Africa Celebrity Tours and Travels
- Located In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2008)
- Member Of:
- KATO, Eco Tourism & Kenya Wildlife Service
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $200 to $250 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
CN
Email Young | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was an experience completely beyond my expectations
I cannot recommend our safari guide Charles highly enough. To sum him up in one sentence: he consistently went far above and beyond both his official job scope and scheduled working hours for us.
Our itinerary stated full-day game drives ran from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., while half-day safaris were split into two sessions: 7 a.m. to 12 p.m., and 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Every single time, Charles gathered us 15 minutes to a full hour ahead of schedule and arrived at the viewing grounds well in advance. Wildlife is most active at dawn and dusk, so those extra early morning hours drastically boosted our chances of spotting animals in lively action.
Charles also knows all the perfect camera angles. On our second dawn outing, we captured a once-in-a-lifetime shot of giraffes framed against Mount Kilimanjaro. Sadly, the weather turned cloudy after that morning, and we never caught another glimpse of the mountain again. It was Charles who spotted the ideal vantage point and told us to get our cameras ready for that iconic composition.
He was incredibly proactive when tracking wildlife. At Lake Nakuru, we hoped to see the resident lion pride, so Charles scanned every direction nonstop, checking all 360 degrees of the bush. We came up empty-handed in the morning, yet he circled back to search twice more that afternoon. On our evening safari session, we spotted two male lions from the pride, and on our drive back to the lodge after dark, we stumbled across the entire family—tiny cubs mewling adorably beside the adults.
When we caught sight of an extremely rare black rhinoceros on a narrow track with no room to turn around, Charles reversed the vehicle hundreds of metres in one smooth go just so we could get an unobstructed look at the rhino.
He answered every single question we had with endless patience, explaining animal behaviour until everything clicked for us, and shared countless fascinating wildlife facts. Once he pointed out two bird eggs camouflaged perfectly against the dirt; we were stunned he could spot them instantly. He explained the mother bird had acted extremely territorial and aggressive, which tipped him off that she must be nesting nearby. By the end of the trip, we could read the savannah cues thanks to his lessons: if vultures are feeding, a lion pride has recently finished their kill nearby; if hyenas are feasting, lions and vultures have already picked over the carcass first.
Charles took immense responsibility for our entire safari experience. During our time in the Maasai Mara, he was determined to get us front-row views of the Great Migration. We waited for hours with no sign of the herds, and he hesitated for a long time—no one could predict exactly when the crossing would happen, and lingering indefinitely would mean missing out on other wildlife sightings. He compromised by driving us to the Kenya-Tanzania border for photos first.
As soon as he heard radio chatter that the migration herds were on the move, we could see his urgency. He kept checking if we’d finished our photos, and the second we climbed back into the vehicle, he sped straight to the Mara River. Even with dozens of safari trucks crowding the banks, he navigated us to an unbeatable viewing spot, and we watched the famous Heavenly Crossing (Mara River wildebeest crossing) in full glory. Right after that, we spotted two cheetahs as well.
That day we’d booked only a half-day safari, which was officially supposed to wrap up at noon. But once rare wildlife sightings unfolded, Charles prioritised letting us witness every animal before heading back to the lodge—we didn’t return until 2 p.m. Even after the extended morning session, we still headed out for our scheduled 4 p.m. afternoon safari, where we finally laid eyes on the last member of Africa’s Big Five: a leopard.
Charles never once pushed us to buy souvenirs or goods of any kind. On our drive back, when we brought up wanting to stop for handicrafts, he pulled over at a roadside rest stop and gave us honest shopping advice: no matter what price the vendors quote, our first move should be to cut their asking price in half at minimum. This honestly surprised me—when I hired a private driver in Morocco previously, the guide pressured us to spend constantly to earn commission.
One small, charming detail from our lunch stop on the return journey: we invited Charles to join us for a meal, but he said he needed to stay with the vehicle to guard our luggage. We asked if we could grab him anything to eat, and he initially said he didn’t need a thing. Only after we pressed him repeatedly did he admit he’d like a bottle of Coke, and after even more gentle insistence, he finally said he’d also appreciate a hamburger.
All in all, this Kenya safari trip vastly exceeded every expectation we had. We were incredibly fortunate to tick off the full Big Five, observe a complete lion family with adorable cubs, and thanks to Charles’ quick, decisive driving, witness the awe-inspiring Great Migration and Heavenly Crossing. I cannot recommend this guide enough to anyone traveling to the Kenyan savannahs.
CN
Email Tang Qiuxia | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An unforgettable journey
This trip to Africa was fantastic. Africa Celebrity arranged all the rooms exactly as we requested with excellent accommodation allocation capabilities. Our guide Peter was responsible and amiable, showing us plenty of wildlife along the journey. We ran into a minor issue with room arrangements upon arriving in Nairobi, which was resolved satisfactorily. The company even compensated us with one full day of private transportation within Nairobi. Should I visit Africa again in the future, I will definitely choose this agency once more.
CN
Email Yuner | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
professional
We really had a good time in Kenya with our guide Henry. He's very helpful and professional, being unbelievably familiar with the roads in the national parks and could do his best to help us see more animals. The accommodation also impressed us a lot. Kenya is a beautiful country and AC enables us to create lots of unforgettable memories.
