Kimkim Trip Reviews

We were very happy with all of the arrangements made by Kimkim. Our drivers and guides, both city and hiking were excellent . They were warm and welcoming and all went beyond the call of duty making extra stops where they thought appropriate. We learnt a great deal about modern day Jordan from them . Of special note were Fahdi ( Abu Hamza), Fawaz and Bilal. The hike from Dana to Feynan and from Little Petra to Petra were especially memorable and we will treasure our memories of our stays at the Dana Guest House and the Feynan Ecolodge . The home hospitality meal was a great addition to the itinerary. Thank you Andy for always keeping us informed of pickups and arranging the last minute drive to Amman from Aqaba.

First of all, Nepal and Nepali people were just amazing! Himalayan Trails were great!! Amanda and Himalayan Trails couldn't have more helpful, knowledgeable and coming up with solutions when issues arose.

We were very pleased with our trip to Corsica. Anthony planned the itinerary, including hotels, trains and route notes for walks in the areas we were staying. Aurelia completed the bookings for the trip. We loved Corsica and felt that we got a good overview of the island. Our information included recommended walks with route notes. We loved hiking in the different areas. The weather was perfect everyday. I highly recommend the train through the mountains. And end of April was the ideal time to visit with very few tourists compared to summer and blue skies, wild flowers, scenic views everywhere and helpful hosts at the hotels. Thankyou KIMKIM for helping us have a wonderful trip.

Patricio was an excellent guide, caring, intelligent, always interested in making our trip a better experience, taking us to places that he thought of as we went along, if Susie Astec and truly an asset to your team. His driver Hugo was excellent and always helpful and smiling and respect full. He even made a special trip when my brother-in-law left his camera on the bus, Patricio Is an asset to your company, and go board did a great job Putting a beautiful package together. We will certainly recommend your company in the future and hopefully will be able to talk and use you again. Lois and Lee Dornfeld, Mace and Joy Bloom

Hello,
I found the experience to be good overall. I especially enjoyed the Tremisana lodge in South America and the folks at Marc's treehouse were very accommodating. They had not received my requirement or did not accurately record my requirement for an ensuite but they switched rooms without any problems.
It happened to be a low season and the switch perhaps could not have been possible during the high season.
Initially I found Carla, my kimkim travel agent to be hard to get a hold of but she explained that she had been out of reach because she was at a conference. I found her colleague (who took over from Carla on the day to day details of my trip) to be very responsive and helpful.
Regards,
Vinita

Simon helped make our vacation effortless. He stayed in constant communication during the planning stages with great suggestions and coordinated our pick up from the train station.
He even left his cell number in case I had questions while on our trip.
Our guide, Alex, was amazing. He was so knowledgeable on various subjects and made our tours
Delightful. He was punctual as well, which we appreciated being in Provence a short time.
I highly recommend the kimkim team!
Laura

Larbi and his team took good care of us and service provided by all of them was very good and made our trip enjoyable.

Once again, another perfect, memorable trek by Quechua Treks. From planning and booking with James, who I swear never sleeps to the trek itself we had perfect service. Cem, our guide met us the night before our trek to go over the layout of the park and what to expect which was wonderful. He then met us the next morning with our driver Patricio for the drive to the Park. Patricio suggested an additional trek that most people don't do, but we decided to do and it was a beautiful start to our journey! The scenery of the Torres del Paine is breathtakingly beautiful and we had an amazing time. The refugios are well equipped and very comfortable. Cem is a wonderful guide, full of stories of the area, great tips, pointed out things of interest as we went by, we even got to sample ripe berries as we walked by the plants on the trail!!! One of my best memories is of Cem, Micky and myself all on the ground looking in a burrow we found with a light trying to see if it was an armadillo burrow or a skunk burrow. We had so much fun!!!

My favorite refugio was Cernos, small, but oh so comfortable. Toasty warm, wonderful staff, beautiful views of the surrounding Park. Fabulous wine.

Many, many thanks to Quechua Treks for this truly amazing adventure that will always hold a special place in my heart. This isn't my first adventure with Quechua Treks and it certainly won't be my last (I already have three more adventures planned with them!) James and Mayra did an outstanding job coordinating the trek and Cem did an outstanding job guiding us. I already miss it and want to go back!

We could not have been more pleased with the overall tour! Our driver was absolutely amazing!!! The tour, guides and the hotels were also top notch. We would definitely book with this company again! Thank you so much!!

Said was perfect in every way. Good driver, knowledgeable, patient with us and always with a smile. He was punctual , respectful and when there was a mix up with one of our bookings, he handled it with no problem. We had the utmost confidence in him. He went out of his way to show us his culture. I would give him 5 stars for the service he provided and would recommend him without reservation.

Our group of 4 just returned from a 7 day tour of Bhutan. From the beginning of my contact with Bas, to touring the amazing countryside of Bhutan with Sonam and Tawa (guides from Bhutan). My experience was phenomenal, two thumbs up for the curtosy, kindness and professionalism of all the staff.

It was a lot harder then any of us imaged. Challenged us, some of us got sick. Mingmar was great! He was a fantastic help all along the way! Made us amazing food and taught us about the culture. Meghsha was also fabulous in the way he helped us lumber up for the day ahead! Meghsha also has a lot of knowledge regarding culture, and history. Amanda was great in the way she set us all up, to bring us all together. The porters were also so amazing, they assisted innany way they could, including dragging us to a safer destination.

From the beginning of planning to days after our trek ended, our family group of seven have received five star treatment from everyone at Himalayan trails. After way too many requests and questions from us, Amanda put together a fabulous trek to match our needs. We felt privileged to have Mingmar, the best Sherpa guide ever, along with Meghsha who taught us yoga, meditation & totally enhanced our experience with lessons on local religions, beliefs and cultures. With five fabulous (& strong!) porters, we trekked for 10 days on a community trail in the lower Everest region. When the weather hindered our views, Mingmar made changes to our route to make sure we did not go away disappointed-and we didn't! This was an experience we will never forget, made super easy by Amanda & her crew who had absolutely everything covered ... even a surprise birthday cake for my niece on the day we arrived! I Highly recommend these guys.

My trip to Jordan was everything and a bit more from what I have expected :)
Carmen has provided me with an amazing service from the beginning and she was great accommodating all the places I wanted to visit in only 5 days, thank you so much for that!
Amman was very interesting and I really enjoying walking around the Paris Circle and getting lost on Circles 1 and 2... also on day 2 going to Mount Nebo and Bethany beyond the Jordan was a great experience, and needless to say that a pit stop by the Dead Sea it's always a great idea ;-)
Qusai my driver was super nice and flexible and always making sure to make pit stops to get me black tea with sage, water, sweets and the best falafel that I have ever had in the middle of nowhere on my way to Fernan Ecolodge.
I always wanted to go to Petra and I can only say that it was amazing! I am happy I spent 1 and 1/2 day there as this gave me enough time to do the back trail to the Monastery the first afternoon and enjoy the Trail to High Place of Sacrifice ( 4.5 hours and lots of steps) and the some other interesting spots on the second day.
I have really enjoyed my stay at the Feynan Ecolodge and the night at Khaled's Camp in Wadi Rum, to be honest, I never thought I would have liked to be in the desert as much as I did... Khaled is amazing and he even managed to get me on the hot air balloon the next morning, although I forgot to tell Carmen that this is something that I wanted to do and they were super flexible helping me with the payment, as I did not have enough Jordanian Dinars with me. Shukran again Khaled and Qusai :-)
Last but not least l couldn't leave Jordan without enjoying a beautiful afternoon in Aqaba relaxing by the beach sipping cocktails on the Red Sea...
By now, I hope you will drop Carmen a message for your personalized trip and go enjoy the best of Jordan! I am already looking forward to go back...

Welcoming by people living in the mountains was always good. Teahouse food always freshly cooked on demand and very good, which was surprising with the remoteness of the villages or base camp.
Dawa our guide know well the track so no issue about being guided. Many new roads are being built so sometimes it was hard to find the right track. From the description of our trip, we went through a cheese factory village. Dawa didn't tell us and it is a bit disappointed that he never talked about life of people living in villages, how they sustain, what is their culture and values.
Amanda was welcoming before and after the treck and helpful for any question.

Overall the planning process was smooth - Kripa was responsive and addressed my questions. My guide, Rishi was great! He was knowledgeable, friendly, and a pleasure to trek with.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the route (Balthali Village Trek) designed by kimkim. Based on the descriptions on the site (and research I did online), I was under the impression I would be trekking between quiet hillside villages, off the beaten path, near mountains. This was not the case. While Rishi made every effort to take alternative routes that took us off main roads, most of the trek was in earshot of bus and truck horns, loud music, and general city life. I wish kimkim had been upfront about the type of trek this was and had more accurate descriptions of where I would be trekking (ie, between cities, on roads). I would not recommend this trek to anyone interested in a peaceful trek through the mountains or countryside.

In addition, while I walk fast, I thought the trekking time estimates were really off. One day, the trekking time was listed as 5 hours, but I completed the distance in 2.5. Adding distance to the descriptions would be helpful.

While we enjoyed our trip to this amazing country , I would have a some suggestions .
We were two people on a private tour .

Clarify every arrangement clearly
Eg no shopping stops on guided tours / guides could be higher quality
All drivers or taxi services provide by company to have basic English ( or language requested by client ) . We struggled with this on our last three days , was tiresome .
We requested a luxury tent in the Desert , but only a standard one was booked . When we queried it and requested itemised costs , nothing received . My final quote was based on this,
Also I had requested meals to be omitted , to offer more flexibilty , this was not done .
So we ended up pay AUD 500 eac more , not totally sure what for .
Our initial driver could have had more engagement / charisma . Felt he wa just ‘doing a job ‘ most of the time .
One hotels and one meal below standard .
We were not informed of our drivers name or called by Larbi initially to check if all was going smoothly .
On the positive when we did contact Larbi if was very good . Our driver was flexible and adjusted our itinery so we got a full day on Fez .
Overall had some great experiences, Morocco scenery , food and interesting weather !

Nepal is a great place but can be chaotic even by South African standards. Every trip to Nepal and Himalaya should be done with a guide from a reputable company.

From the start to the end of our trip we were in the fast lane. When people were queuing, either Ngima or our guide Mingmar got us to the front with no hassle.

There are premium accommodation options along the EBC and Three passes trek, however, most are very basic but adequate. Western toilets become a rarity the closer one gets to Base Camp.

The trip was amazing. It was also very hard. I would not recommend three passes or Base Camp/Kala Patthar to anyone that is unfit, is injured, is overweight.

I'm a traveler success manager at kimkim, and I booked part of my recent trip to Peru with James at Unu Raymi.

I had been itching to check out the Amazon rainforest, but knew that I wouldn't have a lot of time to explore during my recent trip to South America. James helped me plan a great 3-day trip to Huitoto Lodge; a beautiful, family-owned, remote lodge in the Tambopata region of the Peruvian Amazon.

Huitoto Lodge is situated on the bank of its very own oxbow lake, slightly removed from the powerful Madre de Dios river. This location affords the lodge a great amount of privacy, peace, and access to pristine jungle areas.

Each day, I had the opportunity to participate in different excursions with my guide, Efrain, including jungle walks, birding, fishing, and caiman-watching. In the downtime between activities, I enjoyed reading and relaxing in the peace and quiet of the lodge.

During my stay, I also had the pleasure of meeting the owners of the lodge, Flor and Gilberto. The two built the lodge together to share the beauty of the region with travelers, and to protect the land and its inhabitants in perpetuity. They take pride in providing great experiences for all of their guests. I should mention, Flor also helps out in the kitchen and is an excellent cook.

My favorite memory from my stay is of the boat trip I took around the island located in the middle of the oxbow lake. Efrain, Elmer (the boat driver), and I had the lake all to ourselves, so we had the opportunity to see an incredible amount of flora and fauna without interruption. On our way around the island, Efrain pointed out one spider monkey and two howler monkeys. He said that Flor and Gilberto had rescued these monkeys from illegal trafficking, and had given them a home on this island where they could remain free, but also protected from territorial monkeys in the mainland jungle areas. I loved seeing these monkeys playing in the wild!

I feel very fortunate that I had the opportunity to experience this unique lodge, and meet some of the passionate people behind its success.

Great support by Andy. Local guide, Waleed, had very in-depth knowledge and was able to show us exactly what we were looking for.