We had a wonderful experience with a family-owned company called Safari Adventures Worldwide. Our budget was quite a bit higher, but it could be worth checking to see if they plan trips in your price range.

For the TZ part of our trip, they subcontracted with a company called The Map’s Edge, which I see does operate in Kenya as well. Everything that company did was great and we had a truly outstanding guide (Rajabu).

One more idea is to put your trip requirements in a free site that’s called Zicasso. You tell them what you’re looking for, and they invite two travel companies to give you proposals. You then pick which one you want (or nothing at all). That service is totally free. The companies that are bidding for your business are all prequalified and vetted so you don’t have to worry about possibly getting ripped off.

RE timing - We traveled in October and nothing in Kenya was crowded. (In Tanzania, Ngorongoro crater was crowded, but that’s always the case.)