4-Day Tsavo East, Amboseli and Tsavo West Safari

Fantastic experience, highly recommended

Fantastic experience, wonderful safari also thanks to the expert guide of Juma, who has been doing this job for 25 years, very kind and professional. He always managed to find the animals. A positive appreciation also for the organization managed via email by John, always very punctual, precise and quick in his responses, always ready to satisfy travel needs

via Tripadvisor (translated)

Very Disappointing Safari Experience with Trav-Interactive

Our first day started smoothly, although our tour guide, Kolo, mentioned several times that the Land Cruiser was making strange noises and was not working properly. Despite the vehicle issues, we had a great evening game drive in Tsavo East National Park and saw many animals. Unfortunately, the Land Cruiser was very old. The seats were uncomfortable, and the interior was shabby, worn-out, and clearly in poor condition. I do not understand why the vehicle was not properly inspected and serviced before the tour began. The second day was completely ruined. During the morning game drive, from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m., we did not see a single animal. Our guide then dropped us off at the lodge for breakfast and told us he needed to repair the vehicle and would return at 11:00 a.m. to pick us up and continue the journey. Based on that information, we checked out at 11:00 a.m. However, he did not arrive until 12:30 p.m. If we had known in advance that he would be delayed, we could have enjoyed the pool instead of sitting in the lodge lobby for 1.5 hours waiting for him. According to Trav-Interactive, we were supposed to arrive at our next lodge in time for lunch and have an evening game drive. Instead, our guide had difficulty finding the lodge and arrived at approximately 5:00 p.m., rather than the expected 2:30–3:00 p.m. We were finally served lunch at 5:30 p.m. and missed the visit to the rhino sanctuary because it closed at 6:00 p.m. The entire day was extremely frustrating and a major disappointment. The itinerary stated that the driving time would be 2–3 hours, which we found to be misleading. The delays caused by the vehicle problems and navigation issues significantly affected the tour and resulted in missed activities. On the third day, our guide tried to make up for some of what we had missed on the second day, including seeing the lava flows and visiting Mzima Springs, which had originally been scheduled for the previous day. We saw many animals, and overall the third day went smoothly. On the final day, we had another morning game drive and saw many animals. However, on the drive back to Nairobi, the vehicle broke down again. Our guide dropped us off in Emali for lunch and left once more to repair the vehicle. We eventually arrived in Nairobi after 6:00 p.m. Again, the itinerary indicated a 2–3 hour drive, which was clearly unrealistic given the actual delays. Overall, while we enjoyed seeing the wildlife, the repeated vehicle breakdowns, poor condition of the Land Cruiser, long delays, missed activities, and misleading information about travel times made this tour very disappointing. The service was not what we expected, and the second day in particular was completely wasted. **I do not recommend Trav-Interactive and would not book another tour with this agency.** The poor vehicle condition, inadequate preparation, communication problems, and misleading itinerary information need significant improvement.

Response from the operator: Hello Rimma, Thank you for taking the time to share such detailed and honest feedback. We are sincerely sorry that your experience with Trav-Interactive fell so far short of the standard we strive to provide. We are particularly disappointed to hear about the condition of the Land Cruiser and the repeated mechanical problems you experienced. A vehicle used for a multi-day safari should be thoroughly inspected, serviced, and confirmed to be in proper working condition before a journey begins. The fact that you noticed unusual noises from the first day and subsequently experienced multiple breakdowns is unacceptable, and we sincerely regret that we failed to provide you with the reliable transport you deserved. We also deeply apologize for the delays and communication challenges you experienced on the second day. Being left waiting at the lodge, receiving unclear information about the pick-up time, arriving much later than planned, and ultimately missing the rhino sanctuary understandably caused considerable frustration and disappointment. We fully recognize that these were not minor inconveniences; they affected your planned itinerary and resulted in you missing experiences that you had specifically looked forward to. We also take your comments regarding the stated 2–3-hour travel times very seriously. We understand that itinerary information must be realistic and transparent, particularly when guests are planning their days around lodge check-ins and scheduled activities. We are reviewing our travel-time estimates to ensure that future itineraries provide more accurate expectations. While we are pleased that you were able to enjoy some memorable wildlife experiences during the third and final days, we fully appreciate that this does not compensate for the difficulties you experienced. A safari should be enjoyable and seamless from beginning to end, and unfortunately, we did not deliver that experience for you. Following your feedback, we have taken the necessary steps with our operations team and safari partners to address the issues you highlighted. These include strengthening our pre-safari vehicle inspection and maintenance procedures, improving trip coordination and communication, reviewing route planning and navigation arrangements, and ensuring that itinerary timings are communicated more realistically. We want to assure you that your experience has been taken very seriously, and the necessary corrective measures have been put in place to ensure that these issues are not repeated for our future guests. Your feedback has highlighted areas where we needed to improve, and we are committed to learning from this experience and raising the standard of our service. Rimma, please accept our deepest and most sincere apologies for the disappointment, frustration, delays, and lost time you experienced during your safari. We are truly sorry that we did not meet your expectations, and we sincerely appreciate you bringing these shortcomings to our attention. We hope that, despite the difficulties, the wildlife experiences you enjoyed will remain positive memories of your time in Kenya.

via Tripadvisor

Amboseli Game drive with a visit to Maasai Village with a view of Mount Kilimanjaro

Three days stay at Amboseli National Park. We had amazing experience during our game drive, visit to Masai Market to learn the rich culture and learn how to make fire out of wood and metal.

via Tripadvisor

John is awesome

John was amazing, accommodating all our requests and planning a fantastic itinerary exactly as we had imagined. Thank you, John! Thank you, Trav-interaction

via Tripadvisor

Proactive, helpful and kind people that provide good value for money

We really enjoyed our Tsavo safari. John reacted swiftly and advised us on the different options. They also offered the sharpest prices. When there was an issue with the accommodation, it was solved quickly. During our trip John would contact us several times via WhatsApp to check if everything worked out. Man Eaters Lodge is located beautifully along the Tsavo river, where we saw elephants, hippo and a territorial crocodile, right from the lodge. The staff is ever so friendly. It is some 15 minute drive to Manyani Gate. Our driver was a very capable one and manoeuvred us around very well and thanks to him we were lucky enough to see many animals, including lions and buffalos, giraffes and an endless number of elephants! We will definitely contact Trav-Interactive next time we go on safari.

Response from the operator: Thank you so much, asante sana.

via Tripadvisor