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African Habitat Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2010)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $90 to $320 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
US
Email First time visitor | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
First time on a safari (10 day) and had a mixed experience
I did the 10 day kenya/tanzania safari tour and went to all the main, big parks...(Maasai mara, Amboseli, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater)
The 10 day safari tour went to a lot of great locations although you spend a lot of time traveling between destinations....The airport pickup didn't go that smoothly and we got stuck in Nairobi rush hour traffic for a long time....I ended up having 3 or 4 guides during the 6 day Kenyan portion of the tour..(felt like a hot potato).....They were good guides/drivers but it would have been nice to remain with one of them for the duration..(I think the original plan was to have one driver/guide)....Obama was the best driver and pretty knowlegable....
By contrast, the guide/driver for the 3 to 4 days in Tanzania, Sayed, was very hard to understand half of the time and a very poor listener.....(poor english skills overall)....He couldn't find animals on the game drives, had lots of engine problems in the Serengeti and generally complained way too much about a variety of things......To try to compensate for his many inadequacies, he resorted to offering to buy us beer and ganja/marijuana for us in the van ..(which I think is illegal in Tanzania).....I was told that African Habitat safaris wasn't going to use him anymore as a guide....Excellent choice..
Overall, it was a good time... August is a good time to visit Kenya/Tanzania with a large concentrations of animals... But the tour seemed disorganized at times, the accomodations a mixed bag and the quality of guides dropped a lot in Tanzania...
DE
Email Jan & Yvonne | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Authentic African safari with a lack of organization
We've booked a "4-Day Kenya Lodge Safari". The first 3 Days in Masai Mara with the Mara sopa lodge for 2 nights and 1 Night in Lake Nakuru NP at the Lake Nakuru Lodge.
Unfortunately we did not get what we booked.
We get a tent camp as an alternative for the overbooked Mara sopa lodge. It wasn't the same standard! Mara Sopa Lodge is much more expensive and we get no money back.
On the 3rd day was a 3-hour game drive according to our booking confirmation. But we only get a 2-hour game drive. On the way to the lake nakuru we had lunch and the driver droped us off with the message, we have to wait for another driver. After 3 hours we were finally picked up!!!
But now it was toooo late for the afternoon game-drive at lake nakuru, because we arrived there around 7 pm.
During the whole stay was promised us according to booking confirmation free water to each meal.
At dinner in the camp/lodge there is no water include! To every dinner we had to pay for water!
When we told all these things to the tour organizer, they said that we should not make a mountain out of this and said, that´'s not their fault because of the free water. We should take water from the car to the hotel to drink this during dinner.
In summary, we can recommend this safari-tour in any case, but the tour operator would have to act somewhat more customer-friendly.
The animals and landscape are unique!
Reply from African Habitat Safaris
Posted on Aug 18, 2017Jambo Yvon & your good husband.
Trust you are both fine and doing great, we are very much happy to read from you and your kind recommendations, this is indeed very much kind kind of you as it helps us adjust our services in the future.
The issue of the lodge was not only a disappointment to you but also to us as a company, we did the booking and even made the payment in good time, it just happens that the lodge was banking on the rooms that were still under renovation and for reasons best known to them could not beat the deadline.
This was brought to our attention and we had to move first enough to get you the best accommodation that would work best with group joining trips. It just happens that youdint like Mara olmoran luxury tented camp since you were tuned to Mara sopa, the only difference between the two is the olmoran has no swimming pool and again it's the best considering they enjoy monopoly, they charge same rate just like sopa with just a difrance of 10 usd that's as per my contract rates.
As you were honeymooners and we wanted the best for you, we requested the best accommodation/ the honeymooners tent which is charged at an extra cost and even had it fitted for the ovation and wine that was not included in the package. This was never charged. All in all, it was disappointing both to you and us, we will sure ensure there is no repeat of such, we did discuss with sopa at length and honestly there was no way out, it's not only your case but others to from different companies not only us experienced this. My sincere apologies my friend.
As for the water issue, if you go through the mail, it says we provide mineral water while on game drive and always advise that you carry somebottle with you to your room for consumption. The accommodations package do not always include both soft drinks and hard drinks. Water here falls under soft drinks and that's why we always provide this in advance and for the entire trip period.
You got to Lake Nakuru late I understand, I did take the inniciative despite the fact that you booked a group joining trip, I did provide a car just for the you and my good friend mark so that you could take more time and explore the park to exit at your most convinient time. I believe this was well compensated. I met marks and he did give me the report that lake Nakuru was awesome too.
Nb: you have valid points to take note of and be assured, we will take your advise seriously do the impossible if necessary to ensure no repeat of such.
Thanks once again and kindly do pass my warm regards
Rachel