Andrew will take you to remote places
Wildebeest Safaris
- Located In:
-
China
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 1997)
- Member Of:
- ETT & TRA
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $450 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Karl | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
good lodging
We had a 11-day safaris. Booking was easy. Easy to communicate with the company owner Noah over email. Good lodging arrangement. In Masai Mara, there was a 3-hour drive one way to the river from the hotel, but the hotel was good. The hotel at Ngorongoro provided a spectacular view that's one of the very best we have ever had in our trips around the world. We made a scheduling mistake and as a result we had to book, through the company, one extra day at Masai Mara at a different hotel. It was an expensive booking and the quality of the lodging that day was SO BAD that it got me sick and was not able to do much the next day. The lesson: don't change schedule in the middle of it.
I have mixed reviews on our guides. Our first guide, Geoffrey, was an experienced guide and an excellent driver. Boy, he knows how to drive on the rough roads! He was assertive, a little hard to negotiate - we were totally inexperienced with Safari so we basically took what he offered, and he indeed, most time, tried his best in searching for things for us to see. In Samburu, at one point he was driving like crazy in order to get us to the spot to see a lion. It was a beautiful seeing. Another day he was trying really hard in searching for cheetahs in Masai Mara - although it was not successful in the end we were happy with his effort. His English was good and we had many good conversations. He was a caring and responsible guy - insisting that we call him back after he handed us to our next guide to assure him we were okay all the way. We did and had a good good-bye conversation. That's professional.
Our next guide, Hans, was less qualified to be a good guide. He was inexperienced as a safari driver and he messed up with some documentation things - as a result, we basically wasted our only day at Serengeti. Serengeti has been always a dream land for us. It was a disappointment. I am not sure whether this had anything to do with the location of the hotel. Hans was basically driving us back and forth on the only road near the hotel area. The Serengeti hotel itself, for the lodging quality, was very good. We had our best dinner of the whole trip there. During our Serengeti trip, we met a guide of another safari company, who was with a couple of guests who obviously were of hard-to-please type and who spoke very little English, and we talked with both the guide and his guests. He was such a wonderful guide (enthusiastic about and in doing his job, super friendly, easy to talk and very accommodating) that made us feel that we should have done a better job in researching and getting good guides for our safari.
Our third guide, Nicolas, was okay until at the end at the airport, when, perhaps due to inexperience and a long, tiring drive, he dropped us off in the middle of somewhere in the area and let us find the departure terminal ourselves. We were not thrilled about that, especially after we gave him good tips for the drive. We had to ask several people for directions in a long walk to the terminal. On Safari, though, he was mostly patient, willing to oblige our requests on the way. He took us up to the Observation Hill in Amboseli. We appreciate that.
Overall, that's a wonderful and unforgettable trip to East Africa.
TR
Email Ali | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
a trustworthy company as they kept their words
Before safari trip me and my wife had some question marks in our heads regarding if everything will be done according the tour plan which is given by Wildbeest Safari LTD. But when we arrived and executed our trip we saw that everything was done as we spoke.. Safari experience was great for us.. We booked pop-up roof safari jeep land cruiser which was better vehicle when you compare with other ones.. It was strong and comfortable .. the only thing we were unsatisfied was the period of safari.. 3 days safari was not enough for us because we arrived to Nairobi and moved to masai mara by jeep which takes 6 or 7 hours.. This means the biggest portion of the day is gone on the road.. First day we arrived at around 3 to 4 pm to the camp area.. so we had to had our safari nearly 2 hours till the sun goes down.. The second day was awesome a full of day safari including hot air balloon tour which was fantastic.. and the 3rd day only in the morning for 3 hours safari.. Because we had to back to Nairobi and the way took again 6 hours at least.. If you will choose the 3 days safari we prefer you to go masai mara from Nairobi by plane.. You will have more time.. Otherwise at least 4 days will be good enough... Except this everything was great.. Thank you to Wildbeest safari company for their effort..
AE
Email Francisco | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Time in Kenya
It was a really nice experience!!
We stayed 3 days in Kenya and we went to Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru.
Lake Nakuru is nice, but after Masai Mara..a bit disappointing! I guess it's nice if you have plenty of time, and you can visit both.. or very short time and prefer something closer to Nairobi.
Masai Mara is simply beautiful!
U see at most 6 cars in the game.. and it's amazingly natural.
If you only have 3 days, stay only in Masai Mara!
Special thanks to our guide, Dennis.. he was 5***** and he promised that we'd see all the big 5, and we did!
Take a look at the video I did:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-9YKfh-oM4&t=2s
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Email Anirban Dasgupta | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A wonderful and memorable Safari
I would like to admit, this was one of my most memorable trips so far.I just completed a 10 day solo photography trip to Nakuru,Naivasha,Mara,Serengeti,Ngorongoro,Lake Manyara and Amboseli.
Special thanks to Noah Kuti of Wildebeest Safaris who made the arrangements for me. They are very professional and took care of all my requirements. The guides Ken ,Ayub and Denise allocated to me were very patient and cheerful . They knew the parks and the game very well and helped me in getting good pictures. I also opted for local food with my guides in a few places on the way. It was very nice and tasty. The accomodations selected for me were good for most of my trip. The hotel in Mara(Mara Serena) is very good and luxurious.Though I would have preferred a more centrally located hotel in Mara considering my need to stay more inside the park.The hotel in Lake Manyara(Manyara Serena) is not a good choice. Their service is very lousy and run down.I would prefer another hotel over Manyara Serena. Since I stayed for just one night, it was ok for me.
Overall it was a great trip for me. I would definitely recommend Wildebeest Safaris to any one who wants their own customized itinerary. And last but not the least, special thanks to Noah Kuti who made this possible for me.l would always want to travel with them again.
CF
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
great driver, terrible camp
The driver was great. lovely personality, very flexible and knowledgeable.
the hotel/camp was terrible. 'semi luxury budget camp' was only budget!
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Email Nikki Renee Gardner | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Doing a safari with a friendly and knowledgeable driver/guide makes all the difference!
The communications with Wildebeest Safaris LTD was mostly by email, which I appreciated. We were picked up from our hotel on time and delivered to the tour bus (both the hotel and tour pickup location were in Nairobi) that would take us to Maasai Mara about a 5 hour drive away. There were 2 people in our party and a total of 7 people on our 9 passenger bus. We were fortunate to have a friendly, chatty group of people on our bus. It's a loooong drive. The people we drove to Maasai Mara with were the same people we would end up spending the next 3 days with.
Our specific tour was for 12 year old guests and older. We were grateful to not have very young passengers on our bus for 3 days.
While on safari, our driver, Raheem, communicated by radio with the other drivers to be sure we saw the Big Five. If one tour group found a specific animal on the savanna, he would radio the other drivers so they could head right to that spot. We lucked out and saw the Big Five as well as so many other animals.
Raheem was attentive to our group and helpful in every way possible. I was not feeling well on our last day and he was concerned and sensitive to my issue. Fortunately, I was able to make it back to Nairobi without incident.
We were fortunate to have a group of people on our bus that all spoke English and were friendly. There were other tour groups that just didn't seem to be having as much fun as we were. I feel like I've made friends for a lifetime.
Email Marco | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great adventure at Masai Mara
We have been to Kenya, for a safari in Maasai Mara as a part of our honeymoon trip in February 2018. It was our first time and we didn’t know what to expect.
Wildebeest Safaris organised for us a package that included pick-up at our hotel in Nairobi, Land Cruiser with a pop-up roof, a private driver/guide for 3 days, 2 Night in Savora Mara camp (full board service), drive back to Nairobi. The lodge was amazing, staff was friendly and food was fresh and abundant.
The drive from Nairobi to the camp is very long and the road very bumpy (it will give you as they call an African Massage) but the driver was really professional, friendly and very cultivated which help us to enjoy the trip. Also, you will start to see Zebra, Antelope, Wildebeest... when you enter the Maasai Mara reserve which is a while before the park entrance which gets you in the mood. On our way back, the second driver mentioned to us that if we had a minivan we could drive faster to Nairobi which is worse knowing in advance.
We manage to do a game drive every day, and on our first day, we spotted a Black Rhino at 4km of our camp entrance, only after 5min the game started, which is extremely rare. Luck was definitely with us as we saw the big 5 and more even though that was not the hight season and we spent a very short amount of time in the park. Most of the animal we saw had babies with them which was really cute! The one we watch the most were the Elephants, which sometimes cross the road front of the cars, but we also got very close to Lions, Cheetah, Cub Hyenas, Leopard…. Our very skilled and humble guide was very attentive to our need & wish and he has been an extra mile to make our dream happen. Compare to others driver our guide respected the rules ( speed, distance to animal...) of the park for which we have a lot of respect and I hope that all guides were doing the same. With a bit of patience, it’s totally possible to respect the animal and still be in a very good spot to take a photo. I encourage everyone to be aware of those rules and ensure their driver respect them.
Our last day with Wildebeest was a proper adventure. Because of a miscommunication between Noah and his team, we understood that our guide has been being double booked. Therefore we had to change a bit our plan, we had to reorganise our the day which was a bit annoying because we were rushed to go back to the airport and we understood that lunch was actually not included in the package as we thought. We changed of the driver on the way, when we stop at a souvenir shop.
The second driver took us to Lake Naivasha on our way back to the airport, which was a nice surprise but an expensive and quite scary experience. We did a tour of the lake on a small wood boat at sunset, and our motor got stuck in a fish net. Even Though the incident was fixed after 10/15min when the lake is agitated, the night is falling and you know that if you swim in the wrong direction you will meet an upset hippo it’s pretty scary. Also, the timing was not really well thought and because of this stop, our driver was stress that we miss our plane and was rushing on the road which made us feel unsafe as the road in Kenya are dangerous and drivers reckless. We actually saw few accidents on the way. We recommend wildebeest team to be more upfront and clear about the consequences of the different options they give to their client so we can make a more informed decision and give them the opportunity to drive more wisely.
Overall we had a good experience with Wildebeest and we are happy to recommend them but make sure you understand all the consequences of your request as they will say yes to everything to not lose a client but you might regret some of your choices. A good idea is to avoid the pick-season during which drivers overwork, many accidents happen and you will probably end up queuing behind many cars before to be able to see the animals.
IE
Email Dee | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Safari in Tanzania!
Thanks to Hamza, Noah and the Wildebeest team for an amazing trip! Noah was prompt and helpful in all his communications in the six months between booking and travel and answered all of our questions with patience. Our guide, Hamza, was fabulous and really made our trip, I'm sure he must have telescopic vision as he could spot animals from huge distances and his knowledge of the wildlife/birds and their behaviour was excellent. We felt comfortable and safe throughout the 6 days, from collection at Kilimanjaro International through to drop off at Arusha Airport for our flight to Zanzibar.
My husband and I did a 6 night private safari including one night in Arusha pre-safari. The accommodation was all very comfortable and clean and the food was always good. My favourite was the Tortilis Camp in the Serengeti where I had the best meal of our holiday.
I was slightly nervous of booking directly with a Safari company rather than using a local travel agent, but I need not have worried at all. Everything went very smoothly and we had the most fabulous experience, absolutely exceeded all of our expectations. Please feel free to contact me directly with any questions regarding out trip to Tanzania :).
Email Sacha | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience
I absolutely loved it all - thank you for arranging a very good itinerary. Hamza, our guide, was such a delight and definitely made sure we enjoyed the safari.
The two minor things I would say for improvement is: under your information tab (on the itinerary), that the weather for winter needs to be updated. I didn't realise that the temperatures would be about 10˚C in the mountains, and therefore didn't pack a warm jacket. In terms of lodging - Ocean Paradise Hotel only gave us half board when we were promised full board according to our itinerary.
Apart from that though, the people of Tanzania are wonderfully warm and welcoming and we had the most wonderful time.
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Email Matt | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience.
The trip was well organized. Our guide in Tanzania was truly world class. Our family felt safe and well cared for the entire trip. Overall the accommodations were excellent but we did have a couple of nights that were not up to expectations. In particular, the Nairobi hotel on the night of our arrival.