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.
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Be careful! They tried to cheat us!
Our experience with Pega tours was terrible! We booked two safaris with them ( Hell's gate and Nakuru). We made the deal with Peter, and he charged us 50$ each for the driver and guide in Nakuru and another 50$ each for driving us to Hell's gate and hire a guide in there. The entrance fees and the bike rental were on us.
At Nakuru everything went all right , but when we arrived to Hell's gate they told us we had to pay for the guide. We called Peter and we explained him that we paid 100$ to him for the driving to Hell's gate but also for having a guide in there, and he just hung up the phone to us after saying the 100$ were just for the transportation. Even the guides from Hell's gate were shocked for what he was doing !!! Eventually, our driver, who was great, managed to talk to him and convince him to pay the guide, because we were already talking about coming back to Nakuru.
So my advice is: do not hire anything with them, or at least with Peter! He'll try to do the same!
Worst experience in Africa so far
We booked with Erick for a safari in the Masai Mara as Ugandan residents. First of all, the "guide" Isaac basically just functions as a driver without any explanations or insights about anything happening at the Mara.
Thinking that would be the worst of our problems, we arrive to Lake Nakuru for the last day with the surprise that for that specific park the fees for Ugandan residents don't apply and that we have to pay extra 60 USD if we want to visit the park. Of course Erick was not to be reached at this time (as probably he is working along the scam) and we were denied admission as we refused to pay the extra 120 USD, wasting our time and hard-earned money.
Erick and Tracks Berg Travel just excused themselves saying there was nothing to be done. This the worst experience I have had in Africa so far so I would recommend everyone to avoid Erick and Tracks Berg Travel if you want to avoid hidden charges and extra fees on the spot
GR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
The worst safari company.
Do not travel with unison. The owner was blackmailing us in the middle of the trip. He was asking for more money althought we payed everything in advance. At the end he abandoned us in the middle of serengeti park. The driver of the car was rude. We were scared about our lifes. The newspaper Guardian had our story in the front page on 27 august 2016. The owner ended up in jail for a few days. The owner offers good prices and then he asks for more money. It better to travel with ANY other company.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Stranded in Africa!
Customer service pre departure - atrocious. Information given re connections in Africa - atrocious. They failed to pay the camp operator in Selous so our booking was cancelled, despite the fact that we had paid in full weeks before departure, but they still allowed us to arrive at the airstrip with nowhere to stay. The security guard at the airstrip had to call the camp to get them to collect us or we would have been stranded there, and in some danger as a result. The manager of the camp saved the day by allowing us to stay but still had a lot of trouble getting the payment from Pure Safari, who just ducked and dived the whole time. Their attitude was arrogant and complacent throughout (one agent in particular has an unbelievable attitude to his customers). We have had no apology from them, despite sending in a written complaint, in fact they haven't even acknowledged it after three weeks. They don't seem to have had a good review for over a year, and the fact that they failed to pay the camp indicates that they are probably in trouble financially, so avoid at all costs, and pay them nothing upfront unless you want to be abandoned in Africa and told a constant stream of lies.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Con artists
Do not use this company - they stole £30,000 from my mother and then disappeared
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Horrible Tour Company, Horrific Experience, Very Negative.. The Two LadiesScam Artists.. Stay AWAY!
The two ladies are rude and unqualified to complete tours. Tours are not properly planned and horribly exectued. You will pay everything accommodations that are 20 USD a night, will be charged 200 USD!!! Your 4x4 will break down, and be replaced by an older 4x4. When stranded on the side of the road, both ladies will not be contactable, and when you reach them, they will say "Let Me Tell You Something..." and make excuses on why the vehicle is poor condition and say hang up the phone on you. You will wait for hours in the heat on the side of the road, or late at night on rainy wet dangerous roads. Your life will be in danger and your safety and security will be compromised. They will change the itinerary with out informing you and or contacting the driver. And when asked questions, they will not be reachable again or they will yell at you on the phone and then shut the phone and turn off the device, leaving you stuck. There answer will always be "Let the driver figure it out, I am driving" or shut the phone when you are serious distress. They will rob you of such an incredible country with so much to offer. They will not know the location of specific activities, they will overcharge you and say "No" after yes earlier was already confirmed. I cannot imagine a tour service company can talk to a customer in such an extremely rude way. They are not able to adapt to changes in the scheduling based on weather, and roads and conditions and will say "If you miss the activity you will not be refunded and it is your fault." There idea of tour operator is simply booking the accommodations, overcharging, and leaving you fend for yourself. Overall, I wasted the best experience of Uganda, which is an amazing country. While I understand that no tour is perfect and mistakes happen, I do expect any company to try to make things right in the end, and not yell and scream at the customer and especially hang phone up on you while stranded because of a hazardous vehicle. I found their lack of integrity on the follow up shocking. And I'm sad because we were psychologically treated like second class citizens and missed what Uganda has to offer.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Tarangire National Park by Aruna Marathe
Grossly over rated park. Not worth the visit.
RO
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Terrible experience with Amani Tours - 3 day safari in Mikumi
Our biggest complain is that we've payed the Mikumi park entrance fee - $ 150 in total ($ 75 per day) in addition to the entire trip, which was $ 900 ($ 450 per person). The park fee supposed to be included and Daniel promised us that he will return the money, but of course that did not happen. And overall service was not as described. The trip was in a regular van, not a 4W Jeep as on photo. The accommodation was outside the park, not as described.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Terrible
I am embarrassed for my country. The roads in Etosha are horrific and a utter disaster. What impression do we leave tourists, these roads will make you buy a new car.