7-Day Tazama Classic Kenya Safari

My girlfriend and I booked an 8-day Safari to Amboseli, Lakes Nakuru and Naivasha and of course the great Maasai Mara during September 2020, just a week before leaving! I had been corresponding with over 5 companies who each had a great reputation and strong offers but I went with Tazama Holidays and could not be happier!

This was the best trip of my life! I have been to 25 countries for holidays/vacation but this was one of the most special. Antony is the main reason for this. As a small business owner and driver/guide, he made the trip special. First off, he welcomed us at the airport and took us to our hotel, despite our 8-day safari not beginning until the next morning. My girlfriend and I felt very comfortable and confident in him from our first encounter. He has a warm smile and a calm, confident demeanor. Throughout the trip he was respectful, knowledgeable, patient, funny, and also very attentive. He also possesses a good command of English.

Antony was knowledgeable of landscapes, culture, history, and most importantly – the animals! He had a vast knowledge of birds and mammals. There was no question that stumped him! He also has a funny and anecdotal education style which is engaging and memorable. Antony is also adept at providing great viewpoints of animals for photography by predicting their next move. Antony has a like-new 4×4 Landcruiser in excellent condition which he kept clean for us throughout the trip, equipped with a fridge full of bottled water and internationally adapted charging ports.

He drove well on the game drives and was skilled in finding animals. We were often the first vehicle in front of lions, cheetahs, elephants, rhinos, hyenas, etc. He is very familiar with all of the parks from his 13 years of experience. He even was familiar with several families of cheetahs and lions. Personally, we saw 3 of the big 5 in the first 24 hours of game driving and saw all 5 during the safari. He went above and beyond to get us a great shot of a leopard eating a gazelle carcass in a tree, drove tirelessly to get us close up shots of a rhino and its baby, etc.

Antony has a humble and serving nature that makes the guests feel very special and welcomed. He remembered little details from the day before and always checked in on us to make sure we were happy with our accommodations and extracurricular activities including bike riding through Hell’s Gate NP and our cultural Maasai village visit. He took care of all problems that arose throughout the trip without fuss. Antony was always early and waiting for us before the crack of dawn with great eagerness and enthusiasm to get started.

My one regret is not listening to his recommendations for accommodations. I went against his advice on one and was disappointed I did not listen to him. His recommendations are truly for his clients’ best interests. He was the most responsive person to emails and very honest throughout and never set false expectations.

If you are worried about COVID-19 and your ability to go then rest assured that Antony has a fantastic policy to ensure your confidence in booking and the Kenyan government is strict about following COVID-19 protocols. I even witnessed local police arrest citizens on the streets who were not wearing a mask. I felt safe the entire time.

I highly recommend that you get a tour through Antony at Tazama African Holidays. He puts an incredible amount of effort into ensuring that you have a wonderful trip. You will not be disappointed!

PS Here is a list of animals he found for us –
Pride of Lions, Parade of Elephants, Tower of Giraffes (Rothschild, Articulated and Maasai), Tawny Eagle, Leopard Faced Vulture, Dazzles of Zebras, Coalitions of Cheetahs, Herds of Water Buffalo and Wildebeest, Eland, Topi, Jackal, Dikdik, Vervet monkeys and Baboons, Mongooses, Flamingos, Warthogs, Hippopotamuses, White Rhinos, Waterbucks, Cackle of Hyenas, Impalas, Lola bird, Grant and Thompson Gazelles, Egyptian Geese, Cape Teal Duck, Hartebeest, Iguana, Crocodile, and Bats.

There is so much I could say about our trip to Africa and our experience with Antony at Tazama Africa Holidays in Kenya. I could go on for hours about how much I loved it, but if I had to sum it up into just one word…AMAZING is what comes to mind!! I went on a last minute trip to Kenya with my boyfriend in late Sep/early Oct 2020 (the midst of COVID times). I was nervous at first, but I could not have been happier, felt more safe, or enjoyed the company of our guide and the Kenyan people we interacted with more than I did. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget and a dream come true!

A trip like this starts with your guide. If you do not have a good guide, your trip will not be nearly as special, informative, or catered to your wants/needs. We started with an 8 day Safari to Amboseli, Naivasha, Nakuru, and Maasai Mara. Antony was our guide and truly went above and beyond to make our safari perfect. Antony is an expert Safari guide; he is able to find the animals you are most looking forward to seeing and get you to a spot where you can take breathtaking pictures, but more importantly, where you can feel like you are right there with the animals observing their natural behaviors (while also not disturbing them). He cares deeply about the animals and about our natural world. He is extremely knowledgeable about all of the animals you will encounter and we never stumped him with any of our many questions. We saw more than just the big 5, which is many peoples number one goal when on a Safari in Kenya. We saw every animal you can possibly imagine in this part of the world plus some that we didn’t even know existed! We saw lion cubs suckling from their mother, young zebras playing little games, baby elephants trying their hardest to feed on the grasses for their first time, a leopard dragging its kill up into a tall tree, 3 different species of giraffe, thousands and thousands of wildebeest beginning their migration across the Mara River, the 5 famous cheetahs you see in all of the nature documentaries (catching some shade from our car just a foot or two away from us), countless water buffalo, breathtaking sunrises/sunsets, and too many more extraordinary views to list here.

If you are considering a trip to Kenya with Tazama Africa Holidays, rest assured that you will be in good hands. Antony comes highly recommended by us and he will handle every detail of your trip so you can relax and enjoy the ride! My biggest recommendation would be to listen to Antony’s advice. We requested one lodge against the advice of Antony because we thought it would be a nicer place to stay for us. Turns out, he recommended a different lodge for good reasons and we should have just gone with his recommendation…it would have saved us a lot of time when venturing out for our game drive as the one he recommended was much closer to where we would be going.

It was my third safari in Africa and I can only say that it has turned out to be a great experience. Antony is an excellent guide. He picked me up on time and even apologized during the trip to Amboseli because there was traffic in Nairobi … 00

The tour was perfect. He did not mind adapting the itinerary to my travel needs. He booked me accommodation in a lodge that was way above my expectations and the three days of safari went very well. He asked me what I was interested in seeing and did his best to get it. I decided what time I wanted to go out. In the end we spent many hours looking for animals and the best views of the park so it was a perfect experience. I have no doubt that Antony will be my guide when he returns to Kenya on safari.