Reviews of safaris to Northern Kenya

"This was the trip of a lifetime!

All the places we stayed were excellent, the service was superb and the food was delicious! Being up so close to the animals was an unexpected thrill.

I would highly recommend the trip!" Read full review: 26 nights in Africa; 13 on a Kenya safari

"We had a fantastic, incredible, fun trip to Kenya - all the superlatives!

We went to four camps and Richard planned the trip perfectly, particularly the order of our itinerary. Everything went off without a hitch.

We'll recommend Expert Africa to all our friends." Read full review: 32 nights in Africa; 17 on a Kenya safari

"Perfect throughout" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 16 on a Kenya safari

"This was the trip of a lifetime. We wanted something really special and unique, as it was my 10 year work anniversary and sabbatical, and the team at Expert Africa delivered in a big way. Thank you Lyndsey!

The lodge recommendations were 100% on point; we knew it was going to be great, but we were still blown away by the places and the unique experiences Expert Africa lined up for this trip. It's rare that you do a 2.5 week holiday and everything just works, but in this case it's true. And the logistics could have been a nightmare, as we didn't spend more than 3 nights in any one location, but every transfer, every flight all went smoothly!

I think the real difference-maker was in how seamless the experience was. From the moment we flew into Nairobi until our quite literally boarding for departure back to the US the team at Expert Africa and their partners in Kenya and Tanzania made sure everything went without any trouble. Even a short delay at a local airstrip was met with surprise and delight as instead of being picked up by car for a 2-hour drive a private plane showed up and we had our own 15 min flight to the lodge - very cool!

In hindsight would we have done anything differently? Maybe, starting with just doing more of what Lyndsey said to do. :)

In all seriousness she guided us towards an amazingly unconstrained experience and we are tremendously grateful. If you are willing to commit the resources it is amazing what is possible when working with Expert Africa.

We have already referred multiple friends and colleagues to the Expert Africa website and to her directly, it will be fun to see if or when anyone else gets inspired to pick up the phone and book their adventure.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

In terms of improvements it's hard to say; your website is 1st class, Lynsey provided great advise, and payment and such were easy. I think the guides for obtaining visas and such were also easy to follow and made the process simple. The price of the holiday we booked was staggering, but I suppose that was a feature not a bug and mostly our fault. :)

In a perfect world more guidance on where to see villages (Sarara was great for this!) and where to avoid (At Entamanu the Masai are a bit "Disneyland" about it - hard to describe) would have been nice as instead we found ourselves a bit at the mercy of the local lodge managers. "Do you think it's worth visiting a village here?" is a bit of an unfair question, although credit to the team at Serian for the honest answer "no not really, there's better places for that if you want authenticity". We figured it out and are very happy with the results but we should have asked more questions in advance about where to lean into cultural experiences and where to say forget it, just stick to wildlife.

A few thoughts on the trip we booked that I didn't want to drop in reviews as they're somewhat unfair or too individual.

Sarara, Serian and Chem Chem were incredible. Continue to recommend them without hesitation.
-John at Sarara was one of the best drivers and provided an authenticity we found nowhere else, and I wish I lived in Sarara house. It's that nice and we regretted having to leave, even if the wildlife in Samburu isn't as abundant.
-Grace (sp) at Serian was simply talented beyond belief, her and Gisoi (sp) were one of the best guide/ranger duos anywhere. We would go back simply to have her guide us again she's that good!
-Isaac at Chem Chem had 20+ years of experience and it showed, he was such a pro and made the Chem Chem experience complete.

Those three properties are worth the expenditure without any qualifiers or concerns. Lyndsey was 100% right to recommend them and we hope to return to them in 2025.

Entamanu was also so good. I'm torn; we did one day in the crater, and it was so special. Would a second day have made sense? Who knows. Maybe it's too much, maybe not, but it's a lot of coming and going for what is essentially one long day of game drive. So glad we went, so that's a win! I think it just comes down to not having the time and budget to do it all, and this was the right place to shave a day. But we found ourselves thinking now that they have really nice structures to stay in a 2nd day could be worthwhile? Very subjective.

Nimali Mara is a tale of two cities. I left them a great review, and they deserve it! Really special place and the staff, including our butler Bethod (sp) were simply the best! But also worth noting our guided experience there with Moses was just so different lol! I'm talking tie-die sweatshirt, car falling apart (driver had to literally hold his door shut as it wouldn't latch while driving), cooler full of waters and sodas but no bottle opener, etc. it was just such a contrast with how over the top luxury the place itself is. The guy had a heart of gold and tried so hard, so nothing but respect there, but it's worth thinking about given the price point and contrast with the other guided experiences. We are travel veterans so it didn't phase us but I can imagine others really being shaken.

White Sands was also great but there is an element of the hussle in Zanzibar. It reminds me more of visiting the national parks vs. conservancies, they monetize differently (on the go vs. pay up front but then feel insulated from it all). That's ok! I think it was just so different to go from the Chem Chem experience into White Sands and Zanzibar. We wanted Zanzibar so that's on us, but in hindsight Chem Chem should have been the capstone experience, nothing was going to top that. We also didn't quite understand if we were supposed to book our experiences with the local team you sent our way or via the hotel property, but in the end it all worked out so no worries.

Our last day in Nairobi was long but that isn't your fault, the flight was set to depart late (we booked it) and was then delayed further. The guide was so nice and did his best to keep us entertained but by that point it was the end of a long trip and we were cooked. The Karen district is nice but after a few hours there just isn't much to do, but again, not the fault of the team at Expert Africa.

All in all we've now recommended Expert Africa and Lyndsey to multiple parties, as we are comfortable having our name attached to the referral.

We started this journey with you probably close to a year before our travels and are so happy we did, thank you for everything!" Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 8 on a Tanzania safari

"I decided to return to Kenya for my first post-covid trip about 10 weeks before I planned to travel. For me, this was "spur of the moment" as I normally book 10-12 months out! I reached out to Richard and hoped he'd be able to pull my desired camps together on short notice. He did it and made a few tweaks that truly made this a trip of a lifetime (that charter flight was absolutely unforgettable!)

Everything was flawless and it all came together for my best safari yet. I can't really ask for more than that!

Knowing Richard from his online posts, I trust his judgement and experience and I'm so fortunate to have gotten the chance to work with him. He knows the ins and outs of the camps and locations and makes great suggestions. I'm already working on my next safari with him, and see that that's the case again! Thank you Richard!!" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Kenya safari

"It was good to have the contrast with the arid Samburu area and the abundance of wildlife in the Mara." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 13 on a Kenya safari

"Overall it was a very well planned trip and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

None, you are the experts." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 9 on a Kenya safari

"Overall great trip north. I would highly recommend." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 5 on a Kenya safari

"Our trip was excellent and a wonderful family memory with our young-adult children. The recommended lodges were excellent and we were very happy to be able to support the local communities at each site - facilitated by Expert Africa and Richard Trillo.

Logistically, the connections between cities, lodges, and airlines were flawless. This was our second trip with Expert Africa (and working with Richard Trillo), and it was more complex than our last one: international, bush, and charter flights; three sites; two countries. This trip would have been impossible for us to have pulled off on our own - especially with the two-year delay forced by the pandemic! We were very happy to have these experts on our side!

Regarding the pandemic, Rwanda had the strictest protocols at the time of our trip - requiring four tests in seven days - but our driver arranged all three in-country tests and kept tabs on our results and paperwork for us. Masks were required in all airplanes, but the COVID numbers are so much lower in Africa than in the USA that we all felt very safe in the lodge settings - venues were spacious and largely open-air. We definitely had some anxiety about passing a PCR test in order to go gorilla trekking (we'd had COVID just 45 days before), but we hoped for the best and it worked out for us (and trip insurance would have come through had it not).

I would say that while COVID introduces a "wild card" into the proceedings, the travel-related requirements were well managed for us while overseas, and, in my opinion, going on safari is far safer than going to an American movie theater!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 7 on a Kenya safari

"Another well organized trip by Expert Africa, initiated by Olivia and completed by Lyndsey. Communication was always swift and to the point via email.

We visited the Samburu region, Amboseli and the Maasai Mara, giving us a caleidoscopical overview of Kenya. Initially a bit weary of possible crowds and an all too touristy experience we were pleasantly surprised how well this combination of areas and camps worked out. The only mass experience was on our transfer from Amboseli to the Mara via Nairobi-Wilson. In hindsight we would have preferred a direct flight on Mombassa Air Safari or possibly a charter; we were totally spoiled by the lovely direct charter flight from Sarara to Tortilis Camp…😉" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 14 on a Kenya safari