CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Isaya is a great guide, on time, prepared, knowledgable and fun!
The tour was great!
Clear communication with Isaya, on time and great experience!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unforgettable experience
We did a 3 nights/4 days safari of Maasai Mara/ Nakuru / Naivasha.
Everything went smoothly mainly because of our guide Jimmy who presented the country in best possible way. He managed to do fantastic game drives and make it possible to observe rare species.
Communication with Lennox was always swift and efficient.
My personal highlight was watching a leopard with its prey on a tree.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The Safaris tour in Nairobi National Park are amazing and good deals. I love the warm welcome.
The Mane Tours has shown me things that blown me coming from Virginia,Pennsylvania. I have so much to tell of Kenya, Africa and all the richness in culture. ThankYou The Mane Tours and Safari for making my journey a success!!!!!!!!!❤️
PL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very nice guy
We saw all of big 5 and many other animals so I am very happy. The drive do his best that we can mąkę best photo
PL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Safari experience!
We had a great experience with Cubs Expedition. Humphrey especially was super communicative and helpful in the planning process. Our guide was super dedicated to making sure we saw all the animals and we were lucky enough to see all of Africa's Big Five and more! We really loved the safari and the food was very good, too. Thank you!
BE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing tour to see wildlife!
We booked Suricata Safaris after the recommendation of a friend who had used their services a few years ago and was very satisfied. We visited Tarangire and Ngorongoro with our guide Vincent and were very happy with the flow. Vincent was super chill and a great driver as well as guide. We learned a lot of interesting stories about the animal kingdom. They are very professional and also flexible as we needed some adjustments in our travel plans. Hilary came all the way to our hotel to help us adjust and land and epic tour! Def. recommend them!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Exceptional service and perfect advice tailored exactly to my brief.
The Luxury Safari company and the Rekero Camp gave me the best experience I’ve ever had in my life. I’m so grateful!
Fro mtge wonderful kindness, lovely people and the amazing knowledge of my guide Nick. I am still blown away!
CY
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent customer service
From the consultation to booking and even getting our service, we appreciated the great and thorough support we got from the team. There was great coordination and in the end we got so much more than we expexted. Thank you so much.
BR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Serious company
It’s a serious company. Almost everything worked as planned. The owner, Bartho, replies very quickly, showing they are trustful. The guide, Mike, was very nice. He even managed very well when one of the clients asked for something the guy that booked the tour for her had promised. The cooker was fantastic also. I wasn't expecting much of the food on the road, but had some delicious dinners, better than others i had in restaurants. That said, remember that a budget safari does not have any luxury, even the most common ones. The lodge we stay in is very basic, with no AC. The structure on camping sites are very disappointing. One of the campings does not have hot water in the shower. The other one has just 2 or 3 showers and then there is a long line to use them. And the toilet is indian style.
A small thing they could improve is that they have beer and wine on the road, but the beer is hot, so it is hard to drink. And during the dinner in the lodge, the beer is not included as advertised, we had to pay for it. But i definitely recommend this company!
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.