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!!
US
35-50 years of age
Review about Kora National Park by ~lustedtowander~
George Adamson struggled to protect this remote region from the devastating affects of poaching. If you go, you will witness Kenya as he knew it. Wonderfully remote and woefully sparse of wildlife.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Disappointing
For my husbands birthday, I booked a 6 night safari. I made the mistake of booking with Julius t. Safari in Kenya. Although, he has excellent reviews for Kenyan safaris, he subcontracts out safaris in Tanzania.This is how we ended up with Sunny Safaris. Our driver guide Khalifa, was unfriendly--not engaging at all. His English was poor. he tried to change the itinerary to suit his needs. We relied upon other guides to find wild life. We paid $6000 usd --very disappointing---older beat up land roovers
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Poor organisation cold food guide got lost guests had to walk back in the dark
Would avoid this camp all others visited were great.
TH
35-50 years of age
Review about Kakamega Forest National Reserve by CedricVandermeulen
"Forest" is not how I would describe the few hecaters of trees that make up Kakamega Forest National Reserve. If you want to experience a tropical rainforest, go elsewhere (Democratic Republic of Congo, for example).
TH
35-50 years of age
Unless being an absolute Rhino-fan, avoid Lake Nakuru
In my opinion Lake Nakuru is the most over-rated safari-park in Kenya. There are better options, which are cheaper, offer more wildlife, and much nicer safari experience then Lake Nakuru. Through, these options are not as easy to get to as Nakuru, however, they are well worth the effort.
Because at least in the other parks, you will see less tourists, you will see motivated park rangers taking their job serious, you will NOT see plastic bags hanging from the acacia trees when trying to spot a leopard, you will not be bothered by the sound of the disco at night, and you will see much more animals in a much better scenery.
