US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Possible scam
Possible scam! RUN AWAY from this company! Save your hard-earned money! Please don't be fooled by Glorious Tanzania Tours and Glory. Right before leaving for our trip, my friends and I found out Glory was part of a suspected ring of scammers. We feel scammed out of our trip to Kenya and Tanzania. We have invested thousands into this trip and it has been devastating. It has been taxing trying to get our money back after many failed promises from Glory. Instead of a trip, we were left with dealing with police reports and trying to get our money from our credit card company.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Subcontracted our Private tour to the Lowest Bidder
In January ’22 (6 months before our departure date) we booked The Great Kenya & Tanzania PRIVATE Circuit - 13 Days Safari and Cultural Experience offered by Sunsets in Africa.
FIRSTLY, before our complaints are listed, We want to make it clear that WE HAVE NO COMPLAINT with our KENYAN DRIVER/ GUIDE. (His real name is Safari) Safari was informative, polite, and quite a good driver – he made sure we had a great vantage point to view the animals. All the other Kenyan drivers seemed to know and like him. We missed him once we arrived in Tanzania.
The majority of our complaints are a result of Sunsets in Africa's subcontracting our PRIVATE tour to the lowest bidder: TOPHANSTANZANIAADVENTURE.COM
The owner of TOPHANSTANZANIAADVENTURE.COM who also became our “guide” in Tanzania was named Hans. After returning home, we researched his company and found that Hans’ offers a 12 day tour of Kenya & Tanzania(not 13) with a minimum of 5-6 people (NOT PRIVATE) for 1/3 $ of what we had paid to Sunsets in Africa. This explains A LOT!
We blame both SUNSETS IN AFRICA AND TOPHANSTANZANIAADVENTURE.COM for this following, (condensed) negative review:
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Our tour was booked and paid for as a PRIVATE party of two, but upon meeting Hans he informed us that we would be traveling with another private party of 2! (Neither party agreed with that arrangement but we were stuck!)
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Our PRIVATE tour was also supposed to included nice 4* lodges (Yes, they were nice in Kenya) but when Hans himself took over in Tanzania he took us to a Tent cabin on the outskirts of Serengeti which had a picnic table for a restaurant/bar!! This was Not at all Similar to the Serengeti Serena Lodge on our itinerary!
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Hans was NOT a professional guide (he almost never had his radio on in the parks to communicate with the other guides and was always talking or texting on his phone instead of talking to/informing us)
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I inquired about the cost of a Night Game Drive and Hans told me that would cost $950.00 USD for 4 people. I declined saying it was out of my budget… Hans replied by asking “what is your budget?” At that point I had a feeling there was a possibility of a scam so I ended the conversation. A few days later on day 7 of out tour, at Lake Manyara Lodge they offered a night drive for $55.00 USD per person!!!
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On day 11, Hans LEFT US STRANDED at our Lake Manyara Lodge until 4pm (1600 hrs.)! He wasted an entire day!
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Instead of transporting us from Arusha to the Nairobi airport himself, he hired a man w a VERY SMALL car to take the 4 of us and our luggage from the border to the Nairobi airport. (We had luggage on our laps! for several hours)
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We have gone on many private tours around the world, but never had a "guide" as rude, devious, and unprofessional as Hans of TOPHANSTANZANIAADVENTURE.COM .
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THE BEST TIP I WOULD GIVE THIS “GUIDE” WOULD BE “HANS GET OUT OF THE TOUR INDUSTRY!”
MT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Ruined experience
This was the worst trip ever in our ecperience and i apologise for the long write up but too much happened...So here it goes...
We booked 11 days shared Kenya and Tanzania safari with this company. The quotation was provided by and communication was held with Evelyn.
While said quotation was provided swiftly, we had to chase her to acknowledge/issue an official confirmation of the deposit payment, as according to her such are not typically provided (weird, isn't?). Since I insisted, some sort of confirmation was issued and she then disappeared without providing any details in terms of pick up or any other details. This silence continued up until the very last moment where although I requested information regarding the time of pick up (she didn't ask about our flights at any point before this), who shall be picking us up and where(it was our first trip to Nairobi, so we were not experts) by email to which no reply was received up until literally last day when I then messaged her again on whatsup (communication couldnt have been attached herewith unfortunately). So on this point a reply was sent and we communicated well upon arrival, where we were picked up by Evelyn at the terminal and 'handed over' to William who took us to their so called office which was closed so we were waiting for the driver outside(at this point we were saying how nice of her to meet us and William was great _he provided so much info on trips, acrivities, etc). Some half hr later the druver arrived and we thought we will proceed but no. We've been sitting and waiting for over 2 hrs and none carred to explain what's that we are waiting for since all 6 people were in the jeep. Here to our surprise although in all our agreed terms we were told that we will be up to 6 persons, 7th person joins instead of a guide! We the proceed to Masai Mara. Since we departed late, on the first day we only had 1.5hrs game drive close to our lodge despite itinerary indicated whole afternoon drive.
The following day we had a full day in the park, but to our all disappointment we were then advised that the 3rd day game drives in Masai Mara will not happen as parks changed the rules ( instead of 24hr to 12hrs ticket validity). None of the 7 people on this trip had been informed of this ahead and none had been reimbursed for this either! we were not even given an option to purchase a new ticket ourselves (some 80 USD for the jeep would be nothing between 7 people when we already spent so much on the whole trip).Instead, the driver advertised a trip to Naivasha Lake as being great 1.5 hrs boat ride to observe birds with a stop on the island to feed animals. Since nothing else except for driving was to happen on that day (since 3rd day of Masai Mara game drives had been cancelled by the company) we decided to go and see the highly recommended lake (note that we didnt have internet so couldn't have checked ourselves and relied on the driver). To cut the story shorth we paid 30 USD each at the place in cash (only accepted in such manner) no tickets or receipts were issued. we spent 53 min exactly on that and saw a max of 10 birds, the lake looked dead and none stoped us at any islands for any animals. Upon return to the shoar the driver bluntly asked if we saw hipos and crocodiles to which quite shockingly we replied that no such live there and he shouldn't have advertised something unless he knew what that really is! Perhaps a suggestion to the company at this point to send your drivers for such trips so they know exactly what is happening?! So even more disappointed we move to the hotel to yet again be shocked to hear that we will be left at some other place than the one we paid for (as specified in the itinerary)! Since this was stated when we were dropping of 2 guys at that place we took the opportunity to connect to the internet and check what's being offered to see that the place we booked showed eur 67 on booking.com while the one the driver told us to stay was 36 eur! We then refused to leave the jeep explaining that it's not our hotel and we want to go where we should! The driver following numerous calls with the office advised that the place we booked is fully booked so we must stay in this new cheaper place which all 5 of us yet again rejected. After some 45 min arguments the driver agreed to take us to the place we actually booked as we insisted that the place showed being available on booking.com and if anything, it must have been booked for us already. We arrive and...the place is nearly empty (why tell us its fully booked???) and we were also given options to change rooms! So lie no1 and we were not only disappointed regarding the cancellation of 1 day of Masay Mara, lost time and money to see dead lake and even more time wasted on arguments regarding the accommodation that we paid for!
The last day in Kenya we went to lake Nakuru where we only had 2.5 hrs so yet again disappointed with the schedule as we should have had more time we proceed to Nairobi to be put on a public bus!!!!! For the transfer to Arusha. At no point in time were any of us informed that the transfer to Arusha will be through a public bus!!but surely it cost peanuts so more money to the company!
When in Arusha, the bus driver surprisingly dropped us at the hotel directly and we were informed regarding the pick up times for the following morning. So far so good.
In the morning the guy comes on time (impressive!) I told him my name and the name of my fellow traveler, he checked his phone and put our bags in the jeep. Here we were informed that since we will be going to the bush, he will stop at the shops if we want to buy some wine and beer so he offerd to get it for us cheaper. We wondered how come he suggested we buy drinks ourselves when drinks were listed in our itinerary as all included but we just let it go and went to withdraw some money to buy something. In the meantime he comes back stating that we should be going back as we are not his passengers! Why did I give him our names and what he checked remained mystery but here we are again wasting our time which we could have spent driving in the park. When he drives us to the office to exchange us, a guy there shows us a map and explains that we will be going to serengeti, ngorongoro and etc. I then specifically open my itinerary and read with him to confirm the details and accommodation which he confirms to me and to my fellow traveller. All good we proceed. In the evening, the driver announces that we shall be going to again diferent hotel than that indicated in the itinerary!!! Again no Internet and same explanation _ fully booked! We endup there where we didnt like to also then get to know during dinner that another 5 people ended up the same as us_we had to be at the hotel that the company stated was fully booked when it was showing yet again available and same story was now sold to 7 people! Although we had water, beverages and wine and beer included in our package, when we asked for water/wine during the dinner we were all told that we must pay for them.
The following morning I decided to write to Evelyn regarding all the above and ONLY asked her to ensure that the remaining part of the trip remains unchanged. She never replied but she asked the driver to pass his mobile to me and she started explaining that nothing changed, that the drinks had to be provided by our chef not the place itself (like we would have known who and what and why he didn't offer if he had to?) that according to her when in the office, we were explained that the accommodation was changed and we never complained about anything etc. At this point I got seriously annoyed with her and their lies and I told her bluntly that i do not trust one single word she says as I told her in facts what happened and there were more people with me who heard all this. She then treated me to cancel the safari as according to her I was lying, none of this what i was saying was true and that in their T&Cs there is indicated that they can cancel safari for whatever reason should they wish so. She told me that she will send the car to pick us up and bring us to the office where she will refund us for the safari to which again I explained to her that I didn't ask her for anything but just to stick to our itinerary and provide what we paid for! She insisted that this is impossible as I said that I don't trust her so consequently i cannot go on safari with their driver and she just cut the cinversation. We then spoak to the driver as he seemed lost and she called again and again and from the treats to cancel us she then decided to proceed with us and while on speaker she confirmed that we shall continue as per schedule and even herself named the places that we go and stay at. This as you can already imagine was another lie as on the way back from ngorongoro we were told that we are going to be taken to that same place where our argument started!! Here we refused to go again, another call another useless chat where she for the second time accused me of lying when the only lier was her and none else and we ended up in the situation where I stated on speaker that her driver also heard her confirming that we will be going to the place that its written in the itinerary and he confirmed this to her in front of us! After some shouting and screaming by her at the driver we were told Nsya (the place we had in the itinerary) is not happening in any case and we were offered 2 other places.i insisted that if she wants to put us in diferent place again she must then upgrade us as we fed up having all these issues after paying for something that we are not getting! Guess what_ no point taken. Here we try to check on booking.com but the Internet was awful so we struggled. When asked the driver to check on his phone all of a sudden his Internet wasn't working and the only options were we were to go where he wanted to take us and we said no. He then took us to yet another diferent place to show it to us but we didn't like it and there was no Internet, he then took us to another place where the office stated that only 1 double room was available while we needed a twin room and when arrived _ triple room was showed! Another lie! Here we were just sick and tired so we said fine we'll stay there but we want dinner and breakfast with all drinks as per itinerary. The hotel rep stated that this is not happening as the company only agreed to accommodate us on room only basis! Another half hr arguments and they decide to leave the company's chef to cook for us but we won't get hotel's food, and also that we won't get any wine as that according to the driver we finished already while on safari! On this point when we were to proceed to serengeti the driver asked us if we like beer, wine or konjak and we told him that no strong alcohol is needed some like beer but mostly wine so we asked to get an extra bottle of wine (he had 1 box of beer in the jeep) and he came back with 2 bottles_ 1 red and 1 white (this for 6 people for 3 days). As said on day one we were not given any wine and the company said that the chef forgot to offer but then they only got the wine the following morning so something doesn't click again! Anyone is still surprised?
So during the dinners on these next 3 days we only saw 1 bottle of white wine and some remaining little of white from the other jeep, while red wine disappeared. When we asked on the last night, the driver stated that he give 2 bottles to the lodge (which wasn't the case as we spoke to people who stayed there and they were paying for their drinks there, it would be weird that someone paying 200 eur a night would gake a bottle of cheap wine to tbe lodge
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Scammer. Asks for deposit and makes promises that are not kept
Seems very professional in the beginning but did not keep the promises made and changed the schedule to his liking and convenirnce to make more money for himself.
I planned 8 safari day tour and managed to actually do only 3 days. The rest had to be cancelled or changed because of external factors.
Despite having agreed on a refund and getting a confirmation from the official email, they never refunded the money.
I dont recommend going to them for this.
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Poor quality and lack of professionalism
-2 adults and 1 child. 3 days and 2 nights. = 1800 €
-They did not comply with the established itinerary.
The car did not work well and that was the reason they didn’t
take us to the north of Serengeti to see the migration. We ask for compensation visiting another places or returning a part of the money, but they refused.
-Three days driving the same roads…
-We felt ripped off and it ended my dream of a real safari.
BR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Bad safari, indifferent to the clients
The agency didn't provide value added to our trip. On the contrary, they ruined it from the beginning.
1. Misleading statement. I booked this agency because its competitive price given the same package. But unfortunately they didn't provide what they promised. I asked for an open-sided vehicle, which is more expensive than the normal Landcruiser. To make it happen within my budget, I even asked them to downgrade the hotels. They confirmed they can provide the open-sided one as I asked. However, what they provided is just a Landcruiser with the windows replaced with canvas cover. This was not even closer what we wanted. How they explained? They told me the open-sided vehicle that I asked can only be used in the park. Do you think it justified that you claimed you have the open-sided one? If you don't, why not telling me in the first place?? Moreover, at least other 2 agencies provided this option(opene vehicle) with extra fees over than the normal land cruiser.
2. Overpriced package. To have an open-sided vehicle, I proposed to downgrade the hotels. After their recalculation, the total price was almost the same. However, as I said above, they didn't provide the "upgraded" vehicle but they downgraded my hotels range. In terms of the same package with a normal landcruiser, this agency charged USD500 more than the quotes we received from other agencies. I wouldn't booked with them if I could know their open-sided vehicle was a lie.
3. Vehicle with bad conditions. You know what? They can not even provide a normal vehicle. What they provided was one without popped-up roof, which means you either close the top cover or leave it completely open. Among the vehicles we saw, ours was the ONLY ONE that didn't have the popped-up roof . If you want to stand up to see the animal, you have to suffer the strong sunlight for the whole game drive because it's not adjustable on on the road.
3.Unprofessional and undevoted guide. The guide hired by the agency was unprofessional and undevoted because
1) He is always on the phone calls, private ones, joking on the calls. When the vehicle stopped to wait for the animal to move. Other guides usually were explaining the animal to the clients or kept silent, but you know what our guide was doing? Making calls. Sometimes we had to interrupt him to ask him to move forward. Even when we were quite close to a lion, he was still talking with someone in the phone. Using phone always made him distracted, so he drove very slow. When I doubted the slow drive, he responded safety was the priority. How come using phone while driving could be safe?
2) he was not experienced enough to know where to find the animals, we were often wandering somewhere not even had any aninals at all. When we only missed leopard and chitah, what he did was just idling away in the park Instead of trying to find the animals. Of course we were not demanding that he must find every beasts, but we didn't feel he was devoted to meet clients' expectations.
3) He was not customer-driven. Since the 3rd day, never opened the door for us. In Nakuru, we started safari inthe morning, however we didn't go for flamingo first, instead, he chose a way in the woods to wander about. Until we saw flamingo, it's noon, which the sunlight was not good for taking pictures. When I doubted why we didn't go to see flamingos first, he questioned if I know the way and asked me to trust him.
4. Bad problem-solving altitude. The agency never solved problem we raised, only explained and pretended to understand your feelings. They provided a Landcruser without popped up roof, I asked them to solve. Then they told me the driver will sort it out. However the driver was not able to sort it out. And they just ignored our complaints. This is how they treated the clients.
Never ever choose this agency!
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Mokoro trip
Mokoro trip was nice, but after this trip my group had to wait the driver (to came back to our cars) more than one hour (and we had to arrive to the camping for the night driving safe , instead we arrived at our camping at 7 o’clock pm, in the dark).
The driver didn’t say anything, no apologise with us or anything else for the delay. Never more.
BR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Biggest flop of my trip.
1. Agreement discrepancy.
They did not deliver the service they promised. We paid more for an upgraded open-sided vehicle as they promised they would provide, but they sent us a Landcruiser without a popped-up roof and below industry standards. One day during the Safari, because there was no roof to cover, I got sunstroke and ended the day's trip early.
2. Cover up problems and shirk responsibility.
When we questioned that the vehicle they provided was not what we required, they kept trying to cover it up, telling us that the Landcruiser was the industry standard and that no guest had ever questioned it (with an ironic tone), and requiring us to bear it as there was no other option. However, we were not questioning Landcruiser, but that they did not provide an open-sided vehicle as they promised.
3. Their quotation is more expensive for the same services.
Taking the price we paid as a reference, they did not provide an open-sided vehicle which generally requires an additional $700, therefore, in fact, their quotation was $500 higher than other agencies for the same services. Don’t choose them and save your money！
4. Irresponsible and lazy tour guide.
The tour guide they arranged for us was extremely irresponsible, often driving while making personal phone calls.
Example 1: In Mara, it is 20 kilometers from our hotel to a gate of the park, and it took him 70 minutes to drive us there. Then wandered 2 kilometers near the gate for a whole morning and we saw almost nothing.
Example 2: When we parked just 1 meter away from a lion ready to hunt, he kept talking and laughing loudly. We tried to stop him, but he continued on the phone for 40 minutes. At last, the antelopes were scared away by his voice, and the lion gave up hunting. We missed a great scene that could have happened, which made us very upset.
Example 3: He lacked a basic sense of service and courtesy. Firstly, I want to clarify that we have treated him politely and respectly. However, he didn't share enough information with us, didn't thank us for tips and snacks, interrupted us, and argued loudly with us.
Do not choose this travel agency, they will ruin your trip!!!
MX
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Seth is possibly a scammer! AVOID!
I contacted this man to make a Safari, because contact him I had checked out other options with other companies.
Long story short he offered a Lodge called AA Mara for all my group, all the other companies told me this lodge was not available but he said he had it and that the lodge was already booked for my group, I called the lodge to ask about this “booking” under my name or Seth name or company name and they said they didn’t have any booking from this man.
We gave 500 USD deposit and he said that he wasn’t going to give us our money back when we didn’t confirm to him about this, we were talking about either going to the safari or only make a city tour in Nairobi.
He was very bad replying to us and we said like we wanted to go to the police and he just made fun at me.
I lost 500 USD which I don’t care but hopefully I DIDNT transfer the rest of the money… he was very very very very insistent to make all the transfer,
WATCH OUT! The bank account is in Uganda not Kenia and this leave every one unprotected because once you transfer he stops replying you
*Screenshots removed for privacy reasons.
MX
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
I feel that Seth steal money
Seth offer packages at “very good prices” like we tells you that you are going to travel in a landcruiser and middle range cruises and the reality is that you use vans and you stay in tented camps.
We have talked with other persons about this and they were possibly scammed too
He makes a lot of pressure to pay for a safari when services are not confirmed