Taking you to the exotic African wild!
Morning Star Tours & Travel
- Office 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)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
CN
Email Matt | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unfulfilled refunded after 1 month due to their mistake
Our recent 8-day trip to Kenya and Tanzania with Morningstar was far from the unforgettable adventure we’d hoped for. Starting from Tanzania, everything went wrong and they still own us a huge number of money for nearly a month. They promised to refund next week everyday, but still seeing no money yet. And we even got a message from him saying we are NOT PATIENT!
In Tanzania, we had to pay for multiple services, including park fee, transportation fee, etc, twice, losing 2 half-day of safari due payment not done in advance. Despite reassurances from Dennis, Morningstar’s owner, promised refunds for these extra expenses never received. Further more, Morningstar has no direct staff in Tanzania, so they rely on a partner agency, which resulted in poor coordination and minimal support.
Having made our full payment two weeks prior to departure, we trusted that all fees were covered. However, upon arrival in Tanzania, we learned that key expenses, including park entry and transport, hadn’t been paid. Faced with the risk of being stranded, we had no choice but to cover these costs ourselves. Dennis blamed the missing payments on a hacked bank account and again promised a refund once we returned to Kenya—a promise that remains unfulfilled 25 days later.
While our guide Caleb in Kenya was experienced and dedicated, Morningstar’s overall handling left us disheartened. The lack of support, broken promises, and financial inconvenience made what should have been a dream safari a frustrating experience. Sadly, I cannot recommend Morningstar based on our trip.
Furthermore, I don't know if there’s anything related to racism or not, but I do find that reviews from other countries are great, they did not had to experience paying everything twice, while many Chinese tourists report money loss without timely refunds.
We do sincerely wish that the excuse from Denise is true and he will refund as he promised. Please get us the refund ASAP. If so, the whole trip is a memorable experience with MorningStar.
Reply from Morning Star Tours & Travel
Posted on Nov 20, 2024Hello,
We would like to take a moment to address the concerns raised in the review mentioned above.
Our client, Matt ( same group with Becky), had booked an 8-day Kenya and Tanzania Safari, starting and ending in Nairobi. While the first four days of the safari unfolded beautifully, our clients faced unexpected challenges as they entered the Serengeti due to unforeseen failures with our banking systems. We fully understand how frustrating this situation must have been for our clients, and we sincerely empathize with the inconveniences they experienced.
As soon as we became aware of the issue, we immediately prioritized communicating with our clients. To ensure that they did not miss out on their game drives, we suggested they pay the park fees directly with the assistance of the driver-guide, assuring them that we would refund these costs as soon as our banking systems were stabilized.
Our technical team has worked tirelessly over the past three weeks to resolve the issue, and we are relieved to share that we have successfully processed a full refund for our client.
It saddens us to see our clients dissatisfied, especially when we strive to provide memorable experiences, as evidenced by other client's feedback.
We are committed to learning from this incident, and the following actions have been taken to ensure a similar situation won't happen again in the future;
1. Transitioning our banking operations from the current bank to a new bank.
2. Adding an additional signatory to our banking operations.
We want to assure you that this situation is taken very seriously, and we remain dedicated to providing all our clients with the attentive service they deserve.
Thank you for your understanding and support.