20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Tour cancelled half way through; disgraceful communication throughout
We booked two tours with Mushra: 6 days in Uganda (2 people) and 7 days in Tanzania (3 people) in September / October. Big mistake.
There were so many issues and disappointments it’s difficult to wrap up into a review. To try and keep it simple, I’ve tried to focus on the key areas. Tanzania was the ultimate disaster where we were left fearing for our safety as a result of Mushra’s actions.
The individuals within our group have travelled extensively across the globe for 15 years and never encountered anything like the horrible experience we had with Mushra. We do not recommend their services to anyone.
Communication - things were going well throughout the sales process and all our queries were answered very quickly. However as soon as we paid the money (~USD8000) all communication stopped. To the point where we were unsure if the company really existed and if tours would go ahead. None of our final questions were answered and there was no recognition of final logistical information like pick up locations.
Uganda - although we were told we had the top female guide in the country we struggled the entire trip from a continued lack of communication from both Mushra and the guide (Safinah). Multiple activities had been promised to us as part of the itinerary we paid for but were not included in the itinerary Safinah had been given to deliver (Batwe/pygmies cultural tour, three game drives). When we asked for these things to be corrected we were made to feel that we were being demanding and difficult - when actually all we were doing was politely asking to get what we paid for. This caused us anxiety on a daily basis. In addition, Safinah lacked charisma and energy, it felt she was in a rush to get everywhere so she could hang out with the other guides. On one occasion she dropped us off at a random table in the middle of nowhere to have our picnic lunch. After unpacking our food she said she had to get petrol - over two hours later she finally returned, surprised that we were eager to go do something with our day. These things might sound relatively petty as complaints but they are simply scratching the surface of an overall 6 day experience.
Tanzania - the tour started incredibly well. We were having an amazing time. Our guide was fantastic, teaching us lots about the country and wildlife, we received unexpected accommodation upgrades and were having fabulous game drives. We thought Michael must be putting in extra effort to improve things after our poor Ugandan experience. However, this all came crashing down on the fourth night when we received a visit from the local tour manager. Turns out his small company had partnered with Mushra to deliver our safari tour. Yet, despite us having paid Mushra USD5400 for this component of the trip, the partner company had not received any compensation. Everything was being paid for out of their pocket and his funds had come to an end. He could not afford to continue our tour and Mushra were not sending any money through. Putting aside the fact it was a poor business decision on the Tanzanian partners behalf to commence a service that had no deposit paid, the unwillingness of Mushra to pay the money ultimately compromised our trip and the tour was cancelled by Michael half way through. At this time things really heated up. We received a text from Michael saying the tour had been cancelled - he did not apologise at any point or help us get back to Arusha. The Tanzanian tour manager then created a very distressing situation for us, we were taken to a private location and an attempt was made to coerce us into paying him in lieu of the payment he had not received from Mushra. The way this whole scenario played out was exceptionally threatening and we feared for our safety. With the help of a third party we did manage to get out of the situation and return to Arusha on our own account. At this point we are still fighting for a refund from Mushra of the services not received - however none of this will be taken by us, we have committed to giving this to the Tanzanian company in compensation for their loss. Ultimately we will have lost out on both the experience and expense of half of our trip - all because of Michael and Mushra’s actions.
As mentioned above, we recognise this is a long story with many elements that may make us seem difficult customers. All we can do to mitigate for this is suggest you look at our other reviews and contact us for more information - nothing of this sort has ever happened to us before. Unfortunately it really tainted our overall trip.
We also suspect Michael Ahabwe (the owner of Mushra) will dispute our review. However we have proof of everything that took place and are happy to share more information directly with travellers.
We do not recommend Mushra.
FR
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
fantastic organization!thank you Thierry!
Zambia is beautiful! People are amazing!
the camps ware very nice and quiet.
Many animals and always in safety.
AE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Truly Amazing Experience, amazingly professional operator
We booked a 5 night tour with Earthlife Expeditions in August 2018.
We chose to use them based on the exceptional responses that we received from Angel, right from the outset. She was patient with our questions, understanding of our concerns, flexible, responsive, kind and we felt that she really understood why we wanted to come to Tanzania.
Once we arrived, we were in the care of Mr Moison, who was our guide, driver and friend for the duration of the trip. I cannot recommend him highly enough as a guide; his knowledge and passion for all animal life was extremely evident from the outset.
If you are thinking about doing any tours or Safaris in Tanzania, and you want a good value, reliable, local company that is going to make it a trip of a lifetime, I would strongly recommend you to give Earthlife a call!
Thanks to all of the team for making our trip to your amazing country so incredible.
Tim
AE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great customer service we really enjoyed the our trip to maasai mara. Will definitely book again.
The communication and service was superb, the team exceeded our expectations. Excellent service.
DE
Experience level: 2-5 safaris
It was a good experience
After searching the web for our tour in Uganda, My husband and I found eurougandasafaris.com. We found the whole experience of booking with EURO UGANDA SAFARIS was extremely responsive, polite and explained everything very well.
We were a little anxious about paying money upfront but I am glad we took the risk!! We have found Euro Uganda Safaris to be extremely dependable and trustworthy. We have never booked the previous trips using the web, as we all know there are some scams out there and will take your money but not deliver the bookings. We found the whole experience of booking with EURO UGANDA SAFARIS extremely responsive, polite and they explained everything very well. I have to say choosing Euro Uganda Safaris was the best decision ever.
The communication before the trip was extremely reliable and quick; to any email, I wrote I would get an answer within half an hour.
Glad to have John as a driver and guide. We loved him from the very instant he picked us from the airport. He was very knowledgeable, full of excitement and information. He went above and beyond his call of duty to ensure we had the best experience possible in Uganda. John took us to Murchison Falls NP were he was very activie working with other guides on phones as a result we got to hang out with 12 lions and lion cubs for an hour plus, watching them as they ate and played. This was only one of many sightings during the day Itinerary since lions are not easy to find. Musa and John were very friendly and excellent guides throughout Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and quen Elizabeth Nationa Park respectively.
Thank you Euro Uganda Safaris for our great trip in Uganda and we will be telling our friends about your website and your honesty and help.
Everything they promised us was delivered.
Rossette and Victor
Germany
CH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very reliable
We had to pay for the tour in advance, which made us a little hesitant, but I decided to try it anyways and we were not dissapointed.
Amos always swiftly responded to mails and our guide and driver Thomas made our trip to mikumi and ruaha national parcs a very pleasant experience.
MX
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
All in all we experienced a professionally guided walking safari with a very knowledgeable guide!
We had a very compact 5 day´ s tour with Andy, our tour guide, and our expectations were completely fullfilled and over fullfilled. The crew was excellent, the food cooked on the floor grill very good, the tents well taken care of and always clean, so we enjoyed a fantastic walking safari and enjoyed this very, very much! Thanks to Andy and his team, it was simply awesome!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
BEWARE!! Poor safety practices, will con you out of money throughout tour.
Nothing can beat the wildlife of Kenya, however we had the WORST tour guide, John and would not recommend BigMac safaris or John as a guide. He rarely spoke to us and quite honestly barely acknowledged us. He put us in danger by driving insane speeds on the roads and with broken seat belts. He was on his phone ALL of the time, if not talking then texting and looked like we were bothering him anytime we asked a question. He was frequently late for us sometimes at the expense of us missing meals. Go with another company, ANY OTHER company has to be better. He only spoke to us at the end when he wanted to explain to us what a good guide he was and if we didn't believe him we should "check trip advisor".
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Best experience of my life!
I've done a few safaris but none compare to Ngorongoro Crater. The scenery was magnificent as the sun poured down the crater's rim. The wide open spaces meant it was easy to see herds of zebra, wildebeest and impala, with warthogs snuffling in between. I saw loads of hyenas trotting along and also baby foxes. A pride of lionesses walked single file high up on the rim that that of similar colour and I got great photos of this. I also got to see an illusive serval! Not only was I lucky enough to see rhino, but witness them making a baby - this is so unusual that other guides did not believe mine that we had seen this!
My guide Bori had 17 year's experience and was amazing and spotting animals in the distance - whilst we were looking at hyenas, it was he who noticed in the far distance the rhino and got us there before it was too late! This guy can drive past hundreds of trees and take you right away to the one with the leopard in, it's like a sixth sense.
Our jeep was great, had sockets so we could charge camera batteries and phones. The roof lifted so that we could stand and get a perfect view, but still be shielded from the sun. We camped at the edge of the crater and were visited by an elephant after the water tank. The rangers kept it away from the tents and the tourists photographed this. The food was locally sourced, fresh and tasty - lots of bananas!
My only wish was to be there longer!
ID
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Kruger National Park by Rudi Suardi
Nice place and wonderfull experience