CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A poor and frustrating experience!
My honest review of my experience with Safari Multiways.
I was a Canadian long-term volunteer in Moshi, Tanzania. My husband was coming to visit me from Canada so I started to research budget-friendly options for a 4D3N private safari in the northern circuit. I stumbled upon Safari (SM) Multiways as per a recommendation from a board discussion on Tripadvisor; of all the recommended companies it was SM that provided me with the most economical quote. SM does not have an account on Tripadvisor so I instead gathered information from Tripadvisor forums and safaribookings.com. The consensus was that SM is a excellent tour company that you can count on to be reliable, professional, and give you the most bang for your buck.
I was in contact with Victor during the planning stages. Victor immediately left a great impression as he was very professional, pleasant and responsive. The planning experience instilled my confidence and affirmed the great reviews left by hundreds of past clients. Unfortunately, our excitement and confidence was short-lived.
Our itinerary was as follows: 2 days in the Serengeti, 1 day in the Ngorogoro Crater, and 1 day in TP where we could journey home that very afternoon.
SM arranged to pick us up from Moshi at 7:00am to head to Serengeti central. It wasn’t until the day before our safari that Victor suggested we instead stay in Arusha overnight to head to the Serengeti as it is a 6 hour journey from Arusha; if we travel from Moshi another 2 hours would be added to the commute. I wish he suggested this to me earlier so that we could’ve made the necessary arrangements. We had an engagement the evening before the safari so there was no way for us to stay in Arusha the night before. This lack of communication/planning already left a bad taste in my mouth.
We were picked up the next morning by our driver and tour guide, Pius. We knew beforehand that we were not signing up for a luxury vehicle, however, the car was very much dilapidated. Throughout the safari, a few things from the car kept falling off at a time. For example, the window frame (not sure what the technical term for this is) fell off, as well as the bumper – which Pius needed to buy rope to secure back to the car. The seatbelt for one the front seats (which we preferred to sit in as we got a better view being closer to the dashboard) did not work; this is a safety hazard. There were no headrests so we woke up with headaches/neckaches every time we fell asleep during the commutes. Even worse, the car doors did not lock. So, whenever we had to leave the car to eat or use the washroom (with Pius included), I was relying on the good graces of the Lord to ensure no one tried to steal anything from the car. This is unacceptable.
On our way to the Serengeti, Pius asked if we had a lunch box. I don’t know what gave SM the impression that we’d have a lunch box with us as we were being picked up from home, not a hotel. Pius had to stop in Arusha to grab lunch boxes for us – adding 30min to an already long, 8-hour commute to the Serengeti. We arrived in the Serengeti around 4pm. What was supposed to be a 4-hour game drive in the Serengeti (according to the itinerary sent by Victor) turned into a 1-hour game drive as we were dropped to our camp by 5:30pm.
We enjoyed our second day in the Serengeti and Pius worked hard to ensure we saw all the animals we wanted to see. I can say that he was friendly and kind; however, the more time we spent with him, we started to realize that he felt more like a driver than a guide. He knew the names of the animals and birds but did not know anything else beyond that. I wasn’t expecting a national geographic commentary but he did not have any knowledge of basic things like their diet, or general information about their habitat. We were fortunate to see the critically endangered rhino through our binoculars, but when I asked Pius whether the black rhino can only be found in Tanzania or if it can be found in other countries as well, he did not know.
The worst part of our trip happened while we were in the Ngorogoro crater. First off, we didn’t reach the crater until 12pm. I was already worried about lack of time until I learned that the permits only allow 6-hour visits at a time. By 3pm, Pius explained that we saw all the animals we needed to see and there was not much else to see in the crater - and then suggested we head back to our lodge. I insisted that I would like to spend more time exploring the crater (considering we spent a lot of money on our permit) as we wanted to make the most of our time there. By 4pm he began to exit the crater. Therefore, we only explored the crater for 4 hours (1 hour lunch break included). After researching online, I learned that people usually use all 6 hours of their permit to explore the park. Halfway up the crater ascent the car engine seemed to stop working and we were stuck on an upwards slope. I was fearful that the car would break down completely and we would either fall off the ledge or slide backwards onto the vehicle parked behind us. While Pius was getting help from others around him, he did not explain what was happening but looked panicked. Some of the gentlemen helping had to put bricks behind the back tires so Pius didn’t have to keep shifting gears to keep the car in neutral/park. After everything was resolved I was honest with Pius and shared that we did not appreciate not being informed of what was happening at the time. He advised that these issues are common in Tanzania – but can be resolved easily – which is why he didn’t feel the need to explain, but profusely apologized – which we really appreciated.
For our last day, our lunch boxes were forgotten at the lodge. This was really frustrating as we not only had to cut our time in short in TP in order to have lunch in town, but the value and amount of food in a packed lunch box is worth far more than the local restaurant lunch we ended up having in Karatu.
Once the safari ended, I was relieved. It was singlehandedly the most stressful and frustrating vacation I've experienced, and if I were to do it all again, I would not go with SM. In fact, I wish I could do it all again and experience the stunning national parks Tanzania has to offer the RIGHT way! I understand that we went with the most affordable tour company, but when you spend well over two grand on an experience, you at least expect an acceptable level of standards.
Although, our experience does not seem to be consistent with reviews of many happy clients of SM, the cynic in me found that most (if not all) of the clients’ reviews had Amos or Omari as their guide. I tried to look for reviews of Pius and he is mentioned as the “driver only”. Based on pure speculation, I’m inclined to believe that SM may have been “testing the waters” with the knowledge that I’m a long-term volunteer and may not hold the same standards as the wealthy western tourists who often go on these safaris. I think we were given the bad end of the bargain (ie. a battered vehicle and a guide lacking in experience) perhaps as an experiment.
On a more positive note, the accommodation SM chose for our mid-range budget needs were superb (Tukaone in the Serengeti and Eileen’s Trees Inn in Karatu). Also, despite the lack of knowledge and experience, Pius was otherwise really sweet, and even bought red bananas and baobab fruit for us to try during the trip.
With hundreds of TOs in Tanzania, word of mouth is often the most powerful tool for raising the profile of your company. But as it stands, I cannot, in good conscience, recommend Safari Multiways to my large network of expat volunteers, friends, and family in Tanzania.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Incompetent at best, likely misleading, possibly even scamming
We are based in Nairobi but arranged a safari to the Masai Mara with transportation, accommodation and game drives. The travel agent did not disclose all of the fees, and, we're not sure, but suspect there may be some kind of kick-back scam. Were were also mislead us about the quality and type of safari vehicle, and then tried to back-date an email (which, of course, doesn't work), to try to "prove" we were given the information up front (we were not). The same vehicle was used to drive from Nairobi to the Mara as was used for the game drives. At least two of the seat belts were not functioning, and the ones that did clip were questionable if they would hold during an accident because they were so worn out. The vehicle was fine for the game drives, but certainly not a safe way to travel on Kenyan roads, particularly on the escarpment road with heavy truck traffic, lots of potholes, passing, and no guard rails. That said, the driver/guide was good.
Strongly recommend against booking with this company because of questionable ethics.
IL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A big disappointing from the guide level
I have done dip research on the internet before booking with Bestday, and I Choose them because of there good rating.
We took the four days budget safari.
We saw a lot of animals and the national parks are amazing.
We have Good Luck as our driver/guiding, and I must say he wasn’t knowledgeable at all! I found myself reading from Wikipedia all the time to know a little bit more about what I’m seeing because it’s not just about seeing the animals it’s learning about them too.
Also, his English wasn’t clear at all.
In addition to that, he barely knew where the camps are and even didn’t know how to build a tent, told us that it’s his first time sleeping in a camp, although he said that he is doing safaris for already three years. Go figure it out.
Also, the camp equipment was poorly; I expected to have better chairs for eating. We were the only group that has this kind of chairs. Also, the sleeping bags were disgusting, and their zippers we're broke, so we freeze at night in the Ngorongoro National Park.
The only thing that I can't say that was good is the fact that we had Emanuel as our chef. My wife I and I are vegans, so he made us delicious food and also functioned as our guide when he joins us once to the game drive.
So, unfortunately, I must say, stay away from that safari company!
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Seth Vincent is a fraud
Seth Vincent of tripadvisor africa safari or right choice safari is a FRAUD.He does not accept credit card payments so the traveler has no protection. There were 14 of us on a custom 12 day safari. He provided two beat up land cruisers, one of which lost its rear axel in the middle of nowhere on our second day, and one passenger was slightly hurt. Few days later the front left tire came completely off on a vehicle and we hit a soft dirt bank, lucky for us. To top it all, complete break failure on a vehicle in Tanzania. We were VERY LUCKY to have a skilled driver who maneuvered his way through a parking lot full of land cruisers and into a ditch, a few feet away from a cell tower, while 8 of us were hanging onto our dear lives, a harrowing experience. One of us had a sprained wrist and a hairline crack and still recovering. We missed out on some of the safari experience due to these accidents and multiple flat tires. We missed out on Ngorongoro. He shorted us two rooms in several places, booked us in a cheap hotel in Arusha, in spite of having paid for expensive accommodations. We had good spirited travelers who shared rooms. He is NOT A MEMBER of Kenya Association of Tour Operators.
Highly discourage you to plan a trip with him.
Some of us are glad to be alive.
FR
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
mixed feeling
We booked a 11 days Safari with Chabo including Selous, Mikumi, Ruaha and Udzungwa. We had very good time with our guide (who was not the supposed this one at first) and lodging and food were great. However the relationship with Chabo has not been really friendship. After 3 days our guide was still not there (fortunately the woman at our lodge in Selous was a wonderful person and guide) and they lied to us several time on the reason why. We finally understand that they had problems with the car. Chabo then rented a cheap open car (without seat belts) to take us from Selous to Mikumi that was not really adapted for the long drive to Mikumi. We finally met our guide at Mikumi rather than at Selous as first programmed. Later, without explanation either, they replaced a correct car, which we only kept for two days, with another car in quite poor condition. We realized also that our planing was not quite logical since it would have been less waste of time to go first to Udzungwa after Mikumu and not after Ruaha. Nevertheless we had a really great time because the parks in the South are all fantastic with not too many people, all the guides we had were great, professional, kind and helpful and because tanzanian people are really welcoming in general. Most of Chabo's good reviews are certainly deserved, but it would be a pity if the reputation they have built up over the years were to begin to fall apart through a certain lack of respect and consideration for customers.
GR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Far below expectations
I did the 1-night stay tour and it was quite a disappointment. Game drives are too short in duration (overall 5 hours) while 11+ hours are needed to go to Masai Mara and back. Period is supposed to be ideal to see the great migration, but we didn't get the chance to see it, as "there was not enough time to go to the river", which is practically a matter of tour guide decision! Staying at the outskirts of the reserve, close to the gate, automatically meant less chances of seeing all the animals. In fact we got to see just 3 out of the big 5 (lion, buffalo, elephant), and not even other animals that are supposed to be present in large numbers (cheetahs, crocodiles, hyenas etc), which doesn't make any real difference compared to going to Nairobi National Park which is right next to the capital. No comment on the accomodation or food, as these are definetely secondary issues for all visitors. If i knew before, I wouldn't do it.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
So much work to get our safari!
We would not recommend Tree Africa Safaris at all. Throughout the booking process, we thought the company was wonderfully responsive—we dealt with Victor Nagol, who told us we would get a wonderful three-day safari, just as we dreamed of. But as soon as we made our 50% deposit, Victor stopped communicating with us. A few weeks before we were scheduled to arrive in Tanzania, we emailed him to confirm our plans—but our emails bounced back, time and time again. Then we discovered that his company’s website was no longer live, and he was no longer advertising on Safari Bookings. Fearing that we might have been scammed, we asked our son (who is living in Tanzania) to visit Arusha (where Victor’s office was) to figure out what the problem was. He wasn’t able to find Victor, but after spending several days in Arusha, dealing with the police and the other tour company that processed our payment, our son was able to get Victor to follow through with our safari. Victor finally outsourced us to another tour operator (who was wonderful, and who gave us a delightful safari), but every part of it that Victor was involved with was a struggle. Our first two nights in Arusha were supposed to be included in the cost of our safari—but Victor did not pay for them; we had to pay for the hotel and wait to be reimbursed by Victor. He didn’t pre-arrange our accommodations during the safari itself—each night, we had to wait hours until he finally communicated with our tour guide before we knew where we would be sleeping each night. And finally on the last night, Victor did not pay for the hotel we were staying in (in Arusha), which was supposed to be included in the amount we had paid—we had to pay for the hotel when we checked out, and Victor said he would reimburse us for the cost. He did so—but it was weeks after we had left Tanzania and had already returned home.
We ultimately did get a wonderful safari—thanks to the skill and knowledge of the tour guide that we were outsourced to. But every part of the safari that involved Victor Nagol was hard work for us. We have to wonder if the only reason we got any safari at all was because we had our son there, in Arusha, talking to the police on our behalf and putting pressure on Victor to give us the safari we had paid for.
We cannot in good faith recommend the services of Tree Africa Safaris or Victor Nagol.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
First time on a safari (10 day) and had a mixed experience
I did the 10 day kenya/tanzania safari tour and went to all the main, big parks...(Maasai mara, Amboseli, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater)
The 10 day safari tour went to a lot of great locations although you spend a lot of time traveling between destinations....The airport pickup didn't go that smoothly and we got stuck in Nairobi rush hour traffic for a long time....I ended up having 3 or 4 guides during the 6 day Kenyan portion of the tour..(felt like a hot potato).....They were good guides/drivers but it would have been nice to remain with one of them for the duration..(I think the original plan was to have one driver/guide)....Obama was the best driver and pretty knowlegable....
By contrast, the guide/driver for the 3 to 4 days in Tanzania, Sayed, was very hard to understand half of the time and a very poor listener.....(poor english skills overall)....He couldn't find animals on the game drives, had lots of engine problems in the Serengeti and generally complained way too much about a variety of things......To try to compensate for his many inadequacies, he resorted to offering to buy us beer and ganja/marijuana for us in the van ..(which I think is illegal in Tanzania).....I was told that African Habitat safaris wasn't going to use him anymore as a guide....Excellent choice..
Overall, it was a good time... August is a good time to visit Kenya/Tanzania with a large concentrations of animals... But the tour seemed disorganized at times, the accomodations a mixed bag and the quality of guides dropped a lot in Tanzania...
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Outsourced to another operator that provided poor service; bad client service after paying money.
The review is a bit lengthy but please read in full. I booked a 3-day shared tour in Masai Mara from 10-12Aug with 7 other travellers. Tour is operated by Bencia Africa Adventure & Safaris (I wasn't informed of this whatsoever until boarding the van).
Pre-tour: agreed on 2-person tent on SMS with Roselyne who had a friendly tone.
Day 1: Was picked up at 8:30am as scheduled and arrived at office at 9am to get into an uncleaned safari van. Other travellers were told to arrive at the office at 8am, meaning they had to wait for 1 hour pointlessly due to tour operator's poor arrangement.
Arrived at Miti Mingi Eco Camp, waited for 10 minutes, no reception at all and of course no room plans. Had the evening drive and returned to the camp at 630pm. Had a 30-minute wait for dinner, during which the tour guide did not give information on room and meal arrangements until we searched for him around the Camp. After dinner, waited for 1 hour to ask for information ourselves by searching for Camp manager / tour guide / etc. At 9pm, Camp manager said the camp is overbooked and asked me and another male traveller to stay in a 4-person tent (with 2 other people), and said "will talk about other things the next days". The other 6 travellers (1 man 5 women) were driven for >15min to another lower-quality campsite.
Day 2: Tour guide gave minimal explanation of animals (total talking time <15min). Definitely not the best guide as Roselyne described, despite his ability to follow other vans to spot the big 5. Visit to Keekorok Lodge was great.
At the Camp, we found the Camp manager for refund arrangements given the inconvenience and no 2-person tent as agreed due to overbooking. He argued he delivered his services because we spent a night at his tent. He refused to provide refunds because he claimed only the tour operator (Bencia), not the travellers, are their customers. His attitude was poor despite we the customers kept calm.
That night, my roommate and I stayed in the same 4-person tent (with no other people). Note that 4-person tents has worse facility and sanity levels compared to 2-person tents that other travellers stayed in.
Day 3: Had an early morning drive. We weren't informed by the driver of when and where the van will stop for lunch during the drive back to Nairobi.
Went to Bencia's office to complain the above issues and asked for some refunds. Bencia said they need to discuss internally for 2 days and will inform me of the decision. No follow-up since then.
Messaged Roselyne to complain politely. She said "There is no refund! You never slept outside. You ate and used water in the camp." "We don't refund clients after they have done a safari and feel like they need their money back. This is fraud!". No reply on messages sent over various days afterwards.
Fraud or not, my fellow travellers, it's your decision.
ttdr: didn't understand the overwhelmingly good reviews of Hyrax Safari and Roselyne.
BE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Disappointing experience
The Safai itself was quite well organized and very nice. I would also say that the price was fair, at least the initially planned price. That's where my disappointing experience kicks in:
The payment methods offered by the Red Chilli feel a bit like a rip-off. When I booked the tour, they insisted I would have to pay a 50%-deposit to confirm. They gave me some payment options, but without any information on which option has the lowest fees. As they all locked similar to me, I picked one randomly. This led to bank fees of 60 USD (more than 33% of the amount)! The management later said sorry for this, but refused to give me any form of compensation, even not a sign of good will (like a free night worth 12 USD for example, as proposed by me).
Furthermore, all cash payments in local currency at the hostel use an exchange rate that is 3,5% lower than the real one (there is also a 3,5% fee on card payments in the local currency) . Thus, you pay extra if you use the local currency! I obviously only found that out at the end of my stay.
Alltogether, it just didn't feel right. I would not recommand the Red Chilli, as there must be better options out there.