DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
CAUTION! My friend and I felt scammed by SCB Tours and Travel, lost Money & where forced to pay
CAUTION! We cannot recommend SCB Tours and Travel under any circumstances, as we believe that we have been severely scammed and coerced, leading to the cancellation of our safari. We are now left with over €800 in additional costs and were almost forced to pay another €900 on top. Allegedly, no one had ever encountered problems before, and we truly hope this is the case, because we wouldn't wish what happened to us on anyone. Here's our entire story.
First I would like to say, for the first days of the trip I would have given 5 stars because it was amazing – but what happened afterwards was one of the worst things that could happen.
Due to the attractive offer from SCB Tours and Travel, we decided to choose them, as the price seemed relatively affordable. We inquired multiple times to confirm that everything was truly included, and we were assured that chimpanzee and gorilla trekking, transportation, meals, non-alcoholic beverages, entrance fees, etc., were all completely included. After accepting the offer and making the initial payment, we were informed that taxes were not accounted for. Allegedly, the offer was created by an IT employee who wasn't authorized to do so. Despite the deposit being made, we were told that no further charges would be applied due to goodwill.
Just a few days into our trip, Solomon began blaming us for the high costs, asserting that we should have known that the taxes were not included. (We still wonder how we were supposed to know this, as when presented with an offer explicitly stating that everything is included for a specific price, we assume everything is indeed included. Unfortunately, our knowledge doesn't extend to Ugandan tax law.) We were also repeatedly blamed for the expenses of our vegetarian diet, and even when we ordered an additional pot of tea in a cold location, we were again reprimanded for how expensive everything was.
The situation escalated the day before our gorilla trekking, and we were essentially coerced into either paying for our accommodation here because the funds were depleted, or optionally, paying for entrance fees to the next parks since the money was simply not enough. Solomon cited reasons like accommodations demanding double the agreed amount, among others. However, this is also something beyond our control, and being in the off-season, we could have easily chosen alternative accommodations.
With the agreement that if we paid for our accommodation before the gorilla trekking, we could continue the trip without further discussions, we paid for the accommodation ourselves. However, in the preceding days, we had already paid for some of our meals (which were supposed to be included in the offer) out of pocket.
After the gorilla trekking, during our journey, we were suddenly stopped in a small town and more or less coerced into paying an additional $900, as we were told the trip couldn't be financed otherwise. Feeling uneasy about the situation and considering $900 to be a significant amount, we decided to terminate the trip. We also had to cover the fuel cost to return home, as we wouldn't have been able to make it back to Kampala otherwise and would have been stranded in the middle of nowhere.
The fact that we were stopped on the roadside and almost forced by Solomon to pay an additional $900 to continue the trip amounts to coercion and is illegal.
In Kampala itself, we incurred many extra costs as we had to independently cover accommodation, food, and drinks, which were supposed to be included.
Since April, we've made regular attempts to receive a response, all in vain.
Whenever we contacted Solomon recently, he shifted the blame and came up with various excuses. He has written that he will send us the $500, but we still haven't received a response regarding when this will happen.
Consequently, we cannot recommend SCB Tours and Travel under any circumstances and hope that no one else gets scammed like we did – this will forever be our impression of Uganda.
Screenshots are available in the images, unless they are deleted. Our trip started on March 6 and had to be prematurely terminated on March 18.
Since the end of the trip, we have made multiple attempts to get answers, at least regarding WHEN we will finally receive the money. We were only ever blamed for everything, Solomon even started playing mind games at times. Among other things, he told us that he hadn't even eaten because of us for a long time, and asked if we wanted him to kill himself because of us. In the end, he told us that he has a million-dollar business and he doesn't even care about SCB Tours and Travel because he doesn't need the money. Well, we are still stuck with our extra costs to this day, and most likely forever.
In conclusion, all things come back in life, or as Solomon said in his last message to us: "God (...) knows the truth and he will judge us all."
*Screenshots removed for privacy reasons.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent manners, intelligent, patient and informative.
I and five other friends spent two and a half days with Mr.Silas Anemba in Kenya.He guided us in the Amboseli National Park.He is very knowledgeable about animals, the landscape, and Eastern Africa.He also has excellent driving skills, as my group was taken to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.If you plan to come to Eastern Africa,I would strongly recommend Silas.
US
It felt like an ad hoc freelance organization, thrown together from far away, without care.
The up front communication was relatively professional, but as soon as the trip started so did the problems. We sat in our hotel lobby in Moshi at 7am waiting for the pick up. We were the only guests in the lobby, but the driver was sitting in his van outside, instead of looking for us. The van had no markings to indicate it was from Soul of Tanzania. After about a half hour, he finally came inside and found us, and we were transferred to a safari truck in Arusha, again with no company markings. It seemed to be freelance, arranged ad hoc, and the results felt the same. Our contact at SoT, Jose, when he finally replied later that morning about our pickup issues, wasn't even apologetic. "I was informed by my operations team about the misunderstanding and I am glad that everything was sorted out."
In the truck, when we started seeing animals and asked for the binoculars that were included in our tour, we were told they were broken. Luckily we had brought one not very good pair from home, and had those to share between us. The driver found a pair at the camp that night.
Our driver drove slow on the public roads, when other trucks were all passing us (not a great feeling after a late start thanks to the pickup "misunderstanding"). On the other hand, he flew on the park roads, shaking the truck apart, with thick layers of dust coming in his open windows. We had to ask him to stop when we saw animals. On the first day we noticed that each time we asked him to stop, he would take out his phone and be playing on it until we said "ok, we can go". After asking him to be more involved, thankfully he stopped doing that and told us a bit about the animals.
At the end of a particularly long day, with a morning game drive in Manyare and then drive to the Serengeti, he couldn't find our camp. The sun set, we were exhausted, and we were still in the truck. I was trying to use google maps to help find a tented camp. Eventually we found a park staff camp, and got directions from them to find our camp. We checked in after dark, ate, and slept asap, to get up at 4am for the hot air balloon. Imagine our dismay when, the next night going to a different camp, we were lost again. We stopped at 2 very nice camps, and the 2nd camp let us use their toilet and sent one of their staff with us to show him the way. It seemed like a tiny amount of preparation could have avoided both issues, and especially after it happened the 1st time.
We saw the big 5, and a lot of of animals and beautiful sights, but we couldn't help but feel that we were an afterthought, just thrown into any car with any driver, and when the inevitable issues arose, we didn't find they had any interest in admitting mistakes or making them right. I thoroughly recommend doing a safari in Tanzania, just not with Soul of Tanzania.
CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tsavo East/West Three Days and Two Nights with Boniface
What can I say? What a wonderful experience from start to finish. Thank you Boniface for guiding us through our Safari. It was incredible. What a guide, your knowledge, caring and your wonderful ability to find all the animals made our experience the best. Your driving skills in and outside the park were outstanding. Our family highly recommends Boniface, what a great guide and person! Paul from start to finish the planning was perfect. Not a hitch or glitch in the safari. From pick up in Nairobi to drop off Diani, the planning and easy of transition was great. The accommodations where top notch and food was great. My daughter who is experienced on a number of safaris raved about how great this experience was for her. Wow, I could go on forever. Thank you for everything Paul and Boniface for making our first (my wife and I) Safari an amazing experience. If you are looking for a safari company don’t hesitate to choose Africa Starpal.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful service from start to finish - highly recommended!
From the moment I enquired about the holiday, Sylvester and the team have been very informative, attentive, professional and easy to work with. Nothing was a problem for them when we were trying to find the perfect itinerary. Communication was prompt and very clear. The tour worked perfectly and they even arranged a balloon ride over the Serengeti! We got to see everything .. finishing the trip in Zanzibar was perfect! I would highly recommend Seven By Far Travel - Thank you to Sylvester and the team!
SA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing it's what I can say
We had the best safari and loved every minute of our vacation.our guide Simon was the absolute best and would recommend them to anyone.they were quick to answer my questions as we were planning our vacation and they were very accommodating as our plans changed.they are very flexible and caring.
I recommend Twipa safaris!
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Very competent and reliable.
Momella African Adventure is a very well organized safari provider. Excellent gaids, well-equipped cars and pure experience. Ernest makes the impossible possible for his guests, imparting a lot of knowledge and joy. He is always well connected, patient and helpful. Because of him, the journey became more unforgettable and I know that nothing helps me except coming back.
MX
under20 years of age | Experience level: first safari
THE MOST AMAZING EXPERIENCE I'VE HAD.
I did the máchame route to the peak of Kilimanjaro with my Dad and Isaack, our guide. It was a fantastic experience of 6 days in total, Isaak is a great guide, and gave us a lot of tips, from equipment and medicine needed to the hike itself. The tents where we slept were always ready at the time we arrived and the food is amazing. He kept encouraging us during the summit night (the most challenging part of the hike). I’m general everything was amazing and I recommend a lot going with him, he has the experience of getting to the summit more than 300 times. Many thanks to Isaack and the team of porters that helped us do an amazing and unique experience.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Jamie Jungle Safari’s will exceed every expectation you have!!! I will book with them from now on!
Jamie Jungle Safaris is amazing!! James, Jacob, and Isaac led our group. This is a company you can trust! They were very knowledgeable about all of our surroundings and wildlife in and outside the park. They made sure we were taken care of and comfortable. These guys became friends that I look forward to seeing again. The safari was incredible!!! I recommend Jamie Jungle Safaris for any trip you are planning. We will definitely only come back to them!
CN
You get what you expect
The tour is definitely worthwhile. The accommodation was great, and we got better camps than we expected. There were some issues with one lodge, but our tour guide helped us solve it. Our tour guide is wonderful, we can tell he really cared about our experiences. He wanted us to have good moods everyday and was enthusiastic to introduce animals. It's a great experience, and we recommend Seven by Far.