35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Lyndsey Deane
A small park and so condensed wildlife, we had amazing up-close baboon and elephant encounters here. A day is enough to see the best of what it has to offer.
IN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent safari exp. But don't deal with noah
I booked the safari experience from Wildebeest from aug 11 to aug 15th. Nairobi airport pickup - amboseli - Nakuru - mara and back to nairobi.
Our guide was dennis.
I had an amazing time, thanks to Dennis , the vehicle we were in was very good and Dennis made sure we felt safe. He made sure we had a great safari experience and we were lucky to see the migration crossing as well.
I would recommend the experience with Dennis to everyone.
The 2nd part of our journey to diani was riddled with troubles and we had to waste an entire day of our expensive trip because of Noah the owner/manager. Noah is the unprofessional manager who left us high and dry on 3 occassions -
1. He messed up our train tickets and we ended up wasting an entire beach day because of an early bus (our last resort) because of his unprofessionalism.
2. He messed up our mara hotel itinerary and we had to travel 3 hours extra late in the night and had the audacity to blame us for his goof up.
3. He tried to charge us extra park fees - 160$ for his own mistakes.
Notably, we got really bad seats in the train that he did book, his delay in payments for the park fees made sure we waited 20 mins min each time outside the safari gates.
Never once did he ever make an apology that was genuine.
Although my experience with widlebeest was amazing, I have a sour taste because of noah, would strongly urge folks who deal with Noah to document everything on email as proof.
5/5 for Dennis our guide.
10/5 for Kenya and the experience
-5/5 for Noah the owner/ manager.
3.5 for wildebeest, still one of the best experiences of my life minus the issues we had to deal with because of noah.
Go for it but be careful and document everything.
LU
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Professional and experienced safari operation
Very professionally run safari operation. Right from the start we were very impressed by the responsiveness of Silas who somehow managed to respond to any and all of our requests literally within minutes. Nelson was our guide on the safari and he did a great job finding and maneuvering us in the best positions to view all animals up close. We travelled in a well maintained Toyota Landcruiser and Nelson was also very accommodating to last minute changes we requested to our itinerary. Unfortunately he was not able to finish the safari with us as he had to attend to a family emergency and Apodiformes clearly struggled to find a replacement for him on short notice for the last day of our safari (1 day hike in Mt Kenya Nationalpark). We ended up travelling a distance of 3 hours (1 way) in a worn out and unsafe (e.g. Seat belts and lights only partially working) beaten up salon car. Our driver Samuel was very attentive and nice but the last day of our safari unfortunately was not up to our expectations. Generally a 1-day visit to Mt Kenya we found is not worth it especially when travelling all the way from Nairobi. Overall we had a great time though and would like to thank Apodiformes for the nice experience!
FI
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent service
I send a message to several operator, but Netherken was only one who really read and answer my question and gave personalized answer. It was easy choice for me. Our co-operation worked very well but unfortunately there was 2 quite big things what I'm not pleased.
1. I choose traveling to the Fig Tree camp by airplane. When I was returning back to Nairobi, plane didn't come at all and there was nobody on the airstrip who knows anything what to do. Mombasa air didn't inform us anyhow to the hotel or there was not anybody answering for us what we should do. Netherken's number didn't answer. I still don't know how, but we got 2 pilot's who bring we back to Nairobi just 1,5 hours late.
It's not so big thing, but somehow they should inform customers if there is technical problems and delays.
2. Don't by any extras beforehand!
I bought also Hot balloon safari many months before. It was mistake.
I get ill there (stomach ailment from the first lunch). Cause I couldn't leave bathroom at all, I couldn't go to the flight.
I was not happy when I heard that they will not return my money even they were selling those hot balloon flights there in Fig Tree Camp all the time for next morning every day. I mean, they didn't have to say anybody that all flights are sold out, and that way they didn't loose any new customer because of my illness. I feel it was not fair.
I didn't get it even from travel insurance cause I didn't understand that I should get doctor. Reception said that it's in Nairobi so I didn't think it's necessary after 1,5 days yet.
So don't buy any extras beforehand, you can get them later on the camp as well!
The Fifth Tree Camp is beautiful and very nice place and 1 game drive I had possible to join was amazing!
I can recommend that even my 2 deplorable experiences.
As well I can recommend Netherken as well. I'm sure they will develop communication between Mosambik air, The Fig Tree Camp and Netherken itself.
FR
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
everything was very well organized ;except the additional proposals which were very expensive
very good organization and standards corresponding to our expectation ;
The guide /driver was very professional ; the pedestrian tour with the ranger was a very good experience
But , the proposal for additional activities in arusha are extremely expensive and of no interest ( except the market )
The night safary was very interesting but far too expensive
The scuba diving was not exiting , not possible to dive with the safety jacket ; far too much people ; and therefore no security to follow the diver
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great service
We're really happy about choosing Nature Connect for our trip. Sorting out the details and booking was a breeze, thanks to Francis who was super quick in getting back to us and making sure we were in the loop. All our hotels were amazing.
Richard, our tour guide, was an absolute rock star. He filled us in on everything we wanted to know about Uganda and its culture, had the lowdown on all the landmarks and wildlife (even the birds!). If you are vegan, don't worry, Richard made sure that each hotel knew ahead of time our requirements. We mainly opted for local dishes, it's so good that you won't want to leave the country!
The only thing that held us back from a full 5 stars was the vehicle itself. We ended up spending quite a chunk of time in there and ran into a few minor hiccups. Still, on the whole, I'd totally give a thumbs up to this company.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Ngorongoro Crater by Glenn Fisher
Ngorogoro crater is a gorgeous park with a unique feel all of its own due to its higher altitude and location at the bottom of a crater (technically a caldera - collapsed volcano). There were lots of wildlife everywhere in a relatively concentrated area. We saw a few lions, lots of buffalo, hippos, wildebeasts, zebras and birds. The downside is the park was much more crowded with safari vehicles than any other park we visited. There were at least 30 jeeps watching the lions we saw with us which is nothing like the relative privacy we experienced in the Serengheti or Tarangire where there were rarely more than 3 or 4 jeeps around at any time and often we were the only jeep viewing animals we came across.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Glenn Fisher
Very scenic park. Lots of baboons and monkeys. Beautiful scenery and forests but because of dense vegetation, harder to spot animals. We saw one elephant, a few antelope but mostly troop after troop of baboons.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Tarangire National Park by Giulia Caserta
Very typical safari landscape
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Giulia Caserta
Wonderful forest full of monkeys and elephants, coming from everywhere just in front of us. unfortunately, we did not see and lion tree.