The Team Behind Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris
Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris Ltd
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2003)
- Member Of:
- Eco Tourism & Kenya Wildlife Services
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $64 to $490 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Christi | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An excellent way to experience Kenya and Tanzania on a budget
There was always a driver or guide waiting to pick us up at each airport. This is very important for feeling safe and secure in a foriegn country. The Safari and guides were fantastic doing everything they could to ensure that we stayed on schedule and saw everything! It is a very bumpy but fun and priceless experience to drive to each of the parks in a safari van! The lodges were all beautiful and top notch with lots of lovely staff to meet all of our needs. Restaurant services were excellent at all the lodges and most provided boxed lunches for all day game drives. My least favorite lodge was the 67 Airport motel, mostly due to it's unimpressive scenery and poorly designed and built rooms/bathrooms. However the overall look of the hotel and the hotel staff and restaurants were lovely, plus it was very secure and close to the airport. There were a couple of scheduling snafus on the part of Kenya Walking. This involved a hot air ballon ride being delayed for an entire day that resulted in us the next day having to drive all day non-stop and arriving at our one night stay at the next lodge late at night. It was a beautiful lodge and we should have had the day to relax and enjoy it, but that didn't happen. The other complaint was having to wait 3 hours at the gateway to the Serengeti due to non recipt of payment for our entry from Kenya Walking...However Kenya Walking more than made up for inconviences by providing us with some other unplanned wonderful tours free of any additional charge. Overall, they are a great tour company and I would reccomend to anybody. The only reason I would not give 5 stars is because of the hot air balloon scheduling problem that set us back a day. It would have had to have been flawless for 5 stars.
Review about Safari Kenya Walking Survivors
In July 2018 we have had a wonderful safari to Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Naivashu with your organization. It has been marvelous and we want to thank you for all you have done for us. Peter was an excellent driver (which is very important) and a good guide who led us to so many spectacular wild animals. We have seen the big 5, except for the panter and many other animalspecies which are just as interesting. Also the hotel-arrangements were nice and comfortable, with good meals.
The Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris Ltd. has done an excellent job which was worth every penny and more!
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Email Anastasia | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
The adventure of a lifetime.
Our group had a wonderful time in Kenya. We saw lots of wildlife, and a great deal of the country traveling from park to park. The places we stayed were very nice, clean, safe, great food, and good gift shops! We were able to visit a Maasai Village and that was a highlight. Our guide, David was a wonderful, capable guide and a good driver, navigating rugged roads and rain-swept terrain with confidence. Our vehicle was an old one, so there were a couple of times when we had to wait for the good graces of passing vehicles to get a jump-start. Furthermore, the drive times to each of the destinations were longer than described in the tour materials. Be that as it may, our group had a good time.
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Email Tim | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great trip despite difficult circumstances for KWSS.
We arrived 9/5 and after very long flights and a 90 minute wait for our visa were so pleased that our driver from KWSS was still waiting to take us to the EKA hotel at 11p.m. We had booked a 12 night mid-range package that included Masai Mara, Samburu, Elsemere and a flight to Entebbe where we went to trek with gorillas. I must admit, I was a bit apprehensive, but the outstanding reviews for KWSS eased my mind so we followed through and went with KWSS. We had the trip of a lifetime. Our experiences, the lodges, and the food were all outstanding. Gorillas by far the best for us! The only down side, being in our 60’s, the drives were much longer than we anticipated so it made it challenging for us, but then we would have missed the countryside and cultural experiences if we had not driven. When we were on our way back to Nairobi on the 14th we were told OT had been in a serious auto accident. This had us very concerned, but our driver took us to the airport for our flight to Uganda, and everything went as planned. More long drives, but beautiful countryside and the gorillas were worth every minute. On our return flight to Nairobi on the 17th our driver was there to meet us at 9:30 at night. He told us more about OT’s auto accident and that he was in a coma. We were concerned for him since we had met him and found him to be a very nice man. We also realized that we had been extremely fortunate that this did not happen before or at the beginning of our trip. I have read the nightmare stories from others since our return, and we know those stories could have been us. We believe OT and KWSS were a very good company before OT’s accident. I understand how this situation created nightmares for others, but am so grateful that because of the timing ours was so wonderful.
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Email Michael | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Value for your money for 21-day, 3 country safaris (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania)
Had done extensive research on Trip Advisor and Safari Bookings. Trip Advisor does a great job with reviews, but didn’t find it helpful for the tent camps we wanted for our experience in several countries. Would recommend using Safari Bookings since they have an easy search engine for your destinations. https://www.safaribookings.com/
20-Day Safari to Kenya Maasai Uganda Gorilla and Tanzania
Nairobi (Start), Masai Mara NR, Lake Nakuru NP, Jinja (Town), Lake Bunyonyi, Bwindi Impenetrable NP, Lake Naivasha, Lake Sonachi, Arusha (City), Serengeti NP, Ngorongoro, Tarangire NP, Zanzibar (Town & Beach), Nairobi (End) We took out beach portion and added Sambura at his recommendation which was the highlight of our 21 day trip.
Pros: KWSS had the flexibility to cater to our destinations for a reasonable price. Many places charge double what we paid for, but you do get tent camps out in the middle of nowhere a few times.
Drivers Marcus (Kenya), David, Richard (Uganda), and Michael (Tanzania) - all averaged about 15 years’ experience in travel guides. All showed above average knowledge and provided for above average gaming experience.
Cons: The hotels we did stay in cities were mostly concrete and noisy. Do not recommend Sky Hotel in Nairobi, Silver Springs Hotel in Kampala, or Sky Hotel in Lake Bunyoni area I believe. We awoke to noise in each of them. Silver Springs had 2 parties at 1:30 am in the morning. Also had call to prayer at 2 and 5 am from a distance at Octagon Lodge, but we were tired enough it didn’t matter much. Ask for other accommodations before you pay since we had early starts most mornings.
Forget the itinerary time tables – they were almost always off. Lunches and game drives were wrong in many cases even though they were cut out of their standard programs he used for our custom trip.
Road to Masai Mara was miserable, but they are paving a good part of it in 6 months or so. These African safaris are not for you if you can’t take a rough bumpy ride half the time.
Mr.O had promised 4x4’s the whole trip. We got stuck first day out and had our time taken up some and scary crossings due to sudden thunderstorm. Big .5 drop in ratings due to broken commitment. He attempted to make it up which is why it’s not a 1 point drop with extra activities on last day not scheduled.
What to bring:
Toilet paper always with you. Drivers try but many times we had to use squat toilets and no privacy for men urinals. Sometimes “bush” toilets were necessary. Driver usually has extra toilet paper. Not an issue for us, but can be a big surprise to many. Long lenses for cameras – standard lenses will not work in many areas where you cannot travel off the road. I purchased a new attachment for my Samsung 6 with no reviews on Amazon (look under telescopes – takes about a month to get and fits onto many phones with clasp over lenses – a bit of a risk, but fit my Samsung 6 – Ccloon Professional HD camera lens kit -$60 USA – does need refitting several times a day but competes with the thousand dollar lenses)
Flashlight for head is very handy for $15 dollars Energizer Vision HD LED from Amazon – one each. Portable chargers for phones since many tents shut down power after 10 or so.
Get your yellow fever shots a few weeks before going. They are out of stock currently and do check several sources for alternative shot. Nothing else was necessary according to OT. We purchased Deet and mosquito long sleeve shirts. We didn’t need them much in Oct./Nov.
Ponchos or rain gear for Uganda mostly.
Also bring an open mind for local cultures and lots of patience. We are 64 and 59 and in good shape (for Uganda jungle hikes).
BR
Email Claudio, Sandra and Eduardo | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An incredible and amazing experience for life!!!!
It was an amazing experience with the animals in the parks. The guides from Kenya Walking were nice and try to give us the best time in the tour. The cost x benefit of the tour was very good and we recommend for everybody that wants to visit Kenya!!!! Thanks Otieno for everything!!!
ES
Email Daniel Rodellas | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Safary, poor organization
Our overall experiencie was pretty good because we could see tons of animals and the big 5 but there where things about the company that didn't work well:
In the website offers it's said that they do the game drives with 4x4 vehicles and a picture of a "jeep" appears, but when we asked in the office they said that they only have pop-up roof minivans and they had to speak with safaribookings to change it. For the moment, they didn't...
We where supposed to sleep in a guesthouse in lake nakuru that was surrounded by nature but they said we could sleep in an upgraded place so we accepted and it turned out to be a hotel in nearest town, which for us was a "downgrade".
We also had to change our guide/driver on our way fron Nakuru to Masai Mara. This is not a problem but it was strange. It was even stranger that the second guide we had to meet was suposed to be "Paul" and it was "David" without informing.
David was great but he knew nothing about our itinerary and he asked us what was it. He had to call the company a couple times to solve his questions.
To end, the day before we left, our car had a problem in the engine inside the Masai Mara and we had to leave the park stopping every 5 minutes. The next day, we had to wait until the engine was fixed to leave to Nairobi.
FR
Email Edwige | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great driver to see many animals, basic accommodation and meals
Communication was good, except for the first lunch. We had a special departure from our city, not Nairobi, which leaded to sweet snacks and bread only to be bought for lunch. We would have preferred to prepare ourself a real picnic if we were warned before.
Safari was great, we saw so many animals thanks to the driver!
Accomodation was very basic, we had single beds even if we requested before double bed and the camp was almost empty. They were rushing us to eat a basic dinner with self service, in an area without enough light.
In summary, Great driver to see many animals, basic accommodation and meals
MY
Email sin | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fast Feedback and Excellent Guide
Mr O reply my mail very fast and fullfil most of my requirement.
We found out one of the lake cannot spot Flamingo, and he agreed to change to another one without charges.
Thanks both Mr O and Anthony.
Anthony is a very helpful, young and energetic guide, especially in Masai Mara. We have a very good trip with him during this few days. We spot all big 5. And we feel very comfortable to stay with him this few days.
DE
Email Mary S. and Christian P. | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A safari of a lifetime :-)
My fiancee and I booked a customized Safari with Kenya walking Survivors safaris and we were not disappointed! Mr Otieno, the man behind all the planning adhered to all our wishes and beat our expectations. We did a 7 days Safari: We visited Nakuru National Park where we had a game drive, we had 2 days Maasai Mara where we had the experience of a lifetime doing exciting multiple game drives and sleeping out in a cool tented camp with beautiful people and took an adventurous walk through the Green Crater Lake in Naivasha. My heart still skips a beat when I think of this walk :-P
The transfer from the airport to our hotel and later to our family in Kenya ran smoothly. All was catered for and we had the best company one would wish for.
Our driver and guide David was always commited, reliable and a good source of information. He had an answer to all our questions and knew exactly where and when we could see which animals.
Our chef Omondi saw to it that our appetites were satisfied. He never disappointed and always had our favourite dishes in mind.
Being a kenyan, I thought I knew alot about my beautiful land but I was proved wrong! Kenya was presented to me in way I had never seen it before.
My German boyfriend never ceases to tell everyone of the amazing experience he had.
We both agree that that was not our last safari. We are planning to go on many more and we already know who to consult: Kenya walking survivors safaris Ltd.