AR
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Uneven service, with great things mixed with defficient aspects
We bought a 3-week package thru Uhuru with my family of 5 (me, my wife, and 3 grown-up children (27-25-23), from December 28th to Jan 17th, 2020. It included 12 days in safaris, and 8 days in Zanzibar. We chose the mid-range option (other being budget & luxury).
Positive side:
1. First, Margaret, our contact person throughout the trip, was there for us 24/7, constantly attentive to our needs, and ready to solve any problem that could arise. It was great to have her reachable in Whatsapp at all times!
2. The organizational part was impeccable, everybody was waiting for us in the right places, at the right times, rooms ready in hotels, guides and drivers ready to take us where we were going.
3. All the lodges in the safari part of the trip, also great, meeting or exceeding our expectations!
4. Having a vehicle and a guide/driver exclusively for ourselves the entire trip was also great.
5. The guides: superb! Perfect I’d say for Charles in Kenya, and very good Godwin in Tanzania. They of top importance, you get to spend most of your day with them.
On the Negative side:
6. Major problem: the vehicles! Transport in safaris are 50% of the experience. In a trip like this, we spent 8-12 hours a day on the transport, either as a game drive or in between Parks (several of the game drives were planned to occur during our inter-park trips, with all our luggage inside the vehicle, and it cannot be done in any other way). And we were 5 adults with luggage for 3 weeks. The quality of what we got was absolutely terrible, not up to standards. And that after much complaining from our part, Uhuru refused to change the vehicle, is really incomprehensible. It ruined our experience. In every lodge, every park entrance, every stop to watch animals, where we saw other tour vehicles, ours was by far the oldest, most decrepit, and overcrowded of all! I happened to read on several Safari.com reviews that other passengers also complained in the past about the same issue with Uhuru, and also read in disbelief that management from Uhuru replied that Uhuru assigns the small Jeeps for up to 4 passengers, and the extended Jeep for up to 6, and we were 5 adults and Uhuru had us crammed in a small Jeep for 8 days (the Tanzania part)!!! So Uhuru did not even respected its own established standards. It is really lamentable, this was meant to be the trip of our life, but it gave us reasons to complain every day we had to endure such bad mini bus/Jeep. On top of that, since the conditions of the roads are so bad, the famous "African Massage" turned out to be torture for us due to the bad conditions of these very old vehicles. Advise to future travellers: find a way to know ahead what kind of vehicles you will be given during the safaris!
7. As compensation, Uhuru offered a free half-day tour in Zanzibar (we chose snorkeling in Nmemba Island). Although this was a nice gesture: 1) it was not nearly enough to compensate the problems we had during the safaris, and 2) the tour itself was bad, the service was mediocre, and the facilities at the point of departure of the boat were just terrible. I’d strongly suggest Uhuru to not use those guys anymore.
7. Airport hotel at arrival: 67 Airport Hotel at Nairobi was horrible, and in a terrible location! My daughters arrived at night and were so scared when they saw their airport transfer entering the streets where the hotel is, it is like a slum. And the arrival hotel is the first impression one has of the whole trip, the country, and the tour company. It is at least three levels below the quality of the safari lodges. It is clearly not “mid-range” level that we chose for the whole trip, and I’d say it does not even qualifies for “budget”.
8. Nungwi Nmanari Cottages in Zanzibar: the hotel is OK, I’d say more budget than mid range, but acceptable in terms of rooms, services and general facilities. But it is on the wrong side of the island!!! It has no beach!! We spent 6 nights on a tropical paradise island in a hotel with no beach. High tide: no beach, low tide: the sea retreats to 800 meters away, and impossible to get to because there are stones, coral, and see urchins. We could not believe it when we went to the other side (just a 10’ taxi ride away) where a lot of other hotels are, and saw such beautiful beaches, enjoyable in both low and high tide. My son and daughters, who love the beach, complained day and night, and I felt that I let them down organizing this trip in such a way that didn’t let them enjoy Zanzibar’s world famous beaches
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Really nice expirience
Really nice experience good guide and sirous company i have been there for 5 days for ngorongoro serengeti maniyara and tarangere and it was wonderful
DK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Serengeti National Park by Mette
Not many animals and bad roads. Beautiful nature though.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Alright but too touristic
Our guide did not even introduced himself when we met him. Basically I would say that he was a driver more than a guide. We didn't lean anything about the wildlife of the reserve and the communication was very poor.
the guides went out of the road to see the lions closer, which is forbidden. We didn't appreciate that at all since it was very disrespectful of the wildlife and of the animals.
The food was alright.
A bit disappointed to do the same as all the tourists in the reserve.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Inna and Danny
It rained all day on the day of visit, that limited our ability to fully explore the lake and roads were flooding, very limited ability to visit the park when it rains.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Agency responsive and flexible but guide far below expectations
We did an 8-day safari with Image Travel Limited. The agency was very responsive and flexible in designing a trip according to our preferences. The lodges were very good and met our expectations. We booked a safari van (not the Land Cruiser option), which was generally a good decision, although the particular vehicle was a little run-down.
On the negative side, we were not overly happy with the guide. The itinerary specified that the tour includes an "experienced guide", however, our guide turned out to be no more than a driver. For most parts he was friendly and also drove us everywhere as specified, but he was certainly not the type of guide you would expect on a safari. His knowledge of the parks and the animals was only rudimentary. It was also disturbing that he repeatedly provided incorrect information when he didn't know something we asked about, rather than simply saying that he doesn't know. We were also puzzled by some behaviors that we found inappropriate for a safari guide (e.g., phone often rang during the game drives, speeding in the parks, attempts to talk us into later starts in the morning). On our previous safaris (in different countries and with different operators), the guides were very skilled at spotting animals, shared our enthusiasm about the nature and had some interesting stories to tell. Unfortunately, this was not the case during this tour.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
TERRIBLE GUIDE
We started out with a great guide, George, bu the jeep broke down so we wasted a day waiting for the jeep to be fixed. The guide stayed with the jeep and we got a new guide. The new guide didn't tell us anything about what we were looking for, he didn't communicate with us, speak English, and was generally just kind of a jerk. It was exceptionally disappointing for the 4 day safari. Maybe Uhuru is fine but I hope they never use Jonas as a guide again or make sure you don't end up with Jonas.
IL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bad organization, amazing experience
Karibu booked me and another traveler on another company's vehicle without notifying us. This caused some issues as the schedule didn't entirely match the one advertised and the driver had been told that we were going for 3 days instead of the 4 we had paid for. In addition, the vehicles used were really not suitable for the road conditions and we got stuck 3 times, once having to exit the vehicle as it flooded with water and threatened to tip over.
Overall, however, the safari was incredible and our driver and guide Ken was super helpful and accommodating! Do note that if you book the 4 day Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru safari you don't have to pay for the boat tour; Karibu is supposed to pay for it.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Friendly, on time, resourceful and knowledgeable.
We enjoyed our tour of Ngorongoro and had a wonderful time. Communication was good and they constantly checked on us to see whether we were comfortable or wanted to do something else.
GR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nice safari, tricky prices, not so good accomodation.
The safari itself was good, living up to our expectations. The drivers were excellent. I have nothing to complain about the communication either, which was always immediate. However:
The lodges and hotels were kinda bad. Alright, we expect nothing of luxury when going for a safari in the savannah, but to think there was no water in the showers or toilets most of the time... also, the tents' build was rather poor and the buffet was nothing special. It's not like I cannot stand it as a young and adventurous man, but since the price was quite high, I doubt the overall accomodation provided was worthy at all.
Furthermore, there remains on me the bitter taste of having to pay some 100 euros higher than the price formerly agreed upon, without any official documents about it, under the excuse of "the currency value changes". Also, keep in mind the general phenomenon that, in Kenya, everybody demand a tip for the services they provide, from the tour guides and drivers to even the people approaching you on the road, offering to help you with directions.