US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Masaai Mara Safari
Let’s start with the Mara Lodge 5***** lodge service and 3*** food
The pickup was seamless
The drive took 8.5 hours as we got stuck in Mud after entering very rough Terrain in the Mara and it’s a single lane hi way with numerous stops for random construction
Every tour driver stops to help the stranded driver
Nice when we got stuck but after three others got stuck it wasted 2-3 hours of day1
Unfortunately the roads were so bad that in no time my back was out of sync
The rest of the two days was at the wonderful lodge getting pampered by the staff as the only guest on the premises.
The ride back was equally long but after complaining a lot I was given the front seat
Also asked for a refund for the 2 Nd day entry which was given unwillingly
Take the LandRover or Jeeps DO NOT take the MINI VANS
They are uncomfortable unreliable and the drivers are a clique
Ensure you enter the park all 3 days as the charge is for 24 hr entry from first entry
This tour Co only entered the park in the first 24 hours and pocketed $80 USD for 7 passengers
Would not use them again
JP
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
tour is good,but food and companyis bad
Amboseli is not so good.
It has many elephants ,but others are not so many.
And my tour company is really really the worth.
They told me that I could pay all of price by cresit card,but actually it could do for only deposit.
And they did not tell me the fee of cresit.
And they said water was included,but actually not.
And food was bad, There were always flies around the dishes.
The guide of the lake Nakuru and Amboseli was also the worst.
He was often late ,and could not find the wild animals.
And,when he took me the next place,he dropped off many times because he wanted to buy goods.
So, I have less time to see the wild animals.
I appreciate my tour mates because they could find more animals than his.
PL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Park Selous is beautiful only agency and terrible guide
The Selous Park is beautiful. And so many of our dibrtch memories from Tanzania. Afebxha was waiting for us by changing the number of employees in the contract. It was only after our intervention that she confessed to guilty and we received a compensation. The guide himself gave me that this job did not suit him and we were so tired with each other these few days.
RO
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Never again with Lilac Adventures Limited from Kenya, known also as East Africa Holidays!
We contracted them for a safari in Kenya and Tanzania in July 2014. In Tanzania our fundamental rights have been put at risk by being forced to drive in the dark, to remain without fuel in the savanna, very far from the lodge, just before the sunset, to be forced to use a broken and technically precarious and unsafe car and so on. To any of our or driver phone calls it was no answer from the company! We can easily say: we have been abandoned!
During the 4 days for which we paid luxury conditions, we experienced hours of waiting at the border for the car that was supposed to transfer us to the first location, one day without food, no visits at the Maasai village in Serengeti, no visit to the Old Uvai, although both included in the safari cost, and all in all, the game drives rendered to us could be counted as lasting only for one day instead of the four we paid. We have been spent the rest of the days waiting for payments never done in time or for repairing the car or even worse waiting for someone to tow the car without fuel in the middle of nowhere, but plenty of wild animals ready for hunting!
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very old jeep
Jeep very slow, very old (20 years), that did not work well (the engine would not start). It 'a shame to have a ruined a trip so nice.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Poorly organized and executed two day safari
The safari started with the driver picking us up one hour late. the truck was one that appeared to be from the 60s.... parts of the car were falling off as we drove, there was no air conditioning, the engine was smoking, we had car problems, the driver spoke very poor english, and when getting to the game reserve told him we owed him extra money. It poured rain on the way home (a 6 hour drive) and because the car was so poorly functioning, it also rained inside the car and we got soaken wet. The hotel we stayed at was also very sketchy. They advertised air conditioning but the one in my room was broken, the shower barely worked with just a trickle coming out. Overall, not a good experience.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beautiful scenery but specific tour was a disaster
Scenery of dunes was amazing
Weather was not that cold for desert and for wintertime , warm during the day
We didn't receive lunch on first day, other days the food was very little, others bought food .The vegetarians and vegans had much more limited options too for barbeque
Guide was not informative and we hardly received any info about sights we visited.
Transportation was a broken down game drive vehicle , some bumping there heads on the roof when we visited Deadvlei .Our specific vehicle broke down in middle of the desert without a spare tyre .
Camping facilities basic and okay
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
low budget
First I want to say that our transfer driver, John, was great, as were our cook, David, and our driver, Marvin. This review should not reflect poorly on them in any way, as my complaints are out of their hands. Understanding and respecting that unforeseen circumstances do occur, the condition of our safari truck was ridiculous. The sides never stayed velcroed closed and we would have to stop and fix them continuously, and the bars they were wrapped around were rusty. One hour into our very first game drive the truck broke down. We were then sent separately and alone back to camp, with unknown tourists who stopped alongside us. Apparently the fuse box was broken. One of the other tourists in our group complained about the missed game drive and another company and driver, Oscar, came to our rescue and gave us our game drive. The next morning we needed to push start the truck and found out the starter was now broken. We again drove with another company and Oscar, thankfully! Aside from the inferior vehicle problems, I was so tired of eating porridge and beans that I will never consume them again! Out tour was only 3 days long and yet we ate the same thing over and over again. When I asked if we were having eggs I was informed no, because they hadn't been delivered. Oh great, more porridge! My idea of the "delicious brunch" that is advertised in my itinerary was not simply the bread, yogurt and Corn Flakes cereal, which was what was offered. I wondered if all of the African tours were like this, but after joining our Nomad tour and being given fresh fruit, juices, chicken, spaghetti, and a wide range of deliciously cooked foods I have concluded Wild Cherry Tours is an inferior company and we greatly overpaid for what we received. I am greatly disappointed but at least the wildlife we saw left us with some wonderful memories of Etosha camping.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Let down
We used Land and Lake to take us on a 3 day safari to South Luangwa and while there were no problems with the lodge or the safari drives, Land and Lake let us down on both transport and also failed to communicate with the lodge. 30 minutes outside of Lilongwe we broke down and had to spend over 2 hours by the side of the road while a replacement vehicle was brought out. On the way we met up with another Land and Lake vehicle that had broken down the day before. We arrived at the lodge after almost 8 hours after leaving and missed an hour of our afternoon drive. The lodge (not a part of Land and Lake) and the manager were superb but dietary requirements of half of our party were not passed on to them. Land and Lake have proved unreliable and although I would use the lodge again I would not use or recommend Land and Lake.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Trip, But Very Unprofessional
First I'll start by saying that we had an amazing trip, saw many animals, our drivers were good, and Big Time was much cheaper than the other safari trips that I read about online.
However, I'm rating them a 2 because if you sign up with Big Time, you should understand what you may be getting into. They are slightly dishonest, and they consistently try to get more money from you.
It started by us agreeing to a 9 day safari online in advance of our trip. When we got to the Big Time office, we paid, but they made us pay an extra 5% to use credit card... And they do not accept checks. So they immediately violated the contract we agreed on, but after arguing, there was nothing we could do, because our whole trip depended on this safari, and we had no backup plan. So we paid extra.
Then, we learned that our 9 day safari was actually 2 smaller safaris with travel days in between. And despite the contract saying "all meals and hotels/campsites are included in the 9 day safari price," they made us pay extra for our hotel and meals in between the 1st and 2nd safari. They also charged us $20 if we wanted to use their sleeping bags at the campsite, when bedding was supposed to be included.
Now here comes the most ridiculous part. We were encouraged to change our safari plan by a Big Time manager instead of the one we originally decided on. We finally agreed to do the change. After we arrive from completing the safari, he says that we need to pay extra for changing the route! When this was never mentioned to us before! He even threatened to take the money that “we owed” out of the driver’s paycheck if we would not pay. It was completely unprofessional.
To sum up the experience, the actual safari was wonderful. Our drivers were very nice, and the vans were full (8 person van for safari #1 and 4 person van for safari #2), but we still had great views. However, the management uses too many sneaky tactics to get you to pay extra.