ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beware!!! Fraud
We arrive today to a 10 days trip, already payed and they didn’t show up! We when to their office and there was no one. They dont get the phone... we went to the police and we found 3 more persons as us.
Now we dont have the money and we dont have vacations!
What you do in this cases?
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"
FR
Awful Customer Experience
While the tour to the Masai Mara and the lodge where we stayed was very nice, my experience with Bonfire Adventures as a customer has been quite a disaster from the beginning till the end.
Here is why:
- First the company forced us to pay the entire amount of the safari upfront while no other safari company has ever asked for that and leaving us with absolutely no guarantee and no leverage
- Secondly our driver was unresponsive at the time of the meeting and ended up showing more than hour late without even apologising. This led us to be stuck in traffic for hours when our drive could have been much shorter if we had departed on time.
- Thirdly when we showed up for the first time at the gate of the Masai Mara park the network did not work and we could not pay by credit card. Our driver almost blamed us not to have cash for the entrance fees while the company had told us we would have to pay the entrance fees by card and we had to negotiate to be able to get in.
- Fourthly, we were charged for our lunch on our way back to Nairobi on the third day while the safari package indicates a Full Board for the three days (the itinerary even mention that you will only go back at 4pm to Nairobi - way after lunch time) and never mentions any extra cost for this last lunch.
- Lastly and the most annoying, my luggage was lost on the way back to Nairobi and the company did not provide with any type of compensation while the luggage was under their responsibility. The only excuse they could come up with was "this has never happened before" which of course does not help solving the issue at all.
Therefore I would strongly advise against using them for any type of safari of excursion.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Warning - Do not send money!
Company is bankrupt! Two weeks after we transferred the desposit the sales people told us that the company is not responding to any calls or emails.
We lost 2.000 USD, we are really angry. It seems like there is no way of getting the money back. What a horrible start of our vacation. I hope not too many customers are affected.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
This company is fraudulent! I lost $2900! SCAM. Do not book!
I, like so many others on these reviews, paid thousands of dollars to It Started In Africa. We have lost all of the money. The owners claim the company who they subcontract for advertising took the money. It is absolutely untrue. We wired the money directly to ownership. Clients were stranded, and in our case, we lost $2,900.
Per our contract, I attempted to get out of our safari, as the contract clearly states that I may do so and take a 20% loss. I chose this option over taking a chance on this horrific company after clients began posting that they were being left stranded on their trips. I have now submitted two requests and the owner is no longer responding.
I am now seeking legal counsel in Tanzania and working with government agencies that oversee tour companies in the hopes of legally prosecuting this fraudulent company. Please read the reviews so many of us have posted. We have lost so much money.
US
Bware do not send money or deposits
Just had 2500$ deposit stolen and wont offer any refund because the company is going bankrupt! Complete SCAM stay away
IN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
An absolutely horrible experience.
Hi, I had booked a tour with them in 2014 for a 26 day tour to Botswana. I had paid a sum of $30,700 to them. Unfortunately, I had visa issues and due to that the agent said he will adjust it next year and also the fact that he will apply the visa from his end. Next year, we waited and waited as we had sent all documents to him, but the visa never came in 2015 also. When I went to the embassy again in 2016 as so much of my life savings was stuck, I was shocked to know that he had never applied for my visa to begin with. I was informed by the immigration officer that he has clearly cheated me. I wrote a safari review and due to their intervention, he decided to adjust my holiday again next year. Finally my visa came in July 2016 and Calvin Machekano of Love Africa Safaris said that due to non availability of lodges, he will have to book new lodges and took an additional $8615 from us. We really didnt have a choice as $30700 was already given to him earlier which now brought the total amount to approx $40,000.
I am a photographer and had requested a landcruiser for myself. Anyway after arriving there, much to our shock, a 30 year old broken vehicle with no floor and holes and a ten inch platform to sit on and totally open from all sides was provided to us by his representative and guide, Steven Bond Mubi, which we were expected to do our surface transport to various parks (some of them 6-7 hours away) as well as safaris for the next 25 days. Upon concern, we were threatened by this guide that he will not go with us. But as a woman, to travel on highways in such a vehicle when we had paid for something else was unacceptable. Upon contacting Calvin of Love Africa Safaris he failed to do anything about it and insisted that we go in that vehicle with the same guide who was very temperamental and kept threatening us. We absolutely refused to go in such a vehicle with a guide, who according to local sources suffered from some mental problem and was thrown from South Africa four years back. He came with an accomplice called Prince the morning we were to leave for the KHWAI concession in this beaten down vehicle and both of them threatened us. We were clearly now scared for our lives as with two of these characters going on a highway was impossible. We contacted the agent who refused to take our calls anymore. The guide, Steven Bond Mubi thereby left us and our luggage on the roadside and left.
We were left with no reservation, no hotel and no transportation on the roadside in a strange country. After 6 and a half hours of waiting in the sun we finally got accommodation in Airport hotel, Maun, where we spent the next three days trying to book our return journey, shocked and disappointed. After having given this agent $40,000 we just didnt have any money to hire another agent to finish our holiday. While we waited for our tickets to be rescheduled, we met with the police, consumer affairs and Botswana embassy people, who on initial investigation found that not only had he cheated us but also pocketed our $30700 and the new amount of $8615 was all for fresh bookings. We had to let go of all ur money and the entire holiday. We had to spend an additional $1000 to change our tickets back home. We have lodged an official complaint and have a letter from the embassy of Botswana as evidence. All terms and condition, including safari vehicles pictures and what vehicle was given to us - I have all the evidence. A 400 page complaint has been sent to all concerned authorities. I just want to warn everyone that never to go with this agent or his guide. I have lost all my life savings and came back empty handed. Besides this $40,000 international tickets cost us an additional $5000 . We not only lost a lot of money but also the experience of a beautiful country. As pointed out by the police commissioner of Maun, Calvin Machekano of Love Africa Safaris along with his associates, Steven Bond Mubi & Prince did this deliberately and robbed us. We have filed an official complaint of fraud and cheating against them. Please note that we have all evidence and acceptance letter by the police and consumer affairs Botswana.
AE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fraud!!!Be aware
We booked a 4 days trip safari for Kenya 3 months ago. I already payed and have received an email saying:
The company
has technical problems and therefore cannot give the required
services.You will receive the funds
between 45-90 working days...I am calling them and nobody answer..We are going to the police office.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Lack of Integrity and Unethical Business
We were supposed to travel to South Africa in the summer of 2020 with Kanyezi Africa Safari. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, our trip was canceled. We contacted Chris and Michael Kanyezi to get a refund. Kanyezi said that they had given our total payment (approximately $24,000) to subcontractors that book flights, lodge reservations, safaris, etc. and could not get the money back. Side note, we also had a cruise, VRBO, and concerts planned in 2020, all of which were reimbursed to us with no problem. Airline flights hadn't been booked when they canceled, and they wouldn't even reimburse us for the flight. Fast forward to a few weeks ago when Kanyezi starts sending emails to rebook. Kanyezi said we had 2 weeks to rebook without being charged an increase of $2600 per person. Payments needed to be wired by December 29, 2020. Note: all payments had to be wired. I spoke with the owners and agreed to pay approximately $3900 per person to rebook. This money was to cover the flights from small airlines within Africa that went bankrupt. When a new contract was emailed to me, they had us paying $4628 per person PLUS $980 per person to cover taxes and fees. At this point, I was not willing to dump another $11,216 into this trip. That is what I would have to pay on top of the $23,990 I already paid, and I still had to buy insurance?!? I find it unethical and a lack of integrity to not reimburse us anything. I'm very disappointed with this company. A trip of a lifetime has turned into a $23,990 LOSS. I've saved for years for this trip. It's just incomprehensible.
US
Poor Value for Total Cost of Trip
I would reccomend staying clear of Go2Africa. The trips are overpriced and the customer service leaves alot to be desired. When they asked us for feedback after our trip we expressed our unhappiness and the customer service team wouldn't provide us with the link to post our review.