Are these tour operators reputable?
 

Hi can anyone tell me if the following tour operators are reputable or if you know anything about them? (for safaris in Kenya)

Peregrine Adventures
Asili Adventure Safaris
Natural Track Safaris
Wild Africa Safaris
Exodus Travels
Uyaphi
Pelican Safaris

Thanks.

You are 100% correct asking these questions. It (in my opinion) boils down to:-
A) who is the company accredited by i.e. SATSA, ATOL, these are the one you need to be looking for.
B) how long the company has been in the industry, flyby nights & bad businness models do not last long in this industry, anybody can add a date to a website but this can be referenced against their accreditation. I have down this for uyaphi and exodus (see below)


Peregrine Adventures - have been in operation for years but seem to be based in Australia

Asili Adventure Safaris - never heard anything bad and have been in operation since 1999

Natural Track Safaris - I am personally not sure if they run their own safaris or sell other companies, they are Licensed by the Government of Kenya, Ministry of Tourism.

Wild Africa Safaris - yeah they are good have been around since 1992

Exodus Travels - yeah they are very well known http://www.caa.co.uk/application.asp...p;atolNbr=2582

www.uyaphi.com - again very well known been around since 1999, had a few dealings with them and have been been let down. http://www.satsa.co.za/Pages/MemberS...sp?CompID=1133 the 3 ticks at the bottom of the page (this is good)!

Pelican Safaris - personally never heard of them, and they do not seem to be accredited by any travel orginization - the question with this is what if something goes wrong, do they have insurance, back up options etc etc

Hope this helps, I think I got carried away there! LOL

OOOPs on Uyaphi I made a mistake (dah)
"again very well known been around since 1999, had a few dealings with them and have been been let down"

it should be
"and have NEVER been let down"

LOL - this is what happens when I type to fast, fingers cannot keep up with the brain

OK, so we've finally booked, what an arduous process!!! We used Wild Africa Safaris. They are based in Canada right near us so that made things a little bit simpler. We are staying at the Sarova Shaba in Samburu and the Kichwa Tembo tented camp in Mara. This better be good because it is a LOT of money!
Thanks for all your advice so far. I'm sure I will have more questions.

We used Uyaphi for a trip to Capetown, Timbavati, Chobe and Okavango in Sept 2006 and were VERY pleased with them. They answered our never-ending questions, provided us with wonderful advice and put together the perfect trip. We are using them again now to plan another trip for 15 people in 2008.

Abbyo,
It will be good. What gets even more expensive is when you wish to return because it was so good.