Kenya Testimonials
Reverend Leslie Hutchinson
" ...We had wanted to visit the world famous Masai Mara Game Reserve for some time. Close to our hotel we found the office of Wild Dream Holidays, run by the proprietor Mr Farhan. I was impressed byFarhan, he is a very personable young man and was clearly well informed in all aspects of safaris.
He arranged for us to stay at the Fig Tree Camp for 1 night on the Masai Mara which is actually inside the boundaries of the reserve (note: other tours claimed to be in the reserve but are actually up to some 80 kilometres outside). This meant we would not have to travel far to see the animals. We saw elephants, lions, cheetahs, giraffes, bucks, hippos, buffaloes, various birds of prey and the leopard, which is rare these days. We had a wonderful trip. We could have almost reached down and stroked a Lioness as she strolled by. We would be delighted to recommend Wild Dream Holidays for a great safari... "
''Thanks to Wild Dream HolidaysI got to see the Masai Mara in all its splendour and was lucky enough to see four out of the Big Five. In fact while staying at the Mara Safari Club for night it is a GUARANTEE to get close to the a white rhinoceros like I got so close to the young one that took my breath away!
I have never seen such beautiful landscape and awe-inspiring nature. Once you have been on safari, like those organised by Wild Dream Holidays, your outlook on life changes. You not only respect nature but you also admire what it has achieved.
I have never met people as friendly as Kenyans. I made friends instantly and I found it so refreshing that every passer-by would say 'Jambo' (Hello) to you and smile. I miss that so much. No one in Kenya is too busy to say Jambo. Such a friendly attitude can make such a difference to your holiday.
If you were considering visiting Kenya I would recommend that you plan a safari and time to relax. Safaris can be tiring as you have early morning game drives (and I mean EARLY!) so once the safari is over, you will want to sleep!
Wild Dream Holidays can help you, as the company helped me, in choosing the best safari to suit your needs/desires. Joseph Ikavi made sure that everything went smoothly for me. Such a personal service is rare these days''
Family E. Edmunds, Family J. Lacey, Family G. Thorpe, Family F. Dohn and Family D. Francel; together a group of 23 persons utilized our services for an exclusive and extremely high standard safari in Kenya and Tanzania. A section of the gentlemen in the group began their safari with a hike to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. After a successful conquer of the roof of Africa and having had an exceptional view of Africa atop the snow capped mountain, they returned to the ground where their spouses and families received them with jubilation.
The group then embarked on a tour of Kenya on an exclusive flying safari on privately chartered planes. They flew into Amboseli Nat. Park where our vehicles and drivers received them. With a proud sense of accomplishment; especially the men; the group enjoyed their games with the imposing Mt. Kilimanjaro in their background.
From Amboseli, the group flew on their private charter planes to Mount Kenya and found our drivers and buses eagerly awaiting them. From Mt. Kenya, they went to Samburu Nat. Reserve where they had wonderful game drives. From Samburu, their charter planes took them to the heart of the Rift Valley; Lake Nakuru Nat. Park where they saw the flamingoes and rhinos. From Nakuru, the charter planes took them to Masai Mara where they were picked up by our buses and drivers and had 3 days of awesome game drives in this great wilderness.
From Masai Mara, the group flew into Nairobi and further proceeded to the romantic islands of the Seychelles. The group stayed for a whole week in the Seychelles and sampled all the big islands. They stayed in the 3 main islands of Mahe, Praslin and La Digue. The group used charter planes from Mahe to Praslin and a private charter boat to La Digue. They stayed in exclusive and deluxe resorts in this wonderful paradise in the Indian Ocean.
After their safari, this is what they had to say:-
“Speaking for my family, the pleasure was all ours. It was a flawless trip. You guys really cared about us. I’ve dealt with many a tour operator or packager over the years, in every part of the world, and there haven’t been many who actually escorted us through customs and immigration. You and everybody command a super-professional operation.
The fact that you even sent us emails after the safari says a lot; many operators just prefer to take your money and never hear from you again after the trip is over, perhaps afraid there may be complaints or demands for refunds.
Everything was perfect, from the Kili Climb to the magically beautiful Seychelles. Masai Mara and Samburu were superb and so were the lodges. Amboseli, I frankly had modest expectations for, but it was there we saw a cheetah eating its kill, and another cheetah making a run on a herd of gazelle. Lake Nakuru was a blessing as we saw flamingos, rhinos and a couple of leopards.
Flying from place to place made a BIG difference and everyone appreciated the chartered planes. The kids all had a blast”.
E. Edmunds Jr. and family, Los Angeles, USA.
“My family and I wanted to express our heartfelt thanks for the amazing journey through Kenya that your company organized. We feel humbled by the kindness and consideration of the Kenya people who were so generous to us during our stay. The landscape vistas were breathtaking from the birds eye view from the charter flights, where we could make out the herds of animals inhabiting the Amboseli and Masai Mara and see the vastness and beauty of Africa. The shores of Lake Nakuru were such a surprise. From a distance, we envisioned the shores were decorated with thousands of pink wildflowers, and realized that we were viewing, instead, flock upon flock of the greater and lesser flamingos. Our daughters fell in love with elephant and giraffe babies.
Africa was a dream that came true. The outdoor dinners under the southern constellations were captivating. And, we all miss the company of the warthog patrols who must be the most comical looking of all the species.
“You have opened our eyes to the beauty of Africa and the Seychelles. We could not have imagined a better safari and we will keep the trip forever in our hearts. Thanks You”.
G. Thorpe and family, Los Angeles, USA.
“This was the most amazing vacation my family and I have ever taken. Your professionalism and eye to detail made our trip very enjoyable and we sincerely thank you for a job perfectly done. The drivers were very knowledgeable and courteous. The national parks and animals were very interesting. We saw more animals than we really anticipated. The private charter flights provided us with exceptional aerial views of the country. My family and I wish to thank you all for all your kindness and professionalism”.
J. Lacey and family, Los Angeles, USA.
“Overall this has to be one of the great trips I have ever taken and my family and I really appreciated all of the work you did in making us feel welcome. Everyone was very helpful and informative”.
F. Dohn and family, Los Angeles, USA.
B. Dwight and S. Favia utilized our services in Kenya for their wedding and honeymoon. We organized for them a full wedding package on the beautiful sandy beaches of the Indian Ocean in Mombasa. The wedding package included all the relevant and official documentation, registration and wedding certificate, wedding cake, sparkling wine, button hole and bouquet, flowers, fruits, honeymoon suite, photos, videos, traditional dancers and witnesses.
After the wedding, the newly weds departed on a private honeymoon across Kenya’s national parks. They went to Mount Kenya where they stayed in a tree hotel. They then continued to Lake Nakuru where they saw the beautiful flamingos and rhinocerous. They further went to the Masai Mara where they enjoyed exclusive game drives in this unique national reserve. At each destination, they were received with jubilation and endowed with the honeymooner suite with a basket of fresh fruits. They then flew back to Nairobi.
After their wedding and honeymoon, this is what they said:-
“We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to you for making our wedding day and honeymoon so special. We never could have arranged a more beautiful occasion without you. The honeymoon safari was very well arranged and exceptionally good. We enjoyed seeing the animals and the different national parks. We have shown our wedding DVD to some friends and they were extremely impressed. Again, thank you so much. We both feel that we have made very good friends”.
B. Dwight and S. Favia, New Jersey, USA.
TANZANIA TRIP REPORT
Our Tanzania trip was incredibly successful. We had one or two slow mornings, and an occasional slow afternoon, but all in all we had dozens of incredible, heart-stopping photographic opportunities. After this trip, I am eager to get back and Todd Gustafson has already contacted UTC/Leopard with our 2004 itinerary; see below for details. We had four leopards, 7 or so cheetahs, and many, many lions--including a baby female. We saw a leopard hunt and we saw a cheetah hunt. We had one lion kill. At Ndutu we were in the middle of a huge zebra and wildebeest migration, and, in addition, the wildebeest were calving. Photographing at Ngorongoro Crater is like photographing in a zoo, only the animals are all wild and they eat each other! We had great chances on a variety of great birds including Grey-crowned Crane, Cape Teal, Lesser Flamingo, Yellow-billed Stork, and Saddle-billed Stork (except for me--I was always in the "other" van...) We experienced 3 perfect, regal male lions at Ndutu, an opal sunset at Tarangire, and had our box lunches stolen by the Yellow-billed Kites at the Crater picnic area. (These birds were easily photographed in flight.) Having rehabbed my hip (as per instructions in the great book on body mechanics, Pain Free, by Peter Egoscue), the flights were more than tolerable, including the trip home, a 36 hour door-to-door experience. The roads in Tanzania were good and the food was soo sweet to be forgotten. We stopped for lunch one day at Gibbs Farms where I had four bowls of the most incredible desserts know to human-kind.
John Dupps of Dayton, Ohio, Cliff Slater of Hawaii, Big Jim McIntyre of Salt Lake City, UT, and John Bryant of South Africa joined Todd and for a truly memorable safari. One of my fondest memories of the trip was hearing John say over and over with his distinctive South African accent, "Mind the thorns, boys!" whenever we were just about to get scalped by a low-hanging acacia. We had lions in the trees at Manyara, including one that we did not see that rested just ten feet and directly above us... We had baby Vervet Monkeys and baby Olive Baboons. We photographed Grant's Gazelles, tommies, and impalas, all in golden light. We had some great giraffes, and dozens of wonderful chances with African elephants. We had silver-backed and golden jackals--one of the latter ran alongside the van carrying the head of a baby wildebeest! We had great flight shooting on an east wind morning as several species of vultures came into a kill. We had so many great chances that it would take a book to describe them all.
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