CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Alliance Destinations is a fraud.
James Mungai is an extortionist. Taking money for tours he has no intention to deliver. Stay completely away from this company.
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Owner is awful
Sekanawo Gondwe did not spend one penny of the money we sent him on our safari. First, he tried to get us to send him the full amount for the safari 6 months in advance of the safari. Then he tried to add people to our private safari. Finally, we sent him the other half of the money 1 month before the safari. He never made reservations on our behalf. He never sent any of the accommodations our money. We even gave him extra money to book our PCR tests and he failed to make those reservations. He continued to lie to us and say he would make the reservations and they never materialized. He lied to us all the way up to the moment the Diplomatic and Tourism Police arrested him Arusha and charged him with obtaining money by false pretences. Every word that comes out of his mouth is a bold-faced lie. Steer clear of this unscrupulous operator.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Poor service and morals
Unfortunately we did not make it to our tour due to Covid. My review is in relation to the companies poor terms and conditions and handling related to the company being unable to provide its services due to Covid and the associated international travel bans. My partner and I booked Holiday with Rhino Africa early 2020 before Covid was even a known or recognised issue. Our holiday was for September 2020 which obviously could not go ahead. Rhino Africa have refused to refund us our $10,000+ deposit and only offer to give alternate dates. Given this option we went for September 2021 which we are still unable to travel therefore this company is holding a large some of our money.
The contradiction is that the CEO David Ryan has spoken about SAA not providing refunds to Rhino Africa stating "The right thing for government and SAA to have done, both at the time and now, was to refund all tickets they had received payment for, especially where they knew they were unable to deliver the service, then or in the future, Rhino Africa CEO David Ryan said, as quoted by Tourism Update". Yet Rhino Africa are not providing refunds for services which they know they cannot provide now, or in the foreseeable future.
They then asked to pay the remainder of our outstanding balance which is over an additional $10,000+ even though they know they still cannot provide the service due to the international travel ban and current strict Covid regulations in SA... being another $10,000+ which they do not refund.. what a joke.. There are other operators in SA that have provided full refunds for people that booked at the same time we did that do not brand themselves as 'luxury' providers.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unprofessional
Purchased our excursion through Viator and Gracepatt Ecotours was the operator of the tour. We signed up for a tour listed as 1 hour at the Giraffe Center and 3 hours at the Elephant Orphanage in Nairobi. What we got was 1 hour at each and then taken to a Bead Factory (Tourist trap) and on a zig zag tour of the city. During our shortened time at the Elephant Orphanage, we were delayed by an argument our driver had with the caretakers of the Orphanage. He apparently was trying to sneak another van full of people in under our reservation. We got this from the caretakers. As a result we missed the feeding of the baby elephants. After initially complaining about this to Viator, we noticed the description on the website had changed to 1 Hour Giraffes, 1 Hour Elephants, and 1 Hour Bead Factory. Funny thing is this is a 6 hour tour and not sure where 3 hours of transport would come from? As it was in the original description there was two hours of transport allocated. Overall a Bait and Switch and some unethical behavior from the driver. Clearly they know something was wrong because they changed the description. Good thing we had taken screen shots of the original tour we booked! Viator was no real help in resolving and by the way, they are a Trip Advisor company and you may want to look at their Yelp reviews, NOT GOOD!
DK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
No royal over this, only scam!
Me and my boyfriend went to Tanzania to go to a safari. We had used so many hours finding the best deal.
We wrote a lot with the man John, and we agreed with the price 1125usd pr pax.
We paid for a flight to Arusha, and accommodation before the safari.
12 hours (at 8pm) before the safari started, John came to the place we stayed, saying he wanted 2000usd pr pax more!! He said he didn’t knew that the price of the national parks had changed because of high season.
We discussed a lot, and the only alternatives he could give us, where worse accommodations and we still had to pay 45usd more!!
When we didn’t agreed with this, because we had a deal on 1125usd, the only option he said was to canceled the trip.
1 day before the trip got cancelled he told us we had to pay for the safari, so we made a bank transaction to him.
When we wanted our money back because he cancelled the trip, we could not have all the money back, because he didn’t want to pay the transaction fee (that we had payed, so he could get the money quick). So the only option was that we had to pay for the fee to get some of our money back!
Afterwards we found out that the price change caused by high season, was something everybody in Tanzania knew about and had known for several month, so it was a total scam that he said didn’t knew, he only wanted more money!
Worst experience ever! Don’t book safari with the company!
DK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Worst safari experience thinkable
Me and my girlfriend went to Arusha, where we had planned a 4 day safari to 1125 USD per person - we got picked up at the airport, everything was very nice.
We had agreed on a private tour with some good accommodation, and we thought it was a good deal. at 8 PM the day just before safari, John, the guy we had discussed the price with, wrote a message to me on WhatsApp saying that we should talk.
He got to our hotel and said that we wouldn't be able to do the safari with the accommodation that we had agreed on, if we wanted to do the safari we would have to pay 200 USD more..
Of course we didn't wanna do that since we agreed to a certain price.
John tried to make some alternatives, where the accommodation would be a bit worse, and we still had to pay 45 USD more, even tho the places were significally worse.
We took all the way to Arusha/Kilimanjaro just for the safari, that we already paid 2250 USD for.
We didn't come to any agreement and therefore we both decided it would be best to just cancel the safari. John didn't want to transfer the money back to us, as the fees for international travel would cost him money, and withdrawing the money would be 1.44% that WE had to pay, even tho it was him screwing the safari.
We therefore only got 2217 USD back, and not the full 2250 USD.
We really felt like being scammed, and would therefore not recommend this company to anyone.
Best part of the whole experience was getting the 2217 USD back.
In total we spent 111 USD getting to Arusha and paying the fee for international money transfer, just for the safari to be cancelled.
And still John didn't want to pay the 1.44% that the cash withdrawel would cost.
I recommend to find another operator.
IL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
*WARNING* Very nice people. Faulty cancelation policy
Please read until the end.
My wife and I planned a long Safari with Opulent Tours and Travel. The staff was very helpful and patient as we made out plans. We had made 2 substantial down payments towards our trip when Corona Virus hit and our country issued a ban on citizens from entering South Africa. Following the travel prohibition, we immediately informed Opulent Tours and Travel and filled out their official cancelation and refund documents. I would like to point out that the cancelation was well within the criteria and time frame for a full refund.
The company replied that returning the money will take some time and I need to be patient. It is only at this point and after re-reading the terms and conditions, that I noticed that while my payment timetable is very clear, there is no defenition of the time frame in which Opulent Tours and Travel is committed to returning the money on cancelation.
Two months have gone by since my original cancelation, and as of yet, we have not received any refunds. While I appreciate the challenges of the times, it seems disproportionate to have us pay almost half a year in advance but then not have any commitment on the timeframe for the refund policy.
(I will make an effort to update this review if there are any developments. )
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Liers
Made us pay for things that they never provided. Terrible service. Just do not use them.
AE
20-35 years of age
Worst management
People like to lie Including Mr. Herbert Mr. William all in management level I don’t know how they lie on daily basis they have to repay my money while family of Herbert like to lie and play with people life If possible someone help me to get back my money it’s a request for the people who are reading this I a family to take care
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
This company is a Cheat and tries to scam people of their money.
It does not deliver on the packages it advertises.