NG
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nairobi Park 1/2 day tour----The Gilligan's Island 3 hour tour.
It was advertised as a 4-5 hour tour, it was less than 3 hours in the park.
Our expectations were not high so the bar was set low and they couldn't even meet that.
After everyone was picked up at 1:30 we were told "all the animals are asleep now and the best time to start is 3 pm." So to kill time we drive to a small souvenir shop/snack place for about an hour.
First question is if there nothing to see until 3 then why not pick us up at 2:30 instead of 1:30? Obvious answer---to take us to some place to spend money where I suspect the driver and/or company is getting a kickback. THIS ANNOYED ALL THE PASSENGERS (we talked about it) since it was very obvious what was going on.
So we get to the park entrance at 3 and by the time everyone has paid the entrance fee we head in around 3:20. Funny thing is there were numerous vehicles in the park already and we pass a few LEAVING. Didn't they know the animals were all asleep when they arrived a few hours ago? lol.
Long story short what we saw was: Virtually nothing, certainly nothing of interest until 30/40 min. in when we saw a pride of lions sleeping (they should be awake, don't they know what time it is?). There were long stretches of nothing but in the end did see both black (2) and white (2) rhinos, lots of zebras and 3 giraffes only because we happen to see them far off and luckily they were headed in our direction so we stopped and waited. We pass that area 30 min. earlier or later and we don't see them. We also saw lots of Impala, one Ostrich, a couple of hartebeest and 3 hyenas.
They tell you up front in their ads there are no elephants so we knew that.
All we saw of the "big 5" was Lions and Rhinos so no leopards or buffalo either. Also no cheetahs, wildebeast, Hippos, baboons or crocodiles or well....anything else. Of course there's luck involved and no one should expect to see everything but this was pathetic. We headed out of the park before 6 pm so the tour was less then 3 hours long.
The whole thing was more like a Gilligan's Island 3 hour tour gone wrong then an interesting African safari of any kind.
PL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Worst comparing to others
We have spend 4 days in Masai Mara with this company and it was worst of all game drives we had during stay in Africa.
- poor english of driver,couldn't cath a sense of the sentences
-car was not prepared for rain season( broken wipers, lack of solid tow rope, we were supposed to push car in mud)
- we were charged for tickets which never been paid ( company is cooperating on the side with gate keepers) however we received our game driver.The feeling we've been tricked was painful.Lies in your face. Plus was the food and they were on time with schedule.
To sum up -find someone cheaper or pay all tickets on your own.
They were the worst comparing to three other companies we tried during our stay in Africa.
PT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Poor safari
Unfurtunetly we're going to have to complain and write a bad review about this safari. The organization was terrible, they came to pick us up at 04:50 and the flight was only at 08:45, it was horrible to wait all that time at the airport. then them sold us a private safari and that didn't happen, 2 more people came in our jeep who sat down first so we couldn't even go the 4 together, there were 2 behind and 2 in front . Them assured me that the safari had lions and we didn't see them, and besides the guides said that lions were rarely seen. Of all the jeeps, the ones on your tour are the worst and oldest, even ours broke down in the middle and we had to stand still waiting for them to pick us up. the food for lunch was terrible, there weren't even glasses, we have to drink from the bottle.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Disappointing
Short story, animals were good everything else was not, I would NOT recommend Azas Safari.
Long story.
I had high (honestly too high) expectations, and this trip left me lacking in all areas.
I did a lot of research and narrowed it down to a few options. Prisca was very friendly and quick to respond via WhatsApp, she sent us a very professional quote and was willing to customize (better hotels, different activates, charge more money) our 10-day Ugandan safari. However, communication decrease as we got closer to our trip and we only stayed in 1 of 6 of the original agreed upon hotels, the other 5 hotels changed 2 or 3 times each from our agreement till on our trip. The hotel pictures in the agreement looked very nice and I googled every hotel we were supposed to stay at and was excited, but most of what we got was disappointing. The hotels are important because in general the nicer the hotel more options and better food. Almost all of your meals will be at your hotels.
Our guide Christopher had a good eye for spotting wildlife and had substantial animal knowledge, he lacked customer service skills and communication skills. He set the bar for the trip by arriving 1.5 hours late to pick us up on day one, with no fuel or drinking water in the vehicle. The vehicle was an older Toyota land cruiser. Nicer than a lot of the other vehicles we saw but not great and not the one in picture from Prisca. We got to experience 3 minor break downs and 2 very minor fender benders. We had problem with one of the front hubs, going up a hill overheated? and problems with the ignition, so we got to push start the vehicle twice. My shoulder seatbelt on the back passenger side did not work correctly, none of the gauges worked and the vehicle had no air-conditioning.
Half the time it felt like Christopher was on a trip and we were just riding in the back seat. Should have been him taking us on our dream trip. He never asked us what we wanted to do. We had to pry the daily plan out of him. He would stop and get a snack for himself but not offer us or information is that lunch is still 2 plus hours away and we might want to buy our own snack. Our agreement said meal plan “Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner drinking water, non-alcoholic drinks”. We ended up buying one of our lunches and only water in the safari vehicle was included, we had to always pay for water and soda at meals. (Honestly drinks were cheap but not what was agreed to).
My wife and I agree we would NOT go on another trip is Azas. I don’t know if the other companies are better or if this is the standard of service in Uganda???
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Over promised, and under delivered.
The guide Joseph was fine. He was accommodating and knowledgeable.
The accommodation at Lenchada Tourist Camp was super sub-standard.
1. I was in a single tent that looked nothing like what was presented on the website. The bathroom looked like a prison bathroom; it was unclean with plenty of cracked tiles and mold.
2. There was no Wi-Fi, even though the website promised Wi-Fi. When I inquired about the service, I was told, "It's broken".
3. The food service was chicken; chicken and more Fing chicken cooked the same exact way every dinner. And it was not high-quality food. It was a buffet designed to spend the least among of money. They frequently run out of food.
4. The security was below standard. My tent zipper kept malfunctioning and would not close properly. A baboon was able to entire my tent and steal my backpack while I was on safari. Although the backpack was recovered, my clothes were spread on wet ground, plus my laptop and camera were damaged.
5. Luke warm water that you had to request be turned on.
6. Limited electricity (6:30 pm - 10:00pm and 5:30 am-7:00 am). Again, this was not disclosed in the advertisement.
7. Dirty carpet and plenty of insects.
8. A mosquito net with holes.
Not worth the $340 cash (they insisted on cash for a good reason, I would contest the charge on my card if they accepted credit or debit) I paid for three days. In short, the trip was over advertised and under provided.
US
Long days waiting for overstretched drivers
Dismayed to discover everyone in our jam-packed car was staying in different hotels rather far apart. That meant >1h every morning, afternoon, and evening to pick up and drop off one by one. Extremely long days (before 6h to beyond 20h) for the driver and the unlucky folks who were the first to be picked and the last to be dropped, often in traffic, day after day. Dismayed again to see the car was lacking safety belts, a door didn't work, the shocks were bad... dismayed yet again to discover we and many others were being shuffled from one driver to the next, waiting long hours on the side of the road for the driver and all the passengers to arrive from all different directions. One car was so overloaded the driver even had to leave luggage and come back for it after passengers were dropped off. The poor fellows do their best, calling each other, planning ahead, playing Tetris between all the various tour agencies dumping passengers on them, and they do a surprisingly good job given the circumstances, but it's no thanks to the agency. It seems to matter little which agent you book with. I imagine in high season there's enough cars turning around the country that you'll mostly be with people in the same hotel, and if part or all of your trip is to less frequented parks you might have less than a jam-packed car (as we did for the last leg of our week). If you want to be sure of a relaxed experience and some breathing room, book a private safari.
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Anoying
In the middle of the safari they change us of group,van and driver.
The driver didn't stop in naivasa lake when we had to do It...
The driver wasn't worried about us any moment.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bad
the mini bus was terrible, everywhere we ate the food was bad, our main day was delayed by an hour because of other passengers and at the end of the day we ran into a rhino and 10 lions on the hunt and the driver hurried home and didn't let us enjoy the scene 10 minuts more
the only reason for rating 2 is that we saw a big five
US
Don’t select, we were left stranded twice with independent drivers that did not know our itinerary.
We are experienced travelers who generally don’t mind small hiccups or slight plan changes. However, we experienced many issues on this safari that were unacceptable. No matter what tour agency you select, you will see the animals and the landscapes. If you don’t want those memories clouded by stress, uncertainty, and worry, pick a more reputable tour agency. This is not a professional outfit.
We were dropped off at multiple locations that didn’t match our provided itinerary with no Wi-Fi / service to contact the agency. In one instance, the next driver showed up 15 hours late. There was a lack of information and transparency that left us feeling unsafe, vulnerable, and stranded. We paid extra for a 4x4 Jeep but spent half of our time in various small sedans. We were not able to drive to one of the parks due to this.
A flat tire is reasonable and common. However, setting off on a three-day safari in the Serengeti with a damaged, leaking radiator is negligent and unsafe. We were stranded for two hours because the engine overheated and had to make several other stops to check on the vehicle throughout the tour.
Despite paying for an all-inclusive (planned) safari, we had independent or sub-contracted drivers who were not aware of our itinerary —including what parks we were to visit, where we were staying and the logistics of our next (unexpected) hand-offs. These drivers also didn’t have our information and we were forced to trust they were somehow affiliated with the company.
In one specific incident, a driver had no idea what our final destination was or where we were staying. This driver attempted to pick up friends along the way until we demanded to be taken to our accommodation. He didn’t know this accommodation, so we told him to take us to the accommodation we stayed in before we departed for the park where we knew we would have access to Wi-Fi to call for help. We then had to go to the new accommodation that was not on our provided itinerary.
Other issues we experienced:
1. Our accommodations didn’t match those listed on our itinerary and we were never provided with an updated version.
2. None of the jeeps were affiliated with Okoa Tours or the Tanzanian counterpart called Seven Wonders, despite other legitimate companies having branded vehicles.
3. All jeeps’ were older than the pictures provided and the charging outlets did not work as described.
After the tour we reached out to Okoa and they responded “But as far as the Kenya side nothing went wrong” because we arrived at the 3 listed parks.
FR
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Very disappointing
As always, we enjoyed being in Africa but this was certainly not my best memory.
I’ve done 7 safaris in Africa, including North and South Tanzania, Rwanda, Namibia and Botswana. And Zambia is my biggest disappointment. The walking safaris are much over-hyped in marketing publications and are better in Tanzania.
But if you are determined to go to Zambia, choose the lodges very carefully!
We spent 7 nights at Shenton Safaris Camps, 3 in Kaingo, (a special mention for Catherine, the talented, enthusiastic and thoughtful chef); and 4 in Mwamba Bush Camp, a very disenchanting experience. The day following our arrival, a famous wildlife photographer came with her guests, and “required” (as we were told by the camp manager) private brunches with her team. We were required to eat alone at our chalet. Despite our protests, we were excluded from the communal meal for the rest of our stay. We were treated as second class customers, at $2K+ per day!
We also prepaid for a remote sleepout, alone, a 15/20 minute drive from the camp. We were provided a radio transmitter to summon help for any nighttime emergency. When we attempted to use it, we discovered the battery was dead, confirmed by the guide the following morning; very disconcerting.
The owners were aware of our dissatisfaction during our visit. Later they had much to say via email but never visited the camp and never called to discuss any of our concerns. Back in France, in an exchange of emails, it became frustratingly clear that they were either very misinformed or very disingenuous (or both) about the facts surrounding our stay. They offered no apology for their actions…..but a bottle of wine. Ludicrous!