Office Staffs
Pride of Africa Adventures
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2014)
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $50 to $350 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
DE
Email Oliver | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not thrustworthy, you should not believe a word they say.
We booked two safaris with Pride of Africa in January 24 for our Kenia holiday in October 24.
Just about two month before the trip we were informed by Stephen, that the park fees for Masai Mara have been raised and that we have to pay a higher price for the safaris. On my complaint, that the higher fees have already been officially released by the time of the booking they said that they expected the government to not really stay with these higher fees and so they did not integrate them into our price and that we will have to pay the higher fees. Finally, we agreed that I will pay some higher amount, but not the full difference and I got the assurance from Stephen that we will find a good solution for both of us when we are there.
Finally the good solution was that I was told to pay the full additional amount and that otherwise they will not start the safari. This really felt like fraud to me, because in this position there was no other way out for me than paying the amount and the obviously knew this in advance.
After my complaints after the tour Stephen promised me several times to talk to his boss again and make sure that I will get a refund (I have this as a written statement!).
Now it is already three month later and I did not get anything than more and more empty promises.
If you ask me for my recommendation it will be that you should not believe a word the say and even be careful with what they write.
Additionally it turned out during our tour, that many of the described and booked parts of the safaris will just not happen, as it is absolutely impossible to do all this in the given time frame and driving distances. And again, I am sure that they of course knew this advance. Don’t get me wrong: Our guides did a good job and in general it was a nice and unforgettable trip, it was just more expensive with much less safari parts than promised before.
To get a good feeling about the honesty and trustworthiness of Pride of Africa Adventures just look further down in these reviews where you will find a review from Phelix from October 24. Everything you read in this review is a lie. Neither has Phelix booked a tour nor was he there with his family. Actually, he was one of our guides and I took the photo that shows him at the boundary stone to Tanzania. If you look at the attached photo you will see the same guy at the same location at the same time. This review is just a fake and maybe a good description of the business of Pride of Arica Adventures
Email Nancy | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
6 Days massai mara,lake Nakuru & amboseli
We were in a group of 6 people who were shopping around for a cheaper safari and we got a better deal with this company. Since this was festive season many people were getting out of the city and looking for a holiday. Wickliffe was our driver. Accommodation, food and the transport was perfectly arranged and we enjoyed everything that were promised. There are quite a number of Tour company's around but services matters and getting what you have paid for is another thing. Pride of Africa made us proud like the name itself. Thanks to the organizers and may you continue doing this to other clients.
US
Email Jill | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Went in with reservations, came out with a great experience!
I will give a full review with pros and cons of our experience.
Before I booked with Pride of Africa Adventures, I read all of the reviews and was very concerned about the negative things written. I almost didn't book because of the bad reviews I had read. But Stephen was very accommodating and responded quickly to my questions and assured me that they would make sure we had a good experience. We had a group of 21 people and planned a 4 day/3 night safari in Maasai Mara/Lake Nakuru/Lake Naivasha. He helped me choose hotels to fit our needs and budget for our 3 families. We decided to take the chance with Pride of Africa Adventures and we paid our deposit.
Once we paid the deposit, Stephen seemed to respond slower to my questions than before, and this had me worried for months before our actual safari. On the day that our safari started, they were supposed to pick us up at the airstrip with lunches and then proceed to a game drive. However Stephen messaged me just hours before saying that they wouldn't have lunches for us. This was a little frustrating since we'd been travelling all day from Uganda and lunches were included on our itinerary. Luckily we had some snacks with us already to tide us over.
Fortunately, that was the last problem we had. A guy named Elias met us at the airstrip and we paid him the final balance in cash and he introduced us to our drivers, John, George and Max. From there on out we had a fabulous time!
John, George and Max were the best! They were nice, friendly, on time, helpful, accommodating, and made our safari experience wonderful! We saw the big 5, we saw a cheetah take down a gazelle, they were ready to go early each morning so we could have early morning game drives, and they slowed down and stopped when we wanted more time to look at animals. I give these drivers 5 stars and thank them for providing us with a great experience!
Also, our accommodations were great! We stayed in 3 different places and we enjoyed them all! They exceeded our expectations for a mid-budget accommodation.
So other than no lunches the first day, and some slow responses after our deposit, we had a very positive experience. Our drivers made the experience great!
ES
Email Mariano | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Feeling deceived
Services contracted: Fully customized private safaris, 4 days Amboseli, Tsavo West and East and 9 days Samburu, Buffalo Springs, Aberdare, L.Naivasha, L.Nakuru, Hell's Gate and Maasai Mara.
First of all, I want to put on record the positive aspects:
- Smooth communication with quick responses from Stephen during pre-hire planning.
- Willingness to adapt the tours and accommodations to our requirements.
- Experienced and qualified drivers.
I am writing this review 5 months after the safari because in those months Stephen from Pride of Africa assured me that he was looking into ways to compensate for the problems I describe below.
- Problems with payments. I paid a deposit by wire transfer to secure the booking. The balance was to be paid upon arrival in Nairobi in USD, but most of the banknotes I had with me were refused. They said they would only accept freshly printed notes, even though the older notes I had were perfectly legal. They also refused to accept payment by credit card or wire transfer. We spent hours at the ATMs until we had reached the maximum on my cards. The driver offered to make up the difference in cash and accept the payment via bank transfer later.
- Non-compliance with the programme. The visit to Samburu Park was cancelled, thus saving the entrance fees, but we have not been refunded. The safari in Aberdare Park was limited to 1 hour in the cafeteria of the Ark Tree Lodge, despite the fact that we had indicated from the beginning that we were not interested in visiting the lodge but wanted to do some of the trekking to the numerous waterfalls in the park. At Lake Naivasha the tickets for the boat trip and visit of the island turned out not to be included despite both activities being included in the programme (the justification was that the programme included the entrance fees to the parks, but that Lake Naivasha was not a ‘park’ (??).
- Non-compliance with the Masai Mara programme. It included 4 game drives in the park: the first in the afternoon on day one after the scheduled lunch at the lodge where we were to arrive at noon, 2 full-day safaris and the last one in the morning before the scheduled departure for Nairobi at noon. However, the driver delayed leaving the previous park (Lake Nakuru) and made several stops along the way, meaning we arrived too late for the first safari. On the last day, the safari was reduced to a drive between the entrance gate near our lodge and the exit gate closest to the road to Nairobi, in a manoeuvre by the driver to save on entrance fees by justifying at the checkpoints that we had only crossed the park on our way from the lodge (we even went through the checkpoints with the roof closed so as not to look like we were coming from a game drive). We reported these irregularities to Stephen before we left Kenya and asked for a refund of the unpaid entrance fees, but since then he has only postponed the resolution (claiming that he had to complain to the driver) and has avoided refunding the money to date.
Email Phelix | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Best Safari
We as a family booked 7 days private safari with this tour company and we meet our expectations. Thanks to Stephen who organized everything.
UY
Email Alicia | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
I felt scamed. They did not comply with the agreement
At first Stephen responded quickly and provided me with an itinerary according to my requirements and clearly stating what was included and what was not and the price. I had requested other quotes and made my choice by ranking the number of safaris proposed, a room for myself and accommodations in nature environments. All this in the month of January I also contracted with them for 8 days in Uganda (which they subcontracted to another company) After having sent the signal, I have questions specific to the trip to which Stephen does not answer directly and that is where my distrust begins when I see that there is no transparency and clarity in the communication on his part.
After requesting an invitation letter from both countries for the purposes of applying for the visa, I found out from the Ugandan agency that my room was going to be shared. It wasn't what we had agreed upon. Words come and go, 2 weeks away I am leaving for Nairobi. I don't know what happened between them but in Uganda I was always in a private room. I will go on to detail what was established in the itinerary and I did not have:
- pre and post accommodation. I had pre but no post. I insisted on that, it should have been in Uganda (I paid Pride of Africa, so they had to have arranged it) but I had to pay for the accommodation myself. - They charged me U$30 for the deposit transaction, which should have corresponded to them, (this is stated in our WhatsApp conversation), having already paid the part that corresponded to me here. - the most serious. They took away 4 safaris from me...4!!! One in Masai Mara, another in the morning in Nakuru, another in the afternoon and a night safari in Bothelli (which was the only night safari there was) Instead, on the day we were supposed to have a safari in the afternoon and evening, they take us back to Naivasha and leave us at a lodge at 1:30 p.m. (a place with no park or anything to do), "to rest." ". I'm not going to Kenya from Uruguay for 7 days to rest, needless to say. The day we went to Hells Gate, they gave us 1 hour by bicycle, they did not take us to one of the parts that are allowed to go in the Devil's Throat itself, (they took many people there and it is a spectacular view) and then to drive to Amboselli to get there and do nothing again. When I wrote to Stephen complaining about these things, he always told me about other things and never responded. I told him I felt cheated. The group was 7 people that we had hired from different agencies. The itinerary responded to what they had but my itinerary was different
- The first 2 days they put me to sleep in a room with another person, it was not what was agreed upon either. - It is not my first safari experience. The animals will be notified very early in the morning, 6:30, and in the evening. We always left after 8 am and long before sunset we had returned to the rooms, greatly reducing the safari times. This also greatly reduced the chances of seeing animals. - drivers are drivers, they are not guides. They don't explain anything to you and they don't show anything that doesn't break your eyes either. By the way, they are not at all friendly in their treatment either. - They have a radio in the car to communicate with other cars in case they see animals. One of the safaris left with the radio not working. - on the last day, we were supposed to have a picnic lunch on the way but we rushed it and dropped us directly at the airport - The pack lunch, the times we had it, in my case I am a vegetarian, consisted of 2 loaves that inside had, literally, a very small slice of finely cut tomato and an equal one of cucumber, plus an egg (sometimes) and a banana Although this and eating rice and beans every day is not what worried me. As I said before, I don't go to Kenya for food or to rest.
- the only place we had accommodation in nature was at Amboselly Niati Safari Camp. A very beautiful environment with the stunning view of Kilimanjaro....full of cockroaches that walked inside the bed, through the toothbrush...tremendous I reiterate, everything was very cordial with Stephen until the sign. When I complained to him that it was not what was agreed upon, (especially my insistence was on the safaris) he told me because I was the only one complaining. I was complaining Stephen, I told you at the time and I'll tell you here too, because I was the only one who had another itinerary. It should be in another group, or you should have made it clear to me that there were changes, refunding my money or repairing it in some way. That's why I told you that I felt cheated and I still feel cheated. I am a born traveler and I have been to Africa several times, in conclusion it is the worst company I hired in my life. I have my detailed itinerary and all the WhatsApp messages available to anyone who wants them.
They care for our needs coz our group has 20 seniour group average aged 65 years old.
Love 3 experiences drives to find big five for us as well as to fit the needs of photographer. Stephen managed very well, he always put an honest and sincere attitude to help us to solve the situation we faced with creative ideas. Thanks for the boss who support us and let us has unbelievable Kenya Safari experiences.
IN
Email Sanjay | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Well organized and good experienced staff's
We did a 8 day safari everything was done through the phone and weWickliffe our driver & guide for a week. who bring us back to Nairobi safely. i'm scared of roads which are uneven (they are not roads to begin with in the park ) , yup I came to wrong place. some roads in the park I was screaming & feeling the van will tip over anytime, what if flat tire , stuck in mud etc etc too much info is not good at times . our driver knows his job & also knows how much i'm concerned abt our bags . The places we visited were safer & people were kind/nice than India still i had butterfly in my stomach the whole journey & in my mind to be extra conscious & alert abt my belongings & my peoplee 22 0 . finally boarded our final destination flight what a relief thank u kenya for the amazing experience ë". overall highly recommended if you enjoy safari G3 was very scared ,,
US
Email George | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unforgettable African tours with exceptional guides
Our 2-week vacation in Kenya and Ethiopia with Pride of Africa Adventures was absolutely phenomenal. From flawless trip coordination to selecting the best guides and activities for my family of four, every detail was meticulously handled. The experience was truly life-changing, and we couldn't have asked for better guides—they were not only professional but outstanding in their knowledge and hospitality. Pride of Africa Adventures exceeded our expectations in every way possible, ensuring that our journey through these incredible countries was unforgettable. Highly recommended!
RU
Email Maria | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Good
I decided to book with this company after checking over to 10 companies and we settle on them because of the quickness in communications and full information. We booked 10 days safari with beach and it was very good and recommend this company and if you want to feel pride of africa.