DE
Recommend
We were happy with the operator, Rehema was very helpful and always accessible over the phone/what's app, when we needed her.
One of the drivers was not too engaged, Jessie. The other one, Kissamo, was perfect, he told us a lot and was spotting animals before we see them. We had an amazing 2 days safari trip to the crater and one of the parks. The crator is must go, we highly recommend.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Friendly and accommodating
Service was great! They were helpful and willing to take their time and do a good job. They went above and beyond for us!
TW
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Generally is good.
Jack is excellent driving, warm service, enthusiastic hunting and serious looking for animals, let us experience the fun of safari but the quality of accommodation is different, there is insufficient water for showering for several nights, and there is no hot water.
AE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our Unforgettable First Safari: A Family Adventure in Africa
As a family of four adults, our recent trip marked our very first adventure to the African continent, and it was truly an incredible experience.
Booking with Safari.com
We found Safari.com to be an incredibly efficient and user-friendly platform for planning our safari. It offers a wide array of destinations and tour operators, and the standardized format for comparing options made our decision-making process much easier.
Viega Expeditions: Our chosen tour operator was excellent. They were quick to provide quotes and highly responsive to all our questions. We especially appreciated how they customized the tour to fit our preferred accommodations. They also offered valuable guidance on our hotel stay in Nairobi, visa requirements, things to carry and, importantly for us, they eased our concerns about the availability of vegan/vegetarian food throughout the trip.
The 'Land Cruiser' provided for our game drives was in good condition. Our guide and driver, a Masai person, was not only polite and knowledgeable but also had an uncanny ability to take us to all the best game viewing locations.
A Hiccup:
The only significant issue we encountered was an unexpected request from Viega Expeditions for an approximate 10% price increase after we had paid our advance payment. While this was eventually settled for a lesser amount, it was a moment of concern. To avoid any potential misunderstandings any tour operators, we strongly recommend getting all seemingly obvious and minor details clarified and documented in the final proposal.
Overall Experience
Despite that small issue, our overall safari experience was magnificent, thanks to the genuinely helpful people we encountered along the way. The hospitality at all the camps we stayed in – Masai Mara and Amboseli - and even Naivasha was consistently outstanding.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing personalised experience through towns and national parks
I did a 9 day tour through Kenya and Tanzania with a friend through Morningstar safaris.
The communication from the director was prompt, and the itinerary was tailored to our interests.
We were picked up at Nairobi airport and then spent the next day with our guide going to places we wanted to see - the elephant orphanage, giraffe sanctuary and Kazuri beads.
Our first guide Rono was very friendly, welcoming and knowledgeable, and provided us with some incredible up close views of animals. The Masai Mara was the highlight, as well as the hot air balloon.
For Tanzania our guides Chris and Eric were able to teach us about Tanzanian culture, food and wildlife, and you could see how proud they are to be Tanzanian and safari guides.
Unfortunately our vehicle had some car troubles which meant some unplanned lengthy stops to get it fixed, but this wasn’t the fault of the guides.
The accommodation booked was incredible, a highlight being the Serengeti Embalakai Lodge, where we heard a lion prowling around at night and the glamping tents were beautiful.
Private tours are costly, but for the ability to tailor it to our interests as well as have room to see all the animals and take photos, I thought it was worthwhile.
To note: Drinks are not included at the accommodation throughout the tour - alcohol or soft drinks, however water is.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Reputable and friendly
Very knowledgeable and friendly guide, as were all the staff
SE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great convenient short-of-time budget joining safari
It is a really fun trip! You get to go to 3 parks in 4 days and it's far to all, so this takes all the stress out and they arrange all permits/paperwork, food, transports, and tents at campsites for you. All you have to do is pay and show up and look out the window.
Nice, professional, and experienced local guide with good English. Well equipped Toyota Land Cruiser with a lot of space and working charging ports.
Excellent price, lowest of anywhere I have seen, and I did some research.
It is fun to meet new people and experience it with them, if you are solo.
My only complaint was that I was told it was max 6 people and I would get the front seat; actually it was 7 people and I was in the back right seat which wasn't that comfortable with hours of driving each day. If you have time, definitely you should go for longer, this is just a sampler.
CH
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nkishon Tours and Travel was very efficient in sending us a precise quote for our 6-day safari tour
We decided to chose Nkishon Tours among many other offers. We are happy we did so. Pick-up at the hotel was on time, then we went strait to Masai Mara NP for 2 beautiful days/nights. After transfer to Nakuru lake for one day and then for the last two nights to Amboseli NP. All parks have a different caracter and offer a lot of wildlife, thanks to our friendly driver and guide David who had a good sence of finding all different types of animals. On last day we even saw mount Kilimandcharo which was a highlight among many others. The lodges where we stayed are of good quality and in all we realy felt like welcome guest. The only slightly negative thing for us was the long distance between the 3 places. Nakuru lake to Amboseli takes just about 8 hours driving. The positive on that is that you see beautiful changing scenery all the way. Many thanks to the manager of Nkishon tours and travel Ms Abigail.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Experience!
Was a great safari experience with delicious lunch included, and we saw so many animals! We appreciated all the professionalism and logistical organization. Innocent was also very kind to give my friends and I student discounts. Overall, we'd definitely recommend! It was a highly reliable safari tour company.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great tour, brilliant guides, overall tour planning could use polishing
Overall we really enjoyed our tour which was a 3 day safari followed by a 7 day Kilimanjaro climb. The food was great, the Kili guides were brilliant and the porters all first class.
What could use improvement is the overall organisation of the trip for the following reasons:
1. Despite having picked the Safari for the accommodation which we carefully selected for our honeymoon, we were taken to a completely different place on one night and when we questioned this we were told the other one was probably full. Nobody ever attempted to advise us ahead of time and this should have been booked when the deposit was taken earlier. It was a similar but I believe slightly lower standard.
We never went to the final national park that was stated on the Safari itinerary. We weren’t bothered by the change but it was never advised why this happened, and if you had booked the tour specifically for each of the different national parks I can imagine being quite annoyed.
We were put on a 7 day Kili climb with another couple despite having booked the 8 day climb. The difference between the two tours was $200pp ($400 total) which was never offered as a refund (and would have been gratefully received). We ended up having to spend quite a bit of money reconfiguring our flights and accommodation to the new schedule so this was less than ideal. One of us didn’t make it up to the summit due to altitude sickness symptoms which may not have been the case had we remained on the 8 day.
Essentially we just felt that we should get what we booked/paid for and if any changes are necessary that they be communicated to us ahead of time and compensation offered where the offering is changed.