Safari Reviews

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Valentine   –  
Kenya KE
Visited: August 2015 Reviewed: Aug 16, 2015

20-35 years of age  |  Experience level: first safari

Stressful Safari
2/5

We went throught Absolute Holiday & Safari To book a 6 days safari going arounf Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Amboseli.

At first organisation seemed good, David our contact was very nice and answer all our questions (and we had lots of them). When arriving in Nairobi, we went to the office (discovering Absolute holiday & Safari and Big Time Safari are located in the extact same office) and David explained to us the schedule of the Safari in details.

For our first day, instead of leaving Nairobi befor 9am we were delayed until 10 am, going with the driver pick up food and oil....

We were 6 people in the van at that time: 2 coming from Absolute Safari, 2 coming from Big Time Safari and the other 2 coming from Savannah Jamboree Travel. The bus was managed by Big Time Safari but what I understood is that many budget companies work together in order to incease occupancy rates of the vans.

Then going to Masai Mara, we saw lots of animals as it was migration season, the schedule was nearly respected, we were all very happy.

After we were inroute for the Lake Nakuru park, stoping at Lake Naivasha our driver tell us he has to pick 2 people more, with no more explaination I call our contact David (we had local sim), he is not aware of such things and is not at the office, promising to contact me again, it is around 3pm at that time. 3 people come back with our driver, the mini van is now full and we are supposed to end our safari with them, 3 and half more days to go at that point.

Calling back David, he is very nice but does not give me any answer he has to deal with personal matters first and then will go back to me.....

We all go the Lake Nakuru for diner, throught our driver we call the transport manager of Big Time Safari (Alfred) and the president (John) to tell that was not the agreement, indeed in one of our email we ask David how muck people max will be in the safari, and his answer is very clear, 7 max. Big time safari does not want to hear anything, saying to us that if we are not happy a car will come pick us up and we will leave the safari without any refund, nice people!

Finally around 9pm David goes by the office, 6 hours after the first phone call... He says every thing fine and tomorrow we will have another mini van to do the game drive and respect previous engagement.

The day after, nothing is there, we do game drive with the 9 of us....

Going back to Nairobi (you have to go throught Nairobi in the itinerary), another minivan is expecting us, so we are all happy again.

If you want this company to respect their engagement it's very hard because once you began the safari you already paid the all amont so you don't have a lot to bargain with and somtimes the drivers completely refuse to call their office so if you don't have a local sim, your stuck. Also, the drivers are always trying to reduce the game drive schedule so you have to argue with them again and again for them to respect previous engagement.

I would defenitely not recommand this company if you are looking for zen holidays.

Be carreful when choosing your Safari, I'm now very sceptical of having good budget safari.

Joost   –  
Netherlands NL
Visited: June 2024 Reviewed: Jun 21, 2024

35-50 years of age  |  Experience level: over 5 safaris

About: Tanzania
Overpriced and overrated
Overall rating
2/5

absolutely, the great migration is a spectacle you must see at least once. But other than that, I found Tanzania to be mostly disappointing. Not so much what we all saw, but more the overall experience. If you keep in mind that you are visiting the most expensive national parks in the world, you expect something in return. In the Serengeti, for example, I think the roads were extremely bad. We did 10 days of full day safaris, which at the end I almost couldn't last because of the back pain. The rest camps are completely worthless and unpleasant. Again, for the most expensive national parks in the world you can really expect more. The distances between our sightings were often enormous. Everyone drives through the Serengeti at unprecedented speed to make sure you don't miss a lion that is then sitting 200 meters off the road... And which you are watching with 70 other cars... Guides do not behave professionally, push the animals too much and the tourists are also 'once in a lifetime safari poop', which you can see from their behavior. It is often noisy during sightings and I found it difficult to enjoy it. All in all disappointing, not value for money and the safaris were not romantic and relaxing as I often feel in private parks.

Peter Johannes Klein   –  
Germany DE
Visited: September 2014 Reviewed: Dec 8, 2014

20-35 years of age  |  Experience level: first safari

Did not fullfill our expectations and what we have booked
2/5

We were 2 persons and booked 3 days hiking Mt. Meru and 4 days safari for approx. USD 1500 each person.

Every day we had discussions with the guides or persons who conducted the tours. They wanted too high tips for average or under average services. We had acrid discussions about the tips.

In our mentally and physically worst moment on Mt. Meru on the summit day when we slept only 3 hours, climbed 1300 vertical meters up to 4500m and 1300 down, had still another 2000 vertical meters down towards us and BEFORE we got a meal, they asked us how about the tipping and if we already know their tipping guidelines and if we now could give the tips.

On safari, we booked 2 days Serengeti, 1 day Ngorongoro and 1 Tarangire National Park. The truth is, you only get half of these days because the rest of these days is travel time to the next destination or camping site. Our guide did not explain anything. Just nothing. He just drove the car and did no else "guiding service". But afterwards, he expected a high tip.

Transkibo has subcontracted the whole safari tour, meaning personnel of a different safari company or freelancer conduct the safari guides. But these persons don't have a strong connection to the company we have booked (transkibo) which is why they do not care about providing good services.

The truth is Tanzania is not a backpacking country. The country is spoiled of rich tourists who spent a lot of money to get carried on Kilimandjaro with chairs and portable toilets.

Sarah   –  
Tanzania TZ
Visited: November 2014 Reviewed: Nov 3, 2014

20-35 years of age  |  Experience level: 2-5 safaris

Poorly organized and executed two day safari
2/5

The safari started with the driver picking us up one hour late. the truck was one that appeared to be from the 60s.... parts of the car were falling off as we drove, there was no air conditioning, the engine was smoking, we had car problems, the driver spoke very poor english, and when getting to the game reserve told him we owed him extra money. It poured rain on the way home (a 6 hour drive) and because the car was so poorly functioning, it also rained inside the car and we got soaken wet. The hotel we stayed at was also very sketchy. They advertised air conditioning but the one in my room was broken, the shower barely worked with just a trickle coming out. Overall, not a good experience.

Anne   –  
Germany DE
Visited: August 2014 Reviewed: Sep 14, 2014

50-65 years of age  |  Experience level: 2-5 safaris

A promise not fulfilled
2/5

Victoria falls are breathtaking and definitely worth the trip. The way to reach them needs carefull attention though. Being stuck in an airport for a full day, we have been initially supported by Falcon in a correct way. However, we got the promise in the bus, in front of other witnesses, that the safari day to Bostwana (which was cancelled due to shortage of time) would be refunded. Guess what, back home this was no longer the case. While Falcon Safaris seems to have been very responsive, this no longer existed when money was at stake, and we got no refund for hotel and not for the safari, while the later had been promised, otherwise we might have chosen to sacrifize the cruise on the river. I had paid in advance the park entrance. I can only recommend, pay the minimum in advance. It's when you have troubles that the average and the great can make a difference. The refusal for any further discussions was also disappointed.

Last point, not entirely disconnected to the experience on this trip and not the fault of Falcon Safaris: don't be foolish and pay more thinking you get safer with South African Airways. Worst experience ever: lost the luggage, delayed and missed the connexion without any apology, 4 hours, yes 4 hours of fight to get a boarding pass for the flight on the next day.

Simona&Silvio   –  
Italy IT
Visited: August 2014 Reviewed: Aug 20, 2014

20-35 years of age  |  Experience level: first safari

Nice experience, but critical points (management of time, communication, food)
2/5

Nice experience, although with some critical points. Communication before departure (we booked the safari online, before arriving to Tanzania) was very good: Masha promptly replied to all our (several) questions, although during the safari we discovered that some points were not so accurate (e.g. I asked information about electricity in the camps, and I was told that it was available in all them; but in 2 places there was no way to charge batteries and mobile phones.. I think this information is important and should be mentioned before). We enjoyed our gamedrives, although we were quite disappointed by their duration.. by reading the program you cannot really perceive how much time you will spend in the camps, especially for breakfast/dinner breaks.. many times, we noticed that we were the last to leave in the morning and the firsts to come back to the camp (also, one morning we asked our guide to leave 30min before - NB. everyone else left at 6.30-7.. we were told that we had to be ready for breakfast at 7.30, so we could leave only more than an hour later, when the cook had finished recollecting all his things - in order to have more time to try to see the most difficult seen animals of the big 5 - in the end, we could see only 3 of them -, but we were told that the cook needed more time to prepare breakfast and our lunch boxes, so it was not possible.. another time, because of an error in the office, we had to wait for a person coming to the gate of the Ngorongoro crater and pay for the entrance fees, which caused a 30-60min delay (we didn't see the rhino, and I know you have to be lucky to see animals, but by loosing time in this way certainly doesn't help). On the other hand, both the guide and the cook were very kind. Finally, one very important thing should be mentioned: after the last dinner we had we got both sick, probably because of the meat or some other foods which had not been properly preserved during the 5 days of the safari. I know we opted for the budget option, but we still spent more than $1000 per person, so, honestly, we expected more.

Robert   –  
Poland PL
Visited: July 2024 Reviewed: Oct 25, 2024

50-65 years of age  |  Experience level: 2-5 safaris

not reliable
2/5

Overall, we do not recommend this company due to the dishonesty of the owner.

The opinion is based on experiences during an 8-day safari including Parks in Botswana and Victoria Falls.

Cons: Why do we rate the Owner of Lucky as dishonest? We had to buy our own entrance tickets to Victoria Falls, which he confirmed were included in the safari fees. Furthermore, even though he promised to refund these tickets, we never received our money back. An additional minus were the cars we drove - they were not properly checked and prepared, so one of the two vehicles broke down halfway through the safari, and Laky ineptly repaired them after two days.

Pros: It should be noted that the service team itself is great and we highly recommend them. A very good and committed guide, he tracked down every animal and always got very close to it. He was very nice and took care of us at every step. We would also like to thank the chef and assistant for the super tasty food and good organization of the camp, it was delicious, clean and very nice.

isidre   –  
Spain ES
Visited: September 2024 Reviewed: Sep 16, 2024

50-65 years of age  |  Experience level: 2-5 safaris

Nice but very dangerous
2/5

Group of four_ Good
The bungalows for sleeping are very adequate
Dinner and breakfast at the Camp are correct. Good

Not good
Driver's level of English / level of knowledge about the park is 2 about 5
Do not speak anything in the diner....

Very aggressive and dangerous driving on the road - Very
Impatient nothing from Pole Pole
Driving within the natural park is also too fast
Javiva Adventures not not the van, the van was for another company,,,,,
Not good

Ngoc Anh   –  
Vietnam VN
Visited: September 2024 Reviewed: Sep 15, 2024

20-35 years of age  |  Experience level: first safari

Poor Time Management
2/5

Bestprice Tours displayed a shocking lack of professionalism. Their poor time management resulted in our group wasting a lot of time waiting around. Services were not prepared in advance, forcing us to sit idly while we could have been enjoying our trip. This is not how a travel company should operate!

NguyenTh   –  
Vietnam VN
Visited: September 2024 Reviewed: Sep 15, 2024

35-50 years of age  |  Experience level: first safari

Could not see animals in Serengeti National Park
2/5

Our safari experience in Serengeti was utterly disappointing. Despite being in the middle of migration season, we didn’t see a single animal. Instead of enjoying exciting wildlife moments, we were left bored in the vehicle.

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