ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Terrible experience
We did the 3-day safari to Serengeti and Ngorongoro parks, and it was a terrible experience.
Out of the 3 days, we only got one and a half because they made many unnecessary stops on the way to the park (even though we told them we didn't want to stop). When we finally reached the park, the driver (who called himself Masai and was rude and arrogant) was driving quite fast, claiming that the next day would be when we'd see lots of animals (so we wasted that day).
On the second day, we did manage to see many animals after having a conversation with the other guide (a young guy who didn't seem to know much).
The worst part was the last day. We went to Ngorongoro (arriving around 10:30), and at 13:30, they told us it was time for lunch, which seemed fine because the park closes at 18:00. However, to our surprise, when we finished eating at 14:00, they said the safari was over. We spent nearly an hour negotiating to leave at around 17:00, but in the end, the driver did as he pleased and rushed out of the park at 15:45, not even stopping when we saw elephants just outside the park (other cars were stopping).
The car was small and uncomfortable (the windows were very low, and you could hardly see anything when the roof wasn't raised), and the driver's attitude was the worst we've experienced (and we've traveled quite a bit).
The company's manager offered us one night all-inclusive at a nice hotel in Zanzibar, but it wasn't what we expected (a proportional refund for the time we lost was more appropriate, as we suggested).
We wouldn't recommend this company, as a safari costs over a thousand dollars per person, and even if you tried, it's hard to do it as poorly as they did.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very unreliable customer service.
I would not risk your vacation with this company. Our group traveled with them 3 days ago and had an accident (front left tire got detached while driving) in the middle of Ngorongoro Preservation Area. No back-up vehicle was sent to the company. “Mechanic” came after 3 hours and attempted to “fix” the vehicle. Least a day in the Safari and proceeded with the tour with the same vehicle. Upon going back to the town, driver has to stop again (3-4 times) to a mechanic to install the shock. Take note, AFTER GOING TO NGORONGORO. At this point, we’re late on our hotel and needed to look for another one.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Sold an incorrect itinerary
My recent experience with Gemfinders, specifically with Brian, left me pretty disappointed and frustrated. I had been eagerly looking forward to my safari trip to the Serengeti, which I had carefully planned with Gemfinders. They had advertised a budget lodge accommodation in the itinerary, but as soon as I started the journey, it was clear that something was off. Instead of budget lodges, I found myself camping, which was definitely not what I had signed up for. It not only messed up my expectations but also made the logistics a bit of a headache.
What really irked me was that I had double-checked with Brian before the trip about the accommodation, and he had confidently reassured me that it would indeed be budget lodges. To have that promise fall flat was disappointing and left me feeling like I had been misled.
To add to the confusion, I later found out that Gemfinders had outsourced the safari to another company in Tanzania. This explained the disconnect between the original itinerary and what actually happened during the trip. It also raised some questions about how much Gemfinders was actually involved in planning and executing the trip.
Another bone of contention was Gemfinders' payment policy. Unlike many other safari operators who allow you to pay a deposit and settle the rest on-site when the safari begins, Gemfinders required full payment upfront. This put extra pressure on travelers, especially when the services didn't match what was promised.
What frustrated me the most, though, was Gemfinders' response when I raised these issues. Even though it was crystal clear that they had misrepresented the itinerary I paid for, Brian refused to offer sufficient compensation. He simply said I had already completed the safari, as if that somehow justified the misleading information.
I tried going back and forth with Brian, hoping for some sort of resolution, but it felt like hitting a brick wall. And when I asked for more information about Gemfinders' business (i.e. the business license number), Brian was quite uncooperative and didn't provide the details I requested.
Overall, my experience with Gemfinders and Brian left me unsatisfied and disappointed. Their misrepresentation, inflexible payment policy, and lack of accountability for their mistakes make me hesitant to recommend them to other travelers. The lack of transparency and professionalism in dealing with these issues, along with the outsourcing to another company without proper oversight, raises concerns about Gemfinders' commitment to customer satisfaction and ethical business practices. If you're thinking of booking a trip with them, be cautious and consider these shortcomings carefully.
IE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Possible scam and fraud. We feel ripped off
Be aware, possible scam, fraud and very dishonest people!
Dream holiday turned into a nightmare!
First and foremost TouristLine safaris is not a tour operator but an agency within an office with numerous other seemingly fake agencies all under the names of Fiona, Lilian and some guy going only by the name of Daniel! Among others those agencies include tourist line safaris, absolute holiday safaris and big time safaris!
We be booked a 13 day safari tour through Kenya and Tanzania for 4000usd p.p and paid 30% deposit. After paying the deposit, communication abruptly stopped. We didn't think much of it yet but were already concerned. At no point they provided further instructions and/or asked for hotel name to pick us up etc. We contacted them instead twice to confirm the hotel name for pick up and they confirmed pick up time. When we arrived in Nairobi I again confirmed hotel name for pick up. Among day of pick up after 1h there were still nobody, I contacted them and they said someone just left the office. Half hour later, still nothing. Then apparently it turned out the driver went to a different hotel. Long story short we ended up already 3h late that morning. After paying the rest of the amount the problems started.
They started changing the plans and tried to cut off game drives.
The safari car was in a very bad condition. It was falling apart and my partner even hit her head the first day on one of the many loose nails/screws. She bleeded and got a big bump on the head. The car was filthy, almost all windows broken, no handles, no A/C and so on.
On the second day every 10-15min the driver started checking under the car. He told us apparently the brake oil was leaking.
On the third day in the middle of the road the breaks stopped working, and the driver was then driving only 10-20km/h because he couldn't use the breaks and was looking for a mechanic. We lost overall 3h that day. The next day without any communication or warning he drove into a mechanic shop again and put the car with us inside into the forklift so that the mechanics can check something. We didn't know what's going on. He didn't even ask us to leave the car in the meantime. We were literally left inside the car not knowing how long it might take or so. I was looking at all the other tour cars the vast majority were really good. Only a handful of cars were equally bad
Because of the car we lost multiple hours of game drive.
Also the driver/guide was constantly late in the morning and we were the last to leave the hotel and usually the first to come back. He literally the whole time on the phone, didn't communicate anything with us and even worse, was picking up people and doing some extra stuff despite having a private tour.
Until now we thought it's just bad service.
However, when we were about to go to Tanzania only then we were told that the Tanzania part will be with a different tour company. Something we were not aware of at any stage prior to paying full amount. Once we crossed the border the actual real and big problems started.
It turned out tourist line safari is not a tour company per se but hires different companies to do the safari.
The tour company that picked us up in Tanzania had a completely different plan and way worse hotels. E.g. instead of staying in nysa lodge, rhino lode or sangaiwe lodge which cost around 200-400usd a night, we stayed in octagon lodge and charity hotel in Arusha which costs only 30usd a night.
We immediately started calling TouristLine safaris and told them this is not what we booked and paid for. But they just said that they booked different accommodation as per availability. However this was never communicated with us before. They didn't inform us about all the changes and thus we completely overpaid. I asked for either doing the tour we actually paid for or get a refund for the Tanzania part because this was completely different and low budget. They first said that they will refund but then immediately said that its not possible etc.
The agency in Tanzania was also lying to us and was constantly contradicting themselves. First they said they told tourist line that they can't book the accomodations we paid for and blammed TouristLine. TouristLine safaris at this point stopped responding to us and just said this is now the tour and not their responsibility anymore, we can either do this safari with the changed program and accommodations or come back and loose all the money.
We were left with no choice but doing a low budget safari. We lost overall at least 2 days worth of game drives and stayed in accommodations worth much less.
We started doing some research and found out that numerous tourists were scammed this way. They suddenly change the plan and put tourists in cheaper accommodations blaming one and each other and nobody actually feels responsible. They sell tours and accommodations that they never actually booked or even had.
We also found out that they operate under several different tour agency names.
Unfortunately we feel scammed and our dream holiday became a nightmare. We were left with a tour that was not what we booked and the frustration and disappointment is huge.
We also overpaid by a big margin.
When we arrived back in Nairobi we went to the office and there were different people actually saying that TouristLine Safaris doesn't operate here but after they realized we won't get scammed so easily they started arguing and after 2 hours they agreed to refund us very little amount not even covering the difference of one accomodation. There were so many men in the office and we felt threatened and in danger. We were then forced to sign some paper that we agree not to sue them. It seems this is the way the silence people and keep scamming tourists.
Please guys be aware and don't book from this agency and any other one under the names of Lilian, Fiona or daniel. We are not even sure if those names are real or who we were actually talking with on the phone and in the office.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
This is a possible scam do not book. We have a pending case with the tourism police ART/AB/165/2023
We reserved our tour in June 2023 with safari date of September 2023. Upon arrive in Arusha, the owner of the company David wanted a cash payment which we reminded him that during the reservation we informed him we will be paying by card (which we did). We were to leave the next day for a 5 day mid range luxury tent safari at 8:30 am. We did not leave until almost 10am. Once we arrived at the Ngorongoro crater gate we noticed something off as we were at the gate longer than other safaris. After getting through, the same happened at the Serengeti gate. The permit was not paid and when he finally paid he only did so for one day. When we got to the lodging it was not paid. Long story short we had to cut the tour short and go to the tourism police. A case was initiated. The good thing we paid by card and informed our bank to reverse the charge
The toilets in the park is disgusting.
It is an embarrassment to see that they take tourist to the bathroom in the game park. It is disgusting how dirty they are.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
My opinion is you better use another travel agency.
It was our first time in dubi and When we arrived we were dropped off at the hotel and left to check in the hotel by ourselves. We had a tour for the day we checked in even though we were extremely tired and ended up missing the tour since noone came to the reception to call us down. They just whatsapp you ( yet the hotels wifi was very slow so we received these messages very late) They only wait for you 20 min and leave you .
The second and third tour guides were really good. Congrats to them. The company only gave us activities for the first two days and left the other 4 unattended. During drop off to the airport on our departure we were left to navigate on our own until we reach our take off gate. Generally won't go with them again. I rather book for myself amd go alone. No difference.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
I feel he is a fraudster and liar
Where do I begin.
I wouldn’t trust Seth as far as I could throw him! He has lied to me for the last year and took me over 9 months to get a refund on my deposit after cancelling our trip (took a month for him to accept the cancellation we were told to do for various reasons) even though he informed me of his refund policy of 7 days.
Every email I got from him was false promises and lies. Safari bookings were the only reason we managed to get our money back and I wouldn’t want anyone to go through the stress I went through and the sleepless nights of having to deal with Seth.
I’m glad to be done with him, he lied about everything!
US
Lied to and not refunded
I was given an inaccurate itinerary, and charged for things I should not have been. She made zero effort to rectify her mistake or refund me. Choose any other operator.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
7 day safari tour with chaotic organization and downgrades
We did a seven day safari tour organized by African Polecat including Tarangire NP, 3 days Serengeti NP, Ngorongoro Crater, Biking to Lake Manyara and a cultural tour and finally a walking tour at Arusha NP.
First of all, doing such a safari tour is an amazing experience and we can really recommend it - just not by this operator.
We specifically chose this tour because accomodation-wise it offered a nice combination of 3 nights of sleeping in tents in the nature (with animal encounters right in front of the tents!) and then really nice locations at the start and end, namely 2* the jungle pearl resort and 1* karibu heritage.
Starting the first day, we were told, that there would be a change in plan, with Arusha NP at the first day, rather than the last day- which was fine to us at the moment, but then after a very nice safari day we were dropped off at a cheap Hotel in Arusha that was not even on the travel list, costs less than half as much and is badly rated on google maps and booking (3/10!!). A place we never would have chosen or booked ourself. The next day we were mixed with another group and picked up by another driver and guide. We thought we would continue with the initial guide - which was no problem per se - but sad because this way we didnt had the chance to tip the initial tour guide which did a spectacular job explaining all the animal encounters. With the new - suddenly scrambled together - group, the journey continued but we ended up at different accomodations than booked.
After Tarangire we were driven to kizumba camp site instead of jungle pearl (also not as nicely rated, rather basic in comparison). We texted James (the organizer) why this was the case and he said he forgot to remind the driver.
On day 6, we had only a short day at Ngorongoro crater, because the rest of the group and the driver would go on to Arusha for the afternoon, which was not on our plan anymore. So we were dropped off along the way at jungle resort (even then the driver didnt get the right instructions for us; we basically had to make sure to arrive at the right place; even the location didn’t know of our supposed arrival). Any way we lost half a tour day because apparently we were mixed with another group which had a different tour plan.
The last day at manyara lake we were a little bit worried to not reach the planned arrival at the airport in the evening with all the organizational problems. When texting James he ensured us that a driver will pick us up and everything is arranged. When sitting in the final taxi, we thought that now nothing could surprise us anymore, when suddenly the taxi would drive to a place in Arusha and drop us off there, instead of at the airport. After waiting there for 20 minutes a second taxi drove us to the airport. Again without previous communication.
It is indeed a very weird feeling, when you are in a foreign country and half the time you enter a vehicle, you get dropped-off at a random place that was not communicated or agreed on.
Minor inconveniences: no binoculars as advertised, no beverages or alcoholic drinks as advertised, no 3l water a day as advertised, no hot shower water as advertised, no toilet paper (we thought to really expect those things would be a stretch, given the nature of the safari, but still…).
Erika the cook and Amos the guide were lovely and I don‘t feel like they are at fault for any of these problems. It very much felt like a lack of communication and providing organization and information.
A safari tour is very much recommended and a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but I cannot recommend Polecat as operator.