US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Pathetic, Liars and very unprofessional
I did a safari with Bluerange connect in August 2022. We communicated through WhatsApp and paid 30% cost in advance. Once we reached Nairobi, we paid remaining amount a day before. We specifically booked 4x4 Land cruiser option and paid for the same. But on a day of safari they gave us van. The driver had no idea so we called tour manager, Lilian. She refused to change the vehicle. She insisted on meeting and she came two hours late to meet us on the day of the safari. Later she admitted it is her mistake but she won't change vehicle without additional payment. We argued but she said she quoted wrong price. It seemed she deliberately came late so that we give in and pay additional cost as we did not want to waste time. It was already late to start the safari. We kept calling her, texting her and beg her to come earlier. We had to pay $350 additional cost as we did not want to compromise on our experience and then she changed our vehicle. Again the Land cruiser given to us was in very bad condition. It was old, seats were broken and no cooler for water.
This did not stop there. They changed our accomodation without informing or discussing with us. We were promised a different lodge in Lake Naivasha but was given a downgrade. When we tried to talk to them about it, they just kept telling it is not downgrade where we can clearly use google and see it is a downgrade. They would directly inform the driver where to take us for the stay without dropping a single messege to us about the change.
This company is run by very unprofessional group of people who are liars and scammer. Do not book with them. They will ruin your once in a life experience of safari with their mismanagement.
DE
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Warning! Suspected insolvency! Capture Tanzania Adventure LTD ARUSHA
On 14.07.22 I booked a 2-day safari from Zanzibar to Tanzania (Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire NP) on the recommendation of a regional TUI travel agency in Cottbus. The contacts to the above-mentioned tour operators took place exclusively through the local travel agency. On the eve of the departure for the safari in Zanzibar, the first cancellation (due to accident of the GF) with the alternative for an AWT took place on 23./24.09.22. Here, too, the cancellation was made by EMAIL the evening before to the local travel agency in Cottbus. On 22.09.22 there was an EMAIL with "comforting words" and the notification of the repayment of the travel price signed by the "booking team" of the above mentioned company. Since then, the owner has only sent a regrettable message to my travel agency because of my report in various travel portals and the substantive notification of insolvency combined with the threat of legal action, I should continue to warn against this above-mentioned company and have filed a criminal complaint against the mentioned company.
AE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
WORST TOUR AGENT. They will fool you and take your money.
Me and my friend traveled with Safari Gates and had the worst experience ever. The tour operator and guide did not live up to our expectations and what the itinerary had mentioned whatsoever. Our guide Ben was always late in the morning. We had agreed to meet early morning by the car for our morning game drive 6am. One morning the staff at Enkorok lodge had to WAKE him up because he was still sleeping and we were waiting by the car ready for our game drive. Also, we were promised to go to the Mara river to see the great wildebeest migration/ crossing but he took us to some small tiny lake and pretending “this was the Mara river where the animals cross but the crossing stopped in June”, which is all bullshit. This is not my first time to Masai Mara and I have been here before and witnessed the great migration and crossing. Also want to mention we were here during the best time of the year to see this (beginning of September) which is the exact same time of the year I have been here before. Also want to mention that we talked to other people who were there but with other tour agents and they confirmed that they had seen the migration / crossing just the day before. So this was all lies from our guide. He was just being lazy and didn’t wanna take us to the right place / river. Also, on our final day before heading to the airport, we were promised a final morning game drive. We were supposed to meet by the car at 6am. But Ben our guide showed up at 8am!!!!!! 2 hours late on our FINAL day. And if we hadn’t called the tour operator asking where is he , for sure he would never even show up. We have lost so much time and viewing because of this. We always departed late in the mornings because he was late and sleeping. Missing out on the great migration/ crossing because of his lies and didn’t take us there. We have spent so much money on this trip and are so so so disappointed with this trip and operator. We made a complaint before flying back and met with the “owner” at the airport before departing and were promised a compensation for this. It’s been more than one month now and haven’t heard ANYTHING about this. Safari gates have really tricked us and fooled us and just taken our money for NOTHING. Even the owner / manager Rihal (also called Rocky) at flamingo hill camp where we spent the last night along with the rest of the staff there witnessed all this and was furious for our sake. Being 2 hours late on our last day and missing our SO much. This is the worst experience I’ve ever had with a safari tour. And being promised a compensation before flying back , but still haven’t heard ANYTHING.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Seka, where is our money?
We made a kili tour and a safari in 2020. We had to pay another amount that we could started our safari. They had no money, even though we paid in advance.
Seka owes us more than $3000! Since 2 years! He always promised that we will get our money back.
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY
Long story short we paid for a 5 Safari days.
On the day 4 we found out that the 5th day of the Safari was… going to the airport.
So the amount that we paid to this company, included the entrance in Tarangiri park 1 morning + the use of the Jeep for a morning safari and they just took us to the airport and kept that money to them. When I spoke with the person in charge he said that he wanted to make it right so he would do a refund of 318€. 10 days have passed and Haron is ignoring my emails. First he gave an excuse that he was in Nairobi and after then ignoring emails and phone calls… not happy at all.
Besides this incident, we also paid based on accommodation. On the 3rd night we paid for a Serena Hotel in Ngorongoro cratera and we found out, once we left the cratera, that we werent staying there….
Keep in mind that there are thousands of Safari companies who will definitely provide a better service. As an example, during lunch time, we always had a very basic lunch box (cold items) and we saw several companies coming with warm meal and providing a total different (and better) experience to the customer.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Didn't get what we paid for!
The communication with Martin was hard, I had to repeat what I wanted several times. His first offer for a package was more expensive than the individual things combined.
After several emails we agreed to a price.
But we did not get what we paid for.
As an example we paid for 1st class seats on the train but we got the second cheapest tickets.
He never mentioned it and kept the difference in price even after we told him that we want it back.
The camp was very very basic with no electricity except for half an hour after dinner. Which is not enough to charge your phone. No warm water. Lunch and dinner were extremely cheap. Breakfast was good.
The car we used for the game drives was old and broken in several places (one window, again no electricity, mirrors, armrest of one seat was missing and a sharp metal remained on which I cut myself).
When we complained to Martin we were ignored.
I cannot recommend this company at all!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Scammy! Avoid!
If it wasn't for the avant practices, this would have been a good safari. I paid to upgrade, and was still dumped at a hotel that was equal to a half a star, in a neighborhood that was scary, even for a wild traveler as myself. When I brought this to Stephan's attention, he pretended that he was shocked, when I was there when he gave the driver the command to dump me there. He dodged the rest of my emails.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Horrible experience
We are of the opinion that we have been scammed by this company. We paid them but they never showed up to get us at the hotel. They said they will reimburse us but at the time of writing this review we still got no money back. I have all the proofs from the airlines companies and hotel where we were supposed to stay, that the bookings were never made. We advise against booking with Capture Tanzania. You can contact me for proofs.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Every day stress
The experience is fantastic, seeing animals every day is amazing. The problem is that we never knew what was going to happen that day or the next, the guide had no information. Every morning we would leave and we didn't even know in which hotel we would sleep. Everyone in the group had different itineraries with different hotels and different activities (many of which we didn't do). We made the reservation and payment with them more than six months ago. But then we found out that nothing was paid for. Neither the hotels, nor the entrance fees to the parks. We have had to pay our entrance fee to the Serengeti park and we don't know at this point if we will get our money back, the other people in the group don't even know if they will be able to travel tomorrow (we suspect that the company Capture Tanzania has not yet bought the tickets). The whole problem seems to be one of the owners, who seems to have had an accident (of which we have three different versions) has not been able to send the money to his partner who does nothing but lie to us on the phone saying that we will get what we paid for and at the end of the day we are still staying in hotels that were not in the offer, of lower quality and every day we have done less hours of game driving. If you are thinking of doing a tour with them we recommend looking for a serious company, because so far the only thing I can say is that we feel scammed by this company.
US
Crook, thief - Takes customers' money and does not deliver- Do not use this company.
Mike is a crook and thief. I trusted him and gave him a booking for 4 clients. The ran with the money and gave all sorts of excuses. After I sent the Tourism Police after him, he made all sorts of promises to refund my company. Used his children to make me feel sorry for him. I am still waiting for the payment.