Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Don Petersen
Accommodations overlooking the great rift valley wonderful views. The park has the chance to see a lot of wildlife, and from a scenery standpoint is average. This was were we started our game drives. Worth visiting, but not my favorite location.
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Basic safari billed as luxury, disappointing
Ryan is knowledgable and enthusiastic but customer service is not his strong point, it felt almost like we were following him around on his safari. Despite being billed as a luxury safari the food and accomodation were basic at best. For some reason he asked us in advance for our preferences for food, wines and spirits but then completely ignored what we had asked for. He only supplied one bottle of cheap wine which he shared with us so I ended up buying him more drinks than he provided. I would happily have paid more for the luxury touches I had specifically asked him for but he seemed not to have read my emails - he initially turned up at the wrong airport terminal.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Nairobi National Park by Heather
Nairobi National Park is not one of the best parks to visit in Kenya. If you are coming to Kenya specifically for safari, there are so many bigger and more beautiful parks and reserves in Kenya with greater variety of wildlife. However, I had already been to most of the other big tourist destination parks in Kenya and I had an extra day in Nairobi, so I decided to book a day safari in Nairobi National Park and I'm glad I did. Although it's not as wonderful as the Maasai Mara, Samburu, Tsavo, or any of the other big parks, it is still a wonderful little retreat into Kenya's wildlife that lies just outside the main area of the city. I was a little disappointed with the variety of the wildlife. I asked my guide why we weren't seeing lions or rhinos and he pointed towards the more heavily forested areas where the roads didn't go, and he said they mostly hid over there. We did, however, still see a lot of animals such as giraffe, zebra, many types of antelopes, buffaloes, ostriches, etc. My guide also took me to an area where I was allowed to get out of the vehicle and an armed guard took me for a short walk in search of hippos. We couldn't see them, but we could hear them on the other side of the river breathing loudly and making their unique vocalization. It was very enjoyable. For a 1 day excursion within Nairobi, I enjoyed it very much.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Hell's Gate National Park by Heather
I took a driving tour through Hell's Gate National Park even though you can actually walk or bicycle through it due to the fact that there are no predatory animals in the park. I saw some zebra, giraffe, and a few types of antelope, but I wouldn't come here just for wildlife viewing. For me the highlight was walking down into and through the gorges. It was beautiful and very interesting. A maasai guide took me down and told me some of the history of the area. And I got to wash my hands in a hot geothermal stream that was flowing down the rocks. The beauty of these gorges is definitely worth a visit. There's a lot of geothermal activity in the park and before we reached the gorge, we drove through an area with a lot of plants that were harnessing that energy, which is a good thing, but it detracted from the beauty of the park. Once you got through that area though, it was nice. I was glad to be driving through because it started to rain right after I finished my hike through the gorge. I would love to go back though and maybe bicycle in the park.
Beautiful Park with plenty of wildlife
Really enjoyed our visit to Majete - were able to drive around the park ourselves safely. The riverside setting is beautiful. We saw a lot of wildlife, none of the Big 5 unfortunately, but the highlight for us was seeing a nest of baby Warthogs! An amazing sight. The park attendants were very welcoming. We did a bush walk and safari drive and they were very knowledgeable and friendly. Would really recommend a visit if you're in the area.
Very responsive, but a little disorganized
Robert's company was recommended through the Nairobi Expat Marketplace forum and overall, we had a good trip. The driver who accompanied us was friendly and great at spotting animals (though not necessarily able to tell us much about the animals). Robert was also very responsive to our emails both in the planning stage, and throughout the safari when we needed to clarify things.
My suggestion would be that if you book with Maasai Trails East Africa, to send a confirmation email the day before to confirm that you will be getting water and binocular. Both were forgotten for us, which was disappointing. Maasai Trails reimbursed us for the water we purchased, but no binoculars meant some of the animals further from the road were harder to see. Also double-check the itinerary: our driver didn't know half of our itinerary and there was a lot of confusion over whether he had been given the park fees, etc. Ultimately Robert handled the situation but it would have been nice to not have had to spend an evening calling and clarifying our itinerary.
Despite the forgotten items, we enjoyed our safari experience overall. Thanks, Robert and crew! If you all improve communication within your team members and ensure that what is listed in the package is included in the car, you'll be a 5-star deal.
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Waterberg Biosphere Reserve by Jaco Beukman | www.go-nipper.com
Nice for the locals. Ecosystem unbalanced.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Manyeleti Game Reserve by Jaco Beukman | www.go-nipper.com
Needs more taken care off. Honor to local efforts
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Golden Gate Highlands National Park by Jaco Beukman | www.go-nipper.com
Regarding highlands I prefer the central Drakensberg area with massive cliffs instead