US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beware, avoid this company
We booked a safari through another company in Kenya for a safari in Kenya and Tanzania. This company outsourced Tanzania to sandland tours. Sandland tours did not keep the itinerary agreed upon, they changed our lodges and tented camps to cheaper ones. The owner is Abraham and his side kick is Simon. They are both liars and cheats and will do anything forore money. DO not book with this company and make sure you ask your safari company if they are outsourcing any part of your safari!!!
NO
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Worst safari agent ever!
This is the most unprofessional and worst agent we've dealt with ever!
We booked our safari through a company in Kenya but for the Tanzanian part we were outsourced to Sandland Tour, Arusha.
We and also an other girl in our group (who had booked with different agent in Kenya) had to all the time argue and pin point what was included in our intiniary. If we haven't had the out print to show them they would have over ruled us on everything and cut things off. Ex: in our intinary we were supposed to drive to Serengeti via Olduvai Gorge. We drove right passed it. We were even supposed to have our lunch there, whitch did not happen.
First day 2 individually travelling guys joined us, both of them with different intinary. Second day they were sent to a different group. They were supposed to leave 30 min before us but they were there still waiting when we left.
First night at camp my husband and I got a tent together as we were a couple but the girl and the two guys , who all traveleld indvidually and didn't know each other, were placed in the same tent. The girl of course argued and after hard discussion the girl got a tent for her self. But the guys still had to share.
As they also changed the order of the itiniary we were short cut on things.
Also they took us to Tarangire park, whitch we did not have in our itiniary. This led to that we had far less time in Serengeti than what our plan said and we payed for.
They also skipped breakfast one day. When they wanted to do so second day we told the guide and the chef that we won't have it. So they ahd to give us breakfast anyway. But of course resulting in less time game driving as they didn't start the day earlier like we requested to not to miss out on time of game drives. We saw other groups start earlier with breakfasts so they could get sunrise in the parks.
Our guide, George, was not competent and showed very little interest in making a good safari for us. He knew less about animals/trees/plants/birds than we did. Many questions he didn't even answer. We did not enjoy the atmosphere on the safari and didn't feel comfortable at all. In the end we were just happy to be finished with the safari in Tanzania and hoped we would arrive safetly back to Kenya as we felt we could not trust them at all.
When the safari was over and we were supposed to get transport back to Arusha as the other girl had one more day with safari. George, the guide just left both us and the girl with no words. Him and 2 others drove off, and we never saw them again. The girl was supposed to have an afternoon game drive but at 5pm she was still at the camp.
We sat there with a stranger who spoke barely english as our driver and with no information and we were waiting for almost 2 hours before we left for Arusha. 2 hours we could have spent more on game drive or been in Arusha for sight seeing.
The day we were supposed to get bak to Nairobi we were supposed to have breakfast at 7am as our transport was to leave at 7.30 from the hotel. We were in the restaurant at 6.55am, they didn't give us the food before 7.25 even the chef and 2 waitress's were there fromt he moment we came. We tried to tell them several times that we have to leave at 7.30 but to no help.
The day we arrived in Arusha from Nairobi the boss, Abraham wouldn't give us dinner as they said it was not included. After showing them the intiniary and discussing and making us wait 3 hours they said we could have dinner.
It was very unprofessional and very unfriendly customer service. If we knew what we knew to day we would have skipped Tanzania all together as it actually led to no pleasant part of our holiday than what it did good. Unfortunately waste of money. Make sure when you book safari that it's the same agent handling your safari all the journey.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfectly organized!
The best way to have a cheap and great safari.
The company has many requests for shared safaris, they match travellers so they can provide a cheap safari for any period you need. Everything very well organised!
When in the national parks our guide was very helpful and was constantly connected to the radio, to drive us promptly to any interesting animal that was spotted.
I recommend this company!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good Value But With A Few Problems
We just returned from a 5D/4N safari at Tremisana Lodge. The pre-trip communication was very good. It was easy to make the reservation 6 months ago and reconfirm it just before we left. We were on another safari in South Africa before meeting up with Viva Safaris and so had asked them to arrange a hotel for us, near JNB airpirt, on the night before starting this part of our trip. Even though we provided the with our domestic flight number, they were confused and went to the international terminal instead. The accommodations at Tremisana look as pictured. The Lodge is nore rustic than you might guess. All meals were served outside and there was only one meal time. The food was okay at best but we did not go there for the food anyway. The AC in our room shorted out and we were placed in a similar room. We felt it was odd that no other people on safari stayed at Tremisana more than one night but us. They all went on to other places, mostly Marcs Treehouse. This gave the Lodge the feeling of a halfway point instead of a social place to discuss what we had seen on safari that day. The game drives were always great. We did see the Big 5. We got close up to the animals and the experience was wonderful. All game drive leaders were not the same, however. One in particular (Alias - Smiley) was very good in explaining animal behavior. The game drives always occurred on schedule and lasted 2-4 hours. Transportation that was provided to/from the lodge from JNB airport was not at all what we expected. The drive from JNB to Tremisana Lodge is very long and takes about 5 hours! The minibus used to transport us from JNB to the Lodge broke down 45 min into the trip. The water pump gave out and we had to wait at a rest stop for 3 hours before a replacement minivan came to pick us up. Then, as came time for different guests to be dropped off at different lodges, a tactic of having other mini vans stationed along the route, where you and your luggage were transferred was used. This meant that we had to change mini busses several times, each time transferring our luggage as well. This was not expected, never communicated, resulted in one persons luggage being misplaced and left most people feeling the need to keep tipping drivers. On our trip back from Tremisana to JNB we were the last ones to be picked up and found ourselves crammed ito the last row of a small minibus that held 14 passengers. Again, we had to transfer to another mini bus three times before we got back to JNB airport.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Avoid avoid avoid
This tour was equally upsetting and angering. Unfortunately I booked with another agent, and was pooled with other bookings, all from different agents. We should have been suspicious that ours was the only vehicle without any branding...it took 4 days to establish which tour company was actually running our trip.
From the outset, it was a shambles. We wasted the entire first morning waiting for various other bookings, essentially until the vehicle was full. I then also had my paid for itinerary changed immediately. To cap it off, the driver / guide was extremely rude, and offered no insight into either the schedule or the wildlife.
During my 5 day trip, the irritation continued. Our vehicle was clearly the slowest on the road, costing us hours of game driving every day. In addition, every time we reached camp, we were the last to leave, and last to eat. And even more, the game driving was not at all in line with the promised schedule. We spent a mere 3 hours in Ngorongoro crater...
Overall the entire trip was awful. It was hard to enjoy the wildlife beauty, as we were all so constantly harassed by the awful experience.
Please do not use this company, and help others to avoid such disappointment too.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A Trip of a Lifetime
With Jane Goodall as my super hero, I greatly desired to go visit Gombe National Park while in Tanzania on study during the summer of 2017. Finding Nahum Joshua’s company, Gombe Track Safaris & Tours online allowed me to do so. I got in contact with him easily and was lined up for my dream trip on the dates I desired, which came very soon after my reservations were made. My payment to Gombe Track Safaris & Tours covered everything including ground transportation, plane tickets to and from Kigoma, boat service, park fees, meals made by a personal chef, housing, and wonderful tours given by very informative guides. The only further money I needed to spend during this safari was in tips to those for who I saw reason. Because of Joshua making all of the detailed plans for me, there was no stress or uncertainty on my part, giving me the true sense of an enjoyable vacation.
On day one of my safari, I was picked up by Joshua’s staff from Dar es Salaam and dropped off at the airport for a 6AM flight to Kigoma. Upon arrival, I was taken on a boat down Lake Tanganyika from Khiziri Port to Gombe with views of various tribal communities, agricultural lands, and waterside wildlife along the way. Immediately upon arriving at Gombe, I was greeted by Hussein Kengwa, the park guide who Joshua had assigned to me. Hussein has been a part of Gombe for many years, knows the land extremely well, has connections with all others who work at the park, and is very knowledgeable of the individual chimpanzees who call Gombe their home as well as the rest of the primate species, wild animals, and natural florae on sight. Hussein took me for my first forest excursion in Gombe National Park that day at 10:00 in the morning. It was a mountainous, hot, and thickly vegetative area to trek, difficult but extremely exciting because chimpanzees were quickly found, who I then joined for the morning. I saw chimps from the families I have gotten to know through Jane Goodall’s stories including Faustino, the grandson of Flo, the chimp that made me fall in love with the species. Also present were Golden, Gosama, and Gland all descendants of Gremlin, a very long studied chimp who is still living today. The current researchers were observing their wild subjects with me there, and because chimps here are so used to human visitors, I was ignored and could enjoy simply being a part of their day.
Returning in the afternoon to the base camp of Gombe, I was served delicious food made just for me by the cook Joshua had sent along. I took a swim in Lake Tanganyika, shared the beach with baboons, and charged my camera batteries during hours electric was available in my cabin. Sleeping in a base camp on research grounds, I depended on my flashlight to see anything after dark because the electric there is not continuous. Clear view of the tons and tons of stars in the sky were the reward of living in the dark.
Day two in the park for me included waking up to find a baboon looking in at me through my cabin window, meeting a group of Tanzanian women on a tour with Roots & Shoots, finding researchers from the University of Minnesota in the forest recording chimpanzee calls, and being beside the daily life of Gombe’s chimpanzees including Gremlin and her family of six, Nasa holding onto a red colobus monkey skull showing off his group’s hunting skills, and the good-looking male trio of Faustino, Dier and Duke grooming and napping on the forest grounds together.
Day three included hiking through the park to Jane Goodall’s key locations including the lookout point of the mountain where Jane went to listen for the calls of chimps to identify their locations. I also cooled off and refreshed myself with the splashes and deafening flow of beautiful Kakombe Waterfalls. It was during this hike that Faustino seemed to invite Hussein and me to follow him. Faustino would walk past us on the ground, step ahead, and turn to see if we were coming along with him. Upon seeing us follow, Faustino continued his route leading us to Nuro and her youngster, Nyota whom he then joined with, eating figs from a giant tree.
Leaving the island and returning to Kigoma, I was taken to visit Dr. David Livingstone’s Memorial Center and then stayed the night at the Coast View Resort enjoying a hot shower, air conditioning, and 24/7 electricity. It was here that I appreciated hanging out with Joshua, getting to know him, the person who provided me with my trip of a lifetime. I was transported back to the airport after only three days of a tour, but those three days fulfilled me with wonderful memories that will last a lifetime. I could not have asked for a better time in Gombe unless of course Jane Goodall would have been there herself which is not often, at all anymore. I strongly recommend the service of Gombe Track Safaris & Tours to anyone planning a visit to Gombe National Park.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Dissapointing
We chose big time safari for our Safari on the class called budget mode so of course we did not expect great luxuries but unfortunately we had so many problems we wanted to share the experience.
The total days of safari were 11 days.
The worst episode was the second day in Serengeti where the car just broke down, old jeeps are used and you will have many chances that this will happens to you. The whole day was lost and nothing was seen that day.
After the Safari was over once in Nairobi we did complain at Big time safari offices to get some compensation as the service offered was not given to us.
The manager, John, was careless and unprofessional as he was more interested in what was happening on the TV than on our complain. He made us waste a lot of time in the office for nothing. The discussion ended up telling us that under his point of view we were not humans as we did not understand his problems and than worst would have been to die in the safari. Once he has your money in his pocket his behavior changes he won't call you back or he will tell you he is busy in some meeting.
Other problems we had was the guide in Tanzania was bad no interest on us. The camp in Amboseli was dirty and no mosquito net was given in one of the beds.
The picnic meals very poor some of the days.
In summary the safari was ok because the landscape and the animals are great but sure thing we would chose different company for a safari.
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Terrible experience, Seka gave us a lot of trouble
Do not book with this company! We had a terrible experience with Taste of Afrika for our five day safari in Tanzania. First of all they mixed the dates up. When we arrived and called they knew nothing about our booking, even though we had paid a deposit. Then on the morning of our safari they told us we weren't going that day, but the day after. Instead the offered us a coffee tour, which was very boring. Then they were going to send us to the wrong national park. When we told them that we booked for another park they send us with very last minute with a different guide. We had to join our original guide later that day, but our guide refused to bring us there initially. When we insisted he became very angry and unpleasant. We tried to bargain for a discount for the inconvenience and after a long discussion we were promised a discount of 400USD. But then later that day they denied this promise and threatened to skip our last day if we didn't pay up. Especially Seka, the owner, was very unpleasant to deal with and made a lot of mistakes in communicating with us.
IS
50-65 years of age
Beware
Beware! Don't trust this company by sending money ahead of your journey.
We paid in full one month prior to departure and then the manager Alpha Malinda started spinning his web of lies about new taxes and fees, he even was cheeky enough to try to convince us that 18% VAT been added by the government on June 1. 2017 all though everybody is aware of that it came in on July 1. 2016. We even had one of his subcontractors to contact him on our behalf and then he asserted that we had bought our trip prior to July 1. 2016 so we were supposed to to pay this extra 18%. Our receipt is dated January 27. 2017.
We took off 3rd of September and soon it was very clear to us that the money we sent had been spent on something else then our accommodation and food, every morning we started with bargaining with him trough our tour guide since Alpha was in Australia at the time. When our guides were totally out of money we took over budgeting and paying for gas and everything else and with their help we managed to book the rest of the tour as it had previously been scheduled. We ended up with total cost that was about 45% higher than Alphas offer.
The four tour guides we had were very helpful trough all of this and we had a really good relationship with them, it's such a shame that they are working fore a shitty company like this.
Any further information I will gladly give in PM.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Transparent and friendly. Very sympatic guide (Shabani) and best Chef. Kind and honest Company Chief
It has been very nice with the World Tours & Safaris Company. Sympathc Guide called Shabani. He makes the Safari very special, loves it to make you enjoying the Safari. He knows well about the animals we saw. The price and the reveived Performance is very good. I would advice this Company, also because of the raliable, fair and kind Chief Richard. I made the Safari Serengeti, Lake manyara, ngorongoro, tarangire Nationalpark in 6 days and 5 nights Camp Safari.
Thanks a lot