Beacon Safaris Team in Masai Mara
Beacon Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2010)
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $867 to $2,081 per person per day (MXN, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
Email Fiona | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Kenya Unveiled - at the heart of the people and wildlife
You know when you have made the right decision when your 12 and 14 year old sons on day 2 say to you..."mum this is the best holiday ever!!!" This was in the middle of the Masai Mara up close and personal with the raw wildlife! Our guide Kenneth from Beacon Safaris was fantastic! From the moment we met him at Nariobi Airport and he gave us a welcoming friendly big smile I knew we were in good hands. Not only did we feel safe throughout the whole 7 day safari but Kenneth was a fountain of knowledge and information which really enriched our experience. We chose the Kenyan Premier Safari - 6 nights across 3 of the best Safari Parks in Kenya including the Masai Mara, Lake Nakura and Amboselli - a great mix of differences between the parks and the variety of animals plus a great way to really see the diversity of the Kenyan countryside from dry plains to wet hills to the many lakes. For our family this was a brilliant, raw and non-manufactured or commerical safari experience, one we will never forget!!! Thankyou Beacon Safaris and Kenneth our guide for taking us on this great adventure - we were blown away!
Email Gwen V. | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
3 Day Taste of Masai Mara Safarie
Greetings. I wanted to give a big shout out to Beacon Safaris and our awesome guide John Jackson. We were 2 ladies traveling alone from the USA. Every part of the safari exceeded our expectations. From Robert helping book & select our tour to John being a very fun and an informative guide. We felt 100% satisfied with our accommodations, 100% safe and 100% over joyed with every minute we spent in the Masai. John suggested for us to take the hot air balloon ride, it was the pentacle of our trip!! Very few times do I want to return to a vacation spot....but Kenya and all its beauty & lovely people make me want to plan another trip as soon as I can!!! Blessing to all at Beacon Safaris!
Email Millie | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
This was an amazing and totally awesome and unforgettable experience
From my first inquiry, Robert was absolutely wonderful. Even when I changed the date, he was most accommodating. He was patient with waiting for my deposit until a secure portal was available. I simply could not have asked for better service. The safari itself was the best the four of us have ever been on. Eustus was by far an amazing guide. We saw the big five the first day. He spotted animals from such a long distance that to us it seemed humanly impossible, but time and time again he did it. It was an unforgettable time.
Email Jerry | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Outstanding Safari to Masai-Mara
I made a last-minute decision to go on a safari to Kenya. After inquiring with several companies, I decided to use Beacon Safaris because Robert was very fast to reply to my emails and made sure to mold my solo trip to my needs. Upon arrival, I was met by John at the airport. John made sure my trip was was outstanding. He knows what he is doing! His knowledge of the animals, birds, and plants is amazing. Masai-Mara is a special place. You will not forget the first time you see a lion just ten feet away from you. Bring plenty of memory for your camera. I knew before I left that I will be returning to Masai-Mara and I will be using Beacon Safaris. I will also be requesting that John takes me on my next trip. I have several friends and relatives that want to go with me next time.
KR
Email Swann Kim | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The most excellent decision in Kenya trip
Actually I and my wife were nervous a bit, since it was our first visit not only in Kenya, but also in Africa. So even after reading so many reviewes of over 10 companies really carefully for some days in planning my schedule in Kenya, it was not easy to choose the one. (I could find really many tour companies with reviews on online, and safari tour was the most important for my african trip...) That was Beacon finally, and this decision was the most excellent one I made during this vacation.
Eric, our driver and guide, was really gentle and professional. He was able to answer any questions of us about animal, plant, life and culture in Kenya and safari. His driving was also perfect and we are suprised that he really knew all the paths and alleys even in savana, so it made us see all the wild animals(without only leopard!!!) and enjoy the long way move even on off road, "African Massage."
My trip was private for me and my wife, and for 4 days including masai mara, nakuru, and naivasha. The best way to enjoy safari tour is just following Eric's guide, (then he would show everything of wild savana), I'd like to recommend to take boat tour and walking safari (it's optional) if you are planned to come by lake naivasha in your itinery. It will be special.
I wish to visit safari again some day, I promise it would be beacon again. I want to say thanks here again to beacon and Eric(to Robert, also).
Email Les Daubney | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Rescued our holiday and gave us the experiences we always dreamed of.
This company gets good reviews for a reason, although small they are very very good
Robert and his team came to the rescue when we were badly let down by another operator. I was a little nervous about rebooking our trip following our very bad experience but I need not have worried everything went really really smoothly and everything fully met our expectations. Robert went above and beyond when our luggage was delayed in Frankfurt by 24 hours. We went onto Samburu whilst Robert arranged to collect our luggage and reunite us with it at Nakuru a couple of days into the trip.He also arranged our transfer from Wilson to Jomo Kenyatta when we flew back into Nairobi after spending a few days on the coast after our safari. We would have been happy to get a taxi but the transfer was a kind and generous offer.
Eric our driver and guide was excellent throughout. We saw all of the animals we hoped to see with superb views and photos of everything. We also identified almost 200 species of birds!. Eric was extremely patient with us every time we asked to stop to look at and identify a bird although I suspect he did run up a big phone bill!. In the parks Eric always knew where to take us and in the Mara particularly was in his element when the cry went out on the CB that a cat had been sighted. Like a good hunter he thoroughly enjoyed the thrill of the chase!
Just a word of advice based on our experience. You are often advised to travel with US dollars. As residents of the UK we lose some money when we change from GBP into dollars. In Kenya many people will take dollars but always convert to Kenyan Shillings. The exchange rate varied from 85 - 100 Shillings to the dollar. You will likely lose out again when you pay in dollars. If we were visiting again we would just take Kenyan Shillings.
Robert arranged a 12 day safari visiting Samburu, Nakuru, the Masai Mara, Naivasha, and Amboseli. He also arranged and booked 5 days of R&R at Diani beach at the end of the trip. The animals, the birds, the accommodation, the food and the company were all excellent throughout. based on our experience we would recommend that you give Beacon Safaris the chance to make your dream come true
Email Mark | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An amazing experience in Kenya!
My wife and I toured the Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, Lake Naivasha and Hell's Gate in a 4x4 Landcruiser on private safari and had the time of our lives! We saw every animal of our dreams and took in the perfect landscapes in awe. Beacon was a top operator, allowing for full customization and providing great customer support throughout the booking process. The real star, however, was our guide, Antony. Highly professional, knowledgeable and friendly he took the safari to another level. He seemed to know all the other guides, was forever finding a tip for the next animal and put us in perfect spots for great photos. Antony was also knowledgeable and able to explain the names and behaviors of any animal or bird to be seen. Lastly, his attention to detail and client service stands out. Without saying so, we could tell he listened for queues and tailored his guiding to what he observed us most excited to see. I'd recommend Kenya, Beacon and Antony to anyone!
DK
Email Allan Hyldal | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Kenyan Safari!
Visiting Africa and going on a Safari for the first time, you really don’t know what to expect. Through Safaribookings.com we quickly zoomed in on Beacon Safaris as they offered the locations we were looking for and they had amazing reviews. Robert, the owner of Beacon, was quick to respond and very flexible in accommodating our special requests: we started out with an 8-Day Best of Kenya Safari and ended up with 9 fantastic days through which we feel we got a good understanding of the true Kenya.
In the morning of our first safari day we were picked up at the hotel by our guide Daniel. We were going to spend the majority of the next 9 days with him, so no wonder we were a little anxious to meet him: what if we didn’t get along - that would make it 9 very long days... Now, Daniel turned out to be one of the nicest persons we have ever met; very knowledgeable about his country, it’s parks and animals, and it’s customs and politics (when spending so much time together you do get to speak about topics other than the Big Five). Make no mistake about it, your guide is the most essential part of a successful safari and Daniel is the best ambassador his company and his country could ever ask for.
And how did our safari go? We saw everything we came for - and several times. We saw big families of elephants and giraffes grassing the savannah and crossing rivers. We saw a leopard with her cub chilling in an old tree top. We saw lions hunting and eating a wildebeest. We saw a huge group of hippos hanging out in a mud pool. We saw lots of black and white rhinos (in Ol Pejeta we even got to feed sugar canes to the old and blind black rhino Baraka). We saw thousands and thousands of wildebeest migrating from the Serengeti through the Masai Mara - including their spectacular crossing of the Mara river. And we saw cheetahs, buffalos, gazelles, crocodiles, hyeanas and many, many other animals. Daniel made sure we were always at the right spot at the right time!
Finally, a few pieces of advice:
Make sure you go for the Land Cruiser; is does cost a little extra but it is money well spend (regardless, however, you will be aching all over after the long and bumpy drives).
Make sure you pick a least a few tented camp; it’s a unique experience to hear the sounds of the savannah at night and you feel as if you’re almost sleeping with the wild animals (which is a good thing on a safari...).
Be aware that the roads in Kenya can be as bad as you can possibly imagine. As a consequence, getting from one park to another will be quite time consuming.
And make sure you ask for Daniel to be your guide and everything will be just fine!
AT
Email Peter | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Spectacular trip with a great guide.
Me and my girlfriend did a "6 days through the rift"-tour in early Oktober 2019 with Beacon Safaris. This tour was nothing short of amazing. Especially the masai mara was so overwhelming in its beauty that we would describe this holyday as one of the best ones we ever did. We where also very lucky because we saw a lion kill, wilderbeast river crossings, cheetas sneaking up on prey....and so many more incredible sights. Our guide Peter was very nice and knowledgeable. Unfortunatly one of the camps overbooked us and Beacon Safari had to relocate us in the last night. They did give us a refund for the room price difference and also the other camp was very comitted in making us feel good. Hotels overbooking is a very rare occurance though so we cant really fault Beacon for that. We definatly recomend beacon and if you book a tour take the slighly more expensive 4by4 Car option instead of the van. With this you can take more direct routes and get to places easier. The prices for the tour was very fair considering what you get.
Email Jeff Yeager | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We highly recommend Beacon Safaris for an affordable, well-planned, excellently-guided safari.
My wife and I were delighted with our Beacon Safari experience (Five Day - Masai Mara/Lake Naivasha/Amboseli) and highly recommend Beacon if you're looking for a safari out of Nairobi.
The diverse wildlife we encountered far exceeded our expectations, often leaving us speechless. The itinerary was well-planned and varied in terms of seeing wildlife in several different parks/preserves, and - although it was too cloudy to see much of Mount Kilimanjaro when we were there - we appreciated the fact that the itinerary gave us a chance to see a broader span of the Kenyan hinterlands than five day safaris offered by some other operators. The vehicle was comfortable and well maintained, and everything happened when and how it was supposed to, including the pickup at a private apartment we were renting in Nairobi and the drop off at the airport at the end of the safari.
For a private safari experience, we were surprised at the reasonable cost of our five day safari. We selected "mid-range" accommodations, which included two nights of "glamping" and two nights of mid-range lodges, but all of the accommodations far exceeded our expectations as well. We are an older, retired couple, and we travel a great deal - always independently and at the budget end of the travel cost spectrum - and the "mid-range" accommodations booked by Beacon for the safari were among the nicest places we stayed during our five week trip in sub-Saharan Africa. The meals were also ample and delightful, with something to appeal to everyone's taste.
But without a doubt, the absolutely best thing about our Beacon Safari experience was our intrepid guide, Anthony. A patient man, with any easy laugh, good sense of humor, and unlimited knowledge of not just the flora and fauna we were seeing, but also the the geology, history, and culture of the places we visited. How he was able to safely drive over the roughest terrain we've ever encountered - all while spotting hidden wildlife and providing a running commentary about everything we saw and experienced - I'll never know. Although this was our first safari, I got the distinct impression from other guides we encountered that Anthony was not only highly respected, but a leader among them. Anthony was often the first safari guide to spot hidden wildlife - alerting other safaris in the area as to their location - and many times he would have us patiently wait so that he could move our vehicle into the perfect viewing/photo location, while most other guides drove off with their clients, missing those special opportunities.
The only suggested improvement I would pass along to Beacon Safari is the need to update some of the pricing information in their literature about the costs of some of the "optional activities" during the safari (e.g. visit to Masai village, boat trip on Lake Naivasha, etc.). We found those costs to be about double the amount indicated Beacon's literature, but they were still very informative and enjoyable, and we were glad that we included them in our safari.
We highly recommend Beacon Safaris for an affordable, well-planned, excellently-guided safari experience.