65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
We asked FS to reserve a room at The Gorges which they appeared to handle effectively.
We were bumped from The Gorges (they said they had been overbooked) despite us having a confirmed and paid reservation. Falcon offered us an alternative night at Vic Falls Hotel which we declined and accepted a much more expensive night at Khulu Ivory Safari Lodge. As we got short notice of this situation it was a hassle to provide proof of payment of the additional amount required. We enjoyed our stay at Khulu very much but were disappointed that we missed out on The Gorges.
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
African experience!
We had a great time in Tanzania! Highlights would definitely be the Safari. It was exhilarating to see the animals in their habitat. This was truly an experience for us, as obviously this is not available to us in Canada. Our guide was excellent - he was knowledgeable and made every effort to make our Safari experience memorable in trying to see as many animals as possible despite the rainy condition of the day. Our trek back from Mikumi was a challenge, due to to the traffic jam we encountered. However, our guide got us back to our hotel safe and sound. We would recommend Selous Explorer to others travelling to Dar Es Salaam. Thank you!
CH
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great country to see wildlife
Murchison Falls National Park, Impenetrable Forest and the Vitunga Mountains offer great opportunities to see wildlife. People are very friendly and travelling is quite easy. Outside the national parks there is, however, not too much to see or do from a tourist perspective.
GR
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
a pleasant trip along the garden route
Cape Town was great as always, but for the weather, cold grey and foggy. Winchester Mansions hotel was very comfortable. unable to see anything at Cape Point and table mountain cable car was shut. V&A shopping improves with each visit.
Drove the garden route and stayed at Franschoek, The Avondrood Guest House, lovely, wine tram was great. Stayed at The Belvidere Manor Kynsa, nice complex of chalets outside Knysa, very pretty views and visited the Craggs sanctuaries , all of which were very good. Bird World is a very special place!
Drove to Port Elizabeth. Only stayed at one private game park on this safari, Lalibela which,we found out when we arrived, was under reconstruction( not the lodge, the reserve !!! ) . We were shown a video explaining their long term plans and why we would go on to see huge areas of devastation so the vibe was very muted at Lentaba lodge. Had we known they were taking hundreds of mature non indigenous trees out with heavy equipment we would not have stayed there. The bush has yet to grow back. The effect on the wildlife must be substantial. We paid for a chalet upgrade ( it was our wedding anniversary and my wife's special birthday ) only to find it was nearest to the very noisy generator which switched on every 4 hours when they experienced the Government induced power cuts. Very obtrusive in the room. It was so noisy it drowned out conversation at the pool! Sounded like a jet engine! . Weather was not good, with rain and mist and little sun, not a good time of year to safari. In all a holiday with some highlights but could have been so much better. Not good value for money to us.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tanzania was beautiful but the change of our travel plan by Uhuru was not nice
We visited end of February Tanzania. Wildlife, scenery and the weather was perfect. We did camping. So nothing luxury, but the tents and sleeping bags were clean. It was a great experience to hear the wild animals in the night in the near of the tents. The cook prepared amazing food for us. So Tanzania was beautiful and I recommend everyone to go for it. One thing was not nice. It was planned that we visit first Tarangire, then Serengeti and then Ngorongoro. Uhuru changed our travel plan, we visited first Serengeti and then Ngorongoro with two other tourists. In the third day the safari ended at 1 PM for us (half day!). The two other tourists went with the same SUV to Arusha on the same day. We spend the half day at the camping side. Next day another car brought us to Tarangire. This change was not nice. Uhuru informed us about the change at the first day of the safari. So we did not have a chance other than doing the best out of the safari.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I got what I paid for for booking last minute!
AMAZING scenery, especially at sunrise and sunset! The weather was perfect at this time of year (dry season). Got to see a pack/herd? of giraffes, elephants, buffaloes...etc. We were able to see everything except Lions!
We booked very last minute and so we had quite a few disappointments...
- no park ranger as a tour guide - which would have helped us see lions! we were so disappointed to miss the lions!
- our guide spoke poor English and barely explained things to us
- did not go in a 4x4 land cruiser as stated...ended up in a very old van with broken A/C and extremely shaky
- Stayed at Bwana Tembo, which is outisde of the park. Good food, nice manager, but not exactly worth the mid-range price. No electricity in the rooms! Just a fan to help keep cool at night, and our driver was put in a room with NO fan at all and it was boiling hot all night. Very unfair treatment for him.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beautiful experience; stressful circumstances
First, I must thank Kenya Walking for helping my husband and I have the experience of a lifetime. We visited Tanzania and Uganda and were sincerely amazed by the African wildlife, scenery, and people.
We chose Kenya Walking because of Otieno's quick communication, the ability to customize our itinerary, and the price. We are still grateful to have experienced so much for the price, but feel that it's important for other prospective travelers to be aware of some aspects of unprofessionalism we encountered. They are mostly small things that added up to create an atmosphere of distrust for us.
Examples of unprofessionalism:
-Multiple last-minute hotel changes, including skipping Lake Bunyonyi in Uganda to stay at a poorly rated, loud city motel with water problems (original hotel was around $100, changed to $10 room)
-Incorrect itinerary dates. Even after reviewing our itinerary upon arrival in Uganda, both Otieno and our driver forgot that we were staying two days in the gorilla park to do extra hiking. We had to fight pretty hard to convince them to correct this.
-Over-worked, tired driver speeding considerably and close to nodding off during long drives (I would highly recommend flying into Kisoro to do gorilla trek, or at least requesting a Ugandan guide. Our Kenyan guide had to drive overnight from Nairobi before picking us up and continuing the drive. We also suspect he took a wrong turn which we followed for 90minutes before correcting.)
-Borrowing gas money from us. This favor was asked as a loan until our driver found an ATM, though we never found one. We ended up letting him keep the money as part of his tip, but the company never followed up to thank us or ask whether we got our money back.
-Other small inconveniences included late departures (2hours on our first morning in Tanzania with no communication on their end), spotty attitudes from guides (our Kenyan guide did not like Ugandans... and we were in Uganda), considerable time waiting for guides to deal with problems in banks, broken jeep roof in Tanzania (fortunately this didn't happen until our last day there).
I hate to make this list, because until Otieno asked me to write this review, I had managed to forget all the negative aspects of our trip and only think of the magic moments we had with elephants, lions, gorillas, mountains, and new friends. Even with all the drama of our trip, I don't regret choosing Kenya Walking as I'm not sure we could have packed everything into our time and budget with a different tour operator. I also suspect travelling with Kenya Walking Survivors may be an entirely different experience in Kenya, rather than Tanzania and Uganda where we visited. I have only the best wishes for our guides Mike and Jonas and for Otieno.
If you decide Kenya Walking Survivors is the best fit for your trip, please be prepared to respectfully advocate for yourself and your itinerary.
AE
Experience level: first safari
masai mara the best tour and safari
I love your response, friendly staff and affordable price
my safari was excellent, your really world class,i cant wait
to come with my friend, thank you East Africa Tour and Safari.
thank to Peter i appreciated your assistance
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Crazy wildlife but...
Highly recommended for wildlife and birdwatching. However very expensive accommodation and food
They paid back the $240
** UPDATE MARCH 2015
Peter paid us back today. He called me a few times in the past weeks to explain he was sorting out the financial trouble he got into, and promised he would pay back the money. So he did, the full amount. I am writing this update to do justice to him and his company. Despite the trouble, he's now trying to sort this, as he has done with me and my family.
** ORIGINAL REVIEW
Be aware if you consider to book with this company - I / my family still hasn't received the $240 refund. We paid up-front for a number of things including a safari (and park fees) to Amboseli. The deal was my family would visit Amboseli for 2 days, but they ended up going only 1 day. As the park fees for 2 adults and 2 children were already paid, Africa Flash Mc Tours need to pay us back the $240. Despite NUMEROUS emails, phone calls (Peter's number and the hotline number on their website), whatsapp messages to Peter etc I still haven't received anything. I got a few promises ("you'll get it tomorrow because I have reached my ATM limit", or "I will get it to you by Monday", etc etc) but still no refund... This refund is what obviously concerns me most. But, I'd like to add that generally their services are not great either. My family was supposed to be picked up for the Masai Mara at 8.30am (which I felt was a bit late, but Peter said this was fine), but the van showed up at 10.00am! I didn't get a justification why they were 1,5 hours late (yeah traffic....). I do want to do justice to two of their guides for the Masai Mara and Amboseli - my family did really like them.