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
FR
Email Yuan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I had to tell myself not to be mad and enjoy this honey moon private tour
I'm here to note the tour operator so I'd like to state several facts dealing with Back of Africa:
1. Allan asked me to pay the balance in cash but we don't have any USD, so he added 40 dollars (I can't remember how much excatly) bank fee in order to pay by card.
2. Three hours after departure we realized that it's not the direction to our first destination Amboseli so asked our driver. He told us we're actually going to Masai Mara.
3. I contacted Allan, he replied sorry for not telling us, and the program change is due to non availability at a lodge. Given that we were asked to pay the deposit 3 months ago "in order to secure the logistics", it's simply NOT acceptable to make the reservations at the last minute then realize that it's full. After carefully studying and made this tailored grogram together, imagine my furstration when Allan reversed our itinerary without informing us at all.
4. Since the itininary is reversed, I asked for a new full program. He said ok but I never recieved anything until the end of the trip.
5. On the initial program is included 3 hot meals per day, except for the full day safari in Masai Mara. Surprisingly we were given 3 times this non editable and completly non hygiene lunch box (imagine a toast sandwich with cheese and a greasy chicken leg after 5 hours under the sun). So we didn't have lunch and starved the whole day until I suffered from stomachache every evening. For the 3rd time I had to complain and fight for a real meal during our 7 hours drive from Naivasha to Ambosali.
(Allan told us later that full board hotel booking is only 5 dollars more expensive than half board, so it's more interesting for him to book with in-hotel lunch or lunch box. Again, since our program is changed, the road trips don't allow a in-hotel lunch. Since he never sent over the new program, we always needed to figure out by ourselves where we go the next day, and have no clue of lunch arrangement.)
6. On the last day back to Nairobi, Allan joined us for lunch, and asked us to express ourselves. He said sorry again, gave us loads of excuses that we as customers find it hard to accept. I asked on D1 some form of compensation which he refused, because he is too busy, and "miastake is human", and he "learned the lesson". This meeting is a pointless loss of time for our holiday.
7. I felt offended during this whole meeting. Allan was adressing only to my boyfriend and never looked at me, even when saying goodbye.
I would definately recommend Kenya and loved the breath taking scenaries and amazing animals.
Our driver and guide George is quiet and doesn't really smile, but has adequate knowlege and did his job.
These moments of frustration were not expected especially given the price we paid, we need to at least have the service we booked.
If I have any advice to give, do check every detail with him before you pay, and do not trust.
Reply from Back of Africa Adventure
Posted on Aug 2, 2019Hi Yuan,
I am sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience with myself as an organizer. That was really not my intention I had at the back of my mind more so on our mail conversations as our valued customer. As a company and as a person in charge, I really appreciate your feedback as it is very indispensable.
I would also like to take this chance to comment on your points.
Yuan: Allan asked me to pay the balance in cash but we don't have any USD, so he added 40 dollars (I can't remember how much exactly) bank fee in order to pay by card.
Allan: with due respect, kindly refer to our mail conversation dated April 11, 2019, 12:02 PM, the tour booking form outlines well our company payments policies that were sent to you in good time before you make any down payments to our company via bank to bank transfer. You filled in well and mailed us back two weeks later, I’m pleased to say that I never pushed for a cash payments neither did I asked for more money than what was agreed upon during our mail conversations.
At times as a good customer and as a concerned tourist you need to be honest and not to keep some cards under the table. You had all the options on how to make payments to us including online payments through our company secured link beforehand and you opted and informed us that you shall pay the last bit in cash upon arrival…
regrettably last minute when i dropped you at your Nairobi hotel on sunday July 7th/2019 you told us that you want to settle the balance via card and NOT cash as was earlier communicated via mail and agreed upon.
Little did i know you did this intentionally....same way you gave us a wrong date for airport pickup....of which you have not include in your well versed report. i honestly believe it slipped your mind too....?!
CHANGE ON THE ITINERARY:
I must admit that this was my mistake as it completely slipped my mind and I never informed you in good time that the program was to start from the bottom to the top. I’m so sorry about this please. The main reason why I did reverse the program to start with maasai mara instead of Amboseli national park was to ensure that I get the availability for the lodges that we agreed upon in the package that you both opted for and not that we did reservations last minute.
I could have missed the facilities that were agreed upon if in any case the trip commenced with Amboseli and end it with maasai mara game reserve as per the original plan.
The below was the sketch revised itinerary:
Day 1. July 8th/2019. Nairobi to maasai mara sopa lodge
Day 2. July 9th/2019. Maasai mara – acc. Mara sopa lodge.
Day 3. July 10th/2019. Maasai mara to Naivasha sopa lodge.
Day 4. July 11th/2019. Naivasha / hell’s gate NP. To Amboseli Kibo safari luxury tented lodge.
Day 5. July 12th/2019. Amboseli NP. Acc was at Amboseli kibo safari luxury tented lodge.
Day 6. July 13th/2019. Amboseli Np. To Nairobi ----END OF TRIP.
I opted for the above due to the availability of the rooms since the month of July is a beehive activity with various lodges. though NO NATIONAL PARK or GAME RESERVE was compromised.
MEAL PLAN:
The meal plan was full board in every lodges and I believe “Tom, Dick and Harry” who has done similar trip in the past do understand the logistics involve. I’m astounded to read that you got greasy lunch boxes from outlined facilities. If it is not a matter of “adding salt to the open wound”, then as an operator I shall follow up with the outlined facilities.
COMPENSATION:
I honestly did outline to you why compensation was not possible since it was just a twist of the program to start to maasai mara instead of commencing with amboseli National park. It was not intentionally reversed but just to ensure I get the rooms in good time, all other logistics were as was communicated and agreed upon in our mail conversations and even the park entries, accommodations were paid in good time for the flow of the program and there were no transportation problems since we only have a new cars for our programs.
Once again do accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience you may have experienced in respect to starting your trip with maasai mara game reserve instead of Amboseli National park.
We take this opportunity to thank you for your feedback which allows us to serve you and other customers better today and tomorrow.
We deeply value your trust, relationship / business with Back Of Africa Adventure and I’m committed to providing you with the highest level of service simply because our customers deserve the very best. If you have any further questions or comments regarding this matter, please feel free to discuss it with us via e mail or phone call.
Yours sincerely
Allan.
QA
Email Essid | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Poor service and knowledge of the package they are selling.
At the beginning, everything went smooth: Allan replied to all my emails very quickly but the problem is that nearly all the information he gave me were wrong. I spent 8hours in the van from Nairobi to Masai Mara (Allan told me it takes 4hours) and nearly 10 hours from Mara to lake Nakuru. ( was told 6 hours by Allan).
I asked Allan if they have a 4wheel drive car instead of the van he told me yes with a 350$ extra per person. We chose the van as it’s cheaper: the problem is that the roads all around Mara were off roads: ( and Allan didn’t tell us of course) we got stuck maybe 4 times in the Mara reserve and twice when we head to lake Nakuru. We lost lots of time: I spent more time in the van than in the parks I came to visit.
Another thing I didn’t like: as soon as we sent the deposit to book the package, Allan send me an email with what is included and what is not. He wrote that tips are not included and between parenthesis : 10$ per person per day is the minimum. When we arrived to Nairobi and he met us in the hotel, he spent nearly half an hour to convince us to pay the 120$ tips to the driver at the end of the trip. A tip is not a fee or a tax: we are free to pay what we want depending on the service given.
Last thing: in the program there was the lake Nakuru known for the many flamingos that live and feed from it. But flamingos can be seen only in summer, as during the rainy season the level of the lake goes up and flamingos have to go else where to have some food. This of course was not mentioned by Allan: we spent 10hours in the road from Mara to lake Nakuru only to see the animals that we already have seen in Mara.
At the end I felt that the only objective for Allan is to sell his package and make money during the low season.
Reply from Back of Africa Adventure
Posted on Jun 27, 2018Dear Ms Essid,
How are you?
Thank you for your kind and honest review on your just ended trip with us.
With due respect I have for all my clienteles across the globe, I beg to apologize for the troubles and frustration that you experienced lately. I want you to know that your complaint and feedback will give us the chance to resolve any problem that may occur and assist us in making our services better today and tomorrow.
We also observe some crucial information in your complaint concerning the time of travel from maasai mara to lake Nakuru National park… to be honest it is NOT 10 hours since the distance from Talek gate to Narok town where you both stopped for lunch is approximated to be 109 kms and then from Narok Town to lake Nakuru National park main gate is approximated to be 123.2kms. Just a simple arithmetic total kilometers is 232.2 kms. It is true the road from maasai mara (109 kms) is all terrain and is bumpy that normally takes much time for all travelers (2hrs 45minutes on this bumpy road) upon completion of this stretch the road is tarmacked and the driving is easy all the way to Nakuru. So Ten (10) hours is unrealistic. I beg to add that the speed limit in Kenya for all PSV vehicles is 80kms/hr.
For the mode of transport it my tradition to provide adequate information to all my clients across the globe as “I do not keep any cards under the table” for my packages. In our mail conversations with you I gave options and you landed on a safari van as your budget bracket could only fit on the safari van and not a jeep 4 x 4.
As a person in charge I have never compromised any of my services at the cost of my clients and I’m so sorry a thousand time if at any point you felt short changed.
Once again, we are sorry for the inconveniences we have caused you and we hope to offer you better services in future.
For any questions or further assistance, feel free to call us on +254 722 570 722 or drop us an e mail.
Best regards.
Allan.
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 Dean | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful wildlife viewing; logistics could use some work.
I took a 6-day tour of Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru, and Amboseli. Leading up to the tour, Allan's communication was excellent, and he answered all of my questions, sometimes within minutes. The two guides I had were very adequate, especially Obama, who was exceptionally knowledgeable and pleasant. The wildlife viewing went beyond my expectations, which made the safari highly worthwhile. When we arrived at the Maasai Mara camp, there was a problem with my accommodation reservation, so Allan helpfully arranged for me to stay at another camp. The vans we traveled in were functional for a budget tour. However, on the way back from Amboseli to Nairobi, we had to stop twice for flat tyres, and at one point I had to wait for an hour alone in the van beside the highway while my guide went to purchase a new tyre. It ended up taking nearly 12 hours to get back to my lodging in Nairobi! However, Obama handled the adversity well, and it was not nearly as unpleasant an experience as it might have been. Allan was very apologetic about the mishaps. In sum, the time in the game parks was wonderful, but if you book with Back of Africa Adventure, you should probably be prepared for an "adventure."
Reply from Back of Africa Adventure
Posted on Feb 12, 2018Jambo Pro. Dean,
We would like to offer our deepest apologies for the trouble you had to experience due to the flat tires on your last day trip with us from Amboseli National park.
This situation is not ordinary and these incidents are not typical of us as a company. We are very serious when it comes to our client’s satisfaction and have a zero tolerance policy in this respect though at times we fail.
We appreciate that you understand that mistakes sometimes happen despite the numerous checks and measures. We are very sorry that this happened to you on your way back at the end of your trip. Be rest assured that we are having our “lenses on” just to ensure that we have zero tolerance to flat tires on the African roads.
After studying the matter, we found out that the cause was as a result of low quality tires that were supplied to us from our new dealer and since that time we switched back to our original suppliers which is Yana tires. This is clearly a mistake at our end and we take responsibility for it.
Due to this unintentional error and as a token of appreciation to you as our client, we are going to extend a day trip offer to hell’s gate National park any time you get time off your busy schedule.
This is the least that we can do to compensate for the inconvenience caused on your last day journey back to Nairobi. We do hope this resolution fulfills your expectations on our services.
To make things even better, we have taken a number of measures by strengthening our transport department to ensure that we eradicates flat tyre issue do not happen again in the future. It is due to you that we have realized this and we thank you for sharing your experience with us across the globe. We prefer to learn and improve under better conditions but sometimes this is just not possible.
One more time we apologize and we hope to keep you as part of our valued customer base for a very long time.
Please do not hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback with us at any time via e mail or phone calls. We are here for you.
Back Of Africa Adventure.
Five stars for George, he was the perfect guide. Minus one star for Hell’s Gate bike ride.
George was our guide for the first four days, and he made them amazing days. He is not only a good guide, but a good person to spend many hours with. He was incredibly knowledgeable about all the animals we found. He knew how to find the more elusive animals (leopard, cheetah) and often we were the first safari van to find one of these special animals, due to his understanding of their movements and habits. He was patient in waiting for good viewing angles and opportunities. And he answered all our (many, many) questions about the large animals, the small ones, the birds, the bugs, and the plants. He even explained larger topics like the Kenya’s history and culture.
His personality was a perfect fit for us. Calm and present. He was attentive to every question, but did not fill silence with meaningless chatter. He thought carefully about his answers to our questions, and clearly understood the science behind the natural world. We really appreciated the space he gave us to talk amongst ourselves, or just enjoy the sounds of nature.
For the final day, George left and Obama became our guide. He was friendly and full of jokes. We visited Hell’s Gate that day. The park is nice, with some dramatic geological features and populations of zebra, impala, giraffes, and buffalo. The negative was the bike rental. We asked Obama about price but were told to wait and see, even after he spoke to the bike tour guide on the phone. When we met the bike tour guide, Obama explained his guide fee as 300 shillings, but the man corrected him to 1500. Then we had to pay a bunch of small fees, including the guide’s park entry fee and even his bike fee. We rented the guide’s bike for him, from him. The guide had a thick accent and a frequent cough. He mostly pointed to animals.
Only later did we see other tourists without guides and realize the guide was optional. We asked for some privacy and our guide rode ahead and mostly let us bike at our own pace.
One purpose the guide apparently serves is scaring away buffalo by clapping. So give the buffalo plenty of space and clap them away if they’re too close - they can be dangerous.
Finally, Alan was a responsive organizer and answered our emails promptly. Much appreciate that
QA
Email Meritxell | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Journey
Allan arranged a complete 7-days safari. Even the timings were too tight, the overall experience was fantastic thanks to Simon our guide/driver and best friend for a week!! The program was not realistic with the driving distances considering Kenya's traffic and roads’ quality. Simon was the superhero who was driving from Tsavo to Naivasha for 6h and still have energy to find the rhinos and make us laugh!
Our choice combined luxury and budget palaces which all of them were as expected. We only missed to have a cooler box to store water in the van and some guide books to get more info of the fauna and flora. We will certainly repeat the trip with Simon, but I strongly suggest spending at least 2 night in each place to have time to rest and enjoy the Loges facilities which are amazing.
IT
Email Gianluigi Vitale | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Experts, prepared and reliable
We booked this Safari after viewing other tour operators on safari bookings. For the entire period before the departure, Back to Africa was available for all our explanations.
Moreover, they were on time in every appointment respecting the travel program.
During the safari, we didn't miss anything, we were always safe on the move and the guide was very experienced and reliable.
For another similar experience in future, I would return to them.
Thanks for the experience.
US
Email Brett | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Overall very good, some logistical issues.
Pros: 1. Allan from Back of Africa was great and delivered on everything he promised within his power.
2. the parks and animals in both Kenya and Tanzania were amazing.
3. the camps for the most part were as or better than expected in almost every instance.
4. the employees of Back of Africa were all very friendly and helpful.
Cons: 1. because Back of Africa can't operate in Tanzania they subcontract out a tour company in Tanzania to complete the trip there. That company (SouthSand Tours) was also perfectly fine. The only issue was the communication between the two companies. Our itinerary in Tanzania was changed multiple times because the tanzanian company informed us the way that Allan and I agreed to it was not possible based on park rules. Also, when we were dropped off back in Nairobi on the last night we were told by SouthSand Tours that someone from Back of Africa would be waiting for us at the bus stop to take us to the hotel, however, when we got dropped off in the middle of the night on the street no one was waiting for us (luckily a hotel was nice enough to let us borrow their wifi to uber to our hotel).
Recommendation: My overall recommendation would be to use Back of Africa for your Kenyan trip and another company individually if you leave the country, I think it would result in a smoother and less frustrating process. If not for this I would have given Back of Africa 5 stars and westerners should feel completely safe using them in the future.
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.
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!