AE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
WORST TOUR AGENT. They will fool you and take your money.
Me and my friend traveled with Safari Gates and had the worst experience ever. The tour operator and guide did not live up to our expectations and what the itinerary had mentioned whatsoever. Our guide Ben was always late in the morning. We had agreed to meet early morning by the car for our morning game drive 6am. One morning the staff at Enkorok lodge had to WAKE him up because he was still sleeping and we were waiting by the car ready for our game drive. Also, we were promised to go to the Mara river to see the great wildebeest migration/ crossing but he took us to some small tiny lake and pretending “this was the Mara river where the animals cross but the crossing stopped in June”, which is all bullshit. This is not my first time to Masai Mara and I have been here before and witnessed the great migration and crossing. Also want to mention we were here during the best time of the year to see this (beginning of September) which is the exact same time of the year I have been here before. Also want to mention that we talked to other people who were there but with other tour agents and they confirmed that they had seen the migration / crossing just the day before. So this was all lies from our guide. He was just being lazy and didn’t wanna take us to the right place / river. Also, on our final day before heading to the airport, we were promised a final morning game drive. We were supposed to meet by the car at 6am. But Ben our guide showed up at 8am!!!!!! 2 hours late on our FINAL day. And if we hadn’t called the tour operator asking where is he , for sure he would never even show up. We have lost so much time and viewing because of this. We always departed late in the mornings because he was late and sleeping. Missing out on the great migration/ crossing because of his lies and didn’t take us there. We have spent so much money on this trip and are so so so disappointed with this trip and operator. We made a complaint before flying back and met with the “owner” at the airport before departing and were promised a compensation for this. It’s been more than one month now and haven’t heard ANYTHING about this. Safari gates have really tricked us and fooled us and just taken our money for NOTHING. Even the owner / manager Rihal (also called Rocky) at flamingo hill camp where we spent the last night along with the rest of the staff there witnessed all this and was furious for our sake. Being 2 hours late on our last day and missing our SO much. This is the worst experience I’ve ever had with a safari tour. And being promised a compensation before flying back , but still haven’t heard ANYTHING.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Seka, where is our money?
We made a kili tour and a safari in 2020. We had to pay another amount that we could started our safari. They had no money, even though we paid in advance.
Seka owes us more than $3000! Since 2 years! He always promised that we will get our money back.
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY
Long story short we paid for a 5 Safari days.
On the day 4 we found out that the 5th day of the Safari was… going to the airport.
So the amount that we paid to this company, included the entrance in Tarangiri park 1 morning + the use of the Jeep for a morning safari and they just took us to the airport and kept that money to them. When I spoke with the person in charge he said that he wanted to make it right so he would do a refund of 318€. 10 days have passed and Haron is ignoring my emails. First he gave an excuse that he was in Nairobi and after then ignoring emails and phone calls… not happy at all.
Besides this incident, we also paid based on accommodation. On the 3rd night we paid for a Serena Hotel in Ngorongoro cratera and we found out, once we left the cratera, that we werent staying there….
Keep in mind that there are thousands of Safari companies who will definitely provide a better service. As an example, during lunch time, we always had a very basic lunch box (cold items) and we saw several companies coming with warm meal and providing a total different (and better) experience to the customer.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Didn't get what we paid for!
The communication with Martin was hard, I had to repeat what I wanted several times. His first offer for a package was more expensive than the individual things combined.
After several emails we agreed to a price.
But we did not get what we paid for.
As an example we paid for 1st class seats on the train but we got the second cheapest tickets.
He never mentioned it and kept the difference in price even after we told him that we want it back.
The camp was very very basic with no electricity except for half an hour after dinner. Which is not enough to charge your phone. No warm water. Lunch and dinner were extremely cheap. Breakfast was good.
The car we used for the game drives was old and broken in several places (one window, again no electricity, mirrors, armrest of one seat was missing and a sharp metal remained on which I cut myself).
When we complained to Martin we were ignored.
I cannot recommend this company at all!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Completely Disorganized and No Transparency
We booked a combined Kenya-Tanzania safari through Okoa Africa Safari (Kenya operator). We were dropped off at the border, and Seven Wonders picked up the Tanzania portion of our tour.
We are experienced travelers who generally don’t mind small hiccups or slight plan changes. However, we experienced many issues on this safari that were unacceptable. No matter what tour agency you select, you will see the animals and the landscapes. If you don’t want those memories clouded by stress, uncertainty, and worry, pick a more reputable tour agency. This is not a professional outfit.
We were dropped off at multiple locations that didn’t match our provided itinerary with no Wi-Fi / service to contact the agency. In one instance, the next driver showed up 15 hours late. There was a lack of information and transparency that left us feeling unsafe, vulnerable, and stranded.
A flat tire is reasonable and common. However, setting off on a three-day safari in the Serengeti with a damaged, leaking radiator is negligent and unsafe. We were stranded for two hours because the engine overheated and had to make several other stops to check on the vehicle throughout the tour.
Despite paying for an all-inclusive (planned) safari, we had independent or sub-contracted drivers who were not aware of our itinerary —including what parks we were to visit, where we were staying and the logistics of our next (unexpected) hand-offs. These drivers also didn’t have our information and we were forced to trust they were somehow affiliated with the company.
In one specific incident, a driver had no idea what our final destination was or where we were staying. This driver attempted to pick up friends along the way until we demanded to be taken to our accommodation. He didn’t know this accommodation, so we told him to take us to the accommodation we stayed in before we departed for the park where we knew we would have access to Wi-Fi to call for help. We then had to go to the new accommodation that was not on our provided itinerary.
Other issues we experienced:
1. Our accommodations didn’t match those listed on our itinerary and we were never provided with an updated version.
2. None of the jeeps were affiliated with Okoa Tours or the Tanzanian counterpart called Seven Wonders, despite other legitimate companies having branded vehicles.
3. All jeeps’ were older than the pictures provided and the charging outlets did not work as described.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Scammy! Avoid!
If it wasn't for the avant practices, this would have been a good safari. I paid to upgrade, and was still dumped at a hotel that was equal to a half a star, in a neighborhood that was scary, even for a wild traveler as myself. When I brought this to Stephan's attention, he pretended that he was shocked, when I was there when he gave the driver the command to dump me there. He dodged the rest of my emails.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Horrible experience
We are of the opinion that we have been scammed by this company. We paid them but they never showed up to get us at the hotel. They said they will reimburse us but at the time of writing this review we still got no money back. I have all the proofs from the airlines companies and hotel where we were supposed to stay, that the bookings were never made. We advise against booking with Capture Tanzania. You can contact me for proofs.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Every day stress
The experience is fantastic, seeing animals every day is amazing. The problem is that we never knew what was going to happen that day or the next, the guide had no information. Every morning we would leave and we didn't even know in which hotel we would sleep. Everyone in the group had different itineraries with different hotels and different activities (many of which we didn't do). We made the reservation and payment with them more than six months ago. But then we found out that nothing was paid for. Neither the hotels, nor the entrance fees to the parks. We have had to pay our entrance fee to the Serengeti park and we don't know at this point if we will get our money back, the other people in the group don't even know if they will be able to travel tomorrow (we suspect that the company Capture Tanzania has not yet bought the tickets). The whole problem seems to be one of the owners, who seems to have had an accident (of which we have three different versions) has not been able to send the money to his partner who does nothing but lie to us on the phone saying that we will get what we paid for and at the end of the day we are still staying in hotels that were not in the offer, of lower quality and every day we have done less hours of game driving. If you are thinking of doing a tour with them we recommend looking for a serious company, because so far the only thing I can say is that we feel scammed by this company.
US
Crook, thief - Takes customers' money and does not deliver- Do not use this company.
Mike is a crook and thief. I trusted him and gave him a booking for 4 clients. The ran with the money and gave all sorts of excuses. After I sent the Tourism Police after him, he made all sorts of promises to refund my company. Used his children to make me feel sorry for him. I am still waiting for the payment.
RU
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
TERRIBLE BUSINESS PEOPLE
We have a charter with them in February 2022 for our VIP clients, and our charter was to pick up the guest from the hotel on Zanzibar Island and drop them at the Zanzibar Airport. They cancelled our prepaid flight last minute. The client was so angry and had taken us to court for this.
When we demanded a refund, they said they will but to date, we still waiting for a full refund. We feel we are scammed but the owner Albert Gombanila and is a very difficult person to deal with and always gets away with excuses. We would say that they are irresponsible liars and frauds.
Stay away from them