Our staff on a wildlife safari
Budget Safari Zanzibar
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2018)
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $200 to $450 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
US
Email Shannan | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The pilot left us at the Selous Game Reserve
We booked the safari through our hotel Fruit and Spice Wellness Resort. We arrived on time at the departure airport in Zanzibar for the one day safari to Selous. The airplane was to make several stops to drop off and pick up passengers before we got to Selous, but our expected arrival time was 8:55am. We took off and got to the first stop. Upon arrival we saw that the transportation for the first group being dropped off was not there. We were in the middle of nowhere and there was no cell reception. The pilot tried to contact someone but didn't have any luck. We waited 90 minutes in the heat for the transportation to arrive. Once they picked up the passengers we got back on the plane to make the rest of the stops. Due to this significant delay, we did not arrive at Selous until 11:45. This full day tour was now a half day tour since we had to be back by 4:15pm.
Our guide was great and we got to see lots of animals. He did his best to make sure the trip was entertaining and that we weren't disappointed. In doing all of this, he did not get us back to the airstrip in enough time. We arrived just in time to see our airplane preparing for take off. The people at the reserve began to jump up and down to get the pilot's attention but he did not stop. At 4:45pm the pilot left and we were stranded at the game reserve.
After lots of calling around we were finally able to agree to have them take us to Dar Es Salaam. It is the closest city with an airport but it is also an 8 hour ride, with the first four hours spent on unpaved dark roads. We rode for four hours in a safari Jeep through primarily wooded areas. After four hours we arrived at a village and met up with another driver who took us to Dar Es Salaam, which was another 4 hours.
The tour company was very apologetic and arranged for this transportation. They also arranged for us to stay in a hotel across the street from the airport since we had an early flight back to Zanzibar. We needed to get back early because we were flying to Dubai and didn't want to miss our departure flight. Consequently, our Zanzibar hotel had to pack all of our things and check us in for our flight home.
The hotel in Dar Es Salaam was maybe 2 stars and served its purpose for the night. We were covered in dirt and bug bites from the first portion of our trip but the bathroom was not one you wanted to take a shower in and they only gave us one towel. We sat in the hotel room for 5 hours before it was time to leave for the airport. Luckily we made all of our flights, the hotel in Zanzibar did a wonderful job packing us up, and we showered and slept once we got to Dubai.
I was really looking forward to the safari. Being left there with no contingency plan by the tour company was completely unacceptable. I would not recommend this tour company under any circumstances. We were fortunate to make it out but there were so many things that could have gone wrong. Our driver for the day was super nice and the villagers that provided us with food and water and blankets for our 8 hour ride were lovely.
Reply from Budget Safari Zanzibar
Posted on Feb 14, 2019Dear esteemed customer
Thank you for reviewing us,
We are a small company, operating since few years on the safari business. Specialized in short terms safaris and daily package to the Selous as well as other parks . In our short time we had more that 5000 safari customers that enjoyed our service. and is the reason fruit and spice choose us for their trip
We are really sorry for the bad experience that you had, and we really want to express our most sincere apologies.
On a safari package as the one you did there are a combinations of multiple factor that can make that experience memorable or a mess, (unfortunately it has happened to you).
Airline company has apologized for the delay they had but unfortunately there were some unpredictable factors that joined in (we will forward their mail to you ).
The basic point is that once they landed at the first airstrip with the plane in the ground the clients which suppose to drop their car were not there, and due to a tower communication failure, the pilot could not communicate neither with their operation centre neither with clients . He decided to wait rather than taking off and trying something else.
Basically you should have started your Game drive latest by 09.00am , instead the driver had to wait for you to arrive till 11.30 .
As you said the driver did his upmost to make sure you’d enjoy your trip, and I assure you that all drivers and guides and camp managers that we work with, always do their upmost to make sure the guest get an unforgettable experience. But unfortunately in your case he’s actually the one to blame not understanding that he had do his upmost to make sure you didn’t miss your flight back to Zanzibar .
We tried since morning to make sure we could delay a bit your return flight, in consideration of the delay on the way in to the Selous . But unfortunately the airline company could not change his scheduled flight.
All flight operation for this type of aircraft in this country have to be done in day light.
However, the circumstances Budget Safari was going extra miles to make sure you don’t miss the flight back home and started the efforts to manage your departure with fly Dubai, we tried to hire the charter flight but due to that time small plane could not be authorised to fly from Selous Game Reserve, The decision come across in solving the challenge was to arrange a driver from Selous to Dar es salaam and booked flight from DAR/ZNZ next morning to connect your flight at 0900hrs with fly Dubai also we were contacted with the team of Fruit and Spice Hotel to seek your permission to pack all of your staff to bring them next morning to Zanzibar Airport for your departure.
Regarding accommodation in Dar Es Salam. as much you we tried but was only option to avoid missing the morning flight due to road traffic jam in the city.
Again we are really sorry for all you experienced and kindly accept our apologies