Experience level: first safari
Disappointing. Avoid traveling with Kapolondo Expeditions.
I booked and paid well in advance for a 6 day mid range lodge safari. I ended up on a budget group safari.
On arrival late at night at Kilimanjaro airport I was met (thankfully - after reading a few reviews I had been nervous that nobody would be there!) and we begun our drive to Arusha, only for the safari vehicle to break down almost immediately. 21/2 hours later we crawled in to Arusha. The vehicle continued to have problems throughout the safari.
On Safari none of the accomodation had been booked in advance. I only stayed at 1 hotel that was on my itinerary (and it was empty of guests). Tony seemed to find the cheapest accomodation going on the day.
At one point Tony told me that the lodge I had booked was full so given that the owners of this lodge owned another accomodation in the local area I would go there. In turn I went to the lodge to ask them about their hotel being full. Turns out both were lies. The lodge was by no means full and the lodge did not own another hotel nearby.
We had to wait for several hours at Serengeti National Park and also Tarangire National Park as the company credit card did not have enough funds to cover the entry fees. Tony finally added funds but with a lengthy and irritating delay. Time spent hanging around at the entrance, watching all the other safari vehicles heading in to the parks was not particularly fun!
The only positive for which I am very thankful is that our driver Bruno (freelance driver) took great care to make sure we saw some amazing sights. He was a fabulous driver, knows the parks very well, taught us about the animals and made sure our journey was as magical as possible.
I have since written to Tony asking for a refund for the sub standard accomodation and the time wasting. He's not particularly repsponsive and when he does he makes up things.
I think the bottom line is, the guy doesn't seem to care. The company has such potential to be a very successful business but the way it is currently being managed, I don't believe it will last much longer.
Do yourself a favour and choose one of the many reputable safari companies, to avoid the stress and worry we had to deal with on the journey.
Happy Safari.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Would not recommend for future bookings
I first worked with Bosco two years ago. He took me on a fantastic trip to see the gorillas, Queen Elizabeth, Fort Portal, and Hoima. Oftentimes, I refer to that road trip as life changing. However, I recommended him to my brother and his girlfriend who were here early January 2017. We had brief interactions about dates, itinerary, and pricing. At one point, I had to shorten the trip, and therefore I assumed that the price was going to decrease, at the very least, for less hotel night stays. However, he refused to change the price, as it had gone from 7 days to 4. Then, during the trip, instead of living up to his promise of finding a very nice place to stay, he actually chose a place infested with ants. My brother actually had to ask to be transferred to another hotel. Overall, I was very disappointed in Bosco's service and won't be recommending him any further.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
If you want a budget safari, this is definitely a budget safari.
Tour itinerary looked great and Cate was very friendly, but she neglected to tell us that the total payment for the tour was due on Day 1. This resulted in some scrambling to withdraw cash from an ATM but we were limited by ATM withdrawal limits. There was no option to pay online with paypal or with credit card! Finally at the end of the tour Cate had told or driver a different amount than what I truly owed (a $10 USD difference) and also told the driver that was should pay him extra for dropping us off where we were staying in Nairobi even though this was included on the itinerary (in addition to a regular tip).
Our itinerary told us to be picked up at George's Cafe at noon, by 12:30 we were still waiting and called Cate. Cate had apparently (forgotten?!) to call a driver and our driver finally showed up at 2:00pm with no clue about what our itinerary was. To his credit, he was able to take one look at our itinerary and then figure out what hotels he wanted to take us to. There were a lot of extra costs that were not described in the itinerary unfortunately. I ultimately didn't mind paying, but if a boat ride was listed on the itinerary I would have appreciated knowing that it would cost me $100 in cash. While the extra expenses were no big deal, a heads up would have been nice, unexpected expenses can be frustrating.
Our tour driver, Johnny, was friendly but apparently lies to KWS to try and get resident rates for non-residents (this was from a story he told us making fun of the stupid white people who "forgot" they were supposed to be going by fake names). This was disheartening to hear about because this is a big loss of money to wildlife conservation. I'm a resident and my traveling partner was not and luckily Johnny did not try to lie to get resident rates for her. It was a slightly odd interaction.
The hotels we stayed in were clean with excellent food but no hot water in any of them unfortunately. Johnny seemed to have a poor understanding of when meal times should be and how often people need to eat because lunch was at 4pm on Day 2 (he seemed to think we could skip it?!). He also tried to skip lunch on another day right before a long hike (who skips lunch before a long hike?!). He often told us dinner couldn't be ordered before 7:30 (resulting in multiple meals at 8:30 PM!) but the kitchens seemed to be open and working as early as 6 because there was always waitstaff ready to take our order when we arrived. He also often ate with us, which I normally wouldn't mind, but he would order too much food for us (even when we told him we couldn't eat that much) and then guilt us with cultural values if we didn't clean our plates. He subsequently also couldn't clean his plate, but would then offer up some excuse about the food being bad. Overall a bit odd.
Johnny was also getting a bit old and in failing health (coughing and wheezing which made us a bit uncomfortable) and it was clear by his driving sometimes that his eyesight is no longer the greatest. There were a few speed bumps he missed slowing down for and game driving in parks is not his forte! I spotted the rhinos and lions we saw and he stopped at a buffalo once thinking it was a rhino. He also bragged that he would find us a leopard but never did. (I've seen leopards before but the boasting was strange). In general our driver was friendly, but nothing like the kind of service I've had on other budget safaris.
We stopped at multiple curio shops and they are usually expensive, but I've never had someone try to sell me a shuka (usually cost 600ksh and never worth more than 700ksh) for 4,000ksh. I was surprised that knowing that I'm a Kenyan resident Johnny would still try and take us to a place this ridiculously expensive. After they tried to scam us once Johnny actually took us there a second time. (???). He also added in a random stop at a girl scout memorial for people that I know nothing about and the man there asked for donations of any size so I at least thought offer 100ksh but he then turned around and said that wasn't enough. Was getting a bit sick of Johnny taking us to people who were just going to ask us for too much money. Especially since we told him that were not interesting in gift shopping as we were planning on doing that in Nairobi.
The itinerary was great, but at the end of the trip I wouldn't recommend trying to cram as much as we did into one week. Spend at least two nights at every location so that you get a full day at each. Cate added a few extra things to my itinerary beyond what I requested and I trusted her to know what would make a good trip but now I wish I'd asked to cut some of those extra locations.
Good things: Because it was budget we ate a lot of ugali and nyama choma which I love. Food was always delicious. Parks themselves were beautiful and wonderful.
TL;DR: The organization and communication was poor. Driver friendly but not very skilled and in bad health/bad eyesight. Would not recommend. You can find better budget safaris than this, or just rent a car and do it yourself.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Call it the Tourist tax on pricing, especially when you see what you get for it
The safari's and guides themselves were great. Thank God I only did the 2 night, 3 day stay. The accommodations are terrible! I'd met a couple on the way down that did the cheaper "tented" version. There experience was much better- and cleaner. For the price you pay, you'd think it would be a stunning room. It is not. The locals I know in Cape Town informed me what it actually costs a local to do this for them. They tourist price us of course and
I'd be fine if I had a beautiful room with an amazing bed and stunning accommodations. This was 2 dirty not even the size of single bed beds, no frame to them, no skirt on the bottom box spring showing it for all it's dirtiness, a dirty shower, dirty walls, old dirty looking towels (they were clean but the vibe felt gross), everything felt dirty. I paid almost $800 for those two nights & not really 3 days. I thought that would mean a beautiful sleep in beauty. We all chatted over dinner on the condition of what we got and felt the same. My recommendation- book a stunning hotel separately. Book the safari's separately. it'll be the same or cheaper. And you can self drive as well but you'll miss out on the amazing information the guides give. You don't need to be suckered into this - some research and a tiny bit of effort and you can avoid all this bs.
JP
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Payment was very unconvinient
Guide and operator who take us to the safari actually was very friendly and excellent.
But conductor who manage our trip from Arkman Africa was problematic person.
I wished to pay VISA card, but he did not understand what I wanted to do and we waste time a half day. In addition, the day of the trip, he did not come despite he said he also will come to make sure the attendants. And he did not communicate the guide who will attend actually in the trip. We loss one our or more to make sure who will attend.
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not actually delivered by East African Safari & Touring Company
we booked the safari with East African Safari & Touring Company but we learnt during the safari that we were actually with another companies. Apparently East African Safari & Touring Company does not have the TALA licence anymore and are almost bankrupt (at least this is what our guide told us). The safari was overall disappointing, e.g., we left Arusha very late on the 1st day (11am) and therefore we stayed less than 3 hours in Ngorongoro. We had to pay ourselves for the private campsite in Serengeti, despite was included in the agreed programme (we were later refunded once back in Arusha by the owner of the company employing the driver and owning the car), and this took a lot of time, long discussions with the driver and the parking rangers, two visits to the park HQ, etc.
AE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Miscommunication or misunderstanding?
Having read the other reviews I must say apparently Kruger Park Travel just had a few bad days when organizing my trips. I am happy nobody had to go thru the horrors I had experienced!
In short, written confirmation of trip details were not held and I had to pay extra to meet my expectations of private safaris, once I faced the situation. When I complained about this, the first reaction was immediately to threaten me with the company lawyer! I presented all email communications to them, but nobody bothered to give me any fair explanation of how this could have happened.
SA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great Guide, Terrible Accomodations
This review is to be a negative one.
I hope they take this feedback and try improve their communication and their services.
My family (my wife and my 2 daughters) experience, in terms of activities were good.
We owe that to our guide. He is an excellent guide and very safe driver.
There was one other person. I didn't know what the other guy did till the last day.
There were discrepancies in the itineraries. What we were promised was different what was delivered.
We never did the early morning and the evening game drive.
Time gap between the departure time from Masindi Courtview hotel and the actual Rhino walk was more then 6 hours. Nothing to do for 6 hours. We just sat around did nothing.
From the very first night, accommodations were substandard, despite much better accommodation availability nearby properties. They communicated and promised to us that our accommodation in Ziwa Sanctuary would not be a budget accommodation.
We spent the entire night awake with mouse and rats running around us. There were literally hundreds of live bugs and mouse droppings on the sheets.
We are still so upset about this which I am considering in taking further actions.
Food options, well there were no food options at Parkside lodge. We ate whatever they made. One main course. That's it.
To be fair, Courtview and Ziwa had food options.
We've paid a premium price expecting premium service. Our guide/driver was outstanding. Other than that it was terrible.
After I've learned what the charges were in the hotels and permits and entrance fees, the profit margin was significant. They basically put us in the cheapest and dirtiest places to make that profit.
Our bad experience with accommodations and food would not take away the joy and pleasure we had by learning about Ugandan people and culture. Kindest people we've ever met during our travels.
was not Impressed
Nothing to say much but it was very unfortunate experience
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
miscommunication with a single traveler
So first of all, I have been on 2 other safaris. This wasn't my first.
So to begin, I chose ACZ because of their good reviews. Also, John was very communicative and helpful before I went. He answered all of my questions in a timely manner and seemed professional. I traveled as a single so I was nervous about this but John eased my fears.
I was supposed to stay at the Lenchada camp with the group but there was a mix up. I assumed John would have put me in a single since he knew I was traveling as a single. He did not. I didn't want to share a tent with strangers. It wasn't clear in our communication beforehand that I would be made to share a tent with strangers. In fact, they wanted to put me in a tent with 3 other people! No. I didn't realize this would be like a hostel. So they sent me to another camp where I spent a night in a single. But it wasn't a good situation since I was separated from the group. I think John should have admitted his error (instead he argued with me about it) and arranged for a single at the correct camp. He didn't. The next day our driver told me I'd have to stay in the other camp alone again- and I got very upset. Finally, they let me stay at the correct camp but I had to share at tent. I was so tired of arguing I agreed to it. This all left me very disappointed, though. What bad customer service!
Our driver was below average as well. On my other safaris the drivers engaged with us, told us lots of facts about the animals, and were very friendly. This driver only spoke to us when we asked him direct questions. He seemed bored. We got minimal information out of him about anything. While driving he never gave us an itinerary, didn't say when we'd stop to use the toilets, eat, etc. We would just stop and then he'd tell us what was going on. Some advanced notice would have been good. He also talked on his phone constantly while driving and this felt very unsafe, especially on the roads in Kenya. He was good, however, at bringing us to see the animals. He gets 4 stars for that. But his attitude was definitely below average.
The food at the Lenchada camp was good and the place as a good deal for the price. I would stay there again. The highlight of the trip were the other members of my safari.
Single travelers- make sure you are clear about what you are paying for.