Travel Shore Africa
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2007)
- Member Of:
- Kenya Tourism Board
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $80 to $800 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Liz | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Dishonest and very unreliable
I recently booked a Safari to the Maasai Mara National reserve with Travel Shore Africa and had the worst experience ever. They asked for 50% deposit 2 weeks before travel and the rest 2 days before the travel. On reaching my hotel, I was shocked to realize that they had not paid for my hotel. We were treated to such a disappointing welcome at the hotel. We waited at the hotel reception for 2 hr's as they deliberated on hotel payments. The Tour company had issued a fake bank payment slip to the hotel and therefore this payment was not cleared. The experience was a harrowing one from the first day to the last day. I and my 3 children were treated like beggars at a faraway hotel in the middle of the Mara, where they only allowed us to spend the night since the tour company only paid for the 1st night. Next day, all I did was follow up with the company to ensure our hotel was fully paid. They paid using a different payment method at the end of the day after numerous phone calls and a lot of time wasting on my part. We missed our game drive on day 1 due to non payment of Park fees. (All these costs had been factored in the travel quotation and had fully been paid for). On our last day, our driver did not even have gas for his tour van and again I had to advocate to have gas to transport us out of the hotel. I had to literally beg the company to pay for services that I had paid for long in advance. Worst travel company in Kenya in my opinion. The owner of this company unfortunately was well aware of what we were going through and didn't care to alleviate our suffering.
Email Beatrice | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Not honest from my experience
Booked with them in October for Christmas festivities from 23rd to 28th December. Cleared everything before starting the journey.
The first red flag was delay in confirming driver details for the transfers and sharing the hotel voucher under their name.
Checked in well but on check out, we were not cleared by the hotel since they had not settled their bills with the hotel. We were detained at the hotel and surprisingly their agent (Sylvia) who was handling our account stopped picking my calls and eventually blocked me.
Later in the evening, the "Accountant" Nick (wasn't behaving like one) who was drunk called me and apologised for what had happened only to realise he was being used to distract me and buy time.
The CEO Nancy blocked us, refused to pick up our WhatsApp calls that were going through and refused to read our many messages...that's the Tone at the Top.
We ended up missing the flight we had been booked.....via a funny local airline yet my confirmation had indicated Jambo. They even send a driver to pick us up from the hotel to confuse us more.
From there your guess is right.....we were left to attend to ourselves.
Soooo, if you want drama, inconvenience, lies, dishonesty, lack of communication, being blocked....engage them at your own risk.
Not to be trusted
After paying for the trip and when it was near the time of the trip, we learned that Nancy (CEO) had not booked anything, lied about booking Baobab beach resort in Diani. She blamed the resort for not communicating with her and providing the rooms as agreed prior to their renovations.I called the resort only to find out that we had no reservation and that the renovations were completed back in September. Once confronted Nancy has ghosted us and has been using Nicholas (accountant )to fool around with us claiming to refund with different excuses,it's been over a week and there is no refund,no trip to baobab and zero communication.Apparently it seems that the company literally utilized our money in the company to do their shady business providing us no service.We are currently taking legal action sadly because this is unacceptable.
CA
Email Duncan | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Not to be trusted from my experience
Travel agency is nice when booking with them but the moment you pay for the booking they are no where to be seen or even someone to communicate with and they don't even book anything for you while they use your money to do other business and will not even refund you without shame with full of lies.
Free advice: Don't book with them otherwise you will end up frustrated. Don't be deceived by the pictures and profile of the management. What you see is not what you get.
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Email Joe Shrank | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The best Tsavo Experience Ever at!
Six of us were picked in Nairobi in a van by a very warm and pleasant driver and Charles the tour guide. We had an awesome four day safari in Tsavo including staying at Saltlick Resort, morning and evening safari drives. The team team communicated clearly and kept time, the service was perfect and it was worth every coin. I would recommend this company any time.
LT
Email Vytautas | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Unreliable and defensive service in Coastal Kenya
I wouldn’t recommend this company for the following reasons:
1. The company doesn’t keep its promises. I wanted to book a tour with them, and we agreed I could make a bank transfer. Yet, since it was a public holiday in my country and the tour was just in the next few days, I warned them they might not receive the funds in their account before the tour, so I asked if I could send a bank statement and a screenshot to prove the transaction. They agreed. However, when I transferred the money and sent the statement with a screenshot, they refused to accept the evidence and said they wouldn’t confirm the tour until they received the funds in their account.
2. Their employees are unprofessional and extremely defensive. Whenever I tried to explain to them that they don’t keep their promises (as described above), they were quick to blame me for everything. For example, they said that I “guaranteed” they would receive the funds on time, which never happened and which is why I asked if they accept statements as evidence of payment. The other day, they emailed me, claiming I used offensive language when talking with them over the phone. However, I saw the phone number they said I called for the first time, and I always contacted them using a different number, so apparently, they mixed me with someone else that was using abusive language with them. No apologies were made on their side for making these false statements about me. The only answer I got from them was that I was “wasting their time.”
3. The company’s approach to receiving client payments seems shady. I paid 110.00 USD for a tour by bank transfer, which was successfully processed by my bank and correctly accepted by their bank. However, they reverted my payment without an explanation. This would be fine, but they refunded only 70.00 USD, meaning 40.00 USD was deducted from my account. When I brought this situation to the company’s attention, they refused to accept that they even got my payment, blaming the banks for not transferring the money to their account. However, I contacted both my and their banks, and both banks confirmed that Travel Shore Africa did receive my money but decided to return it partially without providing any explanation.
All in all, my experience in Mombasa could have been better if I hadn’t contacted Travel Shore Africa. All I got from them was empty promises, disrespect, and lost money.
Email Wambui Mungai | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Efficient and very helpful
The Customer service person from Travel shore Africa was very efficient, helpful and very understanding to all our needs
Email Mukami | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
No words. The most honest people in the industry.
Their communication to execution was fantastic and followed up during our stay at the hotel .