Christmas Safari
Our guide was wonderful! Ask for Melck! We had a perfect blend of sight seeing and culture. I would say the only weakness was they can be more careful with food allergies and intolerances, if you have a serious allergy or intolerance you might need to be very clear and precise about what you need. There are definitely language barriers. Overall the entire experience was life changing!
QA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
We got what we expected and a great deal more with Mercury Zanzibar safar limited
Expertise to make this a great Safari at -Tarangire-Lake Manyara-Ngorongoro. Good food and everything taken care off.The safari was at all really good! .. We are very pleased with Mercury Zanzibar Safari
BE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderfull experience
We really enjoyed our safari. The contact with the company was very good, they answer every email in almost 10 minutes. We went for a rather low-budget safari, we got a very good price and the campsite (Panoramic view camping at lake manyara) was very cosy with a magnificent view over lake manyara national park. Lunch boxes are simple, but dinner was local and very tastefull. We saw a lot of animals and our guide Abraham had a very good knowledge about the wildlife and a sharp eye.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nice experience!
The tour was really nice and fun, we saw a lot of animals and nature. Dave our tourguide explained us a lot about everything. The timeshedule often didn‘t work out, so it was a bit stressful sometimes. Also we did not get a real instruction about what happens and what we should do exactly. Our accomondations were very beautiful.
Thank you for the tour!
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful budget experience
We booked the safari one month in advance and we chose the 4 nights tented solutions, the cheapest one.
The organization was very good and all members of the staff very kind, from the moment we landed in Arusha until the end of the trip.
We enjoyed the game drives especially at Serengeti and Ngorongoro National parks. We had a great time with FRANK, our guide, which took us to see the best places and almost all the savana's animals. He is an expert guide and we appreciated a lot the descriptions and explanations he made.
DAVID, the cook, made our trip even better thanks to his delicious meals.
We really recommend both of them.
Thanks a lot to all Foot Slopes' Staff for making our experience unforgettable!
PL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good budget safari operator, has own chefs and does not sell clients and runs safari even for 2 peop
We booked a 4 day safari and even noone joined it happened as planed. We had a good guide/driver Mourinho and a friendly chef John who cooked us very tasty food. A minibus and places to stay were budget type but good value for money. We saw everthing we wanted even though last day game drive was shorter than expected.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A Magical Journey
We had a great experience with Foot Slopes. The service from the minute we landed , all through out the safari , till the moment we got dropped back at the airport was amazing.
Friendly, knowledgable staff, great driver/guide who looked after us and put great efforts into explaining in great detail. The schedule was well planned and executed each day and left us with plenty of time to view animals at our own pace.
Three bits of negative feedback are:
1 - The sleeping bags were too thin, especially for the cold nights in Ngorongoro Crater and could have done with thicker sleeping bags.
2 - We found out that we paid far more than anyone else in the group, which was very unfair especially since everyone else had paid for the exact same experience.
3 - We were 7 instead of 6 people in the car which meant that it was overcrowded.
The Safari itself was amazing, but the company needs to work a little more on organising things better both from a comfort and logistical perspective.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good value for money
From a lot or research beforehand and our experience, I would recommend Bencia over other companies for a value-for-money budget safari, despite one con. The review is very long becuse it can be hard to find specific details about most tours which in the end is the difference between getting what is promised and getting tricked.
Pros
1. Accommodation at Lake Nakuru is inside the park (Wildlife Clubs of Kenya - Nakuru) which is a big advantage over other tour groups because it means we could do an afternoon and morning tour on the same 24hr ticket. A 24hr ticket for Lake Nakuru only allows for 1 entry and exit. Though other companies say they offer both morning and afternoon tours, when I actually enquired how this was possible when their accommodation was outside the park, they then stated it was either morning or afternoon, not both. Bencia was the only budget safari I found, from emailing many companies, who could actually offer what the website says.
2. Our guide was thoughtful about the welfare of the animals and didn't harass them, unlike other drivers we saw. He was also nice to chat with about wildlife and Kenya in general.
3. Great in-house chef who travelled with us and adapted well to a vegetarian menu. An example of our meals, though each chef may be different, was: breakfast (omlettes, toast, sweet potato, pancakes, fruits, instant coffee/tea), lunch ( tasty and fresh buffets on the road between locations, and a huge packed lunch for the full day safari including fruits, sandwich, juice and snacks) and dinner (rice, great mixed veges, beans, potatoes and fruits). We were always so full, no snacks are needed to complement the meals.
4. Accommodation was good for the price. Good enough mosquito protection. The accommodation in Lake Nakuru is particularly good as the animals are all around the camp gates.
5. The joining tour ran with even 2 people, as promised, which not all companies could promise us and seemed important for changing circumstances like Covid. It also meant by luck we had a private tour.
6. Really, really responsive emails from the office beforehand always getting back within minutes or just a few hours.
Con
1. We felt we our driving hours and timing was not quite what was agreed upon and we had to negotaite to remain close to our planned schedule which was a dampener. As noted below, a bit too little time for the MM afternoon (which could have simply been credited the next days but wasn't). Additionally, it was very important to us, and promised to us in emails, that we would do a morning tour day 3 in MM from 6:30-8:30am. When we were there we were told we could do 6am-5pm on day 2 instead of the morning drive on day 3. We said no because that is not what was promised. Strangely, the last day we entered quite late going from 7am-9am which was the same duration but not the hours we were promised or that we asked for the night before. It seemed strange they would offer to enter at 6am on the long day but not on the short morning. I know some companies do an afternoon drive day 1 and then a long day 2 so they save money on gate fees nut but charge you for 2 days on entry fees, despite what their website programme states. So I was pleased that they at least stuck to the promise of 3 days of driving and not 2.
Trip details:
The order of our trip changed and we ended up doing 4 days nd 3 nights with Lake Nakuru first, which in the end felt better going from a small park into the huge expanse of the Masai Mara.
There is a lot of unavoidable travel in between parks, though I think we spent too long between Nakuru and Masai Mara trying to arrange picking up some more passengers which cost us time that afternoon at Masai Mara and this was never made up later.
Rough timing; Nakuru to MM - 7 hours (should be much quicker), MM to Nairobi - 5hrs, Nairobi to LN 7am from hotel to 3pm arrival.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good for most parts
Driver picked us up from our accommodation in Nairobi but was 30 minutes late. Journey went well although very bumpy ride in the vehicle after Narok. We did call at Tuskys supermarket at Narok and stocked up with snacks and water. There was a pizza place in the mall but were told our lunch would be later. Lunch was a big disappointment and health risk. 700 KES each for a poor quality buffet with birds constantly pecking the serving spoons. We set off again and reached Masai Mara and our first game drive. We had 4 altogether over 3 days and we enjoyed them. We stayed at Mara Serena Lodge which was within Masai Mara park and it was a lovely hotel and food. The second day the driver told us 6am start but then turned up 30 minutes later and said it was 6:30am. He said we’d got the time wrong but all of use heard him say 6am. Everything else went smoothly. Our driver was Benard but I did wish we had a 4 wheel drive vehicle rather than an 8 seater minibus. Overall we did enjoy our Safari.
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris