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
Email Rob | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Enjoyable but didn't get full itinerary!
Positives.
Good communication whilst booking safari.
Good friendly guide"jacktone"who got us to the major sightings in the parks and safely transported around in his clean safari van.
Overall the accommodation was good for a budget safari
Enjoyable safari overall.
Negatives.(minor)
Offering transport on our free day in Nairobi for $260 which we did by uber for $30!!
Telling us enroute that our naivasha boat ride was optional (included in itinerary),which we got a day late after sorting things out.
Not stopping at suitable picnic area on way back to Nairobi.
Cold breakfast at miti mingi camp,and no hot water for over an hour one morning,plus tough meat in stew in evening.
Towels taken from our tent by staff at kimana camp(you have to provide your own), on morning we were leaving so unable to shower,and tent in poor condition.
Family tents not adjacent in spite of booking months ahead and safari company promising to secure good tents for us.
All the above are acceptable by us as part of travelling on a budget.
Negative(major)
However this was not,
The itinerary we had agreed and paid for said we would get a full afternoon game drive upon arrival at nakuru,and a short one the following morning before departure,with possibly one on arrival at amboseli later the same day.
Due to rescheduled boat ride we arrived later than expected at nakuru and were told we would have a longer game drive in nakuru the following morning (which meant no chance of getting to amboseli in time for one same day),but no game drive at nakuru on arrival.Upon pointing out what itinerary said I was informed that the itinerary was inaccurate and that it should have said only one game drive in nakuru,I made it clear that I was unhappy about this,and was assured that something would be arranged to make up for it.
Nothing was done to make up for it,in spite of us having a spare day in Nairobi after end of safari.
Stephen has since informed me (in one email),that nakuru game drives were 2hr upon arrival and another 2hr before departure,so 4hr morning of departure should have been enough.
Stephen has also by email agreed with staff member telling me at the time that we were only supposed to have one game drive!.
The fact that emails conflict and neither agrees with our itinerary (which he admits was cut and pasted from elsewhere) means we still feel short-changed.
We received an apology after returning from Kenya but that was too late.we expected something (at the very least an apology whilst still in Nairobi.
Reply from Pride of Africa Adventures
Posted on Sep 3, 2019Thanks for client review with positive and negatives, we like giving our story on the negative points.
- About the 260USD the client is talking about, yes we charged him 260USD for Nairobi full day excursion including all the entrance fee and transport with a tour van for his family of 5 people and we were considering the hotel he was staying which was outside Nairobi county 20km away from the city center. We didn't do this with him so we don't see why this is an issue now.
- In general I think the client is not honest because everything agreed in the itinerary were offered as we agreed and all the time wasted were compensated in the next day to avoid any complain.
This is the client who booked for a group joining safari and we decided to give him a private safari for only his family as a surprise and we did this because of his young child who was 6 years so we are surprised to see all this because he had one free day after safari and he never raised this complain with us before we drove him back to the airport. He only said everything was good and after two days we saw his email complaining about Lake Nakuru
CL
Email Roberto | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good experience and recommendable but not liked expected and with many objections
We are a couple that booked a group joining safari of 11 days in Kenia and Tanzania with Pride o Africa. We booked it in advance from our country. Below I describe first all the positive things of our experience with this company and then all the negatives:
Positives:
- All the staff is very friendly and are nice persons.
- Stephen was very fast in reply all our inquiries before and during the safari. He was very attentive and was always concerned about us and our satisfaction.
- Jacktone and Deo, our drivers in Kenia and Tanzania respectively, were very good guides, they knew good the visited parks and made a big effort for giving us a great time.
-We could see the big fives (but leopard just one time and it was the last today and from afar).
-Both drivers cleaned the vehicules everyday.
-In general good organization (except the problems mentioned below)
In general I think the people of Pride of Africa is serious and very reliable.
Negatives:
-As soon as we arrived at Nairobi and were picked up by the people of Pride of Africa (the managers), they persuaded us to change our group joining safari for a private safari (only for the Kenia’s part). We agreed because they recommended it strongly and we didn’t have much time to decide (we were under pressure). They said that the only way to keep the original accommodations was making the private tour. We had to pay an important extra cost not considered in our original budget. It would much better if people of Pride of Africa had talken about this before arriving there, so we would have time to think about it without pressure. Besides the group joining safari in Tanzania was as good as the private option in Kenya, we were only three persons in total, and finally we didn’t see real advantages to make the private safari in Kenya, specially considering we like to share with other people.
- We didn’t all the game drives indicated on the original program. I think this happened because the program was very optimistic. Is not possible to do all the game drives offered because of the timings.
-We were cheated in a shop where we stopped for resting on the way to Masai Mara. I think that the guide should not stop on bad reputation places or at least he or/and the company should aware the tourists of this bad practices.
-In Tanzania the Safari was made by another company from that country (I think that they are partners of Pride of Africa, but we were not informed in advance). They changed an important part of our program without asking or telling us. Luckly and casually we realized this the day before thanks to a conversation with the driver. We were just at time to talk the managers of both companies and claim for maintaining the original program. They solved it quickly, but if we didn’t see this the day before we would loss an important time in Seregenti.
-We liked all the lodges and campsites we stayed, except one because it was a campsite in a town and not in a park or in the wildlife as expected (Jambo Lodge, Lake Manyara). Also the staff there were not very friendly and we were almost the unique tourists there. We didn’t feel comfortable in that place. Unfortunately we spent three nights there(more than in all the other places).
- Again, without asking us, they changed 1 night in Nogrongoro for 1 night in Lake Manyara (Jambo Lodge, the place we didn’t like)
-The Land Cruiser in Tanzania didn’t have radio (important tool for communication between guides and to find animals). This was offered in the original program. The vehicle had also the windshield broken and seat belts were not very good working.
In brief we still recommend this company, but we suggest to be aware checking everyday the program in advance to have time to claim is anything is changed or wrong. Take care with the shops where you will stop for resting. If you visit Lake Manyara, ask to not say in Jambo Lodge, is not a comfortable place. Is better to stay on campsites inside the parks with the wildlife and sharing with more tourists.
Reply from Pride of Africa Adventures
Posted on Feb 18, 2019Thank you very much for taking safari with us and for the review, concerning the negative comments they are very important to us so that we can improve in our services. By answering the comments
1: Concerning the pressure his saying we put on him to take a private a safari, this was a discussion between us and we gave the advantages and disadvantages of both private safari and group joining safari . We gave them time to way between the two options then before they agree to take a private safari, they gave us condition of the driver they want for the private safari in Kenya side and we both agreed on him and the departure date we deliver the driver we agreed on. So to me I don't think we forced them to take a private safari because we both agreed.
2: Concerning the Shop they stopped, that one was not even in the program and when they stop to buy the carvings he confirmed to me that the driver remains in the car, on this I don't know how they agree to buy carvings.
3: Concerning the game drives, due to the fact that this was a private safari the number of game drives were to be agreed between the driver and them because in group joining safaris we do have fixed game drives for the group.
4: Concerning the Tanzania part I am really sorry for what took place and we discuss that before with the client and we both agreed.
NB: We will improve in the problems indicated and promise to other tourist this will not take place again and don't get worried, people do learn by mistakes and this will not repeat again