50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Still awaiting a refund of costs we incurred
Please do not book with Golden Travel.
We booked with them in 2015 and found hotels had not been paid or were only part paid.
We ended up paying an additional $6,500 having already paid in full for the holiday.
Despite reassurances 14 months later we are still waiting for Golden Travel to reimburse.
Do NOT use this Company
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very Corrupt
We were completely taken advantage of by Tony of Kapolondo Expeditions. We inquired through this website for a 5 day safari. We were responded to promptly and given a quote for a private tour for two persons. We paid ahead of time and thought everything was fine until Tony picked us up from where we were staying and took us to a supermarket to get in the jeep. There were 3 other people in the jeep. When I told Tony that he had booked us on a private tour, he said there must have been some confusion. I didn't have the emails printed with me then so I told him we would have to look at it and fix it. What I didn't know then either was that I was being sent with a different company 'Sandlot Tours' and we would never see Tony again. I thought we would be able to work it out with him along the way. I have all the proof that says I booked a private tour and was charged for one. I also have the proof of payment from the other people on the tour who paid half the price we did. I had our guide get a hold of Tony who said that he would sort it out when we got back. He was supposed to transport us back to our hotel at the end as per his agreement with Sandlot Tours (which we didn't know), but he didn't show up and we were stranded in Arusha and had to find our own way back. I believe he didn't want to come meet us because I would have help him to his mistake. He will not respond to any emails I send him now even though he was very prompt before the tour. I just want the difference in money back. At first I thought he had just made an honest mistake and would fix it when he had the chance, but now I realize that he is very corrupt. I had an good time on the safari, we saw lots of wildlife, but we were definitely on the most budget tour I saw and if I paid the same as the other people I would be very happy. As it stands, I feel completely taken advantage of and I can't believe that safari bookings works with such a corrupt company!
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
We were not picked at the airport and abandoned
Eugene of Africa Exclusive Escapes is a conman. He did not pick us from the airport on 1st January 2016 and he switched off his phone. We had paid a deposit, thanks God not the full amount of the safari. We went by ourselves to the hotel in Nairobi (Hotel Boulevard) to discover it was not even booked. Finally we had to resort to another contact of tour operator in Kenya to continue our experience. This company might already be closed, most likely, but in case it is still operational, be careful that these are conmen.
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Booked for Tsavo est and Amboseli they changed it in 2 days in Tsavo without telling me in advance!
Once i joint Tsavo i found the agency had still to send money to pay the fuel for the second day in Tsavo. I lost 2 hours waiting for the money to come! I ve booked for a jeep but the agency at the last second told me there wasen t any jeep but a van. The price was low but how many troubles!
EE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not reliable
We ordered 4-days safari Tarangire-Serengeti-Ngorongoro, instead of Tarangire they sent us to Lake Manyara! And in the end we did not see Tarangire National Park at all as if you are in the safari already there is nothing you can do! We wrote them and asked refund for the day we didn't get in Tarangire and there was no answer from them. I would definitely not recommend this company as you might not get to national park you wanted to go and for what you travelled to Tanzania at all! This company cannot be trusted!
US
Stay away from this company. I would give 0 stars if the site allowed
First I want to state the good:
- Lucy, the owner will respond to all e-mail inquiries very promptly before you book (remember this later, all immediate responses only come before you book and for anything after you make payment you are on your own).
- The driver Cyrus in Maasai Mara is excellent. He is really friendly and will go out of the way so you have a good game drive.
- Remember we are in Africa here. It is just beautiful and like no other place you will see. With or without a bad safari tour, you can't miss the beauty and wildlife all around.
The bad:
- Pretty much everything else.
- We paid $1000 extra to fly from Maasai Mara to Serengeti to avoid a long drive and wasting time on our short trip. Not only did Lucy screw up the flight and we still had to do extremely long drives, but she waited to tell us after we had started the trip and had paid in full in cash. Had she told us beforehand, we would have canceled and gone with another alternative. She's either dishonest or incompetent and neither is a good reason to waste your money on this tour company.
- The trip is not quite 8 days as promised. Obviously we wasted a lot of time driving to make up for the lost flight from Kenya to Tanzania, but by day 6 you are pretty much done.
- The safari driver in Tanzania was really reluctant. We were mostly done with game drives after lunch and would go back by 2:30 or 3 when other people were still out on their game drives and late afternoon is the best time to see animals. The Tanzania part is not run by Shelter tours, they just get a local company to take you around.
- After the trip was unexpectedly changed on us, we repeatedly asked Lucy for the new itinerary and didn't get one until the trip was almost finished. We were basically at the mercy of the Tanzania driver.
- The worst part was that we had paid for Sopa and Serena lodges (3-4 star equivalent) throughout the trip, and because Lucy changed the itinerary, we ended up staying in a simply terrible place in Lake Manyara on the last day. In the original trip there was going to be no stay in Lake Manyara and this was Lucy's pleasant surprise for us. It looked like a rundown dilapidated building, we were the only guests there and the food was bad as in did not taste bad but spoiled. They do not seem to have any guests so they must keep refrigeration and stuff off. simply disgusting considering how much we had paid. Any decent tour operator would have refunded us for the flight ticket and the terrible Lake Manyara hotel that we never agreed to but not Lucy. She stopped answering our desperate e-mails on about day 4 and we just gave up. Someone needs to shut her down. No conscientious person would charge for a luxury tour and give you this kind of experience. I strongly suspect the one review on this site that says they are excellent was written by Lucy herself. We really felt cheated by the whole experience.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beware. Possibly scamming your money
I contacted this company through this site. I am not sure even now if the company is real or a fake "brief case" operator that steals your money. When i contacted them through here their email address was different to what is now listed. It was ***@gmail.com, now i see the change im thinking they change it once they get bad reviews.
I contacted them a few months apart and was given a different price for the same tour each time, when i asked why the price difference for the same tour, was told prices had gone up but they would give me a discount to match the original quote. Originally my emails were answered by a Debby, who then put a formal name stamp on emails of Deborah Kanini. Eventually when i asked more questions the emails were simply signed, Regards. I asked at one stage who i was speaking to and the person replied Debrah, spelling her own name wrong !
I was given a bank account to make a deposit into and i said i was making a payment that week. Luckily i got held up and never got to bank to make payment because the day after i was meant to pay i received an email from them saying they had to close that account, please cancel deposit and make another payment into another account, they supplied a new account number. This sent alarm bells going, so i never made payment. When they worked out that i hadnt actually paid and didnt need to reverse any payment i was inundated with emails with many different reasons as to why they had to shut the account. Even got an email saying the money had gone through, please go ahead with planned tour, the rest of the money can be paid once you arrive in Kenya. Seem like a total scam company, their facebook page looks legit, but comments left are normally by "tourists" based in Africa. I have no idea why this happened, every now and again some of the reviews seem real, and they mention a Nancy, not the Deborah i seemed to strike. I did tours throughout Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa and never once saw a vehicle with either a Segein or a Serengeti adventure safari logo.
IN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Terrible experience with no accountability - Never pay in advance
This is a perfect example of an operator who will not care about you, once the money is in his pocket. I booked a 3 day plan for Ngorongoro, manyara and Tarangire.
As part of the safari, my requirement was to take night shots and early morning shots at the crater rim of Ngorongoro crater. For which I was carrying a tripod and other equipment. I booked through Mercury and specifically asked them over email, whether there is night stay at the crater rim, to which he responded YES.
When I actually reached Arusha, I was told about some other contact person (apparently from a 'sister' company). The jeep i got in was a shared jeep & they told me there is no crater night stay and it is only for people who go INTO Serengeti. The contact person Mr Loy in Arusha just forced me to go saying that he will make sure he talks to the agency and gets this sorted. (i didn't really have a choice, given that i had already made half the payment in advance)
When i was in Tarangire on the first day, and trying to call / message, all i heard was Mr Loy in Arusha blaming Mr Ndamungu in Mercury and vice versa.
It was such a depressing situation for me as a tourist, that i finally gave up.
In case you decide to book with them, please be advised that even if they commit to something, it might not happen. And they will ask you to be "flexible"
RO
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
African Scams
Well it seems that my experience with them was not that great, in fact it's still horrible. We booked with them the Kilimanjaro Trekking and Short Safari after that. Everything went just well until my boyfriend got diagnosed suddenly with pectoral angina and we were advised by the doctor to cancel the trip. So we did and more than one month in advance we contacted them to tell them the problem and if there is a way to get a refund of the money we already have paid. They said sure and no problem but they invoked the bank fees. So I suggested to pay the bank fees from our money and just send us the difference. After this they just stopped responding to phone calls, messages or e-mails. We can't reach them anymore even if we gave them an alternative and we agreed that we will pay the fees. They are just some african scams not trustable.
And Episode No #2:
They told me to post the medical documents on fb and safarbookings which of course I didn't do it because it's stupid and the documents are private. But I sent the documents to them by e-mail to prove that I'm not the one who lies in this story . The owner told me he will refund the money only if I erase the reviews on facebook and safaribookings which I did but more of curiosity to see how far can he go. Well what was already expected: since that (2 weeks ago) no sign from them again. So predictable I would say. It's not a big amount of money, maybe he feeds his family a week with that amount, honestly I don't even care. What I care about are the lies and the deep lack of respect. In conclusion I consider them scams not being able to assume a risk or facts not to mention to keep their word. I didn't go anywhere and neither I booked with someone else but how can you make understand someone who in fact has other interests?
BG
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Do not choose Global adventure safaris and do not trust to Edward Wilson Laiser
We have had a very bad experience with that company.
In Dec 2015 we contacted the company for a Machame route and 2 days safari for August 2016 and prepaid our safari tour based on their offer and invoice. In May 2016 we paid for another one person based on another invoice. So far, so good but the problems started in July 2016.
We informed Edward that one of the boys broke his leg and could not travel. It was 32days prior arrival and according to the company cancellation policy, he should give us 90% refund. Nevertheless he proposed 40% refund and said that they had changed their cancellation policy meanwhile. We have not received any refund yet.
In Aug 2016, 4 days prior our arrival in Tanzania, he informed us that we should pay an additional amount of 650USD and 250USD VAT, 900USD in total per person if we want to continue with our safari. His explanation was that we were included in a group with another 3 persons for the same tour package, for the same dates and they cancelled their trip the previous day.
During all that period we haven’t been informed that we were part of a group, what will be the price if the group collapse and what will be our options in that case. For me this provider offers safaris with misleading information with the purpose of fraud. The provider (if it is a real company) asked for an additional money in the last moment and rely on no chance of reaction from customer side.
After all our protests that he changed the initially approved condition in the last moment and that we didn’t know that we were part from a group, he promised to refund the full amount for 2 persons and 40% for the 3-rd person in 10-15 days. Now, 55 days later, we haven’t received anything.
Do not choose this fraud company, they will take your money and do not execute the promised safari.