CH
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
DON'T TRUST THEM
In January I enquired Orongai AS for a 5 days safari for late July. Since the beginning, I required to book ONLY lodges from the Serena Hotel Chain with an HB meal plan and to buy the flight from Arusha to Zanzibar for which I already had a reservation. The proposed program for the safari was meeting all my expectations and therefore I paid 50% of the total bill to confirm the trip (with 6 months advance).
FIRST SURPRISE: in June, after my request of details about the baloon trip that was listed into the proposed plan, we discovered that this was actually not included in the price I agreed (and already paid) but was an extra, costing "only" 510 US$ per person!!! After many e-mails back and forth with Martha, where I also proposed to pay 50/50 their mistake, I finally end up talking with the owner of the company (Mr Asseri) and I accepted, to pay the extra 510 US$. After we arrived in Tanzania, we were transfered to the first hotel where the Orongai rapresentatives showed up with more than 2 hours delay to the agreed breefing.
SECOND SURPRISE: checking out from this hotel, I discoverd that the meal plan was not HB as per the plan accepted by me and I had to pay 25 US$ per person for the dinner.
THIRD SURPRISE: the off-road car for the safari was a 30 years old Toyota Land Cruiser (much older than any other car we meet during the safari) with (probably) a few MILLIONS miles story: fortunately we had no mechanical problems (and this is a real miracle, considering the treatment this veicles receive) but the level of confort of that car was really poor.
FOURTH SURPRISE: we started the tour and we discovered that the plan was shuffled and instead of the agreed Tarangire-Ngorongoro-Serengeti sequence we would follow a Ngorongoro-Serengeti-Tarangire schedule.
FIFTH SURPRISE: despite my cash paiment for the ballon trip, they didn't succeed in boking that experience.
SIXT SURPRISE: when we were in Serengeti, we discovered that our hotel for the next 2 nights would have been a tented camp (and not a lodge as agreed).
SEVENTH SURPRISE: on the last day we discovered that the flight we were booked on was not the 5:10 pm one I originally requested but a earlier one (3:15 pm).
Based on this, would anyone trust them??
PS1: looking at other feedbacks in this site, looks like I'm not the only one having had this kind of disturbing experience with Orongai AS: probably the blame is not to be put on me
PS2: the only good thing of this safari were the guide (Gabriel) and the driver (Francis). They exceeded all our expectations under every aspect: nice and polite, skilled and commited
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Be aware!!!! Avoid this travel agency!!!!
The owner of Mushra travel agency Michael Ahabwe Mugerwa is such a untrustworthy!!!!
I am writing this review because I don’t want anyone to have the same bad experience as me and lose any money. Also they shouldn’t be in this business.
If I write about the whole experience I had with this company it would be such a long review so I will keep it simple but still quite long, sorry.
1, Micheal changed the original itinerary on Tourradar because on the first day of the tour no one picked me up from the hotel so the 7 day tour became a 6 day tour and I had to pay for an extra nights accommodation upfront which he has never refunded.
2, The accommodation near to the Queen Elizabeth National Park for the 3 night safari was actually 2 hours drive away from the National park! The first morning game drive we had to leave the hotel at 4am in the morning! So I had to ask to change the accommodation to something closer to the park.
3, They didn’t pay the activity fee on time to my guide, so I almost missed a few of the activities. For example, the chimpanzee trekking and even the main activity of the GORILLA TREKKING!!!!! Which is the main reason I went to Uganda in the first place!!!! I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to meet the gorillas so I had to pay the permit fee of $600 from my own pocket, of course! Micheal has never refunded that money either.
They use a payment system called ‘mobile money’ which supposed to be easy and quick so there are no excuses for them to not complete the money transfer to the guide.
4, During the tour the hotel asked my guide to pay the bill upfront but he didn’t have any money because Michael hadn’t transferred it to the guide on time so I had to pay again! Of course, he has never paid me back for that either.
5, On the last day of the tour in the evening I sent some messages to Michael about refunding all of the out of pocket expenses I had accrued and how much stress he had put me under during this tour. He messaged me back and said ‘my returning day in Kampala is 1st January which is a public holiday so no one is in the office.’ He promised me that he would meet up with me to pay me back when I was back in Kampala!!! There were many excuses to escape from the payment.
6, In the message he said “I am a dishonest person”, “I am taking advantage of them” and he said "he thinks I was treating them like slaves” etc.. Shocking!!!!
I went to Uganda because I just wanted to enjoy my holiday and meet the gorillas not to have extra stress and spend extra money unnecessarily. So please, please, please be careful with this Mushra travel agency and the owner Michael!!!!
I truly hope Tourradar team will investigate my issues and will protect the future innocent customers.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Everything was substandard after reading other people's reviews. We were mistreated + put in danger
We trawled reviews and websites looking at hundreds of operators, and settled on Wildebeest in the end because of pretty good reviews and also a willingness to book us in the resort that we wanted to go to. We did not use the one with 1600+ 5 star reviews.
We agreed on the price and all the inclusions beforehand, to include driver, 3 days 2 nights, all costs included for 2 adults 1 child 1 infant, for air-conditioning, pickup and drop off in Nairobi at specified times, a private 4wd tour, accommodation at our preferred resort, and also air ambulance evacuation cover. Communication was excellent.
We were picked up on time.
We never received confirmation of air insurance till we were nearly home on the last day – ensure you receive your policy numbers before you leave on safari to ensure you are covered while you are far from medical facilities!
The vehicle was fitted with a fridge, 2way radio and power points. We were unable to attach our baby seat to the car properly as it did not have the required anchor points for a baby seat- so we had to improvise and use the headrest as our anchor.
It wasn’t till we hit the dirt roads a couple of hours later where we noticed things going wrong. We had a tyre puncture in the searing midday heat. I was left in the car with a screaming 6 week old baby. There was no air-conditioning as promised AND despite their website also stating that “ALL vehicles are fitted with air-conditioning.
Driving on, our car was filled with thick dust – there was a hole in the floor allowing dust in. We resorted to wetting some baby clothes with our drinking water and blocking up the hole so we didn’t choke to death. The baby carseat I covered with a wet towel to try to trap the dust. My son was beside himself screaming with dust inhalation and heat. Then the ride got violently bumpy… in fact so bumpy I had to take him out of his car seat and hold him mid-air for suspension. I was afraid he would get brain damage with the violence of the car. My daughter was telling the driver he was going too fast, she was also being thrown around like a sack of potatos. Other Wildebeest and safari cars were flying past us without issue. So here I am holding my baby in a wet wrap over his face mid air for hours in midday heat… I started to message the company owner saying this was dangerous and I wanted the car changed. He didn’t bother to reply to me.
Outside the Masai Mara we were asked to change into another Wildebeest vehicle at the entry, and our car was taken to the mechanic. It turns out the suspension was broken.
The new 4wd was coasting along no issues with dust or bumpiness, so we knew we had been given a lemon of a 4wd.
My review of the resort is on its own post.
At the resort our driver didn’t engage with us much, sit with us or explain what the plan was, we were just left hanging. In saying that, he was polite and never rude to us, but lacked communication skills with us. I was watching Dennis, another Wildebeest guide, who ate, laughed and talked to his clients… and enroute was actively chatting, informing and having a great time himself.
The next day, the driver had lost his keys, so we were put into a van instead, having to get into our 4wd through dodgy unlocked windows to get our things out of the 4wd. Then someone told him they found his keys so we drove back to the “fixed” 4wd. We noticed more flaws with the truck – the 2way radio was never on, it didn’t even have a mouthpiece to speak through – so I guess we missed out on all the game sighting calls and were in danger should we have needed help in an emergency while out on safari. The drivers door was jammed so he had to exit through the window! The fridge and electrics just turned on and off with the bumpy roads… flickered and rarely even worked. Some of the seatbelts did not work, windows were jammed, the car was generally in very poor repair.
We did see all the park animals - except Rhino, which are too rare. The following day, we were meant to do a morning game drive, stop at NON TOURISTY souvenir shops (not the safari preferred ones where they get kickbacks and charge customers ridiculous prices). Our game drive was a hot footed exit out of the park, the driver didn’t speak, nor slow down, nor look for any animals. By this stage I was so furious with the company, I just wanted to get home. The owner never replied to my SMS or emails alerting him to the danger to my family and requesting a replacement vehicle. We had no other way to get home other than the same vehicle back. We stopped at one pathetically expensive tourist stop – you know with the special “guide waiting room” where they can chat, have drinks and wait for their customers to be ripped off blind and collect a commission. He knew we wanted to stop at either street sellers or the other numerous shacks set up on the road selling masaii wares, but he didn’t stop at those. Into Nairobi by 3pm, our driver did help us unpack and then even apologised for the terrible vehicle – again an admission from the company.
In ADDITION and the worst of it all – there is a pop top on the roof of the 4wd. One support strut had rusted through and I had noticed it was cable-tied down to stop it rattling – rather than being fixed. While driving home the 2nd strut failed and the roof crashed down. Had my daughter been standing at the time she would undoubtedly been killed. For an adult we would have suffered severe injury to the head.
I followed up with Noah the owner – he told me that the vehicle had come down from the north of Kenya and he had noticed that it was in very poor repair. Rather than talk to us and reschedule/give us the option, he just allocated it to us knowing we had a newborn and a toddler with us and required safety and air conditioning. I had even mentioned a reviewer before me mentioned an old vehicle and in poor repair, and had asked for assurance that this was not going to happen to us! At the end I requested a rebate of $250usd which was roughly the cost of a proper vehicle, which we FINALLY got after harassing them for months. Despite having kids, the owner doesn’t seem to have any insight into the grave situation they placed us in, nor care about his company reputation. I have read all the reviews, and know someone who has used them multiple times and likes them. From what I saw of other vehicles and Dennis, the company does have the potential to stand up to what other reviewers say, but we just drew the short straw and were really mistreated and put in danger.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unhelpful to the max
We booked our trip for 2020. They were very happy to help us select them and arrange the entire trip with them. They highlighted (over and over and over again) that they were a five-star resort, which to me means five-star assistance and service. Then COVID happened and they ignored our requests for help. We did have travel insurance (as they recommended) but they were not interested in helping us with the process. We will NOT be booking our next safari with Kenyazi.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
They reduced program without warning
After we paid them, they told us they would not do the game drive in the morning of the last day, because 2 months ago the government increased the price of the park entrances. It feels like a scam.
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Irresponsible; callous; unapologetic; indifferent to fact we paid for a service he could not deliver
Sold safari itinerary that proved to be undeliverable.
Driven in land cruiser with several major defects, many of which were significant safety risks.
The most harrowing part of the journey was during 14-hour drive from Makumi to Selous (which should have taken no more than 7 hours).
Just after 7pm on this drive, the headlights on the vehicle failed. It was dark and very remote where it happened.
The road was potholed and riven (a truck had been stuck in the mud earlier and we had waited an hour while villagers dug it out before we could pass).
The driver resorted to holding his mobile phone out of the window in his right hand,to shine the light from his screen on to road. His left hand held the wheel and he drove one-handed, with very little light from his phone, with hazard lights on.
The journey was completed agonisingly slowly in this dangerous one-handed fashion.
Because of the rain, it was also hard to distinguish the road from water on both sides.
We both thought we would die.
The following day we saw Steven, the company owner, at the river safari where he was with a group (from the hotel where we had been staying). He was in a more superior vehicle.
We were rightly angry. We tried to tell him about some of our experience of the tour, but he offered not one word of sympathy, still less any apology or acceptance of responsibility.
When we said our lives had been endangered, he said we should take it as an adventure! I am in my 70s and my wife is nearly 70. We do not need this kind of adventure at this stage in our lives. We are well-travelled and had ‘slummed it’ in our twenties.
When my wife mentioned that the hand rail came off when she held on to it as the vehicle tipped at 45degrees going through a rut, Steven said that it was probably because of her weight!!!
We pointed out to him that it was his responsibility to provide us with a vehicle that was fit-for-purpose. He responded that it was the rain that posed a problem to our journey having taken so long.
This is just an account of the worst part of the tour.
We bought a 4-day safari (84 hours) but spent spent a total of 31.5 hours travelling in the vehicle, with a mere 8 hours on actual safari in the two parks, Makumi and Selous.
We paid USD1800 and were provided with an unroadworthy, not fit-for-purpose vehicle.
The accommodation was changed at the last minute on the first day and we were put up in a place with no fan, air-conditioning or hot water.
The accommodation at Selous did have a fan, but no hot water for a shower after our gruelling journey or for an early morning shower. (They did provide hot water later in the day but no hot shower before our walking Safari before breakfast.)
It was a terrifying experience.
Clearly not value for money.
IS
20-35 years of age
Please be aware. This "tour operator" is running a scam. Do not give them a cent!
** UPDATE MARCH 2015
After six months of hassle, I have received a full refund of the safari trip I booked and pre-paid with Africa Flash Mc Tours last year. I cannot recommend their services, as this has caused me trouble ever since I was in Nairobi in September 2014 waiting for a safari guide that never showed up and couldn´t contact anyone from Africa Flash MC Tours (including emergency phone numbers posted on the company's website).
** UPDATE FEBRUARY 2015
I want to reiterate my review submitted in October 2014. No money has been refunded to me from Peter Njenga. I have been communicating with him for many months. He has repeatedly promised to send a refund but has not been a man of his word. Please avoid doing business with him and his company.
** ORIGINAL REVIEW
I booked a tour with Africa Flash Mc Tours for September 2014 and paid it 100% up front, $1150.
Nobody showed up to pick me up at my hotel as arranged with Peter Njenga, the phone numbers of the company and Peter were turned off and no one answered my email. I never got to go on the tour I had paid for.
I complained to the Kenyan police which is now looking into Africa Flash MC Tours and Peter Njenga. I have not received a refund from the company, I hope the police will stop him from scamming tourists coming to Kenya. Please be careful and do not deal with this company.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Nightmare Safari with EASTCO
Our trip with EASTCO is one that we will struggle to look back on with anything other than frustration. We were stuck with a guide who was rude, unprofessional, unsafe, had terrible communication and clearly cared nothing for us. And we were stuck with a company operating broken down vehicles, run down camps, and that clearly cared nothing for us. We found ourselves counting down the days until we could go home, and by the end of the trip, going along with ridiculous outings and schedules simply because it felt like the path of least resistance and our only survival mechanism.
Our troubles with EASTCO started before we even got out of Arusha when our guide, Melk, arrived 45 minutes later than our agreed upon time from the evening before and then spend an additional 20 minutes preparing the car while we waited. Then before we left the city, the engine started over heating causing him to pull over suddenly. After looking at the engine for a bit, Melk said that it would take an hour to fix. Assuming this was a low estimate – in fact he didn’t get to the crater until the next day – I said that this was not acceptable. Without saying a word to us that he was leaving, Melk then hopped on a motorcycle and road off leaving us in the truck surrounded by several guys that we hadn’t met. He came back after a few minutes and another truck arrived to take us to our hotel. It wasn’t the hotel listed on our itinerary, but it was nice so we didn’t say anything. The replacement driver suddenly stated that he was leaving as the hotel staff was greeting us. We tried to stop him to get more information on what was happening but all we could get out of him was that Melk had fixed the truck, was on the way, and would be here shortly. That turned out to be a lie since if Melk was on the road at that point he would have made it to the gate well before it closed at 6 pm. The replacement driver then quickly jumped in his truck and left before we could get his, Melk’s, or EASTCO’s contact info. We then enlisted the help of several of the staff at the hotel over the course of the evening and the next morning trying to contact EASTCO. The emergency contact number we were given didn’t answer. EASTCO’s number is not posted on their website. The hotel staff talked to folks at the hotel’s central office to try to find out who made the booking. Working with them before and after dinner and despite the hotel’s best efforts we got nowhere that night. The next morning we still had nothing and it was starting to eat into our time in the crater. Exploring Ngorongoro Crater has been a dream of mine for most of my life. I can see it from the hotel but I don’t have a way to get down there. Do we try to hire another company? Are there any guides that can take us into the crater at short notice? Suddenly Melk shows up and says – and this is an exact quote – “Ready to go?” “That’s all you have to say?” “The truck broke down. This happens.” “You couldn’t call the hotel?” “I didn’t have the hotel’s number.” This was an unprofessional and rude response, to say the least. This is a good time to point out that Melk would make 30 – 40 calls during a day of driving. He often claimed they were to the EASTCO office. Here’s five seconds of my time on the Internet hitting the front page of the hotel’s website. Their number is: (+255) 272545555. It is ironic that Melk continually took credit for being the car’s mechanic, and yet complained that it was not his fault when the car broke down.
After 30 minutes or so of awkward silence in the car Melk pulled over to offer a half-hearted apology which he followed with a rebuttal of my complaint that we paid a lot of money for the safari and we deserved to be treated better. Melk said that we may have paid a lot to EASTCO but we didn’t pay him a lot so it wasn’t relevant to him. He also offered that if he was unhappy then he would just follow exactly what’s on the itinerary and we wouldn’t see much game – basically what he did our second day in the crater.
It was clear that Melk had no ability to empathize with us – particularly when it came to us feeling safe. On our way out of Arusha he talked about how safe the city was and that anyone could walk alone any time of day – certainly not matching any other source of information we had heard. He would regularly pull over in villages without explaining, hop out of the car, and walk away with the keys in the ignition. On the way from the crater to Serengeti Horizons he pulled over and we were surrounded by several guys. One of them then jumped in the car with us. My wife asked “What’s going on?!” I said I had no idea. Melk then gave us a detailed explanation of the situation: “We give him ride.” At which point, we proceeded to drive into the desert, off the roads, and away from civilization. With a guide who clearly hated us, a complete stranger, no way of contacting the outside world, and no explanation or even a mention of “the camp is this way.” My wife has stated that she has never felt so unsafe in her life.
The accommodations at Serengeti Horizons did nothing to make us feel better. Our itinerary stated “semi-luxury” and EASTCO’s description of Serengeti Horizons included “full-size stylish wrought-iron or wooden beds with six-inch mattresses and all bedding”. In reality the mattress didn’t even cover the bed frame with the foot of the bed using a rolled pillow and cut up foam to form the mattress. The sheets had holes in them to match the level of quality. EASTCO’s tent “from the golden age of safaris” included a light plugged into a car battery – but no trash can so we pilled the trash in the corner of the tent. I was a bit nervous leaving our bags unprotected as we went off on safari so I made sure I left the zippers in exactly the same place for all bags so I would know if they were touched. When we came back one of the bags had been moved and the zippers were all the way to the other side of the bag. We couldn’t find anything missing so I didn’t bring it up, but what possible excuse could there be for this?
Our itinerary states that “the ecosystem is defined by the annual migration”. The migration was farther north than expected and Melk was apparently not going to take us to it or even bring it up. As he started to drive around the mostly barren plains the first morning at Serengeti Horizons we asked what the plan was. He detailed the day’s activities with “We do game drive.” No information was going to come from him but thankfully another couple at the camp had found out that the migration was in the central Serengeti. When we said we wanted to go there to see the migration Melk said nothing in return. Was he just ignoring us? Unbeknown to us one of his next phone calls was to the head office and they said it was ok but we had to pay the $131 entrance fee to the park. We agreed given that it would be our only chance to see the migration. At the gate we ran into one of the couples from the camp the previous night. They were more successful in their complaints. EASTCO had moved them north to another camp closer to the migration and was paying the park fee. There was no such deal for us though. Inside the park Melk started driving slowly and staring at trees along the main road near the entrance. When we asked he explained that he was looking for cats. If a leopard was in one of those trees right next to this busy road it would be surrounded by cars. When we complained that we wanted to see the migration instead - which is why we paid the park fee – he got mad. After finding the migration we stopped at a picnic site for lunch. When we got out of the car he drove off without explanation. We really weren’t sure if he was coming back.
At Serengeti Horizons we spoke with other EASTCO victims and heard stories about how their vehicles broke down and how one couple had to push their vehicle each time to get it started. We then heard complaints about the lack of radios in cars both for security and game viewing. Our second time into Ngorongoro Crater we were focused on getting a good look at a rhino. Cars started flying by us and Melk went off on one of his lectures about the evils of radio calls. We finally got a view of what everyone was headed toward and it was a rhino. We went over and got an ok view of it though it was slowly headed away. With a radio call we might have gotten a better view. Melk said that just one EASTCO car has a radio and that’s for security reasons. If we breakdown outside of cellphone coverage how does another EASTCO vehicle having a radio help us?
Our second day in the crater didn’t hold much interest for Melk. He drove past the hippo pool lunch spot and when we started getting hungry he sped past most of the second half of the crater. The lunch spot was in the forest near the exit. He parked us under a tree with the roof open. A monkey came down trying to get our food and I asked if we should close the roof. Melk explained “No”. The monkey jumped in the car a few minutes later and my wife and I jumped out with Melk chuckling. The monkey stole some of our lunch and Melk wanted us to get back in the car to finish the rest. I said “No” and Melk finally moved the car away from the tree. Melk was already on the phone again when my wife asked me what I wanted to do. I said “I just want this week to be over.” I’m not sure if Melk heard but when he got off the phone he left the vehicle to pout for a while. We ended up buying our own replacement lunch back at the hotel. Melk certainly wasn’t going to. He drove us the last bit of forest and then turned around to leave. I believe he put lunch near the end of the loop so he could hurry getting us to lunch and then claim that he “already drove all the roads”. My wife – who had continuously gone out of her way to be outrageously nice to him – said that we wanted to spend a bit more time in the forest. Melk replied with an ugly “Do you see any other roads in the forest?” When we agreed to leave after a bit Melk committed what I believe was his worst act of the week. He punched the gas with us standing in the back and wildly drove up the switchbacks no doubt angry at us. My wife sat down first and I was trying to catch a few last pictures of the crater. She had to warn me that a big turn was coming and I barely sat down in time. Melk whipped around the corner and I’m sure I would have been injured without her warning.
EASTCO held other nasty surprises for us to finish out the trip. In Mosquito Town our tour included being dropped in a tourist trap where we were asked to look around because we were their first customers in 4 weeks! We then went to Boundary Hill where we were taken on a nature walk. I managed to get all the way up Kilimanjaro and back without falling but I fell on their trail – as did my wife. She was uninjured but I was dealing with a shoulder injury for the next month. The last part of the climb involved 30 minutes of climbing back up the hill while walking through thick vegetation. The binder in the hotel room states that you shouldn’t walk through plants because they contain ticks and dangerous snakes. Something we seriously doubted our “guides” could protect us against at the pace they were moving. They apparently take every guest on this hike but they can’t cut a path or find one that doesn’t involve being in almost continuous contact with one bush or another.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
missold package
We have missold a Safari Package, we took the Kenya and Tanzania package as advertised on their website and we paid $1700 per person for 10 nights.
First of all Karibu Safari is not licensed to operate in Kenya, so basically they took us to the border, put us on a transfer and gave us to a different agency... very different from what we had paid for and we were expecting
Karibu Safari and Robert demonstrated their incompetence from the information stage until the organization stage of our trip.
More specifically we experienced the following issues:
1) they sold us a package with max 6 people in the van and for 4 days there were 7 people in the car
2) WIFI at lodges and hotels, Robert told us that there was WIFI at the lodges and hotel in Kenya but there was not WIFI in any of the lodges in Kenya & Tanzania, the quality of the lodges and the services offered was ridiculous, we spoke with other travelers and our lodges were the cheapest and the worst ones that you can find...
3) Waiting time, on the way from masai mara to lake nakuru, we have to wait 3 hours in the middle of the road for an other car to change passengers and due to this inconvenient we lost our night game drive to lake nakuru
4) Lake nakuru to Amboseli trip: they told us that was 4 hours driving when it took more than 10 hours due to the fact that we have to go to Nairobi to pick an other tourist and got stuck in the traffic
5)Passing from Kenya to Tanzania, we had to wait 4 hours, the transfer that Karibu arranged for us did not have valid documents to pass the border, as a result of it a group of 14 people spent 4 hours with 40 degrees waiting.... a taxy would have costed $30 and would have avoided our group of 4 people waiting 4 hours.
The result of this 4 hours waiting time was the shift of lake manyara and the cancellation of our night at ngorongoro camp, again this is not what we have paid for and with a little bit of care and attention should have been avoided, we were not paying the price for a budget safari and there are not excuses for this lack of organization, an agency who arrange a crossborder transfer with a car who has not documents should be closed straight away....
6) We were in the group with Tanya (you can read the other 1 star review) and we agree with everything that she said, Karibu staff was just rude and careless promising things that they were not willing to do just looking how to get few more dollars...
I really cannot believe that the 5 stars review are genuine, personally we had a terrible experience and the worst element was the discussion with Robert and the other Karibu staff who wanted to be right and cannot accept the evidence, after several discussion they apologized and they refused to offer a compensation for all the inconvenience that we suffered.
Robert and his staff think that the fact that they have not left us in the middle of the road is a success, they have no idea of what it means customer service and they think that tourists are just chicken to get money out of it, they cannot understand customer need and if they only wanted to, they could have offered a much better service making customers happy and giving value for the money spent
RO
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A total dissapointment! Avoid them at all costs!
I travelled around the world and I haven't found a travel agency worse than East Cape Tours. I booked with them a 4 night stay at Jackalberry Lodge, I paid 30% and I asked them to pay the difference after I would receive my visa for South Africa at the beginning of December. They spoke with The Reservation Department from Thornybush Game Reserve where Jackalberry is located and it was agreed that I will pay the difference after I have my visa issued. On November one month before leaving to SA, East Cape Tours have charged my credit card for the difference even if the agreement was to pay at the beginning of December. The bank was asking me if they should block the payment but in the end I have received the visa and I said no.
But the worst things were still to come.
3 weeks before leaving to South Africa Thornybush Reservation Department informed me that they have no availability for 4 nights at Jackalberry even if I paid in full our 4 night stay and I have received the confirmation of booking. East Cape Tours and Thornybush Reservation Department were so incompetent in dealing with me and my reservation and offered me a lower value lodge N'Kaya. I was very very dissapointed and frustrated to see that these 2 companies were trying to turn my holiday into a disaster. The accomodation that they were offering was 500 USD cheaper than Jackalberry. In the end I had to settle with N'Kaya because we had already paid the transfer to Thornybush and there was no lodge available left for the period before Christmas. I had to phone my bank 4-5 times to see if the difference was reimbursed of not, in the end the money entered my account.
I lost a lot of time speaking with East Cape Tours, with their stubborn manager Colin Diland which didn't apologize for the mess and harm done to us. i have all the emails and documents provin the harm done by these 2 companies. Anyone interested can contact me anytime. Try to stay away from East Cape Tours and Thornybush Reservation Department, otherwise your holiday can turn into a disaster!