RU
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beware of cheaters! 'Hello, Tanzania!' are cheaters! In particular Mwajabu. Safari was terrible
It's a pity to write it but for the next travellers I must do it, to prevent the situations that we were involved and to be ready what to expect from those swindlers like Ms Mwajabu and their company 'Hello, Tanzania'
1. We were the first day in Africa. Mwajabu came to grab the cash for the safari. We were warned that to TZ we need to take just 2006 year released banknotes or above. Of course, we all checked our cash before. It was 2006 or above. We gave money to Mwajabu. After a couple of hours she came to the hotel and told us that 12(!) 100$ banknotes that we gave her were old and 'she is in trouble". We were confused because we hadn't expected that they are going to cheat us, because some of our friends who worked in the other firm Altezza Tours reccomended the company as their partners. But Mwajabu didn't care about this. All of us were really alarmed and concerned, we didn't know what to expect but we knew for sure that we had given proper banknotes. After we told her about the police and cancellation of safari she said that it would be 'a lesson to her ' and her friend on Zanzibar will help her to change old money. Isn't it funny? All of us, especially girls were a bit suppressed, ' cause it was the first day in Africa for us all and we were dreaming about gorgeous safari. But instead of good thoughts about upcoming safari we had to prove that 'we are not camels' to that woman.
2. Next day. The driver came on 5 a m. The car was small for us 6. and really old. But they actually offered to go 8 persons.. how? The capacity with driver is maximum 8! So we arrived to the lodge in Selous GR at around 10 am, guys from the lodges showed us our tents. Girls were in shock! Tents were tiny for 1 person not even for his big bag! On the pictures they'd sent us the tents were normal big for 2 persons that you can even stand there. We will see such normal tents in Ngorongoro in few weeks later, they were just really comfortable. So certainly we refused to live in such conditions. On the program Mwajabu sent us in advance were absolutely different normal 2 persons tents. What could we do in the middle of Africa? We asked them to give us another accommodation. They charged us more 360$ for us 6 for the wooden hut for 2 and another wooden non condicioned even non fenned hut for 4! 360$ more! Once we lived in Portugal for 350$ for a month in a big flat in the city centre! That's their cheat #2.
3. We've spent about an hour of our game drive time to arrange all the things with accommodation. And now cheat #3: they stated that we can choose that today we go for a half day game drive and tomorrow for the half day. But better not to go today and just go to boat safari on 16.30 pm and tomro for the full day game drive. But stop! In the program it was claimed that on day1 we arrive at 10, having our fast lunch and departing for the WHOLE DAY safari, not even for a half. And there was some logic in it: so why would we have to depart from the hotel at 5am and arrive to the lodge (in Selous) at 10am and just start the boat safari at 4.30pm&?! It's ridiculous! We said that 'no, we going to go now for the whole day and tomro for the whole day' as it was written in the program that Ms Mwajabu sent me via email in advance. But can you imagine our guide Msafiri showed us printed program with the new schedule! Cheaters were ready for any turn! :) But of course i found in my smart phone the real program and showed it for the guide. For the long time he was talking on the phone and finally agreed on what we had insisted. Like Mwajabu did when she failed with her trick with banknotes. So we've spent a lot of time and nerves again. Why they did like that? We found out later that the entrance fee costs for a 24 hours visit to the park 70$/person. So they tried to convince us to go just for a one day game drive to save 420$ and put them into their pockets. Of course everything including park fees we've paid in advance.
4. The safari was ok. But not impressed. You know, 50% of success depends on the guide. The guide - Msafiri was not very communicative. His English was ok, but we haven't been catching not any word because of the strong accent. He was not very friendly, and he was wearing not a neat clothes as other safari guides did, not like a hint for uniform, just like a local guy from the village. Probably not a big deal but It's also very important for the whole impression about the company.
5. The icing on the cake was that on the last day they sold us lunch boxes for 10$ each! But it really costs less than a dollar: dry old chicken leg, bred with carrot, juice..
So the whole impression was very bad, they were trying to deceive us every time they got a chance. So thank you, Mwajubu for the spoilt safari and first impression about Tanzania. You're not even think for the future, I told you that if we'd love the safari we'd definitely go with your company fot the northern curcuit. And thanks God we found another great company with honest and pleasant people working there who changed our opinion to the country and people. We went back home absolutely satisfied and pleased. Tanzania is amazing!
We have all scans, documents, photos, programs, witnesses to prove my words. So, guys, be aware of that company and Ms Mwajabu. Actually we can even bring an action for the court, because they rendered their service not loke it was claimed in the contract and forced us to pay more money cheating us with accommodation.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very disorganized
We booked a short trip to Mombasa using the SGR. When we got to the Miritini station all the people who had booked with Bonfire we're herded to one corner. Most of us had no transportation to the hotels. Where a bus finally showed up, 2 hours late, it broke down at the parking lot! They eventually put us in 3 separate taxis after much complaining. We wasted about 4 hours that counted as part of the first day of the trip.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Terrible. Book elsewhere. More focused on making money than customer experience
Booked a safari tour with acz tours in Nairobi. Joshua and the office staff replied very promptly and payment went through smooth. All questions answered fully and quickly, great customer service.
The tour itself is described as a 4 day safari. On day one I was picked up 0700 and drove around the city until 0900 picking up guests. The entire day was spent driving to the park with a 1.5 hour visit to park. (Wasted day).
Day 2 was a full 12 hours in the park where we seen lots. Unfortunately the breakfast had ran out of most foods by 0600 and no more was made so felt very hungry. When lunch came around it wasn't much better, a terrible sandwich with hardly any meat and some rotten fruit.
Day 3 again spent driving, this time from 0700 until 1730. Wasted day again. We got to hotel just as was getting late. Was promised WiFi to which never worked.
Day 4 we spent 1.5 hours in the lake and the rest of the day driving to Nairobi. Again another long day in the van wasted.
Besides all of the following, I would like to point out a few issues.
1. the drivers where late to pick us up every single morning from their designated meeting time.
2. They were forever driving whilst on their phones and 2 guests had to leave the tour early as they didn't feel safe. We almost crashed in the park trying to get to a rhino and inturn the van not only lost a wing mirror and the back bumper, but got stuck and we all had to get out and push! In a park full of lions haha.
3. The van is restricted to 80km so for 4 hours I had to sit listening to a continous beep noise.
4. Due to being a ride share I was forced to sit in the front as there was no seats in the back of the van. Due to this, I couldn't see very much whilst in the parks.
5. The van seat was infested with insects. I told the driver to which he shrugged and said "they won't bite". As there was no other seat I was forced to sit for 6 hours with insects crawling all over me and my belongings.
6. The best one of all, the van broke down 3 times and we spent over 2 hours waiting around. On 2 occasions mechanics tried to help but the bus driver Richard was too pig headed he wouldn't allow and the mechanic left. In turn we lost out of hours in the park because of the poor van maintenance .
7. Out of 7 guests on the trip, 4 left really annoyed and the other 3 were not too happy. One quit his tour 2 days early because of the electrical fire in the van and didn't feel safe. One didn't feel safe driving at night with the driver. And the others had to change their plans to accommodate us so were not happy at all.
Over all the tour was not worth the money paid. Although the park was nice and the animals seen was fantastic, I feel this tour was extremely unorganized and if I had children I'd be furious the drivers put us into such unsafe conditions. If you have the money I would book else where.
CO
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Worst Tour Operator ever. Not what I paid for!
I paid US680 dollars for a three day safari with Seven By far Travel. The Company offered a 3 day safari that included a stay in a wonderfull lodge called AAlodges, which is categorised as a 5-stars facility in booking.com. To my surprise when I got there, the lodge was far from what was promised, they not only changed it without previous notification, but they took us to a lodge that was way below the level of what I paid for. The place is not even listed in booking.com. What really bothered me, is that they took me for stupid and had the nerve to say that it was an upgrade. When this happened, I decided to leave and ask for a refund before the Safari even started. After sending recurrent emails for a month and receiveng several excuses from the operator, I finally got a refund but for half of what I paid for. I would never recommend this Company.
PL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Baba Africa Safaris makes the fool of clients and steals their money
From our experience they take money in advance (50% down payment online, and 50% before departure) and then :
1. Change lodges for cheaper ones without agreement for the first day ...
2. Do not pay at all for the next ones (Client has to pay a second time on arrival)
3. Do not buy the flight tickets they have received money for
4. Give out of age card that break down every other day (and do not give spare car when you are stuck with the break down)
5. Ignore you when you demand to follow the program
Now Mr Victor Godwin owns us more than 3000 $ compensation for costs incurred by us... and is wanted by Tourist Police in Tanzania
A. B.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Cheated out of $3300
They took our money but never returned our phone calls or emails, and never picked us up or tried to contact us while we were in Tanzania.
We heard rumors of financial insolvency and bankruptcy, but were never able to verify that. Nonetheless, we know we never got to go on our tour...
That said, we ended up finding a great company and having a great time, so at least that worked out.
IL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing Kenya, and the SOLARIS the FRAUDSTERS
This is a genuine review about our trip (me & my husband) to Kenya during last month (5 days, End of January 2018).
Hope this will help you, if Kenya is in your bucket list also.
Kenya is an amazing place, with its scenic places, very friendly people, tasty food and the best tea.
There are many tour operators available online, please start doing the research a bit early and go for a reputed one.
I contacted many tour operators but got impressed with Solaris quotes and their flexibility which made us to choose them. The only and the biggest mistake I did in planning this trip. Now after the trip I understand, being flexible to any extend is the trick to make you fall for them.
The coordinator and the spokesperson from Solaris was Josphat.
Here is the list of disappointments by the Great Solaris!!
• Starting of our trip - Josphat cancelled the Amboseli NP plan without informing us. When we got ready with lot of excitement in the morning the driver took a turn towards Nairobi and said that you flight was delayed so the Amboseli NP is cancelled. We were shocked to hear this as we landed on time and got out of the airport as well on time, it was a lie told by Josphat to the driver.
We travelled all the way from Nairobi to Amboseli just to sleep in the Lodge...!!!!!!!! I must say the Kilimanjaro view we had from our lodge was spectacular, which kind of calmed us down.
And on second day travelling all the way from Amboseli to Lake Nakuru...
We reached late to Nakuru also...!!!!!!! 2 days wasted in our 5 days trip...!!!!!!!
Refund Number 1: Mr. Josphat then agreed to give us back the National park entrée ticket fee.
• We were provided with a safari van, which had a non-working radio. Only after reaching Masai Mara we got to know the importance of radio. The guides communicate to others over wireless when they spot something.
Our driver knew this radio issue from day one and he did not open his mouth until we were stuck inside Mara with no radio. If driver and Josphat had communicated properly, they could have fixed/replaced the radio when we had crossed Nairobi on the second day from Amboseli. But they did nothing...!!!!
We got to see the big 5, only because we were lucky...!!!!!!!
• The driver hardly opened his mouth and he is supposed to be the experienced safari guide too for us. He was more like just a driver who had already reached his retirement age. Every day we started on time, but never reached any destination on time...!!!!
He was very careless and sometimes rude too and never cared about our time.
Example,
After balloon safari (on the 4th day) he was supposed to pick us inside Mara at the agreed upon spot. When we returned he was already waiting there for us, but as soon as we got in, he said “I don’t see your lunch box inside and this hotel guys have forgotten to put it”, We had to go all the way to the camp from the national park to take the lunch box and after reaching there it turned out that it was in the vehicle all the time and he did not check it properly and just started blaming camp guys. This event made both of us very upset on for first wedding anniversary morning. First of all it is his job to make sure the lunch boxes are in before he leaves the camp and he did not care to check that while waiting on the spot for us too. Then at last he can’t search his own van.
Because of his carelessness we lost almost 2 hours in the morning, the time when we get to see more games.
Refund Number 2: For all the disappointments, Mr. Josphat wanted to correct his mistake by refunding some amount on the next day of our trip end.
Even after a month, follow up with lot of patients, we got zero Refunds!!!!
After one month, we did not receive any money, which explains us that was not a flaw which happened accidently, but all the plans and promises were just lies to get our booking.
When we are spending so much, his refund is not a big money. But still we wanted to give him a chance to admit and correct his mistakes.
So, guys after spending so much money, so much researching, expectations and planning, if you don’t want to end up with a feeling of being cheated, DON'T GO WITH SOLARIS.
Only 35 reviews in all these years tell what SOLARIS really is...
In spite of all these, it will still be a special trip with the magical view of Mt.Kilimanjaro in Amboseli, Flamingoes in the Lake Nakuru, Masai village visit, balloon safari and the big 5 safari in Masai Mara .
It would have been a lifetime trip if we would have chosen another tour. If we get a chance we definitely want to go back to Kenya, but definitely not with SOLARIS.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Simon of EastCo still owes us more than $9,000 after three years. DO NOT BOOK.
It is absolutely criminal that Simon and EastCo are still taking bookings. I should have written this review earlier, but every time I think about it I get a terrible pit in my stomach. My husband and I organized a 30 day safari with Simon in July 2015. The reviews were all good, so we felt okay about it. But then the first day, no one came to pick us up at our hotel, which should have been the first sign of trouble. The next week and a half was probably some of the most stressful travel I've ever experienced. I won't get into the nitty gritty, but I will give one detail: our safari vehicle got repossessed in the middle of the night when we were at a remote safari camp, because Simon hadn't paid the bills. At every turn we were asked to pay out of pocket or held behind, because Simon and Eastco hadn't paid. Finally, we cut our trip short. We ended with a copy of Simon's passport and a statement, in writing, and signed, that he would repay us for services not rendered. He's paid us back only $900 of over $10,000 owed. We're still waiting. DO NOT BOOK WITH EASTCO. You will have your money stolen. I would be happy to discuss more with anyone who has questions, and to share the written document of Simon's promising us our money back (you can email me using the link above this review). This company should be flagged as fraudulent on all safari sites. Terrible. Just terrible.
IN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Vacation very stressful
I had a very stressful and disappointed experience with this tour and Yoeni Japheth as organizer of this mess. Tour was for 10 nights and after 3 nights many things went wrong. My itirinary was changed had to spend senseless long hours on a bus going back and forth.
itself Yoeni Japheth spoke very bad English and communication with him was exhausting.He was very responsive when he wanted my money but then when trouble arises he went silent. Yoeni Japheth mixed up a lot of things and made my vacation very stressful.
Tour itself is not worth the money. Accommodation in fact is very cheap if you book them directly. Food was very bad.
First night after transatlantic flight I was put in a really horrible hotel and spent sleepless night listening to all night music from next door night club.
I specifically asked how many people will be in a safari car and was told by Yoeni Japheth no more than 7.
In fact there was 9 of us which made the whole trip very uncomfortable.
I do not recommend this Drive Tanzania Ltd company to anyone. Lots of things went wrong and there were lots of misrepresentations of what company is offering. Not worth even remotely the money spent
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Hillary has jointed us to company Blue mountain safari. Before he didn't tell
Hillary sold us the tour from company Suricata safari, but when we come to Arusha he has jointed us to freelancer how he have said, but later we have known that it's the company blue mountain. So Hillary has layed to us. That's terrible.
Plus Hillary asked to pay a tips for 10 dollars from each per day. That's terrible.
Guide Emanuel has ugly behavior. Every questions from us and others make him angry.
When we asked to stop him behind the animal he become angry too. We didn't asked him to stop more then one two time per day.