Reservations staff
Right Choice Tours & Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2005)
- Member Of:
- ASTA, KATO & KWS
- Tour Types:
- Custom luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $130 to $345 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Erin Clark | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Trustworthy, responsive and patient.
I selected Right Choice because of the great reviews and pricing. They did not disappoint ... Millicent was patient and accommodating when emailing back & forth for our perfect 9 day safari with our new friend & guide, Joshua. She worked with me for the best accommodations within the budget I had set. We traveled to Amboseli, Tsavo East and West and they included the train to our next destination in Diani beach (that was not booked through them). When there was one miscommunication with our final travel to the Diani resort, she righted it by taking care of our ride back at the end of our beach stay. Excellent service and I look forward to working with them on our next trip. Joshua was the best!
Btw, no need to worry about wire transfer for payment, all went smoothly. A+
BH
Email Denver | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unforgettable Experience!!
To begin with, We had no real expectation when we'd decide holiday to Africa; so it was one of those trips we prepared ourselves not to be surprised if it turned out to be an Average holiday! Well we were pleasantly Surprised to say the least - Kenya is Beautiful, Clean and the most Friendliest and Polite people on the planet.
To top it all, we gave the entire Safari tour of 7 days to "Right Choice Tours and Safaris " and must say they stayed true to the word and the Brand Name - Certainly was the "Right Choice" .. We had a fantastic and importantly a Safe Trip!! The family was amazed by the professionalism offered by this Tour Group and the Tour Guide and Driver Jacob was a true gentleman who was well read.. Right Choice Tours and Safaris is a Family tour guide .. Wonderful People.. Mr. George Oketch Director of the Tour Company was an experienced professional and man of his word! We had such an amazing experience that we would like to return to Kenya.. We've traveled across the Globe but Must say Kenya does holds a special place. We truely recommend if you're thinking Safari and a Holiday in Kenya - then think Right Choice Tours and Safaris..
We would like to take this opportunity to wish Right Choice Tours and Safaris the very best and keep up the good work!
From a satisfied Customer
The Concesso and Family...
TR
Email Derya & Gunes | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect Safari Holiday in Kenya
We spent 8 nights at Kenya (Samburu, Sweetwaters, Nakuru, Masai Mara, Nairobi) with Right Choice Tours & Safaris. It was our first safari holiday.
After making long correspondences with more than 7 local and international tour operators; we decided to work with Right Choice Tours & Safaris.
George swiftly answered all of our questions and accepted almost all of our requests regarding the schedule of our tour. He was very kind, knowledgeable and professional. We requested fee quotes from different travel agencies for the same tour program (i.e. exactly same hotels, same vehicle type etc.); the best fee quote was proposed by Right Choice Tours & Safaris.
We were really excited when our plane has landed to Kenya; because everybody told us that the most important part for the success of a safari holiday was the guide. A kind lady from George’s team welcomed us at the airport and introduced us to our beloved guide, Opany who became our best friend in Kenya!
Among other things, Opany was very knowledgeable, professional, patient, helpful, intelligent, friendly, and funny and he was a perfect driver. Most importantly, he was really trustful and this is a very important specialty as you do not have anybody else to rely on in the middle of the wilderness of Kenya. Although he is making this job for more than 20 years, he shared our excitement in our first safari experience. He is an expert in finding animals and also he gives great information about the animals. He accommodated all of requests and made many great suggestions during the holiday. We feel really lucky to meet someone like Opany.
During our holiday, we did not face with any issues. Everything was very organized.
We believe that finding the right tour operator is very important for a safari holiday; because a bad operator or an unprofessional guide can easily ruin your holiday. We really worked hard to find the right tour operator in this respect and we were really lucky about our guide. We definitely recommend Right Choice Tours & Safaris. We are sure that their other guides are good as well; but we believe you should definitely push George in order for him to assign Opany for your tour if possible.
Thank George and Opany for the beautiful holiday that you realized for us. Hope to see you again soon!
Email Tim Adjakpa | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great experience, worth the price.
Great experience with Right Choice. Our guide, Lawi, was awesome and delivered beyond expectation.
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Email Scott | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great value, but understand what you are getting
We did a 20 day trip to Tanzania that included a Kilimanjaro Summit via the Lemosho Route (8 days), Safari to Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara and Tarangire (5 days) and finished with 5 days on Zanzibar. Add a layover day in Arusha and a travel day to get to 20 days. Overall, I would rate our RightChoice adventure as a 4.5 (4 star experience at a 3 star price). In summary, the Kili trip was 5++ stars (absolutely amazing). Safari was 3.5 stars and Zanzibar was 4 stars. The people were great and the food was excellent (I'm pescatarian/vegetarian and they did a great job of accomodating). However, to get the lower price, you do have to compromise, so read on for the details.
Kilimanjaro: We had the two best guides that you can imagine (Ismael and Mongo). If you book with RC and get either one of them, you will be in good hands. Ismael was our lead guide, picked us up at the airport and took care of us through our trip. NOTE: RC was pretty casual about "what to bring to Kili", so you really have to do your own research. We packed pretty well, but forgot a couple things (BYO TP...) and Mongo helped by loaning us an item or 2. The food during the Kili trip was very good. Hot coffee/tea w/ eggs for breakfast; soup, rice or noodles with veggies, etc for dinner - very good. There was a box lunch when we didn't have a hot meal. Meals were served in the mess tent and Abdul (our waiter) took great care of us. There is not a "toilet tent", so you use the public pits, which range from acceptable to disgusting. The toilet pit at the first camp was the worst, then they got progressively better. The park service is installing new toilets and starting to actually clean them, so the situation should improve. We carried our own day packs, snacks, lunch, etc, as we hiked to base camp (not a problem). On summit day, one of our porters became the "summit porter" and the guides carried our pack while the summit porter carried hot tea and snacks to ensure our success - this was critical and I would definitely elect for this. The guys that took care of us (12 in all) were great and we really bonded - lots of singing, etc. It was definitely a trip that we will very fondly remember forever. Remember that you have to bring a lot of tip money. The recommendations that we got from our guides on tipping the porters were much higher than what I read online (like double), but they deserved it. After being with a great group for 8 days, the last thing you want to do is leave them high & dry.
One other thing to be prepared for with RC is the transportation. We viewed the transportation as being part of the adventure. Our trip to the Kili gate was memorable as we were picked up by a minivan (we called it the Mystery Machine - scooby doo) that looked like it could comfortably fit about 8 people. We drove all around Arusha picking up porters, etc., and by the time we were genuinely on the road to the gate there were 11 porters, the two of us and the driver packed in. Again, its part of the adventure, but be ready for it.
We had one evening in Arusha (at Charity Hotel) prior to being picked up for Safari early the next morning. Charity is ok, but its down a crazy back alley, so if you are first arriving at night, expect this. The food at Charity was below average and there is no power (in most of Arusha) during the afternoons.
Safari: Safari in Tanzania is a little bit like going to Disneyland. There are tons of trucks, all basically the same Toyota Land Cruisers. Most seat 6 passengers in the back plus driver & passenger seat. They all have the pop-up roof. We were shuttled out from Arusha in a minivan to pickup more people at Lake Manyara, then head to Serengeti. Our agenda was changed at the last minute by RC, but it didn't really matter. RC paired us up with three other English speaking tourists (2 from Holland, 1 from Germany). It seems that RC subcontracts with other Safari providers to place you in trucks. We were with "Big 5" Safaris for the first two days in Serengeti. We had a fun group and a good driver, so it worked out. We also had a very good Safari cook who stayed with us for the entire 5 days.
The good thing about Safari was the wildlife (of course). We saw a lot more than I thought we would. The bad thing was that we were there during the "high season" - it was packed. I also thought that we might see the "great migration" in the Serengeti during July, but found that the main activity was about an 8 hour drive away. That said, we saw a ton of wildlife - no rhinos, as they mainly hide in July, but everything else. The camping situation at Serengeti and Ngorongoro is pretty bad (not an improvement from Kili) and we were in very old tents with broken poles and zippers that we put up ourselves - again, part of the adventure. However, since we aimed to get out of camp at 6am each morning, this seemed like a good compromise to staying at one of the hotels/resorts in the area. For the last two nights we stayed at Manyara View campground, which had permanent tents and cots (very nice) as well as cold beer in the fridge (very welcome). The last two days of safari we had different trucks (different companies). Again, it worked and was just part of the adventure.
Zanzibar: After safari, we changed cars about 3 times on the way to the Kili airport and checked in with George on our way to Zanzibar. RC did a good job of arranging all of the transportation, but expect to change cars a lot (are we supposed to tip every driver?). Willy picked us up in Zanzibar and we spent a few days in Stone Town prior to heading to Smiles Beach Resort. Smiles was very nice - again, friendly people, clean rooms, etc. The food was pretty average (overcooked seafood). It is located right next to the Hilton Doubletree. If you walk 100' up the beach you can pay about 4x for a meal that (probably) tastes better. We did two days of diving with Spanish Dancer divers (not through RightChoice). The diving was very good. Again, RightChoice got us from the north coast of Zanzibar via ferry to Dar as Salam for our flight to Kili and home. The transportation was definitely crazy, but we made it.
Summary: I'm really glad we chose RightChoice for our adventure in Tanzania. It wasn't the "high end" vacation, but it was the adventure that we were looking for. We may have preferred a little "upscale" at various times during our trip and I know we were both ready to be back in the US, but the trip was incredibly memorable and really had an impact on how we will view the world going forward. Thanks, RightChoice!
GR
Email John Pap. | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An amazing 5 days safari with an excellent guide.
An excellent 5 day experience with no bad surprises. Our guide, John, did everything to satisfy us. He was caring, punctual, informative, knowledgeable with a great sense of humor. We took more than 2000 pictures and videos from almost all the animals we could imagine. We drove to extreme places to meet the big fives, the small fives, the ugly fives or any fives. We are very happy having this journey as a positive experience. Thanks Right Choice Team and John. It was really wonderful. We strongly recommend it to everybody.
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Email Sayeh | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The Kenya/Tanzania tour was a blast!
Writing this review will never do justice to the experience we had on this trip. I could write an entire book on the trip and still not get in the sense of how wonderful it was. The beauty of Africa cannot be captured in words or pictures, it must be experienced in person.
My daughter (age 21) and I went on a 16 day Safari using Right Choice Safaris. This was our first time in Africa, and we both had the time of our lives! Below is the highlight itinerary sent to us by George:
"Safari Highlights.
01 night in Nairobi on arrival. Good for those arriving after mid day.
02 nights in Amboseli
01 night at the Lake Nakuru national park- Kenya
03 nights at the Masai Mara game reserve- Kenya. Migration at best
02 nights at the Serengeti game reserve -Tanzania
01 night at the Ngorongoro crater -Tanzania
01 night at Tarangire national park- Tanzania
04 nights in Zanzibar, Blue bay beach resort"
The Safari was planned by the organization and we followed all of their recommendations and did not do any "customization" of our own. We had a private safari for the two of us which gave us the freedom to go at our own pace. Our guide in Kenya was Jacob and in Tanzania, Fadhil. I believe Right Choice Safaris handles the Kenya part and partners with KiliSlopes in Tanzania for the Tanzania part.
Every place we stayed at was absolutely wonderful. The safari had a combination of tents and lodges to give us a taste of both kinds of experiences, and we loved both.
George was always available, answered all our questions, and was in touch throughout the trip for getting our feedback. My sister and her husband are going next year and they are going to contact George to set it up for them because we had such a positive experience with him.
Jacob and Fadhil were both amazing. I do hope that when we go back, and we most definitely want to go back, that we will get to work with Jacob and Fadhil again. They were both super knowledgeable, both friendly and fun, and both wanted to teach us about the animals, their behaviors, and their roles in the larger ecosystem.
Everything was amazing. Lodging, food, service, and of course, the most important part, nature and game viewing.
For game viewing, make sure you take binoculars. Also, take the best cameras you have and ample storage. We took over 5000 pictures!! Expect to be in a car for 8-12 hours a day in order to get maximum viewing experience. It sounds like a lot, but when you're being driven through some of the most beautiful lands in the world, and seeing animals up close, it all flies by so fast.
It's hard to pick a favorite spot for us. Each park/reserve had its own unique ecosystem and we are glad we went to all of them. If you have to skip one of the destinations due to lack of time, I recommend skipping Zanzibar only because it took us a long time to get there (drive/fly/delayed flights, etc.). If we absolutely had to recommend one place to see for first time travelers, then we'd recommend the Masai Mara/Serengeti parks which are really an extension of each other, are the spot for the migration, and a must see for anyone who ever goes on a safari.
Vaccinations: Make sure you see a travel doctor and get the correct vaccinations. Furthermore take your vaccination cards with you. Without proper proof of vaccinations, they will not let you into the country.
Health precautions: Do your research on how not to get sick there. Our travel doctor gave us an entire packet which we reviewed thoroughly. If you do, you won't get sick there and will be able to enjoy your trip fully.
Tips: Get your cash and exchange it to the correct currency before you travel. Finding ATMs in the country was not an easy task, and no one has enough change there for you! Get your money before you go and have it broken down into small change. The staff everywhere expects to be tipped, and you need tons of change. Tip graciously! They sure deserve it.
Email adrienne | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Friendly prompt service and well organised
My daughter and I recently had an 8 day safari tour with Right Choice Tours & Safaris, we had a most wonderful time in Kenya from the moment we were met at the airport in Nairobi to the day we ended our safari in Nakuru. Our safari was well organised with very good communication. Our driver and guide Tom was awesome, he also had a great sense of humour! Our cook Allan made the most amazing pancakes! We also felt very safe. I would highly recommend Right choice Tours & Safaris.
JP
Email Kenji | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Birding Tours
The 18 days tour was excellent and very pleasant. The guide, Tom was an expert for safari and a skillful driver. He did safari, safety first, and solved a couple of car troubles well. He was also flexible for modification of accommodations and our demands. He is not an expert for birding, but followed our stop-and-go instructions very well, and assigned proper local birding guides. The cook, Alan was a very good chef, his cuisine was much better than restaurants and lodges. As a result, we got many bird species, over 300, plus many animals.
Our accommodations were not high class and some of them were modified one day before, but very comfortable. I appreciate George, he arranged a total plan. I think the tour cost was proper. I did recommend this tour company to my friends.
IN
Email Joyce Thomas | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing
We had a wonderful experience with Right Choice. Opine, our tour guide was an amazing person, who knows his way around the reserve and strived to show us the big 7. The enterim camp was also a truly out of the world experience. We really enjoyed the trip and would definitely recommend Right Choice to our friends n family.