Bucket List Must with local hero John!!! - Incredible experience with the wonderful John as our guide and local safari hero. We Saw so much wildlife, Lions, Rhinos, Hippos, Giraffes, zebras. We headed to Sheldrick which was just incredible as the work they are doing is exceptional. The elephants are something else.

Great half day spent in Nairobi. - This was a great way to spend a half day in Nairobi. Driver picked us up at our hotel. Spent some time at the elephant orphanage with up close experiences. Then on our way back to town we also stopped at a business where disadvantaged women have learned to make ceramic beads, hand paint them, and then have a small store on site where you can buy all of the beautiful products they make.

David slapstick elephant orphanage - My experience was good saying elephant been given milk and you can touch them it was good and the people ware so many and I will go back soon

Good visit but don't forget to add park entry fee. - Just do it. A little pricy but I'm would still recommend. Be sure to get your park entry tickets before you go. The price on most tours do not include this. If you don't have tickets before hand you will need to scramble using the guides cell phone to buy these $43 USD tickets. Tickets are not sold at the entry gate. You will likely hold up your whole group.

Elephant Encounter - Seeing the elephants !!! Hearing all their stories and experiencing the joy they feel when it’s breakfast time.

Brilliant - Booked this trip and my driver was wonderful gotme there early and was worth a wait as it is a rush to get a good view. Bear that in mind. Wear good shoes. Well worth it as you get close to elephants and the baby rhino will steal your heart

Great way to start your experience of Kenya - Highly recommend this tour. Book in advance and wear sturdy boots and prepare to possibly get splashed with mud by the baby elephants but it’s worth it. This tour consisted of seeing a rescued baby rhino and getting to hear about her rescue. We then met all the 24 elephant orphans again really interesting to hear about their rescues. The elephants played in the mud and looked like they were having fun. It was great to hear about how they are trained to be returned to the wild and about the work of the trust. Glad to be supporting their amazing work including providing education and jobs to local people.

Disappointing, crowded, too touristy - though the orphanage does good work - I booked this the night before, and was quite disappointed by the experience. Communications were initially good (on WhatsApp) from the local tour operator, messaging me about my pick-up at my hotel. Driver was on time and ok, but spoke little English and didn't know where he was going. I thought we were going to the elephant orphanage (as I had booked), but he drove me to the bead factory (which I rejected at first, but was actually impressive - beautiful things), where I joined (squeezing into a minibus) a big loud group of tourists who were all together (and wondered where I had come from). The driver/guide drove us to the park entrance where we joined a queue of vehicles, and I paid the $45 (6000 Kshs) fee (which I expected, having read the details). When we got to the elephant orphanage, there were already many people there for the 11-12:00 visit (the only time), and the talk had already started. It was hard to see over the tall people along the rope line. Elephants were cute but hardly babies any more (much bigger than I'd seen on 2 previous visits years ago). We heard about the resident rhino orphans but didn't get to see them. After the talk and watching the elephants eat and get their bottles, everyone had to leave, with many crowding around the small area where there were souvenirs for sale and the orphan adoption table - impossible to even get close. Guide found me and gruffly said everyone else was in the van and waiting for me (he had said nothing when we arrived about how to meet at the end), so we hustled back to the vehicle, which was full, so I was sent to another van full of tourists, and had to squeeze in there. Because I didn't want to join this big group to go to the giraffe house (been there, done that years ago), the guide called for a car to take me back to my hotel. Driver was ticked off, very gruff, didn't say a word to me for the 90 mins driving in horrible traffic to my hotel. At the hotel, he asked for payment. I had to message the tour company to get them to pay him (this should have been arranged, as these transfers were in my high fee paid for the excursion!). I was disappointed with the tour companies involved (better communication and organization is needed), and with Sheldrick orphanage which was quite different from when I visited years ago - when there were not big crowds, the visit was not so short, and we could get closer to the baby elephants, see where they sleep, see the baby rhino etc. I think it's become too popular (I blame Instagram), and they're just moving the masses in and out daily for this short, expensive visit. They still do great work, but the visit was disappointing. (And I would have bought a painting and probably adopted an elephant, but I was hustled out to rejoin this big loud group of tourists that I didn't want to join). As a solo, last-minute booking, I expected to be placed into a group, but not like this. As other reviewers said, there are better ways to do this, to avoid the tourist vans. And I would try to find a better day (not a Saturday) when maybe the visit would be less crowded. It just felt too zoo-like and touristy (especially compared to my previous visits). Unfortunately quite disappointing, for the 1-hr visit (and 2.5 hrs of driving) and $150.

Elephants Great/Tour Company Not So Much - The David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage is an amazing place and we very much enjoyed our visit there. However, I wouldn’t give high marks to the tour company. The $75 fee does not include the $45 park entry fee. This is noted in the small print, but not clearly stated. Our driver picked us up at our hotel, but then scrambled to hand us off to another driver. We didn’t know that we needed the park entry so spent a lot of time trying to purchase tickets by phone at a wayside stop. Ended up having to pay cash in USD and office staff purchased tickets. The handoff to the other driver was chaotic and slow, and we ended up getting to the viewing area late enough that we weren’t able to see very well. In the future, I think we would purchase tickets online from KWS and hire a driver to take us.

Bad operator, great elephants - The actual elephant sanctuary is great, be advised it’s only 45 minutes. BUT this tour operator is terrible! It probably depends who they send but ours got lost, couldn’t figure out ticketing, the car was terrible, and the entire tour was 4 hours even though the experiment is 45 minutes and our hotel was only 20 minutes away. Go see the elephants but don’t use this tour!