FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Ken showed up drunk twice during our safari
Although Uganda was lovely and a highly recommended destination, unfortunately we finished our safari with Bushmemories with a feeling of a relief. During our 10-day tour, Ken showed up completely drunk on two mornings, putting us in an uncomfortable position as the trip was already fully paid and we depended on him. Moreover, his organization was already a bit erratic before and during the trip, and overall we did not feel we got a great value for the money we paid.
The first situation took place in Fort Portal, his hometown, where Ken showed up 2 hours late for our morning departure, drunk and with a bleeding wound on his face. The second situation took place on the last day of our safari, when Ken showed up at 6:30am with a drink in his hand and barely able to stand straight, and without enough money to pay for our hotel, fully refuel the car or provide a lunch for us (although at this point we preferred anyway to arrive as soon as possible to our hotel in Entebbe and be free of him). He never apologized for his behavior, and we didn't feel secure enough to confront him. We were grateful that our driver Johnson was an extremely responsible and dependable person.
Before the trip, he did not give us a clear payment schedule, instead asking (with urgency) for different amounts at random moments. He changed the price relative to the original quote mentioning a change in the rate for gorilla permits, and tried to reuse this same excuse again later to increase the price further. On multiple occasions we started the day from driving around town to run Ken's errands that could have been easily taken care of the previous afternoon, as we usually finished our days early.
We requested a program that would not be too packed (also for budget reasons), but we were disappointed to realize that the last two days of the trip we were mostly confined to our hotels with no activities planned. Several items on our itinerary called "experiences" consisted of looking at something (tea plantation, long horn cows) from the car with some explanations from Ken. Having paid more than 200 USD per person per day, and having stayed mostly in budget accommodation we would have expected something more.
We did enjoy our holiday most of the time and loved what we saw in Uganda, but Ken's behavior was completely out of line and inexcusable leading us to leave the reviews to help other travelers make better choices in the future.
TH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience - bad organisation
I did a 6 day safari and the organisation here was very poor. Despite being assured i’d have plenty of time for my flight out of kenya, i almost missed my flight whilst the driver insisted in dropping every other person off first as it was a more convenient route for him (they were travelling between 4 hours to 1 day after me, so not urgent and dropping me off first would have added max 15mins to his driving). Everyday of the safari there was a late pickup, a failure to communicate changes in the schedule. What was worse that the driver generally seemed to have not been told, or had forgot, the agenda of my tour from the africa flash so was constantly asking me things I had not been told either (eg the name/phone number of the driver i was going to be dropped off with for the next days, where the meeting point was).
I’m an easygoing traveller and usually dont mind this sort of thing on normal holidays but when you’ve paid a lot of money (as these safaris are expensive) you do expect that the organisation at the very least would be in place.
In retrospect, i think it would have been less stressful and cheaper booking the hotels, transfers and safaris myself. Even one of the hotels I booked in the tour was not where I ended up staying because according to the tour operator supposedly the hotel had overbooked so I needed to be moved to another hotel (given all of the other things i experienced - i suspect that they had just failed to book my hotel).
I’m giving it two stars because despite my complaints above i did have a wonderful experience, i’m just not sure how much the tour organiser contributed to that.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unfulfilled refunded after 1 month due to their mistake
Our recent 8-day trip to Kenya and Tanzania with Morningstar was far from the unforgettable adventure we’d hoped for. Starting from Tanzania, everything went wrong and they still own us a huge number of money for nearly a month. They promised to refund next week everyday, but still seeing no money yet. And we even got a message from him saying we are NOT PATIENT!
In Tanzania, we had to pay for multiple services, including park fee, transportation fee, etc, twice, losing 2 half-day of safari due payment not done in advance. Despite reassurances from Dennis, Morningstar’s owner, promised refunds for these extra expenses never received. Further more, Morningstar has no direct staff in Tanzania, so they rely on a partner agency, which resulted in poor coordination and minimal support.
Having made our full payment two weeks prior to departure, we trusted that all fees were covered. However, upon arrival in Tanzania, we learned that key expenses, including park entry and transport, hadn’t been paid. Faced with the risk of being stranded, we had no choice but to cover these costs ourselves. Dennis blamed the missing payments on a hacked bank account and again promised a refund once we returned to Kenya—a promise that remains unfulfilled 25 days later.
While our guide Caleb in Kenya was experienced and dedicated, Morningstar’s overall handling left us disheartened. The lack of support, broken promises, and financial inconvenience made what should have been a dream safari a frustrating experience. Sadly, I cannot recommend Morningstar based on our trip.
Furthermore, I don't know if there’s anything related to racism or not, but I do find that reviews from other countries are great, they did not had to experience paying everything twice, while many Chinese tourists report money loss without timely refunds.
We do sincerely wish that the excuse from Denise is true and he will refund as he promised. Please get us the refund ASAP. If so, the whole trip is a memorable experience with MorningStar.
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good but problem with payment and price
We booked in 2019 with them for a safari in Tanzania and everything was perfect. This time, it was for a safari in Kenya. The safari was perfect too, but we deal the price severals months before the departure and 2 weeks before the safari, they said that we will need to pay more money. They said it was because of troubles with the municipal council and the payment of taxes. They were supposed to return the extra money we paid, but since now we lost 1400$. I don't recommend Kiliholidays since you will not be sure the price you will pay at the end.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Watch for the bait and switch on the safari vehicle.
The accommodations were nicer than expected and the food at the accommodations was very good. Our guide,Peter, was good. The reason for only 2 stars had to do with the safari vehicle. It was a minivan. Their quote included pictures and description of a Land Cruiser so I was surprised when the vehicle that showed up to pick us up was a minivan. I asked them about the change and they said that land cruisers are available for an up charge. I’ve never known a tour company to have up charge items available but not list them anywhere. Usually selling upgrades is a prime goal. Therefore since this information was not provided and misleading photos were included, it felt like a simple bait and switch. If you use Laxa Trails, make sure you ask what kind of vehicle you will be in. You will spend more than 75% of your time awake in the vehicle, so it is pretty important.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unreliable people. Unfortunately we paid for everything at the beginning
Improvised agency. We take home good memories because the safari (with whichever agency you do it with) is exciting
We had a lot of problem considering what we paid:
1) in the agreed plan there was 8 Moment of game drive, at the end we did 5! We lost 3 moments to have game drive due to fault/problem in the organization of this agency....(as you know games drive are the main reason of this trip and the reason why the people pay a lot of money)
2) Jasto Safari has included in our plan the a specific day trip (guided nature walk). It was in the "included activities" not in the “extra activties” , but also if it was in our plan we had to pay 70$. Not a nice surprise
3) we spent 1 night in an hotel completly different comparing what we paid. In general this in not a problem for us, but after 8 hour in the car, if we have paid for a 4/5 stars hotel with spa, we were not happy to discover that it was a very dirty 1/2 star hotel (they told us, the same day, that our was overbooking...)
4) In our plan there was a dinner included in Nairobi but we found out the same day that we had to paid for that (other 70$....)
5) They completly forgot to organize accomodation and meals for the entire last day, for this reason we paid also one lunch, one dinner and one accomodation more… (other 150$)
6) an entire day lost due to issue with the Van (From 7:00am to 7:00pm on the road: no lunch, just bought some chocolate on the road).. I know that it could happen but it is inconceivable to be told that it can happen and not to take it personally!
7) In the safari all people had a jeep and only us an old Van…
8) Our arrival at 5:30am we wait outside the airport around 50 minutes for the pick up...
Considering all these problem we tried to ask a partial refund. They proposed us 140$, I think that is not proportionate, but I accepted...I asked 6 times for an update on payment (in 3 months) and each time they (I spoke to Jared) told me ‘we will do it next week’. Obviously this refund was never made....
The last comment is about Steve, our driver. He is a good man and good worker. Considering all problems he helped us every time
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Guide super , organisation terrible
if it were only for the guide (Thomas) I would give top marks(we saw all the big five and several action of animals). super, he made us experience the Serengeti to the full
I will give two star for the company.
Mr Amos, the owner, gave a jeep to the driver with almost 500,000 km
every day was a problem:
radiator broken(the streets are bad that’s true, but also the car), fuel missing. all this wasted 4 hours(almost one day of game drive, who refund me this?)
mr amos made me pay the balance 150 euros (when it was 112 dollars) telling me that for him changing euros was expensive (the rate exchange is 1€=1.10$)
He also charged 5% of transaction fee(other companies make 3%)
what's even more serious: on the first and last day we had different accommodation compared to the itinerary that we paid. (of lower quality)
The last one was awful (ngorongoro inn): no light and electricity for hours.
if you want to live an “hakuna matata" experience don't book with “migration venture Africa”
I renew my compliments to the guide Thomas. super
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A travel agent who does not listen
Super disappointed about the experience: a travel agent who does not listen, empty promises, long wait after 5 hours of drive, another 2 hours for a room ( triple for a person)
Definitely not an agency which I recommend, try and get someone who is really professional and tries to do something for you
No value for money, despite promises of a good experience, just excuses
BE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Generaly bad food, lunch prepared in the morning stay al the way in a hot jeep.
Good driver but we lost a lot of time for all kind of reasons
Accommodation average
Jeep was in poor condition, dinner cold served, Mouses and cockroach in the rooms.
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Wonderful trip to Kenya, but bad experience with driver
We spent 11 days in August with Amazing Memories Safari between Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Amboseli, after spending 6 days in Tanzania with a very good guide (Karim) from an excellent tour operator (Amazing Memories Safaris).
The trip in Kenya was overall very nice, the parks visited were undoubtedly amazing.
Coming to talk about the organization of the trip, it is fair to mention some positive aspects:
- the tour operator was always prompt in responding to emails;
- the accommodations where we stayed were very nice (even if very expensive, but of course we knew that);
- the 4x4 car was in good condition.
The strongly negative aspects, on the other hand, concern the driver/guide. Indeed:
- he spoke difficult-to-understand English;
- he had a fair knowledge of the parks, but still a not acceptable level for a guide (e.g., at the first lodge in the Masai Mara he arrived using Google Maps; he struggled to locate the locations indicated by other guides where sightings were taking place, with the result that sometimes we were late and almost missed important moments of the sightings);
- he had just an elementary knowledge of animals (e.g., he struggled to distinguish different types of birds or even antelopes from each other, and gave us systematically wrong information about animal behavior);
- he had no strategy for exploring the parks and looking for animals. On the second day we realized that we had to organize our tour independently (we have a fair knowledge of African nature, having traveled a lot, watched for documentaries, "Wild Earth" and read books) and, in fact, we managed to make excellent sightings (but always struggling to get the guide to go to the best places possible);
- he did not know how to position himself in the best ways for sightings (which is certainly complex in Kenya due to the large number of vehicles, but which should still be a prerogative of a good guide);
- we never managed to start the game drive at dawn because he needed at least 30 minutes to eat breakfast.
We did game drives in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Argentina, USA, Norway, Poland, Italy, India, Indonesia, Australia: we never saw such a low level of guiding, especially if compared to the high cost of the trip. In conclusion, our substantially negative opinion of the tour operator is conditioned by the guide (for the rest, we have no particular complaints). However, we believe that in a trip of this type the real added value is the guide and, therefore, as said before, we can only express a negative opinion on the tour operator as well.