Walking Safari - the South Luangwa National Park
Tafika Travel Advisor
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2013)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $25 to $390 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
PL
Email Elwira | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Unresolved Payment Issue
I want to share my personal experience with Tafika Travel Advisor, represented by Mr. Paul, In August 2024, I made a payment of $510 for a service that I unfortunately never received. Despite multiple attempts to resolve the issue, I have not been able to recover my money.
As someone who has worked in the tourism industry for over 10 years, this has been a deeply disappointing and stressful experience. I believe transparency is important, so I am sharing this to encourage others to exercise caution when choosing a business partner.
I have reported this matter to the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Zambia and other relevant organizations. I also have documentation related to my case. I recommend that anyone considering these companies conduct thorough research before making any commitments.
NO
Email Ove S | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
The guys and the bosses were nice enough, but logistically it was a disaster.
The communications were not good because the contact person were offline due to him being working in areas with low internet coverage, but answered when he had internet available.
We ordered 3 transfers, Harare- Vic Falls, Vic Falls- Livingstone and Livingstone- Lusaka.
Due to the company based in Zambia mixed the dates they hired a Zimbabwe based company to do Harare- Vic Falls. They came late,
drove a 14 hour ride instead of the 7 hour we ordered and demanded us to pay black marked fuel price at 50% higher cost because they had bought it at the black market. Then we understood why they drove the 14 hour route, they could charge more fuel at 50% higher price. I believe they payed the normal fuel price. (This was the Zimbabwe based company they hired.)
We stayed in Vic Falls for 2 nights, then the Zimbabwe guys should drive us to the border dropping us off and be picked up by Tafika travels in Zambia. By this time Tafika and the Zimbabwe based guys had started to fight over the the payment between them, and they didnt want to drive us before Tafika payed them. And my desperate messages to Tafika about our problem werent answered. We had already pre- payed all transfers, so we refused to pay the 800$ the guys demanded from us.
To be fair, our total payement was 960$ for 3 transfers, so the demand for 800$ for 1 transfer was redicilous, but that should have been agreed between them before the transfer, and not become our problem 5 minutes before the original departure leaving us with no transfer between the 2 countries.
The reason for using 2 companies was that we headed for Vic Falls february 9th, but the day before we understood Tafika thought we were going the wednesday 3 days later. So Tafika hired theese guys for the first half of our trip since they had no cars able to pick us up at 1 day notice. The mixed dates mentioned above.
We ended up with paying a local driver money to bring us to Livingstone, Zambia. There we met eventually the driver from Tafika. He was very nice, but had a car to small for our luggage. We ordered a car for 5 persons with luggage (5 suitcases + small bags), but the car could take 1 or 2 suitcases in the trunk. We had to pay 50$ extra for sending the luggage by bus, but only 2 out of 5 came to the hotel so 3 of us had no luggage half the Lusaka stay.
We demanded a refund for the Vic Falls- Livingstone transfer and the 50$ extra luggage cost and were told we should get that back.
After 3 months of waiting we have got only promises but no refund. My last question about the refund werent even answered. That makes me writing this review giving a 1 star. I dont like doing it since the guys were very nice and also promised a refund, but 3 after 3 months I give up.
Email Kerry | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Did not pay my accommodation in the lodges
I chose to use a local Zambian company for my holiday. I wanted to spend the entire time in South Luangwa National Park. That I did, but all within the same immediate area. A little disappointing considering the park is over 9000km2.
I was asked for payment in July to secure lodge accommodations....Mfuwe, Flatdogs, Wildlife camp, Nkozi for my holiday in October/November.
So Tafika Travel Advisor failed to pay for my accommodation at 3 lodges, although I am not sure about Nkozi. Mfuwe Lodge told me they were already owed money from the previous year and so were Wildlife camp. My dealings were with Paul Manda and Robert Zgozi