Big Time Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2006)
- Tour Types:
- Small & medium group tours (Budget & mid-range)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $1,736 to $7,811 per person per day (MXN, excl. int'l flights)
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
DE
Email Marvin | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very good value for money and a very professional operator
We have booked an 11 day safari through Kenia and Tanzania. Beforehand Big Time Safaris got in touch with us and handled everything very professional.
For the Kenia part Simon was our tour guide, who did an incredible job! He took care of us from the very first minute and we felt very safe driving with him. He gave very good recommendations e.g. to be aware of sellers that are popping up everywhere you stop and to not feel pressured by them.
When it came to game driving Simon was absolutely outstanding! He was very well educated and could tell us all about the animals and their surrounding. He maintained very good communication with the other guides in the park, he knew where to look for animals, he knew when we wanted to take a picture and achieved a great perspective without the need to tell him.
Beware that travelling through so many parks involves a lot of driving on very bumpy roads, which can get really stressful and should not be underestimated. Some days involved 12h of driving on those roads which has to be endured once onboard.
However, when looking back we remember all the great memories we could collect with Simon! Thank you!
Great tour operator, made the best life time experience for us
We chose 7-days budget safari trip from this company. From the first email with manager called Steve I understood it will be great service. Steve helped me a lot by providing information and answering all my questions which were not always even related to this tour. He used to reply me fast even in late evenings. Also, he organized our COVID tests to enter Tanzania and dropping us in Namanga border to Tanzania. We had some problems there as officers didn’t want to let us to the country as they probably wanted money from us. We just called Steve, gave the phone to the officer and Steve made things clear. Thanks a lot, Steve!!!
No about the trip. We got an amazing tour guide Mansur. He went above and beyond to make this trip amazing for us and worth of money. He was very professional, also he is very bright and smart person, open minded and told us many interesting and real things about Kenya, wild animals and processes happening in nature. He did all his best and we saw Big 5 because of him! He also managed to show us the great migration of wildebeest crossing the river, it was a lifetime experience.
Just few advices for the people planning to take this trip:
First, if you are picky or spoiled don’t take budget trip. Food is always the same: rice, beans and cow or mutton stew. This is not about this particular trip, this is about Kenya all in all. We are not picky people and that food is okay for us. But do not expect burger or spaghetti bolognese here :)
Second, trust your tour guide completely once he is not blindly following written program. The brochures about safari trips were written many years ago, even some lakes are already gone which are mentioned in tour description. Your guide always wants you to have the best experience and sometime it is needed to modify a plan slightly. Experience is the best if you trust your guide and let him do his job.
What is more, do not expect animals to behave like in documentary movies. People who are making these movies are hiding in the bushes for days just to catch a hunting lion. In the real world true happiness is just to see them, even see them walking and not just lying already is a big achieve! Some of them is really hard to find. Be happy just to see them in real life.
Also, be ready to spend many hours on the road. Kenya’s roads system is not well developed. It will take many hours get from one national park to another, once it took whole day for us. The only option to skip this is take a planes but it will be very expensive. For us spending time in the road wasn’t terrible as we enjoyed the view through the windows, you cannot see true Africa if you take planes. We saw local people life, beautiful African nature. Mansur used to stop for a sunset for us, African sunset is one of the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
One more advice is specially for the girls. If you choose budget safari tour have in mind that two nights you will spend in hotels and four night in tents. My advice is to wash your hairs once you are in hotel :) although tents are really nice and there is a toilet and shower in it, water is not hot. It is okay to wash yourself but not so nice once washing your hair, a little bit cold. So use opportunity to do it once you have a night in hotel.
Big Thank You for Big Time Safari from me and my husband Justin. We really appreciate all your help and the service you provided. It was definitely worth of money adventure.
CR
Email Nancy | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Feel like family
It was our first time in Africa. Martha, Edward and the whole staff of Big Time Safaris made us feel at home. They were always there for us. We had an amazing time with them. And also it was an incredible safari time for us.
SA
Email Aju | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good and professional
Very good and fast response with us our tour organiser mrs Martha she is doing her best
IN
Email Prashant | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Quite reliable Punctual, Stay as per the program sent by Martha. Guide Joseph was very enthusiastic
Communication was prompt and Martha was always available for telecom. Last day we could have gone for half day Safari as per the program. Food at all the lodges except A A Lodge Ambosali was good. Sopa Lodge at Naivasha was the Best. A A Lodge Masai mara was good.
IN
Email Anand Dalvi | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Well planned, co-ordinated and memorable tour.
Properly organized, economical tour with a homely touch. Decent accommodation, tasty food, well experienced Guide cum Driver Mr. Joseph. Martha needs a hats off appreciation. God bless Big time Safaris. Will surely recommend your name to all friends. Tour 27 July to 4 Aug 2019.
Email Chris | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience and value
I went on a 4-day Masai Mara / Nakuru camping safari with Bigtime Safaris.
Communications were consistently quick and polite. They always responded right away and were very helpful.
I was able to book by email remotely, which was important since I was coming from far away with a specific schedule in mind. They needed the deposit via Western Union, which was a bit of a pain, but understandable. It would be nice if they could have accepted something like PayPal.
They provided transportation from my hotel on both ends of the trip. The driver was on time for picking us up and that went smoothly. We finalized payment in the office and were off on our way.
The driver was great. He was very knowledgeable and was a safe driver. He was able to answer any questions we had about the areas and animals and provided lots of information. In the preserves, he had connections with other drivers to find out about animals.
We were able to see far more animals than expected, including a leopard, multiple cheetahs, and multiple lions. The driver generally struck a good balance of letting us spend some time looking and getting off to further areas where we would be likely to see the less common game.
The safari camp at Masai Mara was great. Comfortable beds and electricity in the evenings and morning.
The hotel for Lake Nakuru was not particularly great, but it was mostly due to my specific room having a lot of problems (leaking toilet that didn't flush, no hot water). The beds and pillows were also very firm. The food at the hotel was good.
The Lake Nakuru stop was great for seeing birds and rhinos. We also got a bonus stop in Naivasha for a boat safari, which was not on the original itinerary, but was a nice added bonus.
The van we were in was only 2-wheel drive. While the driver was very good at driving it, we did get stuck a couple times and have to push or get towed out by another van. It was never a huge problem, but it would have been nice to have a 4x4 van.
Overall, I felt the trip was a great value for the price. I got to see far more than I expected and had an amazing trip.
Email Fazal Mohamed | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Safari visits, transportation etc were very good, but camp facilities were very below average
We were a group of 8 family members. The Planning Phase of the tour was good with proper communication from the team . The Safari rates were reasonable. The Airport pick up and the transport arrangement from Nairobi to Massaimara was very well coordinated. The game drives were also very well coordinated and we got opportunities to see many animals. Driver took special interest to take us all around.
However, the condition of the accommodation provided in the Camp in Massaimara was very primitive. Though the camp is well laid out, it was very over crowded and the staff found it extremely difficult to serve food properly. The individual tents were very poorly maintained, especially the 4 tents we got. The furniture including the cot was in bad shape, the bathrooms were not clean, flush was getting blocked, there was a bad stench during night in that part of the camp. All these were reported to the notice of Mr. Joseph in the camp who apparently was in charge of accommodation. He managed to change the cot but nothing more could be done though we requested for a change of tent that was not possible due to the large number of guests in the camp.
I personally feel a lot could be improved in the tents like, clean toilets and drainage, a mirror in the bathrooms, functional water taps, some toiletries like soap shampoo etc. There is definitely a need to check the condition of cots in each of the tents.
It will be Wonderful if a small cultural show by the local folks are organized every evening near the camp fire area. That can make the evenings lively and memorable. There is also a need to improve the food quality. All these may be facilitated to the customers even if it is at the cost of 10 or 20 USD more on package cost. These small deficiencies negatively impacted the overall experience which otherwise was a wonderful Safari at a moderate price.
TW
Email Judy | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Attentive and satisfactory！！！
Nice service and reasonable cost for Big Time Safari Ltd. Martha is a wonderful women to arrange everything to meet our request. Care about our feeling and feedback,she helped us in every possible way. Good experience in Kenya safari，nice car and professional guide to share many information with us. We also book 5 days Mt. Kilimanjaro tour in Tanzania, both are wonderful memories for us. Believe me, You just list your request for sure will get the nice talk and the best service and arrangement from Big Time Safari. We are very enjoy it in East Africa!
CN
Email Xiang | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Wonderful experience, excellent service, interesting and safe journey
My friends and I, we 5 people chosed Big Time Safari company during our journey in Kenya. We all felt satisfied with its good service and the safe journey it offered to us. And it offered the best price than other companies. We would like to recommend this company to our friends. Big Time旅行公司的服务质量和态度都很棒，我们这次5个人组团，每个人都很满意这家公司的服务，经过不同公司间的对比，我们发现他们提供的价格是最合适的，因此推荐给大家。