DAY TRIP TO LAKE NAKURU

So There are many safari companies in Kenya, after a long search for a Masai Mara safari, I chose Bencia and it was so amazing , here is why: they are Punctual, Clean car, Decent meals, Friendly driver, Sanitizer in car. our driver did the best day and he didn’t save any effort to please each of us. Thank you for the amazing experience.

Initially I booked a 2 days/1 night safari to the Maasai Mara through WhatsApp (awesome and easy way to do it I must add) I was picked up on time by my fantastic guide, dropped off at BAAS offices to finalize my booking and for payment. Unfortunately (not really in the end) another of my tours got cancelled and I was convinced by the very helpful guys at BAAS to book an extra day, which I did. Best decision I made, because the second day we did a full day safari and we basically saw all the wildlife possible. Absolutely amazing experience with an even more amazing guide (some top notch driving was displayed). Overnight stay at the camp in “tents” was above expectations (hot showers and electricity). Also super flexible at fitting a safari tour to everyone’s needs, which sometimes makes it all a little chaotic (different agencies, companies use the same camp/guides to do the tour, so people might have different itineraries), but the guide was very flexible and wanted to give everyone the best possible safari experience, so we came to a decision as a group. Would definitely book with these guys again, highly recommend.

I had a dream of doing I mountain hike, yeah and I thought mount Kenya would be a nice experience. I did my booking through this Company.for the 5 days mount Kenya hike and trust me I had the best experience ever!

We had a very negative experience with Bencia Africa Adventures. Before our trip to Masai Mara, another guiding company (i.e. one of Bencia's competitors) offered us a very good price, and they openly admitted that the reason that they were able to offer us such a good price is through bribery of the park rangers at the Masai Mara park gate, where instead of purchasing another 24-hour entry permit for Day #3, they would simply bribe the rangers to look the other way and allow the (expired) Day #2 permit to remain in use. Bencia offered us a more expensive tour, but they promised that they would give us a corruption-free experience, and that they would provide us with all the receipts for the entry permits, as proof of a corruption-free experience. So we trusted them and decided to go with their services. Our tour guide, Timothy, provided receipts for Days #1 and #2, but on Day #3 he failed to provide one. I kept pressuring him to provide the receipt, but he continued to give excuses for why he cannot provide it. I told him that what he is doing is dishonest and corrupt, and then I asked him a very simple question: "the entry permits cost $80 per day, so for 3 days that's $240...how much money did you pay in total for my entry permits?" He continued avoiding my question, telling me that he paid an "appropriate amount, as instructed by Bencia." An honest man would answer my question, since he has nothing to hide. Clearly this was not the case here. Our 4-day tour was supposed to look like this: Day #1 - evening game drive (16:30 to 18:30) Day #2 - full day game drive (7:30 - 18:30) Day #3 - full day game drive (7:30 - 18:30) Day #4 - morning game drive (6:30 - 9:00) Instead, our guide Timothy ended Day #2 early: he insisted on finishing at 16:30 instead of coming back to the park gate to purchase the next 24-hour period, and start the clock at 16:30 on Day #2 and finish the day at 18:30 as per our agreement. Then on Day #3, we went into the park at 7:30, so our permits were valid until 7:30 in the morning on Day #4. On Day #4 we insisted on sticking to the program and going from 6:30 to 9:00, and buying another 24-hour entry permit to cover the 7:30 - 9:00 period, when our second entry permit had expired. Instead, Timothy insisted on proceeding and that he would "sort it out" upon exit from the park. At the park gate he exited the vehicle and went by himself to "sort it out". Until then Timothy had provided us the receipts for the first two 24-hour periods. After returning to the vehicle I insisted on seeing the receipt for which he apparently paid, and he continued to avoid my question. I later read that the Narok County Government is notorious for this type of bribery at the Masai Mara park gate, and that Bencia Africa Adventures is not the only company to engage in such corruption. If you want to go to Masai Mara, I highly recommend getting a quote from a guiding company for all services WITHOUT including the price of entry permits, and simply pay the entry permits by yourself (at the time of writing, it is $80 per person for every 24 hour period). Without entry permits, the operating costs for the tour company will involve: transportation, fuel, and wear & tear of the safari vehicle, accomodation & meals (2500 KSH per night per person for budget accommodation), entry permit for the safari vehicle (1200 KSH per 24 hours), entry permit for the guide (1000 KSH per 24 hours), one time entry fee into Masai Village (1000 KSH per person). If your guide fails to provide a receipt for the park entry, please report the corruption to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission. I reported Bencia today. Most importantly, if you do not support corruption, then I DO NOT recommend using the services of Bencia Africa Adventures.

Wow thank you so much for this experience. Quality-Value 💯 Our guide would go the extra mile to have always the best spot and to not miss the action. A whole adventure with him! And we were always so grateful that he cared that we didn’t miss anything. I didn’t ask a lot of my questions because I feel he didn’t really know most of the times. Which is not his fault! He was always nice and polite. Food amazingggg so much food always. Accommodation super comfy!! Even though the one at Maasai Mara had bedbugs 😭 they were very sorry even though it wasn’t their fault. I’d suggest to change the accommodation for next time because there was no electricity at night and this is a big problem because we all like to have a phone/camera fully charged to take lots of pictures. The bed was very comfy still. Thank you sooo much. Recommended 100% I can see how people working in this company are super nice and caring.