TR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Disaster !
We went to Amboseli and Masai Mara between 11-18 Septembre with Visit Mount Kenya Tours.
This was a terrible experience especially in Masai Mara as
- The company's minivan broke down on the first day as it was a very old and neglected car. They took us to Safari with a normal car where naturally it was impossible to enjoy savannah . The next day we refused to be in that car and we discussed with the driver and hardly found a land cruiser
- The driver (he told his name is Justus) never came to hotel to pick us up at agreed hours for the morning and afternoon safaris , he was always late 1-2 hours. The hotel management told us later that he was drunk on the first day he took us to the hotel
- Although we bought the tour by agreeing that we will stay in Sopa Lodges, the driver in Masai Mara tried to place us in a different hotel saying that Sopa Lodges is full , we discussed with him, He talked on the phone with company owner/manager Rufus then they accepted to take us to Sopa Lodge which was already what we agreed upon. If we did not object hardly, we would miss the opportunity of staying in a really very good hotel ( Sopa Lodge). The driver told us he would place us in a sister hotel !!?? of Sopa Lodge
- The last day in Masai Mara, the driver did not show up at all, we stayed in the hotel, we missed 2 safaris
- The last day when we were leaving the hotel, the hotel did not let us leave because Rufus (owner/manager of visit mount kenya) did not pay to hotel the money we had paid him a couple of weeks before our visit. so we argued with hotel management and they accepted that it was a problem between them and visit mount Kenya , and we left with another car hotel management found for us. We did not return to Nairobi with that driver of visit mount Kenya.
I wont write everything we experienced but my recommendation is that never use this agency!! We will make our officials complaints too.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Do not use this company!
Our expectations were significantly higher due to the higher price and reviews. WE had a lot of problems:
1. Our pickup from our apartment was late and nobody contacted us. Instead, our emergency contacts were used, causing extreme distress when our family couldn't contact us in the park.
2. We were very disappointed that the tour was described as an open safari and we had a closed van that limited our views and ability to take photos.
3. To add to this, our van broke down in the beginning of the tour and we had to wait for 1.5 hours to have it fixed. The cars for the safari should be in good working order.
4. We paid for 2 cabins and were surprised to learn when we were checking in that we had only one. Because of this, our guide was kind enough and gave us his room, meaning he had to leave us by ourselves in the campsite. When we returned from the night safari our guide had left and we didnt have keys to our rooms or knew which rooms were ours. The keys were supposed to be left at reception but when we arrived it was closed and nobody knew what rooms were ours or who had our keys. After about 30 minutes of uncertainty, the guard was able to provide us keys to our rooms. We were exhausted and really did not want to have to go through this.
5. The next day we had a 5:20am pickup time that couldnt happen because our guide had not slept in the campsite and could not get into the park, of course no one told this to us, we were awake since 4:30am. We had woken up at 4:30am and were not picked up until 7:00am. Our emergency contacts were once again called in the middle of the night (6hrs time difference) causing a big worry to our parents again, as they thought something wrong had happened. We believe that we also missed the opportunity to see the sunrise and the animals waking up. We were the only ones left in the campsite by the time our guide arrived.
We we filed a claim and asked for a partial refund due to all our troubles, the company answered stating that they believed they had provided amazing service.
We do not recommend this company at all.
GR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
The worst safari company.
Do not travel with unison. The owner was blackmailing us in the middle of the trip. He was asking for more money althought we payed everything in advance. At the end he abandoned us in the middle of serengeti park. The driver of the car was rude. We were scared about our lifes. The newspaper Guardian had our story in the front page on 27 august 2016. The owner ended up in jail for a few days. The owner offers good prices and then he asks for more money. It better to travel with ANY other company.
KR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not recommendable
It occurs to me quite clear that this travel agency has very little inflence to the guide, who normally works as a freelancer. Don't fully believe agency's word, once payment is being made and hit the road, only person you could argue or meet is a guide whose working relationship with agency is quite limited.
We've got confirmations of many things from this agency before we made a reservation, only few were true. Every day, guide were showed-up late, travelers were being instructed to take different vans every day or every trip, usually up to 7~9 people on one van which made people quite cramped.
Drinking water were provided, as promised, but at first day for 3~4 days, therefore every trip and acommodation we heaved heavy weight luggages along with given bottle of waters.
At Masaimara, accommodation were overbooked and moved to another camp which provide no water and no electricity inside the tented camp. Notwithstanding, no one felt sorry about it although some of the traveller contended heavily.
Guide was less likely acting as a guide but more like a boss or merely driver. Almost zero explanation was given regarding the schedule.
Unnecessary detour or idle time happened due to the fact that groups all had different itenery.
Kenya itself was amazingly nice place but my trip was degraded by all abovementioned facts.
It might be impoved if you select private tour.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Never again ! Very disappointing service !
We booked a 7 day safari trip with shika tours. The correspondance prior to our arrival via e mail was very good - always received a quick answer. Upon arrival at the airport, we were picked up by the manager and were brought to a hotel - which differed from our initial iternary (no provided dinner, no pool, no info about the change). First day and night were fine, but things started to get complicated next morning, when the manager told us that we have to change the safari car due to a security issue. First we waited about 1 hour at the lodge. To kill some time, they to us to a tourist shop where we waited another 6 hours without getting any information. When the "new" car arrived we only had time to do a small game drive at a different park. Once again our iternary changed all over. We talked to the manager about the mishappening and he offered us a refund of 200$ for lost half day. It turned out that the "new" car had an engine/ignition problem which bothered us the next 5 days (the didnt start several times or broke down during game drive). On our last day, problems with the car got worse and we had a complete breakdown on the way to the airport.
During all the time the manager told us he understands our situation and worships our money. At the airport we finally met the manager again and guess what, he didnt arrive with the promised refund. Again, he asked us to trust him as he will bring the money to our next hotel on sansibar (never happened!!). After contacting ygain, he told us he will transfer the refund money to our german bank account (never happened!!).
By now, we are back for 10 weeks and he doesnt even answer our e mails anymore.
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Strongly recommend not to book here...
I had a bad experience with this travel company, therefore I would not recommend anyone to book here:
Some good points:
- Pick-up at the airport was well arranged.
- Plenty of game in Masai Mara (but you can see that with any company).
- Good communication before the travel.
However:
- I was booked for a Masai Mara + Lake Nakuru safari. Only upon arrival I was informed I would not go to Lake Nakuru.
- I was put in a different camp than promised on the website. On booking.com it turned out it had a much lower rating than the original proposal. Most people had small to medium stomach problems in the camp.
- On the last day, the driver 'forgot' to pick me up so I missed a morning game drive.
- The trip from Masai Mara back to Nairobi was in a very unsafe van (we broke down once as well) and the driver was driving like crazy and mainly paying attention to his phone. He didn't want to slow down while everyone was asking for it. At one point we slipped off the road and the car finally stopped about half a meter in front of a tree.
I informed the company on this after my trip. For the first weeks I did not get any response. As I kept reminding them they finally gave response saying everything that happened was out of their control. I asked for a refund however they were not willing to compensate.
IN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Worst service ever and you will know why through the ordeal mentioned below
This is a mail sent to the tour operator and Tanzania Tourism, Tato and safaribookings.com about this agent.
Dear Mr. Emmanuel,
This complaint letter is to bring to your notice and others that, your service during the 5-Days safari package we had undertaken through your company Tanzania Destination Safaris was pathetic and the worst we have encountered ever in our 20 years of travel life across the world.
Below I am presenting the account of horror we faced through your utter lack of service, causal and unprofessional approach.
• Through Safaribookings.com, we shortlisted your company Tanzania Destination Safaris, as our agent for safaris between 21 to 25 August 2016.
• We opted for your ready package for 5 Days/4 Nights, which included 1 night in Ngorongoro Crater, 2 nights in Serengeti and 1 night in Lake Manyara.
• Another 4 people joined in for the day package to Ngorongoro Crater.
• We even paid you USD 30/head extra for the newly introduced VAT, which you claimed was not included in the rate of USD 1305/head as advertised on the website and requested us to pay.
• The day before the safari, you visited our hotel in Arusha, collected the full amount for all 7 people in advance and introduced us to our guide/driver Khalid, who came to pick us up promptly the next day.
And now our nightmare begins.
• On the very first day, the safari vehicle engine heated up, and carburetor started leaking in Ngorongoro, right at the edge of Hippo Pond inside the crater. The driver/guide managed to get it rectified. This was promptly brought to your notice.
• Second day, there was a flat tyre on our way to Serengeti. Out of the two spare tyres at the back, one was already deflated, which is being careless and assuming it is against the law of the land. That’s not all, the jack was bolted badly inside the car and couldn’t be removed, and even the functional spare tyre couldn’t be removed, the tool kit was barely there. A passing vehicle helped us remove the jack. The tyre was removed with great difficulty with the help of few other people from another truck. We even borrowed a spare tyre from a third vehicle, just in case. We wasted almost two hours.
We complained about both these issues to you and you promised to send two spare tyres to Serengeti. The driver/guide says he never received any spare tyres, while you claimed you have sent them. Apparently they were not sent.
• On third day, we spent more time on getting the tyres checked at the workshops inside Serengeti during the safari.
And on these three days after the safari the driver/guide spent the evenings getting the repairs done, skipping his dinner with us. This we sorely missed, since we were waiting to hear his stories of other safaris.
• On the fourth day, we were stuck at Serengeti, unable to move to Lake Manyara, because the vehicle had three flat tyres now and no spare tyres. To top it all, the battery had completely died. A service vehicle was called to repair the battery. After a wait of four hours from 7:30 am to 11;30 am, we finally moved towards Ngorongoro/Lake Manyara.
• At the registration area of Serengeti, the engine was kept alive, while the driver/guide went to finish the paper work. But after half an hour of engine idling, it just stopped. Apparently the battery was dead. Push-starting with the help of others didn’t work. We wasted three more hours there, till another vehicle was organised to drop us to Ngorongoro Crater main office. By the time we reached our lodge at Karatu, it was 5:30 pm. A total of 10 hours through this painfully long troubled day and we could not visit Lake Manyara that evening.
We thought our ordeal was over and next day we can at least cover Lake Manyara for couple of hours before getting to Kilimanjaro Airport for our 3 pm flight.
• But the last day, at the gate of Lake Manyara registration counter, we discovered that the Lake Manyara entry card was not given to the new driver/guide, who came to fetch us at Ngorongoro gate. We called the old driver/guide, Khalid who was still at Serengeti. He mentioned that he had very clearly informed you to issue new card for Lake Manyara the previous day so that we are not inconvenienced. But you ignored this completely. At the gate, you suggested we pay and you will reimburse us at Arusha.
• We were certainly unwilling because by then we stopped trusting you completely. You have lied and deceived us throughout our safari and were least helpful in times of crisis. You avoided our calls at Serengeti when we were trying to reach you.
• We could not visit Lake Manyara for safari, thanks to your deficient service. And as compensation, you gave us USD 100/head. This did not even cover the Lake safari rest alone the trouble we went through because of a defective vehicle and your total lack of professional and ethical approach. In the end, you even refused to meet us at Arusha, instead sending your office staff with USD 300 to pay us.
You and your company will definitely NOT be recommended for anything to do with Tanzania tourism. You spoil the name and efforts of your wonderful country, its tourism department, the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO) and websites like safaribookings.com.
I request the respective authorities to take action against Emmanuel and his company Tanzania Destination Safaris.
IN
20-35 years of age
Be wary of them, we felt cheated.
My husband and I booked with Simon Malimbo of Wild Race Africa Tours after finding him on Safari Bookings website. We were told that tour operators are generally trustworthy. So we booked with him for a 5 day tour to Nakuru (1 night) and Masai Mara (3 nights) which was an all inclusive trip - all meals, transportation, pop-up van and 6 safaris all paid. The safaris we were promised were - evening safari in Nakuru, next morning safari in Nakuru, evening safari in MM, two full day safaris in MM and then a morning safari in MM before we leave. We paid him 30% advance and the rest amount immediately upon arrival. Simon handed us to Obama who was to be our tour guide. Obama was accompanied by a girl who, we were told, was an 'intern' and wanted to be a tour guide, so we happily welcomed her.
Our first shock came immediately after we set off for Nakuru. Obama told us that there would be no evening safari, and if we would do an evening safari, there would be no safari the next morning. I spoke to Simon to ask him why, he had a response that - the entry ticket at Nakuru was not valid for 24 hours like Masai Mara and hence we had to choose. He apologised and and said it was a mistake on his part that he had included both safaris in our confirmation email and swept it off under the carpet. Though we were upset, we let it go thinking it was a genuine mistake.
Obama was extremely informative and intelligent and gave great insights into the animal life. The girl intern wasn't the least interested in anything remotely related to wildlife but we thought she may be shy and so simply ignored her.
We then set off for Masai Mara. We had made it clear that we wanted all the safaris we paid for - 4 to be precise. Obama promised us that we would have an evening safari that day. We reached at 4.30pm and as promised, he got out and bought three tickets at the gate (the girl intern was tired and got off to go to the hotel) and we set off for the Safari. Obama told us that the park is open till 6.30 and we will have to leave it by then. So we exited the park at 6.30.
Next morning we four (intern included) left for a full day safari. Obama waved the tickets from the day before (they didn't stop us to check) and they let us in. Obama told us we would leave the park at 5 as we would be tired. My husband smelt a rat because Simon had told us that Masai Mara tickets are valid for 24 hours. But he didn't say anything. The sightings on this day were amazing and the place was teeming with wildlife. There were also a huge number of cars everytime we spotted an animal. When we stopped for lunch, the girl intern lay on the carpet with her pant button and zip open. My husband and I found this behaviour weird but we didn't say anything. We left the park at 5 instead of 6.30 at the stauch insistence of Obama.
In the evening at our lodge,when Obama was not there, we questioned the girl intern about herr study course for becoming a tour guide, she told us that she was a hairdresser and had done courses in hairdressing. We again found this strange but didn't say anything.
Next morning Obama deliberately delayed our departure for another full day of safari. We eventually left around 8.30am. Today too the intern was tired and didn't accompany us. This time he told us that he was taking us in through a 'side gate' and this was 'rhino country' and the chances of spotting a Rhino are high here. We did not pass through any gate but after an hour he showed us a gate behind us and said that now we are inside the park. He did not show or purchase the tickets anywhere that day. All day we roamed about but this day the sightings were few and far in between and we didn't encounter any cars except very few. Obama said it was a dry day. He let us stay till 6.30. While we were leaving from the park, our car got stuck in sand but Obama refused to radio for help. While he was trying to get the car out, my husband checked the park entry tickets which Obama had kept in the front of the car. My husband found tickets of only the first day but none for the rest of the days.
When we reached the lodge, my husband decided to confront Obama about his intentions. Obama denied everything and became very emotional and called up Simon and spoke in Swahili (we don't know what). He kept telling us that he will show us the tickets of all the days but deliberately avoided to show us. Obama claimed that he had bought the tickets of all the 3 nights together and hence we didn't stop of tickets on the previous two days. He said this was normal practice. He then avoided it by saying that Simon will give all the tickets to us. We never got them. He pretended to be so upset that he said he was leaving us and arranging another car for us. This unprofessional attitude angered us and we told him off for wanting to leave the two of us alone in a jungle with no connectivity and wanting to run away. My husband was worried about me and then apologised and coaxed him to stay back. Maybe that prompted him not to abandon us in the middle of nowhere.
Next morning on our last safari Obama went through the gate. Before entering, he made a phone call in Swahili. While entering a female guard came out and checked our tickets and let us in. On our way out, before exiting, he again made a call and spoke in Swahili. At the gate, the same female guard came out and let us out. Then Obama told us that he had to collect the 'exit receipt'. And then he got out of the car and I saw him slip some money to the same female guard at the gate.
We are sure that Simon and Obama saved the money from the entry tickets - they paid only for one 24 hour safari.
All in all the wildlife was exciting and Obama was very knowledgeable. But Simon and Obama spoiled our trip by these underhand and shady dealings at Masai Mara and also denying us a safari at Nakuru. And we are pretty sure that the girl, whoever she was, was definitely not an intern for becoming a tour operator.
Please don't book with Wild Race Africa or Simon. Obama is genuinely knowledgeable but he was definitely involved in this business. We had great safari game drives and an amazing time in Kenya, the trip was so memorable and we saw the Big Five. But we felt genuinely cheated. So please don't book with them!
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Scammed! Disappeared 5 days before departure
In January 2016 I wrote to several companies asking for quotes and given the good reviews here (which I am genuinely confused by!) as well as the reasonably professional looking website, and the proposed safari, we decided to book a 5 day 4 night safari with "Introducing Africa". The Safari for our group of 4 should have started on August 15th but Mataro disappeared about a week before departure and we have not heard anything since and lost our deposit of $2520.
While planning we sent a large number of emails back and forth to confirm details of exactly what we wanted to do and arranged to transfer a deposit of 60% of the fee with the rest to be paid in cash on meeting Mataro in Mwanza where we would start our tour. In these emails Mataro answered all our questions in a professional and detailed manner. A few weeks before our supposed departure, Mataro sent an email to inform us about the rise in VAT on safaris, which we would have to pay on arrival. I still don't understand why this email was sent, as it should have been clear that we would not be able to transfer it before arriving so nothing could be gained from it. I then tried calling by phone (I was already in Tanzania for work) to confirm exactly what additional amount needed to be paid and to arrange a pick up time from our hotel. The first few times nobody answered the phone then a day later it didn't even ring. I assumed Mataro must be on safari and so unreachable. Then as I was becoming more panicked at the fact that I could not reach Mataro, the website disappeared (which as of 1.9.2016) is still not back online. It seems that the company has run tours before as I have managed to contact reviewers on other sites but I worry that Mataro does not worry about taking people's money and running. It also appears that this is not the first time that this has happened. Upon searching specifically for fraud and the name of this company, I came across another person who experienced the same thing in 2009.
We managed to book a camping safari through somebody I had met while in Mwanza and had a fantastic time but lost quite a lot of money due to this scam of a company. STAY AWAY!!!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Stranded in Africa!
Customer service pre departure - atrocious. Information given re connections in Africa - atrocious. They failed to pay the camp operator in Selous so our booking was cancelled, despite the fact that we had paid in full weeks before departure, but they still allowed us to arrive at the airstrip with nowhere to stay. The security guard at the airstrip had to call the camp to get them to collect us or we would have been stranded there, and in some danger as a result. The manager of the camp saved the day by allowing us to stay but still had a lot of trouble getting the payment from Pure Safari, who just ducked and dived the whole time. Their attitude was arrogant and complacent throughout (one agent in particular has an unbelievable attitude to his customers). We have had no apology from them, despite sending in a written complaint, in fact they haven't even acknowledged it after three weeks. They don't seem to have had a good review for over a year, and the fact that they failed to pay the camp indicates that they are probably in trouble financially, so avoid at all costs, and pay them nothing upfront unless you want to be abandoned in Africa and told a constant stream of lies.