IN
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Mr Valentine Gumpo makes empty promises and I find him UNTRUSTWORTHY
Mr Valentine Gumpo had advertised for a 15 day Wildlife tour to Zambia from Lusaka from 11 to 25 Nov 2014,essentially to cover the Bat Migration at the Kasanka National Park--Lusaka--Upper Luangwa River -- South Luangwa River -- Victoria Falls from Livingstone -- end of tour at Lusaka.
He had offered a discount of 15% on payment of full tour fees ( USD 2800 ) , if paid 6 months in advance. A sum of USD 2380 was therefore remitted to him through my bankers in India , on 6 May 2014-this was duly acknowledged by him , though after my repeated persistence to do so.
My troubles started after he had received the money in his account. He has not given me, todate , the finalised itinerary together with the hotel/lodge reservations and a formal letter saying that I ( ABL Gupta ) have formally been booked for a tour with him-- this is the letter which is mandatory for me to get the visa from the Embassy of Zambia in India.
I am getting to be 79 and have travelled to various wildlife destinations in Africa 4 times in the past 10 years--my impression was that one could trust the tour Operators in Africa on their advertised word on the Net , as invariably I have dealt directly with them ( and not through a tour operator in India ).
I am of the belief that a Code of Honour exists in all such transactions -- but in the present case with Mr Valentine Gumpo, I feel , it is being belied.
I have requested him for a refund , but , on persistent prodding , he simply says that the tour is on.
I would be grateful if Safari Bookings could help me recover my money from him.
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A Safari without animals
Serengeti park was absolutely empty, during our two days.
When I asked to change area the guide told us to be patient and that animals would have come. But when and where?!
He also told us that moving trough other areas was too far, but we had to spend 6 hours per day into the park, so too far for what.
I am sorry but I spent 600USD for nothing.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Short on Cash
We used Jesse Mfoi with Naenda Safaris for our safari. Jesse did not have enough cash to get us through some Massai road blocks and getting us checked out of a hotel. The last couple of days I loaned Jesse $450 USD so our safari could move forward with the promise of repayment. Jesse ducked out on this promise when he left us at the airport. I was left stranded in the middle of my vacation with no cash.
Addendum to original review:
Jesse did wire $500 (extra $50 for fees) 10 days later to my account after I started warning people online about my issues. I consider the issue resolved.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Please do not take excursions from them!
Jeep we had was so old, that it stopped in the middle of the savanna at 17:00… they tried to repaired it, then called other drivers and made it work… but it was very bad experience!!!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
We never got to experience our life long dream of visiting the Vic falls
Between the travel agent who booked our flights and Falcon Safaris who booked our night at The Royal livingstone neither of them informed us of yellow fever certificates to enter Zambia so we got turned away boarding our plane. Therefore we never got to experience our life long dream of visiting Vic Falls and still had to pay full price for our very experience night booked at Royal Livingstone. All in all a terrible let down and bad service.
US
Mis-informatiom
I wouldn't put a lot of trust in SafariBookings. They keep sending me these surveys to fill out on my trip to Kenya. I've never been to Kenya and Never had a tour with these folks. I'd steer clear of this outfit.
AR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Shamefull Service and Communication
I was supposed to arrive to Arusha, Tanzania on June 12th at 9:30am, get picked up, pay my tour and depart for Ngoro Ngoro. When they picked me up and took me to the office they told me that I couldn’t get on the booked Safari because they had already left. When I asked why they had left they told me that Safaris leave at 8:30 always. There was never a chance to get on it. I called the guy who had booked this for me who was called Odera on his cell (he was't there at the time) and he told me to my face that I was never going to be able to get on that Safari. So he had lied to my face and he admitted it.
After talking on the phone for some time and seeing that he offered no solution to this other and something close to “such is life” I was stuck in Arusha with no hotel booking, and no Safari.
I ended up booking a Safari of course but had to pay them USD 200 more for a tour half day shorter than my original booking. I told them this and they didn't care. If I wanted to go with them I had to pay...
The Safari is OK, but Service and Communication is terrible. I've travelled everywhere and it is the first time this happens to me. I'd never book anything else through them.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The skeleton outline is there... you see animals, but in my opinion the service is pretty bad
So I will start this review with you will see a lot of animals. It has nothing to do with the guides they use really, the route they take never go far off the beaten path and once a guide finds something interesting all the other landcruisers and landrovers will soon be there. Just the same, by going to these areas you will see some amazing things. I would just advise you use another company. This group incorporates other names, perhaps in an effort to disperse bad reviews around to different groups. MJ safaris is one group that uses or combines with Trans Kibo.
This really regards the service provided by the company. It was a budget safari so initially I chalked up most of what you are about to read as related to that. However, on meeting several other people who took budget tours from Arusha it became very clear the service was sub-par even for a budget tour.
1. Our guide was non-talkative. He did not point out many animals and it took us prompting him to get him to speak. There were other passengers who were rude to him but he did not talk much.
2. The food was the same for four people as it was for two people. We noticed this cause two of us were alone the last day and the food was the same and much more filling. Multiple times we were hungry in between meals those first two days.
3. The big deal was how much we waited. We waited for many hours to enter the park with excuses like our bank is not transferring money, our credit card is not working still. This also applied to leaving one of the campsites. We waited every morning while other tours left. We were regularly the first to arrive in the afternoon and the last to leave in the morning. This amounted to at least 5-6 hours less drive time for a four day tour then other budget operators.
All in all, just really poor service. When a component of your tour is a bank, and they consistently mess up, the answer is not to blame them but find another group who doesn't F-up all the time.
After I contacted my operator and never received any response. So now I'll just recite my story here.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Chaotic
We booked accommodation at the Royal Livingstone Hotel through Falcon Safaris. We received confirmation from them and were asked for payment details. We then booked our flights to Livingstone. We were then told that the Royal Livingstone did not have any rooms available after all but it was too late to change our flights. We landed in Zambia and had to pay $100US for visas even though we were going straight over the border to the Victoria Falls hotel. This would not have been necessary if we knew we would be staying at the Victoria Falls Hotel as we would have flown straight into Zimbabwe. We also needed Yellow Fever injections which cost R575 each because we were going through Zambia. We were not told by the company about this and only found out by accident the day before we were due to leave. Luckily we found someone to do them at 6.30pm the day before our departure or else we would have not been allowed on the plane. When we were dropped at the hotel we were told the company would phone our room or leave a message of the time we were going to be picked up on the day of our departure. This never happened.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Worst Travel Experience EVER!!!
All I can say is do internet research before you give these crooks your money. Even if you get to Africa, you'll be stranded in country because they haven't paid their sub-contractors. The owner has even been arrested!!