ナイロビ発ケニア＆タンザニアビッグ5野生動物キャンプサファリ14日間

“14-Day Jewel of African Safari Maasai Mara and Serengeti” was a lot of fun. I was very pleased to see all of the Big Five up close. I planned this trip with great anticipation for catching some parts of the Great Migration. So witnessing it in western Serengeti was one of the highlights of this trip. My guide/driver in Kenya, Martin, was very knowledgeable and nice. Easy to talk to and accommodating. He had answers to all of my questions and later quizzed me, which I failed miserably. The only problem I had was the unrealistic itinerary made by Gracepatt. Overall, I had a wonderful experience throughout the trip. Very nice lodges and luxury camps with courteous staff. However, there were many discrepancies between the itinerary I printed after my booking and what actually happened. No.1. Early morning game drives before breakfast (mentioned 2 times.) Never happened. We started after breakfast. No.2. Game drives until late in the evening (mentioned 6 times.) This happened only once. I got back to the camps around 4:30pm most of the time. It would’ve been nice to see the sunset in different locations and some evening activities that would’ve been different from the day. No. 3. A canoe ride to and from a walk in Mawaburugu village. Did not happen. I paid for a birdwatching walk instead to explore the area. No 4. Guided nature walk with a Maasai Maran. This was supposed to be included in the tour but I was informed that it costed $20 extra. (I didn’t have to pay because our jeep needed a minor repair and I waited in a Maasai village until it got fixed.) No.5. The length and the cost of optional hot air balloon ride. The itinerary saved only 3 hours for this but it takes a lot longer in average. (Mine took over 7 hours.) The cost was $500 at the time of my booking but it was quoted as $599 on the actual day. My guide in Tanzania was nice enough to negotiate the price. There is no question that I am glad I went on this safari adventure. But I had a strong feeling that the operator filled each day from early morning to late evening so eager to attract tourists’ interest that they ignored the difficulties of completing the schedule. As an active individual who was on a long-waited vacation, I welcomed/expected busy schedule, but for the guide/driver, I believe it would’ve been grueling if everything was done according to the itinerary, especially in the case like my tour that required consecutive days of driving for hours in extremely rough conditions. So “Thank you!” to my hard working guides. And “Please make your itinerary more manageable for your guides!l to Gracepatt.