Kenya Africa Safari Questions Answered
| Safari Location: |
Masai Mara, Tsavo East, Lake Nakuru Kenya |
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Company Used: |
African Safari Club |
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Duration: |
Seven days, February 2005 |
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Traveller Details: |
Ken George,
UK |
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Safari
Interview Questions
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Can you tell me a bit more about the accommodation? |
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We first stayed in a hotel, or lodge - African Safari's 'Twiga Camp'. It was really nice but the rooms were a little bit on the basic side. There were grades on the Kenya hotels (rates and reviews) you could go to, we chose a middle of the range hotel.
The camps were quite good. |
African Safari Club. They’re excellent value for money. It’s not a terribly high standard, but you certainly don’t pay a lot of money for it. So I think you get what you pay for. One of the camps was really exceptionally nice and others were okay. We have recommended it to other people, so it was good enough to recommend.
How big was the group you were travelling with?
It varied between the two of us, and about 20 when the Polish crowd were all there. Sometimes we were in quite a big lorry and sometimes we were in smaller minibus-type things.
The hotels was buffet meal and there was quite a big range of food there. You could have eggs done however you want it, cereals, fruit and lots of fresh bread and that went right down to a champagne breakfast being cooked in the open by the side of a hippo pool with crocodiles and hippos and lots of birds there, with Mt Kilimanjaro in the background which was quite outstanding.
Were you lucky enough to have good weather on your Kenya Africa safari?
Yes, absolutely superb every day.
On our Kenya Africa safari, we were awake quite early because there were morning drives virtually every day. Some of the days we went out on an early drive and we had just a mug of coffee and some biscuits before we went out on the drive and then we came back for breakfast. Other days we had a breakfast served, then went out on the drive and came back around midday.
On the ones that we came back midday, we had a midday meal and then we went out on an afternoon and early evening drive and another couple of times we ate out and came back later in the afternoon.
Was there anything that didn’t meet your expectations about your Kenya Africa trip, any disappointments?Yes, the group that we were with were a group of Polish people, and they were trying to get back off of the safari early. They didn’t enjoy the safari. We were flown out there halfway through the safari and they were trying to get the flight back. Sometimes they didn’t turn up for the safaris and we were waiting for them to turn up and they just didn’t arrive. When they were there, there was a lot of talking all the time when you were trying to film animals, rather than being quiet. And when they were bored, they were saying “ok, come on driver, let’s go now, we’ve had enough” and it was, it did spoil the safari a bit. We had a week’s Kenya Africa tour and they weren’t terribly wealthy people. And not a week, but for them to go on a week’s safari, spend all that money and then not enjoy it, it just seemed strange.
Yes, there was quite a lot of highlights. One of them, we were amongst a pride of lions: it was 1 lion, 3 lionesses and about 20 cubs.
They were near the side of the waterhole and they had a buffalo that they had killed. It was on a bit of a slope and the cubs were playing rough-and-tumble down this slope and some of them were playing with twigs by the side of the water hole. And they were very very close to the vans.
Then there were elephants that we were near and giraffes that were drinking very close to the vans and in general huge herds of elephants…lots of things. It was very spectacular.
Did you manage to see any leopard?
No, we’ve been to Kenya Africa twice; we haven’t seen a leopard yet.
Would you say you’re satisfied with the amount of wildlife that you saw?
Yes. It was very good. I take a lot of photographs and we took video film and I managed to edit the video film down to an hour and there’s nothing much we can take out after that!
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Do you have any tips or advice for people planning the same kind of Kenya Africa safari? |
Back to
the Questions |
Take good memory cards with video digital camera.
I've recommended it so many times to people, to go there … if you do it once in your life, you know.
But I mean, different people have different views on life. The Polish people didn't like it, but for me it was the highlight of my life.
What camera are you using?
I've got a Canon ProShot 1. It's got a 200mm lens on which is satisfactory. It's not semi-professional, I don't think. But it’s adequate, just about.
Last but not least, how would you rate your Kenya Africa safari?
If I had the money, I would like to go on a higher class safari and I think the biggest thing that I would like is to have a private safari, just for the 2 of us and a guide. That would be my ultimate, I think, if I could afford it. I've got to say, that Kenya Africa holiday, that one week, was probably the best week I've ever had in my life. Really outstanding.
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