US
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Katavi National Park by Eleanore Avery
Very remote in western part...I only stopped there on way to Mahale park. canals restrict viewing because you cannot cross canals. Lots of Hippos.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
In panic mode! No response! No Informaion!
I worked with Barbara over email to organize a custom safari for my family this August. We sent nearly $50,000 to them 10 days ago with no response. Finally, I got though to their office on Friday and was informed that the owner Barbara has passed away and that the co-owner Victor is in the Hospital. The lady could not give me any other information.
Disastrous Kafue
I am afraid to say, our trip to Kafue was a disaster in terms of game, very little to see. I think when the new North/ South road was built I think most of the game was eaten/killed, we saw more game in Pilandsberg game reserve.
It was a real pity, next te we will try South Luangue.
JP
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Poorly organized, attempted price increase/bait & switch, change of details, unnecessary delays
I have some really mixed reviews about this operator, I honestly wanted to give them a good review and communication during booking was good, but then just before we arrived in Kenya things started to quickly unravel. In short, I can't in good conscious recommend this operator to anyone after the experience we had with them. I went with a 4 day package that was to include Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara. Our flight arrived in Nairobi after noon and most package tours leave in the morning, so I emailed several about this and most were receptive to taking us straight from the airport to our first stopover point right away (we didn't want to waste a night in Nairobi as we had limited time on the trip). Santos from Kenya Bush Excursions got in touch with me and they were the first one to offer the Lanet Matfam resort in Nakuru for the first night rather than the budget hotel in town that most operators seem to use, so I went with them because of that reason. I sent the requested deposit and all was well.
Problems:
1st) 2 weeks before our arrival Santos emailed me and said there was a problem, he said another client cancelled the Nakuru part of their trip and wanted to do Masai Mara only and tried to convince me to do the same, or else pay more to keep our scheduled trip as a private safari. I simply said neither option was acceptable, that Nakuru was part of our plan and we still wanted to go but I saw no reason to pay more since it was already agreed from the start that we were going to Nakuru in a private group due to our mid-day arrival at NBO and our minimum booking number was only 2 for that price anyway. I asked that he either honor the original agreement or cancel and I'd rebook with another operator. (There were no shortage of operators willing to offer nearly the same price). He then said he would work on it and get back to me. A week later he still hadn't gotten back to me so I followed up myself and he said all was fine, that he'd arranged to drop us with another safari operator on the second day to go to Masai Mara with their group. Generally that was fine with me as all operators to Masai Mara were pretty much the same from the quotes I received.
2nd) After arriving at NBO, our driver and Santos met us at the airport. I quickly noted that the car picking us up was not a 4x4 Safari van as quoted, but a small Toyota station wagon unsuitable for a game drive. After leaving the airport Santos again tried to convince us to give up Lake Nakuru and go to Lake Naivasha instead, which I again declined since we wanted to see the flamingos at Nakuru. He was trying to say that maybe the roads in the park at Lake Nakuru were too difficult since it was rainy season (they were fine BTW, and if they would have had the promised 4x4 van then it wouldn't have been an issue anyway). After paying the balance, we had expected to be on our way immediately to Nakuru, but instead they had to take us into the City Market area so he could exchange dollars to shillings on the black market because he didn't have money to pay the driver and our park fees. He was completely unprepared, and if he wanted paid in Kenyan shillings then he should have said that in the booking emails as I could have easily gotten them at the airport saving A LOT of time. It took them over an hour to get the exchange done and payments sorted out as we drove around the city market over and over in the heat with no A/C. Now finally it's well after 3pm and finally we're on the way out of the city. We arrive in Nakuru well after dark.
3rd) After arriving at Nakuru and checking into the Lanet Matfam resort, our driver said that his boss wants to talk to me. I get on the phone and it's Santos again trying to convince me to give up the Lake Nakuru game drive in the morning and just to do Masai Mara because he doesn't have the cash to pay for it all. He said if we want to do Lake Nakuru in the morning (as per the original itinerary) that he wanted us to pay another $150 for the park fees. Of course I refused and said I still don't understand why he's trying this again and reminded him that I gave him a chance to cancel 2 weeks before. I also reminded him that if we were to cancel the Lake Nakuru game drive then it was a complete waste of time to drive there that night, since it's a good 2 hours north of the turn off to go to Masai Mara from Nairobi. Finally he said it's fine and he'd pay the difference out of his own pocket. (I will never believe he paid anything out of his own pocket, maybe he didn't make money on us since other people cancelled but I added up all park fees and they are about 50% of our total package cost, so there was plenty left to pay drivers and budget accommodations).
4th) The Lake Nakuru game drive was in the Toyota station wagon that picked us up from the airport. It was poor because it doesn't have the proper ground clearance for the dirt tracks in the park, no pop-up roof for taking pictures, and is low to the ground hurting chances at seeing animals at a distance. Where was the 4x4 van we were promised?
5th) We'll skip to the last day when arriving back at Nairobi since the part of the tour after joining the other operator and group to Masai Mara was really good. When we got back into Nairobi the driver we were with was already planning to go to the airport to drop off someone else with a similar flight time as us. Instead of leaving us with them to go to the airport, Santos brought his own driver to meet us in the city center to take us to the airport. That in itself was fine, however once again they were totally unprepared. To drop off other people, the van we were in drove through the city market area and went to another parking area about 15-20 minutes away (in traffic, really only about 1km in distance). One parking, Santos and the driver were there waiting, but informed me that the car was actually "a few" meters away. Turns out after walking and following them, the car was actually parked well on the other side of the city market where we had just driven through, at that point nearly an hour before. So here we're dragging our luggage through hot and crowded Nairobi center streets to a place we had already passed once and if he had communicated with the driver of the van we were in, could have been dropped at that spot as we passed earlier. To add insult to injury he made us wait on a street corner for a good 15 minutes after getting back to the city market area waiting for the car to show up from its parking spot. Needless to say I was extremely irritated at this point since the van we started in was going to the airport anyway and all of this was completely unnecessary, my impression was that he was intentionally causing us delay in retaliation for not cancelling Nakuru. There was no other excuse or explanation for it. I was frankly ready to just call in an Uber car and be done with him at that point, the nearest Uber car though was about 15 minutes away and the regular taxis nearby were all pretty shabby looking. His driver did show up finally with the car but by this point the heavy traffic on the road going out to the airport had started and it took forever. We made our flight but had little time to spare thanks to these antics.
Now, the good parts... as far as Kenya Bush Excursions goes, there aren't any, but the operator they passed us off to for Masai Mara was excellent. I didn't get their company's name unfortunately (certainly wish I had because I'd give them a great review), but the driver is Joshua and knows the Masai Mara very well. The first day evening game drive and the last day morning game drive were so-so, but I will blame that mostly on the part of the park near the camp we stayed in, he said the Maasai people drive their cattle through there and it scares away a lot of the animals. The full day game drive he led us on however was really good. He was on the radio the whole day getting locations on big cats and really made an effort to get to them before they disappeared into the bush. We saw more lions than one can count (at least 20 in total), a cheetah mother with cubs, and finally a leopard. Of course plenty of all the common animals too (elephant, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, etc.) but the real gems were the big cats. The cheetah, leopard, and at least one of the really good lion sightings would not have likely been found on a self-drive without someone on a radio.
All in all we had a really good Masai Mara safari and a really poor Lake Nakru one. But the frustrations of dealing with Kenya Bush Excursions were terrible and uncalled for. They are absolute professionals at trying to convince you not to take what you've already paid for or pay twice for the same thing. There is no shortage of tour operators willing to offer the same price with a minimum booking of 2 people. For people doing Nakuru with other operators, I highly recommend requesting the Lanet Matfam resort instead of the budget hotel in town. Considering where we were at, the Lanet Matfam was actually pretty decent (far from luxury, but nothing like the terrible reviews the budget hotels in town get).
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Pilanesberg Game Reserve by thewildlifephotographer
More like a small safari park, with no feeling of being 'wild'. I won't be visiting again.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Marakele National Park by Bert
If you are in the vacinity it may be nice to spend two or three hours here. It's in quite a nice part of the country as far as the scenery goes. But please keep in mind this is a subjective rating and others may have had a greatly different experience.
DE
Not up to expectations
I remembered this park as a highlight of former safaris with an amazing variety of wildlife. This time it was disappointing, not only on account of lush vegetation. The roads are simply terrible, an offence for the drivers. The shabby appearance already of the gateway gives the impression that this park is badly managed.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Travelling in Tanzania is HORRIBLE
This was my second trip to Tanzania. I was there to watch the Great Migration. I was able to witness a small version of the migration in Northern Serengeti and was left with much to be desired. Tanzania charges an exorbitant amount for the visa and the taxes on tourists. However you get little to noting in return for the steep prices and cost of traveling in that county. The roads are a total disaster and guarantees total damage to your overall skeletal system specially your back. Where all the visa and tax money goes is beyond my comprehension. My driver told me that the roads are not paved since my country, the United States, asked the Tanzanian Government to keep things rustic. I have never heard such hogwash ever in my life. What interest would the US have in interfering with how Tanzania maintains or ignores its infra structure? I will never return to that country again. Besides Kilimanjaro and the animals there is nothing worth making the trip to expensive Tanzania.
IE
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Zanzibar and Tanzania, come, see and lose e all Your illusions
We booked for Zanzibar with 5 days Safari on the mainland (Tanzania). The first thing that we negatively noted was that Zanzibar, outside of the resort, as an Island is very dirty. I was brought up with the saying: If Your poor then at least be clean.
The people of Zanzibar that we met stem mostly from the Mainland Tanzania, they are very friendly, helpful and kind. That is the only really positive point, and in that a very noteworthy one. The organiser of the safari was at all time reachable, kind, efficient and its organisation fine. A light in the dark.
Zanzibar was as dirty as a Garbage dump except the airport and the hotel area. The mainland was far better, but then it has not much to show for.
Then, the different day tours where expensive for what was given, mostly not worth to participate. A 1-day safari to the main land will cover all the tours with exception of the swimming with the turtles.
If You go to Stonetown, don’t expect anything and even then, you will be disappointed!
Serengeti, the high grail of a national parks is very disappointing nonetheless You can see the Lyons and other animals, however You have to prepare for a lot of dust. The drivers call each other where for example a Lyon is and then 30 to 40 Jeeps rally to this point, creating a traffic jam in the middle of nowhere and leaving everybody covered in dust. All the other parks where ok, but Serengeti was a big disappointment, here Tanzania markets its animals worse than in a zoo.
One must have seen Zanzibar and Tanzania to lose one owns illusions. Once in a life time is enough.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Disappointing attitude
I wouldn't recommend TSS to anybody considering a safari in Tanzania - we didn't find them to be very professional at all and overall they handled our trip poorly. Firstly, their representative was late for our pre-safari briefing, and when we tried to call them their number was disconnected. As our hotel receptionist said she had never heard of them we found this a little worrying. When they did arrive we were told that due to reports back from Lake Manyara (where we were supposed to go on our first day) that there wasn't much wildlife being spotted, we would be going to Tarangire instead with a different group. This wasn't really a problem, but it would have been better to be told in advance rather than just before departure as we would have had more time to consider our options.
On the safari itself, our second day took us to Serengeti. As we were driving into the Serengeti the car had a fault, causing us to then be stuck at the gate there for 3 hours while it was looked at. This meant we missed a lot of game drive time, and arrived at camp having to set up our tents in the dark without any assistance after eventually being picked up by a different vehicle just before sunset. While we understand that faults like this happen, the way the situation dealt with was really not good enough - we repeatedly asked what was going on and were not given any information or any sense that there was a proper procedure to follow in incidents such as this.
After returning to Arusha at the end of our safari, two members of our group went to the operator's office in person to request a partial refund due to the time missed on safari, which they were given ($100 each). As we were leaving that day we didn't have chance to do so ourselves, so decided to email Elvice at TSS afterwards. The attitude we received when telling him what had happened and requesting the same refund as the others was appalling and completely unprofessional. He implied heavily that we were lying, and that the others had no such refund (they did, I maintained contact with them and checked this several times), then this changed to him telling us that the others had a refund because of problems in Kenya beforehand (they hadn't even been to Kenya).
The final straw was his attempt at emotional manipulation in telling us that they only offer group safaris to help people and they don't make a profit on them, so this refund would have to come out of his own pocket and would destroy years of hard work and that they'd have to consider stopping group safaris, that he'd have to beg to borrow it from a friend etc etc. At this point I gave up - I am not interesting in bankrupting anybody, and frankly found the whole thing ridiculously unprofessional.
There are plenty of other safari operators available and I would advise avoiding Tanzania Safari Supremacy if possible.