Is it Okay to e book a safari as soon as you arrive in Kenya or is it superior to e-book in progress? This query consistently comes up on various journey community forums. Quite a few tourists (which includes myself) like the liberty of landing in a country and viewing how it flows with out being locked into a established itinerary where you are told when and exactly where to consume, rest and go. So let us take a look at how you can go on safari with some sense of liberty whilst remaining safe, comfortable and within just finances.
Let’s begin with “Certainly”, it really is Okay to book a safari at the time you get there in Kenya. If you wander the streets of Nairobi’s CBD, you will be approached by touts providing low-priced safaris. It is really effortless to go together with just one of them. The motor vehicles are usually parked around Town Marketplace, so if you are all set to go, you could go right away. They acknowledge income so you just require to go to the ATM, withdraw, hand it around and you’re absent. Very simple.
For these who are pleased with undertaking points speedily, basically and are flexible in their expectations, this is best. For others, this could possibly sound a bit dodgy. I had a close friend who went for this method and it wasn’t until eventually her and her comrades had withdrawn the income from the ATM that they recognized they had been about to walk as a result of downtown Nairobi and at the very least one particular person realized they were being carrying masses of dollars. It quickly seemed a foolhardy solution.
So we transfer to “No” it is really probably not a superior idea to ebook a safari when you arrive in Kenya. Safaris aren’t low cost… or you surely get what you spend for! If you find a offer on the street that appears as well excellent to be genuine, then it likely is. You could find on your own taking in zikuma (kale) and ugali (maize food) for a 7 days and each and every working day working with the outcomes of a inadequately preserved motor vehicle. Don’t forget, fuel is the identical price tag as at dwelling and the roadways are in terrible problem (like, even worse than you could even visualize), so managing a car here is an high priced proposition.
You want to have confidence in your tour operator. You are about to hand in excess of a massive sum of cash to make this after-in-a-lifetime safari the just one you’ve always dreamed of. Why would you danger that by buying any Joe off the avenue? Just take time to do your investigation. Study reviews of tour operators (Trip Advisor, Safari Bookings and Your African Safari all aid), and start off an electronic mail conversation to get a come to feel for how they reply to your needs. While it truly is not essential, you could also want to test with field bodies these at KATO (Kenyan Association of Tour Operators) whose associates tend to be a lot more reliable and qualified than non-members. You also want to know who you are dealing with – an agent or an operator. Of program if you are working with your travel agent at home then they will connect you with a highly regarded tour operator. But some Kenyan agents can appear very substantially like operators on their web-sites. This suggests they will not be responsible for automobile upkeep and be “providing you” to a tour operator. In this scenario you continue to don’t know who will be liable for your comfort and ease and protection when on safari and irrespective of whether you have confidence in them. And brokers in Kenya are not held by the exact same policies and guarantees as agents at home, so if they disappear with your money there is not significantly recourse.
Kenya is not all bad!
But it’s not just about averting shady folks (I don’t want to audio like Kenya is complete of conmen!), it is really also about availability. Most folks want to appear for the Wildebeest Migration in July and August. These months are also summer time holidays in the US and Europe so accommodation in Maasai Mara is about 97% booked all through the period. Xmas is also a peak period, with a large amount of Kenyans travelling at this time as very well as global holidaymakers. Lodging and automobiles can be complicated to supply in these peak occasions if you depart it to the previous moment.
If you are not fussy about food stuff, the motor vehicle, or which video game park you go to and are on a finances, then you can choose a probability with booking your safari when you get to Kenya. But I recommend you shell out some time investigating highly regarded tour operators with good opinions so you know you are secure. Sadly, Kenya is perhaps not the greatest country to believe in strangers on the road who have “the finest safari offer for you!”
Overland Travel Adventures has great critiques on Trip Advisor and we love doing work with our attendees to individually design their aspiration safari. We are a family-operate company with partner and spouse crew, Tracey and Francis, taking care of you from planning as a result of execution. E-mail tracey@ota-responsibletravel.com to get started planning your holiday getaway now.