Reviews of safaris to Samburu National Reserve

"Wow! It took lots of planning, two years of delay, zigging and zagging in a pandemic with various federal and provincial lockdowns, coordinating four people but we finally made it, and it was fantastic! Remarkably, flights were on time and the logistics went smoothly though we did have a flat tire on the way to the airport on the last day, but fortunately, the flight was late (that was nerve wracking). The people in Kenya could not have been nicer or more accommodating.

Kudos to Olivia who was responsible for the planning of the trip originally. Our goals were to experience Kenya and a bit of its culture, see lots of animals, and be active. Goals accomplished and expectations exceeded!! And thanks to Richard for his cat herding skills and organizing, then re-organizing, then tweaking yet again as Canadian travel restrictions shifted during Covid times.

With respect to Covid, since the camps are outside and contact with people is minimized, it was a safe experience. I probably saw fewer people in Kenya in two weeks that I would at the grocery store on the weekend.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Keep doing what you are doing!" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Kenya safari

"The trip overall was excellent. We have followed this itinerary before and it is always excellent.

We must mention the support offered by Richard Trillo. Richard is always helpful and on this occasion he was put to the test due to the documentation requirements for travel. He always offered timely and accurate advice and did so with a high degree of patience which was probably necessary at times. We have total confidence in Richard organising these trips for us.

We must point out that Heathrow airport was extremely well organised in terms of documentation etc. Nairobi airport was the opposite.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

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

"Excellent holiday all round

Expert Africa were excellent through the whole booking and travelling process

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

It was all first rate so no improvement necessary!!" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 19 on a Kenya safari

"In summary: it was a unique and wonderful trip to Kenya with incredible sightings - one of the very best we've ever had in Africa (and we had many of them !!!)

Of course we had doubts if it was a good idea to travel to Kenya in Corona times but we can say that (only and explicitly just for us!) it was definitely the right decision to travel. Kenya has a relatively low covid incidence (especially in comparison to our country), all staff members of lodges/camps were full vaccinated and wearing masks, using and offering sanitizers when and wherever needed and (most important!) we stayed by far the most time in remote areas and outside of buildings in fresh air.
Because of Covid the lodges and camps had lot of cancellations. Thereby there were only a few guests wherever we stayed - sometimes we were the only ones. Except of our last stay (Amboseli) we always had our "private" game drive vehicle - just the driver guide and the two of us !!!

Although living in Germany we've chosen again Expert Africa as our travel agent because we've had already great experience with them and different team members in planning and organising safaris to different African countries. All team members we were dealing with had great knowledge about the country, lodges, wildlife,... they were responsible for and were so friendly and helpful!

This time Jessica Plumb was our agent and we can't say enough "thank you" to her and all her efforts and patience with all our requests and questions. Even after finishing the booking she was always taking care of us especially in behalf of the always changing rules for Kenya immigration.

As expected the organisation of our trip was perfect, everything worked without any problems, we missed nothing!!

We will came back to Africa - and of course again with the experts of Expert Africa !!!!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Although it sounds like advertising: No - everything is perfect !!!

I loved the old website very much but after a short while I got used to the new one and especially the new wildlife count was very helpful for me in behalf of my expectations!!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 16 on a Kenya safari

"We had a great time and would not hesitate to travel to Kenya again especially during Covid times. All of the lodges (in fact the whole country) take Covid seriously and have put in place the necessary safety measures. We felt very comfortable and safe. All of the lodges/ hotels are able to source Covid tests easily.

Richard was very helpful, as always, especially in these trying times when the holiday had to be cancelled once and then when one of our party got covid pre departure and had to miss half the trip. He was always on hand to help, even over the Christmas period." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Kenya safari

"Wonderful ! Only suggestion maybe it would have made sense to drive from JKIA to Laikipia in view of the inevitable layover time waiting for the plane from Wilson?

Also suggest that passengers book to take an authorised LFT kit with them to avoid last minute hassles with testing at the JKIA base. Also JKIA require proof of payment for the UK PCR test - the number on the Passenger locator form was not enough...!

The checkin queue for the 9.30 am KQ flight to London was chaos (and this is apparently always the case) - if one has the nerve go c. one hour ahead to avoid the madness of 9 prior flights and only 3 desks open!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I would happily rebook with you though I would prefer being able to book the international flights with EA rather than go elsewhere - particularly in Covid times." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Kenya safari

"Wonderful trip, felt very safe from Covid throughout. Don't wait!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 11 on a Kenya safari

"Excellent within the constraints set by the weather.

We maximised our drives at both camps though at Little Governors we were severely restricted and at no point after the initial arrival were we able to cross the river." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Kenya safari

"I always look forward to visiting Kenya. The weather was not so good this time but everyone did there best to make sure we had a good experience.
Thank you." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Kenya safari

"As I said in my email to Richard, nobody can be blamed for the unprecedented levels of rainfall in Kenya over the past few months and its effect on the ground, the vegetation and the distribution and accessibility of the wildlife - well, nobody at Expert Africa or on the ground in Kenya. The climate change deniers, maybe!!!

We enjoyed our holiday nevertheless but the issues with wildlife mean that, if we're being honest, it wasn't as good as our first trip last year. We're not very experienced Safari goers and haven't got to the stage that more sophisticated guests might be at, of wanting to look very hard for animals; we want to come out of our camp and see herds of animals across the plains for as far as the eye can see and, at times this year, there was nothing very much as far as the eye could see!

We would like to note that none of the guides we had this year were as good as the excellent ones we had last year.

It's also worth mentioning that there was a misunderstanding about our pick-up time from the airport hostel to go to Solio. Some months ago, we changed the time from 7.30 am to 10 am, and this later time was clearly on our itinerary. However, Patrick from Safari Collections turned up at 7.30 when we were still in bed! He was very good-natured about it and waited for us to get ready and to have breakfast. He was pleasant and chatty throughout the drive and when he came back to Solio to collect us and drive us to Elephant Bedroom. We're not in any way complaining about this. These things happen but we thought you'd like to know." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Kenya safari