US
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Marginal
I have been on safaris before. This one was reconstituted,since poachers had pretty much destroyed this entire area of animals. It is nice for the government to repopulate the area but honestly it is a big waste of time Very few animals that you will see compared to other safaris. Very disappointing the country however is pretty. Accommodations terrible. The food a disaster honestly go to Disney in Orlando snd take the safari tour. A bus. In 20 minutes you see all the animals plus stay at their hotel the giraffes are right outside your window. This is a poor man’s safari with mainly bugs as the wildlife
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Kruger National Park by Julie Hamlin
Again no rhinos , one lion sleeping, lots of elephants Giraffes and Hippos. Guide was very unsociable and drove around too fast.
BH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Tsavo East National Park by Amira Zaidan
Not much scenery or wildlife
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Leo
Little to see, expensive and repetitive
US
35-50 years of age
An expensive stressful drama-filled two day trip to Victoria Falls - not worth it, won't do again
The one good thing I can say about AfriTrip is they are responsive. But our 2-day trip to Victoria Falls was not relaxing or enjoyable due to the stress and drama that ensued and the total cost was way more than the value we received.
The night before we are to leave we receive urgent messages that our Air Zimbabwe flight from JNB had been canceled and they rebooked us on British Airways. At that point it was an annoyance but not too bad. We had to get up earlier the next morning and switch airlines but still looking forward to our trip.
We land in Victoria Falls airport and the driver was surprised to see us since he thought we were still on the canceled flight! He didn't get the updated info so we were lucky that he was there waiting for others or might have been stuck with no ride. Victoria Falls Hotel where we stayed was okay but not worth the price. It's not a first-rate experience, e.g. the front desk agent forgot to return our passports! That caused some unnecessary stress. The room itself was mediocre.
Now, Victoria Falls itself IS amazing and worth seeing and we quite enjoyed it, just not the rest of the experience. For example, we had a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River that was so touted on KrugerPark.com for seeing wildlife and all we saw was a croc and some birds. I understand nature is unpredictable but I find the sales pitch misleading. Also, the cruise served snacks and drinks yet didn't have proper bathroom facilities! More unnecessary stress.
Now the worst part of the trip is the day before we are to fly back to JNB we get messages that our return flight on Air Zimbabwe has been canceled again! The airline wants to move to us a flight that's 5 hours later. Knowing how unreliable the airline has been we were not going to take the last flight out of Victoria Falls (on any airline) and risk getting stuck in Zimbabwe. How could KrugerPark.com book us on such an unreliable airline! Even after this, they refuse to rebook us on British Airways so, after a ton of back and forth (instead of enjoying our trip), we paid $724 to do it ourselves. They did refund us $322 which they claim is the cost of the flight plus their commission so we are out over $400 additionally.
In total we paid over $2500 for this two-day trip and did not see the value. Both flights getting screwed up, a mediocre hotel, and some mediocre tours. Overall it was a 5-star price for a 2-star experience. The Falls ARE spectacular though!
P.S. If I quickly do the math it doesn't quite add up. We paid over $2100 to the tour company. Based on the refund, flights were $322 each way including commission. Hotel was almost $800 for two nights (yes, quite expensive). Falls tour was $40 retail. Sunset cruise was $106 retail. And we got 6 transfers total which were maybe $100? We even had to pay $60 entry fee for the Falls and $20 for the River ourselves! This adds up to not even $1700 which includes part of their commission so how much are they jacking up the prices to make a package deal?! Knowing what we know now, we would've been MUCH better off booking the trip ourselves.
MY
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Vanee Sivasamy
It was very hard to see any wildlife with so many trees and the lake had also caused damage to some of the forest area.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Bob Lyle
I would skip Lake Manyara and spend your time elsewhere.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
We did not get what we paid for
On the 5, 6, 7 May, my two colleagues and I went on a “classic” three-day, two-night Maasai Mara safari with Oakland Tours Kenya.
It was critical that we booked a private safari as the three of us rarely, if ever, have the chance to meet in person.
Felistus from Oakland confirmed that this would be the case.
We were also told that we would be staying at Fisi Camp, as per the information on the website. However, on Friday we were driven to Manyatta Camp. (Felistus told me after I telephoned her that this was an “upgrade”, but I had made the booking purely on the fact that we were to stay at Fisi.)
On the Friday evening, as we were heading back to the camp after a game drive, our driver, Patrick (who is the saving grace in this whole debacle, because of his exemplary attitude) ran into some troubles with our vehicle, and we had to abandon the vehicle and catch a lift with another group back to camp. We were told that the vehicle would be fixed and ready for our game drive the next morning.
However, the next morning, the van was not fixed. Patrick told us that a part was being delivered from Nairobi which would be used to fix the car. He arranged that we joined another group (of 4 other people – not a private safari). We did not even have the chance to sit together.
At the end of the day (4pm), the part had not yet arrived from Nairobi, though by 7pm it had, and we were absolutely assured that we would have our private game drive the following morning,
Again, we were disappointed: the car was not fixed and we joined another group (5 people) for the morning game drive. We were also told that we would be driven back to Nairobi that morning in a rather beaten-up saloon car.
When we arrived back in Nairobi, Felistus and her business partner were there to greet us and offer their apologies. We had told them that we sought financial compensation because we had paid for a service (in full) that was not delivered. The best they could offer us was local currency for a trip back to the airport. (Which we did not need, but took.)
We found Felistus' attitude to be not at all what we had read about online: she brazenly told us that she would not take responsibility for what had happened, and she proceeded to blame poor Patrick for any wrongdoings/bad decisions made on her part. She didn’t seem in the least bit interested in the fact that we had paid for a private safari, but had not received one, telling us that they “got us to the Masaai Mara and back” and that was the only responsibility that they had.
What’s more, on our itinerary, it was listed that we would enjoy a trip to a local Masaai village on Sunday. This did not happen, and when we questioned Felistus on this point, she said it was “optional” (but, clearly, not our option, as we were never given the choice)!
I had spent some time investigating the wealth of companies that run safaris in the Mara and budget camps. It’s frustrating that nothing that I thought I had chosen was eventually delivered.
I understand that a safari is a complex product, and that things go wrong. But it's how you deal with it, Felistus and Oakland, that is of the utmost importance for continued business.
RO
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Serengeti National Park by Dragos Dumitrescu
Too vast, bad roads, impossible to come close to animals
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Gordon Lucas
Park is very forested, so much harder to see wildlife. And high water levels in the lake restricted access to lake viewing