Goofy3030

Hi. Can anyone provide a suggestion for a reputable tour company in the states for a Kenya safari? Anyone information on personal experiences with tour companies would be great? Some have recommended Park East, Abercrombie and Kent, and Destinations
Adventures? Anyone familiar with these? Thanks. Goofy3030

JanGoss

Goofy3030:

Don't use one in the States but all my seven safaris have been made with www.
southerncrosssafaris.com in Mombasa.

I book my own flight here. Then I contact them with what I want and they book everything within Kenya for me. They are a highly reputable company that has been in business since 1957. They do have some safaris listed on their website, but they specialize in ala carte safaris. If you know where you want to go and where you want to stay, they set everything up for you.

I highly recommend them. Every single employee I have met has gone over and above what is expected.

Jan

sandi

Goofy -

I agree with Jan, you'll get much better pricing and the itinerary you want rather then the ones being offered for Park East, A&K or any other of the well known and overly expensive US-based companies. You can even get the same itineraries these names companies, same accommodations - at lower prices.

In addition to Southercross that Jan uses for her trips - she's been on many, you may want to consider Wild Trek out of Nairobi at:

[email protected]

Email them with your requirements, number of days, budget, suggested itinerary (where - which parks) and even the accommodations you would like; Wild Trek can then design a program just for you.

Now you have two options for in-coutry outfitters to check out and compare. Let us know what you decide.

NoFlyZone

I've had great luck with New Adventures here in the states. (www.newadventures.com) They cost in between the local operators and the Park Easts of the world for their private safaris but their service is a notch above. Also, their airfares are super (esp when I once combined a safari and Seychelles).

safari_guide

Just joined this forum! Having guided many a trips to Kenya and Tanzania, I have been thru a number of companies and finally settled with Sun Trek Safaris.
website: www.suntreksafaris.com

email:
[email protected]
[email protected]

contact: N. Lakhani or S. Farooqui

They are a family run org and have their own safari fleet of buses and 4 wheel drives. That makes the difference in my opinion as no services are sub contracted. Prices are competitive and each and every program is tailor made and costed individually. Response time is generally a few hours to a max 24 hrs, depending on the time zone differences.

safari_guide

apologies. typo error on both the email addresses in my post above:

[email protected]
[email protected]

sandi

safari_guide -

Welcome, but please read the Fodor's Rules that clearly state that "providers/vendors are not to participant in selling their product."

If you have information that would be useful to answer questions you can feel free to do so, but not as a representative of Suntrek. The Fodor's Editors are very good at deleting such posts if you do a "sell thread." Just a heads up for you.

safari_guide

oops! Thanks Sandi! Did not intend to promote! Thanks for clarifying. Am an indipendent safari guide and as such am not really tied down or a rep for any particular vendor.
Look forward to sharing my experiences with all. Thanks again. Cheers for now.

Goofy3030

thanks for all the great suggestions. As I am in the beginning planning stages all of your suggestions are greatly appreciated. I'll let you know what we decide. Thanks again.