DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Nice and polite guy
Tarangire-Safari was good, but unfortunatly a bit short. We ate and left the park pretty early because of the other guests in the car ( they had a plane to get).
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
As far as i can tell, good.
As far as I can tell, so far so good. I don't know what to sai about it because we had to to the review before i made the full trip.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The guide/driver was excellent. The hotel arrangements and travel efficiency can be improved.
The guide was an expert on almost everything of the Safaris. His services and timeliness was excellent. Overall the day plans combined with hotel locations can be improved so more time can be allocated to game drives. Three of the five hotels are above average and two are below. Hotel services are all good.
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Generally good, but the way they acted was not acceptable.
I booked and paid for a 6-night trip to Rwanda costing nearly $20,000 back in April (4 months before the trip).
Everything went smoothly until we discovered that one of the lodges we had specifically chosen had been changed without our knowledge.
The most frustrating part was not only that we were never informed, but that when we arrived at a lodge (that was clearly not the one we had booked) the agency put on a show pretending that we had been notified — claiming it was a known issue and even promising to show us an email where they had supposedly informed us (which, unsurprisingly, was never shown because it simply doesn’t exist).
At that point, there was no way to get a place at the original lodge we had chosen — and paid for in April! — and we had no option but to settle for a much lower-level lodge. You can't tell me there was no availability at the lodge when we made the reservation back in April!" Clearly, this seems to be a usual way of operating in order to sell trips.
Considering this was a 6-night trip, planned by me down to the smallest detail and costing almost $20,000, what happened is absolutely unacceptable.
We also had issues at another lodge: when we arrived, our room had been double-booked and assigned to other guests as well.
I can’t say whether this was the agency’s fault or the lodge’s, but in any case, we lost an hour trying to sort it out before finally getting our room.
Aside from these issues, the trip went well. The guides were kind and helpful. Rwanda is a beautiful country.
I’m truly very disappointed, but the way the agency handled things is unacceptable for such an expensive trip.
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
50% trust, lack of clarity
If you book the 4-day tour (Masai Mara + Lake Nakuru), be sure to carefully review the detailed itinerary they send you. It may differ from the one originally advertised, and the changes aren’t always obvious.
On Day 3, the program mentions a possible boat tour depending on timing — but this never happens, even though you arrive around 14:00, which would allow enough time for an activity.
In fact, the driver confirmed to us that nothing was planned at all for that afternoon — he told us this first thing in the morning, clearly indicating that this was known in advance.
So, on Day 3, expect only a 4-hour drive and not activity. This does not depend on arrival time! It is a saving for them not offering an activity on the 3rd day!
The experienxe itself was great but there is clear a lack of clarity.
AE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Satisfactory
The quality of the tour and game drive experience really depends on the guide assigned. Our guide, Samuel Kariuki (Sammy), was experienced and knowledgeable, and we felt safe with his driving throughout the trip. However, our experience at Masai Mara was a bit disappointing. Despite spending hours driving through the park, we only saw 3 of the Big 5 animals, and much of the time felt like we were aimlessly driving without any animal sightings. Most other guides returned to the lodge for lunch, but Sammy opted for a bush lunch, which unfortunately didn’t add much to the experience given the lack of sightings afterward.
Additionally, for the Lake Naivasha tour, we were taken early in the morning when it was cold and foggy, which wasn’t ideal for sightseeing. A previous day afternoon would have offered better views and weather. While Sammy’s driving and professionalism were good, we felt the planning and timing of some parts of the tour could have been better thought out to improve the overall experience.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Tarangire National Park by Linda
It was a small park with so many vehicles, it felt like being in a safari zoo, rather than a park.
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
It was ok
We had a good time and our guide was very nice and knowledgeable. For that reason, we could recommend this company, however having a comparison with safari we did before with different company this one seemed a bit overpriced having in mind that we were also obliged (in a pretty ugly way according to us) to leave additional tip to the driver. We also paid for the full day, but we were heading back around 3 already. Our bad we didn't define with them what they understand by the full day. Again, we had already another experience with different company, so we kind of assumed it would be the same, but it wasn't.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Would have benefitted from better planning and communication
I'll start off by saying the trip was a lot of fun and we had a great time! However, there were just too many issues along the way for me to give this better than a 3 star review. I had to do a lot of advocating for myself for us to get what we paid for on the itinerary.
1. Boat Ride -- Our itinerary had included a boat ride on the first day of the safari. When we met our guide, he had no idea about this. We then agreed to push this to the final day as there wasn't enough time on day 1.
2. Night Safari Payment -- On night 1, we had a night safari scheduled. Our driver kept asking us if we paid for it and we were confused. We said that we paid Joseph. This was fine, we went on the safari. I note it because it shows that Joseph didn't communicate well with our guide.
3. Wrong Game Drive Park -- Our Itinerary stated that we would do an afternoon game drive in Masai Mara National Reserve. When we got there, our driver told us we would be going to Nashulai Conservancy instead (WAY fewer animals). I got on the phone with the owner, Joseph, and after a bit of arguing, he agreed to let us go to the National Reserve, as our itinerary stated and as we had paid for. It worked out in the end, but not without a bit of trouble and time.
4. Masai Village Visit Fees -- Our itinerary stated all entrance fees were included on the tour. The Masai Village charged us $30 per person to enter. When I asked our driver, he said that Joseph didn't give him any money for this. We didn't bring any money ourselves because we didn't expect to pay for anything, we just had some small change for tips. We weren't able to visit the village and headed back to camp. When brought up to Joseph, he offered for us to go later, but at this point we were tired from the long day. He reduced the fees of our safari for this mistake.
5. Bush Breakfast -- We had paid for a Bush breakfast in our itinerary. I had to double check with the hotel and make sure Joseph was going to go through with this, as he had given us no indication that this was already planned. He said he remembered this, which I doubted given the previously mentioned issues, and that he would take care of it. Later that night, he suggested that instead of doing the bush breakfast at the hotel, we could go to another location and set up some breakfast, but we pushed back for a proper bush breakfast as had been described in our itinerary. We got the bush breakfast in the end, but not without lots of advocacy.
6. Early Morning departure -- Due to the boat ride not being planned well on day 1 and lack of planning for the bush breakfast, Joseph wanted to rush us out early and have us have breakfast at 6am so we could leave camp by 7, do a boat ride and get back to Nairobi by 12. We argued that the boat ride timing was not our doing, that it was poor planning on his part and that we shouldn't suffer that consequence. He agreed and allowed us to have breakfast at 8.
7. No Lunch on last day -- Our itinerary explicitly stated that lunch was included on the last day. On the drive home we stopped for lunch, the bill came and our guides told us Joseph had not included money to cover lunch. We ended up paying for us and our guides. Joseph later apologized and reduced our fee by the lunch price.
So, yea, everything worked out in the end and we really enjoyed our safari experience. However, it wasn't smooth. Joseph didn't communicate our itinerary to our guides or camp at all. He blamed the issues on software that messed up the itinerary, but we had chosen to work with him because of said itinerary. Joseph was accommodating to all of our issues, but there seemed to be an issue with just about every activity. Not the worst experience, but not the best.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
He did great job!
Actually the tour was good, communication was very much convincible and reliable and in general I enjoyed much!