20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bad
the mini bus was terrible, everywhere we ate the food was bad, our main day was delayed by an hour because of other passengers and at the end of the day we ran into a rhino and 10 lions on the hunt and the driver hurried home and didn't let us enjoy the scene 10 minuts more
the only reason for rating 2 is that we saw a big five
US
Don’t select, we were left stranded twice with independent drivers that did not know our itinerary.
We are experienced travelers who generally don’t mind small hiccups or slight plan changes. However, we experienced many issues on this safari that were unacceptable. No matter what tour agency you select, you will see the animals and the landscapes. If you don’t want those memories clouded by stress, uncertainty, and worry, pick a more reputable tour agency. This is not a professional outfit.
We were dropped off at multiple locations that didn’t match our provided itinerary with no Wi-Fi / service to contact the agency. In one instance, the next driver showed up 15 hours late. There was a lack of information and transparency that left us feeling unsafe, vulnerable, and stranded. We paid extra for a 4x4 Jeep but spent half of our time in various small sedans. We were not able to drive to one of the parks due to this.
A flat tire is reasonable and common. However, setting off on a three-day safari in the Serengeti with a damaged, leaking radiator is negligent and unsafe. We were stranded for two hours because the engine overheated and had to make several other stops to check on the vehicle throughout the tour.
Despite paying for an all-inclusive (planned) safari, we had independent or sub-contracted drivers who were not aware of our itinerary —including what parks we were to visit, where we were staying and the logistics of our next (unexpected) hand-offs. These drivers also didn’t have our information and we were forced to trust they were somehow affiliated with the company.
In one specific incident, a driver had no idea what our final destination was or where we were staying. This driver attempted to pick up friends along the way until we demanded to be taken to our accommodation. He didn’t know this accommodation, so we told him to take us to the accommodation we stayed in before we departed for the park where we knew we would have access to Wi-Fi to call for help. We then had to go to the new accommodation that was not on our provided itinerary.
Other issues we experienced:
1. Our accommodations didn’t match those listed on our itinerary and we were never provided with an updated version.
2. None of the jeeps were affiliated with Okoa Tours or the Tanzanian counterpart called Seven Wonders, despite other legitimate companies having branded vehicles.
3. All jeeps’ were older than the pictures provided and the charging outlets did not work as described.
After the tour we reached out to Okoa and they responded “But as far as the Kenya side nothing went wrong” because we arrived at the 3 listed parks.
IE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Be careful to avoid a trip from a nightmare
Tl Dr: If you dare to book with Glory, confirm your exact itinerary, find out who delivers the services, whether she takes responsibility for anything at all from what she sells to you and then cross your fingers to not end up like me.
I was recommended Glory by the manager of the Shoki Shoki hostel in Zanzibar city as I was looking for a last minute safari. At first she had nothing available but a few days later she contacted me on WhatsApp with an offer to join two other travelers to Mikumi on a three day trip. She sent me a picture with an itinerary, the price and the starting date.
I gladly accepted, paid on her website after checking her reviews here and looked forward to the trip to Mikumi with a visit to a Masai village teh first evening, a full day game drive the second day, a dinner show the second night and a sunrise walk up a hill the third morning with private transfers between Dar and Mikumi and meals included.
My "guide" Joseph met me at the ferry in Stonetown and put me into a car with two other people in Dar waving me goodbye after exchanging only a few sentences on the ferry.
I felt that this was a bit weird but went with it, thinking that the other man in the car is my new guide.
Our driver dropped us at a bus station outside Dar. Ar this point I started asking questions and found out that we had no guide but rather Joseph gave some cash to my fellow traveler who happened to be a very nice local man to help me get to Mikumi and to cover my share of the safari car. The agent told him that another man will pick me up at the bus stop.
This was followed by a 7 hour drive on a local public bus.
Unfortunately there was nobody at the bus stop and Joseph was not answering the calls of my fellow traveler.
At this point I contacted Glory and asked her what is happening with the visit to the Masai village, why didn't I get a private transfer and why don't I have a guide?
She told me that she never saw the itinerary she sent me. She only forwarded that as she simply outsourced me to Joseph. She didn't organize my trip ( only took a cut) and told me that the itinerary I received was never achievable from the price I paid. At this point I was fuming.
She did not want to take responsibility as in her view Joseph was the one that owed me the services.
Eventually she organized to pay for my park entry fee and my packed lunch but I had to pay my second night of accommodation, organize another bus ride back to Dar, sit on a crowded, uncomfortable bus for another 7 hours, get my own transfer from the station outside Dar to the ferry and pay for my meals on the 2nd and third day.
At the end I got a 4hr game drive in a car from around 1980 and spent 2 full days traveling there and back on some horrendous buses, spent the whole time worrying about how will I make my way back, spent an extra $50-100 on top of what I paid up front and got a lower back pain that took me two weeks to get rid of.
And what was Glory's response? It wasn't her responsibility. She trusted the wrong people but that is not her fault.
What about the fact that I paid her, based on an itinerary that she never intended to fulfil? - you may ask. She thought that was not her fault either. "I should have known that this itinerary was not achievable. "
She reassured me that no matter how I feel about this trip God understands that she is a good person and thus all is good. Let's just say that I didn't quite agree.
Would I recommend Glory's glorious travel agency? Not this time. Thanks.
Similarly, I would not pay a penny to Joseph's wonderful agency, Jodari Expeditions either.
Stay away from these people if you can.
FR
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Very disappointing
As always, we enjoyed being in Africa but this was certainly not my best memory.
I’ve done 7 safaris in Africa, including North and South Tanzania, Rwanda, Namibia and Botswana. And Zambia is my biggest disappointment. The walking safaris are much over-hyped in marketing publications and are better in Tanzania.
But if you are determined to go to Zambia, choose the lodges very carefully!
We spent 7 nights at Shenton Safaris Camps, 3 in Kaingo, (a special mention for Catherine, the talented, enthusiastic and thoughtful chef); and 4 in Mwamba Bush Camp, a very disenchanting experience. The day following our arrival, a famous wildlife photographer came with her guests, and “required” (as we were told by the camp manager) private brunches with her team. We were required to eat alone at our chalet. Despite our protests, we were excluded from the communal meal for the rest of our stay. We were treated as second class customers, at $2K+ per day!
We also prepaid for a remote sleepout, alone, a 15/20 minute drive from the camp. We were provided a radio transmitter to summon help for any nighttime emergency. When we attempted to use it, we discovered the battery was dead, confirmed by the guide the following morning; very disconcerting.
The owners were aware of our dissatisfaction during our visit. Later they had much to say via email but never visited the camp and never called to discuss any of our concerns. Back in France, in an exchange of emails, it became frustratingly clear that they were either very misinformed or very disingenuous (or both) about the facts surrounding our stay. They offered no apology for their actions…..but a bottle of wine. Ludicrous!
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Budget should not mean poor quality....
We read many reviews of various companies and chose Karibu because they seemed to offer a very professional service, they guaranteed maximum 6 people maximum per van (so everyone has a window seat) and apparently had good guides (so many reviews said the driver/guides were excellent!). We chose a 7 day safari to Maasai Marai, Lake Naivasha, Hell’s Gate, Lake Nakuru and Amboseli. Unfortunately, we were somewhat disappointed.
Booking, communication with Robert, payment and initial pick-up all went smoothly! Yay! But then…things started taking a downward turn…first, we were told that the planned itinerary was changing because we had 4 people joining us later…no worries. This change ultimately meant we spent more time in the car (so less time doing activities) and almost 2 hours waiting for the people to join. During that first day’s amended agenda, we went to Hell’s Gate park. Our driver/guide Castro kept telling us we needed to rent bikes and that he could not drive in the park…he pretty much dropped us off to negotiate bike prices on our own, it was a rather uncomfortable situation (which quite honestly should have pre-arranged or the negotiating done by him…the guide). Being new to Kenya we had no idea what would have been a reasonable price. Anyhow, we took bikes and rode into the park with a different guide who was assigned to us without any previous explanation. We did love the experience of riding the bikes, but it became obvious that our driver had not been fully honest with us as there were many groups driving through the park and disembarking for photo opportunities. Let’s just say that this first bit of “dishonesty” did not set us up for a relationship of confidence with our guide. Many little things like this kept happening along the way and it just made us uncomfortable and even frustrated at times. In fact, on more than one occasion, so-called “optional” activities were assigned to us without choice nor with any prior information and then the person providing that activity would expect some sort of extra payment, which we were never made aware of before.
That first night we were driven to a hotel that was not in the planning that was sent to us by Robert and when we asked about it, Castro said that the other hotel had called him to say they were fully booked and that we should go to this one. Again…seemed strange but, whatever, we went with the flow. A similar thing happened to us in Maasai Mara when we arrived at a different camp than what was on the planning. Since there were now 6 in our group at this point, everyone questioned the situation and Castro just seemed annoyed with us. He did not exhibit any sort of patience and eventually, in a huff, drove us off to the other camp at which apparently no reservation had been made and we were again put in an uncomfortable situation….we were told by the camp staff that the only tents available were “luxury” tents and that we would have to pay extra. Of course we refused, and after waiting for about 20 minutes…we were all assigned regular tents, although one couple (newlyweds) had to sleep in separate single beds. Just another awkward strange situation. Something similar again happened when we arrived at our assigned camp in Amboseli. Upon arrival, we were told that the reservation for our group had never been confirmed so that they did not really have the correct number of tents for us. So as a group, we ensured the newlyweds had the best accommodation, but that meant that the other two couples ended up with subpar, lower quality rooms (not tents) for their stay there. Don’t get me wrong, the staff at this camp were outstanding and they really did everything they could to make us comfortable (thank you Henry), the problem here lies with Karibu.
We did fully enjoy the game drives though and I must say, Castro was an excellent driver. He got us close to the animals and did everything possible to find them. That being said, he was really not a good guide. I realize this was a budget safari but basic guiding is not hard to provide (having worked in the tourism industry I feel I am well placed to say so). Simple basic information about the animals, people and places would have been appreciated. Common courtesies such as saying “Good morning, how are you?’’ or smiling on occasion do not cost the company or the guide any more and they make a big difference in the client’s experience. On some days Castro barely spoke to us and getting simple information about our day’s itinerary was at times like pulling teeth. We had to ask for water on many occasions and it felt like it was an inconvenience for Castro to give it to us, when it was supposed to be provided. Some days we got a small bottle each, some days we didn’t even get any. On one day, when we mentioned this, we got a snarky response from Castro of “well…did you ask for it?’’. Unfortunately, his attitude made us feel unwelcome and more of a burden to him than anything. We eventually all just pretty much stopped asking questions and tried to enjoy our game drives as much as possible.
There are probably another half dozen situations I could describe here that made our experience much less enjoyable than it could have been (not to mention the vehicle break-down which ended up having us wait for 5 hours for a replacement vehicle….these things happen of course, but it was the poor communication of it all and the lack of apology or any sense of compassion that made it a bad situation or the fact that there ended up being 7 of us in the van and we had to argue to ensure we remained at 6) , but I will limit myself to these.
Again, we saw some amazing animals. The game drives were excellent. But the guiding, organization and communication were very disappointing and quite below even a budget safari standards.
I would think twice before booking with Karibu.
PL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Dishonest
We had an unpleasant situation with the guide - we agreed to take additional people for our afternoon game drive in exchange for decreasing a bit the overall price of our trip. The guide took the money from them, but when we asked him about the price decrease (returning us some money) the next day he started to make excuses, eventually telling us to write to the office. So we did and the office assured us the guide will return the money after they talk to him. Eventually, the guide ran away after he left us in our hotel, avoiding confrontation and not giving us the money back. The office was not willing to help us with the situation.
The tour itself was good and we can't complain about it, but the situation with the guide and the office ruined the experience for us.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Uncommunicative, was very good, no longer will I use them
I have used this company 5 times, the first 3 times were wonderful. Liselle Ratth was our agent and she was fabulous. During and after covid, our booked trip for 2021 was handled by Brett Thomson. He did not communicate in a timely manner, which made us very nervous. However, the trip in September 2021 went very well. We had another trip planned for June/July of 2022 and it did NOT go well. Email questions took days, if not weeks for an answer. Sometimes we never did get an answer. The first lodge on our trip went very well, during our stay there we received an email from the next lodge in Zimbabwe telling us that our stay was cancelled due to none payment by Brett. Needless to say we were in shock. Luckily the owner and manager of Nottens Bush Camp (Sabi Sands) took us under their wing and helped us. The catch was that we had to wire the payment directly to the camp, as they would not deal with Brett. This put us out another $7600 US dollars, which we had already paid. Brett assured me that he would be refunded this amount via our credit card. This did NOT go as planned and took over 8 weeks to receive refunds, which were not the same amount as we wired to the camp due to exchange rates. This is so unacceptable, he did not pay and we were out extra money. I can only image if the guests did not have an extra $7600 cash to pay the camp...would we have been out of luck? I do not recommend using this company...
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Worst ever experience
As expats in Kenya, we have taken many safari trips, and the recent one to Masai Mara with Lenchada was unfortunately our worst ever experience. We chose this company out of their overwhelmingly good reviews on safaribookings.com. That probably means that most of their drivers are excellent. But our driver, named Tony, was an exception by a large margin.
Tony clearly hates his job and was cold and rude to us throughout the trip. Every time we met at the beginning of a game drive, he never greeted us and only responded to our greeting with a node. He never helped with our luggage either. During game drives, he never asked us or even notified us before starting the vehicle after a stop, never caring if we wanted to stay for longer. In several cases this interrupted our ongoing photography of animals, and sometimes even worse—the abrupt move of the vehicle on the bumpy road of Masai Mara caused us to fall on the seat. All three of us hit our knees on the armrest of the seats for a few times, and we all got bruises. Having paid a little more to take a private tour rather than a shared one, we expected that we could customize the game drives to a reasonable extent. When we tried to communicate with him about our preferences in animal viewing, however, Tony responded impatiently with cold words such as “You have to be patient,” “I have to follow instructions from the radio.”
And his words about following the radio turned out to be a lie, because his vehicle was not equipped with a radio! A radio is important for any safari trip, and especially for Masai Mara, since the natural reserve is simply too large. Even during the migration season, most part of Masai Mara at any given time would still be empty, and without a radio, on which dozens of drivers share their findings real-time, you will very likely end up not finding anything interesting for a whole hour. Two of the three of us fell asleep for around twenty to thirty minutes during the game drive. In the past we have taken safari trips in less renowned destinations and during low seasons, but the experiences have never been so boring for us that we fell asleep. It may be unbelievable that this happened in Masai Mara during the migration season, but when you don’t see any noteworthy animal for dozens of minutes it would be hard to stay awake. We did get to see some big cats, but that was only possible when we luckily encountered another vehicle that had radio, whose driver kindly shared the information, and our vehicle then made a U-turn to go back in the opposite direction for some fifteen minutes to get to the spot. With a radio we would probably have spent thirty minutes less to get there.
When we realized this problem, we contacted Alex, the managing person of Lenchada. Alex was responsive and attentive. He apologized for our experience, clarified that the driver’s practice of not carrying radio to a game drive is intolerable and against the company’s rules, and told us that he will soon make a thorough check on all the vehicles of his company to make sure that they must have radios. For us, however, the only thing he could offer as a remedy was to extend our final game drive by departing the lodge one hour earlier than planned. We appreciated his supportive attitude and accepted the offer, understanding that it was probably already all he could do within his capability. Tony was late, cutting the extended game-drive time from one hour to less than forty minutes. But the length of the trip turned out not a big issue, because during that extended final game drive, we again fell asleep, for the simple reason that the vehicle still didn’t have radio and we still had not much to see most of the time.
Although Tony had no radio, he attempted to cheat us by saying that he had one. It was only during the second day of the trip, when we heard him responding to another driver asking about information on animal spotting, saying in Swahili “Sina redio” (I don’t have a radio) that we realized he had been lying. When we contacted Alex about this concern, Alex hosted a three-way phone call with us and Tony. To our surprise, in the phone call Tony lied to his boss and insisted that he had a radio which he simply turned off because it was noisy. On our way back to Nairobi, Tony even blamed us for telling his boss about the radio issue, and still insisted that he has radio. When we pointed to the antenna holder in the front of his vehicle, where there was no antenna at all, he said that for some vehicles the antenna is in the back. But one only needs to get off the vehicle and look at its back to know that there’s no antenna there either. For so many times, Tony lied through his teeth.
Tony also told us that because of our complaint, he was going to lose his job. Due to his repetitive blatant lies, we would not believe in what he said. But if what he said is indeed true, that would be an indication that Lenchada really cared about their customers and promptly fired this unprofessional, dishonest, and rude employee. Such a person should simply not be allowed to work in this industry.
In other aspects of our trip that are unrelated to the driver, our experience was mostly positive. For example, the lodge was a good balance of quality and price. It is way cheaper than any accommodation inside Masai Mara, yet it’s only a ten-minute drive to the gate. Since their boss Alex is a responsible and honest person, and since there are many good reviews out there, choosing Lenchada for your safari may still be a good idea. But you have to make sure that your driver is not Tony, otherwise all those good reviews will be totally irrelevant to your actual experience.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
good tour, but poor communication from the tour operator
5 stars to the experience, amazing landscapes and lots of animals
5 stars to Boniface who went to great lengths to show us the best
5 stars to the group, very nice and friendly people, it was a pleasure to stay with them
4 stars to the accomodations, considering the budget it was good
3 stars to the food, it was good, but always the same, and as vegetarian for lunch bag always boiled eggs
2 stars to Okoa, we had to pay 7% more because we paid by card, and no one had warned us that there were additional charges with the card, otherwise we would have paid in cash. The tour is the same with other tour operators, we were staying in the same van, same hotels, all the same, with people who had booked with other tour operators, but maybe with other tour operators we would have saved money.
SE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Not recommendable! Book your safari with a different operator, safe the trouple!
I booked the 5-Day Group Joining - Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro luxury package with Seven Wonders Safaris.
Initially everything was really great. Evelyn helped me greatly with getting my lost luggage from the airline to the hotel, all the driving worked out really great and the first day we changed the schedule from Manyara to Tarangire (more animals in Tarangire). We had a wonderful day at Tarangire. The driver Nestory was very experienced and a great park driver/guide. The disaster started from day 2!
I got picked up 2h delayed by an old driver called Abdul. Instead of driving towards Serengeti we drove back towards Arusha to pick up other people from the shared Safari. Why he didn't pick up the others first and me last was unclear to all of us. After arriving at the camp side, we had been told that one of the cars is damaged and the entire group of 12 people needs therefore to wait here for a replacement car to arrive. After having lunch and waiting another 2 hours we finally started the drive towards Serengeti. The drive didn't last very long since the police stopped us and denied us the drive, since the car lacked the permit to transport passengers. After waiting for approx another hours we finally started driving to Serengeti. We arrived the Serengeti park entrance just a few min before they closed the gate around 6 in the evening. From there its another 1h drive to the accommodations/camp sides. Here is where the real mess started. Abdul had clearly no idea where any camp side was. So we spend the coming 5h driving through the dark Serengeti Park, while helping the driver with google satellite images. Abdul constantly insisted that he knows the way, while it was very obvious that he was just randomly driving around (trying to enter roads with clear signs private only, making turns all the time, messing up left/right etc). After 5h I gave up finding my accommodation and we drove back to the main camp side, where we figured out that the car with the cook and tents never made it to the campsite. So the majority of the group had to asked complete strangers if they could join them in their tents without a mattress and sleeping bag. Since it was already 1am I decided to sleep with the driver in the car. Luckily for me the damaged car with the tents arrived in the middle of the night and I got a tent to sleep in for a few hours. During the entire day Seven Wonders ignored all our messages! We could reach anyone in their office. Even the day after I got mostly ignored by Evelyn. This was not the luxury version of safari that I pictured.
I am deeply sad to see how bad the company is handling problems. I can totally see how you can have a great time with Seven Wonders, but be aware that the moment anyone runs into problems, you will be let alone by the company. Problems can and will arise, its the way you handle them and how you communicate with your clients!
Seven Wonders tried to make things good the coming days, by providing me with a private driver and refunding part of the trip, which is the reason why I gave one extra point in the rating. But I would not recommend this tour organizer to anyone!
Maybe worth mentioning that paperwork was done wrongly when we left Serengeti and the driver had to bribe the guards to let us leave the park. Also the transport from Ngorongoro to Arusha lacked some kind of documents, so we were driving around police checkpoints or bribing the police officers to keep going.