US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
4.5 star - Great safari holiday with only minor hiccups
We really enjoyed working with Levis to plan our safari holiday. He is super responsive and flexible. We planned an itinerary in Feb for end of May travel, but my father got sick and we had to delay the trip. Levis was very supportive and flexible in helping us to replan the trip for an August travel within a very short period of time. He also helped to reduce the cancellation penalties as much as the policies allow.
The hotels and guides of the trip were quite good with only minor hiccups, which is completely normal in a 5 country long trip (3 weeks). Levis has been actively working with us to address them as they came up.
Looking back I wish we should have communicated our goals better to Levis and our guides early on (eg see all Big 5 in game drives). Hope this helps other users in their planning.
Overall it's a great experience, thanks to the Hallmark team.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The accommodation and the daily safaris were excellent. We didn't know day to day of our program.
Communications - needs improvement daily & return.
IN
Great experience & Good Coordination
A 12 days trip to Kenya , Me and spouse alone . Private tour and the best part of the tour is our Guide /Driver Mr Shem, a Knowledgeable and very humble person . Mr OT was excellent in coordination . Met him at His office and from the next day the tour started . Tsavo _, Amboselli , Nakuru , Naivasha & Maara . Mr Shem was very cooperative and made us feel very comfortable . Everything was well organised . Baloon safari was awesome - a lifetime experience , pl do not miss it . Have patience in Massai Mara ,Natures Unfolds at its own course and our Guide was very patient and even suggested us to few locations where get to see Lions and Leopards very close . If it had been a 4X4 vehicle Mr Shem would have felt comfortable and he was at its best in driving with the Vehicle given to him . An wiressless Radio would have been a added advantage which was Missing.
We are planning our Next trip to Massai Maara very soon ..., of course with Kenya walking .., Mr OT - will meet you soon .., Keep it Up team.
RO
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A fair offer for a two days Safari
Pretty old vehicle but in fair condition, the driver was very helpful and polite even though sometimes too quiet.
NL
Fell in love with Uganda
Yes, we had a great time in Uganda. The whole experience from start to finish was really great. The guide, was great. Nothing was too much trouble and we didn’t have any problems along the way. When we wanted to change our rafting trip, get a refund and book extra accommodation, this was sorted out no worries. He gave us the refund without question and organized our other trip for us It was all very easy. I have never booked travel over the internet before and was a bit worried about what we were going to get. However, the trip exceeded our expectations. Your help in the process was very good as well, our questions were always answered promptly.
Scott and Jo Australia
CA
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent experience (with couple of exceptions)
I had booked on behalf of a party of 7 (3 couples and an adult child). Pre-trip communications were good. The safari was mostly as expected and our driver/guide, Antony, was excellent. He was especially good at finding out about places where things were happening and getting us there quickly, and into a good viewing spot - most of the things that make up a good safari tour. Sadly, but through no fault of his, we did not sight a leopard but did run into the other big 5, and plenty of zebras and wildebeest, including a river crossing by a herd of the latter - a spectacular sight.
I would note two exceptions, both of which relate to the central office and not to our driver/Guide, but which led me to rate less than "Excellent":
- When our itinerary had us setting out in the morning to arrive at our destination for lunch, we did not expect the ride to be almost 7 hours, i.e. a very late lunch. This was entirely the result of the fact that the road into and out of Masai Mara turned from paved to a dirt road (very bumpy) well before the reserve, which was the only thing in the itinerary that surprised us. It would be helpful to note the major transit times in the itinerary. If this had been our only gripe, I would have given the excellent rating.
- More serious was our baggage situation. Prior to arriving for the tour, the group had visited Cape Town and Victoria Falls. I had advised the tour office that we would be travelling with one checked bag and one carry-on each and could consider leaving some bags in Nairobi to be picked up on our way to departure from Nairobi airport, but was assured that the LandCruiser had ample room to accommodate that. And that is precisely what we arrived with. Unfortunately, there was not sufficient space for all the luggage nor sufficient time to rearrange our packing (we arrived Nairobi very late night preparatory to a 7 a.m. departure). The matter appeared to be resolved by the fact that a smaller group was undertaking a similar tour with what we were told were two minor differences - at Lake Nakuru they were staying in a different place but not far and they were leaving from Nairobi on a different flight, but in a similar timeframe. Seemed like a simple solution for them to transport some of our bags. In reality, further differences emerged - the other group had some other excursions also planned so our departure/arrival times were not perfectly coordinated. It also appeared that they were unhappy having to carry our bags and having to make some timing accommodations for that. Finally, we learnt that they were not in fact flying out of Nairobi the same day as us. As a result, we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to arrange for the bags to arrive at the airport with us, without risk of any delay. This preyed on our minds and the time spent on this detracted from our enjoyment of the tour. On the last day, we agreed that we would take with us the bags of 5 of us who were leaving on an earlier flight and that the remaining 2 of us leaving on a later flight would pick up our bags from the other vehicle once it arrived to the other group's hotel in Nairobi. Well, even that plan got changed as we were advised, at the eleventh hour, that the other driver had some other engagement as a result of which we met on the roadside somewhere and transferred our other bags into our vehicle - making our last hour pretty uncomfortable. It seems that the other group's itinerary and the other driver's schedule should have been known by the tour company in advance and that we were misled as to what the true situation was. It also seemed to us that any solutions they proposed were to their convenience and not ours. Hence, the reduced rating.
Antony, thanks for your service. Despite the issues noted, we did enjoy.
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Safari
Was a good Safari, have Seen a lot of animales and the lodges were also good
SA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great safari experience
Great safari experience that will be never forgotten
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Luxury Safari Tour in Northern Safari!
We've done a 6 nights Luxury Safari Tour with World Tours & Safaris in Tarangire, Ngorongoro, Serengeti, Lake Manyara and Arusha National Park. The boss Richard at the beginning of reservation was fine in communications, very quickly reply and feedback to questions and requests, we did payments of quotes by credit card without problems. Our driver Cosmas was a very nice & available person, motivated to make us an incredible Safari Tours and it was so, we saw all animals possibles. Our first Lodge Maramboi was very very special, we had only few problems with Arusha stays, we do not suggest at all Oasis Hotel in Arusha town, it's better in anycase making check our locations/lodge proposed before make reservation. Our feedback in particular is very positive for the Driver and full of love and gratitude for the incredible wonders of Tanzania National Parks and least for but last...Lions, Elephants, Giraffes, Zebras, Wildebeests, Ghepards, Pumba and many many others.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good safari!
Moureen was so helpful! We had a great experience with her. She sent us multiple itineraries with different length safaris, as well as different lodging arrangements to choose from. She was very prompt with communication, and paying for the safari through PayPal was extremely convenient. She made sure to keep us updated throughout the whole process, including calling me to let us know our driver would be 1 hour late picking us up for the start of our safari due to Nairobi traffic.
The actual safari was very nice! This was both our first trips to Tsavo or Amboseli. The differing terrains and sights and animals in each park was very refreshing to see (albeit Tsavo West's terrain made it extremely difficult to spot any animals- very tall shrubs and grasses), and the lodgings where we stayed were fabulous. The one downside (not due to anything by Kay Adventures) was that visiting 3 national parks in 3.5 days meant there was a lot of traveling between the parks, and we would have liked more time on the actual safari.