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
US
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.
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.
US
Email Kevin | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Had a great tour guide, company went out of their way to accommodate issues
This was our first (of many) safaris, so we spent many months planning out every detail to make it as close to perfect as possible. The Safari company worked with us on our itinerary and interests, and Noah was very patient in answering questions prior to booking. Our guide, Samuel, was very knowledgeable about Maasai Mara and knew many of the local guides/lodge workers, which gave us a few extra opportunities as a result. He improved our experience and helped communicate any issues we had along the way to facilitate their resolution.
I would recommend booking a Landcruiser over a 4x4 van as they are more reliable. I would consider Wildebeest again for safaris. I believe Noah has the best interests of the company and will go out of his way to help you, should an issue come up.
US
Email Ben Leibert | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good Organization
Overall, Wildebeest Safaris did their job. An informed consumer should recognize, though, the limited role such “operators” play. The tour guides tend to be independent or third-party contractors who work with a variety of such operators. Similarly, the lodging is owned and run by some other organization. The operators merely serve as middlemen. They coordinate your adventure and thereby certainly add value. The quality of your experience, however, will ultimately be in the hands of the independent guides and lodges
Our guide’s vehicle broke down toward the end of our tour, which somewhat stifled it. The way in which this was handled, I think, was mediocre at best.
All that being said, I’d probably book another tour with Wildebeest. They’re reasonably communicate, I think they try to do a good job, and they paired us with a superbly good guide.
MY
Email YUE | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The guides were friendly, well informed, competent drivers and patient with our queries and demands.
The safari tours were memorable but the unplanned iteinaries, driving across rivers and on slippery dirt roads at night to one of the lodges were exciting and more thrilling.
Our travel in between national parks could be more comfortable, if the jeeps are equiped with air-conditioning such that we would not have to tolerate with the problem of dust.
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 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.
Email Jerry | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great driver, very attentive and fun. Great vehicle for a safari
Organisation was good. Driver did not arrive on time but was a great tour guide. Prompt response regarding quotes
IN
Email Ajit | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very good hotels, Van and excellent, knowledgeable guide cum drivers.
Initially slow response to communications,but finally good service and excellent safari experience.
Game drives were great, specially in Masai Mara
My friend and I very much enjoyed our trip which included Kenya and Tanzania. It was a lifetime experience, we witnessed all in our list, except live action (ex chitas chasing after Thomson gazelles ..lol) Both drivers were great, specially Joseph, who was our guide and driver in Masai Mara. Noah , who owns company, was always cooperative and understanding, he will go beyond his boundaries in order to please you. I woul have given 5 stars, unfortunately I couldn't because of first lodge was disappointed, other than that everything else was awesome.