DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Don´t go!
We have a complete complaint to make about our stay at the African Excursions Guesthouse in Khwai last week. The exorbitant price there is unfortunately in no relation to the services offered.
I understand that for the location at the Moremi Game Reserve they charge a little more than usual; However, the price in the category of a 5-star hotel raises significantly different expectations than it appears in reality.
The website is also very well done, but also pretends more than it really is.
Concretely: - The breakfast lacks everything. Something is often forgotten (milk, yoghurt, fruit, toast...). There was no real coffee (only decaffeinated). - The tables are no longer covered in the evening, in the morning if you come a little earlier, the dirt from the previous evening is still there.
- The staff make little effort. For example, the campfire that was verbosely announced by the manager was not lit once. Often the various employees just stand there behind the counter and don't bother with the obvious activities that need to be done. Sometimes one has the impression that they make fun of the guests or laugh at them (perhaps because they allow themselves to be "ripped off").
- Appointments at mealtimes are hardly possible, you have to ask again and again and are then put off; usually you have to come spontaneously and hope that something will happen.
- The manager is extremely rude and unresponsive. He watches television and reacts to being spoken to with rejection. He does not organize the booked all-day tour Khwai/Moremi.
- The full-day tour does not take place despite pre-booking. According to the website and reservation, this should cost 1200 pula. The designation "Khwai/Moremi" on the website suggests that you are driving into the game reserve. Instead, there is only a half-day tour and a night tour. Both do NOT go into the game reserve, for which you ultimately came here and are willing to pay a lot. Both cost 1700 PULA EACH, so significantly more than agreed. The latter lasted about 1 hour, for 60 euros per person, completely overpriced. - The huts are insufficiently equipped. For example, the faucet is not fully assembled, the curtains are crooked and are difficult to move etc. - All in all, a standard that was not found in any other lodge in Botswana that we were able to experience in 4 weeks. We were also treated in a friendly, helpful manner almost everywhere in 4 weeks; unfortunately not at all here.
In this way, the offer appears indecent and dishonorable. It really should be reconsidered and improved.
QA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
I feel scammed
I believe that this operator is running a complete scam. The so-called "David", if that even is his real name, in my opinion he is a deceitful individual who charges money/deposits for fictitious bookings. He can be reached at +255 614*** 104, and claims his name is David. I've seen his face in a couple of pictures, and I have also met him in person. If you are currently in touch with this man for a Safari Trip, I strongly advise you to cease all communications with him and seek another Tour Operator. I feel defrauded because I transferred a deposit to him over three months ago for our Safari Trip. He did absolutely nothing in return, forcing me to plan the entire trip myself. Needless to say, I have yet to receive a refund."
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Dishonest and Dangerous
Terrible organisation and put us in a dangerous situation. Tons of hidden costs. They were not honest about the cost of the hotel and charged us double the actual cost.
MX
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
I feel that Seth steal money
Seth offer packages at “very good prices” like we tells you that you are going to travel in a landcruiser and middle range cruises and the reality is that you use vans and you stay in tented camps.
We have talked with other persons about this and they were possibly scammed too
He makes a lot of pressure to pay for a safari when services are not confirmed
MX
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Seth is possibly a scammer! AVOID!
I contacted this man to make a Safari, because contact him I had checked out other options with other companies.
Long story short he offered a Lodge called AA Mara for all my group, all the other companies told me this lodge was not available but he said he had it and that the lodge was already booked for my group, I called the lodge to ask about this “booking” under my name or Seth name or company name and they said they didn’t have any booking from this man.
We gave 500 USD deposit and he said that he wasn’t going to give us our money back when we didn’t confirm to him about this, we were talking about either going to the safari or only make a city tour in Nairobi.
He was very bad replying to us and we said like we wanted to go to the police and he just made fun at me.
I lost 500 USD which I don’t care but hopefully I DIDNT transfer the rest of the money… he was very very very very insistent to make all the transfer,
WATCH OUT! The bank account is in Uganda not Kenia and this leave every one unprotected because once you transfer he stops replying you
*Screenshots removed for privacy reasons.
BR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Biggest flop of my trip.
1. Agreement discrepancy.
They did not deliver the service they promised. We paid more for an upgraded open-sided vehicle as they promised they would provide, but they sent us a Landcruiser without a popped-up roof and below industry standards. One day during the Safari, because there was no roof to cover, I got sunstroke and ended the day's trip early.
2. Cover up problems and shirk responsibility.
When we questioned that the vehicle they provided was not what we required, they kept trying to cover it up, telling us that the Landcruiser was the industry standard and that no guest had ever questioned it (with an ironic tone), and requiring us to bear it as there was no other option. However, we were not questioning Landcruiser, but that they did not provide an open-sided vehicle as they promised.
3. Their quotation is more expensive for the same services.
Taking the price we paid as a reference, they did not provide an open-sided vehicle which generally requires an additional $700, therefore, in fact, their quotation was $500 higher than other agencies for the same services. Don’t choose them and save your money！
4. Irresponsible and lazy tour guide.
The tour guide they arranged for us was extremely irresponsible, often driving while making personal phone calls.
Example 1: In Mara, it is 20 kilometers from our hotel to a gate of the park, and it took him 70 minutes to drive us there. Then wandered 2 kilometers near the gate for a whole morning and we saw almost nothing.
Example 2: When we parked just 1 meter away from a lion ready to hunt, he kept talking and laughing loudly. We tried to stop him, but he continued on the phone for 40 minutes. At last, the antelopes were scared away by his voice, and the lion gave up hunting. We missed a great scene that could have happened, which made us very upset.
Example 3: He lacked a basic sense of service and courtesy. Firstly, I want to clarify that we have treated him politely and respectly. However, he didn't share enough information with us, didn't thank us for tips and snacks, interrupted us, and argued loudly with us.
Do not choose this travel agency, they will ruin your trip!!!
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Mokoro trip
Mokoro trip was nice, but after this trip my group had to wait the driver (to came back to our cars) more than one hour (and we had to arrive to the camping for the night driving safe , instead we arrived at our camping at 7 o’clock pm, in the dark).
The driver didn’t say anything, no apologise with us or anything else for the delay. Never more.
BR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Bad safari, indifferent to the clients
The agency didn't provide value added to our trip. On the contrary, they ruined it from the beginning.
1. Misleading statement. I booked this agency because its competitive price given the same package. But unfortunately they didn't provide what they promised. I asked for an open-sided vehicle, which is more expensive than the normal Landcruiser. To make it happen within my budget, I even asked them to downgrade the hotels. They confirmed they can provide the open-sided one as I asked. However, what they provided is just a Landcruiser with the windows replaced with canvas cover. This was not even closer what we wanted. How they explained? They told me the open-sided vehicle that I asked can only be used in the park. Do you think it justified that you claimed you have the open-sided one? If you don't, why not telling me in the first place?? Moreover, at least other 2 agencies provided this option(opene vehicle) with extra fees over than the normal land cruiser.
2. Overpriced package. To have an open-sided vehicle, I proposed to downgrade the hotels. After their recalculation, the total price was almost the same. However, as I said above, they didn't provide the "upgraded" vehicle but they downgraded my hotels range. In terms of the same package with a normal landcruiser, this agency charged USD500 more than the quotes we received from other agencies. I wouldn't booked with them if I could know their open-sided vehicle was a lie.
3. Vehicle with bad conditions. You know what? They can not even provide a normal vehicle. What they provided was one without popped-up roof, which means you either close the top cover or leave it completely open. Among the vehicles we saw, ours was the ONLY ONE that didn't have the popped-up roof . If you want to stand up to see the animal, you have to suffer the strong sunlight for the whole game drive because it's not adjustable on on the road.
3.Unprofessional and undevoted guide. The guide hired by the agency was unprofessional and undevoted because
1) He is always on the phone calls, private ones, joking on the calls. When the vehicle stopped to wait for the animal to move. Other guides usually were explaining the animal to the clients or kept silent, but you know what our guide was doing? Making calls. Sometimes we had to interrupt him to ask him to move forward. Even when we were quite close to a lion, he was still talking with someone in the phone. Using phone always made him distracted, so he drove very slow. When I doubted the slow drive, he responded safety was the priority. How come using phone while driving could be safe?
2) he was not experienced enough to know where to find the animals, we were often wandering somewhere not even had any aninals at all. When we only missed leopard and chitah, what he did was just idling away in the park Instead of trying to find the animals. Of course we were not demanding that he must find every beasts, but we didn't feel he was devoted to meet clients' expectations.
3) He was not customer-driven. Since the 3rd day, never opened the door for us. In Nakuru, we started safari inthe morning, however we didn't go for flamingo first, instead, he chose a way in the woods to wander about. Until we saw flamingo, it's noon, which the sunlight was not good for taking pictures. When I doubted why we didn't go to see flamingos first, he questioned if I know the way and asked me to trust him.
4. Bad problem-solving altitude. The agency never solved problem we raised, only explained and pretended to understand your feelings. They provided a Landcruser without popped up roof, I asked them to solve. Then they told me the driver will sort it out. However the driver was not able to sort it out. And they just ignored our complaints. This is how they treated the clients.
Never ever choose this agency!
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Poor quality and lack of professionalism
-2 adults and 1 child. 3 days and 2 nights. = 1800 €
-They did not comply with the established itinerary.
The car did not work well and that was the reason they didn’t
take us to the north of Serengeti to see the migration. We ask for compensation visiting another places or returning a part of the money, but they refused.
-Three days driving the same roads…
-We felt ripped off and it ended my dream of a real safari.
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Scammer. Asks for deposit and makes promises that are not kept
Seems very professional in the beginning but did not keep the promises made and changed the schedule to his liking and convenirnce to make more money for himself.
I planned 8 safari day tour and managed to actually do only 3 days. The rest had to be cancelled or changed because of external factors.
Despite having agreed on a refund and getting a confirmation from the official email, they never refunded the money.
I dont recommend going to them for this.
