DIY safari v. organised tours
 

I am consideringa trip to Kenya. Has anyone organised a DIY safari to Masai Mara and perhaps some of the other nearby games parks, and how did it work out ? Is it safe to hire a car and drive ?<BR>Otherwise - can you recommend local safari companies from nairobi ?

What's DIY?

do-it-yourself !!!

There is absolutely no compelling reason to try and do a safari on your own-savings would be minimal and your experience would be much less satisfying than going with a driver/guide. Why?<BR><BR>The guides know the parks and all the roads and where the animals are likely to be found. And most importantly they keep in radio contact with other drivers so they know where the good sightings are.<BR><BR>Here are 2 Nairobi based Tour Operators I've used in the past year with good results. Both by contacting the Nairobi offices directly and having them arrange my customized tour (my own lodge, parks and transportation picks) www.letsgosafari.com and www.unitedtouring.com

I agree with Chris, going with a knowledgeable driver/safari guide is the best way to go. They know where to go in the park to find the animals and will tell you all kinds of facts and insight about the park(s), animals, etc. Enjoy!

When we were at Samburu park this past October on an evening game drive we came across a do-it-yourself driver from Australia in a broken down 4-wheel drive ... he had been there for ~30 minutes &amp; in another 30 minutes the sun would have been completely down ... all that was wrong was that his battery had failed (even though the 4W driver had 2 batteries), but he didn't have sufficient knowledge of mechanics to resolve the problem (nor would I have) and he didn't have a radio to call for assistance (not a situation I would have wanted to be in) ...<BR><BR>As for our trip, it was amazing ... we used Suntrek (www.suntreksafaris.com), out of Nairobi, booking everything with them via e-mail ... and Lawerence, our tour coordinator, knew how to get us to everything we wanted to see ...<BR><BR>Cant't wait to go back again ...

In September my husband and I were at the Mara River Camp just outside of the Mara. A group of three travelers were on a DIY, and failed to come back to the camp at a reasonable hour. Turns out they were lost in the Mara. Park rangers as well as camp personnel went out to look for them. The lost travelers laughed about it later that night, but I could tell you the camp personnel who went out to look for them did not think it was a laughing matter. They later lamented about how they had seen little that day. We, and our experienced guide, saw a wildebeest crossing of the Mara River and later that afternoon spent time with a glorious leopard. We used a tour company, Roy Safaris Ltd.(www.roysafaris.com), based out of Arusha for our trip. They sub-contracted our Kenya portion of the trip to Wildtrek Safaris out of Nairobi. Our Wildtrek guide, Stephen Chege James, was fantastic, always on time and despite having seen it all before, enthusiastic. Good luck with your planning and do go to the Mara. It is a wonderful and magical place.