Tourist Line Safaris (permanently closed)

Not the best company to use

I did the 14-day Kenya and Tanzania shared group safari. I’m going to tell an entire story here, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if TouristLine categorized me as a “difficult” client. But I do NOT recommend using this agency.

To start, my trip and safari and the food and the people were all wonderful. However, the guides do not work for TouristLine, they work as contractors through a separate company, so it’s really luck of the draw there. No matter who you book through, you could end up in a group with clients from different agencies.

My first red flag from TouristLine was that they advertise assistance with booking lodging for any days before or after your safari. When I asked for hotel recommendations, I was ignored and they asked me for my hotel information for the safari pick-up. I found a great hotel on my own and didn’t think too much of it.

The start of my trip was difficult, as my luggage remained in NYC and so I had to do some paperwork and make some extra accommodations right from the start. After the long flight and with the extra stress I just wanted to get to the hotel and shower and make a plan. I was under the impression that once I left the airport, all of the logistics of travel would be handled by TouristLine. I was incorrect. No one picked me up from the airport as advertised. When I brought this up, I was told that I needed to call once I landed. Every other time I have had an airport pick-up, they use the flight number to track the flight and I have been picked up without difficulty. Anyway, I took a $20 cab ride to my hotel.

Out of frustration (that wasn’t necessarily all TouristLine’s fault), I wrote a Day 1 review on safaribookings.com. The company reached out to me and offered to cancel and refund my safari. This would have left me without luggage, accommodations, or a safari. I took the review down and played nice, even though at this point I knew that I was going to experience some bumps in the road.

TouristLine was contacted about my luggage situation. They were able to verify when the luggage had been put onto a plane and assured me that upon arrival it would be delivered to me. At this point, I volunteered to give up a day of my tour to make sure that I had my bag before heading out to the parks. They again assured me that the bag would make it to me and we continued with our original plan. I had a free day in Nairobi so I went and bought three outfits and some basic toiletries, thinking this would be more than enough to cover me until my luggage arrived. My luggage arrived in Kenya the next day, which was the day I was set to start my safari. My hotel pick-up was at 0700 and that went smoothly. However, my pick-up time was apparently much earlier than the other tour participants because we didn’t leave until around 0900. If I would have known this, I could have swung by the airport and grabbed my bag and that would have been the end of that. This didn’t happen, but I was again told that the bag would be picked up and would meet me the next day at the first camp. I won’t get into too many details, but this back and forth went on for four additional days before I receive my luggage. While the initial luggage situation had nothing to do with TouristLine, I feel like they gave me the impression that this was high priority but in actuality they did not care at all. If I would have known that there was going to be a delay that long I would have gotten extra supplies when I was still in Nairobi.

From that point the rest of the Kenya trip went smoothly. However, crossing into Tanzania started the real problems with TouristLine. Firstly, I had specifically asked about vaccination requirements, another question that had gone unanswered. I had done research on my own, but read the requirements incorrectly. I had to pay $50 cash at the border to get my yellow fever card. I was also told that Tanzanian visas were gotten at the border, while everyone else in my van had successfully completed e-visas in advance.

Okay, so after customs, I was waiting with another traveler who had a similar itinerary as I did, although he had booked through a different company. We assumed that we were traveling to Arusha together as we had not been given individualized instructions. We waited for several hours for a bus to Arusha, but finally boarded and headed to the hotel. It was at this point that I learned that the bus and hotel were just for my friend and not for me. NO ONE WAS SENT TO PICK ME UP AT THE BORDER. If I hadn’t been with a friend using another agency, I would have been completely lost since the border and drop-off point are very chaotic.

At the hotel I got in contact with TouristLine and asked if it was possible to swap my itinerary to match my travel buddy’s, since it was just swapping the days of Serengeti and Ngororgoro. She was able to change my itinerary, however, the changes did not put me onto my friend’s tour so we went back to the original plan. You have to understand, the plans for safaris are pretty much made day to day. The tour guide seemed responsible for getting people to their next destination, which required a lot of transfer vehicles and last-minute arrangements as they are unaware of each traveler’s individual itinerary. I heard the phrase “hakuna matata” very much during this time. That is the only reason I thought the change might be able to be made. TouristLine did attempt to help me make the requested changes and I appreciated the effort even if it did not work out.

The rest of the Tanzania leg of the safari went smoothly. Even though the tour can end in Arusha or Nairobi according to the website (and TouristLine had a copy of my flight information), my tour seemed to officially end in Arusha. The hotel I stayed at helped arrange a shuttle for me to go back to Kenya to make my flight. I had to pay an additional $35.

I am giving you my entire story so that you can judge for yourself. In my opinion, the agency’s only job is logistics since the tour guides direct the safaris themselves. As I had issues with my luggage, transportation, and the border crossing, I am not 100% sure what TouristLine did for me. I’m sure there are a million things they did on their end that I am unaware of, but there are over 400 companies that arrange safaris and I am sure that they all do those same things. I would recommend trying another company if you want to avoid additional, unnecessary stress during your vacation.