Private tour with the best guide - I researched tours for weeks on SafariBookings before we landed on this trip for our honeymoon. We wanted an authentic experience (to stay in a tent) but also a good... read more honeymoon experience (in a high end lodge). The full description of this tour isn’t on Trip Advisor for some reason but it is on the CATS website. You do one night at Lake Nakuru Lion Hill Sarova (in a little cabin) and two nights at Mara Sarova (in a canvas tent). This is a high-end hotel chain and CATS gives you a damn good price considering all you get for the trip. Huge buffet for every meal, outstanding accommodations. Swimming pools, darts, pool tables, mosquito protection, stunning and immaculate grounds, friendly staff, excellent cocktails. Both lodges have a spa.
I can’t say enough good things about our driver, Duncan (Ndegwa). He has been delivering these tours for 14 years, and is extremely knowledgeable about the parks and wildlife. We were on this trip specifically for animals and one of us is a biologist. We would ask one question about a giraffe and he would be able to share a full range of knowledge from the species throughout Kenya and Africa to how to tell them apart, to gestation and lifespans. Outstanding. He was an excellent driver despite chaotic Kenyan roads. He was respectful of the wildlife, maintaining a reasonable distance from animals while getting us close enough to take amazing photos. Other drivers would pull up three feet from a lion’s sleeping face for their tourists to take their pics, and it was horrible. We even saw a bunch of safari vehicles herding a large group of wildebeest purposely at a croc-filled river for the photo opp and our driver wouldn’t participate, and we appreciated his animal respect and common sense. He also stuck to the trails as you’re supposed to. He was excellent at spotting wildlife, from distant rhinos to discreet leopards to snoozing camouflaged lion cubs. We appreciated this even more after we did a three-hour tour with a guide from another company in Nairobi National Park, and that guide couldn’t spot any animals and had little knowledge of species or park management. Duncan ensured we stopped at safe places and even took us on a sensible detour on the drive back to Nairobi to avoid a serious accident (and extensive wait) on a main highway.
We would do two things different next trip: 1. Go to just Maasai Mara, and not bother with Lake Nakuru. It’s a lot more driving to do both. We went there to see the flamingos and could barely see them. There were very few because Duncan explained the water table and lake have risen, so fewer birds are present to enjoy the salt water. We did see a rhino species there though that we wouldn’t have seen in Maasai Mara.
2. Fly in and out of Maasai Mara. I think if’s about $250/person but it would have saved 10 hours of driving. The road from Nairobi to Maasai Mara is ~170 kms but takes 5 hours, and the 2 hours or so near the park aren’t paved. And because they are in the process of paving it, you can’t drive on the gravel road, you have to drive on a temporary side road which has large boulders instead of the small crushed gravel we’re used to at home and it’s a very slow, jarring drive, no matter what vehicle you’re in. Motion-sick people beware! I’d still try to book this through CATS so we could get Duncan and a land cruiser.
Pro tips if you plan to book:
1. Opt for the land cruiser over the van. We asked what the difference was and the tour group sent us pics, but that didn’t help us understand why we should pay the extra for the land cruiser. But having been in a van and watched the land cruisers, we understand that the poor Kenyan infrastructure is much easier and smoother to navigate in the land cruiser, as well as through the bumpy, muddy paths of the game reserves. The windows are much larger and you have more head room. The vehicles seem to be newer. They’re more fun for the guides to drive, and for you to ride in. The vans are a bit more jarring trying to get through the dry mud, as they don’t have the same suspension and strength.
2. See if you can get a night drive in the nearby game reserves (you can’t in the national Parks anymore thanks to poachers).
3. Do not book this tour if you plan to abuse your guide. We were appalled by the behavior of the senior citizen British and American guests. When you pay for your tour, you are paying for a guide and driver with knowledge you need. You are not paying for a servant who should open every door for you, carry all of your bags, be at your beck and call, accept disrespectful treatment and abuse, and do whatever you tell them on safari (go off road, get closer, etc.). Do not speak to them in a derogatory manner. We also saw guests giving their drivers crap for stopping to talk to other drivers, but that was how they shared information about where to see animals. So frankly it’s your loss if you ask them not to stop to speak to other drivers.
Overall we had a wonderful honeymoon adventure and are eternally grateful to Joyce for booking us exceptional accommodations and going the extra mile, and Duncan, for being the greatest guide and helping us stamp our Big-5 bingo card.
Note about my pics: These pics are just what I got on my phone; we have amazing photos on our cameras... thousands of them to sort through! So these don’t quite do what we saw justice.
