Reviews of safaris to Maasai Mara National Reserve
126 holiday reviews from our travellers of holidays which include Maasai Mara.
"Kenya Safari"
Regarding our transfer from Sambura to Borana, I think the transfer driver was named Nicholas. We hadn't left Sambura for more that two minutes when he started pointing out details about every plant and animal in sight. Our three hour transfer turned into a four hour safari that was filled with details and infomation beyond what anyone else was providing. This guy was the best and most informative guide we met on our entire trip." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Kenya safari
"Great trip! The most action-packed safari!"
It was such an action-packed safari and we saw so many incredible animal interactions!
Richard was super helpful in understanding our desires and planning the perfect itinerary. Also, the Nairobi guide/driver was great and planned our half day perfectly." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 8 on a Kenya safari
"My Aug 2016 trip"
While the Reserve was obviously busier, the location and quality of the guiding at Rekero were superb and we were really pleased to have included it in the itinerary." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 10 on a Kenya safari
"Self drive Masai Mara safari August 2016"
"My Aug 2016 trip"
But absolutely everything else was and even better than we had expected." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 10 on a Kenya safari
"Kenya 2016"
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
"A wonderful holiday, can't wait to get back"
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Please look at including Uganda." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 15 on a Kenya safari
"Excellent trip to Kenya"
Richard Trillo was excellent in planning and arranging this trip. He was thoughtful and proactive." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 8 on a Kenya safari
"My Dec 2015 trip"
All the arrangements worked efficiently and it was really good to experience the 3 contrasting areas. We also felt that by going in December we got particularly good value for money!" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 8 on a Kenya safari
"Our Oct 2015 safari to Tanzania/Kenya"
Our trip was amazing but even after planning nearly a year prior we were not able to experience our first choice camp in Naboisho especially as we only saw one vehicle with 2 people from Naboisho Assilia camp over 3 days when we were told that that camp was full." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 6 on a Kenya safari

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