AE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
we don't recommend this company
we just done Safari with this company, and it was very bad experience:
we booked a Land cruiser, it was very very slow, and it has almost no power, when overtaking its very dangerous, and the driver need very long clearance distance to overtake (sometimes it takes 20 min waiting behind a big truck who is driving 30km/h).
Driver was not exceeding 50-55 Km/h on the highway, for 6-7 long driving hours everyday ( this is according to my accurate Garmin GPS)
the worst part of the trip is the driver himself, we don't feel comfortable at all with him, he speaks English well, but he doesn't want to talk or explain anything about the country or the trip,and the way he answers any question it will make you think 100 times before asking him again.
he complains every time we ask him to stop for toilet, and he claimed that there is no toilets all over the way, until we forced him to stop.
he never ever give any straight answer when asking for the distance or timing to arrive to the camp,
we drive daily 6-7 hours from park to park, whenever we ask him where are we, or how long we still need to arrive?he answer ( we are not far). this is so annoying, so we start asking the locals when we stop in the petrol stations, and he also complains, and he said ( stop asking them they will not know).
we been in many many countries with privet drivers, but nothing was like this.
the driver is very important in such a trip, because you are all the day with him inside the car, and its serious problem if they make you feel uncomfortable.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
They Cancel our trip before 24 hrs our of departur to Kenya&Did not refund our Deposit of $11300.00
No star-No Star-No Star & if I have to give them a star then it is -10 or -100 star
We would like to rate Africa Remote Safaris very high, however we cannot do that because we never made it on the tour. Initially they were very helpful during our booking process, answering questions about the hotels and the particulars of the safari.
However this is where we must rate them Poor and we must advise no one else to book with them.
Several weeks prior to the trip, we had not heard back on our general email inquiries - this was not typical as they originally were very responsive. The day before our scheduled trip, we received an email from Africa Remote Safaris warning of increased Cholera cases in Kenya, and political unrest due to upcoming Kenyan elections. They advised us to cancel the tour, which We responded immediately acknowledging that we will cancel the tour based on their suggestion, and asked how we can proceed to get a refund of the $11,300 USD we had already spent on our deposits.
We heard no word from them for over 3 weeks. No responses to email. No one answered our calls.
Finally we received one email indicating they are sorry for the delay, and that employees are just now getting back to work and getting settled. However, we received no communication after that email.
Our tour was scheduled for July 31 - Aug 11. We cancelled the tour per their advice on July 29 (the day before we were to depart for Nairobi).
It is now September 1st, and we have still received no communication, other than that one email.
As much as we would like to give a high rating, we cannot.
Anything reading this "must not book with Africa Remote Safaris"
Not reply from them, sending 1 e-mail everyday
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The bare minimum in both the company and the driver!!!!
Well emails were essentially good in the beginning we had conflicting prices attempting to recharge us for something we've already paid for. Having to walk two blocks at 11:30 p.m. with all our luggage in downtown Nairobi only to be left by the driver another 20 minutes to go get the car. On the way to the safari he drove very slowly to get to our destination on the way back he speeded 15 miles over. No communication between the operator and the driver didn't know our agenda argued about it with us didn't know about meal prep didn't know much nor did he point it out to us. It was horrible didn't have water had to remind him about it. He was more of a glorified cab driver than a guide. Choose someone else for Safari so you're not stressed out on your trip because of the owner and the driver.
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Thieves!!!!
I booked a Safary with them and everything was fine until a hotel made a charge in my visa because they didn't pay the hotel when I already payed them all my expenses
I tried to get in contact with them but never answer
Don't book with them!!!
PL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Car crush & stolen money - make sure not to book any trip with It Started in Africa!
The safari with It Started in Africa was a series of bad adventures and lost money.
The trip started with a car crush with a fuel truck in the middle of Ngorongoro conservation area, caused by our car breaks malfunction. It was very dangerous situation, fortunately we managed to continue the trip next day in a new car (even it worse shape), without very serious injuries, but being really shaken up, in pain and with multiple bruises.
Secondly, the problems with financials appeared. Enough though we covered all the fees and permits in advance we were forced to pay again for entrances to National Parks. Not only we had to cover the expensive payments again, but also we were hold on each gate for hours, losing time planned for our safari (above on a whole day that we already lost due to the car accident). Moreover, it turned out that the company did not pay their subcontractors as well, e.g. for our car rental. Therefore, on a final day of our safari we were hunted through the Ngogoro crater by the car owner, who insisted on immediate car return. Instead of enjoying the nature we were forced to participate in multiple arguments between our driver and the car owner about the missing money. The problems continued also upon our arrival to Zanzibar where we had to repay multiple transport fees, which again we already covered by us before.
We discussed it with the ITIA office multiple times and did not receive any attention or support, at certain point the office simply stopped answering the phone or returning emails.
We are also aware that this was not an exceptional case, as during our trip we have met several other groups, who had to repay the fees already covered and like us lost a lot of money.
We selected ITIA as tour operator due to their highly positive reviews at TripAdvisor. Unfortunately, those turn out to be absolutely not true. Not only they stole money from us, but most importantly they did not ensure safety and support during our trip. Make sure you never book any trip with It Started in Africa office.
US
Scammed
We got duped for 5k from this company. We paid in full and the company ran off with everyone's money. Someone removed the trip advisor comments of everyone beginning to try and figure out what happened. Endless lies and deceit.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our deposit $4000US missing
We have planned a Safari for December2017 and received the same email as everyone else about someone running off with the money
We were told our trip is safe and is with another company.
When we contacted that company it is not so
So rang all hotels on our itinary some booked some not, none have received any payment
This is very disaapointing...Do not go with this company
We have tried to contact all Tanzanian tourist boards and even the Tourism Minister and are waiting replies
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
This company is fraudulent! I lost $2900! SCAM. Do not book!
I, like so many others on these reviews, paid thousands of dollars to It Started In Africa. We have lost all of the money. The owners claim the company who they subcontract for advertising took the money. It is absolutely untrue. We wired the money directly to ownership. Clients were stranded, and in our case, we lost $2,900.
Per our contract, I attempted to get out of our safari, as the contract clearly states that I may do so and take a 20% loss. I chose this option over taking a chance on this horrific company after clients began posting that they were being left stranded on their trips. I have now submitted two requests and the owner is no longer responding.
I am now seeking legal counsel in Tanzania and working with government agencies that oversee tour companies in the hopes of legally prosecuting this fraudulent company. Please read the reviews so many of us have posted. We have lost so much money.
KW
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Look For Somewhere Else !!!!!!!!!
When my flight arrived at 10:30am driver wasn't there I waited 2 hours for him to arrive. And the driver wasn't my actual tour guide he is a tour guide for another group. His excuse for arriving late that his car was damaged, but in the end I found out he was lying and my actual tour guide made a deal with this other tour guide (Who will pick another group that I don't know) to go to the airport to pick me up because I was solo. And because of that he arrived late cause the other group's flight arrival is at 1:00pm. My trip plan is private tour which means driver must to pick me up alone without other group!!!!!!!!!!! And to top all that the car was in super bad condition. To sum up this company is a so unorganized, very old vehicles, don't care about customer satisfaction, and do whatever they want to do without even asking beforehand if I agree or not. Please avoid so that you will not end up with similar experience or even worse.
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Terribile situation
We had a safari planned by ISIA from 22nd to 27th August. Four days before our leaving from Italy, the sales office emailed us to cancel our last bank transfer as the company was going bankruptcy.
Thereafter we emailed many times to them, to the Chairman of the company, to the Italian Embassy in Tanzania and to the Tanzania Tourism Board.
Till the day before our leaving the Chairman wrote that our safari was on and not to worry about that. We ourselves contacted the accomodations and many of them answered that no booking had been made for us by ISIA. Moreover we read recent reviews (now cancelled) on TripAdvisor of people whose safari was on in August telling that they had to pay for their accomodations and for park fees. At that point we decided not to leave to avoid to loose some more money.
The total amount we paid to ISIA for the safari was 4,600USD so we contacted a lawyer whose name was given us by the Italian Embassy to ask him to assist us to recover our money.