50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Ripped Off!
Do not use this company, it is no longer reputable! We booked a Safari through them in Oct 2017 and they kept our deposit and didn't provide the services advertised. We lost £'000's and had to pay someone else when we arrived in the country, causing my family great anxiety and delay and ruining our holiday. I believe the owner in Ibrahim Kalule - do NOT trust this man, he is a criminal!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Dreadful
Thank you for your reply to my son Mathias regarding his review. In response, I have every email and communication between me and Falcon Safaris and am more than happy to go public with them.
1. When I booked the days at the hotel, Patrick Manyika confirmed the booking. Fact. I confirmed when I had paid and asked you for confirmation that you received payment. You did NOT request proof of payment at this time. Fact. You did not reply to my email of 12/12/17 that you confirm receipt of payment. Fact.
2. I recontacted you in July to check all was well. Fact. The first email I got back said that all was ok with the booking. It was 2 days after this you said that you could not find the payment. By this time we were in Zimbabwe with no ability to contact my bank in U.K. Fact.
3. We have been the ones that have done all the leg work in this. Gertrude has simply responded to emails. We have provided proof of payment, more than once. Fact. Our bank has contacted your bank, your bank has not responded.
4. I have more than once requested your formal complaints procedure details and these have not been provided. Fact. This is why we have gone public because Falcon Safaris have made no proactive effort to resolve this issue.
5. You have just hoped we would give up and go away and accept an over £1000 loss. Not going to happen. We paid once in full and then had to pay again to ensure a booking.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Disappointing....waste of money... major let down!!!
Having come close to the end of my tour in East africa, and having had an amazing time, i couldn't leave without visiting the masai mara. So I enquired about the 1 night 2 day tour with safari line defenders, Rose was helpful at that time and gave me lots of details about the tour regarding timings and what I should expect. Pleased with the information I had received I booked the tour...only to find out everything she had told me was a lie. She had basically falsified the details just to make a sale. She claimed the game drive would be 12hours over the 2 days, which I thought was a bit of a stretch for 2 days but it's her job she knows best, right?. No, We drove for a maximum of 3 over the 2 days, so much time was wasted waiting around. We arrived at the campsite on the 1st day at 3pm ( although Rose said we'd be there for 1pm) and we waited around wasting time for the driver to take us on the drive at 4.30pm. Inside the masai mara, the driver didn't make an effort to point out any animals or provide information about any of them. After 2hours of driving we returned to the camp...disappointed is an understatement of what I was feeling at this point, but I had the following day to look forward to. Come the second day we were ready to leave as requested at 6.30am. We made our way to the mara, drove around the same area again with not much of interest. The driver had told me the night before I would have to change groups, as the group I was with was not return today so I had to join a different group to return back. So he rang another driver to find out if I could get into their vehicle... in the middle of the masai mara I had to get out of my vehicle an into another. So the tour/ nightmare continued so we drove around spotting some lions n cheeters on the way. At 8am the driver said we will now drive back. I was shocked I had paid a grate deal of money for this?? So we returned. The driver was to drop each of the group members back to our hotels, I said I wanted to go to the office as I wasn't happy with the tour. He decided to make a phone call to let the office know. Personally I think it was to forewarn Rose about how i felt. On arrival at the office, surprise surprise Rose was nowhere to been seen. The guy at the office said it was Rose's sale so he couldn't do anything and said Rose would call me that evening ( I was flying out of Kenya 5am the following morning). The evening came and went and I received no form of communication from Rose. I wasn't going to miss my flight so I packed my bags and returned to the UK. Rose did message and her resolution was to offer me a free tour the next time I came, I wouldn't be returning to Kenya any time soon to a couldn't take the offer, I told her. I requested a refund, but she refused and said I had to email the director of the company about my complaint, which I did. Did I get a response? No, no surprise there.
All in all a very disappointing experience and waste of money. I wouldn't recommend this tour company to anyone. If you want to experience a real game drive don't use this company.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Stay well clear of this company and anything associated with the Vimic group.
This company and the individuals involved are utterly dishonest and disingenuous, and I found out the hard way. After spending a considerable amount of money on this safari (almost double of the others sharing the Jeep) I never got what the safari had been sold as. On more than one occasion I was left with no pre booked accommodation and had to arrange my own. I was told by Victor and Maurin that I would be reimbursed....which has still not happened and this was 2 months ago, the last time I emailed asking the whereabouts of the refund I was told to “be patient”. I was a female travelling alone and I was lucky that my travelling companions who I’d met along the way had my best interests at heart and made sure I wasn’t left in a vulnerable situation, which was never something Viktor ever cared about. On one particular night I was driven around different campsites by three men looking for accommodation that could fit me in, after 3 hours in the dark with no food and no toilet stop I eventually was placed in a chalet with no running water or lights. On the last day, and by now I thought things couldn’t get worse, I was told by the Jeep guide that my park fees had not been paid and so I would have to wait for Viktor to arrive and he would take me himself. Thankfully the other tourists thought this was unacceptable and when Viktor arrived we all insisted that he gave me the money for the park entrance so I could continue with the group. I wouldn’t of left anything or anyone with Viktor as he had proven himself to be an untrustworthy individual and I realized my safety was not something he concerned himself with. So while I “patiently” await my $400 refund I would like to offer my experience as a cautionary tale. Please feel free to ask for more information as I will be happy to help and ensure he is prevented from profiting on his dishonesty.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Large deposit paid, no tour, no response
We have paid over $6000 to this tour company and they have defaulted. Worse still, they are still taking money from others to this day, as I made a separate inquiry with them over the weekend and they were still willing to quote me on a safari
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fraudulent Company
My family just returned from a two week trip to Kenya. The first few days were great and we were really enjoying our trip until we got to the 3rd hotel and were told it hadn't been paid for. The remaining hotels on our trip and park fees were not covered, even though we paid for the entire trip upfront. We had to repay for all of these fees to upwards of several thousand dollars. Peter was evasive and would not let us know when or how he would repay these double payments. If you're I search for Peter Muthinja you will find he has a record of doing this under other company names. We managed to still enjoy our trip (with no help from e-travel management) the best we could, but this definitely left a lot of stress and a mark on our family's trip.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unethical company, avoid it.
While the camps and staff at the camps (Oliver's, Highlands) are indeed excellent, the management of Asilia is something I cannot recommend. Our trip was interrupted due to our plane crashing in the Lobo, Serengeti on Oct 25, and we had to miss 9 nights of stay at Sayari camp. The representatives from Asilia greeted us at the Arusha airport on the day we were evacuated. We told them we have to travel to Kenya because one of our family member was injured and was air lifted to Nairobi for treatment. The Asilia representative (Jeroen Harderwijk) told me that should we are able to continue if the injury was not serious, they will let us continue with our trip in Kenya at the Mara side. However, several days later, they would tell me this is not so, due to fear of liability. They will not give any credit or refund for the 9 nights we missed due to the plane crash. So in a nutshell, Asilia was trying to sell us more safari on the day we survived a plane crash! What a disgusting company. Further communication with the company did not clarify this. They basically said they will not help in making arrangements for remainder of our trip, and wished us good luck.
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Stole our Money -F*** these guys -Do not trust them!!!
They stole $5000 dollars from us for our Honeymoon - Do not send them money-they will screw you over. They did not provide the safari, and did not give us our money back.
They shoot animals in front of you
They shoot elephants and rhinos in front of you and leave them to suffer. Horrific!
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A company with internal conflicts and no service when problems occur.
We did the 7-day Masai Mara / Lake Naivasha / Hell's Gate / Mount Kenya trip with the two of us. The driver and guides they hired were nice people. They were freelancers and not attached to Nairobi Tours Promoters & Safaris itself.
However the instructions they gave our drivers were minimal, which caused us to miss the morning game drive in the Masai Mara. This game drive would require an extra 24 hour permit to the park ($70 p.p. plus a fee for the vehicle) that we've paid for and did not receive. During the trip we mailed and called with the company and they ensured us that they would look into it and that they would talk with the driver.
after our trip we received the following mail:
"Hi Lotte,
Hallo and thank you. I have met the driver and will finalize your refund of US$ 160 for Masai Mara. I have spoken to my boss and will deposit the money before the end of the week. Kindly bear with me for any inconveniences caused. Thank you in advance!
Best Regards,
Vickson"
However, we never received anything. We contacted Vickson again and heard that he wasn't working for the company anymore and that we should ask for Benard. It was strange that no one else of the company mentioned this to us as every mail we send to Vickson, was also send to the mail address of Nairobi Tours Promoters & Safaris. After contacting that same mail address we received a series of mails that were full of things that Vickson did wrong (which we aren't really interested in) and that we should've contacted them while we were still in the Masai Mara. The fact that we contacted them the day afterwards with someones elses phone and the first bit of WiFi we encountered somehow wasn't good enough. Two of the mails we received are listed below.
Mail 1:
"well mr Lotte , i could feel your your wrath and personally i could have
the money you demand leave the company i could seatle it despite having
the driver speak otherwise and also victor making a decision withiout
consultaion on the matter . frankly and honestly speaking is it kind of
incitation from some quarters or because of what , nevertheless i still
would tell you shelve the decision to recommend the company negatively.
hope you consider my request"
Mail 2:
"yea mr lotte you know we had alot of infighting within the
oprganization and some agrieved characters could be trying just tirnish
the name of the company by any means , the reason i say am honestly and
frankly is because on the day of departure vickson was thrown out of
thecar you went to tour after demanding some kickback from the
driver/guide that you went with and ever since he hasen tring discredit
the company , trying to get buyers, lobying for sales staff to boycott
salesin the office, . niow he personally told you that you would be paid
within the time he promised without any consultation just to discredit the
companies' intergrity .
honest in the sense when i gave that i had given the amount of the imprest
to victor to hand over to the guide then he disputed that may i colluded
with the guide to deny you the entrance to the park fee money
frankly in that my concience is very clean on this matter , my heart is
quite clear have no any hiden agenda .
Regards,
benard"