Asseri the founder with clients at Ngorongoro
Orongai Africa Safari
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2013)
- Member Of:
- Tanzania Tourist Board
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $145 to $750 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
CH
Email Alex | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
DON'T TRUST THEM
In January I enquired Orongai AS for a 5 days safari for late July. Since the beginning, I required to book ONLY lodges from the Serena Hotel Chain with an HB meal plan and to buy the flight from Arusha to Zanzibar for which I already had a reservation. The proposed program for the safari was meeting all my expectations and therefore I paid 50% of the total bill to confirm the trip (with 6 months advance).
FIRST SURPRISE: in June, after my request of details about the baloon trip that was listed into the proposed plan, we discovered that this was actually not included in the price I agreed (and already paid) but was an extra, costing "only" 510 US$ per person!!! After many e-mails back and forth with Martha, where I also proposed to pay 50/50 their mistake, I finally end up talking with the owner of the company (Mr Asseri) and I accepted, to pay the extra 510 US$. After we arrived in Tanzania, we were transfered to the first hotel where the Orongai rapresentatives showed up with more than 2 hours delay to the agreed breefing.
SECOND SURPRISE: checking out from this hotel, I discoverd that the meal plan was not HB as per the plan accepted by me and I had to pay 25 US$ per person for the dinner.
THIRD SURPRISE: the off-road car for the safari was a 30 years old Toyota Land Cruiser (much older than any other car we meet during the safari) with (probably) a few MILLIONS miles story: fortunately we had no mechanical problems (and this is a real miracle, considering the treatment this veicles receive) but the level of confort of that car was really poor.
FOURTH SURPRISE: we started the tour and we discovered that the plan was shuffled and instead of the agreed Tarangire-Ngorongoro-Serengeti sequence we would follow a Ngorongoro-Serengeti-Tarangire schedule.
FIFTH SURPRISE: despite my cash paiment for the ballon trip, they didn't succeed in boking that experience.
SIXT SURPRISE: when we were in Serengeti, we discovered that our hotel for the next 2 nights would have been a tented camp (and not a lodge as agreed).
SEVENTH SURPRISE: on the last day we discovered that the flight we were booked on was not the 5:10 pm one I originally requested but a earlier one (3:15 pm).
Based on this, would anyone trust them??
PS1: looking at other feedbacks in this site, looks like I'm not the only one having had this kind of disturbing experience with Orongai AS: probably the blame is not to be put on me
PS2: the only good thing of this safari were the guide (Gabriel) and the driver (Francis). They exceeded all our expectations under every aspect: nice and polite, skilled and commited
OM
Email Gillian | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
No booking, harassed for 2 days, and ended up paying 3,500 US$ for camps we belive not as good!
We booked our family safari in April for 9-16 July a 6 night safari and it was confirmed by Martha and a deposit sent. We chose Atua Enkop Africa Luxury Camps which Martha confirmed.
Two days before we left we thought we would check that the bookings in the camps were all OK as I read an article that said there were some operators in Tanzania that were not reliable. We contacted Atua Enkop Africa Luxury Camps owner of our 3 camps and were advised there was no booking. We immediately contacted Martha at Orongai and then started a catastrophe where she blamed Atua Enkop Africa Luxury Camps and that the booking was there. Martha said she would sort it so we flew to Kenya.
On arrival we went to the hotel we booked initially on our own and met Martha and found indeed we had no camp bookings and it ended after two stressful days of Orongai telling us nonsense and upping the price all the time and time running out and no option that we had to stay in totally different camps and had to pay Orongai another 3,500 dollars. At this late stage booking on our own was not possible and we were there so we had no choice.
On our return home I contacted Atua Enkop Africa Luxury Camps and they reconfirmed no booking was ever made and they had never heard of Orongai Africa Safari. At the best Orongai Africa Safari are incompetent and at worst and what we believe they are absolute crooks and a disgrace to the Kenya Tourism industry.
Reply from Orongai Africa Safari
Posted on Sep 2, 2018Dear David, as always we do appreciate our clients feedback after Safari. Please explain to our readers how we tried to fleece money out of you. We are really ashamed after all the negotiations we did with the hotel in order for them to extend good rates to you. We also went ahead and upgraded your transportation from Minivan to Land Cruiser at no additional charges. We had done bookings with the hotel please do not mislead our readers again. As earlier explained to you on email, You call the hotels from home and their extended to you rack rates and that what you wanted us to pay . No company accepts those terms. As per the additional charges this is due to the upgraded accommodation and this was the charges ,you wanted to be in extra luxury camps and as always comes with a coast
And if you have looked very well no profit was insured by orongai for your trip it was all expenses for your trip
Kindly correct your review since you know very well this was a mutual agreement since you broke the agreement by booking online and causing price increase and yet you were not even able to pay
We apologise for any inconveniences caused on our part
Regards
Joshua
US
Email AJ | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Poor management, did not follow itinerary, rude, Great driver
I recommend looking ELSEWHERE before booking with Orongai Africa. I am not one to write bad reviews but my poor experience with them warrants such review.
I priced out many safaris prior to booking and specifically requested going to Lake Manyara weeks before booking with Orongai. They agreed to this and I paid a deposit down for a 5 day, 4 night safari. One week after paying for half of the trip, they sent an email with what looked like the same itinerary as we agreed upon. What I did not realize however was that they deleted Lake Manyara (despite our initial request and agreement) from the last day without discussing this with me at all. After arriving in Tanzania from Kenya (which I will give them 1 star of credit for because they were very accommodating to picking me and my significant other up from the border which was very helpful), we had to pay for the second half of the trip. We attempted to pay via paypal with a credit card which "did not go through", so I sent a second payment through paypal. Essentially, we paid 1.5x what was originally agreed upon. I have now been back for 4 weeks to the USA and despite emailing multiple times, we have yet to receive a refund for the extra half trip we paid for. I hope we get our money back soon.
Not only is their management rude sending snarky emails back and accusing us of not tipping our amazing guide (for which I take a lot of offense to because we tipped him extra for how great his knowledge and sense of humor was), but they are UNTRUSTWORTHY for changing itineraries AFTER money was already paid.
I highly recommend looking elsewhere before booking with this company. Save yourself the headache of being accused of being a bad person inappropriately.
On a side note, if you do come across a safari guide named Issac. He is really great and gave us a good experience on 4 out of the 5 days of the safari that the company took us on. The 5th day, they stated we had "used all of our money up" and could not go on the last day of the safari before the airport. Such a disaster.
Reply from Orongai Africa Safari
Posted on Apr 8, 2018Thank you for this email
We at orongai Africa Safari we apologise if we caused any inconvenience to you AJ and your girlfriend .
Its true you requested for the refund from Paypal but Paypal proved that the refund was not genuine since .We provided you with all the services as per our contract .Hence Paypal could not issue you the refund on basis that they did their research and were able to prove that you were in those national parks and the hotels as per the contract .
We were willing to refund you the money since our clients satisfaction is our priolity but Paypal was able to solve the case for both of us in a fare way ,
I would like to give you a complementary in future so as to make up for any conviniences
But its not true that you were given bad services by ORONGAI AFRICA SAFARI KINDLY CORRECT THAT .You know that its not true
Thank you for your honest review
DE
Email Steffen | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not recommendable. Don't go with them.
We had two safaris with them. Actually one is still running. The first was in Tansania. Besides humiliating toilets on campsites the tour was ok. Our driver Fred is really the best. Very nice, professional and funny. Our chef Abu is awesome aswell. Very humble friendly and a great chef. In total I think the price for a low budget safari (210$ per day p.P.) is to much. Besides they don't have so good jeeps. We had an accident and I scratched my head kind of badly. They didn't have a first aid kit, so I took some napkins to calm down the blood from my forehead.
Our second safari was/is a mess. Our first day was an eleven hour bus trip from Mombasa to Nairobi. We wanted to start our trip from Mombassa because the Zawo East is just around the corner. But no chance. The woman who managed everything (Ann) said it would only be a four hours drive... that was obviously a lie because it took us eleven. So no safari the first day. Of course we paid for the whole day including the food we didn't get. The accommodations are a mess aswell. No warm water, almost no wifi and the food is really bad. The last day of our trip is again just a 5 hours trip from Amboselli to Nairobi, so no safari again.
All in all, do yourself a favour and book with some other organisation.
ES
Email LARA | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We don’t recommend orongai at all!
The safari itselfs was fine, because Frankly, the guide is amazing! But we had many problems with Orongai. When we arrived to arusha they changed the payment method, ALL the hotels and the itinerary without asking or inform us. The last day we spoke with the manager and he said that was unusual, but reading the reviews we think that they usually work in that way. We don’t recommend work with orongai because you can’t trust them if they are changing everything without inform you in advance and you can’t do anything. We had the feeling that they were cheating us all the time!
TR
Email Betsyada | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The hotel was changed to a very bad one with no info ,no resv made for the night we arrived,norefun
We planned, communicated through mail, skyp for months.
We told our expectations and hotels we wanted very clearly,many times.
The day before our arrival, upon our call to the agency learned that the hotel at Zanzibar wasnt available, it was changed to a place which is like a hostel.After a 7 hr flight,2 hr drive, we arrived that place at 4 midnight and found out that no resv made for that night.We paid the sama amount that was told, eventhough it was a ver bad cheap hotel, no refunds was offered.
We were not given any proper info about the road conditions and distance in terms of hours, between parks
So the trip was very tiring and far below our expectations
Reply from Orongai Africa Safari
Posted on Sep 2, 2018Hey Besyada
We thank you for this review and we apologise for not getting good accommodations in Zanzibar this was due to the cap putted up by Z hotel that no less than 3 nights booking is accepted ,and as you can remember we offered to give you Verde hotel 5 star in Zanzibar but you declined this off by Cero and i Quote that was not your style and we hand to look for something simple in Nugwi beach ,
We were surprised that it was not up to your expectation and we apologised for that inconvenience caused in Zanzibar ,as per the road safari we send the itinerary early so as to read and check the distance between one park to another and if you have any question you ask in advance ,and as you all know the roads to National parks are all rough roads this is done so as not to interfere with the Ecosystem of the nature
Apologies on our part
IT
Email Simone&Martina | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
GREAT EXPERIENCE WITH ORONGAI
Our Safari with Orongai in Kenya was a wonderful experience.
We planned it and organized it in less than 10 days together with Martha, who was always very quick in answering our emails.
We picked the “7 days Safari” in Amboseli, Naivasha, Nakuru and Masai Mara; then we made a little modification on the accommodation for the last 2 nights, because we wanted to spend them in a tented camp (with an extra cost); this changing in the program caused a little problem at first: Ann did not quite understand well what we wanted and there was a problem with payment balance; Ann was not reachable and We could not get any answer, so We started our trip from Italy wondering if everything would have gone well; everything was fixed when we arrived in Nairobi with Martha (she waited for us at the hotel even if it was late in the night), who gave us back the money that we paid for our 2 nights in the tented camp, which Ann did not managed to organize.
The Safari tour is organized perfectly and in the most smart way, letting you discover the marvel of Masai Mara at the end of the trip, so that also the other National Reserves (which are wonderful itself) can be fully appreciated.
All the accommodations are very nice, clean and in proper order, giving you the sense of the African atmosphere.
(Maybe the first lodge in Amboseli was on a lower level compared to all the others, but still fair)
Last but not least, our guide: Kevin.
He has been the greatest guide!! Always on time, always ready to explain us something, whether it was about animals, nature or African culture.
Great animal spotter and a very nice guy.
We really enjoyed our experience with Orongai Africa Safari and we would recommend it to whoever wanted to make a Safari tour in Kenya.
Asante Sana Orongai!!
CA
Email Jenna | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
No issues here
A friend and I took part in the 6 day northern circuit camping in late May 2019. Booking our trip was easy, and Orongai was always quick to respond to any questions or concerns that we had.
Our guide, Freddie, was great too. We spent many hours with him and were never bored. He always kept us entertained with his singing and whistling and it helped the driving pass a little quicker. During the game drives, he always ensured that we got a good view of the animals and a good spot to take photos.
Our chef was DVD, and he was great as well! We never went hungry, and we always had a great selection. His antics and quirky personality were something to look forward to for every meal. We miss DVD and Freddie dearly and wished they could have accompanied us on the rest of the trip!
The tent was good quality. The foamie mattresses were alright (not great), but definitely the same quality as the rest of the tour companies. Some of the camp sites were a little disappointing (we had to wait for water to be turned on at the first one because they apparently didn't expect us to use the sinks or showers) but still better than we expected before we started the trip.
If you are thinking of a safari, you would not be mistaken to choose Orongai. The price of tour is great, and the trip itself was phenomenal. Unlike some other reviews on this site, we did not have any issues with money....what we were quoted is what we paid. Just make sure, if you are going to Ngorongoro Crater, to pack some warm layers as it gets very cold.
IT
Email LUCA | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fast to reply, good service, something to improve
We booked this trip from Italy before August. Honestly, price was fair and very competitive with respect other ones. We booked a 5 days safari with Italian guide, 2 nights in lodge and 2 nights in tented camp. Arrived in Arusha they asked us to postpone of 1 day the trip because Italian guide wasn’t available, we had flexible schedule so no issues, but... Accommodations were good, but we discovered only once there they changed to 1 night in lodge and 3 in tented camp.. at the same price.. anyway simba B camp at the border of Ngorongoro park was awesome. The guide mudy and the driver frank were very good. They offered us the taxi from Arusha to Kilimanjaro airport for the inconvenience during the safari.
US
Email Ja | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Awesome guide and driver!
Our Safari tour took us to Tarangire, Serengeti, Ngorongoro crater, lake Manyara, lake Natron. We added a morning and took a four hour hike at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Our driver and guide, Good Luck, was our good luck! He is very knowledgeable. We saw so many animals, elephants, giraffes, Buffaloes, rhino mom and baby, many lions, zebras, leopard and cheetah, hippos, many more, big and small. It was an incredible experience that we will not forget.
The communication could have been better. We booked the tour and settled on the itinerary, cost, route and accommodations. The night we arrived, the order had changed, as well as the accommodations. We preferred the original order because we added one night on the end because it was our favorite place. The tour operator upgraded one night which was good. However, at two other places, we were not told of the change until we drove up and did not recognize the place from the websites that we had previewed. We very dismayed that one of these was the last place that we especially wanted to visit. The last place was nice but our tent was broken into while we were sleeping and our iPhone and camera were stolen. The accommodation owner was very helpful.
All in all, we saw everything we wanted and hoped to see, including a Bush dinner and night drive. Serengeti was the best. Awesome experience!