Kenya: reviews from our travellers

"We enjoyed our trip immensely." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 13 on a Kenya safari

"Our trip as a whole was excellent. We booked our own rooms in Nairobi at each end of the trip. We stayed in the Karen area and were very comfortable. On the first night we stayed at Purdy Arms, which seems to be the happening place on Friday nights. Nice place and Great Pizza.

On the last night, we stayed at the Margarita house. Room was nice, breakfast was good and staff was very accommodating. We hired their driver to pick us up at the airport and to drive us around the last day until our flight left. He was very helpful. We asked to be taken to a place where we could buy some wood carvings and he found a place. Unfortunately, they charged us one thing, but the price on our credit card when we got home was 3 times the amount we signed for. Be sure to keep all receipts for purchases and only use cash in those places. In spite of that, our trip was Awesome!!

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I think you do a great job.

Our only concern was waiting for the few weeks between payment and receiving the documents without being certain we would ever see them. But, it did in fact come just as you said it would, so that was not really a problem." Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 3 on a Kenya safari

"As a "once in a lifetime", the gorilla treks were incredible even if they were hard work. One of the things I really liked about Rwanda was driving in the countryside, seeing how Rwandans live. Normally on a safari, you fly into your destination airport and then "hop" to your National Park so don't get the opportunity to see the real country. That difference made this trip really interesting.

The Serengeti was a real pleasant surprise. Beautiful countryside and plenty of great game. After the lack of elephants in the Serengeti, it was a pleasure to see so many in Tarangire, but due to the repetitive nature of the game drives and tsetse flies, I can't imaging wanting to return.

All in all a memorable trip." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"Overall, an awesome experience. Would definitely go back to Kenya.

People were lovely. Guides were great.

The only serious glitch was right up front when the driver wasn't there to collect us. Not a great start after a long flight and we were disappointed and frustrated by this especially when he tried to pretend that he'd been there all the time. Otherwise everything went very well

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No, nothing more to add" Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 8 on a Kenya safari

"Kicheche camp was extremely well run with great service and management. Rekero was quiet, and a wonderful unique experience, but clearly management is going through a transition. This is understandable. Walks at Naboisho camp were fantastic, as was the wildlife there. Service was decent but not up to standards of the other camps. Transfer on the final day in Nairobi with Southern Cross was a disappointment and uncomfortable since the two guys took us to the mechanic to switch vehicles, stopped at an unsolicited tourist shop, got lost, and were nowhere to be found after dinner, requiring us to search the hotel to find them and tell them we were ready to go to the airport." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Kenya safari

"As someone who has travelled for many years I am a late comer to Kenya and I now regret all those missed opportunities. I first went to Kicheche Mara Camp 15 months ago and loved it so was determined to return. I did so with some trepidation in case I was disappointed but I need not have worried. The whole holiday exceeded our expectations.

The Kicheche Camps are well managed and in beautiful settings with amazing wildlife. They tick the box if you are wanting to stay in comfortable, small, traditional bush camps governed by sound ecological principles.

I have visited many countries to see wildlife and the Masai Mara ranks number one as far as I am concerned. I can understand why Kenya and Kicheche Camps get so many repeat visitors and I will be one them." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 15 on a Kenya safari

"A friend and I had always wanted to see gorillas in the wild. Being limited on the time we had for holidays, we decided we would try and make the trip a long-weekend over the bank holiday. It turned out to be one of the most wonderful holidays I've had. We could have headed to either Uganda or Rwanda and, based on recommendations, including a discussion with Ellie at Expert Africa, we chose Rwanda and I am so pleased we did. Arriving in Kigali on a Saturday (at the cleanest and calmest airport I've ever been in), we were met by Sura, our local guide who showed us round Kigali and, in particular, took us to the Genocide Memorial Centre. Having only a limited knowledge of what happened, this proved a really good way of getting to understand a lot more about the background to events and how the country is dealing with the aftermath. From there we headed to our lodge and, talking to Sura on the journey, began to appreciate how friendly and proud Rwandans are of their country. We trekked to the gorillas on two consecutive days - we were graded as 'young' (very flattering) so were assigned to family groups that required a quite arduous trek to get to - but it definitely added to the spirit of adventure - we took porters both days - and decided that this was definitely the right thing for us to have done - not only did they carry our bags but they also helped us up the steep and slippery parts of the trek (and, in addition, you are providing a day's work in an area where it is important for conservation reasons for the local people to be able to make a living from the park). Both days we had brilliant 'sightings' - spending an hour with the gorillas. The set up at the Volcanoes National Park, the guides, the trackers and the rangers were all excellent. We also fitted in a visit to the cultural village - being true Brits we found it slightly awkward (the Americans staying in our lodge thought it was great) - but, it was something we agreed was worth doing because it was an additional contribution to the conservation effort and we did find parts of it very interesting. Both of us have travelled quite a bit in Africa and kept coming back to what a remarkable country Rwanda was - we felt safe the whole time we were there and they are doing an amazing job with respect to conservation and democracy (what you get if 63% of your parliamentarians are women!). On Tuesday (when it was raining all morning making us realise we were so lucky to have had fine days both of the days we trekked), we headed back to Kigali and flew home - back in the office on Wednesday morning having had a trip of a lifetime!" Read full review: 5 nights in Africa; 3 on a Rwanda safari

"The overall experience was very satisfactory and we could very easily go back there. The owners however need to change the driving directions and make them a little bit more precise especially from sb who comes from NBO.

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The service is excellent.

In the beginning I thought that since we live in NBO it would have been very difficult for me to organise our trip with Expert Africa. Eventually it was very easy and the engagement of Richard Trillo made it an incredible experience. He is definitely a person to trust. He loves Africa and he understands exactly what his client is looking for." Read full review: 3 nights in Africa; 3 on a Kenya safari

"Exceeded our expectations - a perfect way to celebrate my 70th birthday." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 17 on a Kenya safari

"Very good." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 8 on a Kenya safari