Reviews
US
Email paul t | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
This safari company is actually a middleman
Like another review I read I was shortchanged 3 different nights. Julias, who collected part of the money up front, passed me on the second day to another crook named Victor, who took the remainder of the cost of the trip, then managed to put me in 3 different vehicles during the 7 days, put me in an igloo tent instead of a tented camp 2 different nights, put me in a $30 noisey hotel another night and somehow managed to get me to all the stops on different nights than the itinerary showed. And only one night in the Serengeti instead of promised 2. The last night I insisted to the driver to take me to Planet Lodge the last night on a hunch and it was so wonderful there I stayed there an extra night and I just dared them to make me move, which they did not. I had such a wonderful time, mainly due to some drivers that actually cared for my well being, even though I could tell they had to talk to Victor about me going to certain places I was promised, that I only asked Julias to refund me $150 for the 3 nights they cheated me out of a proper place. Two months later he keeps saying he will pay me, but let us face it, if you do not have $150 you don't have a real company. Julias has a fake safari company that just takes part of the fee and passes you on to the crook named Victor who makes most of his money by pocketing the difference in the price of the promised hotel against the crummy place he tries to put you. And feeds you to different vehicles to pocket some extra cash when drivers have extra room. But despite this I met some wonderful people on the trip and great animals . And I promised Julias if he did not pay I would write him up......so here it is. If you are going on your first safari all you have to do is make sure they are in the safari association and then you are safe......I did not know this until I talked to people in Tanzania.
US
Email Michy | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Worst tour company experience I have ever had - steer clear and save yourself a headache
So I don't even know where to begin. Stay as far away as possible from booking with this company. This was the most upsetting and stressful experience I have ever had traveling abroad and we travel to a different country every other year. I am a well seasoned traveler and this is by far the worst experience I have ever had! Steer clear!
I have been long dreading writing this review but I feel that if I don't, I would be partially responsible for another traveler to have the same terrible experience that my husband and I did. In a nutshell, we booked our tour almost one year in advance, everything we were promised/told we would get - we only got half of it, our trip was re-arranged to accommodate another couple but the problem was were staying at different locations - one was up to 52 km away, were downgraded everywhere we stayed when our "places were booked" (we payed for 5 star but got 2 star), in the end we were not offered any type of consolation other than endless promises during our trip and a "I'm sorry", and the communication with our operator was terrible since he never told us any of our places were "overbooked" until it happened and we had to call him... the list goes on. Our guess is that he spent our money and used it on other people. We were also told we could pay by credit card for the remainder of our trip upon arrival but we were forced to go to a bank instead to take out money (which cost us money too), and we paid for our the remainder of our trip using our credit card as the tour progressed around Tanzania. Very unprofessional!!!!
Let's start with our arrival day. Flying from US to Africa was a long trek, upon arrival we were greeted at the airport by a gentleman holding up a sign with our names on it. As everyone is loading up in their professional safari van's with logos on them, we were directed to a small toyota corolla with no room for our luggage because the driver had a large subwoofer in the trunk. No biggie right? We just put our luggage in the car - but oh yeah, we were also waiting for two additional people who would be sharing the car with us. Now where and how do you expect to fit four people in a toyota corolla with at least four pieces of luggage?? After about an hour at the airport trying to arrange our luggage, we ended up with some luggage on our laps, including the driver's subwoofer while my husband sat in the middle of the back seat. Oh yeah, did I mention the trunk was broken? That was why it took us almost an hour too - we were trying to tie his trunk shut with a scarf. So off we go to our hotels - or so we thought. Our driver was very nice but spoke almost no English at all - and he was not the "representative from the company" that was supposed to meet us, he was a hired taxi driver. So the first couple gets dropped off at their hotel but it was not the hotel they were supposed to be staying at and paid for. It was a downgrade and they were told "This is where I was told to drop you off." Next we were driven around for almost 2 hours, at 11 o'clock at night, and told that he did not know where our hotel was but we were not staying at "Kibo palace". We were staying somewhere else and he had never been to that hotel and did not know where it was. He gets on the phone with somebody by the name of Peter who tells him how to get to the new hotel we are supposed to be staying at, and the driver still couldn't find it. Who the hell is Peter? I tell him to get this "Peter" on the phone and I find out that Peter is not even a representative with our company but with a different company entirely. Oh, but Peter is friends with our hotel owner/operator. Peter tells us that this hotel is much nicer ( what a load of crap that was). In the end we were taken to a downgraded version of our hotel, even though we paid for something more expensive Don't you think the owner should have contacted us prior to our arrival date and let us know that we weren't staying where we paid to stay? For someone traveling from the USA to visit Africa and then while in a taxi, be driven around and told they are not going to the hotel they were told they were is a bit nerve-wrecking and scary. Needless to say the lack of communication is very unprofessional on the company's end. What happened to the extra money we paid for the nicer hotel? But wait! It gets better...
Day two, we meet with Julias, the owner of the company who tells us that our 5 star hotel is booked because the UN was in town and they get to bump whomever they want at the hotel regardless of whether or not the people have reservations. (We later found out that this was a lie and our tour operator/owner never booked us there to begin with!!!!!) So we were able to get one night at the nice hotel we paid for - at this time we are told that the lodge we were supposed to stay at in the serengeti burned down and we were being upgraded to a luxury tent camp. The problem is that the lodge burned down 8 months before we were supposed to start our vacation. You would think the owner/company would have told us or asked us where we wanted to stay instead?? When we told him we did not want to stay in a tent camp we were told we had no other options because the other lodges were more money than what we paid for. Don't you think at this point we deserved an upgrade, and why is this issue our problem?? We decided it was out of our control and went with the only choice we were given. So we drive all the way from Arusha to the Serengeti (now the trip is being done in reverse too, to accommodate a couple from China who booked their trip 4 days prior). When we get to the Serengeti we find out that the couple on the trip with us is not staying in the tent camp the second night, but rather at a nice lodge which was 52 km away on a bumpy road (1.5 hr drive each way for our driver). So we had to end our game drive early that day so he could drop US off and have time to get the couple to their lodge. Then he has to drive back to pick us the next morning. During this time in the Serengeti we met another couple who were having the exact same experience we were having with the same company.
The next few days go as planned (other than our driver not being given enough money to cover our trip and we have to foot the bill by credit card and get reimbursed). Then we get to another bump in the road. We return to Arusha to find out that we are receiving a complimentary downgrade and we will not be spending our last two nights in the 5-star hotel that we were promised we would be staying at, and that we paid to stay at. Noooo - we are staying at a place that is a lot less nice, the food was terrible, we had no A/C and brown water coming out of the shower. All the owner can say to us upon our arrival to this hotel is, "I have bad news." Surprise!!! This owner has not had ANY good news for us during our entire trip! He tells us that our hotel was booked and we will be staying at a different hotel (the downgrade). He apologizes and offers to make it up to us by offering a free tour of a Massai Village for the next day. At this point we are tired, sick and tired, of all the surprises and "let-downs" and we just want to leave. We tell him that we do not want to go on a tour but appreciate the offer. He asks what he can do to fix the matter and tells us he is concerned about getting a bad review. but rather we would like a partial refund. He of course ignored that notion. We asked him about the price difference between the two hotels and he tells us the one were staying at was $30 less per day. We told him he owed us $60 for the two nights we were "downgraded". In the end he gave us $60 back. This would not have happened if we did not ask for it so he was going to keep the extra money we paid for a much nicer hotel.
Stay as far away from this company as possible - it is not worth it!
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
“Friendly-Excellent company that goes above and beyond”
Went on safari and Kilimanjaro climb with Africa Migration safaris. Excellent experience. Africa Migration safaris was the most responsive of the several companies we contacted to ask about trip options. Julias, the co-owner personally handles correspondences, and you can tell she cares. When out airline lost our luggage, Julias and his staff helped to ensure we got it back before our Kili climb, even though it was Saturday afternoon and the office was closed.
Safari and Kili climb were both well planned and executed. We highly recommend Africa Migration safaris for Safari and Kili climb.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Just Perfect!
My husband and I just returned from a 3 week vacation in Africa, 14 days of which were spent in Tanzania and coordinated by Africa Migration Safaris. Julias at Africa Migration Safaris worked with our travel agent Hillary (also impeccable service) to arrange a 7 day Mt. Kilimanjaro hike, 4 day safari, and 3 day Zanzibar beach vacation. Every moment of this trip exceeded our expectations. If you are looking for a Kili climb/safari tour operator, look no further. Seriously, don't hesitate - log off of this website right now and just call Africa Migration Safaris. You will not be disappointed.
We did a 6 night/7 day climb on the Machame route for Mt. Kilimanjaro. We paid for a group climb but learned from Hillary a few weeks before our trip that we were upgraded at no extra cost by Africa Migration Safaris to a private climb. I was a bit nervous about this at first since I was hoping to have other people in a group with us to "encourage me along" and to have people to talk to while we were on our hike. Turns out, that was not needed at all! My husband and I were rather happy to not have others in our group with us since we were quite quick with our pace and noticed other groups were held back by a few sick or slower climbers. Nothing against slower climbers at all, but it's nice to be able to go at your own pace and leave camp each day whenever you choose (we liked to leave a bit later around 9 AM since we liked sleeping in a bit and taking our time with breakfast). The personalized service we received from the 14-man crew (yes, FOURTEEN people for 2 climbers!) that accompanied us on our hike was impeccable. We had 2 guides, 1 cook, 1 waiter, 1 tent/toilet porter and 9 other porters carrying food and all the camping equipment. The guides, Christopher and Alex were EXCELLENT and spoke English very well. Every day they would accompany us on our hike, would help us anytime we needed our poles or gloves held when we stopped for a drink of water, never made us feel rushed, were very knowledgeable about the plants/wildlife in the park, gave us words of encouragement throughout the hike, and had extreme patience with us during tougher parts of the climb (which they made look easy). We got to know them over the course of the 7 days and really enjoyed their company. They would give us "briefings" at dinner every day to let us know what to expect the next day, would check at least twice each day on how we felt (breathing, status of our stomach, any pain). They were trained in first aid and handling altitude sickness, which was very very comforting (and thankfully we didn't have any issues with altitude thanks to the route we chose which allows sufficient time for acclimatization). Alfred, our amazing waiter, was a sweetheart and would greet us every day with an encouraging smile, bring us our delicious meals, would take our wet clothes for us to hang in the mess tent to dry every day, greet us when we got back from our hikes to take our bags, help us take off/put on our gaitors etc. On the last day (summit day) he even met us about an hour before camp on our way back from the summit to greet us with delicious juice/hot tea and to help us carry our bags. He held my hand through some of the treacherous sections of rock that need to be navigated before reaching camp which many people slip on due to exhaustion from the 7 hour trek up to the summit. John, our tent/toilet porter was also one of our favorites. He always greeted us with a huge smile, helped us with our bags when we would return from hikes, didn't seem to mind at all the unpleasant job of cleaning toilets or setting up the tents, and would encourage us with congratulations and friendly words each day when we would return from our long hikes. Matata, the AMAZING cook would make delicious, healthy, well-balanced meals for us every day. Because we knew we'd be eating camp food for 7 days, we came prepared with Immodium and Cipro in case of travel's diarrhea...but NO NEED! We didn't get sick even once during the trip and Africa Migration Safaris even sent 3 additional porters to meet our cook on Day 5 to deliver us fresh food for the remainder of the climb so that we don't get sick. Now that's what we call SERVICE!
Every night, the porter's tent would echo with sounds of happy chatting and laughter - which seemed a big contrast from other company's porter tents. We loved Africa Migration Safaris because they are one of the only companies who are also part of an NGO and pay their porters fairly and abide by park regulations on maximum pack loads the porters are allowed to carry - and it was clearly evident from what we saw and what we heard from our guides that the crew was happy and really enjoyed working for Africa Migration Safaris This meant a lot to us, because we had heard some companies pay their porters suboptimal wages, feed them only once a day, and don't supply/ensure that porters have appropriate clothing to deal with the harsh conditions of the mountain. We were appalled to see some porters from other companies had sneakers on (doesn't matter how much of a pro you are, the slippery rocks, freezing temperatures, and muddy conditions on the mountain are no match for sneakers!) We even stopped on Day 3 of our hike to find an old 50-something year old Porter from a company called Private Kilimanjaro freezing in a hail storm by a big rock. Everybody from his group had left him and he was shivering and couldn't carry his pack. We quickly learned he had stomach pain and didn't eat more than a half cup of tea that morning and had no energy to keep walking (not to mention he had no gloves and no dry clothing in his pack to replace the wet clothes on his back). Being a pharmacist, I had come prepared with meds and knew right away he needed to be put on antibiotics, so I gave him a course of cipro (had our guide translate how he should take it), and some other supportive meds. Even though he serviced another company, our guide carried his pack on his head in addition to his own pack (amazing) and a few of our other porters who were behind us accompanied him to camp. We saw him the next day and he was back to 100% and thanked us profusely for our generosity! I still can't believe another company could have even let one of their porters go out like that, let alone leave him stranded behind. Our porters always traveled in groups of at least 2 so that they had a companion in case something went wrong.
All in all, we LOVED our Kili hike and would recommend this life-changing experience to anyone who have an appetite for adventure. We miss our little Africa Migration Safarismountain family now that we are back and are left with nothing but good memories from this incredible trip.
The safari we went on, also serviced by Africa Migration Safaris was well planned and we also had a great, knowledgeable guide (Alex) who had many years of experience. We did 1 day at Lake Manyara, 1 day at Ngorongoro crater, and 2 days at Serengeti. One day at Serengeti would have been just fine actually, since we had already seen every animal we wanted to see by Day 3 (thanks to the help and knowledge of Alex) but we ended up still making the most of the 4th day and relaxed at the camp for most of the day and saw a pride of 4 lions during the 2 hours we did end up going out.
Lastly, we went to Zanzibar for 3 days for some days to relax. We were supposed to stay at Echo Beach Resort for 2 nights but to our horror, when we arrived, the owner of the resort told us that she mistakenly only had us down for 1 night and realized the day before that the hotel was sold out for the 2nd night we were supposed to be there. This was shocking since we had booked 4 months in advance and Julias at Africa Migration Safaris had even confirmed our booking with the owner on multiple occasions. We obviously were unhappy and called Hillary right away who contacted Julias, who arranged to have us stay in the Presidential Suite at the Baraza resort down the street for the 2nd night for no additional charge! WOW! We were blown away...and quite thankful in the end for the mixup since the Baraza was MUCH better than Echo Beach and the Presidential Suite was to DIE FOR. This only confirmed even further how incredible Julias and Africa Migration Safaris were in every way.
The ONLY constructive feedback we have for Africa Migration Safaris is in regards to the domestic flights between Serengeti to Zanzibar and Zanzibar to Dar Es Salaam. We had asked in advance whether we would have any issues with the weight of our bags on the domestic flights, since we had a lot of bags (4 in total) with us for our 3 week trip. We were told there shouldn't be any issues but turns out, they tried to charge us a hefty fee for overage on both flights going and returning to Zanzibar. Thankfully when our travel agent told Africa Migration Safaris about the hassle, they agreed to compensate us for any fees we ended up having to pay. Again, this was a reflection of the classy service provided by Africa Migration Safaris Thanks Africa Migration Safaris for giving us the vacation of a lifetime. We would definitely travel with Africa Migration Safaris again