US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Can't be trusted. Kenneth Karuhanga is a fraud.
Four months ago we reached out to Ken for a proposal to organize our trip to Tanzania. He is based in Uganda but is also listed as leading tours in Tanzania on your website, and his proposed itinerary and reviews made him seem like a good fit. He said he would be the guide for both our six-day ascent of Kilimanjaro and our five-day safari from Moshi. He asked for a $1000 deposit to cover national park fees and staffing costs, which seemed fair.
One week before the trip Ken told us he needed more money since it was the holiday season and costs were higher. We felt it was unfair to change the budget right before we started traveling, but agreed to move forward with the trip as planned and to pay the extra sum when we arrived.
When we arrived in Moshi and expected to meet Ken, we instead met a woman named Neema Mushi who runs an agency called Licious Travel Adventures (also on your site). She explained that Ken was not coming to Tanzania at all, that her price of the trip was under budget and that Ken had not forwarded any of the deposit money we had sent him.
We spent many evenings frantically trying to reach Ken and recover the deposit money to run our trip as planned, but Ken said he had needed the money for "another project" and couldn't send it right now. He finally sent $175 to Neema, but that didn't cover half of the new price increases she insisted on.
Possibly worst of all we learned that Ken had been pushing Neema lower and lower on her price, while asking us for more and more money. When we asked him what he felt he did to deserve the $825 cut he took for himself, he said something about booking the one hotel we stayed in during our trip.
Our experience with Ken was one of: 1) misleading us to believe that he would be leading the trip; 2) never once mentioning he was reselling our trip to an extreme budget agency; 3) lies about early cost increases of the trip and sticking us with the bill of the actual increases; 4) theft of our deposit money (he still refuses to return it)
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Was not warned about the terrible road to the Outpost
My car was a two-wheel drive Jag and it took a lot of damage on the rough 4x4 road to the Outpost and I now have to pay almost R20,000 to get it repaired. These costs would have been avoided if I was warned not to attempt to take this road with a normal vehicle but rather to leave the car at Pafuri Gate and get picked up by one of the lodge's vehicles.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Theives
Do not under any circumstances book with these people. We have been waiting for almost 2 years for compensation......$6000 !!!!!!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Serious issues before we embark. Planning on canceling.
We have traveled to Africa few times for Safari. We plan on heading for a Wildebeeste migration in September 2017. We paid a $400 advance to Cate on January 10th.
Prior to the payment, we received frequent emails inquiring about our plans. However, things dramatically changed right after the payment on January 10th. We received no response; nor have we received confirmation on the lodging (we were quoted for Keekorok) since. I have emailed Cate over three times requesting a date for the reservation (we need it to sign off on our vacations), noting that we are flexible with dates in September. Sadly, we have not heard anything yet.
This is turning out to be a serious worry and I feel that the $400 is already lost. I am in the process of filing a charge with my credit card provider.
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Do not use Bramwel Safaris
In 2016 I planned a trip to Tanzania with the Tour Operator Bramwel Adventure Safaris. I purchased a tour for two people for ten days (four days at Monte Meru and six days of Safari). I paid 3200 USD in advance in July 2016; the price included a guide, accommodation, food, and park fees. On 9th September we arrived in Tanzania where we spent the night in Arusha, and on the 10th we left for Monte Meru. While on the trip the manager of Bramwel Adventure Safaris, William Almon phoned our guide to let him know that he had had a problem with his credit card and asking whether I could rather use mine to pay the fee to enter the National Park at Arusha. He reassured me that he would have refunded me with a bank transfer, since I had already paid everything in advance. In total I paid 595,90 USD.
I went back to Italy on 19th September 2016 and, since then, I have several times written to William Almon asking for my refund. With various justifications he delayed it, though he never denied that he owed me the money. I sent him my last request on 28th December and, once again, William Almon promised that I would have promptly received my refund, but, once again, I have received nothing.
MX
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Scam Tour Operator (works close with Arusha Police Department)
My wife and I were booked a 5 day Safari Tour with Felix Kisamo (owner of Unison Safari) from January 1 2017 to January 6 2017.
To everyone reading this reviews "Do not book Unison Safaris" for any reason, is a dangerous tour company runned by a man called Felix Kisamo who works close with the local police department of Arusha to get away with his scams.
He will offer very good prices and promise you the time of your life but once you book with him he starts a "game" of lies asking always for more money.
We were scared for our lives as he picked us up from the airport (he didn't had money even to pay for the gasoline of the car he was driving us with) he told us he had lost all of our money because he kept it at his office which he said was robbed, we demanded him to go straight to the police and the detained him and explained that he has been doing this type of scams for quite some time (the police told us he was not robbed) and that he is full of personal debts and is spending the turists money who book with him to pay them but by doing so he doesn't fulfill what he agrees with tourist as a tour operator (accomodation, guided, park fees, etc.). We spend a whole day at the police station as they tried to make him pay us all the money we had previously paid him (around $3,500 USD) and were only able to get $1,000 USD out of him (after he went with family members collecting money to pay us back), so we had to book with another tour operator having lost $2,500 USD.
We have nothing to gain by writing this other than helping future tourists from being scammed by Mr. Felix, we were also told that many positive reviews you see of him are part of the "scam" as he arranges with people to write them for him to lure more tourist to his scams.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
8 Day Safari to Northern Kenya - highly unprofessional management
Itinerary: Nairobi – Maralal – Loyiangalani (Lake Turkana) – Kalacha – Marsabit – Samburu
First of all, this itinerary is really worth following, especially if you don’t want to just follow the usual touristic path.
Unfortunately, during those 8 days we encountered several grave problems with the tour operator and the manager Mr. Dickson Wambugu. The organization and also the handling of occurring problems was highly unprofessional and therefore we do not advise future clients to book tours through this tour operator!
We booked the tour well in advance, and about a month before departure we transferred the total amount (about 4800$) to the tour operators bank account as requested. Apparently the money was needed in advance to book rooms and organize car, driver and cook.
Several problems occured during the journey :
-Money: The driver and guide were not provided with enough money for the package we had booked. So at some point we had to lend them money in order to proceed with our journey, because the tour manager Dickson Wambugu was not to be reached. Highly unprofessional handling of the whole situation and we had to fight really hard to get that money back! Voluntarily almost no communication with the client throughout this whole situation.
-No accommodation was booked in advance even though the tour operator clearly indicates that in the program. That always made us loose precious time.Some of the campsites do not even exist anymore.
-We booked fullboard. Apparently the driver and cook had not been informed and we had to fight to get it. The food cooked the cook was good, whereas the restaurants offered were very basic and sometimes not very proper.
-Old car with many security issues: no seatbelts, no equipment (e.g. shovel), broken battery (with no money left to fix it)
Overall, the organization and also the handling of occurring problems was highly unprofessional and therefore we do not advise future clients to book tours through this tour operator! Back in Nairobi we reached out to the tour operator to discuss all problems in person. It remained really unsatisfying, because nothing was really explained and no real apology was presented.
We had a good time during this safari because we tried to concentrate on the positive things, have a good time as family and learn about the beauty of this country. However, having chosen a different tour operator surely could have improved the experience and saved us a lot of stress!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Liars, cheaters, scammers
I booked with this company in December 2015 for a safari in March 2016. I was required to wire over $4,000USD to reserve my safari. After doing so, I noticed a few bad reviews so I contacted them about a partial refund if I changed my mind. The refund policy was provided at the time of deposit allowing for cancellations on a tiered level. I then booked with another well-known company and proceeded to request my deposit money from Tembea. They stalled for many months consistently telling me that they would send a refund April 2016. With lies and excuses it was then promised at the latest November 2016. I went on my other safari in March, as planned, and could see evidence of disreputable companies waiting at the reserve gates or being denied entry and realized I had made a better choice on my second try. I have to date received nothing from Tembea but excuses and promises never kept. At this point I have realized I have lost my deposit completely. Choose another company. Very unscrupulous vendor.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fraud - None of our reservations were made despite pre-payment. Do not send them your money!!
We pre-paid for a 7-day safari and 7-day Kilimanjaro trek. Despite pre-paying in full before arrival, none of our reservations had been made as promised. The owner also reversed the order of our safari and mountain trek without notifying us until we arrived. As of this writing, Bramwel Safaris owes me more than $5,000 USD which they are unable to pay.
If you send this company money, you risk arriving in Tanzania with nothing -- no hotels or lodges, no guides, no park fees paid. There is a word for this - it is called theft.
SE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Owner cancelled the trip 4 days before arrival!
I will do my absolute best to hereby share my experience with African Sunset Safaris in the most objective way.
Note: This review do only cover their services in regards of booking accommodation and their general way of working and communicating, since Mr. Haron (the owner) decided to cancel the trip only 4 days before arrival!
Mr. Haron is a well-spoken person. The problem is that he lies a lot!
He lied about the condition of the tents at our confirmed accommodation, and therefore asked us to pay more to move us to another hotel.
He lied about the cost of our accommodation when calculating on our refund.
He lied about the Kenyan tourism levy rate (6% instead of 2%).
He told me it is against the Kenyan law to share the receipt of his payment to the hotel (I have not confirmed this, but I find it very hard to believe).
All in all, his last-minute cancellation made us find another agent in very short notice, in peak season.
It cost us 300 USD more than initial agreement, for the exact same itinerary due to out-sourced jeep rental.
I would never recommend African Sunset Safaris to anyone.
Full time line:
October 10th: We agree on booking of 2 nights at Mara Leisure Camp + game drive in jeep + transport from/to Nairobi at 1400 USD for 2 persons.
October 16th: I transfer 945 USD (~70 % of total amount) to Haron as deposit.
October 24th: Haron confirms payment is received and "hotel is cleared".
Dec 18th: Haron emails: "I had to move you from Mara leisure to Sarova Mara due to unavoidable reason being at Leisure the were affected by the short rains two weeks ago and currently most of there tents are under Maintenance." ... "I kindly advice we shall have a small hick on the price by USD 250."
Dec 19th: I find Haron's message suspicious and contacts Mara Leisure Camp directly to verify that their tents actually are under maintenance. Their sales manager dismisses this false facts and personally guarantees there are no problems with their facilities. They also say "your booking is still on tentative status awaiting for payment to confirm". (meaning my pre-payment had not yet been received by the hotel!)
Dec 21st: I get back to Haron: "We believe we will be very satisfied with Mara Leisure Camp, even though the tents are in bad condition.
I want you confirm the booking of a Nyati tent at Mara Leisure Camp ASAP and send them the money to confirm the reservation before it gets lost to any other client."
Dec 21st: Mr. Haron now seems to feel neglected and decides to cancel both the safari game drive and transport! However, he promises to pay the money to Mara Leisure and refund us the remaining amount of 200 USD.
Dec 22nd: I asked Mr. Haron about a reciept for his payment to Mara Leisure to confirm that 200 USD is the correct amount to refund. He now refers to their listing rates instead (which is higher that his agent rates) and concludes that I actually owe him additional 35 USD, but in the same e-mail he also states that he is willing to refund 200 USD anyway as a Christmas gift (?!).
Dec 22nd: Still without showing any receipt of his payment to Mara Leisure, I at least get the 200 USD in refund.
Jan 10th: After a number of emails to Haron and Mara Leisure Camp, I finally received a copy of Haron's payment of 716 USD, i.e. 264 USD less that what he tried to tell us when referring to their public listing rates + Christmas supplement.