Taking you to the exotic African wild!
Morning Star Tours & Travel
- Located In:
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 2018)
- Member Of:
- IATA, KATO, AMREF & TOSK
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $134 to $806 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
CN
Email Becky | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not a pleasant experience - unpaid park fee and unfulfilled refund as promised
We recently booked an 8-day trip to Kenya and Tanzania through Morningstar, hoping for an unforgettable adventure. Unfortunately, our experience was far from pleasant.
While we were excited to see a variety of wild animals, our trip was marred by significant issues. We were forced to pay for everything twice in Tanzania, which was incredibly frustrating. Moreover, we lost a full day of safari time due to problems with our bookings.
Despite assurances from Dennis, the owner, we did not receive the promised refund for these expenses.
Additionally, we were disappointed to discover that Morningstar does not have staff in Tanzania. Instead, they work with a partner agency, which led to a lack of coordination and support on the ground.
We made our full payment two weeks before our departure, believing Dennis's claim that it was necessary to ensure everything was booked and our trip would run smoothly.
However, upon arriving in Tanzania, we quickly learned that fees-such as park entry and transportation-had not been paid. This left us in a difficult situation; we either had to pay again ourselves or risk being stranded in the Serengeti.
Dennis cited a hacked bank account as the reason for the missing payments and promised that we would receive a refund once we returned to Kenya. Unfortunately, this promise went unfulfilled as well.
In conclusion, our experience with Morningstar was disappointing, primarily due to poor management and lack of support during our trip. I cannot recommend them based on our experience, as the dream safari we anticipated turned into a series of frustrating challenges. Though our first guide Caleb in Kenya is great. He has 20 years experience and always wants to show the best to us.
Moreover, till today, we still have not received the refund. It's been 15 days since he promised to refund.
FI
Email Tommi & Inka | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Dependable, with excellent service, and they really put in the effort to make our safari memorable.
We enjoyed every bit of our 4-day Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Naivasha private tour.
All our requests were taken into account before and during the safari, even vegan food was arranged at every meal. Communication was smooth and easy with Carolyn the whole time.
Our guide and driver Augustine was a true professional, knowledgeable about the wildlife and skilled at spotting animals. He was a genuinely nice and fun guy to be around, making our experience even more enjoyable.
Overall everything went better than well and if we get a change in the future, we will book safari again with them. Recommended!
SG
Email JB | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience overall
Overall, it was a fantastic trip.
Pros:
We saw lots of animals. Our guides in Kenya, Alex and Rino, and our guides in Tanzania, Jackson and Tony, were very helpful. They helped us spot many of the animals and helped us find good spots to video and photograph them.
We saw over 60 species of animals, including 28 mammals and 37 birds.
The tour guides were also very knowledgeable and were very familiar with all the animals in the safari.
We got to see a lot of different parks during the trip and many different landscapes.
Cons:
Some of the accommodation were very basic. We stayed in tents with no locks, and very limited amenities.
There was no air conditioning in the rooms. The air conditioning in the car also could not be used because of the dust in the safaris.
We spent a lot of time on the road, and the jeeps can be somewhat old, so they are not the most comfortable.
Overall, it is an extremely unforgettable trip that is very worth going at least once in your lifetime. Just be prepared for some discomfort along the way and embrace the nature.
CN
Email Minghao | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
True experience with Morning Star which kill our life time Safari Trip
Our experience with Morning Star was perfect at first which he (morning star boss) responded our message on time and provided us with clear and good design information on the trip plan and cost in details (See picture). We then booked a 9 days trip cover Kenya and Tanzania.
We are really attracted by their info and really looking forward about this trip. We have been asked to pay all the money ahead of trip so they could pay all the NP fees and hotel booking ahead so they will not waste any time in the national park front. Therefore, all six of us paid 40% half year ago and paid rest 60% 2-3 weeks ahead of our trip.
The first three days were good. We were really enjoying the trip in Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara NP. We saw a lot of animals and also great views.
However, after traveling into Tanzania Serengeti NP, Morning Star just killed our moods.
First, because Morning Star didn't run in Tanzania by its own, they asked another operators (Mama Savana) to arrange all the park and our guide and Morning Star should pay them at front but Morning Star had failed to do so. The worse thing was Morning Star didn't even notice us.
Mama Savana provided us services the first day with 0 payment made and refused to take us the second day because Morning Star failed to pay them. This gave us a really hard time because we had to spend hours to contact Morning Star to figure out the situation. And all his contact (Phone, WhatsApp, WeChat) suddenly failed and had really bad connection when we finally reached out to him.
The final solution was that we pay again to Mama Savana for all the trip fees in Tanzania to continue our trip and Morning Star agreed to refund us back after.
The results were followed:
1. We paid additional 4k USD which Morning Star should pay (Morning Star claimed that they have some bank issues that they couldn't pay which was a lame excuse to me).
2. We wasted hours to contact Morning Star to figure out situation and solution which Morning Star failed to notice us and failed to solve their problem.
3. We wasted 5 hours traveling between north entrance and middle entrance of Serengeti NP (Because we lived in Middle entrance and we planed to see crossing at North entrance.
4. We wasted 2 hours waiting at the entrance because we didn't pay for park fee ahead. Our guide had to wait for the park front desk to print and give the entrance license.
Serengeti NP should be very nice for a 2 day Safari trip and Morning Star just killed that and rest of our trip(We have 2 days more with Morning Star after) because we worried about the same situation would happen again on our hotel or the coming park fee in Amboseli NP.
The guide from Mama Savana was really nice and companied us all the time. I truly felt our life had been in risk if our guide didn't come to pick us at the second day and all six of us would be left in middle of Serengeti NP with bad phone connections.
And today, after 2 weeks from our trip, Morning Star didn't refund us the money yet. Even Dennis claimed that he would pay within 2 week time.
This is my true experience with Morning Star and we still try to contact Morning Star to ask for our money back.
The worst thing is, what can make us up for our trip lost for those time we could spend on Safaris to see crossing or other wild animals in Serengeti.
Up to now, I didn't see Morning Star feel sorry for our lost because their bad services and failures
Summary:
1. Asking us to pay full payment ahead but failed to provide us the right services
2. Lying on us about they paid all the park fees to save us time
3. Wasting our valuable time in Serengeti NP Safari
4. Claiming to refund our extra payment which Morning Star should pay naturally but fail to do so.
Overall, I don't think Morning Star is a responsible operator. It has no abilities to handle the uncertain during the trip and may risk your life and ruin your whole Safari experience.
US
Email Ashok | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Well organized tour operator with excellent guide!
We booked a 10-day private safari in a Toyota Landcruiser visiting Amboseli, Ol Pajeta, Lake Nakuru, and Masai Mara parks in Kenya. What a fantastic trip! We saw everything we expected and more -- including all the Big 5 and the Ugly 5. The number of animals and babies was breathtaking. Our excellent guide, Peter Rono, was a perfect match, providing the right balance of guiding us and giving us options to focus on what we wanted to see. Rono seemed to just know where animals would pop up next, and even managed to get us into great viewing positions even in spots that were crowded with other safari goers. All the arrangements were well made by Dennis at Morningstar, and he was patient and accommodating while we iterated on our itinerary. Highly recommend the folks at Morningstar!
Email Francesca | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent safari trip!
From start to finish, our experience with Morning Star Tours was great! Dennis was in regular communication with me to provide quotes and advice when planning our safari holiday. The accommodation was amazing, especially in Amboseli and Lake Nakuru. Food was great with buffet meals and variety to choose from.
James, our safari guide and driver, was simply the best. He was so knowledgeable and made sure that we covered as much as possible and saw loads of animals. He made our trip fantastic! Big thanks to James & Dennis! I would definitely recommend to others!
US
Email Parul | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best Guide Ever!
Thank you so much Morning Star for a fabulous Kenya tour and safari. You accommodated all of our requests and were flexible when we requested it. Our tour guide Rono was absolutely amazing - helped us find SO many animals and took us up close every time. He was very knowledgeable about the animals and their behavior patterns. We had a memorable once in a lifetime experience!
CN
Email Suki | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent safari journey with MorningStar
We 2 persons, chose Morningstar as our safari agency becasue of a quite detailed, prompt response from Alice. She is always helpful, patient and agile for all my questions or the situations we met. All quotations has the breakdown, even proposal changes, there will be a transparent update on the quotation which make us feel morningstar is reliable. It might not be the cheapest price but it's our choose to secure us a pleasant, expected journey in Africa.
Morningstar is quite reliable, you can also find that they had a good relationship with the lodges/camps when we check-in in different places.
Alice arranged Willy as our 10 days safari guide and driver, I highly recommend Willy as the safari guide because of his excellent drive skills (safety first especially you may have long-time drive from one national park to another), rich experience on animals behavior and habitat! The most important thing is that Willy highly repect the animals, he knows what kind of distance should be kept between the vehicle and animals, so that the wildlift can be respected and protected, while the guests can also get the good photoes. We should always respect the wildlife, this is their home.
I would recommend morningstar to our friends.
CN
Email Ric | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic! Brought us a fun & amazing safari adventure!!
Thanks Alice (our tour consultant) to design such amazing and interesting itinerary. Also very patient to answer all the questions about the journey with prompt reply!
Also a big thanks to Alex ( our driver guide) !! Alex is very good for finding animals! Also know where is the best view to take the photo, you could just make a wish and he will make it happen! :)))
Brilliant
Morning star was a excellent choice. What got exactly what was agreed, they shared multiple quotes promptly and kept in touch. Even though there were unforseen changes to one if tge resorts, alternatives were offered in advance.
This was a long planned trip and thanks to Morning star it turned out very well.
Wanya, Willy we thank you very much 😊