Magical Africa Nairobi
by Carly Mallon
(Bath, UK)
Truly the best holiday experience I have ever had, we couldn't have found a better safari company during our trip to Kenya this summer. The company was amazing before we had even left the UK, and emailed us on a near daily basis to try and establish a tailor-made safari that encompassed everything we wanted to do.My boyfriend, David, and I were determined we wanted to go to Kenya for our summer holiday but booked it very last minute and as a result we weren't able to book a safari through our travel agent.
Reluctantly I agreed to David's suggestion to trawl the internet and find a safari tour online, but was very nervous that we would end up getting ripped off and stuck in the middle of the African wilderness with a cowboy safari company. Thankfully, our experience with Magical Africa Safaris could not have been more perfect.
Article: The importance of choosing a good safari company »
On arriving in Nairobi, we were greeted at the train station by our driver and transported to the main office, where we talked through the details of the tour with the safari agent. From there we embarked upon our 6 day private safari.
It was so lovely to be able to have a personal experience catered solely to myself and David.
Our driver, John, was more than accommodating and always went out of his way to make sure we were in a position to see as much of the wildlife as possible. Thanks to him we were able to see all of "The Big Five" and we always had a choice in where and when we went for game drives - we were having so much fun we even extended the trip by a day at the last minute.
We chose Magical Africa because we wanted to have a true African experience and preferred to camp in the landscape instead of staying in a tourist lodge.
I am considerably less "outdoorsy" than my boyfriend and was a bit apprehensive about the conditions in which we'd be staying. I had no need to worry. We stayed at a total of 3 campsites during our tour, all with good toilet conditions (as a girl I'm quite particular about this!) and hot showers.
Our tour guides erected an enormous tent for the 2 of us, with roll mats and sleeping bags and pillows. David slept so well he didn't even hear the hippos noisily roaming past our tent in the middle of the night!
Once we reached the Masai Mara Campsite we slept in permanent tents with proper beds - a very comfortable way to round off our safari.
We were pleasantly surprised by the quality (and sheer amount) of food throughout the whole tour. Breakfast and evening meals were freshly prepared on the camp fire and lunch consisted of an extensive picnic that had been prepared by the cook in the morning.
All the meals were at least 3 courses and absolutely delicious. More importantly, it agreed with us completely, which was important in a camping situation! All meals were finished with a selection of exotic fresh fruits and we were even provided with afternoon tea and biscuits!
For us, an African safari was a once in a lifetime opportunity. We saw the most amazing sites, from the hot springs of Lake Bogoria to the majestic creatures that inhabit the Masai Mara plains.
These things would have been unforgettable regardless, but it was such a relief that we could enjoy them and not have to worry about the logistics of the tour. Everything was taken care of and Magical Africa even arranged our travel onto Mombasa without taking a shilling in commission.
We would definitely recommend Magical Africa to anyone who wants a genuine African safari and are so glad we didn't book a tour through our UK travel agent as originally planned.
We really discovered how lucky we had been when we spoke to other holiday-makers in the second week of our trip - ALL of which had been on safaris offering a lot less for twice the price.
