Kenya: reviews from our travellers

"Organisation from Expert Africa was great, almost everything ran very smoothly." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Kenya safari

"The trip was fantastic.

The airport drivers were courteous and informative. They took good care of us. The overall organization was great. We didn’t have to worry about a thing. All we had to do was ask for something and it was taken care of.

Not sure we mentioned the Game Drivers specifically. They were superb!!! Silver rated but Gold Platinum in our books.

Our amateur group was pretty tired with the schedule and although we knew we could skip a game drive if needed- we didn’t want to miss out on anything. Next trip might be organized differently for our needs. Now that we have more knowledge and know what to expect.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Richard was very responsive and thorough. It would have been nice to have received the book sooner to give us more time to review and customize/expand our itinerary. Having the logistics taken care of allowed us to focus on our experiences." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 12 on a Kenya safari

"Before visiting Kenya, we have been to four countries in Southern Africa (Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) five times, and each one of those trips were highly enjoyable.

Nonetheless, we figured it was time to check out East Africa for a change. To be honest, we were a little apprehensive about this trip, because many guidebooks or websites tell you that in both Kenya and Tanzania visitor numbers are much higher than in the South of Africa. As the New York Times wrote earlier this year, they witnessed a cheetah hunting and making a kill in the Maasai Mara, and in no time, the poor animal was surrounded by 50 vehicles. Well, even though the number of cars per sighting was, on average, higher than in Southern Africa, we experienced none of such extremes. I guess, we were lucky with the choice of camps and/or locations.

For instance, we took great care in picking camps that are using open vehicles with a maximum of six passengers and not vehicles with pop-up roofs, let alone minibuses. For a serious photographer, such conditions would seriously limit your freedom to move, and in the case of pop-up roofs you would have to stand up and, often, you would look down on animals. In other words, it would be a nightmare ruining my trip. I realize that the camps we picked are significantly more expensive, but this goes hand in hand with providing better guides, better amenities and facilities, and better service. The good news is that in our experience, the camps in Kenya are not quite as pricey as Botswana accommodations.

One more comment about the number of cars per sighting: The official rules in the Maasai Mara clearly state that the maximum number of vehicles per scene is limited to five (per animal, not animals!). Taken literally, a pride of 8 lions could be visited by 40 cars, and we have witnessed scenes with up to 20 cars. On other occasions, for instance when observing cheetahs or leopards, we have noticed that local wildlife rangers do in fact make sure that there are no more than 5 cars on the scene. Throughout the entire trip, we were blessed with guides that showed great patience and perseverance to stay at a scene for longer. Quite often we were also lucky enough to be the only two guests in the vehicle. The only camp where there were six passengers in a car was Lewa Safari Camp.

As in previous years, I enjoyed recording our wildlife sightings. Overall, we saw more animals here than in any other place in Africa. And our encounters with the big cats were especially noteworthy, because often they were full of drama. I should point out though that we did not see any wild dogs anywhere. Of the four areas visited, the Maasai Mara was, thanks to our guides, and despite the higher number of vehicles, a photographer’s paradise.

What we also appreciated in all five camps was that they allowed each party to have their own tables at mealtimes.

To summarize, this trip was so good that we are almost certain to return to Kenya in the near future." Read full review: 30 nights in Africa; 20 on a Kenya safari

"Fabulous trip. Learnt a lot even though we have been on many safaris.

Great range of experiences between the 2 camps - loved both of them - and wonderful relaxation at the beach.

I should like to discuss the Wildlife Survey form and the animal sightings you put on your website. I thought looking at your website that these were the animals with some chance% of what we might see. But of course there are lots and lots of others. Also find the more detail bit on this questionairre a bit confusing." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Kenya safari

"Overall we enjoyed our trip with friendly and helpful Kenyan staff, good food, top class and interesting wildlife and beautiful scenery.

The only fly in the ointment was the weather which Expert Africa cannot control - the feeling in the camps was that El Nino and climate change is now becoming a factor and people may need to adjust their thinking about timing their trips going forward?

We would recommend both camps we visited both for experienced safari travellers and first timers as there is something there for everybody." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Kenya safari

"From the first conversation with Richard we thought the level of service from Expert Africa was outstanding. The attention to detail and the diligent way the many paperwork requirements were set out was faultless.

Every question was answered in depth and very helpfully and all the recommendations were accurate.

Having spent 30+ years in the travel industry it was a delight to travel with another company who understand and practice the highest levels of customer service that we always tried to do.

Well done one and all

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Really I don't. It seemed like we were travelling under the wing of a class outfit who did the ground work so well we didn't need much help overseas at all.

The icing on the cake was that we happened to be lucky enough to have the best guide at Little Governors. From talking to other guests who had minor frustrations with their guides, we soon realised that Tom was giving us a masterclass in how to be the perfect guide." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 6 on a Kenya safari

"Our trip was excellent. The advice we received from the outset was clear and accurate.

The two camps where we stayed were exactly as described and exactly in accordance with our stated aspirations for the trip. They also combined well with each other i.e. the "vibe" was similar at both but they were sufficiently different to give the trip some variety and contrast.

Expertafrica clearly enjoys a good reputation in Kenya which appeared to derive from the fact that representatives of the company have visited camps to gain first-hand knowledge of their particular qualities and also the fact that their clients arrive with appropriately managed expectations." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 8 on a Kenya safari

"An amazing experience.

The service provided by Expert Africa was excellent and Richard Trillo’s knowledge, advice and recommendations were fantastic.

The organisation of the trip was outstanding and we loved the 3 camps that we visited.

For our first safari our experience surpassed our expectations, we loved every minute of it." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Kenya safari

"We will come back to Expert Africa again for our next trip." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 9 on a Kenya safari

"Every camp that we visited held Expert Africa in high regard which made us proud to be clients.

All went well but it would have been helpful to have the "hard copies" of Precision Air as there were glitches on their end. They had no record of us going on after Lusaka (right city??). We made it. And... All's well that ends well but we were put-on the wrong plane from the Serengeti to Kilimanjaro and they sent us to Arusha (along with another couple).

Precision Air then put us on another flight to Kilimanjaro but we missed most of our time at the lodge in Kilimanjaro before going on to Nairobi. We both decided that we would have skipped the Nairobi jaunt and gone from another city. Just FYI" Read full review: 26 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zambia safari