Meet the Founder & Managing Director.
African Wanderlust Adventures
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2015)
- Member Of:
- TTB, Tripadvisor & BRELLA
- Tour Types:
- Small & medium group tours (Mid-range & luxury)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $190 to $900 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
US
Email Max | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unreliable
Robert is very unreliable and not honest about the tours he offers.
I booked a private tour with Robert (the owner of African Wanderlust Adventures) for two people to visit Oldupai Gorge, the Laetoli Footprints, the Endagulda cave paintings, and a few other sites, for three days. The itinerary was great and we were very excited. The morning of the tour, we paid the full amount, and only 4 hours into the day we found out that we would NOT be visiting almost HALF of the sites on the itinerary. I immediately called Robert, who refused to give us any refund (even a partial one), and refused to extend the trip so we could see the rest of the items. There were 9 items on the itinerary that we agreed to, and we only ended up seeing 5 of them. Two of the sites we missed were things that I EXPLICITLY asked to include, including the Laetoli Footprints, and the Endagulda cave paintings (both of which we did not see). It was a major disappointment, and I do not know when (if ever) I will have time to return to see them.
Anyone considering booking a tour with Robert, I would suggest you look elsewhere. He cannot be relied upon to keep his word, and you cannot trust that he will honor the itinerary.
Reply from African Wanderlust Adventures
Posted on Jul 18, 2024Dear Max,
We are deeply sorry to hear about your disappointing experience with our tour services. We strive to provide our customers with the best possible experience and it is clear that we fell short in your case. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the changes to the itinerary and we understand your frustration in not being able to visit all the sites you were looking forward to. It's true that for a day trip it's not easy to cover both Oldupai Gorge and Laetoli Footprints and then drive again to check out of Ngorongoro on time, probably we needed an extra day for Laetoli footprints, which wasn't legit as you were to return to Arusha for post Kilimanjaro climbing preparations. For the case of the Endagulda cave painting, we opted it for Kondoa cave painting that is half way from Arusha to Dodoma region but also not possible since we had a program to visit Hadzabe and Datoga tribes for a full day on day two, before returning back to Arusha.
We take your feedback very seriously and we will be sure to address this issue with Robert to ensure that it does not happen again in the future. We appreciate you bringing this to our attention and we value your honesty in sharing your experience.
We would like to make it up to you in any way we can. Please reach out to us directly so we can discuss possible solutions, including a partial refund or a future tour discount. Your satisfaction is important to us and we want to make things right.
Thank you for your understanding and for giving us the opportunity to improve.
Warm regards,
African Wanderlust Adventures Team
KR
Email js | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tour was different from what I booked
I was looking for a tour sleeping in a ngorongoro campsite. and this was the only one, so i contacted and confirmed the accommodation. but the real tour, we stayed in a budget accommodation which was not where i really wanted. Moreover, other travellers we had tour together paid much less than we paid. I didn't need tour in tanzania cuz i did in kenya for several days. but i wanted to stay in the accommodation and that's why i chose to have one more tour but I wasted of time and money. What's more, I liked the guide but the car was too old that it broke down. and it took a long long time for us to drop off which was the worst time in tanzania.
Reply from African Wanderlust Adventures
Posted on Apr 24, 2024Dear Customer,
We sincerely regret to hear about your recent experience with our tour service. Your feedback is valuable to us, and it's clear there were aspects of your trip that did not meet your expectations.
We understand that the accommodation and cost discrepancies were disappointing. African Wanderlust Adventures Limited strives to maintain transparency and fairness in our pricing and services. Your experience certainly doesn't seem to reflect that, and we apologize for any confusion. Also it's true that joining group safaris sometimes it happened you join with clients from different companies and we can't control the way they are charged.
We're glad to hear that you liked your guide, but we're sorry about the vehicle issue. We aim to provide reliable transportation for a seamless experience, and we're sorry this wasn't the case.
Again, we appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback. We continually aim to improve our services to ensure better experiences for all our clients.
Best Regards,
The African Wanderlust Adventures Team
CA
Email Angelica | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Awful experiences
Robert at Wanderlust promised me a tour with two nights in the Serengeti, and after arrival, he made up a sob story about why the tour had to be cancelled and tried to push my child and I to take a generic tour. We had just been to Masai Mara and weren't desperate to see the Serengeti, so I said No. I initially felt sorry for him, even though he'd messed up the dates we were supposed to be in the Serengeti in his "story," so I agreed to take it day by day and perhaps go on day trips with his company.
Before our first trip, we agreed that I'd pay by Western Union, just as I'd done for the deposit, but then he emailed to say he preferred Cash to exchange into USD to pay for our park entry fee. Initially, I preferred this over using my limited US$, but as it got later and later into the evening, I emailed to say I would give 100 USD to his driver tomorrow for the park entry fee. He wouldn't take No for an answer, saying he needed the cash Now to pay for the park fee online, and showed up at my hotel around 9:30 pm. He said we'd just be going to the "nearest ATM," but after we got in the car, we passed by ATM after ATM. More than twenty minutes later, he pointed at the exact ATM he wants me to use and waits outside. Luckily, the machine wouldn't let me take more than 350 USD, and he let us leave. It felt like we'd been kidnapped by loan sharks and forced to go to an ATM. On the way back to the hotel, he greedily counted the cash while talking non-stop on the phone. Very scary.
Via email, we were then informed that instead of 6-7 am, we'd be picked up at 5:40 am the next day. Then at 5:00 am, the lady from the hotel knocked on my door to say the driver was here. The name of the driver was different from the one I'd been given, so I had the hotel staff take down the license plate number. The van then picked up a couple who'd book through another middleman and were told their pick-up time would be 5:10. We then arrived at a camp to join a couple who were on a 3-day safari, but were told they be waking up in about an hour. This couple had booked through yet another company, and the safari itself was operated by another company in an almost unmarked safari jeep.
It turns out that nobody had informed the safari driver that the first couple had to be at the airport at a certain time. So our time on the actual safari was cut short to accomodate this.
Although we still had 50 USD with Robert, for safety reasons, we opted to leave Arusha as soon as possible. I sent him a Paypal request for money, but we never saw those 50 dollars again.
Reply from African Wanderlust Adventures
Posted on Nov 29, 2019Dear Angelica! Our best current and future Clients of African Wanderlust Adventures.
We highly appreciate for choice you made in going to Safari with our company. We would like to apologize to you since our experience didn't match your expectations. We are committed to give each of our clients the best out of every tour we organize. Service to our client is always our first priority and that is well revealed by most of other reviews visible on our platform.
To us we consider unsatisfied customers are our greatest source and opportunity to learn and grow as we learn through mistakes. That's why we ask for feedback from our clients after safari to see if the experience matched their expectations. After that we find means to improve from the client feedback's. What you did is not saying anything or meeting us after the tour so we could discuss anything not right in spite of that I insisted in meeting you at the hotel.
Anyone being drive by mood, emotions and not getting someone to answer on the doubt would have write the same. Thanks a lot since we will try to improve from what you have experienced.
After what other clients who you were to join to Serengeti faced, something that for their respect we cant even write here. In case it was you, would have cancelled the trip. Due to that uncertainty we couldn't organize the safari for only you with budget price you paid.
For the case of you giving 100 US$, he could have not do anything with that since in the gate they don't accept cash but reservations have to be done in advance using the Park online reservation system and you only give driver a paper with the paid reservation number to show at the entry gate. Maybe this and more happened because you didn't know much about all this. That's why I suggested to take you to the place with many ATM for different bank just to give you many options in case, one didn't work out.
Also for the case of joining group safari you need to let the Company arrange for you everything. Most many clients think the will fall in the hand operator but it happens sometimes that's not the case, all we can do is to ensure that our clients falls in the rightful directions. You only need to trust the company you have booked with.
I couldn't give back the 50 US$ as I granted your son almost a free tour to Ngorongoro and I had paid 100 US$ for Kilimanjaro tour advance fees to secure the booking. But you never told me on time you wont go and I never received it back, in that case I have to loose it. But since we respect wishes of our clients, we shall look onto that too.
Thanks very much once more for trusting us to give you the best.