Kenya: reviews from our travellers

"The trip as a whole was perfectly organized. There are two reasons as to why we don´t deem it very satisfactory.

The first is that our guide at Kicheche Bush Camp talked us out of doing the whole day trip to the Mara reserve to see a Mara river crossing, which was something we had planned to do and were really looking forward to. He brought up a whole bunch of counter arguments, all of which later proved to be false. Among other things, he told us that the guides from KBC never do whole day trips to the reserve that time of the year, only from August on. However, on the day we left, on 11 July, two vehicles from KBC did exactly that, to see a Mara crossing.

The second reason is that we had requested guide Nelson Kasoe, in writing, to Richard Trillo, but in KBC they knew of no request in our name. This also was a huge disappointment, especially since another couple that arrived on the same day as us, got Nelson, without having requested so. We were also disappointed with the guide we got instead." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 12 on a Kenya safari

"One word that sums it up AMAZING from the very first moment, trip of a life time and a must do.....

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Keep doing what your doing, created the perfect trip, taking into account all my needs" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 10 on a Kenya safari

"By ignoring the Zanzibar 5 nights I can leave the trip at Very Satisfactory. While agreeing we needed a rest after all the early starts, 3 days here would have been more than enough, though in truth it was completely the wrong call." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 15 on a Tanzania safari

"Brilliant. I would highly recommend" Read full review: 3 nights in Africa; 3 on a Kenya safari

"We had an amazing trip that we will never forget!

It was a trip of a lifetime and we greatly appreciated all of Liz's help in making it happen! Liz was very professional and gave great advice." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 4 on a Tanzania safari

"Simply, the experience of a lifetime. Completely exceeded all,expectations.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We are so delighted with the trip overall, I really cannot think of anything!" Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 7 on a Kenya safari

"Our trip as a whole was splendid, but Expert Africa was responsible for the planning of only half of it, and of that half, one crucial element was a debacle. As a result, we have to mark the overall level of satisfaction down.

The part of our trip that went awry was our experience with Southern Cross and our driver in Nairobi. Our driver had no idea where The African Heritage House was and he wasted a full hour being completely lost. In our discussions previous to our departure, Richard Trillo had told us that he would inform Southern Cross of the places in Nairobi we wanted to visit. We would like to assume that he did indeed do that. If so, then the blame falls on Southern Cross for not doing their homework and finding out where the AHH is.

We were taken to a place where Alan Donavan once had a gallery, TEN YEARS AGO. Now it is a supermarket. Our driver, John, drove in circles as he muttered to himself and desperately asked people in the street if they knew where the AHH was. The low point was when John turned to us to ask us if WE DIDN"T KNOW WHERE IT WAS! It was embarrassing and inexcusable. It was akin to getting in a New York city cab, telling the driver where you want to go, and after haplessly driving around, he turns to you and asks you where that is! We repeatedly urged John to call someone for directions. He finally called his boss, but he was told that it should be there where we were. Apparently they both remembered something by that name being there when they were kids!

Eventually, at our insistence, John's boss got a phone number for the AHH. John was able to call them directly and get clear directions that the location was near Kenyatta Airport - which was the one thing we had known all along and had told him from the very beginning. We arrived an hour late to our appointment at the African Heritage House. That was a valuable lost hour. Not only was the hour itself valuable, based the amount we were paying for the driver (an amount unknown to us because Expert Africa refuses to divulge costs to its clients, a topic we will revisit later), but also because we had to rush our visit. We had to pay for a full tour when it was essentially cut in half, but more importantly our ability to enjoy our visit was extremely compromised. Our (doubtlessly expensive) day with a hired driver fell far short of our expectations.

We would suggest, and we're sure you would agree, that your clients should never be assigned drivers who don't have thorough knowledge of their city, especially when they are told a specific destination in advance! We don't blame John alone for this debacle, but also the management of Southern Cross, and Expert Africa for putting us in the hands of an incompetent organization." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 6 on a Kenya safari

"Again, a very well organised safari by Expert Africa" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 5 on a Kenya safari

"I had a really great time.

The highlight was Laikipia Wilderness Camp which was absolutely amazing but the return trip down the Rift valley was very enjoyable too. As always the arrangements made by Expert Africa were smooth and efficient throughout.

Altogether yet another brilliant safari experience - the best yet!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I just wish I could afford to travel more often!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 9 on a Kenya safari

"This holiday or should I say trip was a very memorable one. I have been to both locations before but my friend had not but I must say that this time was so much better. We both enjoyed the tented camps - bumping along game drives, especially the off track ones. Seeing all the game - landing in Samburu and within 15 minutes seeing a young leopard!!!!!

We are very well travelled but this trip will stick in our memory bank for ever.

Thank you for a very well planned trip.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No not really - Richard planned the most excellent trip. He all ways replied to my call and emails very quickly.

I have spoken to him since returning to say what a fab time we had." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 11 on a Kenya safari