Andrew will take you to remote places
Wildebeest Safaris
- Located In:
-
China
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 1997)
- Member Of:
- ETT & TRA
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $450 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
NL
Email Floris van alphen | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Terrible experience, safaris not as agreed on at all.
We had a very bad experience with Wildebeest safaris and Noah. The safari was not as promised at all. First of all, we had agreed on 4 hour gamedrives on the both first and the third day. Both these days we only spent only 2 hours in the national park. Secondly, our guide, Anthony, did not interact with the clients at all and did not treat the animals with respect. He went off road very often, which is prohibited, and disturbed animals by getting extremely close. Third, our 'semi-luxoury camp' had no electricity and no running water most of the time and if there was, the water had a brown colour.
When we emailed Noah to express our disappointment after our safari, all he did was offer us to go with his company again on our next trip, which is something I would never do again. Noah said he mixed up the itinerarys of a private and a joined safari, however, the itinerary he sent us before was named joined safari and he had confirmed about lengths of the gamedrives after I had specifically asked him. When we insisted on a partial refund for missing out on half of the safari time on two days, Noah simply ignored this and stopped replying.
I won't recommend anyone to ever use this company for a safari.
Reply from Wildebeest Safaris
Posted on Mar 28, 2023Dear Floris,
Thank you for your feedback. As for joining safaris, different tour operators usually combine guests together in order to form budget group departures. Sometimes it becomes very hard to meet each clients interests/needs given that the demands are very high. Given the eventualities we stopped operating joining safaris to only concentrate on Private departures.
Kind Regards,
Noah
IN
Email Vishal | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
They way they asked for the money spoiled all the positives
This review may put a new light to how this company wildebeest safari operates and i may be one of the unfortunate ones who have faced this immoral and shallow behaviour from the owner. As a background, i was in touch with Noah, the owner of wildebeest safari for a private 4 night 5 day safari package from nairobi including hotel booking etc. Good communication and the price was agreed and i paid 40% advance. His manager came to meet and greet us at the hotel and it was agreed that the balance payment will be made post completion of the trip. So no hesitation at this stage from Noah or anybody from wildebeest safari. Now on day 2 at flamingo camp in lake nakuru, i had a robbery in my room and usd 3500 worth of stuff gets stolen. Andrew was our guide and driver and was very supportive and a gem of a person. We did the police complaint etc and decided to continue the trip. Come last day and enroute masai to nairobi airport in middle of nowhere, andrew(driver) told me that i have to pay the balance before a certain town or he will drop us there and not take us to Nairobi. I was crossed like hell on this unprofessional approach and then when i talked to noah on this matter, he virtually harassed me to make the payment or the driver will take me to the police station and i will miss my flight etc. In short further misery to my already spoiled holiday. Now all this happened in a span of 2 hours on a lonely strech between masai and the nearest town. I was traveling with my wife and 7 year old son and got scared and out of fear paid the remaining balance. Now paying the money is not a problem but the way i was forced to pay the money was unreal, unprofessional and very shallow. Not sure if this is the was tourists are treated in kenya but that was my experience.
Reply from Wildebeest Safaris
Posted on Mar 28, 2023Dear Vishal,
Thank you for your feedback. Regarding the payment issue, we both agreed on email before your arrival that you will be paying upon landing in Nairobi. Upon been requested by your guide, you mentioned you are working on it. You proceeded with the tour. The driver/guide Andrew asked for the balance a day prior to end your Safari but your promised you will do it next morning which you never paid again. Our accountant asked the driver to make a stop for the balance to be paid before reaching Nairobi is when you settled it with him. Unfortunately this is not what we had agreed upon.
Kind Regards,
Noah
US
Email AnoopAkanksha | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Worst experience ever
DO NOT BOOK. We just visited Masai Mara and after seeing the reviews booked it with Noah. We experienced a lot of trouble as both the tour guide and Noah were just trying to fleece money out of us. They did not pre book anything and would not accept card payments. We were not informed till the day of the tour that they could not take card payments. On top of that, they did not check if we had resident status and charged us non resident prices while paying the hotel only resident rates. When we asked them to reimburse the difference, Noah started yelling at us. The guide (Youstas) seemed experienced but very disincentivized because we found out how they were cheating people. He did not have a radio like other cars and did not tie up with other drivers. We are very dissappointed overall and would not recommend them.
Reply from Wildebeest Safaris
Posted on Mar 29, 2023Dear Akanksha, as always we do appreciate our clients feedback after Safari. Please explain to our readers how we tried to fleece money out of you. We are really ashamed after all the negotiations we did with the hotel in order for them to extend resident rates to you. We also went ahead and upgraded your transportation from Minivan to Land Cruiser at no additional charges. We had done bookings with the hotel please do not mislead our readers again. As earlier explained to you on email, we required 100% full payment before Safari but you insisted on email on paying 50% and the balance after Safari it never works out that way. No company accepts those terms. Then again about credit card, yes we do accept payments by cards but our agreement was for you to pay by cash in the morning before departure as per the below email you had sent us.
from: Akanksha
to: Wildebeest Safaris
date: Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 1:51 AM
subject: Re: 3 Days Masai Mara Private Safari
"Thanks Noah. Could we then do either US$300 per person- since the last day we are leaving earlier than the other tours which leave after lunch at 1pm or alternatively could you arrange it for me and husband to leave after lunch, after finishing a morning drive, at US$400 per person.. we can pay advance cash at pick up".
I would like to take this opportunity to assure our future guests and those who are in the process to travel with us that we are very keen when it comes to customer service delivery and pricing without compromising on quality.
Again, thank you so much,
Kind Regards,
Noah Kuti
AE
Email JH | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
The tour guide was only interested to get his job done asap. Low knowledge about animals and nature.
Booking was easy and professional. We were picked up by the wrong tour operator which had almost the same name but this was sorted out quickly. The car which we booked had technical issues so we ended up with an alternative for the first day. Our driver and guide was the worst ever. Very bad experience.
Reply from Wildebeest Safaris
Posted on Jan 19, 2016Dear Jurgen,
Thank you on your review and on pointing out issues which have influenced your overall impression of your Travels with us. It was very bad staying at the Airport for close to 2 Hours waiting for your arrival only to find that you had been picked by a different Tour Operator. We were genuinely astonished to read of the details of your overall Safari experience with our Driver/Guide.
Our astonishment was even greater since our Guides are serious people with more than eight years of experience in guiding and travels business and for many years we have only received praise from the guests for there work and effort. What has happened, why and how on the occasion you have described we cannot say, but we can with certainty assure you that any arrogance or sarcasm you have experienced was not in any way a standard behavior we expect from our staff and that we will take actions to secure such occurrences are not possible ever in future. As you have mentioned in your review all other arrangements were handled in a professional manner and mishaps sorted out quickly.
We are all very sorry you left Kenya with such unfortunate impression on your very last day and that we were unable to discuss the matter with you in person. Thank you for booking with us and we hope to have an opportunity to show ourselves in a better light on some other future occasion.
Yours sincerely,
Noah Kuti,
Business Development Manager,
Wildebeest Safaris LTD