Kenya: reviews from our travellers

"As this form does not have a section for our road transfers I would just like to mention them here. They absolutely made our trip the experience it was, namely thanks to our two drivers Shem (Nairobi) and Albert (Tsavo) who were punctual, friendly, extremely knowledgeable and expert, and did everything they could to make sure we had the best experience. Albert, for example, picked us up an hour early for one game drive in Tsavo because he had heard there were some lions we might see, giving us a full extra hour's drive - and we did see the lions!

On our way back from Tsavo, Tom and I wanted to spend some time in Mombasa which the bus driver was happy to facilitate, dropping us near Fort Jesus and giving directions then taking our luggage back to the hotel for us. We then took a taxi back to Diani later in the afternoon.

Franklin who was based at Pinewood told us about the bicycle trip to Kaya Kinondo mentioned earlier and booked it for us, and it ended up being one of the highlights of the trip. He also offered various other trips I am sure we would have done if we had been there longer. I wasn't sure about attending his 'briefing' meeting when they first asked us because I couldn't see the point, and only went because it mentioned needing to confirm our flights, but I would recommend other guests do pop down because of the trips he can arrange.

Overall, we had a wonderful time thanks to our drivers as well as the staff at both Pinewood and Satao. Also thanks to our taxi driver who took us back to Diani from whom we learned an enormous amount about Kenyan life, politics and culture!

But above all thanks to Richard and Expert Africa who created the perfect trip at relatively short notice and with a minimal amount of time needed to 'brief' him on our requirements. We have never used travel agents before, but being a bit further from our normal travelling comfort zone wanted to be sure we booked places that would be clean and well run, and that our payments and bookings were secure. I would recommend Expert Africa to anyone travelling to Africa (and in fact have now noticed that your brochure is on many of our friends' bookcases already!) and not hesitate to use you again for any African trip. Richard seemed to instinctively understand what we were looking for and our requirements, and we were very pleased with the final cost of the package - I think it was probably cheaper than if we had made the individual arrangements ourselves and whilst we may have found the locations ourselves through the Rough Guide we wouldn't have had the benefit of our drivers and all the timings/logistics working so well.

In the circumstances of the fire at Nairobi airport it was a huge comfort to know that not only where you watching the situation and keeping me informed, but also that had my travel been affected you would have made the necessary arrangements to rearrange bookings etc, and at a stressful time this was the kind of reassurance that money can't buy.

Thank you again" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 6 on a Kenya safari

"We greatly enjoyed our holidays...Mara Camp was superb and our stay at Royal Livingstone was also excellent. Maybe Rovos Rail was not the best choice for a trip with our sons." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 5 on a Kenya safari

"Quite blown away by the beauty of the terrain that we visited, left us curious about other parts.

Felt very well advised by Expert Africa staff. Despiite a brilliantly well laid out website, it was the little comments and recommendations made on the telephone that had directed our choices and as stated in our intital email, we felt we couldn't fail to have the best of times by simplly following your tracks. For us, Kenya has been a very different place in which to travel for, despite a fair amount of experience of living and travelling in Africa.

The one thing that would have been helpful would have been more transparency in the pricing of 'packages'. It all costs a great deal and in deciding how to distribute the budget, it would be useful to know more and make it stretch as far as possible on the more expensive bits. Will affect us considering any future visits - now that we've seen the reality of those roads, we can see the value of flying.

Jessica entered a trip advisor comment on return to discover that the US guests we met at Naibosho, first time in Africa, had gone out with Roelof and seen a leopard with its kill..! She has been on a quest to see a leopard for some tme now, plenty of evidence of their whereabouts but never seen one so she has some unfinished business." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 12 on a Kenya safari

"A trip of a life time and it certainly measured up the everything we had hoped and more. Firstly please pass on our huge thanks to both guides. Martin of Asilia was amazing and so professional .We'll for ever be grateful for his patience for our bird watching interests and his expert knowledge. He was so good at finding the quieter places and picking up the signs before others got there!! Please note our grateful thanks to him personally through Asilia.

Also we would like special recommendation for Paulo Siololo of Nomad Tanzania...Arusha. as he was fantastic too. Think he has telescopes for eyes as he picked signs of animals at tremendous distances and had the patience to pursue and wait. We had numerous wonderful experiences just watching cheetahs and Leopards all on our own as well as so much more. He really put himself out to please us and make our experience memorable.

Fishermans tours on Zanzibar not quite so efficient as 3/4 hour late one trip and didn't turn up on last return drive to airport. Neither actually caused us problems as door man at Serens Inn got us a taxi and arranged for paymenbt between driver and F. tours.but thought you may like to know for future.

Well done Expert Africa and especially Ellie ,you judge it perfectly for us....right locations and timings ." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 8 on a Tanzania safari

"This was a really well organised holiday where everything went like clockwork from our first contact with Expert Africa to getting off the plane at the end of the trip.

The Meru and Pinewood resorts were faultless and the quibbles with Mara could easily be fixed.

I would highly recommend both Expert Africa and the itinerary that we followed, it really was a special experience for all 4 of us.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No, keep up the good work!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 10 on a Kenya safari

"The overall trip was excellent with the Rekero and Naboisho camps being the highlight. Ellie from Expert Africa was very responsive and helpful and she was good at identifying the type of holiday we wanted from our emails and telephone conversations.

Expert Africa provide lots of advance information and contact numbers in case of emergency but there were no problems at all with the trip organisation. I have already recommended using the company to several friends" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 13 on a Kenya safari

"A great trip, my son and I enjoyed it very much. Many thanks Richard for your excellent organising.

I will stay with the memories till the next adventure, hopefully in the Zambezi and/or Mana pools, certainly with Expert Africa" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 8 on a Kenya safari

"Extremely enjoyable experience, made memories of a lifetime!" Read full review: 6 nights in Africa; 5 on a Kenya safari

"By way of background, the Kenya leg of this trip to Africa, was something of an add-on. The main purpose of the trip was a week in the Central African Republic; but, on discovering that the best way to get to CAR from London was via Nairobi, we decided to have a week in Kenya en route, mainly for vacation but also because we both had some non-vacation interests to pursue there which we could usefully incorporate.

Fortuitously, this decision coincided with EA's expansion into Kenya; so, at pretty short notice, we put ourselves in EA's hands again (for the twelfth time since 2006). Guided by new team member and Kenya expert Richard Trillo - aided by Ellie Dunkels who has arranged trips for us in the past - we went through a number of options before settling on Leleshwa as both convenient for our non-vacation elements and consistent with our vacation priorities and preferences. As our separate crits make clear, it was an excellent choice, not only in its own right but also as our introduction to safari in Kenya, a country which we are sure we will be exploring further in the not too distant future.

Indeed, overall - and worth underlining as we were, we believe, EA's first ever clients to Kenya - the whole trip was well up to the very high standards we know Chris McIntyre and the team set for themselves." Read full review: 6 nights in Africa; 4 on a Kenya safari

"We thoroughly enjoyed this trip and woud recommend it. The advice we were given both over the telephone and through the brochure was very good and really helped us to choose lodges that were right for us.

Thank you Ellie.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not currently" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 9 on a Kenya safari