End of our 9 days safari at Amboseli
Terminal Tours Kenya
- Located In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2001)
- Tour Types:
- Small & medium group tours (Mid-range & luxury)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $120 to $250 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
DE
Email Vincent | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Outstanding driver, great food, good accommodation
We are a young couple from Germany and booked an 11-day budget safari: Samburu- Naivasha- Masai Mara- Nakuru- Amboseli- Tsavo W- Tsavo E.
We picked Terminal Tours because we found reviews convincing and the communication was very transparent and easy while the price was reasonable.
I am writing this because it is very complicated to plan a safari from home and prices are crazy.
Finally, we are very happy with the trip and would book with Terminal Tours again. We had a lot of fun with the entire crew and enjoyed some amazing game drives, although we did not see this freaking leopard!
BOOKING
The initial communication happened completely via email with Nelson. We agreed on an itinerary and agreed that we will pay in cash at arrival after the airport pick-up. We liked the transparancy, all accommodations were named so we could google them. It was very clear how the route is set up, where we have meals and when the game drives are scheduled.
After arrival, we settled the payment with Debbie.
DRIVER
Sam is awesome. He is a very experienced driver and guide. He knows his wildlife as he knows his roads (every single bump of them- and there are lots). Without him, we would have been lost and probably dead. Driving in the parks is something between a skill and an art form - which he masters very well.
Moreover, he is a great guy and easy to talk to. This sympathy is important when you hang out for 11 days.
CAR
It is the standard pop-up roof safari van that almost every company uses. It is no 4x4, but we got everywhere -on and off road. We got stuck a couple of times, but that is inevitable on a safari. Either another safari driver helped out or we got creative. The car has no wifi which turned out to be a blessing - real holiday without email access.
FOOD
Sometimes food was prepared by our chef Kyoko. The food was simply great. Unfortunately, he raised the bar for the food in the hotels. Sometimes Kyoko went back to Nairobi and we had hotel food which usually could not match the Kyoko-standard.
SAFETY
As said above, Sam knows his business. At no time, I was scared that we get into an accident (although traffic and the condition of the roads in Kenya are a nightmare) or that an animal attacks us. On the other side, I am not really in charge for the worrying part in this relationship. If there is anything to worry, it is exogenous and no one would be better to face it than Sam. On the road between Amboseli and Tsavo we were escorted by an armed man for protection.
SAMBURU
Is a very nice park that many skip because it is far away. It has a different landscape and wildlife than the following parks. We found it very worh visiting. The samburu villiage is also nice, but the clearly overcharge (do some bargaining). The accommodation was the Steto Guesthouse (this was the only unknown in the itinerary as it only said "at umoja camp" which a women's village around there). It is an African budget hotel, not great but alright.
NAIVASHA
We did a little detour to the Thompson falls. They are nice, but ain't no Niagara or Iguazú. In retrospective, we would have skipped it and taken an early morning game drive at Samburu instead.
At Lake Naivasha we only did a boat tour where we saw some birds and hippos. It is nice, but clearly not the highlight of the trip. If you like to see hippos, you have better opportunities at Mara and Amboseli. However, doing a boat tour is a welcome change to sitting in the car.
The Tapeh Guesthouse has a very nice garden and looks nice from outside. The room was not as nice, but acceptable.
MASAI MARA
Masai Mara is absolutely great for game viewing. There has been said so much about it already. It's all true, great place.
We missed the crossing of the river, because we were waiting for another herd of wildebeests to cross at another spot. We only got to see the last few of the herd. They rarely cross the river at all, you are very lucky when you see it.
The Mara Sidai camp is also an outstanding camp. The Masai there are kinda business-minded.
NAKURU
We were a little disappointed, because the lake was flooded and for this reason only few flamingos were present. Apparently, they go somewhere else then. Ask before you go. However, we saw the only two rhinos of our trip which was nice.
The golden palace is a little tacky, but nice and comfy.
AMBOSELI
Great park for seeing huge herds of huge elephants! Also the setting with Mount Kilimanjaro is awesome.
Kimana camp is a good choice. One morning an elephant was right next to our tent.
TSAVO WEST
It's very different to the other parks. It is very bushy and thus game viewing is almost impossible. We did not see rhinos, even in the fenced rhino sanctuary.
But we liked the red soil and the baobab trees. Mzima springs is nice.
The Rhino valley lodge is simply amazing. An alltime favorite. Great room, great service, AMAZING view! They have a waterhole where you can see elephants right from your room or the restaurant. They even have light at night!
TSAVO EAST
Game viewing is a little better than in Tsavo West. We had quite a good game drive with huge red elephants taking a bath, lions and cheetahs.
The Nzomeni Lion Hill Lodge is also excellent with a superb view.
After the trip, Debbie helped us in trying to resolve an issue with another driver and hosted us at her home for free.
All in all, great trip - we would do it again: Outstanding driver, great food, good accommodation. Thanks a lot!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Helpful, Flexible, Honest Tour Operator. Great Safari!
I just returned from a 14 day budget/camping Safari through Kenya and Tanzania. It was most amazing. We used Terminal Tours Kenya, and I would highly recommend them. Our itinerary included Nairobi=> Masai Mara=> Nakuru NP=> Amboseli NP=> Arusha=>Manyara NP=> Serengeti NP=> Ngorongoro Crater=> Tarangire=> Arusha=> Nairobi.
In short, I recommend Debbie and Nelson of Terminal Tours, and would definitely book with them again. If you want a more detailed description of the safari, why I liked it, and the minor issues, I had, read below.
Nelson and Debbie of Terminal Tours were very professional, sweet, and kind. They were extremely prompt with email responses and when I lost email connection for 2 days, they contacted me with updates on my planned trip. I initially emailed them and about 15 other recommended budget safari companies. Only a few of the companies were willing to include Tanzania. I ended up choosing terminal tours based on several good recommendations, a low price compared to others, and the fact that they were able to arrange the itinerary that I wanted, even though I would not be on a private tour, but would be going with groups. They had originally emailed back a suggested itinerary. I wanted a couple changes (i.e. an extra day in Mara as opposed to visiting Naivasha), and they were able to accommodate this by putting me with another company for the extra day at the Mara and then meeting back up with my group after they had visited Naivasha). Additionally, as I am a student, holder of a research permit for Kenya, and in the middle of applying for my alien registration, they were the only group that was willing to go through the hassle of dealing with KWS and the NP service in order to get me the reduced rate. But they made it very clear that the NP service is finicky, and it is impossible to predict whether they will accept the research permit and student card. Thus, they quoted me both prices in my itinerary.
As I am student and researcher working in Nanyuki, Kenya. They realized that doing such a trip was a huge stretch on my budget, so they hosted me for free at their apartment in Nairobi free of charge and Debbie made us wonderful meals and kept the Chai coming. When we arrived via Matatu transport into Nairobi, they picked us up with a group of employees to carry our bags and ferry us off to their apartment to relax until the next day. In the morning, the driver, Sammy, picked us up and drove us to the city centre so that we could pay and then start the safari. As we had to do some minor errands in the city (pick up a few supplies and draw money from ATMS), they sent employees with us to ensure we were safe and comfortable as Nairobi can be a bit intimidating for some people.
Our driver, Sammy, was great. You could tell he was very much on a purpose to show us everything, and we saw everything, including the Big 5 and cheetahs. During our game-drives, he worked hard on his cell-phone calling other drivers to see where people had seen the wildlife that we wanted to see, and his work paid off b/c we saw it all. I don’t know if the whole fleet for Terminal Tours is like this, but his van was great. Instead of running on diesel, it ran on super unleaded, which meant that the car was quiet, which always makes your time in nature better, and unlike a diesel, it didn’t shake, which makes things much better for shooting non-blurry pictures (most diesel drivers do understand to turn off the car for long-distance shooting, however). I felt very safe under Sammy’s driving. Also, Kenya has a 80kph limit for passenger vehicles. At 80kph a governor comes on, however, somewhere about 70kph, a really annoying beep comes on to warn the driver that they are approaching the 80kph. On our 4 hour drive between Nairobi and Nanyuki, this beep can drive you nuts b/c the driver keeps it in the beeping range the whole time in order to make the best time. Luckily, Sammy had a mechanic greatly reduce the noise of the beeper, so that only he could hear it in the front seat. On long drives between parks, this definitely helps you keep your sanity in the van.
On our way to the Mara, we stopped at Narok in order to get signatures for our student research permits. Unfortunately, the government offices were hosting some party, so it took forever to get the signatures. We wasted nearly 2 hours there. But Sammy was persistent and we got the paperwork. Then on the rough road between Narok and the Mara, Sammy made up the time by some good and fast driving, so that we were able to make it to the Mara in time for an evening game drive (we heard stories of drivers purposely going slow in order to not make it in time for the game drives, presumably so they could keep the money that would have instead gone to the entrance fees?)
Sometime during the drive the vehicle got a gas leak. We noticed the leak after lunch at the Mara River when we were at the farthest distance from our camp. This is easy to believe as Kenyan roads, especially off the main roads are super rough (My advisor at our research centre has 2 Toyotas and 1 land rover who are often in the shop). The leak was a pretty good one, and it would not have been a surprise to me if Sammy had said, safari for the day is over, we just need to make it back to the gate, so we don’t run out of gas before we get there. But this was not the case. Instead, as we headed towards a luxury lodge in the middle of the Mara which had a supply of fuel, he kept on his phone trying to see if anyone had spotted a leopard. Someone had indeed, so we made a real quick stop at the fancy lodge, where he made an impressive repair of the leak using soap and filled the van up before proceeding to see the leopard. He then spent a good portion of the night, is my guess, working on the van, so we could make it to Nakuru next.
As we wanted an extra day in the Mara, Sammy and the 2 others in our group continued onto Naivasha while we stayed in the Mara and were arranged to go with another group driven by George. I don’t know if George worked for Terminal Tours or they were just a friend company of Terminal Tours. Our experience with George was also quite good. He was very jovial and a wealth of knowledge. He loved to tell long stories and natural histories of the species we were looking at. My only disappointment with this leg of the trip was that after we left the Mara river to head back, we seemed to go quite quickly with the purpose of just getting back as opposed to game driving as much. We did some game driving, but it didn’t seem like as much as the evening before. We also took a different route out of the reserve that didn’t go through the main gate and was over some small hilly pass. It was a change of scenery, but not a good place for viewing wildlife. But perhaps b/c the group we were with had been there the day before as well, George wanted to show a different part of the park. And maybe if we hadn’t seen the cats already, he would have continued to try to find them.
The rest of our trip in Kenya was very nice. My only slight complaint was that at Nakuru we stayed in a hotel instead of camping (and this was made clear on our itinerary, so it wasn’t a surprise, but for me personally I like the idea of camping on safari). But many would find this better as it had wifi and more “luxury” than camping.
As Amboseli is quite out of the way and the risk of running out of petrol would be bad, Debbie and Nelson had our group switch to a different driver (Ambrose) and van so that Sammy could get his van properly fixed in Nairobi.
We had an issue at the border crossing b/c one of the group members had mistakenly been given only a 1 month visa instead of the 3 month visa that she had asked for. This mean she was actually illegal in Kenya b/c she had already been in the country for 2 months. The immigration official gave her a hard time and said she could be thrown in jail. But Ambrose smoothed things out and helped her and me through immigration with no problems. He then transferred us to the shuttle taking us to Arusha.
As Kenyan tour operators are not allowed in Tanzania, we had been set up with a friend of Nelson’s in Arusha (Abraham). Everything was all set-up and all we needed to do was relax until the next day. The one surprise was that the tour operator in Tanzania had changed our itinerary. He had removed Tarangire NP and instead added an extra day in the Serengeti. At first I was a little miffed by this, but he assured me this was b/c at the moment they had been having better reviews in the Serengeti. After the fact, this was quite true. The Serengeti was truly amazing, and I am glad we had the extra day there. However, I did want to also see Tarangire b/c who knows if I’ll ever be back to Tanzania, and Abraham was able to easily add another day to our safari at a price that was significantly cheaper than the couple of tour operators we had enquired with in Arusha.
To me, I would have cut out Manyara instead of Tarangire b/c I am not too into bird-life. So in my opinion, if you are visiting Tanzania and aren’t too interested in bird-life, I’d skip Manyara (though it was our favorite campsite) and add an extra day at one of the other parks. However, there are thousands of flamingos, which Nakuru in Kenya appears not to have anymore as the lake level has increased dramatically, and I think it might be too deep now for flamingos liking. We only saw a couple of flamingos in Nakuru.
Our driver in Tanzania, Ziggy, was awesome, and he did a great job of trying so hard to find the animals that we requested to see. I really enjoyed my time in Tanzania with this company as well
Upon our return to Nairobi, Debbie picked us up where the Arusha-Nairobi shuttle dropped us off and had one of her colleagues escort us to her apartment where we stayed another night and had another great meal. She also let us use her computer to write some emails to arrange our pickup the next day in Nanyuki. The next morning, they escorted us and helped carry our bags back to the matatu stand to Nanyuki.
Overall, it was an amazing tour, and I have basically no complaints. I didn’t feel like the company cut any corners in order to make the budget. I felt like I got what I wanted, and we had great luck in seeing the wildlife. I will definitely be recommending Terminal Tours, including to the people working with me at the research centre in Nanyuki. I feel like Debbie and Nelson were extremely professional and definitely went out of their way to make our experience great. I also had the feeling that they were very honest and trustworthy and care about their clients.
SE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
They make your dream come true :)
I traveled alone and I felt very safe. The Terminal Tour took care of me in a very good way. The safari program was well organised and made ours days so exciting. I am very thankful for this adventure and it was definitely worth the money. Speciell thanks to u guys :) Hope to see u soon.
NO
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Well organized safari to a nice price
Every thing was taken good care of on this safari. We got picked up at our place in Nairobi, then passed by the office where the formalities were taken care of and information about the trip was given. We stayed at a nice place and our private cook made sure that the food was satisfying.
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent safari company, recommended
We traveled with Terminal Tours in July 2014, on a 5 day budget camping safari, incl. Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Naivasha, and were very satisfied with their services, they deliver what they promise, are very professional in organizing the tour, and were very flexible to arrange for a safari that included everything that we wanted to see, providing very useful inside knowledge on which places/parts are worthwhile to include/not depending on how the great migration of the herds stood at the time of our travel to ensure that we see and enjoy the trip the most.
The accommodation was exceeding our expectations (we were on a "budget camping safari"), and our driver, John Mugai, was very punctual and well organized, we never had to wait around unnecessarily, as is usual for (East) Africa. He was also very friendly and provided us with interesting information about the animals we saw, he aimed to ensure that all participants were enjoying their trip.
For organizing the trip, we were in contact with Nelson Nyamai, the leader of the company, who was a pleasure to deal with and ensured that we got great service. Fully recommended.
US
Email Jonah R | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent Safari with Terminal Tours!
We used Terminal Tours for our 3 day Masai Mara Safari in mid June and had an excellent all around experience.
Firstly, Terminal was great during our planning phases, and was very easily accessible by phone an email. Nelson Nyami, the main contact, was especially helpful. When we needed to switch the date of our trip last minute, Nelson worked with us and was flexible in arranging a safari that worked for us. Terminal tours was also very helpful in arranging accommodation in Nairobi, and gave us contacts for reliable drivers and suggested restaurants to us.
The safari itself was excellent. Our driver was informative and polite. We saw all the big 5, among a host of other animals. We got lucky as the migration period started early while we were on safari, and had 3 great game drives. The truck had a raised roof to allow for easy viewing, and we were able to get very close to animals like lions, cheetahs, elephants, and more.
The accommodations during the safari were very nice as well. The sleeping arrangements were comfortable, and the buffet style dinners (and 2 of the lunches) were very good.
All in all, Terminal Tours provided an excellent safari experience at an incredible value. I would highly recommend using this company!
NO
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
11 days safari with Terminal Tours Kenya
Me and my two friends went on a 11 days safari with terminal Tours. The people working there are great, and the safari was perfect. We saw all the animals we wanted to see, and our driver Sam told us lots of facts about nature and all the animals we saw. Thank you so much to all of you- will use this safari company next time too.
NO
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Truly made our African dream come true
Me and two of my friends booked two safaris with Terminal Tours Kenya.
They were the first company to answer our questions and the only company to give us a price more or less right away.
The people we were in contact with were friendly and helpful. We paid 30% when we ordered and the rest when we came to Nairobi.
Our first safari went to Sweetwaters, Mount Kenya, Nakuru and Masai Mara.
Our driver, Sammy, was just perfect. He had answer to all of our questions and he told us about history, nature and animals- most of it we did not know up front. We all got along perfectly and we jokes and had a good time. We were all excited to help look for animals, and Sammy could spot them so quickly we refereed to him as hawkeye :) The chef we had when we were in Masai Mara was also brilliant. We are all vegetarians are are used to often getting boring food on trips like this, but it was all great and tasteful.
When we came back to Nairobi, the owner Nelson and others from the office met us to make sure we had a great trip, which showed us how important it was to them that we had a good time. We had not pre-booked the same driver, but they made it possible as we loved him so much.
So our second safari to Amboseli and Tsavo east and west, a week after, we were again reunited with Sammy. Again, he was nothing less then perfect.
Through our entire trip we felt good taken care of, safe and happy.
When the safari was finished, Debbie from the office also helped me personally get around Nairobi to have my hair done + some more, which was really helpful and sweet- and nothing she had to to but chose to do.
I recommend Terminal Tours Kenya strongly.
I have gotten friends for life in the employees of TTK and they truly made my African dream come true and if/WHEN I go back- I will for sure use them again.
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Nairobi National Park, Elephant orphan, giraffe centre and city tour were all very amazing!
Sami was a good guide while visiting Nairobi National Park, Elephant orphan and giraffe centre. He communicate very well with the three of us.
After the safari we went to a café and we drank typical tea from Kenya. We liked that very much! It was nice to talk with the employees of Termial Tours Kenya!
Ndavi was also a good guide during the city tour. He told us a lot about Nairobi.
We enjoyed Nairobi, thanks to you!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Bad experience with Terminal Tours
My friend and I signed up for a 3-day Masai Mara tour with Terminal Tours (Kenya).
Terminal Tours arranged for us to stay in Rhino Camp for 2 nights, which turned out to be quite a bad experience. Firstly, the electricity was unavailable during some parts of the promised hours and hot showers (generated by wood fire) were mostly unavailable during the promised hours too.
Our driver (and guide) Sammy does not seem enthusiastic in leading the tour. He was often quiet during the game drive and only spoke when people in the tour group asked him questions. Furthermore, he seemed clueless to some of our questions, to the extent that two of the Canadians in our group sarcastically told him to "at least make up a reason to tell us when we ask you again".
Also, the apparent owner of Terminal Tours - Nelson, practices price differentiation to a huge extent. For example, people on the same tour were charged in varying amounts between USD$360 and USD400+. Hence, it might be wiser to book a tour with a tour operator that has a more transparent pricing structure. On a side note, it is intriguing that Nelson issued me with an invoice with a stated amount which is lower than the amount I had paid him and he told me that it is okay.
Lastly, do not rely on their promised free transfer service. Terminal Tours was supposed to pick my friend and I from our hotel to the bus terminal at 6:15am in the morning to catch a bus at 7am. We waited until 6:25am and no one turned up. I have explicitly mentioned to both Nelson and his assistant - Steven, the day before our departure, that the driver must before 6:15am as we needed time at the bus terminal to have our tickets confirmed. Eventually, we had to fork out money from our own pockets to pay for a taxi to the bus terminal. Nelson eventually arrived at the bus terminal himself, just before our bus departed. Ostensibly appearing apologetic, he started arguing that I have told him to send the driver to our hotel at 6:30am instead. I was totally disgusted by his actions and words.
In conclusion, I will not recommend anyone to sign up for a tour with Terminal Tours. As my friend says, it was "a ruined experience in Kenya".