Tanzania Private Safaris & Small Group Adventures.
World Tours & Safaris Tanzania
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2000)
- Member Of:
- Tanzania Tourist Board
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $150 to $490 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
ES
Email Miriam and Luis | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very bad experience with this company
Very unhappy with Richard Kilonzo and his Safari company:
We booked a 7- day Safari with Richard Kilonzo. To start with, we arranged that somebody from his company would pick us up at the bus station and take us to our hotel; nobody came. Someone from the bus station that didn' t work for him took us to his office. The entrance to the office is embarrasing, full of mud and puddles. He showed himself very friendly the very first day. Not like that the last day when we came back from Safari, that hardly had time to speak to us.
We were supposed to spend a full day driving in Ngoron- goro crater, from 06.00 a.m. until late in the afternoon, as it was written in the planing that he had sent to us when booking the Safari.
Our surprise was that the night before going into the crater he told us that it was not possible to spend the whole day. We could only be inside the crater for 4 hours (from 06.00 until 10.00 a.m.) and then we had to go out of the Park. The problem was that he should have paid one more day fees for us (we were four people in the jeep) in the crater, but he did not. He told us that "laws have changed lately" and he could not do anything, so if we wanted to stay more time in the crater, we should pay the extra- charge. If you look in the Official Website of the Parks, since so many years, the entrance- fee is paid for a 24- hour stay; if you want to stay longer, you have to pay another entrance. He lied to us. So after all, we could not be in Ngoron- goro crater for longer, which is one of the best Parks in Tanzania.
Moreover, the last two nights we were supposed to sleep in Tarangire campsite. He tried to convince us to sleep everywhere else, telling me that in that campsite there was no water (I do not know why), but finally, after my insistence, we slept there.. with hot- water showers. The last day or the Safari we were supposed to have a morning- drive game in Tarangire before coming back to Arusha, and what we really did was to have breakfast in the campsite and inmediately come back to the city; no game driving our last day of Safari, as it was written in our initial planning. He told us that we didn' t ask for the driving that morning... Why have I to ask about something I have already paid and it was included in the Safari plan??
Another german couple came with us for 4 days in the Safari. Richard changed their plans almost everyday, even every 2-3 hours sometimes the planning changed...
I would not recommend at all this company for a Safari in Tanzania. You cannot trust this man absolutely. He sold us a Safari that we haven´ t really done. I strongly recommend every tourist to look for another better and more reliable choice.
Email Leila | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Avoid at all costs this safari company if you do not want to be hassled by the owner Richard Papa
We booked a 5 days and 4 nights safari Tarangire/Serengeti/Ngorongoro camping safari with World Tours & Safaris from Arusha to Mwanza. We needed to be picked up in Arusha and dropped off in Mwanza as we had plans to visit Lake Victoria. We contacted Richard Papa who was responsive but a bit short in his anwers. We didn’t think of it as it’s so easy to misinterpret the tone of someone by email so we decided to go with the company.
We were quoted for this private safari (as apparently no one wants to be dropped in Mwanza so it had to be a private one) my friend and I respectively $1000 and $920 (my husband was not traveling with us). I am a resident in Dar es Salaam and Tanzanian national parks charge residents slighty less than tourists this is why I was offered a $80 discount on the whole amount providing I could prove my residency in the country. If I failed to do so, Richard told me I would have to pay the difference at the gate which was fine with me since I had all documents in order.
We paid for the full safari by bank transfers, twice, the first time for the 40% deposit and the second time the remaining 60%. Richard told us we could only pay the remaining of the sum in cash with US dollars if paid on the first day of the safari. Since I live in Dar with my husband, we do not have US dollars so we did the second bank transfer to avoid any hassle.
The safari went well, we left the day after a night in Arusha Precious Inn, a very basic hotel but conveniently located a block behind the company’s office. Stanley, our guide and Gadi our chef, were good and professional. They made the best with what they had, which wasn’t so easy considering that the car was quite old and used (515 0000 km at the counter) and that their equipments were quite basic (for e.g after reading reviews on this website we decided to take our own sleeping bags). We enjoyed the 4 days trip even if the last day didn’t go as planned. We were indeed meant to go through the Serengenti again but we did not and drove straight back to Mwanza after reaching the last Serengeti gate. Still, we were quite happy with the trip and gave each of them (Stanley and Gadi) a nice tip once at our hotel in Mwanza. As previously explained, before entering each park I had to give Stanley my passport and visa exemption certificate (residency permit) so he could go and pay the entrance fees. I always asked him whether he needed them and except for Ngorongoro crater where he told me he didn’t have to show the documents.
Once the safari finished, this is when the problems started with Richard. We were eating our lunch in Mwanza when Gadi the chef came back to us saying that we needed to pay more. When I asked him to explain why, he told me that I needed to speak to Richard. I took the phone and then Richard literally started yelling at me telling me that this was the deal : I needed to pay $45 more for the Ngorongoro crater since I did not present my documents. He then told me that $45 was missing from his account (Stanley was apparently given pre-paid credit cards to pay the entrance fees) and that I should know where the money went. I told him that I was not one of his employees, that I did not know what happened with his credit cards and that so far only guides enter the park’s office to pay entrance fees. I do not even know what’s the entrance fee for each park since we always pick organised safaris. As a passenger you either stay in the car or go to the bathroom until the guide comes back and tells you to go back into the car. Richard said I did not present my documents so Stanley paid the fee for a tourist. I told him that when I asked Stanley before and he replied to me that for Ngorongoro there was no need for such document. As soon as I told this to Richard he started shouting : ‘Then Stanley lied to me, pass me Stanley now I will take the money off his wages….’ and hung up on me. Now I have been living long enough in Tanzania to know that $45 is a lot of money for a local. Stanley also explained to me that the mistake was coming from Richard for another reason that I did not get. I felt bad and Richard kept texting me saying I needed to pay or Stanley would have to (which felt like emotional blackmail to be honest) – I had done nothing wrong however unless I paid up then Stanley, who had been very professional the whole trip, would be forced to pay $45 - a lot of money for him. Stanley literally told me that if he had to pay the money the next safari he drove would essentially be done for free. Therefore I paid $45 on top of the $920 already paid not knowing whose mistake it was, Richard or Stanley. I thought that I could retrieve the money after speaking calmly to Richard since he was just shouting on the phone but I couldnt get a calm conversation out of him.
When I spoke again to Richard and told him that it seemed quite unfair I had to pay an extra $45 for the Ngorongoro crater since I could prove my residency in the country (which I did for Tarengire and Serengeti) and that this would affect my review of this trip (I was quite annoyed by this point, I did not like him shouting at me or at his staff on the phone) he wrote me back an sms (I quote) : ‘ I will reply to your review as you wish to write and give all breakdown to the World since you said you have permit. GOD will judge. Thanks’.
Our following exchanges were quite a roller coaster of emotions from Richard since it seems my possible review of the company was really annoying him. He successively threatened me to expose that we were staying illegally in the country (we have been living in Dar for 7 months, my husband works for an European NGO), then told me (I quote) : ‘I know you are a very good girl. You will not put us in trouble’ (I’m 30 by the way), then wrote ‘I am not sure why you want even my family and other staff to miss daily bread…’ (it’s not like we do safaris in order to write bad reviews) and then also accused us not have done the right bank transfers (which was very silly since we have evidence of our bank transfers and knew they had gone through correctly) and that we had cheated him.
Additionally, Richard constantly blamed his employee Stanley when he realized I was having none of this and wrote (I quote) : ‘Stanley is putting me and you in trouble…’ One of Richard’s email’s object is literally called ‘Stanley’ and is just a succession of accusations against poor Stanley.
When I last told Richard I could not accept the refund coming from Stanley’s salary (because to me it wasn’t clear whether he or Stanley did the mistake and also because it will result on an unfair burden on Stanley) he told me I should have reminded Stanley of the residency (which I did but also I do not work for the safari company so that should not have been my responsibility). And then the last email coming from Richard states (I’m just copying and pasting it because it is too good to be true) : ‘I will attache the same letter and the permit and my lawyer will write a letter to your Embassy, with copy to Ministry of Natural Resource, and another copy to Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority to show them the way you want to mistreat us.They will judge who has problem between me and you. We made a deal and nothing went wrong to my agreement between me and you. All arrangements was in order’.
I told Richard he was a dishonest person who’s been seemingly treated harshly his hardworking staff. Also, an important point, I did not understand his calculation : as a resident I had to pay $920 and my friend (a tourist) $1000.Since according to Richard I did not show my documents in Ngorongoro I had to pay another $45 on top of the $920 which makes it $965. Stanley told me that if I did not have the paper as well in Serengeti I would have had to pay another $45. Which amounts to $1010. Which makes it $10 more than the fee for a tourist and this not even taking into account if I had to pay an extra for Tarengire. When I asked Richard to explain how I would have had to pay more than my friend despite getting a residency discount (which does exist for national parks) if I had to pay the difference at each gate, he did not bother answering.
In a nutshell : I’m just baffled by the whole experience with Richard and his company World Tours & Safaris. Richard Papa strikes me as a very dishonest man and not a very professional one, not treating his staff nicely or even his customers. I would strongly recommend any potential customer to stay away from this company and to go with another safari company because you do not want to experience what we experienced. Besides, there are a lot of other safari companies out there that do provide the same service and the same trip without the hassle we went through.
US
Email Lisa from USA who works in customer service | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Extremely disappointing with a lack of respect and courtesy from driver-guide
Driver/guide Haron was rude to us, rolled his eyes if we asked to have the engine turned off to watch wildlife, and raised his voice at me when we chose not to visit a Maasai Village (perhaps he was not getting a cut of the $100). I trusted to go with this company as the Mt Kili guide had been recommended to me had set this tour up; this was a mistake and despite the Kili guide tipping Haron $100 in advance to take good care of me, the customer service was poor. Perhaps Haron was not expecting to be called out on Dec 31 New Year's Eve . . . regardless, the other couple and myself treated poorly.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Avoid this company at all costs
I recently did a 4-day Safari with World Tours and Safari in the Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater. It was a once in a lifetime experience that this company continually tried to sabotage. I booked three months in advance to go to Tarangire, Serengeti, and Ngorogoro. When I arrived in Arusha, the manager Richard changed my itinerary so I never made it to Tarangire. Then, he tried to cut my Safari short by one day so we could drive a separate party to the airport. When confronted after the trip with these complaints, Richard was rude to myself and my family. He never even addressed our concerns as we attempted to talk to him in a calm manner. I later found out he suspended the driver for our trip, who was by far the highlight of the trip and pleasure to be around.
If you are looking to book a safari, just avoid this company. There are plenty of great companies out there operating similar safaris that there is no need to deal with Richard and the hassle of World Tours and Safaris.