The Team Behind Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris
Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris Ltd
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2003)
- Member Of:
- Eco Tourism & Kenya Wildlife Services
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $64 to $490 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
BE
Email Kurt Laflere | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bisar
We have a good holiday with KWSS, but at the last evening when we arrived at the hotel we have to pay our stay self (110 dollars), altough the stay was included in our trip. that was on august 3, and also our ride to the airport for 10 dollars.
So i think we have the luck to finish our trip with a minor problem when i look at all the other comments.
PS, Sorry for my poor english.
US
Email Chloe | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari
The drivers were very nice, and the team very helpful. I wish you could have been less in the car, because we were coming from a 14 hours flight, plus the time difference. I had a child with me, so he was exhausted. Rather than that it was perfect, I wish I could have stayed longer, and I will definitely come back. Thank you for this memorable moment.
Great for Kenya, bad for Tanzania
We did an 8 day private safari this past summer, and KWSS offered the most reasonable price and flexible itinerary, plus they were really responsive on email. Once there, the experience was absolutely bipolar, with an excellent guide and experience in the Kenya part of the trip, vs. a terrible subcontractor and tons of problems on the Tanzania part.
You can read details on my blog:
https://bonatravels.wordpress.com/2014/07/29/country-summary-kenya/
https://bonatravels.wordpress.com/category/tanzania/
Reply from Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris Ltd
Posted on Feb 3, 2015Hello Carmen ,Thank you very much for the feedback you gave on your experience with our company and the staff.
Im very happy you experience excellent services on your life time experience on African wildlife in Kenya ,Tanzania and Zanzibar Beach safari,
I apologize and sorry on behalf of KWSS that you did NOT enjoy your trip in Tanzania as you enjoy in Kenya,I want to confirm for you as per earlier discussion before you fly back home we have finally STOP subcontracting our tours/safaris to any tour operator in any country as from September 2014
This has made our clients happier and Most of our clients who travel with us to Kenya,Uganda and Tanzania are very happy because we have employed our local Driver guides and Cooks.
Thank you very much for the feedback ,we take all the review positively to improve our quality services to our clients.
HK
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nice safari, can catch all big five, accommodation and meal can be improve.
The guide are professinal, show us lots of animal as he can, also the big five. In general, the accommodation and meal can be improve, special the lunchbox when we need to take a long transportation, only biscuit, cake, banana.
Reply from Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris Ltd
Posted on Dec 26, 2014Thank you very much for the Review Mr.Wing chan, we take any positive and Negative review to improve the quality of our services to our clients.
Im very happy that our guides made you happy by spotting all the big five ,Otherwise as per the meals you where given in as per the lunchbox we talk with the tented camp which you use and they promise to change the lunch box quality .
we are very grateful on your honest review this will make our next clients get more perfect services.
Thank you very much and hope to see you again in East Africa country.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beautiful experience; stressful circumstances
First, I must thank Kenya Walking for helping my husband and I have the experience of a lifetime. We visited Tanzania and Uganda and were sincerely amazed by the African wildlife, scenery, and people.
We chose Kenya Walking because of Otieno's quick communication, the ability to customize our itinerary, and the price. We are still grateful to have experienced so much for the price, but feel that it's important for other prospective travelers to be aware of some aspects of unprofessionalism we encountered. They are mostly small things that added up to create an atmosphere of distrust for us.
Examples of unprofessionalism:
-Multiple last-minute hotel changes, including skipping Lake Bunyonyi in Uganda to stay at a poorly rated, loud city motel with water problems (original hotel was around $100, changed to $10 room)
-Incorrect itinerary dates. Even after reviewing our itinerary upon arrival in Uganda, both Otieno and our driver forgot that we were staying two days in the gorilla park to do extra hiking. We had to fight pretty hard to convince them to correct this.
-Over-worked, tired driver speeding considerably and close to nodding off during long drives (I would highly recommend flying into Kisoro to do gorilla trek, or at least requesting a Ugandan guide. Our Kenyan guide had to drive overnight from Nairobi before picking us up and continuing the drive. We also suspect he took a wrong turn which we followed for 90minutes before correcting.)
-Borrowing gas money from us. This favor was asked as a loan until our driver found an ATM, though we never found one. We ended up letting him keep the money as part of his tip, but the company never followed up to thank us or ask whether we got our money back.
-Other small inconveniences included late departures (2hours on our first morning in Tanzania with no communication on their end), spotty attitudes from guides (our Kenyan guide did not like Ugandans... and we were in Uganda), considerable time waiting for guides to deal with problems in banks, broken jeep roof in Tanzania (fortunately this didn't happen until our last day there).
I hate to make this list, because until Otieno asked me to write this review, I had managed to forget all the negative aspects of our trip and only think of the magic moments we had with elephants, lions, gorillas, mountains, and new friends. Even with all the drama of our trip, I don't regret choosing Kenya Walking as I'm not sure we could have packed everything into our time and budget with a different tour operator. I also suspect travelling with Kenya Walking Survivors may be an entirely different experience in Kenya, rather than Tanzania and Uganda where we visited. I have only the best wishes for our guides Mike and Jonas and for Otieno.
If you decide Kenya Walking Survivors is the best fit for your trip, please be prepared to respectfully advocate for yourself and your itinerary.
Reply from Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris Ltd
Posted on Oct 20, 2014Hi Sarah, thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear you were disappointed with your Part of the trip while on safari.
ACCOMMODATION
I would like to confirm with you that before you use the facility ,we had to talk and discus with you and you agree, This was because you took a lot of time at the equator stopover and by the time you arrive at the town which is 12kms from lake Bunyoni Resort it was late in the evening and due to the security alert I could NOT let you Drive to your booked Hotel at Bunyoni Resort due to security on the way.So I had to give you the briefing and also alert my Driver and we did this because We value our clients life after discussion with you.Then the following day you where transfer you your early booked Hotel
The loud music was from the Neigbour hotel and the accommodation was well and it was the same rate but in town compare with lake Bunyoni Resort which was at the lake side,I admit thus was the difference. And we apologized for that difference if you did NOT like the facility
ITINERARY
I would like to Re-confirm with you that we discus with you all the program in Uganda and all was fine,And I accepted you to add your Exra activity which you did the following day trek to the Rwanda boarder at no Exra cost to the company.
Secondly our drivers always wake up early and sleep early,They are to have at least minimum sleep of 8hours.I apologized if truly you saw him nodding ,because he is the same guide who has been doing a lot of the trekking for Gorilla tour to our clients
GAS
You remember when you ask the driver to drive you upto the boarder of Rwanda to go and see the Batwa tribe.
I would like to inform all the travelers that due to security we don’t give or make our Drivers carry more than USD$200 .why?Due to security , if they miss/lose the money the clients will be stranded and they always carry the money which is fine for them for the fuel depending on the distance,
Now you made a decision of the change of itinerary after the Gorilla trek that he was to drive you about 80kms one way for the Batwa tribe ,there was no ATM anywhere he could get money for fuel and he inform you ,But he had to do this because you told him you will top him up the gas,because he wanted to drive back to look for the ATM to top up the Gas,
So im again sorry for topping the driver up at no Exra cost for your benefic and he Refund it back ,But at the end of the day when he wanted to refund the cash you told him this was his tip the money which you gave the drive was totaling USHS.150,000 which is equivalent of USD$58.
EXPEREIENCE
As you said you suspected the driver to take wrong side,but what happen is that he was told that the route you took was block a head so he had to turn back for another route which was NOT block.so thus why he return and took another turn,
Most of our drivers are over 15years in this land and very experience on guiding and driving.
If he did not communicate on this We apologized that next time you will have the communication on any small change on road from the driver to any clients.
LANDCRUISER 4X4
I would like to inform all our travelers that we have bad roads in Africa especially in the parks which make vehicle both 4x4 and 2x2 breakdown i.e on the wheels,body parts, engines so you should expect this as part of Africa Road which we don’t have nay control but should we have any breakdown we always make sure we fixed them to control the waste of time for the game Drive.We again apologized for this and im happy you where happy when it was solve very faster.
REVIEW.
I would like to confirm that I ask you to write a review on this trip ,so that both positive feedback to be maintain and improve and Negative feedback should be check on so that the next group don’t get to the same problems again.
Otherwise im very happy again that you are fine with our organization and we apologized for any aspect which did NOT make you enjoy your trip.But you are still welcome to East Africa next time. We promise all our clients will NOT have the same mistake.
Thanks you again for all the positive and negative feedback you have given us,This will make us to be on our watch list on the services we provide our clients.
Thanks a lot Sarah and Partner
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
My experience with Kenya Walking Survivors is certainly pleasant, but there's room for improvement.
To start, I just want to provide a little background about the trip so that it's easier to understand the pros and cons. It was a 16 days trip that includes Safari(8-9 days) in both Kenya and Tanzania and Trekking in Mt. Kilimanjaro(6 days).
I thought the pre-trip communications could have been more effective provided that it's a fairly lengthy trip and that a lot of preparation is needed for the climb. The company didn't clearly convey to us regarding what to prepare and what to expect. Nevertheless, the Safari part of the trip went very smoothly with no problems. The lodging was mostly delightful and the guide was very knowledgeable and patient in showing us all the wild lives.
For the Trekking in Mt. Kilimanjaro part of the trip, the services that were provided to us unfortunately didn't live up to our expectation. Kenya Walking Survivors seemed to have contracted with a Tanzania local travel agency called Africa Royals in handling the Mt. Kilimanjaro part. Therefore, we were handed over to the Africa Royals immediately following the completion of the Safari. Africa Royals is disorganized at best. As you probably know, staying dry is one of the most important factors that play into whether or not one would succeed in reaching the top. However, our clothes got wet the very first day of the climb and, as a result, we were suffering for the remaining of the climb. Another area that invites criticism is camp management. Every single day, we were the last group to start the climb and once we reached the next camp site, we often have to wait for an hour or two for the porter to arrive and set up the tent. My last complaint is the fact that the principal guide doesn't sufficiently communicate the time table of activities of the day to us and even if he does, he's usually the one who doesn't abide by it. For instance, on the night of reaching the peak we were told that we would start climbing at 1am. and that someone would wake us up prior to that time to get prepared. We woke up ourselves at 1:30 am and the guide was still sleeping in his tent. We would have missed the sunrise at the peak.
All in all, I think Kenya Walking Survivors provided decent service for the Safari part, but partnering with Africa Royals for providing services to customers on Mt Kilimanjaro is in desperate need for improvement.
CN
Email lucy | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
What they did last year, we paid $28965 for 9 person in 2017. Read my story
2 Stars for how lucky we are....Mr.OT disappeared almost the same time last year. I try to contacted everyone in the contract despairly one day before departure. Right now, if you have not flight to Kenya, FIND PLAN B. Below is the e-mail I sent to them in 1 Aug, 2019....
Well, Dear OT Team,
It's my last time to mail you, just lost my patience.
Attched is your so called "Promise" "Apology"....which turned to be a lie.
If you rememberd you cried on the phone begging me to let your tourism package back to SafairBooking. I believed you.
If you rememberd how eagerly you want to back to SafairBooking even sent me a "confidential mail" promised refund with interests. I responded we don't want interests, we just need our money back!
If you rememberd you claimed yourself is a Christian, lying is a sin, you got family to support, you got housing mortgage, you have to back to SafairBooking to keep you alive.
Oh, find the attachment "mail", sometimes I just joking with my friends, I said "Hi, Merry Christsmas Mr.OT, where is my refund? " " Hi, happy new year Mr. OT, where is my refund?" "Hi, happy Valentien's Day Mr.OT, where is my refund? ".....well, this time maybe Happy Anniversary Ruined Vacation 2018, right? where is my refund?
Hush.....145 mails between us, oh plus this one is 146...sorry, you are not Tom Hanks, I am not Meg Ryan either.(you know the movie "You've Got Mail", if not, just watch it , definitely you deserve best actor reward)
The last but not least, Hakuna Matata, I understand debt is a old friend to you. I just go back to SafariBooking, TripAdvisor, kenya tourism authority, kenya tourism police, again~~~~
Above is the mail. I bet they promised everyone get refund in 90 days. He, Mr.OT, will try to persuad everyone withdard the bad comment that he will speed the refund. (DO NOT BELIEVE IT).
In my situation, they did refund in a very long time. For almost one year, still have $1961 arrearages.
I really doubt I can have the money back right now.
CH
Email Daniel | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Unfortunately NOT satisfying!
We booked and paid our trip 6 months ago already and our trip started mid July. Unfortunately it all started with a misunderstanding already when we had our meeting/introduction in the beginning. Because we had organised a city walking tour ourselves after the intro (which we told OT about beforehand) but he he other plans for us which were at the same time he tried to move things and told us our tour would start a day later, which we actually didn’t really want. He said not to worry, we should relax and the guide in Ugands will be informed about the day that was supposed to be scratched from our trip (which we also didn’t want). We had to then start our trip a day later than expected, which was a pity but ok, because at the end of our trip we had an extra day before our flights went. We had also booked a hotel ourselves for that last evening.
When the trip finally started we had a fantastic first guide named Frederick who was very knowledgable and told us a lot about the animals, the country and it’s culture. After that we had friendly drivers but not really someone I would call a guide. They weren’t very talkative and didn’t inform us.
We started getting worried in Uganda when our guide wasn’t informed by the office of the change in itenerary and it was even possible to change it. We then sent OT an email, complaining about how he handled the situation in the first place and that he shouldn’t scratch one day of our safari because we actually paid for it. Furthermore we just wanted to know how the rest of our safari would go because now it was all a bit confusing how it would continue. And if we would stay for the whole trip then we would have to cancel our hotel for the last evening. He hadn’t replied ( which was odd because before our tour started the office replied VERY quickly) for more than a week. We asked our guides/drivers to ask the office to contact us because they must be in contact with the office all the time. The drivers just answered that they couldn’t reach the office, which was also very odd because they had to get info from the office to change drivers. After the 3rd driver told us that story we knew it was bullshit. We phoned and got through immediately twice!! Unfortunately OT was NEVER available to talk, he never phoned back and after a those two phone calls we weren’t able to get through either. They blocked us.
Then we told our driver to take us to the office on our way from Naivasha to Kenyan boarder, because the LACK OF COMMUNICATION AND THE NON-EXISTING CUSTOMER SERVICE really frustrated us. At the office we couldn’t get answers to why they had never replied and we found out that our itenerary had been changed by OT (via phone) which was a big surprise to us. If we hadn’t demanded to go to the office we would have never found out because the drivers didn’t know about the change.
Then we went to the boarder to Tansania. We waited for 2 hours for our next driver, who had more than enough time to get there on time, just to find out that he wasn’t coming anymore and we should stay st a nearby hotel. No one from the office called us to inform and update us, not even to say sorry for the inconvenience. The next morning we waited for an update until 10:30 (we actually tried to phone and find out what’s going on-that didn’t help because they didn’t know themselves and they didn’t have a plan B) that our next driver would be there at 11. We waited at the boarder again just to wait for 2 hours AGAIN!! He finally got there but we basically missed a whole day and we missed a game drive.
The next guide named Francis in Tansania was great as well. At last we could enjoy our trip again. We had two great days in Ngorongoro and Serengeti. Our last day, because our trip started a day late, we had to speed from Serengeti to Nairobi airport to catch our flight in the evening. Why OT planned the last day like that we will never know. He said there was enough time to even do a game drive in the morning and get to Nairobi Airport on time in the evening. That was bullshit. We even asked him to change it but he said it would be fine. We missed our last game drive and the guide had to drive 140km/h on a 80km/h road to get us there on time.
Summary:
The things we saw during our trip were amazing!! We had two great guides.
BUT the people working in the office and especially OT have been incompetent and very unprofessional. There is a total lack of communication at a time when it should be the best ever because it was DURING our trip, and there is definitely no customer service whatsoever!!! It was really disappointing because before our trip they seemed very professional and they responded very quickly to emails.
I just hope we, and other groups we met that also had a lot of problems which were even worse than ours, had some bad luck and that other groups won’t be stuck with this kind of mess!
Email Ashok Singh | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An experience of a lifetime that got ruined…
Pros:
They can customize packages for your needs.
Affordable to an extent (Don’t forget to bargain though)
They also do safaris in Uganda and Tanzania
Cons:
They do not deliver what they promise.
There is a vast disconnect between the Guide/Driver and Mr.Otieno. The guide controls what you do on your trip. We missed 3 (2 evening (1 Amboseli, 1 Mara) and 1 morning at Nakuru) game drives and one was shortened (The last morning at Mara) as the guide was in a hurry to get out of the park. We did phone and also email Mr.Otieno to get things sorted however, nothing worked. He kept on promising that all will be right and as per the promised itinerary however, the guide kept doing what he wanted. The guide/driver (Anthony) who took us around for 7 days was experienced doing the same thing for 17 years however for them, it’s business. The guide started throwing tantrums as we spoke to Mr.Otieno regarding the game drives that he refused to take.
They fail to understand the needs of customers. In my case, we were 4 wildlife enthusiasts in a single vehicle; all disappointed with the way we were treated. Kenyan wildlife was my dream come true with this trip however, the guide ruined it (He and his tantrums).
I would still have rated them a “5” if they could just stick to what was promised as per the itinerary.
Dear Mr.Otieno, You must start understanding what people look for and deliver what you promise. This is a business for you; however, for us travelers, it’s a dream to plan and execute something like this.
US
Email Cynthia | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
The Tanzania part of the trip was a disaster
There was no driver at Tanzania border for us. The group before us also had no driver show up. The company would not tell us what was going on, and eventually would not answer any of our our calls. So the communication was horrible. We had to spend the night at a hotel by the border and pay for it ourselves (they say they will reimburse us). The next morning, they said a driver would be ready by 10am, but we sat around outside the hotel until 4pm with no word from the office. They were ignoring every call. We were finally met by a taxi driver who transferred us to another driver in Arusha and we had to drive at night to reach the hotel at Lake Manyara at 9:30 pm. As I write this, we are sitting at gate to Manyara Park where we have been waiting for nearly 2 hours, because Kenya Walking Survivors has not transferred money to the Tanzania company so our driver cannot get us in the park. We have no idea how much longer we will wait. They seem to have forgotten to make the necessary arrangements and preparations for our time in Tanzania. Park will not take my credit card because we are in a tour van. So we have lost 2+ days and morning light for photos. We are very unhappy now, and feel that we are wasting a lot of time with only a few days left in Africa.
Our Kenyan driver was very nice, and the Kenya part of the trip went smoothly. Oddly to me though, on the first day we were picked up, driven to office to pay last half of cost, then to get gas, and then to pick up water. It would have been nice if they had gotten gas and water before picking us up. They had half of the money up front. Our lodgings were nice and the Kenya part went well. I was not expecting the very long long drives on bad roads between the parks. It usually took all day (6-9 h) to go from one place to the next. The law does not allow driving tourists in the dark, so we used up lots of daytime to get from park to park. However, that is the nature of traveling in this area.
Our main problem has been the horrible experience getting into Tanzania, and getting into the park this morning has been just as bad. Horrible communication, and nothing has been prepared beforehand.