- both which I would recommend. There are other options for lodges in the area some are more basic but we did opt for slightly more comfortable accommodation.
A family safari is an amazing experience and I would love to do it again!
Email Hellen | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A very kind and knowledgeable man
It really was a great experience. Our guide, Denis was kind and very knowledgeable about all the wild animals and places we visited. The logdes we stayed in were also really great. I definitely recommend Loushir African Safaris in case you're planning a Safari.