WildTrek Safaris

Not the best experience

I was on a tour with Wild Trek in August 2017.

Our mini van was in bad shape. Each time the driver stopped in the middle of the mara triangle, I had to say a small prayer that the van would start again, so that we would not be stuck in the middle of the jungle. Finally, the van broke down on the way to the airport, luckily the driver arranged for a replacement van in good time. The vehicle send to take us to the airport was surprisingly better than the one given to us.

Secondly, I felt a lot cheated on the hotels arranged for us. They gave us an itinerary and prices based on certain hotels, once we confirmed the itinerary, they gave us lower rates hotels (as the ones originally listed was not available), but did not adjust the cost of the tour accordingly. So I felt quite cheated on the cost.

They did not specify in the original itinerary whether included a minivan or four wheeler, we ended up with a horrible old minivan. Only the final voucher stated that we would be given a minivan, so in a way I felt cheated in that respect too.

Our driver / guide was not the best either. He would rather we not bother him with questions, or speak to him. At times, he ignored are questions about wildlife. Although, we gave him a good tip at the end of the trip, he asked for more. I thought tips were voluntary contributions, he demanded more, which irritated me. Firstly, I did not find him to be up to the mark, but still tipped me a good amount as it is customary, then when he demanded more, it left a bad taste about the tour and the driver.

The guide just kept driving aimlessly in masai mara, was hardly interested in showing us any wildlife. He discouraged us from opting for an early morning gaming.

Another incident, the driver refused to do anything outside the itinerary, however on the second day, he asked us to visit the amboseli village and asked us to donate $100 to the village. We didn't check to see if it was in the itinerary and went along with the guide, but that was the only thing he did outside the itinerary, he refused to do anything else outside the itinerary. The visit to the village was a rip off.

Our tour was booked at wild trek through a local travel agent in India, I partly blame the local travel agent for not ensuring that the price difference of the savings was not given back to us. The local agent should have been transparent to us with regard to pricing.

Regardless, the issues with minivan and guide were the services of wild trek safaris.

Overall I wouldn't really recommend wild trek tours, and if you do opt for it, ensure that they are transparent on costs and services availed.

I feel as though my whole experience in Masai Mara would have been different if a) we had a good guide b) better vehicle, and c) the hotels as per our original itinerary.