Your Kenya safari,
run by the team behind Mara Hilltop.

Yes. Your party has its own 4×4 and one of our own driver-guides for the whole trip. Nothing is shared unless you ask for it.

One of them: Mara Hilltop, in the Maasai Mara. Every other lodge is independent, and we book each one directly. In the Mara you can stay at Mara Hilltop or another lodge if you prefer. Your quote names every lodge before you pay.

Yes. RafikiGo is the brand of Venture Valet Tours & Travel Ltd, licensed by Kenya's Tourism Regulatory Authority as a Class C tour and safari operator (licence TRA6/33/C01/93147, valid to 31 December 2026), and we're insured. We're not KATO members yet: they only take companies after a year of trading.

If you already have an agent you trust, book through them; plenty of good agencies send guests to Mara Hilltop. Book with us if you'd rather deal directly with the people who run the trip. An agent at home can give you things we can't, like a company in your own country and flights in the same booking.

It works well. Tell us their ages. Many lodges have family tents, pools and child rates; kids' meals and dietary needs are normal. Park fees are reduced for children and the youngest go free. Where a lodge publishes no child rate, the planner prices children as adults, so the confirmed quote can come in lower.

We don't stack more than about four hours of driving on back-to-back days, and no seven-hour days unless there's no alternative. Nairobi to the Mara is 5–6 hours by road or a 45-minute flight. Long legs get broken with a night at Lake Naivasha, the train to the coast, or a flight. Your itinerary prints the hours for every leg.

No. Tell us how long you have and who's coming. The classic first trip is Nairobi, the Rift Valley lakes, then the Maasai Mara: calm, no repacking every night. Add Amboseli for Kilimanjaro, or finish on the coast. Beach after safari, never before.

In the price: lodge nights, your driver-guide and vehicle, road transfers and the airport pickup. Park fees are paid per person per day at the gate, and flights are never in the package.

July to October is peak: the Migration in the Mara, dry weather, the highest lodge rates. January to March is excellent and a little cheaper. April and May are the long rains: 30–40% cheaper and empty parks, but muddy and grey. November to mid-December is an underrated shoulder season.

Half when you confirm, by bank transfer to Venture Valet Tours & Travel Ltd, and it's fully refundable until 30 days before travel. The balance is due about a week before your trip starts. We never take payment from overseas guests by M-Pesa or into a personal account.

Message the same WhatsApp thread. Nikhil and your driver-guide are in Kenya and sort it out directly with the lodge, so nobody is relaying messages from another time zone.

The safari circuit and the coast are well-trodden; standard travel sense applies in Nairobi. Your driver-guide meets you at the airport with your name on a sign, and the same team is on WhatsApp for the whole trip. Our honest write-up on Nairobi is on the Mara Hilltop blog.