US
Long days waiting for overstretched drivers
Dismayed to discover everyone in our jam-packed car was staying in different hotels rather far apart. That meant >1h every morning, afternoon, and evening to pick up and drop off one by one. Extremely long days (before 6h to beyond 20h) for the driver and the unlucky folks who were the first to be picked and the last to be dropped, often in traffic, day after day. Dismayed again to see the car was lacking safety belts, a door didn't work, the shocks were bad... dismayed yet again to discover we and many others were being shuffled from one driver to the next, waiting long hours on the side of the road for the driver and all the passengers to arrive from all different directions. One car was so overloaded the driver even had to leave luggage and come back for it after passengers were dropped off. The poor fellows do their best, calling each other, planning ahead, playing Tetris between all the various tour agencies dumping passengers on them, and they do a surprisingly good job given the circumstances, but it's no thanks to the agency. It seems to matter little which agent you book with. I imagine in high season there's enough cars turning around the country that you'll mostly be with people in the same hotel, and if part or all of your trip is to less frequented parks you might have less than a jam-packed car (as we did for the last leg of our week). If you want to be sure of a relaxed experience and some breathing room, book a private safari.
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amboseli group tour not recommended
I booked a 3-day group joining tour to Amboseli in January 2023 with Grayton Expeditions and it was below expectations.
I was disappointed because :
1) although you pay for a 3 Days tour (340$) you end up with only 1 entrance to the Park (24h). The game drive for the last day ends at 8.45am as the 24h entrance expires;
2) Grayton Expeditions do not operate the tour themselves but subcontract to another company which leads to differences with the program you paid for. In my case, the tour ended up at 12:00 (not 15:00 as indicated in the program) and I was not dropped off to my hotel, but rather put in a Uber from the city center (not very safe).
I could share this feedback with Grayton which apologized for the inconvenience and was very reactive. However I cannot recommend this group tour to Amboseli with Grayton (better book a 2 days with another agency), but I think they are reliable if they operate the tour themselves as my communication was smooth with them.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Poor service
I booked an 8 day Kenya/Tanzania safari for my 2 children and I. Purity was amazing to work with prior to leaving my home country. She was very responsive and even went to the embassy on my behalf when I was having problems with my visa. However, once on the safari things started to go wrong. We were picked up from Nairobi and took the long drive to Masai Mara, we did an evening game drive that first day and was brought to our tent camp for the night. Camp was very basic, only had working electricity in the main cafeteria area, so had only a few hours to charge devices. The 2nd day was a full day game drive and visit to Masai village which was wonderful. Day 3 (which was my birthday) is where the itinerary changed. We were supposed to visit Lake Nakuru for a safari boat tour, but that was canceled, there were no other plans for the day besides to drive back to Nairobi and go to a hotel, the next day the plans were to drive from Nairobi to Tanzania and check into hotel upon arrival. That was 2 days back to back filled with just driving. That was not fair to my kids or myself as that was not in the itenerary and I did not pay for 2 days of driving. I emailed purity as I was unsure of what to do and she apologized for the inconvenience. I decided to cancel and book with a different company as I really did not want to spend the entire next day driving. I asked to be dropped off at the airport and took a flight to Tanzania and was picked up from another tour company and had an exceptional experience. Essentially I paid more for the 3 days I was with this company than the 5 days with the second one. The food provided was very subpar, for lunch having boxed sandwiches with cucumber and tomato. Our tour guide was nice however not very helpful with telling us about the things we were seeing. It was a very frustrating experience to say the least, but I am glad it ended on a more positive note with a different company. Please do your research prior to booking. Research the lodges, the amount of driving that will be done and if possible request a specific tour guide. I was hoping for a very positive learning experience for my kids and that was not the case. I also requested a hot air balloon ride over the Masai Mara and was told that would be available at an extra cost and was not available to us while there.
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Sad safari
Karibu Safaris it's a one-time agency.
Unfortunately we were very disappointed with the safari especially from the guide who was more a driver.
No communication with him except answering yes or no questions.
We were not immersed in the safari with the guide.
We were able to see lions by chance but staying juste 2 minutes juste toi take some pictures.
We couldn't enjoy this moment.
We were embarrassée to Ask each Time toi get Closer to thé animals because he didn't do it naturally.
We chose a private safari 2 days 1 night.
We arrived on the first day at 12:30 at the lodge for lunch and we left only around 3 pm to start the safari.
We would have liked to leave eaelier to enjoy more instead of waiting 2h in the lodge.
The next day we saw very very few animals because we went through the same places as the day before moving away.
We spoke with other travellers who had the opportunité to see from the 1st day to see a lot animals including lepopard crocodiles a lot of lions etc.. They were surprises that WE didn't see all this on the first day.
In conclusion, we have not discovered the Masaï Mara as it's legend says and the people who describe it this is a huge disappointment because we leave with a taste of unfinished.
FR
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
bad and very expensive
I'm not about to set foot in Zanzibar again it's very expensive the reception is bad he only thinks of one thing and that is to ask you for a credit card and tips the service is not up to par people are ungrateful and the organizers useless
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
11 day Kenya-Tanzania Safari, Bad accommodations in Arusha, truck broke down twice in Tanzania
I had an 11 day tour of Kenya and Tanzania with luxury accommodations. Before I left for Africa, I really had a good communication with Susan/Suzy, she answers questions all the time thru WhatsApp, it's when I arrived in Africa when everything starts to become bad, when I got there, she changed some of my accommodations, the accommodations in the national parks were amazing, I chose the luxury accommodations and they were indeed nice! But my accommodations in Arusha were very bad, she put me in bad places that have dirty rooms, slow shower pressure and stinky rooms! Also, our truck that we used in Tanzania broke down twice, one day we have to spend a few hours in a junk shop in the middle of Serengeti to have the tires fixed then the following day this truck broke down again and we have to hitch a ride with another tour group to go back to Arusha! She booked us thru 7 wonders in Tanzania, I guess this safari company in Tanzania is not reliable! Also in Kenya, they used a van that was converted with a roof that can be lifted during game drives, its not those 4x4 safari trucks! The bad thing about this is it's very bumpy during game drives and roads in Kenya and Tanzania are not paved and very dusty! I just would like to point out that the drivers I had were amazing, Anthony in Kenya and Linus in Tanzania were both nice and they can easily spot animals even if they're very far from the vehicle. Overall, I enjoyed this trip I was able to see the big 5 and I would still do it again but I would probably choose another African countries next time and if I have to be back in Kenya or Tanzania then I'll choose a different tour operator next time
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Anoying
In the middle of the safari they change us of group,van and driver.
The driver didn't stop in naivasa lake when we had to do It...
The driver wasn't worried about us any moment.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not the best experience
After the trip we were taken to their office like hostage to demand more money than we agreed and already paid cause they decided that they didn't make enough profit. Very poor customer service.
Be expected to pay much more than the original agreed fees as they will claim it is not included, e.g. entry fees. At one point we were asked to pay for the fuel cost!
Make sure to pay yourself entry fees as we realised we have been scammed and paid more than the entry fee. Unfortunately only realised this after the trip when we talked with out friends who visited the same attractions
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not professionel
We have booked 2 safaris, the first was planned with 4 nights and the 2nd with 5 nights (so it was in the mail and was also paid). The first safari went well, we have also seen many animals, the guide really tried hard. On the 2nd safari we were told after the 4th day that tomorrow is the last day. Astonished we said that according to the mail the safari lasts 5 nights and 6 days. Suddenly nobody wanted to know anything about that. After a phone call and SMS to George, he then admitted that there is probably a misunderstanding, he actually meant only 4 nights even if there are 5 nights! Astonished and annoyed, we tried to make it clear to him that we expect 5 nights at this price according to the mail. George does not want to know anything about it and there was also no compensation. The end of the safari was accordingly bad, as we desperately tried to get another accommodation at a reasonable price! Thus, we have now paid an extra night and also the full price - which was for 5 nights. From our point of view, this is pure rip-off. Who books here, must clarify beforehand how many days and nights are included in the booking to avoid nasty surprises. We do not recommend this tour operator
US
65+ years of age
Glaring failure to deliver services that were promised and paid for.
My husband and I went to Puglia, Italy, July 20 - July 27, 2022. We had researched towns/villages we wanted to visit and in October 2021 contacted Carly of Audley Travel to book a custom made private tour. (Tauck Travel, the company we often use, does not travel to Puglia in the summer).
Carly made a huge point to underline Audley’s ability and commitment to book a solid program custom made to our specifications and needs, stating “That is the reason you travel with Audley…..with Audley you get personalized attention to your wishes and needs and attention is paid to the most minute details of your itinerary”. Nothing could be further from the truth. Audley failed to meet its commitment to us: not correcting mistakes in the original itinerary that were pointed out in October 2021; not sending any information about the final itinerary until 3 days prior to our flights to Puglia which led to our being unable to revise the itinerary and undo mistakes; booking a substandard motel room in Lecce (after complaining, the decent B&B owners moved us to the suite we actually had paid for); sending us a “detailed itinerary” at the last minute that had no details about our guided tours. While the local guides were good, Audley's inexcusable and total lack of communication with them crippled our guides' ability to go to sights we had requested and fully provide what we had paid for. We did not even hear from Carly for 8 months until 6/30/22 when she sent us an email that she was quitting her job; the poor transition to the new specialist led to confusion, uncertainty and missed opportunities.
At $1200. per day (PLUS all tips to drivers and local guides, all lunches and dinners - an extra $200 Euros per day) Audley Travel was a rip off. Great companies such as Tauck Tours offer a week in Puglia ($1072 per day) that includes stays in palatial hotels and spectacular masserias, tipping for all local guides, most lunches and dinners with wine in superb restaurants. Companies such as Vantage Travel and Viking World travel also offer all-inclusive superb value for about $1200 per day and at times they offer promotions that include free international travel.
We did communicate with Audley representatives and they did offer 18% refund, nowhere near enough to compensate us for what we missed.