50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Livingston Hotel
Problems with communications - had to contact office in RSA to find out if money transfers was received etc. Last transfer not confirmed to date. Stay at Livingston was however outstanding
An incredibly unrivalled experience south of sahara, ectasic, breathtaking absolutely priceless expe
A team motivated by professionalism, morals, attention to detail and completely creative. This singular experience was prove that african hospitality is haven and genuinely so. The safari was amazing, the camping by the wild, tough scary but also so adventurous. Totaly loved the service from the ever available guides and customer care staff. Looking forward to the next opportunity to do this once again. Cant wait!
IR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
good
i am happy with this tour...but we were 8 in our car..
our driver was very helpful..his name was Zac.he showed us the animals and showed their picture in his book...the only thing that i didnt like was Masai camp..the food and tents wasnt ok...i know that was a budget camp...but when i compare it to amboseli camp i think it was very bad...because amboseli camp was really clean...comfort with nice food. with 24 hours electricity!
i hope they can change the camp in Masai mara...
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
they are the best with excellence in service
good communication skills by incredible Kenya adventures team...high class of service by the team, i loved them so very much...
what I expected I really got it during my one week tour, they made my family soo happy, they cant wait to get to next year for such another fabulous trip..
ID
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Traveling with an 11 year old in Uganda
We traveled September 2015 for two weeks with Instinct Safari, WOW, WOW, WOW! What makes this review slightly different from many is because, beside us 3 women, I brought along my 11 year old daughter. Rabani, of Instinct Safari said that that was the first child he has had on tour and Alma did great! This was actually Alma's third safari in recent years, so I knew she is a great traveler and a pleasure to hang around with. Rabani and our driver, Emma, made this holiday one of the best I have ever been on, which is really something, as we travel a lot. I cannot say enough great things about the people and beauty of the land and animals. Alma loves photography and she was kept busy with the camera recording our entire two weeks. The food in all our lodges, in small restaurants while on the road, as well as packed lunches from the lodges when we were hiking, were of great quality and Alma never had a problem. We stayed in comfortable lodges, travelers hotels as well as permanent tented camps and each one had great, individual charm. As you must be 15 in order to be able to get a permit to see the gorillas and the chimpanzees, Alma was not able to join us on those hikes. She stayed back in the Nkuringo Gorilla Camp by herself while we hiked in Bwindi. What a great place to stay! The entire staff at the lodge made sure Alma was doing fine on her own all day. They offered to take her on a local hike, but she decided to stay and sort out the recent photographs and begin creating her albums that she presented back at her school. When I had the absolute special privilege of spending the entire day with the chimpanzee group in Kibale, Alma went on a gorgeous nature hike with my friend and photographed all the other primates in the area.
On previous safaris, we had a few treks, but often we were sitting the in jeeps for long drives between locations and also on game drives. For this trip, we purposely built in a lot of physical activities. We had horse-back riding, morning balloon ride with champagne breakfast, a couple boat trips, a hike to see the golden monkeys, another 20 kilometer hike through Bwindi besides the visit to the gorillas and the chimpanzees. We moved almost every nigh,t but two, in order to be able to take in all the parks and sights we wanted to visit in these two weeks. When we walked through villages, many were interested with Alma as they normally only see older tourists. We visited a local school and planted trees with the eco club. The children were so interested in talking with Alma. Although she is rather shy, Alma had such a great time. We were all quite tired in the end, but we would do it all again tomorrow if we could. Alma had no problem keeping up and did it with such great spirit. Rabani and Emma were so informative throughout the entire journey that I really believe she learned more in those two weeks than she would ever learn about Uganda in her geology, geography, social studies, economics and biology classes back home.
Without a doubt, we will return to Uganda. I would love to bring the rest of my family to see the gorillas, chimpanzees and everything else that made us fall in love with Uganda. We might have to wait until Alma is old enough to get her permit in 3 more years...can I wait that long?? probably not!! We would love to combine a trip to Rwanda and Uganda Alma said, no problem, Mom, just call up Rabani at Instinct Safari and he will plan it all out for us again. We are all facebook friends now, so easy to stay in touch. Thanks once more Rabani and Emma for everything. Tori
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Worst tour company experience I have ever had - steer clear and save yourself a headache
So I don't even know where to begin. Stay as far away as possible from booking with this company. This was the most upsetting and stressful experience I have ever had traveling abroad and we travel to a different country every other year. I am a well seasoned traveler and this is by far the worst experience I have ever had! Steer clear!
I have been long dreading writing this review but I feel that if I don't, I would be partially responsible for another traveler to have the same terrible experience that my husband and I did. In a nutshell, we booked our tour almost one year in advance, everything we were promised/told we would get - we only got half of it, our trip was re-arranged to accommodate another couple but the problem was were staying at different locations - one was up to 52 km away, were downgraded everywhere we stayed when our "places were booked" (we payed for 5 star but got 2 star), in the end we were not offered any type of consolation other than endless promises during our trip and a "I'm sorry", and the communication with our operator was terrible since he never told us any of our places were "overbooked" until it happened and we had to call him... the list goes on. Our guess is that he spent our money and used it on other people. We were also told we could pay by credit card for the remainder of our trip upon arrival but we were forced to go to a bank instead to take out money (which cost us money too), and we paid for our the remainder of our trip using our credit card as the tour progressed around Tanzania. Very unprofessional!!!!
Let's start with our arrival day. Flying from US to Africa was a long trek, upon arrival we were greeted at the airport by a gentleman holding up a sign with our names on it. As everyone is loading up in their professional safari van's with logos on them, we were directed to a small toyota corolla with no room for our luggage because the driver had a large subwoofer in the trunk. No biggie right? We just put our luggage in the car - but oh yeah, we were also waiting for two additional people who would be sharing the car with us. Now where and how do you expect to fit four people in a toyota corolla with at least four pieces of luggage?? After about an hour at the airport trying to arrange our luggage, we ended up with some luggage on our laps, including the driver's subwoofer while my husband sat in the middle of the back seat. Oh yeah, did I mention the trunk was broken? That was why it took us almost an hour too - we were trying to tie his trunk shut with a scarf. So off we go to our hotels - or so we thought. Our driver was very nice but spoke almost no English at all - and he was not the "representative from the company" that was supposed to meet us, he was a hired taxi driver. So the first couple gets dropped off at their hotel but it was not the hotel they were supposed to be staying at and paid for. It was a downgrade and they were told "This is where I was told to drop you off." Next we were driven around for almost 2 hours, at 11 o'clock at night, and told that he did not know where our hotel was but we were not staying at "Kibo palace". We were staying somewhere else and he had never been to that hotel and did not know where it was. He gets on the phone with somebody by the name of Peter who tells him how to get to the new hotel we are supposed to be staying at, and the driver still couldn't find it. Who the hell is Peter? I tell him to get this "Peter" on the phone and I find out that Peter is not even a representative with our company but with a different company entirely. Oh, but Peter is friends with our hotel owner/operator. Peter tells us that this hotel is much nicer ( what a load of crap that was). In the end we were taken to a downgraded version of our hotel, even though we paid for something more expensive Don't you think the owner should have contacted us prior to our arrival date and let us know that we weren't staying where we paid to stay? For someone traveling from the USA to visit Africa and then while in a taxi, be driven around and told they are not going to the hotel they were told they were is a bit nerve-wrecking and scary. Needless to say the lack of communication is very unprofessional on the company's end. What happened to the extra money we paid for the nicer hotel? But wait! It gets better...
Day two, we meet with Julias, the owner of the company who tells us that our 5 star hotel is booked because the UN was in town and they get to bump whomever they want at the hotel regardless of whether or not the people have reservations. (We later found out that this was a lie and our tour operator/owner never booked us there to begin with!!!!!) So we were able to get one night at the nice hotel we paid for - at this time we are told that the lodge we were supposed to stay at in the serengeti burned down and we were being upgraded to a luxury tent camp. The problem is that the lodge burned down 8 months before we were supposed to start our vacation. You would think the owner/company would have told us or asked us where we wanted to stay instead?? When we told him we did not want to stay in a tent camp we were told we had no other options because the other lodges were more money than what we paid for. Don't you think at this point we deserved an upgrade, and why is this issue our problem?? We decided it was out of our control and went with the only choice we were given. So we drive all the way from Arusha to the Serengeti (now the trip is being done in reverse too, to accommodate a couple from China who booked their trip 4 days prior). When we get to the Serengeti we find out that the couple on the trip with us is not staying in the tent camp the second night, but rather at a nice lodge which was 52 km away on a bumpy road (1.5 hr drive each way for our driver). So we had to end our game drive early that day so he could drop US off and have time to get the couple to their lodge. Then he has to drive back to pick us the next morning. During this time in the Serengeti we met another couple who were having the exact same experience we were having with the same company.
The next few days go as planned (other than our driver not being given enough money to cover our trip and we have to foot the bill by credit card and get reimbursed). Then we get to another bump in the road. We return to Arusha to find out that we are receiving a complimentary downgrade and we will not be spending our last two nights in the 5-star hotel that we were promised we would be staying at, and that we paid to stay at. Noooo - we are staying at a place that is a lot less nice, the food was terrible, we had no A/C and brown water coming out of the shower. All the owner can say to us upon our arrival to this hotel is, "I have bad news." Surprise!!! This owner has not had ANY good news for us during our entire trip! He tells us that our hotel was booked and we will be staying at a different hotel (the downgrade). He apologizes and offers to make it up to us by offering a free tour of a Massai Village for the next day. At this point we are tired, sick and tired, of all the surprises and "let-downs" and we just want to leave. We tell him that we do not want to go on a tour but appreciate the offer. He asks what he can do to fix the matter and tells us he is concerned about getting a bad review. but rather we would like a partial refund. He of course ignored that notion. We asked him about the price difference between the two hotels and he tells us the one were staying at was $30 less per day. We told him he owed us $60 for the two nights we were "downgraded". In the end he gave us $60 back. This would not have happened if we did not ask for it so he was going to keep the extra money we paid for a much nicer hotel.
Stay as far away from this company as possible - it is not worth it!
SA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
It was the best ever i hav ever seen,,,
Wildlife is pretty good,,,, thy treated me so well with the food transportation and the accomodation,,, i liked it and it was awesome i highly reccomend them
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience!
Far more than I every expected. From the Safari Park hotel to all the tent camps we stayed, they were all great. The locations and the service there were superior. They did the little things to make it special. Simon, our driver/guide was great. He went out of his way to make it special to us. Would definitely go on another safari with Odyssey!
NZ
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Wild South Africa; absolutely brilliant, and I would highly recommend this trip as a "must do".
This was my 4th trip with Masihambe Afrika and as with all the others, it was absolutely fantastic and a laugh a minute. From the game parks, to the quirky little towns and villages(thanks to the small detours made along the way!,)the gorgeous coastline and whales, the spectacular Drakensberg Mountains we drove through, the bush and forests, made it such a memorable time. South Africa is a beautiful country with very welcoming and friendly people. Cape Town is so colourful and vibrant,I could easily have stayed another week or two. The Lodges we stayed in were lovely with great service and the food fantastic.
To Jude and Ant, thanks for the memories! And thank you Ant, for your amazing knowledge of all things African, your stories that had everyone in fits of laughter,and that sense of humour! I'll be smiling for months to come.
PT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
5 days safari in Tarangiri, Serengeti and Ngorongoro and 5 days in Zanzibar
Perfect, that's how everything was!
From the moment we got to Kilimanjaro's International Airport till the moment we left everything was arranged perfectly and we didn't have to worry about a thing!
There were people from It Started in Africa waiting for us at the airport to take us to our hotel, they picked us up the next morning and I could go on and on about this! The logistics was perfect and there was no moment that hasn't been perfectly planned! We felt like we had a VIP treatment.
About the Safari, the experience was amazing! Our guide spoke English perfectly and made sure we had an awesome experience! He told us everything about the parks, their wildlife, the people's culture. He was so patient when we were asking him to stay longer so we could see a hunt! He was fun and polite! And (well, I think luck plays a role here as well) he managed to show us the Big Five and lots of mating and eating.
A lifetime experience any of us will forget.
About Zanzibar, again, the same: everything was taken care of and we didn't have to worry about a thing!
And the island is damn beautiful! Loved it!
I couldn't recommend this company more! They were amazing and thanks to them we had the time of our lives! Thanks!