50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
FRAUDSTERS - DO NOT BOOK
James was very charming and, even up to a few weeks before we departed he accepted extra money from me for an additional safari day. While we were on the runway in Cairo, on the way to Nairobi, I got an email saying the safari was off. We had to book a new safari, with a day's notice (Amazing Memories - highly recommend them and Tony, our guide) at the cost of another USD7500. James from Alliance Destinations owes us USD7000 and, despite promises to refund the money, we haven't heard a thing and not a penny has been refunded. Disgusting behaviour and we could not be more disappointed with James and this company. Of course, they'll reappear under another name so be cautious when dealing with any James at a safari company in Africa. Make sure it's not the same one.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The description does not match the tour; There is no help whatsoever on site ...
Stay away if you want what you've booked!
We had booked the "private tour", "luxury tour". The tour description was written by a four-wheel drive vehicle or minibus, a land cruiser was confirmed to us. Unfortunately, we ended up in a monstrous 22-passenger bus with the side open. We have tried several times to change this on site, but the way this provider deals with the situation is beyond description. After it was explained to us again and again (and always researcher) that it was not the task of the provider to set the correct information, the owner finally came to the conclusion that the size of the vehicle was not relevant anyway.
We found this really disappointing after 2 days of telephone discussion!
Next time we will book directly through the lodge: it really cares, has contact persons on site and provides accommodation and safaris anyway ...
GR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
This is FRAUD
We three families from Greece paid to this operator more than 14.000 USD and still wait for the refund. Non of the money was used on our safari we had to pay everything again and at a higher rate.
this is a disgrace for all the nice people we met in Kenya, and this lovely place
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Terrible and dangerous experience
We book a day trip to Wasini Island in order to do snorkel and other activities. So the day starts when they pick us up in our hotel and then take us to the place where we should take the boat. There was zero communication, the driver of the car just told us: go there and you will find someone else, without any ticket or anything. We got in a random boat following instructions of someone we had no clue who he was. After a while in the boat they explained us the programme of the day that didn’t match at all with what they had promissed us the day before in the office. Then after a while in the boat the engine fell off the boat to the water what ended up ruining it as it didn’t work again. Minutes after this happened, a horrible storm started so we were in the middle of the sea, under a storm and with no engine. In this situation the staff of the boat didn’t informed us at all about what was going to happen or what they were planning to do to fix the problem. We were all wet and cold by the rain (including children in the boat) people started to get scared by the situation and then they found out they did not have life jackets for all of us. Many passengers of the boat asked the staff to call the police or the rescue services, however they were not listening and even they seemed to not have a clue about what they were doing or they could do to solve it. After an hour and a half under the rain a small boat arrived and managed to take us to the shore. Still with what had just happened the staff of the boat was trying to push us to still go for the lunch as planned (just to avoid people asking for a refund of the money) and then try to go for a swim eventhough it was raining. Of course we did not agree on this and we just went back to The office of this company to ask for a refund of the money as we not only didn’t do any activity but also had been in a dangerous and stresfull situation in this boat with 0 safety measures. For our surprise on arrival to the office and after explaining everything they refused to refund us as they claimed “it is not our protocol). We decided to call the person in charge to talk directly and instead of a helpful answer this man decided to start shouting at me on the phone. After a lot of discussion and a formal complaint we decided to leave our bank account details as they guarantee us that they would refund our money after few days following their protocol. As it was to be expected from this shameless people, it has already been a week and not only we didn’t recieve the money back but also they are not responding to our emails or calla.
JUST NEVER BOOK ANYTHING WITH THIS COMPANY. THEY DON’T CARE AT ALL ABOUT THE CLIENTS, JUST ABOUT THE MONEY. THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT QUALITY OR SAFETY OR ANYTHING. THEY LIE AND SHOUT AT THEIR CLIENTS. AVOID AVOID!!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Horrible
We booked a day trip to Wasini island, to the Kisite Marine Park. They charged us 60$. Since the beginning nothing went as they told us. When we arrive to the harbour, our taxi driver rushed us to get into a boat(if we can call it like that), it doesn't matter which one. Once there they said we will snorkel for 45mins and in the office they told us it could be as much as we want. Then, once that we are in the middle of the sea, our capitain dropped the engine to the sea!! So then that was not longer working. And the storm that we could see started to rain on us very heavily while we were trapped, soaked wet and cold for more than an hour. Communication with staff was very poor and they seemed to struggle to what to do. This was a safety issue, specially when they started to give life jackets randomly to people, and there were not enough to everyone. This is very serious!!! But what is more annoying is that after the staff got a small boat to help us, they wanted us to carry on with the activity as if nothing had happened!!! There were kids and people were scared. I guess they tried to push us so we wouldn't ask for our money back. The worst thing is we managed to go back to thr mainland and to the office to tell what happened and they didn't want to give us the money back. And we have to deal with the boss over the phone, being rude to us. Not acceptable!!!
KR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
never travel with this company
We went to Africa for our honeymoon and I planned this trip for more than 3 months but when we were there everything we have planned was all different. The local agent told me there's no migration at that time of the year(this was the reason why I chose this agency: and they guaranteed this).
The hotel rooms were double (four honeymooners)
the driver of the game drive(safari tour driver) didn't know anything, even directions of the park; it took whole day wondering around the park looking for the resort so wer didn't get to see many animals.
the safari car regularly broke down and we had to stop in the middle of the park or had tji travel far to get the car fixed.
this was disaster.
I complained about this to the agent back in Switzerland but she said it will be taken care of (for 6 months) and she said "STOP email her about it".
There are allot more to tell but I don't even want to spend too much time writing about them.
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
2WD car rented out instead of 4WD and failing camping gear
Unfortunately, we had quite a bad experience with Bushtroop Safaris. We hired a 4WD car with them including camping equipment. At some point, however, we got stuck in the mud in a national park and that’s when we found out the car wasn’t a 4WD, but a 2WD. By then, we had already driven on roads that were 4WD only and realized we had taken some risks there. Also, we had to change our plans as we weren’t able to access all roads anymore.
We contacted Jacqueline, who was always quick to respond and friendly, and she was feeling really bad about this and said that they hired the car from someone else and didn’t know about it. We agreed to get a refund on the car, but we’re now 4 months in and still haven’t received it. We have had contact with Jacqueline several times in the past months ensuring us that the money was on the way, but it never arrived.
Beside the issues with the car, the camping equipment wasn’t in good shape either. The tent poles had been repaired very often and were only barely useable. Also, after the first night we found out that the air mattress was leaking. We tried to have it fixed, but weren’t able to and they apparently don’t sell them outside Nairobi so we couldn’t get a replacement. Finally the gas muzzle didn’t work properly as it took an hour to get a pan of water to get warm. That last thing was an easy and cheap fix, but on the whole we weren’t really able to camp out.
So, unfortunately, it wasn’t at all what we hoped for.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our group was scammed out of $700 USD at the end of our 3 day stay at Masai Mara -AVOID THIS COMPANY
While I would have loved to leave a positive review after my 3 day stay at Masai Mara, I cannot and will not support or endorse a booking with this company after my experience being scammed at the end of the stay. The group of young women (a total of 5 of us) booked our 3 day tour with Masai Mara since Oct 2019, paying nearly $600 USD that included all lodging accommodations, game adventures, meals and travel to and from our hotel. Not included was the gracious tip we provided to our server, driver and individuals who aided with our luggage during the course of our stay. On the first evening of our stay (Wednesday 2/2/2020)we were told by our driver Dennis (not the owner of the company)t that there was an "issue" with processing our tickets that served as entrance to and from the safari. This issue in no way had anything to do with us of course because we had paid all fees months in advance but clearly this company operates at a deficit and did not have enough revenue to pay for entrance fees that should have been taken care of months before. The issue would now require that each of us pay $140 USD (a total of $700) that would be refunded back to us. Given that none of us had $140 USD in cash, we asked if it would be possible to pay by card to which they responded yes. From this moment it was clear that none of us had enough cash to pay for the park entrance fees that should have already been handled so I would assume if this was a priority they would be diligent about making sure they recieved the payment as soon as possible. The following day (Thursday 2/13/2020), which apparently so happened to be the last day we could pay by card, we never heard anything from Dennis or who we now know as the business owner, Noah Kuti, about this matter. Now we get to our final day (Friday 2/14/2020)...after breakfast we did a brief tour through the safari and began making our way to Naroibi since it was a 6 hour drive away. Roughly an hour later at our first stop (for souvenirs - this is included in the cost), Dennis brings up the payment matter to one of us who had remained in the vehicle during the stop. At this time he stresses that it cannot be paid by card anymore and that we would have to take out cash at an atm or else we would not be able to get back to Nairobi. This was absolutely unacceptable, disgusting, unprofessional and rude. To assume that because we were american we had $700 amongst the 5 us easily laying around to make up for the companys mistake still to this day completely irritates my core. To make a long story short, Dennis ends up bringing us to an atm where one of us is successfully able to withdraw the money after a handful of attempts. Dennis then wires the money to Noah who is able to process the entrance fees. During this time Dennis passes Noah the phones who tells us that he will meet us our hotel at 6:30pm that evening to give us back that full amount in addition to the bank fees we accrued (an additional 40 USD). Please note: We are scheduled to leave nairobi on a 7am flight the following morning and we would make it to our hotel a little before 5pm on that Friday. Now that the payment is made, Dennis drives us to our hotel and provides us with both his and Noahs contact information before leaving. 6:30pm arrives and nothing. At 7:10pm we decide to give Noah a call who tells us that he is at the bank and will be there by 8pm. A little after 8pm while we are eating dinner Noah calls and gives us an excuse about not being able to retrieve money from the bank location he was in. He asks for the account number that we withdrew the money from which we quickly denied as we are told by our banks here in the states to never provide that information. We have since tried to follow up with him (Noah) via email to which the two emails he have responded back have been short and to the effect of "we are working on your issue", despite us providing multiple options for him to send the money to us (cashapp, paypal, venmo etc.). It has now been over two weeks and we are still short over $740 as a group for a 3 day safari trip that we paid nearly $3,200 for (including tips). We have now taken this to our banks to report this company as spam and intend to take every single measure to ensure this never happens to anyone again! While we enjoyed seeing the animals this experience was absolutely despicable and a disgrace - my goal is to see that Wildebeest Safaris goes out of business so that company's with integrity can thrive.
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Horrible experience
I have already visited a lot of country all around the world but this safari was probably the most horrible experience of my life : bad quality of service, horrible driver.
One night, the car with our tents and mattress never arrived at the camp: we stayed at the camp in the middle of nowhere with no food and no place to rest. The ranger of the camp (who was trying to do his best) suggested me to sleep in a place with the garbages. I couldn’t believe it!
And, of course, after making a complaint, I never got back a compensation. Horrible!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Terrible, tour cancelled and no money refunded
I booked a safari with Levi from shika through viator. He proceeded to cancel to the tour and asked me to book directly through himself. 2 weeks from the trip he cancelled the safari claiming that the price he had charged us would not be financially viable for his company. Over the last few months he has made many excuses regarding why a refund has not been provided and eventually not replying to any messages/emails.
Do not book with these guys, there are many other tour groups for safari.