IL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Con Artist Otieno left a brother who will help
Many of you who have suffered the consequences of Otieno, the owner of Kenya Walking, has a real chance to get their money back!
Mr. Jeremy, his brother was aware of Otieno's plan to cheat his clients, and now he is willing to give back!!
You can chose if yoiu want to call him at +254706892837, or to his Mother at +254725140666
They will gladly pay back.
Or, you can report them to the police, as they knew Otieno's plan to run away with money
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The worst experience in my life.
1- The driver tried to cheat us with the help of Massai Mara rangers selling us that we get a ticket due to we left the park 40 minutes later.
2- We booked and pay a private tour and the driver finally made business picking up more people and modifying our travel.
3- The driver left us in Maasai Mara village and we had to come back at lodge by foot with Massai’s help.
4- After to inform the central office about point number 3 the driver scream my boyfriend asking why we informed to liger safari.
5- After we finish the safari and inform to the manager about all the problems she told us that the drivers had a new safari the next day. They do not take care about their clients.
Today John (the driver) still work in this company.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
"African Beast No Show"
We only had one day in Nairobi which is why we booked this tour in advance. We waited in our hotel lobby for over an hour but African Beast Tours never arrived for a 9:30am pick up time. Fortunately we were able to arrange a last minute tour with another company. If that wasn't bad enough, I have been trying to get my deposit back since I returned from Kenya over 3 weeks ago. I have been emailing Kipawa, the owner, who says he's still working on it. I wanted to give him a chance, hoping he would do the right thing. I have since given up on him and had to file a claim with PayPal instead.
You might want to avoid African Beast Tours.
There are many other dependable and reputable tour companies to choose from.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
FRAUD! WILSON KIBIRIR iS A CON ARTIST. I Fully prepaid for family vacation - services not delivered
Wilson Kibirir has since gone into hiding. Conman!
CN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
a very bad experience
We had paid for everything before we arrived in KENYA, but during the trip the driver asked us for money every day, at least $100 each time.They changed the bad hotel without inform us。 No one answered the hotline. We can't find staff when we came back to the office. Three travel group suffer from the same problem in the same day, so we had to go the police station, but the money hasn't been returned yet.
Please don't trust their record. This is a very bad company，they have cheated travelers for many times.
IN
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fraud. Just two days prior to tour commencement they wrote email that Safari is cancelled
We had booked the KWSS Safari for 13 days on 5th of July 19. Paid them advance of 50 percent of tour cost. It was to be our dream tour. The air Tickets to nairobi were on 19 th aug 19 for two of us. On 17th aug we wrote to KWSS to confirm for airport pick up transport.
They wrote back saying Safari is cancelled due to technical reasons and we may expect return of money paid between 60-90 days. We lost nearly Rs 250000/ besides air tickets and ruining our holiday plans as at this late stage as no other Safari is willing to accommodate us.
There is no contact number for KWSS. It has suddenly turned in to a nightmarish scam. How will anyone ever trust such Safari operators. All those unsuspecting tourists looted like this should join together to get justice.
Sanjay ( mumbai india) - +919867455169
IN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Fraud!!! Please file police complaint
I had my trip planned for first week August 2019 for which paid over USD 3,800 to KWSS and just couple of days before the trip they cut all communications and just went underground!!!
Called up the hotels who refused to retain our reservations since KWSS had not paid them even for earlier safaris. Had to re-do all the booking again with other operator.
Did file a police complaint on landing at Nairobi and followed-up again on my way back post Masai Mara. Would request all to please file police complaint as well as write to Kenya Tourism Board and other social media platforms to spread awareness and put pressure on authorities to take appropriate action against KWSS ensuring tourist monies are paid back.
There was also an news report in Daily Nation (Kenyan newspaper) on August 11, 2019 - "Duped and dumped: Pain of tourists in hands of fake agents" with reference to KWSS as well as to Mr. Otieno Lysaniash who are fleecing tourist from across the world.
I will also be writing to Kenyan Embassy, Tourism Board, leading influential travel bloggers as well as to the Commercial Bank of Africa (where KWSS has account) to spread as much awareness as possible.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Dishonest Company
I'm going to keep it brief, but in general, Ibrahim is dishonest with his customers and unfair to his staff. People considering booking with him should understand the risk of booking the cheapest option.
Three major issues:
1- When we were leaving Serengeti to go to Ngorogoro, we were told at the gate that Angose had not paid our park fees. Ibrahim's solution (by telephone) was for one of us to put the fees (about $700) on our personal credit card and then be reimbursed in cash when we got back. No one was interested in doing this because we felt it seemed like a scam. There's an online portal for safari operators to pay these fees online if they're not able to do it the usual way (pay in cash at the local bank) so it shouldn't have been an issue. We waited at the gate for several hours for Ibrahim to come up with a better solution. Eventually we went to park rangers ourselves and explained the situation and they told us that all we had to do was fill out a form and we everything would be fine as long as they paid the following day before we left the park. If the solution was that simple, and this has happened before (it's noted in another review on TA), then why did we have to lose an entire afternoon game drive because of it?
After my safari, I met another backpacker who used this company and the same thing happened to them.
2- Unbeknownst to anyone, I was booked for a 5 day safari and everyone else was booked for a 6 day safari. No one told us this and we didn't figure it out until the fourth night. On the fifth night, Ibrahim called me and told me, "Ok, your safari is over. You can either pay $150 more and do the last day with the group or take the public bus back to Arusha (2 hours at night)." I told him there was no way I was going to do either of those things. We hadn't gone to Manyara yet which was on my itinerary, I had spent all the money I had budgeted for this portion of my trip, and the bus is not especially safe for tourists (especially at night). He yelled at me and threatened me over the phone. It wasn't until I mentioned the police that he backed down.
3- The way they treat the staff is much worse than other safari companies I have worked with. There's no tent or meals for the staff. They sleep in the car and eat leftovers. Our guide told us that they're paid almost nothing and rely on tips to make a living. He also said that they weren't given enough money for the supplies so he had to pay for our bottled water out of his own pocket.
In conclusion, I think there would be more negative reviews but people either want to put the situation behind them or they're embarrassed to admit they've been scammed.
FR
absolute scam and fraudster - THEFTS
FRAUDSTERS AND THEFTS : run AWAY ! They are holding my deposit for two weeks now and they are avoiding my refund. I'll report them to the POLICE. DO NOT CONTRACT WITH THEM.
Do not engage with Yoeni Japheth
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
They canceled on me the day before
Communication and service was highly unprofessional. The organization confirmed the safari tour in advance, but canceled at 4pm the day before due to lack of vehicles. Upon calling them to see what options I had, they were neither helpful nor apologetic. Be careful in booking with this company. Since I never got to go on a safari with them, I cannot comment on that experience.