50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Efficient and on point for everything!!
From the time I decided to use you to arrange for my husband's 60th, you communicated, you answered my questions and any concerns I had....Sandra is surely a star !! Thank you for making our trip so breathtakingly beautiful....
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good price and good experience overall in Kenya, but not a professional and kind service
In general, I give Apodiformes a 3/5 because the trip through Kenya as a whole has been a spectacular experience, and all the hotels included in the package and the drivers and guides were very professional, friendly, punctual and helpful.
Also, I found the total price for the package to be very good, beating many competitors' offerings, so if you want to save money, Apodiformes might be worth it.
But I have to reduce the score because all the interactions with Silas -responsible for Apodiformes- during the trip were rather a disaster, showing little professionalism and little kindness at all times. Although he was always very efficient before the trip, answering quickly via WhatsApp and adapting the schedule to our different requests, everything changed as soon as we arrived in Kenya:
Things already started badly with our arrival at Nairobi International Airport at 4:00 am, when there was no one to pick us up at the arrivals gate. Silas did not answer the phone, so after half an hour of waiting in the cold and with a 3 year old we had to take a taxi on our own to the booked hotel. When we arrived at the hotel, where we were very well received, we were finally able to contact him and he arrived minutes later. There were no apologies, just bad excuses that he was waiting “at the wrong terminal” (so why was his phone turned off?).
The next day we were going on safari. We had agreed with Silas to have a guide who spoke Spanish, but when we met the assigned guide he barely knew a few words. In the end it wasn't a problem because we were able to communicate well in English (and the guide -Leroy- was otherwise a fantastic person and a very professional and concerned guide that took very good care of us), but this lack of compliance with what was committed in the case of a client who didn't speak English would have been a big problem.
On the other hand, we had requested a child seat in the car that we would use to travel to Nakuru and Masai Mara and carry out the safari. The child seat was there, but it couldn't be attached to the car seat belts. We solved the ballot by buying a rope in a shopping center and tying the child seat with it. A messy solution that of course made us travel through the dangerous roads in Kenia feeling constantly anxious for the safety of our three-year-old.
In addition, that same day Silas told us he had unilaterally changed our accommodation on the Naivasha stage (from Sopa Naivasha Lodge to Simba) because at the Sopa lodge "there had been complaints of food poisoning". In the end it was not a problem because the Simba turned out to be very good but it seemed unprofessional to inform us of this at the last moment and base the change on a reason that sounded like an invention (no one else mentioned these problems in the hotel's opinions on Internet) .
At the end of the Safari, when we had scheduled a visit to a Maasai village, they wanted to charge us again for the visit even though the agreed program specified that it was included. We had to advance the payment and then claim the refund from Silas.
At the end of the Safari and going to the beach, we arrived at the Baobab Resort hotel, finding a standard room booked, although a superior room was specified in the agreed plan. We had to speak with Silas to demand that he negotiate with the hotel for an upgrade as agreed in plan.
On our return from Diani Beach to Nairobi, despite our flight being late, we had to wait almost an hour in the Wilson airport exit car park for Silas to show up to pick us up. It seems there was "traffic" but no other drivers who came to pick up the dozens of people who arrived on that flight had any trouble getting there on time.
Anyway, despite all these messes the thing could be forgiven if there had been sincere apologies and explanations in each case, but Silas did not consider to apologize for any of these inconveniences even once. He even did not ask us how the safari and other experiences had gone at any time, nor did he write to us to ask how the return home was, being unfriendly and showing total disinterest. A pity that our main contact and organizer of the trip was the least kind and considerate person that we have encountered in our trip to Kenya, otherwise fantastic.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful experience
Me and my wife had a 6days safari trip in July 2023. Everything was good and well planned: an important remark to the accomodations which were very good (Kitela Lodge is the top)!
We don't give 5stars because of our guide (Isaac) who has sometimes been too hasty during the safari and also because at Serengeti Safari logde, despite the full board option, we had to pay the water.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very knowledgeable and accommodating
The shuttle worked perfectly, the lodge and accommodation was amazing. Food was wonderful. The grounds are great. Safari tours were great. No complaints, great experience
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Isaiah is very experienced, funny and knows exactly how to respond to the wishes of his guests.
This was our first safari ever so we were suitably excited when we landed in Nairobi in the middle of the night. Fortunately, Silas prepared everything so well that we could get in the car directly with our guide and the journey began! We spent a total of 11 days with Isaiah and we rightly claim that we could not have had a better companion on our journey. Isaiah was very experienced and knew a lot about the country, the people and especially the animals. Because we were alone with him, we were able to express our wishes without any problems and Isaiah always did his best to fulfill them. Even with the 100th elephant, he gave us the time to take the 1000th picture as well. He was always friendly and incredibly funny and made us feel like part of his family!
All we can say about our trip is that we saw everything that could have been seen (including rhinos and leopards).
The lodges booked were all great and can be highly recommended.
In our opinion, the price-performance ratio was great and we have already started recommending Apodiformes and Isaiah to our family and friends.
We would still do two things differently if we were to start our next safari:
1.) Do not buy overpriced things in the street shops where short breaks are taken (usually there are small shops in the lodges that offer the same products at a fair price)
2.) Do not take shampoo or towels with you
Thank you again for probably one of the greatest experiences we have ever had!
FR
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great team with a high sense of service
Great support from the whole team during our stay in Tanzania! Very reliable, professional, hyper available, simple but very effective. We benefited from a guide who spoke very good French and whose culture went beyond the subjects of fauna and flora. A big congratulations to all of you and to our guide Amidu. We recommend +++
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Efficient and Detail Oriented
Our experience with Wild Wings Safaris company is very positive since the first day! Thanks to them, my husband and I had an unforgettable experience!
There are honestly no words to describe how wonderful the trip has been for us.
Since day one, Tanja and all the staff was very attentive of our budget and planned a ad-hoc trip based on our needs and price range.
The communication was very open and clear and in no time, we were able to organize the perfect experience.
A special thank you goes to Simon, the best guide we could hope for! He was funny, professional and unbelievably knowledgeable!
Every Safari is different of course, and we consider ourselves lucky to see all the Big 5 and so much more.
We are recommending Wild Wings Safaris to anyone!
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful safari with Kimgoni
Wonderful 5 days safari with Kimgoni agency. Visited 4 different national parks including famous Serengeti and very special place Ngorongoro crater. Very various environments (lake, bush, forest, jungle, volcano), so many animals (much more than we expected, many lions, few leopards and cheetahs, from close distance). We saw the Big 5 !! All the camps and lodges were perfect, the food was excellent. A lot of driving but never boring !!!
Thank you to Kimgoni agency for the whole organization, the boss (Philipo) very friendly, the salesman (Joseph) very helpful before and during the trip. And of course a HUGE thank you to our 2 guides, Joël (French speaking guide) and Antony (English speaking driver). They were SO competent about animals and environment knowledge, we learnt so many things about animals. And they were very friendly as well, until the end with a emotional goodbye !
Asante sana
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best Safari, best Guide, best experience!
Rezension QT
Me and my wife had a great time with Qualified Tours! Our Guide Mdee was very friendly and we had a lot of fun in our car driving around the different national parks.
He was always open for questions and individual wishes while always helping us with his experience making decisions e.g. regarding our time schedule.
Our car was very comfortable, had a little fridge and the possibility for charging our phones or our camera.
With Mdee we saw the big five, a hunting lion, the Impressive crossing of hundreds of wildbeest of the Mara River and a lot more.
He also told us a lot about tanzanian culture and also some swahili words. He even organized a little surprise birthday party for my wife by our nice maasai hosts of the maasai giraffe eco lodge at Lake Natron.
We simply had an unforgettable time with Qualified Tours and we strongly recommend to do your safari with them. Of course you have to be lucky when doing safaris since nature is unpredictable but they did everything to make our trip the best we ever had.
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great safari and truly personal service
We enjoyed an outstanding and truly memorable safari with Shinzelle in March 2023. It was five days and four nights split between two lodges in different private game reserves in the Hoedspruit/Balule area. We toured the Blyde River Canyon area one day and another a full-day safari in the Kruger National Park. Otherwise it was early morning and evening safari drives in the reserves, including the evening of our arrival and the morning of our departure. The lodges were beautifully set in wild areas, but yet comfortable, with great service, and great food. Each had its own distinctive character, the first we especially loved the shaded dining area with "infinity" pool on an elevation with a view-to-die-for of the Drakensberg mountains and the sunsets. We found this lodge hard to leave. The second, we loved the separate, private, comfortable, round-cottage-type rooms with airy, high thatched-roof ceilings. Throughout, we enjoyed fabulous game drives, with different types of experiences in the different reserves and Kruger NP. Our first drive, in the light of the early evening, and then into the dark, we spent much of the time following a pride of lions on the move and looking to hunt. In another we found ourselves surrounded by 40 or more elephants for an extended period, with many young, and many large females, all happily feeding. I think the highlight was the all-day Kruger tour, simply for the abundance of wildlife, large herds of zebra, giraffes, buffalo, elephants, impala, and too many others to be listed. (It was March, there had been good rains and things were very green with abundant grass, very beautiful.) Also, birds. The only predators we saw at Kruger were a pack of wild dogs that were resting and relaxing beside the road, and that we sat and watched just a few feet from us for quite a while. But we had already had multiple intimate encounters with lions, so no problem there. Logistically, things were well organized and smooth. Shinzelle had a guide (Johnny, who we loved) assigned to take care of us for other than the safari drives in the private reserves. So he guided our Blyde and Kruger tours. A nice thing about visiting in March (other than the nice weather and the bountiful grass and flowers) was that the lodges were not very busy so we had very small groups on the drives, and it was just us for Blyde and Kruger, so we had a good chance to get to know our guide. We took the transfer van from OR Tambo to Hoedspruit and back. This was efficient and worked out fine. My thought is that the journey is quite long and in some places the road is not great. If cost is not important you might consider flying.