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
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.
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.
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。
IN
Email Debabrata | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Wonderful experience with Big Time Safaris Ltd for our deal with them for 11days trip
We have successfully completed the 11 days trip of Kenya and Tanzania to cover both Masaimara and Seringitee through Big Time Safaris Ltd .Our journey beings with then on 11th August 2016 and ended on 22nd August ,2016 evening it was fantastic tour and the Big Time safari Ltd guys have been immaculate in their arrangement ,program,schedule,itinerary ,car,driver and guide ,cock.Right from the day 1 we have been in constant travel as per their itinerary with their expert Driver like ,Richard,jackson,Animo and George.The camp we stayed are excellent barring few occasion where we did not get hot shower.food excellent ,safari excellent .And above all thankful to Martha Mutanu the main coordinator for the tour with whom we have been in constant touch from our country and she has been excellent in networking with us throughout the tour .We look forward to enjoy more such trip with Big Time safaris Ltd in the years to come .Our heartfelt thanks to all who have been in constant stay with us for the trip...
CL
Email Emilia | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great guides
I recommend the experience booking with Big Time Safaris. We were a family group of 5, with a preference to see as much of the Masaai Mara and Serenguetti as possible. Martha, our sales representative from Big Time Safaris, was very proactive, accomodating and patient to help us arrange for a private camping safari, providing several options and establishing a fluid communication through whatsapp to clarify doubts.
Once in Kenya, our guide, Zack Ouko, exceeded our expectations in terms of assuring a smooth coordination of lodging, meals and general logistics. Once inside the parks, he proved superior in spotting animals, providing us with detailed information (he carried zoology and picture books to help with our questions), which lead to some exclusive sightings and a very exciting experience. Once in Tanzania, our new guide, Ziggy, was also very helpful in navigating the parks and campings to focus all of our attention and time in the many animals we found in Serenguetti, Ngorongoro and Taranguire. Our cook, Simon, was superb, accomodating for a vegetarian in our group. Although the hotel in Arusha was below our expectations, the general experience was great.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great six day safari to Samburu, Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru
I rarely write reviews but BigTime Safaris gave me an excellent trip and there aren't a lot of reviews for safaris, so I thought it would help people by seeing a review. I did a six day safari to Samburu, Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara. Martha was extremely responsive to all my questions and always replied back to my emails within day. She scheduled my pickup to and from the airport also. Martha was phenominal. Rarely have I had someone be so responsive and helpful. Animal (or Animo) was my guide and driver and was fantastic. He was extremely knowledgeable about the animals we saw and had a great personality. Big Time Safaris was priced well. Lucky for me, no one signed up for the Samburu portion of my trip, so it was just the guide and myself. The fourth day we picked up a second tourist for the Masai Mara portion of the tour. Even though I went in April and in the rainy season, it only rained two days. One day it rained 20 minutes, the other day it rained for 1.5 hours. So even if you can only go in April, still go as the weather was gorgeous and I had no issues. Also, Samburu was better than the Masai Mara in my opinion. There was a higher density of animals and the landscape was a bit more hilly/picturesque. Lake Nakuru was nice to see rhinos and rock hyrax.
Email The Nomadic Diaries | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Would do it again
Everything was amazing. I came in without expectations and the team at bigtime. Within 24 hours of my inquiry I was placed on a bus with a group and had a great 3-days seeing every animal Africa could offer (aside the rhino and leopard) with a knowledgeable and funny guide\driver who answered every question with patience and had some great anecdotes from past safaris. He has sharp eyes and spotted the two lions stalking the herd of buffalo on our first sunset safari.
The next day, a full day in the park, he drove us around for 120 K's keeping the same patience and level of professionalism throughout the entire day. And that was the day we saw everything. Of course, no animal sightings are guaranteed and we were pretty lucky.
The camp had all the necessary facilities and great food and hosts. The local Maasai are friendly and happy to show you their village and home.
All up, it was a memorable Africn experience that will stay with me until I hit old age and lose my memory.
Thanks Bigtime Safaris!