US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not honest
Marcus started off being honest until the USD came in to play. Beware.
BE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Verry bad experience
This was my first time booking a safari from Focus In Africa but I didn't realize it would disappoint me so much. I have booked from many places before and they provided me very good service, their staff was very good. But the staff of Focus In Africa treated us very badly. When asked anything from them, they do not say anything, and behave excessively. I booked a 3 day safari. The first day was fine but the next two days made me even worse. Those who don't want to be scammed like me should not book Focus In Africa Safaris.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very Dissapointing!
This is a very small preserve with few animals. You see the whole property in a day. After that it is very repetitive. They also have a few of the big five on premises. Nothing like a real natural park. The food is very mediocre, buffet style with little daily change to the menu. They group you together in groups of 10 people. Of the 10, 6 left Zulu Nya early because of the above reasons even though they had paid for a set number of days. They have signs all over saying that if anything is stolen on the property they are not responsible. We had quite a bit of cash taken and the management did nothing about it. There are so many other wonderful reserves and parks to go to, there is no reason to go to Zulu Nyala!
CH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing - Very Dishonest and Zero Empathy
This is a very dishonest business, under the guise of a professional one.
Background story : we booked a gorilla safari at the end of last year.
There were already some misunderstanding with "Alpha", our contact person, because of the way that the different hotel options were presented, which was confusing to say the least.
Due to a very serious family emergency, we had to cancel ten days before the beginning of the trip.
Having already paid a hefty deposit - 3,600 USD - we asked if at least part of it could be refunded.
We were told - several times! - that they would provide a refund of 800 USD by the third week of January...
It's now June and the refund is nowhere to be seen.
I am attaching a copy of most of my interactions with "Alpha", where he openly mentions that the refund will be processed.
We are hoping to go back to Rwanda next year. However, this will be most certainly not with Gecko Safaris.
AE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was not nice trip at all
The guides guy wasted time as much he could. He didn't pay attention to our question and
we didn't get a chance to find the male lion at the same day another car got this chance. We saw some animals from far destination coz of the bad coordinating with the others. He didn't make any effort to give us a nice tour . Finally he requested to get tip for the good job!!!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nice safari, but the overall interaction with the company was terrible.
The safari was a great experience, however, the experience outside of that was horrendous. The tour operator that we dealt with was very inconsistent and unreliable, not keeping agreements that were made prior to travelling to Arusha. Following from that, there were certain shady behaviours that were displayed throughout the experience, such as never confirming transfers post-safari, demanding cash the night prior to the safari (rather than at the beginning of the safari - as agreed upon), intimidating us on the way to the airport, asking for a sum of cash for the transfer to the airport, even though it was agreed that this sum was apart of the lump value we paid prior to the safari. All these actions left a blight on what was a great safari, so if you can go with a better operator I would highly recommend that for a bit of peace of mind that it may go a bit smoother.
Be careful of this company!
I would urge HIGH LEVEL of CAUTION interacting with the main point of contact, Erastus.
He was incredibly evasive when trying to get information regarding the tour from him, and did not provide any details of the itinerary at any point.
We had agreed to pay the remainder of the deposit at the start of our safari. However, within minutes of us arriving at our hotel the day before the safari, he sent someone to demand we pay the remainder of the deposit... very suspicious on how he would know where we were staying! As this information wasn't provided to him yet.
I had organised drop off at the airport with him for 40USD. On the last day, no one, whether that be Erastus or the driver told us how we would get to the airport. At one point, Erastus said we will get picked up by the clock tower in Arusha.... no one (including the driver) knew where the clock tower was. Eventually, a fellow traveler told us that we were getting dropped off at his hotel.
At this point, Erastus appears out of nowhere and says he will accompany us to the airport with the driver. Throughout this whole time, he was trying to intimidate us and eventually forced us to pay him 50USD for the trip.
I would highly recommend you consider another operator than mafie adventures.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unprofessional
We were told we had to pay an additional $1600.00 per person once we arrived in Tanzania in order to get into the parks. Supposedly there was a change in government regulations the week before. We were told if we did not pay we would not be able to get into and out of the parks where we were on safari. The trip had just started so we paid as we were not going to turn around and go home.
Safari legacy (Pratik) promised us we would be refunded the money within a few days. None of us have received the refund and we are now having to fighty with our Credit Card companies to dispute the charges. Safari Legacy is fighting the claim saying we did go on safari so there should not be a charge. Pratik is now radio silent and obviously 3 months later has no intention of paying us back. Also the vehicles you will be traveling in on safari are very old and have no suspension. Very rough ride each and everyday.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Bait and switch
We are 3 weeks into a trip with Wayfairer. So far they have greatly disappointed us. We requested, had confirmed and paid for 5 star lodgings. The average price we paid is $3,500 per day. They have put us in primarily $200-300 a night hotels.
We have multiple times asked them to correct hotels. They have corrected 2 hotels after we pointed out the big discrepancy. They have done nothing proactively.
Today we are checking into a $200 a night hotel by the airport. We are staying over night in Johannesburg for no reason. Their lack of planning has us here needlessly. We are taking a shuttle to a distant hotel when there is a hotel at the airport.
I am with my pregnant wife and our two children. I could not even have imagined such a bad experience for our family.
We feel ripped off. They claim to be a luxury travel company and they demand full payment up front. Then they book you in cheap hotels.
We believe that we have been scammed. Be warned.
EG
Does not fulfil promises
We believe we have been scammed. After being promised a full refund if we pay early, we did not get our full refund. Also, after being promised a reservation after payment, we checked with the hotel and no reservation was made.