karenbrown1970,

With regard to safaris, a two day with First Choice (Thomson) to Tsavo east/west is £270 per person. A two day by air to the Masai Mara is £385. I can't give you prices for a 3 days with them, I'm off in 3 weeks so will find out for you! I think it's about £360. A 3 day with Severin (where I'm staying) is 450-500 euros for the 3 day, depending on where you go (choice of two). I've been looking around the same as you have and from what I can see, the price of an independant safari (ie not going through your tour operator) is about $400-600 for a 3 day / 2 night trip. There seems to be a big variation in prices. That's what I'm looking at doing in the second week, i'm diving the first week.

With regard to flights, refer to our dedicated Thomsonfly (Thomson Airways) thread over on the flights forum where you'll find loads of opinions and aircraft information.

Darren

Hi Dazbo, I will be very interested in your trip as we are going with first choice at the end of May. We are staying at the Baobab and doing a 3 night safari in Tsavo east and west. The cost of the safari is £375 each, when we booked the girl in the shop made a mistake so we ended up getting one safari for half price, also got Premium cabin for a very good price.

richcoll wrote:

we booked the girl in the shop made a mistake so we ended up getting one safari for half price

That was a result!! I'll post some photos and a brief report when I get back. 20 days and counting

Darren

Hi

Thank you for your advice i am looking at a company called Freddy safaris he has great reviews on the internet and is £360 for a 3 day safari,

I look forward to hearing from you when you get back though and could you tell me what jags did you get and how long before you went did you get them

many thanks and have a great time

karenbrown1970,

If you put your holiday details in to the Thomson Excursions site (same as First Choice), it'll list everything they offer and pricing. I'm looking at the Tsavo east and west superior for 2 nights as I'd love to see Killamanjaro even if it's only in the distance.

could you tell me what jabs did you get and how long before you went did you get them

Nothing is mandatory for Kenya. However, Yellow fever is advisable as is having your tetanus, typhoid, diphtheria and Hep A+B up to date (I had to have them all, 6 injections as my 10 years was up!!). Yellow fever is £45. You'll also need malaria protection. The recommended one is Malarone (prescribed from your doctor). It's £2.10 per tablet. For a 2 week holiday, you'll need 23 (£48.30 Boots online is the cheapest I found, local chemist quoted £72!). You start taking them 2 days before you travel, for the duration of your holiday and a week once you get home. Some decide not to take these or get cheaper version such as Avachlore. It's personal choice, but the cheap ones have far more side effects and Avachlore and other drugs don't work in Kenya as they are resistant. You need to discuss it with your doctor / practive nurse who specalises in vaccinations. It can take up to 4 weeks to have all your injections done as they can only do 2 at a time and you need to leave 10 days in between injections. The sooner you make the appointment, the better really.

Darren

does anyone know if these injections for kenya are safe for a pregnant woman, my daughter has just booked a trip to kenya last week for june and has found out shes pregnant today, so im really worried about her going with all these jabs she will need , how unlucky to have booked this holiday a week ago

Ellie_meg, She may be better to seek advice from her GP.

Oh by the way - congratulations!
Kath x

im in shock didnt expect to be a nana for a while despite her being with her partner for 7 yrs lol, little daughter on a high shes so excited at the thought of becoming an auntie. yes she will ask at the drs next week, but just wondered if anyone knew beforehand

richcoll wrote:

Hi Dazbo, I will be very interested in your trip as we are going with first choice at the end of May.

Just got back from 2 weeks staying in Bamburi at the Severin Sea Lodge. The hotel was lovely, food excellent and staff really friendly. We had a fabulous time on safari and ended up going with Pollman's (First Choice / Thomson use them) on the 2 night / 3 day Tsavo East / West. It involves a fair bit of travelling, but well worth it when you get there. We saw lots of amazing things, but I must say we saw far more in Tsavo East than West. I couldn't beleive how many Elephants there were, litterally thousands! We saw 4 of the big 5; everything except Rhino's but 4 out of 5 isn't bad. We stayed at the Aruba Lodge the first night and Severin Safari Camp (affiliated to the hotel we were staying at) the second night. It was amazing how good they were, particularly the Severin Safari Camp. We had a herd of Elephants walk through the camp through the night, they woke us up about 2am! You are 40km from the nearest road yet the camp offers 5 star facilities and cuisine. Definately an experience not to be missed. It made a change pointing the camera at wildlife instead of metal birds, a few examples;















Darren

Fantastic photo's Darren, glad you had a graet time. Weare really looking forward to our trip now, only 9 weeks to go.

I thought mine from Tsavo last year were good Darren but yours are brill!
Never mind. Off to Kenya again in July this time going to Masai Mara to improve my photography skills! If I don't I will have to return to wonderful Kenya again!!

Mandy

Ye, very nice photographs. We are going in October and I'm hoping to take my own.
What equipment did you need for these?

Gorgeous photo's Darren

alanwall wrote:

Ye, very nice photographs. We are going in October and I'm hoping to take my own.
What equipment did you need for these?

That's for your comments, I try my best! I use a Canon EOS 50D D-SLR with Sigma 50-500mm EX APO DG lens. For me, it's the most versitile lens available and proved very useful on safari because of the focal ranges available. It's not the sharpest of lenses, but provides the coverage. I also use a Sigma 10-20mm EX DC HSM and Canon 24-105mm f/4 L. All bases covered!! I also had a Canon EOS 350D with me with a 75-300mm IS USM as back-up, a friend used that and got some lovely results. Although I use high quality equipment, you can get away with more basic cameras but I would definately recommend something with a good quality lens and large zoom. A digital compact with say a 3x or 5x optical zoom will just frustrate you, so something with a 10x would be more suited. You can get pretty close to the wildlife, but if you want to get close to the action .....


(I wish he would have looked straight down the lens!)







..... you need the right equipment for the job. If you are shooting digital, don't forget plenty of memory card capacity and spare batteries!

Darren

Brilliant - thanks . I've been looking at the Sigma 500mm zoom lenses for my Sony a100...
Good to hear from someone who knows what he's talking about who is happy with the results

One other thing I would say, it gets very dusty when on the safari roads (dust / sand / gravel tracks) so take a lens brush to keep lenses and cameras clean rather than a cloth; the dust can be abraisive. One thing with the 50-500, you never need to change lens so minimise any problems with getting dust on your sensor. A bean bag support comes in very useful to rest the camera on the top of the vans / land rovers especially when you're out at dusk or dawn and light levels (shutter speeds) are lower. I had a mono-pod as well but didn't use it as the bean bag was much easier. You also need to dress the part too!!!!



Darren