Lilac Adventures
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 1999)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $176 to $650 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
RO
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Never again with Lilac Adventures Limited from Kenya, known also as East Africa Holidays!
We contracted them for a safari in Kenya and Tanzania in July 2014. In Tanzania our fundamental rights have been put at risk by being forced to drive in the dark, to remain without fuel in the savanna, very far from the lodge, just before the sunset, to be forced to use a broken and technically precarious and unsafe car and so on. To any of our or driver phone calls it was no answer from the company! We can easily say: we have been abandoned!
During the 4 days for which we paid luxury conditions, we experienced hours of waiting at the border for the car that was supposed to transfer us to the first location, one day without food, no visits at the Maasai village in Serengeti, no visit to the Old Uvai, although both included in the safari cost, and all in all, the game drives rendered to us could be counted as lasting only for one day instead of the four we paid. We have been spent the rest of the days waiting for payments never done in time or for repairing the car or even worse waiting for someone to tow the car without fuel in the middle of nowhere, but plenty of wild animals ready for hunting!
Reply from Lilac Adventures
Posted on Nov 14, 2014Thank you for your your post. I wish to clarify what happened and though i agree that there was delay in Tanzania, these are my comments:
- I have your email confirming that you had great safari with us on the Kenyan part. thank you for acknowledging that.
- Like we did explain, Kenya vehicles are not allowed in Tanzania national parks, hence any company in Kenya has to book accommodation direct and sub-contract a Tanzania company to offer transport or both.
- For our case we have been contracting a company called LILLAC Safaris and Adventures (http://www.lillacadventures.com) to do our safaris. ( we cancelled our contract after this safari and now dealing with one of the biggest company in Tanzania)
- This is the company (see their above website) that was responsible to offer transport and since we had good relationship before and had been offering good services we had been paying them full package including accommodation and transport for our clients for them to feel the ownership of the many safaris so as to offer the best services (note as explained above on Kenya vehicles not allowed in to Tanzania national parks).
- Once they learnt of our travel agents through some clients they started contacting them direct to source business from them
- This is when the company in BAD faith messed this safari by all the delays and had not done not paid the accommodation.
- once i learnt of these clients delays at Kenya/Tanzania bonder, i went to Tanzania the following morning to sort it out to make sure all is well. The Lillac safaris and adventures director refused to meet me and closed their office. I was left with minimal options but fisrt i went to serena to find out if booking was paid. To my suprise their accommodation was not paid and i organized for my office to pay immediatelly(double payment as we had already paid the above said company). I contacted these clients a couple of times and every time i left messages at the lodges to call me when back from the game drives, which they never did. Serengeti serena reception can bear me witness.
- On accommodation, since the company really wanted to have us in bad books with our travel agent so as to get the business direct, they had not paid even accommodation at serena. I went ahead and paid again what we had already paid to make sure they had the best. They stayed in the best serena lodges; Serengeti serena lodge, ngorongoro serena lodge and lake manyara serena lodges
- After their safari, we have been in contact with the clients where they demanded compensation of lost time at the bonder as well as delay at the serengeti national park gate, but they were demanding usd$5000 which was more than 75% of what they had paid for the entire Kenya and Tanzania safari. My account offered them usd$2500 which they agreed.
-On the Tanzania company that messed their safari in Tanzania so as to get business direct from the travel agents, we are already in court with them in Arusha and if anyone wish to confirm can check with CID or tourist police department file reference number is : RB NUMBER 7927/2014
- Since July, they have never refunded the money we had paid them for this safari as well as other safaris which we cancelled with them after this mess. We have been requesting them only to refund the cash we had paid them and we never claimed for the damages.
- As at today we are only demanding the refund Tanzania shillings FOURTEEN MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSANDS ONLY (USD$9,250) which LILLAC SAFARIS AND ADVENTURES IS YET TO REFUND, the court hearing is on 24th November 2014
- Directors were arrested in Arusha and given police bond but they have evended arrest since then and even closed down their offices thus becoming difficult for the police to arrest them even after the warrant of arrest was issued in August after failling to honour summons from court.
I wish to note that i explained all this to the clients and i did what was possible to make their safari in Tanzania best i could and sure if they are honest, they can testify to that as paying again for the services we had already paid was the best we could do to make sure they are comfortable during their entire safari as they had booked.
Trust my explanation clear the air and though nothing can compensate a lost time during safari, we offered them usd$2500 in solidarity with fraustration they may have experienced in the hands of the said above company.