Back of Africa Adventure ltd
Back of Africa Adventure
- Office In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2014)
- Member Of:
- Kenya Association of Tour Operators (KATO) & KWS
- Tour Types:
- Small & medium group tours (Budget & mid-range)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $180 to $500 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
CA
Email Christina | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Kenyan Adventure!!!
I would like to thank Allen for a trip of a lifetime to Kenya! I traveled at the end of July/beginning of August 2017 for a 5 day solo safari. This trip was beyond my wildest dreams. I spent a lot of time researching many different options for tours and Allen was able to give me exactly what I was looking for in terms of cost and experience. As a solo female traveler, I felt very safe. Allen gave me all the details I needed and was very quick with answering any of my questions. Obama was the best guide ever!!! In Samburu (one night and one full day) I saw the Samburu 5 and 3 of the big 5. Lions, Elephants and Leopards. I also saw Cheetahs, Giraffes, Dik Dik, Hare, Eland and too many others to name. In Lake Nakuru (one full day) I saw the remaining 2 of the big 5. I saw a huge male Rhino (very rare) and lots of Buffalo. In Lake Naivasha, (one full day) I was able to see lots of hippos in the lake. At Hell's Gate (one full day) I saw the wonderful scenery at a slow pace and was able to take lots of photos and see all the herbivores that lived there. On arrival in Kenya, Allen went out of his way to make me feel welcome. He helped me get a Safaricom SIM card and helped me exchange $. On the road in between destinations, Obama showed me many wonderful places. I got to stop at the equator and I got to see the Great Rift Valley overlook. With, my other guide Allen (different than the manager Allen), he showed me a local market in Lake Nakuru, where I was able to buy traditional Kenyan products, like a Masai blanket and a nice traditional shirt. I can't say enough good things about Back of Africa. It was amazing! I highly recommend to everyone wanting a traditional experience in Kenya with a local small company for great quality and almost a family like experience to go with Back of Africa. I cannot wait to go back to Kenya with Back of Africa. They showed me how to fall in love with the country. Thank you for the best trip of my life!!!!:)
AE
Email Abby | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent tour.
I had a wonderful Experience with Allan. We exchanged emails regularly and he made sure that all my requests and questions were taken care of. It was a hassle-free trip and he also got me a good tour guide who made sure we get to see all the animals and he was very knowlegeable of the area. It was an amazing African experience and i higly recommend Allan to anyone who wants a budget friendly yet still amazing Africa safari.
KR
Email Chan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unforgettable Safari trip!
As I was travelling alone, I wanted to join a group tour, but matching the date was not easy. It was even hard to arrange my own tour as the response of the tour company was slow and not helpful. However, Allan was so prompt to respond that I could arrange the trip much much easier. The tour program was also substantial. My tour guide Kennedy and Freadrick were kind and passionate. They tried to find the animals as much as possible. They also had good knowledge about the animals and it was really helpful. It was an amazing experience. I should come back with my friends next time. Thank you very much for your effort!
BE
Email Paloma | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience
We had a great experience with Back to Africa. The tour met all our expectations. Everything matched the offer. Allan helped us with all our questions. The guide (Kepha) was very nice, hardworking, and he did a big effort to find all the animals. We enjoyed very much all the visit in the parks with him. The food was also very good,Yusufu, the cook, was a very good one. I really recommend it.
FI
Email Elisabet | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Not what I expected
In this safari business as in many others in Tanzania, it seems that you are buying from some company in particular but then they just put you with the same budget pack that many others offer. We booked everything through Back of Africa but once we arrived to the office, Allan, whom I have been all the time in contact, was not there, there was no signs or credentials or anything that would refer to Back of Africa. We trusted the guy at the reception, his name sounded like "Biarman". So we paid the big amount of money for the safari to him and we didn't even get a receipt. The same guy at the reception was our guide and driver the whole trip. The first day of safari was terrible, the guy was very lazy, not even going out of the car to show us the birds when we stopped at a viewpoint. He could not recognize birds more specificly than the basic information if it was e.g. "a hawk". We didn't have the promised binoculars for each neither the guides, not even one for the whole group of 5 people. Then I contacted Allan try to get some clear info about who is the guide we have and for whom does he work. Allan didn't even know the guy, afterwards he said he was new in the company. But the funny thing is that when we asked to Biarman he said that he works for Sandland Tours, the same company as the logo there was in the safari car. There was 1 person in our group that had booked the safari through a completely different company. We never got this thing clear. And it seems a common practice to put people that has booked through different companies together in the same safari. I think that only in Arusha there was something like 280 different companies, but at the end, many of them belong to the same owner, or they just change the name when the company lose its reputation or whatever, but you can never trust that the company you are booking with, will be the same you are actually going with.
(By the way, Sandland Tours has the worst reviews ever on the Internet...)
Anyways, we tried to make the best out of what we had, we put some pressure to the guide to make a bit bigger effort to find the animals, and it improved, at the end of the day we saw pretty much. I don't think he was a bad guide, but he was not a very good one either. He was just doing his job to get paid, he did not enjoy his job, he was not a nature lover.
The first day we did not have any binoculars, after the second day, we had 1 for 5 people and it was broken and not very good quality. I think it is essential to have good binocular for a safari, and they promised 1 for each, which never happened. We never got any wildlife guide or book.
The camping sites were what they were, don't expect too much, but it was good enough. Our tent was the oldest in the camp and it didn't smell nice. Thank god we brought our own sleeping bags cause theirs were pretty smelly too. We had the poorest chairs to sit during meals, and no chairs at all to be able to relax in the camp site, but the guide had his own nice chair to relax. In some camps there are no lights so they could have adviced to bring own headlamps (we had ours, but other people did not). In one of the camps there was no electricity, so for people without power banks it was a serious problem if you couldn't charge the camera.
There was 2 days that we had to take the cook with us, which make the car not big enough. The cook sat on the front with the driver so we had to share the 4 windows seats on the back with 5 people, while in the national park, seeing the animals. Specially in Serengueti it becomes extremely dusty, it would not have been a big job to cover the bags on the trunk so they wouldn't be completely brown from the dust by the time we reached the camp.
The safari of 5 days in the 4 main national parks in the North of Tanzania was still worth it for the own awesomeness of the places, but certainly not because of the company we booked with, whatever that company was...
Reply from Back of Africa Adventure
Posted on Aug 16, 2017Dear Elisabet,
I would like to personally apologize for the series of unfortunate incidences that you experienced during your safari on the Tanzania side with us. We continually try to do our very best for all of our guests, but unfortunately, sometimes we do fail. I therefore again express my sincere apology on behalf of our company. I am very sorry to learn that your experience with our Arusha representatives, was less than adequate.
I understand your frustrations and the moment you did reach me out on my Kenyan cell phone on the issue; I tried all I could in my powers to sort it out and my contact person in Arusha promised to rectify the mistake as I did communicate back to you the same day. Little did I know that my directives landed on his “deaf ears” until I read from you via this respected platform. I MUST say that we let you down as a company and as a person whom you were communicating with all through and for that, I am so sorry.
As a company we take full responsibility for the situation and understand why leaving the work to the “untrusted hands” at times compromises our standards and I did not meet your expectations. Our Customer Service Representatives are given a set of guidelines that they are supposed to adhere to, however in this case, clearly those standards were insufficient.
In this regard, we failed you as our valued customer. I should have postponed my travel and see you off on your safari program with a more qualified and respectful guide.
Please be assured that this type of situation will never happen again. We have put new procedures in place as of today that will ensure that any of our customers who will be with us on a safari and may intend to speak with someone more senior, for any reason while on safari or after the completion of the trip and need assistance, will be transferred immediately at our company expenses.
It's very important to us that our customers get what we promised as that is what our company motto “putting customers first through service…” does preach.
I regret that we provided you with bad service and a poor customer experience—it is the exact opposite of what we pride ourselves on. We value our customers and understand how important it is to offer exceptional service.
I would like to thank you for bringing this to our attention. It will help us improve our operations and services today and tomorrow across the globe.
If there are any other issues that need to be addressed, now or in the future, please don't hesitate to contact me personally on my cell phone or my Gmail account.
Yours Sincerely,
Allan.
US
Email Justin Porter | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great option for low cost safari
Allan at Back of Africa arranged my entire trip and took care of all of the details. The transportation and accommodation were just as described and I was very pleased. There was a slight mix up on the last part of the safari that was out of Allan's control. He was very responsive when I notified him and he made it right immediately. I would give Back of Africa my highest recommendation.
DE
Email Jana | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We had a nice time during The Safari and saw many animals. It was incredible!
The Service was really good. Allan was really helpful preparing our trip and always replied within minutes to our Emails. The Guide during The tour was also really helpful and took good care of us. The Food was amazing!
RO
Email Irina | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful 5 days safari in Tanzania, professional and knowledgeable staff, good food&accommodation!
They went above and beyond to make the safari trip unforgettable experience. Allan was really quick to respond, at any hour, giving us important tips and support on how to get to the safari starting point from Kampala in Uganda to Arusha in Tanzania. They made us feel welcomed in both their offices in Nairobi, through Allan and Arusha, through Abraham, who was also helpful in organizing an extra day for us in the safari. As for the safari itself, we had Max as guide and Yusuf as chef. Max was really knowledgeable about all the places we visited, animals, people, local culture. As we were particularly interested in the Maasai way of living, he was more than pleased to give us extra information about them. He knew a lot about the savanna flora and fauna, and we especially liked the peculiar details specific to each animal, never a dull moment on the trip. Max made all efforts to be sure we'll see the Big 5, and we encountered them all, many times. As for Yusuf, he cooked delicious food, in the morning, for lunch and dinner. We especially liked the three course dinner, it was every time different, and the pancakes for breakfast. They both made a good team and they even organized a surprise for one of us who had his birthday during the safari trip, a moment to remember! All that, plus reliable car, good accommodation, as they provided all that was initially promised and even more, made an excellent safari trip. We want to also thank them for being flexible in setting up the schedule for the safari trip, especially for the last day, when we needed to be at the airport at a specific time. Will definitely recommend them!
CA
Email Daniel | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Experience for our Budget
In the lead up to our 5-day safari with Back of Africa Adventure, Allan was very helpful in getting the logistics and planning organized for our trip. He was prompt with his responses, and made our preparation an easy process. One thing that we did not expect when organizing this trip for our group of 4 was that we would be sharing our experience with others who had booked budget Serengeti tours as well, but this only really enhanced the experience. Everyone, from our guide, Simon, to our cook, Mr. Delicious, to our fellow tourists made the experience great. There were a couple times where there would be lulls in the trip (an hour or more) due to arranging permits for the parks, but I don't know how much the company is at fault for this or if it's the park's poor communications infrastructure. Overall, the 5-day trip we took was one of my favourite experiences I've had across 4 continents of travelling, and would highly recommend this if you're looking to avoid spending an arm and a leg. Camping in the Serengeti and getting to hear the hyenas was so cool!
all is marvellous. very very good safari. the best experience that I have done
all very good.Allan is very kindle and helpful.Great organization.guide brilliant. food too much.and the price is the cheapest I've found in Internet.