DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
They turned the jeep into a matatu for profit
I was hoping that the good reviews are real, but I was a fool to think so. Karibu Safaris put us 9 people in a jeep when the maximum is always 7 people. They breach their specific promise since we asked multiple times to make sure that no more than 7 people will be in the jeep. They simply surprised us in the morning and we couldn't do anything about it.
It should be 6 in the back and one next to the driver maximum, but they decided to make extra money on our back and had 8 people (one sat in the back with no window view) and also a small kid ( so 9 people in total ). Moreover, they tried to lodge two of us in a single room where we clearly booked private rooms.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Give them a miss
I booked a 12 day tour through Kenya and Tanzania. Seven wonders managed the Tanzanian side and I couldn't have been happier with them. The Kenyan side( Nakuru, Masai, Amboeseli) was managed by Baboon budget who the booking was made through. It started of badly with being collected late at the airport and having to run around in trying to find a person, who wasn't there. The accommodations throughout were poor esp the Eco camp in Masai with very poor quality food. The worst was the lack of personal attention, we were passed like luggage from one driver and group to another depending on their schedules, groups, etc. one traveler had been with 5 different drivers/guides in 5 days! The quality of drivers was potluck. Michael our initial guide tried really hard, but was with us for only one day. Another driver/guide, Jackson, (apparently quite senior )who had previously been haring around at ridiculous speeds , all of a sudden started going at a crawl in circles for more than an hour and included a pitstop an hour into the trip "to stretch our legs". We later determined that a vehicle transporting a traveler who was due to join our group after a balloon ride got stuck in some mud and teh driver was unable to provide co ordinates so we drove in circles trying to connect with them. Jackson initially tried to deny this but i had my GPS on so showed it to him. His response was that the tour hadn't stopped as we were "moving". The point of this trip was to observe a river crossing. It was clear to all that the second day this may happen. Approximately 20 othre vehicles waited patiently along the Mara for this to start. Jackson in his wisdom decided it wouldn't happen and drove off. Needless to say he was connected on radio to say it had started and we raced back . already an eighth of the herd of thousands of wildebeest had crossed. WE all thought we wre in for a treat as so many more had to make their way across. Again Jackson surprised us, we observed for about 5mins( I filmed it, so it was actually less) and he started driving off. We though this was to secure a better vantage point. But no, he drove out the park! Then proceeded to dump us outside the accommodation to await another person to conduct the tour to the Masai village. Clearly he had another pressing appointment!
Things just went downhill...
There's many other companies available , however it seems that they operate differently from other countries group tours. Schedules and people interconnect throughout, with no personalised service or accountability.
They should take some tips from Seven Wonders on how to operate...
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not a reliable tour operator. They will try their best to over-charge you.
I received different accommodation than what I originally ordered.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Poor experience
Never in my life have I written a negative review, so I honestly feel bad about this post. However, if I were a potential customer of Tanzania Mwangaza Safari, I would want to know this information.
I was volunteering at a hospital in Dar es Salaam for a few weeks and decided to splurge on a safari at the end of my trip. I chose this safari company because they were affordable ($1450 USD) and offered a 4 day/ 3 night trip that fit my time constraints. The communication and payments prior to the trip were excellent. Turns out that nobody else signed up for this particular trip so it ended up being just myself and the driver.
Day 1 - Departed right on time and the day went completely as expected on route to Selous. We did get delayed for 1.5 hour behind multiple trucks stuck in the mud and blocking the road, but that just goes with the territory of travel. Went on an evening boat trip with another group, with a French speaking guide, but he was nice enough to offer some info in English to me.
Day 2 - Driver showed up 1 hour late then had me wait while he went to the restaurant and ate breakfast. We then drove to Selous entrance gate where we waited another 1.5 hour for him to locate a guide for the day. I watched in envy as dozens of others tourists arrived in plane and jeep and went on safari while we sat on the side of the road waiting for the guide to arrive from the neighboring village. I just chalked it up to inconveniences associated with a budget minded safari. Other than that, it was a great day in the park with many animals seen.
Day 3 - Driver showed up 1 hour late again. The day was supposed to be a sort of game drive on our way through Selous park on our way to an afternoon game drive in Mikumi park. The driver told me he needed to drive quickly so he would not incur additional park fees. As a result, absolutely zero wildlife viewing happened as we drove at 70 kph through Selous. I thought the vehicle might completely come apart as we sped along the rough roads. We ended up with three flat tires we throughout that day. The spare tire and jack were not suited for the fixes so the driver and I spent hours that day collecting stones in the brush, crawling in the mud under the jeep to precariously prop up the vehicle, and stopping at a roadside tire shop. I am amazed that one of us did not get seriously injured they way we were forced to rig the jeep for the tire changes as the jack and stones repeatedly did not hold thus dropping the vehicle violently back to the ground. It took us 14.5 hours to make it to Mikumi that day so our planned afternoon safari definitely did not take place. It is a budget trip and all part of the adventure, right?
Day 4 - We made plans to go on a half day game drive in Mikumi prior to our drive back to Dar. Unfortunately, the driver showed up 2 hours late that day and was unreachable by phone. Mikumi was beautiful , but we only had two hours in the park before we had to make the 8.5 hr (normally much quicker, but we had to drive slowly because of the tires) trip back to the city.
I realize I am incredibly fortunate just to have the opportunity to go on safari in Tanzania. Perhaps my expectations were far too high for a budget safari. Looking at their current reviews, it appears I am one of the only customers to have a less than optimal experience with Mwangaza so take this negative review with a grain of salt. However, when I look back and realize we spent 31 hours driving, 8 hours waiting for the driver and fixing flat tires for only 8 hours of actual safari related time, I feel this trip was far from worthwhile in terms of time and cost.
In summary, even though the people at Mwangaza were very nice, I personally had a very poor experience with them.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wish I would have spent a little more money for a better company
I read a lot of reviews before choosing this company (Karibu). I knew there were a lot of mixed reviews and some really bad reviews, I decided to take the gamble. I wish I would have paid a little bit more on a better company. But I guess you get what you pay for. I did the 4 day/3 nights Masai Mara + Lake Nakuru.
I was picked up from the hotel 7:30am and taken to their office (literally a few blocks away from my hotel). There we waited for a long time (1-1,5 hrs or so), I guess some other people in the group were late too. I had to pay the remaining balance at the office but when we left at 9 am and passed right by my hotel I was bummed I had been up since 6 am haha
We got an old van (sure, budget tour, didn’t think more about it..) but after getting closer to Masai Mara park and the last 1,5 hours consisted of a bumpy dirt road, I really wanted to slap myself for not choosing a company with a Jeep or better vehicle. It was miserable the last 1,5 hours, my seat was slightly loose and I was shaking back and forth... it was awful.
Once at the lodge, I guess it was okay. I mean, you get what you pay for.. I shared “tent room” with another solo guy (I’m a solo female traveler). It was fine, but the toilet and shower only has a drape... so you can hear everything.. just so you know ;)
We were unfortunate to get a bad driver/“tour guide” - James , his English was ok but he was terrible at communicating. He didn’t explain or say anything the whole trip.. we had to ask if we wanted to know anything. The afternoon when we arrived to the Masai Mara and the lodge we were staying at and we were doing a evening Safari game drive.. however, it was never communicated that we had bring our passports for the game drive to get in to the park (we left them at the lodge). So when we arrived to the entrance with no passport he was almost shocked why we didn’t bring them!? The tour was constantly like this, no communication AT ALL!!
During our full day Safari, he pretty much said nothing about any animals or facts or anything! Sometimes we had to tell him to stop so we could take pictures of the animals. I wasn’t expecting a A+ tour guide, but common.. at least maybe tell me something?
The food at the lodge was very boring, carb and very little veggies and no fruit (2 out of 3 days). The last lodge was good, had veggies and fruit and we were all so happy to eat there! Haha (still nothing fancy!)
3rd day we were told we had to switch van and join another group to continue our trip.. sure no problem. So we jumped into another companies van (not the same company I booked with). That van was a lot nicer, thank god! That driver (Richard) was also little but more informative at every stop and told us a little about the animals.
Overall, be prepared to be disappointed...at least hopefully you get a better driver/tour guide than us. I wished I spent a little bit more money and got more out of my trip. Better food, better vehicle, more information about the animals, the park etc.. or any information at all would have been nice! I would not recommend this company to other travel friends.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Scammed out of $3000AUD
It pains me to leave such a negative review on what was actually an excellent tour. Myself and my husband took a 6 day luxury tour using right choice safaris in December/Jan and had an excellent time. While the tour was as hoped, all accommodations were excellent and the driver very good unfortunately I have to leave this company a negative review as we were scammed out of thousands of dollars when making payment to this company for our tour. On arrival we were informed we needed to settle final payment I advised that we had already made final payment and had emails from them and confirmation from the bank, they then informed us that their email had been hacked and the person I had been communicating with and who I had transferred money to was not them. Unfortunately they informed us they had suspicions that this may be the case and neglected to contact us using another form of communication to inform us of this suspicion knowing that this had happened to them before when their email was hacked on a prior occasion. We were forced to make another payment at the office of $3000AUD. While they attempted to contact the bank to make amends we have unfortunately not at this stage been able to get our money back and I have no idea whether their email really did get hacked or whether they were part of the scam. If using right choice safaris I advise make payment at the office on arrival not via bank transfer.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great nature experience marred by unprofessional company
An amazing trip that was soured by, Doreen Kesiime, the owner. I was willing to overlook some of the more annoying/disappointing things.Like being harassed on a daily basis for proof of payment. I made a late booking-10 days b4 travel- on a Friday evening before a long weekend and informed Doreen the bank would therefore authorise the transaction on Tuesday. Despite this I received multiple messages on a daily basis during the weekend requesting proof of payment, repeatedly informing me about difficulties obtaining permits last minute, etc, all of which we were both aware of!
On arrival in Entebbe, Doreen was picked up joined the tour for the full duration. I was therefore expecting everything to go according to plan.Between her fielding numerous personal and work calls during game drives and walks in conservation areas, littering in conservation areas, making several inappropriate remarks( eg how she would report homosexuals to the police and going into graphic detail why she found anal sex disgusting, commenting that my preference for coffee made " a woman dry down there"), I decided her presence did not add value to the experience. Changes were made to the itinerary without discussing it or informing me- I did the Gorilla trek form a different location( only informed on arrival to Bwindi), only 2 of the 5 accommodations on my itinerary were booked( one was changed due to tracking from a different location).
Again,because I truly enjoyed the activities thus far on the tour( Chimpanzee tracking in Kibale, Queen Elizabeth National park, Batwa People community walk, Gorilla Tracking) I didn't make too much of a fuss.
The last straw however was being taken to an inferior accommodation then the one in the itinerary at Lake Bunyoni. This was the afternoon following the gorilla tracking when I was looking forward to a decent shower and bed to sleep in( not always possible at the other accommodations booked- at one lodge the drain was blocked and flooded the entire room)) What was infuriating was that this was the only stipulation I had made prior to commencing the tour when I picked up that the itinerary hotel did not match the website hotel. After the Bwindi changes , I was assured that the hotels booked henceforth were correct. A 3 hr standoff ensued with Doreen initially stating that the resort name didn't exist and was an error on her website( this despite seeing her view it on booking.com at dinner the night before!). She tried to convince me that we were at the correct place( the names were similar) When shown their website and availability, she continued to try and coerce me into staying there.Various reasons for the incorrect booking and not being able to book me into the original hotel were then given: a late booking, reading the name incorrectly, no funds available, the manager refusing to refund her, etc.I even offered to pay for the booking and she refund me in Kampala, which she refused. Out of frustration I requested to cancel the rest of the tour and be taken back to Kampala that evening.She eventually relented and I was taken to the hotel on my booking.It was unfortunate that a refund of approx $40 spoilt what was supposed to have been an extraordinary day. Or that I had to waste precious time to get the 3rd of the 5 accommodations I had paid for.
The positives remain the natural beauty of Uganda and the efforts and knowledge of the tour guide and driver, Nelson.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not recommendable. Don't go with them.
We had two safaris with them. Actually one is still running. The first was in Tansania. Besides humiliating toilets on campsites the tour was ok. Our driver Fred is really the best. Very nice, professional and funny. Our chef Abu is awesome aswell. Very humble friendly and a great chef. In total I think the price for a low budget safari (210$ per day p.P.) is to much. Besides they don't have so good jeeps. We had an accident and I scratched my head kind of badly. They didn't have a first aid kit, so I took some napkins to calm down the blood from my forehead.
Our second safari was/is a mess. Our first day was an eleven hour bus trip from Mombasa to Nairobi. We wanted to start our trip from Mombassa because the Zawo East is just around the corner. But no chance. The woman who managed everything (Ann) said it would only be a four hours drive... that was obviously a lie because it took us eleven. So no safari the first day. Of course we paid for the whole day including the food we didn't get. The accommodations are a mess aswell. No warm water, almost no wifi and the food is really bad. The last day of our trip is again just a 5 hours trip from Amboselli to Nairobi, so no safari again.
All in all, do yourself a favour and book with some other organisation.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Unfortunately NOT satisfying!
We booked and paid our trip 6 months ago already and our trip started mid July. Unfortunately it all started with a misunderstanding already when we had our meeting/introduction in the beginning. Because we had organised a city walking tour ourselves after the intro (which we told OT about beforehand) but he he other plans for us which were at the same time he tried to move things and told us our tour would start a day later, which we actually didn’t really want. He said not to worry, we should relax and the guide in Ugands will be informed about the day that was supposed to be scratched from our trip (which we also didn’t want). We had to then start our trip a day later than expected, which was a pity but ok, because at the end of our trip we had an extra day before our flights went. We had also booked a hotel ourselves for that last evening.
When the trip finally started we had a fantastic first guide named Frederick who was very knowledgable and told us a lot about the animals, the country and it’s culture. After that we had friendly drivers but not really someone I would call a guide. They weren’t very talkative and didn’t inform us.
We started getting worried in Uganda when our guide wasn’t informed by the office of the change in itenerary and it was even possible to change it. We then sent OT an email, complaining about how he handled the situation in the first place and that he shouldn’t scratch one day of our safari because we actually paid for it. Furthermore we just wanted to know how the rest of our safari would go because now it was all a bit confusing how it would continue. And if we would stay for the whole trip then we would have to cancel our hotel for the last evening. He hadn’t replied ( which was odd because before our tour started the office replied VERY quickly) for more than a week. We asked our guides/drivers to ask the office to contact us because they must be in contact with the office all the time. The drivers just answered that they couldn’t reach the office, which was also very odd because they had to get info from the office to change drivers. After the 3rd driver told us that story we knew it was bullshit. We phoned and got through immediately twice!! Unfortunately OT was NEVER available to talk, he never phoned back and after a those two phone calls we weren’t able to get through either. They blocked us.
Then we told our driver to take us to the office on our way from Naivasha to Kenyan boarder, because the LACK OF COMMUNICATION AND THE NON-EXISTING CUSTOMER SERVICE really frustrated us. At the office we couldn’t get answers to why they had never replied and we found out that our itenerary had been changed by OT (via phone) which was a big surprise to us. If we hadn’t demanded to go to the office we would have never found out because the drivers didn’t know about the change.
Then we went to the boarder to Tansania. We waited for 2 hours for our next driver, who had more than enough time to get there on time, just to find out that he wasn’t coming anymore and we should stay st a nearby hotel. No one from the office called us to inform and update us, not even to say sorry for the inconvenience. The next morning we waited for an update until 10:30 (we actually tried to phone and find out what’s going on-that didn’t help because they didn’t know themselves and they didn’t have a plan B) that our next driver would be there at 11. We waited at the boarder again just to wait for 2 hours AGAIN!! He finally got there but we basically missed a whole day and we missed a game drive.
The next guide named Francis in Tansania was great as well. At last we could enjoy our trip again. We had two great days in Ngorongoro and Serengeti. Our last day, because our trip started a day late, we had to speed from Serengeti to Nairobi airport to catch our flight in the evening. Why OT planned the last day like that we will never know. He said there was enough time to even do a game drive in the morning and get to Nairobi Airport on time in the evening. That was bullshit. We even asked him to change it but he said it would be fine. We missed our last game drive and the guide had to drive 140km/h on a 80km/h road to get us there on time.
Summary:
The things we saw during our trip were amazing!! We had two great guides.
BUT the people working in the office and especially OT have been incompetent and very unprofessional. There is a total lack of communication at a time when it should be the best ever because it was DURING our trip, and there is definitely no customer service whatsoever!!! It was really disappointing because before our trip they seemed very professional and they responded very quickly to emails.
I just hope we, and other groups we met that also had a lot of problems which were even worse than ours, had some bad luck and that other groups won’t be stuck with this kind of mess!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beware of what you are getting into!
We were very disappointed in this tour. Starting out with being picked up late at the airport. We arrived in the pouring rain with no cell phone service and the driver was 15 minutes late in picking us up, which would not have been a big deal if we had a way of getting ahold of someone to see if they were coming or had forgotten us.
Secondly, the driver was drunk from the impression I got. He drove those roads at 120kph which I finally had to tell him to slow down. These are dirt/ clay roads! There was a man on a bicycle carrying long wooden sticks which the driver hit as he drove by the man! I know I'm in a different country but is this a normal occurrence? He proceeded to tell us we would be in the car for 6 hours...? Now, I'm confused because the itinerary I was sent said:
"Transfer to Sigunga village where you will take a boat to Mahale mountain national park. Have a picnic lunch at Sigunga village before boating to Mahale. The boat will take approximately 3 to 4 hours"
As we drove at top speeds we came to a village where we were told he had forgotten dinner and would be right back. 30 minutes later he returns with a chicken and throws him in the back of the car. After driving for 3 hours I ask about lunch because it's now 3pm. He hands me a box lunch which was not vegetarian like I had said several times that I was. I could not eat! I had a banana. At 630pm we arrive at this boat in the middle of nowhere. There is 1 man waiting to take us to Mahale. This is scary for 2 women traveling alone, especially with my sister who has anxiety. If we had been informed ahead of time what was going to be going on we would have felt more comfortable. Especially since it took 7+ hours to get there when we were thinking it was a 3hr boat ride. We get on the boat and it is now getting dark. I'm in a strange place in the middle of this huge lake on this boat not knowing where we are going. We arrive at dark, can not see anything. We ate dinner at 9pm! This is not acceptable, especially since we had no lunch!
If it wasn't for our guide Huessein it would have been a horrible experience. Luckily he made it amazing for us.
Last thing, when we left and stayed in Kigoma town, we were dropped at the hotel with NO information. Nothing about lunch, dinner or the museum tour. Food was terrible. The staff didn't understand what I was talking about. So I messaged Joshua with whom I had been speaking with, very little information again. I got ahold of the driver to ask him about the museum and he said Oh, we will go tomorrow before the airport. Again, he could not tell me how far the airport was and said he would pick us up at 8 for the tour to the museum. He then said the airport was 2 hours away. I told him we left at 1230. The next morning after our tour we realized the airport was 5 minutes from us! We spent 3 hrs at that little airport waiting.
I just don't understand why the itinerary I received was not followed nor was I ever given correct information. Mahale was such a special place and I would love to return. I'm not trying to be mean, I just want to inform anyone traveling here the situation.