DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A huge disappointment.
I will start with the fact that the 2 stars in this review are given to the beautiful Kenyan and Tanzanian nature and our amazing tour guides Brian from '7 Wonders' and Timothy-Simon from 'Twinkle Star' who made up for a large portion of their superiors' countless failures. Poor guides were at the same time also drivers and on top of it had to deal with numerous misunderstandings and failures due to the badly organized schedules and itineraries courtesy of their supervisors.
People like Brian and Simon should be the ones running the companies and not the other way around.
I was a part of a small group that took part in a 15-day Kenya-Tanzania tour, organized by Twinkle Star Tours and Safaris.
Despite of me being an equal part of the group, paying the same price for the tour and ultimately sharing the same disappointment, I would not have written this review and kept my disappointment to myself had I not seen the reply from Benson of Twinkle Star Tours to my husband's review.
Benson's reply just confirms what was said in the previous review about this tour operator's behavior- a total refusal to assume responsibility for anything and twisting of simple facts.
My husband explicitly asked the owner of Twinkle Star- James if the original itinerary will still be preserved despite of the 11 day delay in payment due to PayPal refusing to mediate such a large payment to a private account in Kenya. However, we managed to take care of the situation and once James Oketch confirmed in writing that the original itinerary will be unaffected and preserved we initiated the payment.
We were only briefed about the changes in accommodation *after* we had arrived in Kenya. This was of course very well planned on Twinkle Star's behalf since we were left with very little choice in the given circumstances. What were we to do? Say 'No, thank you.' and pack our bags, buy new airplane tickets for 3 times the early booking price and fly back to Germany?
They knew exactly what they were doing when they only informed us about the changes once we were already in Kenya. A decent company would ask their clients prior to their departure if they would agree to itinerary changes for a lower standard accommodation and if not they would refund them. Unfortunately 'Twinkle Star Tours' is not such a company. Despite of it all my husband still protested on a number of occasions about the changed itineraries and the bad conditions in some of the places we stayed in, about the missed or messed up lunch boxes and etc. The tour guides knew it all and they communicated it to James Oketch and Benson and their Tanzanian counterparts and on some occasions my husband did that too.
Spending our nights in tented camps in the middle of the Savannah would've been perfectly fine for the younger people in our group but we also had an elderly person with us who has several non- negligible health conditions.
Having to shower with cold water due to yet more technical problems, being provided with scarce nutrition choices and being unable to go out of your tent at night because of the wild beasts roaming around was not our elderly companion's idea for a 350USD a night accommodation and it was not what we paid for and agreed on.
As for the so-called safari vehicle. On the official website of 'Twinkle Star Tours and Safaris' it states 'We have invested in top of the range and reliable landcruisers for all our Land Safaris'. James personally confirmed in writing to my husband that their safari vehicles are up to the best modern standards but then again they also advertise 'We select top of the range and luxury hotels and lodges for that extra ordinary service' on their website and then you end up having to either shower cold, shower with filthy buckets by mixing hot and cold water by yourself and either bringing you on the verge of starvation or food poisoning you and your tour guide like it happened in Tanzania.
The above-mentioned antiquated minivan was absolutely not to the task of taking us on time to our destinations or let alone offering us a comfortable ride.
It had no air conditioning in the scorching heat. The air filters of the rusty minivan were situated at such a low level that when the slightest amount of water splashed the vehicle it meant we had to either wait for it to dry up or miss a game drive entirely.
We missed a morning game drive in Maasai Mara because it had rained a little the previous night and our guide was afraid water might get into the air filters, we missed a game drive upon arriving to Amboseli because we had to take alternative roads just so we can avoid water getting into the air filters, the next day we had a hurried 2 hour game drive instead of a full day one because our food menu plan was again messed up/not communicated properly to the lodge and we were again starving during the game drive, we missed another morning game drive because water had gotten into the air filters and the minivan was barely operational. We had long waits to just cross muddy/wet areas because of the badly situated air filters of the old minivan while virtually every other tour vehicle around us was passing through with no difficulties whatsoever.
It was a nightmare...
As for the promised small refund that James kept lying about. It was not simply delayed like Benson is putting it in his comment, it simply never happened.
Dear Benson, a delay means a few days, maybe a couple of weeks in extraordinary circumstances but a delay is certainly not 70 days. A 70-day delay means unfulfillment of commitment.
Every couple of weeks James came up with new excuses and simple lies to delay the promised refund. The latest excuse is the virus crisis and that they are always confined to their homes(not true)and online banking doesn't exist in Kenya(obviously not true as they have that and they have PesaPal)but any slightly intelligent person could easily spot the dishonesty of James and Benson as the refund was promised and arranged for more than 70 days ago when there was no virus crisis in Europe, the US or Africa and when business was going as normal.
Twinkle Star Tours, your behavior is absolutely disgraceful.
In conclusion, I encourage other travelers to visit the breathtaking natural beauty and stunning wildlife variety of East Africa. Just not with 'Twinkle Star Tours' because with them things will only work out if all the right stars align perfectly for you and your group and if something goes wrong along the way, you will be on your own.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Totally dishonest and unreliable tour operator!
We booked a 15 day, slightly customized Kenya/Tanzania tour with Twinkle Star through safaribookings.com back in January.
Unfortunately our tour experience was pretty much ruined by the very unprofessional manner in which it was conducted and the dishonesty of James Collins Oketch- the person running Twinkle Star Tours.
Prior to booking the tour I exchanged multiple emails with Mr. Oketch in order to make sure that we will actually be getting the exact same deal that was being advertised on safaribookings.com and the the official website of Twinkle Star Tours.
As we had an elderly person in our group with serious spine problems I asked him specifically if the tour was suitable at all for such a person.
He assured me right away that the tour was more than suitable for all ages and that our companion's health problems will not be an issue during the tour. I also asked him if their tour vehicles are indeed as modern and comfortable as they advertise them to be on their website. He confirmed that their has invested in the most modern and comfortable vehicles possible.
I also asked him to confirm in writing that the advertised accommodations will not be changed at the last moment and that they are indeed up to our desired standards. He confirmed it all. I informed him that my companions and I are all vegetarians and that vegetarian menus should be made available to us during our stay. He said it'll be taken care of.
He kept repeating in his emails 'Our word is our bond my brother. Don't worry about anything.'
So far so good... only that it all turned out to be a big fat lie.
The moment we transferred him the money for the tour everything went south.
On the very first day after our arrival we were bluntly informed that one of the best and most expensive accommodations in our tour will be changed without our consent to a sub-standard one. Needless to say I protested immediately and reminded James about his promise and our contractual arrangements. Unfortunately, he and his sidekick Benson simply blamed it all on their Tanzanian partners and insisted that nothing could be done about it.
The car that picked us up for the tour was far from the 'modern, very comfortable safari vehicle' that they claimed to provide their customers with. Instead it was a beat up old minivan that met us in front of our Nairobi hotel.
The thing was in a terrible condition, with no air conditioning and absolutely not road worthy in any normal country around the world let alone be used as a safari vehicle.
The roads, especially in and around Maasai Mara and Amboseli are the closest experience you'll get to actually visiting the moon. It was indeed like a lunar landscape with craters and bumps on every step of the road through which we were speeding most of the time in order to reach our destinations on time.
It doesn't matter how careful our wonderful driver/tour guide Simon tried to drive, avoiding all the massive bumps and holes in that beat up minivan was simply impossible which left us all both emotional unfit to enjoy the safari and often physically bruised.
A funny fact is that most of the other tour companies seemed indeed to have provided proper safari SUV vehicles for their clients just not Twinkle Star.
We were often purposely brought to various tourist trap pit stops where they would try to sell us a tiny wooden keyholder for 25$, served us basic dishes like pizza 'Margherita' for the price one gets in some of the better restaurants in Venice or Paris.
Some of the accommodations we were brought to were very far from the nice, comfortable lodges and luxurious tent camps advertised by Twinkle Star Tours. They often lacked some very basic utilities like hot water and mosquito protection.
The vegetarian food they offered was scarce and badly prepared to say the very least while there was plenty of choice for meat eaters which made us realize we were basically paying all this money for other hotel guests' rich meals while we were often left to almost starve with just a simple vegetable soup, some bread and rice.
Our 25$ a piece take away meals were often either spoiled, filled with meat products instead of what we ordered or simply absent and believe me when I say, you don't want to find yourself starving in the middle of the savanna while driving through a lunar like surface in a beat up old minivan. The tour will NOT be enjoyable.
Often we had to shower with cold water. One time we were provided with greasy, dirty butter buckets from the hotel's kitchen with some hot water in one of the buckets and the second one to mix it with cold water so the temperature would be bearable.
We missed 1 morning game drive in Masai Mara, one afternoon game drive in Amboseli, one morning game drive in Amboseli and had to speed up and return only after a couple of hours during our supposed 'full day game drive' in Amboseli only because Twinkle Star had again not provided the otherwise wonderful lodge with our food requirements.
All of this was promptly communicated to James Oketch. Unfortunately, much to our disappointment, he turned out to be a person either unwilling or simply unable to assume responsibility for his and his company's failures. At first he blamed it all on the government for not improving the roads, the quote 'underdeveloped tanzanians', the accommodations themselves, the weather(which wasn't bad at all btw)and virtually everyone and everything just so the blame and responsibility won't fall on him.
However, after he finally dared blame it all on us, I provided him with many photos of the incidents which are an undeniable proof. I all told him that unless we get at least a humble 100$ pp refund for all of our troubles he can forget about that 5 star review he kept pushing us to give him. So in the beginning of February a refund was finally promised.
To no surprise considering Mr. James Oketch's dishonest and mischievous nature the date for the refund just kept getting pushed forward and forward citing the most ridiculous of reasons or no reason at all while after each and every empty promise we were being swayed into giving him the desired and completely false 5 star review both here and on another popular tour site.
Now finally, after about 2.5 months of waiting and blatant lies he told us to wait this time until May because they had 110 'Covid19' cases in Kenya when we have over 120 000 in Germany.
I asked him, why he hadn't refunded us earlier then, he had more than 70 days to that and back then there was no virus threat and business was still flourishing. No reply.
He just kept making new ridiculous excuses like he would totally refund us right away but all the banks were closed and if they were open he couldn't get out of his house at any time at all and Kenya you need to go directly to the bank and personally order the money transfer regardless of how small the sum is. All of this is obviously a lie. Online banking does exist virtually everywhere nowadays a d he does possess a PesaPal(the African PayPal) account through which he was able to receive our online payment for the tour and he could just as easily send us the small refund at any given time from the comfort of his home.
So bottomline, Twinkle Star Tours and Safaris is totally unreliable.
James Collins Oketch is an extremely dishonest person who will silver tongue you up until the moment you pay up and then you will be left in faith's hands as no responsibility will be assumed by him or his company for absolutely anything that happens to you or your family and friends during the tour.
He will keep lying through his teeth while calling you his 'brother', citing God and the Bible and telling you what an honest and honorable person he is and how his word is his bond.
Well the Bible says it's a mortal sin to lie Mr. Oketch and you 'sir' lie shamelessly and you lie A LOT. You show up hours late for your meetings without even excusing yourself.
You break your word of honor over and over again and you make empty promises.
The 2 stars this company/tour have received are only because of our wonderful driver/tour guide- Timothy Simon, the magnificent animals inhabiting Kenya and Tanzania and the breathtaking beauty of the nature there.
Anyone who wants a physical proof in the form of email/WhatsApp screenshots or photo evidence is more than welcome to contact me at any given time!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Falsified itinerary and absolutely unprofessional. Highly not recommended.
Their listed Itinerary is falsified. This is the actual itinerary. I made a recap on daily events with full details. Future tourists must be informed accordingly.
Pre-Tour (13/1/2020)
As per itinerary and payment deposit ($930) confirmation we will be picked up from either our hotel or airport on Day 1 of the safari to pay the remaining balance before starting the tour. We made our own plans to be in the country 2 days before our safari tour to explore the city area. We booked our own hotels and driver with plans for both days. On Monday, 13/1/2020, 2 days before the tour, we received a sudden text message asking if we were in the country yet and stating the company (Bluerange Connect) wants to send a driver to pick us up immediately. Bluerange stated that they need to bring us to their office and require us to pay the remainder of the balance $2202.55 + commission in CASH immediately in order to go ahead to our safari tour. They insisted that if we don’t pay in CASH, any credit card charges will take 2 days to post to their account and they don’t have adequate funding to pay for our entire tour without us paying up front. We informed our hotel manager and other honest local people of this sudden issue and everyone said not to fall for a scam, nothing gets done in CASH at last minute. After an hour of stressful debate, Bluerange reluctantly agree to allow us to pay the remaining balance upon our pickup on Day 1 of our tour.
Day 1 (15/1/2020) Nairobi to Samburu
We were picked up from our hotel at 7:30am to go to the office to pay the remaining balance and “briefing”. We were escorted into a small office of a few rooms and two friendly ladies staff took multiple pictures with us and asked to post on Facebook and social media. We then went into Willis Orowe’s office (managing director we were dealing with the entire time). He took a call from other non related business and casually chatted as we sat waiting to pay and be on our way. There was no rush and no courtesy on his end to help us get out of the office any sooner. After we made the payment, they gave us another copy of the same itinerary. We asked if they can quickly point out on the map as to each day’s destination point. Willis had another female staff come in who looked at the map completely confused. We said it’s ok, we can map it out ourselves. She proceeded to reading us the entire itinerary, literally word for word. Finally, we proceeded down to the safari van to leave, not before a few more ladies staff took more pictures of us in front of the van to be posted to social media. After over an hour at this office, we began our drive to Samburu around 10am with our tour guide Ken. We had found Ken through a recommendation on tripadvisor which we need to update them on the actual experience. The direct drive took almost 6 hours. We passed a view of Mt Kenya and asked how tall it is. Ken did not know and said he’ll get back to us (he never did). We were brought to KFC at 12:30pm for lunch which was very shocking as we expected local foods. We didn’t expect anything luxurious but at least good local food which would have been cheaper. After 30 minutes of lunch stop, we continued the drive and arrived at Samburu past 4pm. The game drive was basically driving from the entrance gate to the lodge check-in which was done slowly. We were excited to be in the beautiful park finally and saw an elephant, antelopes and giraffes. We arrived at the lodge at 5:45pm. Unpacked and waited for dinner at 7pm.
Day 2 (16/1/2020) Samburu
We started our morning game drive at 7am. Back at camp by 9am for breakfast. After breakfast, we walked around the little lodge to take a few pictures but we had nothing to do at all and were not allowed outside the gate. The tiny swimming pool was green colored and I would not advise going in. We sat around until lunch time at 1pm. After lunch, we tried to take a nap to kill time as we were still bored senseless. Finally 4pm we went on our afternoon game drive and returned at 7pm for dinner. Ken offered to take us to meet the Samburu people, that it would be nice to see the locals and insist that it was only 2000 shillings per person. We explained that this additional cost was never mentioned to us. We specifically asked Bluerange (Willis) about optional additional cost and received email confirmation with prices (Masai Village $10 pp, Lake Naivasha boat ride $20 pp, Hell’s Gate bicycle $5 pp). Ken insisted that everything is incorrect. He gave us specific additional costs of Samburu village $20 pp, Masai Village $20 pp, Thompson Falls $5 pp, Lake Naivasha boat ride $30 pp and Hell’s Gate bicycle $10 pp. He was unprofessional and firmly insisting that this is just a little extra cost and even questioned if we actually thought things were all inclusive. I explained that I had confirmed with Willis on what is inclusive and certainly doesn’t match what he arbitrarily gave us. We decided to skip both Samburu and Masai Village all together which Ken was certainly not happy about.
Day 3 (17/1/2020) Samburu to Lake Nakuru (6 hours drive with nothing for the day)
After breakfast, around 8am we had our game drive on the way to the gate. We were told that getting to Lake Nakuru will take 6 hours and there will be no game drive that day. Ken advised us that Lake Nakuru is very small and we will get there by evening so there is nothing to see until the next day. The drive was mostly in silence aside from the fact that Ken is on his personal cell phone multiple times per hour. We arrived at the equator around 1pm. The local gentleman did a water demonstration, afterwards offering us a paper certificate for $5 each and or tipping him. After, we had our boxed lunch from the hotel at the bench. It consisted of a very dry piece of chicken leg that caused painfully swollen gums and teeth. Also, a tiny square sandwich of two pieces of bread with mayo and a slice of cucumber, an apple, bag of chips and tiny juice box. After 30 minutes, we continued our trip. We stopped at Thompson Falls for pictures for 200 shillings ($2) per person. (Ken questioned if we wanted to skip Thompson Falls too, implying that we were being cheap since we skipped his arbitrary cost for Samburu village) Locals insisted on dragging us to their souvenir stands to buy things. After 30 minutes, we were on our way. Ken said he needed to find a bank to make a money transfer in order to access the national park tomorrow. We finally found the bank. We arrived at Wagon Wheel hotel around 5pm to check in. Ken said he’ll meet us at 7am to start the drive and left us for the night. We had dinner at 7:30pm at the local restaurant downstairs the hotel, local food was delicious.
Day 4 (18/1/2020) Lake Nakuru to Masai Mara
After breakfast at Wagon Wheel Hotel, we finally got to see Lake Nakaru. Our game drive was from 7am to 11am. We saw a rhino, buffalos, zebras among other antelopes. Then it was more than a 5 hours straight drive to Masai Mara. (Plenty of time for Ken to be on his personal cell phone and us to stare blankly out the window bored) We stopped for 30 minutes to eat our packed lunch from Wagon Wheel Hotel. It was good local food (chicken, pork or beef with rice) however, the portion was just about 10 tablespoons. After lunch, we continued our drive and reached Masai Mara Manyatta Camp close to 6pm. After checking in, we had dinner in the tented camp at 7pm.
Day 5 (19/1/2020) Masai Mara
After breakfast at the tented camp (sausage, beans, eggs, toast), we left to begin our full day Masai Mara game drive at 8am. We were the last ones to leave for the game drive. As stated on the itinerary, during the early hours, it’s best to view game. However, we certainly did not start at 6:30am as others did. We did see four of the big five today including a family of 10 lions which was exciting. This was the one part of the trip where Ken was actually not preoccupied on his personal cell phone and did an amazing job driving to the lions for a close-up view. We did thank him dearly for this. We were taken to the Kenya-Tanzania border stone. Ken stopped the van, pointed and told us to go take pictures. We saw other safari vans where the tour guides walked their tourists around the stone, explaining the history and facts while taking individual pictures for them. Certainly not the kind of guide we got. We asked Ken if he can help us take a picture which he did. He then drove us to an area by the river which we had to wait for an armed guard to escort us around to see hippos and alligators across the river. The walk took about 30 minutes. Ken left us by the river and said a guard will come take us. Other tourists had their guide with them and their guide tracked down a guard to ask to take their tourist group for the walk. Since nobody spoke for us and we were left standing there, we just quietly went along with the other tourists. When we got back however, Ken made sure to remind us to tip the guard. (This was yet another event and expense that was not mentioned prior) We then had a picnic lunch under a tree. The camp had packed us a lunch bag of a tough dry meatless chicken leg, tiny sandwich or mayo and cucumber, banana and boxed juice. After lunch, we continued our game drive, searching for a leopard and seeing more giraffes and amazing animals. Our game drive ended at 5:30pm. We had dinner back at the tented camp at 7:30pm.
Day 6 (20/1/2020) Masai Mara to Lake Naivasha
After breakfast at the tented camp (sausage, beans, eggs, toast), we left around 7am and had a game drive going towards the gate to leave Masai Mara. On the way to the gate, we managed to see a leopard, the big five is complete thanks to Ken. If we think of questions to ask him about animals, he answers them well. Other than that, it was clear he had no interests in any conversation with us. It was a long straight drive of over 5 hours to Lake Naivasha. We arrived at around 1pm to eat our lunch that was packed from the camp. It was yet another painfully dry chicken leg, tiny sandwich of a slice of cucumber, a banana, a hard boiled egg and a box juice. After lunch, we went for the boat ride on Lake Naivasha. Ken now tells us that the boat ride is 1 hour for $20 pp and then there is a guide to take us on a private island to walk around for another hour for $30 pp. He said it will Only be $100 for us both. We decided to go for just the 1 hour boat ride as we had planned before the trip. We were taken to an office with a lady telling us it will be $20 pp. There were no signs or written notice of costs or even such thing as a boat ride. It was all word of mouth. After the boat ride, it was 3pm. I asked Ken if there is anywhere at all that he would like to show us or take us to since he said we were not allowed to walk around by ourselves. He angrily said he wanted us to do the full boat ride and guided walk and since we refused to spend $100, there is nothing to do for us and he is taking us straight to the hotel. He dropped us off at the hotel before 4pm and said he will pick us up at 7am the next day for Hell’s Gate. That was the end of that day, we were left stranded at the hotel with no plans and no considerations.
Day 7 (21/1/2020) : Hell’s Gate National Reserve – 4 hours with rest of the day stranded
After breakfast, we left Taphe hotel at 7am to head to Hell’s Gate National Reserve which was about 30 minutes drive away. When we got there, Ken said the bicycle rentals will be $15 pp. We were outraged in the constant change of prices according to how much he feels like ripping off the tourist. We said he mentioned it will be $10 pp (which is already double the amount that Willis gave). Ken sounded like he was caught giving random numbers and quietly said Oh I told you $10 pp, let me talk to them. (Acting as though he was negotiating with the locals for a price for us). We rented bicycles for $10 pp and hired a guide for $20 to bike with us through the park. The safari van was certainly nowhere near us unlike the itinerary kindly stating that the van will be behind us in case we’re tired. Ken parked the van and went to rest at a restaurant while we biked about 8 kilometers. It was a very direct bike to the gorge which was closed. (there was an accident where tourists were killed during a flash flood and the gorge closed in September 2019 as a result. We had been planning this trip with Bluerange for over two months and Willis did not mention any such closure) We took a few pictures and was on the way back. We were back by the van at 11am. Ken said since the gorge is closed, Hell’s Gate is a very small park and he is not sure why our itinerary claimed we will have a full day there and that there is nothing to do. He drove us back to the hotel by 11:30am and we were again left stranded with nothing to do for the rest of the day. After lunch, we decided to walk outside and not be bored to death. We were told by the hotel staff that we can walk towards town but advised to not go too far for security reasons. We only walked about 30 minutes and turned back before we were too deep in town. We took a nap before dinner as there was absolutely nothing to do.
Day 8 (22/1/2020) Lake Naivasha to Amboseli (6 hours drive)
After breakfast, we left to start our drive to Amboseli. It was another long 6 hours drive in silence since our tour guide was constantly on his personal cell phone or else just not saying a word. We got to Amboseli around 1pm and ate our packed lunch in the car as we drove towards a view point. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy and we couldn’t see the top of Kilimanjaro. Ken drove around to let us take pictures but there were not too many animals out. He was again on his personal cell phone and asked how long we want to stay. He drove us to see the flamingos which we stayed about 20 minutes for pictures. He drove us to our tented camp (AA lodge) by 5:30pm. We had dinner at the tented camp at 7:30pm. This was actually the best dinner we had the whole trip. It was a buffet style dinner but various kinds of delicious local dishes. Even the fresh baked bread with butter was good.
Day 9 (23/1/2020) (Amboseli to Nairobi)
After a delicious breakfast, we left the lodge at 6:45am. We had a game drive on the way to exit Amboseli National Park. Our game drive ended exactly 9am sharp as Ken had mentioned. We drove about 3 hours back to Nairobi and had some traffic when we were in the city. Ken dropped us off at our hotel that we booked in advance. The suggested tips for tour guides are $10 pp / day given that the tour guide does an average acceptable job. Ken does a great job at finding you the big five but nothing more. As a tour guide he is absolutely unexperienced and unprofessional. We were appalled at how he randomly gave us prices and very obviously showed us he was not happy with us declining some suggested tourist traps and left us at hotels stranded with nothing to do. I was unhappily agreeing to giving him the average tips of $20 per day for both of us. My boyfriend however, felt inclined to give him $25 per day even though he was just as unhappy and complaining about Ken ripping us off on additional items. Ken was lucky on this tip. I would not recommend him for any future tours for anyone. If you want to see the big five and be treated like an ignorant tourist getting ripped off, driving 6 hours daily in silence then you can go to him for sure.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great safari experience until we discovered we were robbed.
Great safari experience, we saw the Big 5. Accommodations and food were as you would expect for the price point. We stayed one night in Tremesana and two nights at Marc's Treehouse. Ivy and Pretty were fantastic hosts. The only reason I am giving this two stars is because we discovered after leaving Marc's Treehouse that almost $600 (yes, I know we shouldn't have had that much on us) was missing from our wallets. We were not informed that cleaning people would be entering our rooms to make the bed and that is likely when it happened. So make sure to keep your money or valuables on you at all times.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Dissapointing
We chose big time safari for our Safari on the class called budget mode so of course we did not expect great luxuries but unfortunately we had so many problems we wanted to share the experience.
The total days of safari were 11 days.
The worst episode was the second day in Serengeti where the car just broke down, old jeeps are used and you will have many chances that this will happens to you. The whole day was lost and nothing was seen that day.
After the Safari was over once in Nairobi we did complain at Big time safari offices to get some compensation as the service offered was not given to us.
The manager, John, was careless and unprofessional as he was more interested in what was happening on the TV than on our complain. He made us waste a lot of time in the office for nothing. The discussion ended up telling us that under his point of view we were not humans as we did not understand his problems and than worst would have been to die in the safari. Once he has your money in his pocket his behavior changes he won't call you back or he will tell you he is busy in some meeting.
Other problems we had was the guide in Tanzania was bad no interest on us. The camp in Amboseli was dirty and no mosquito net was given in one of the beds.
The picnic meals very poor some of the days.
In summary the safari was ok because the landscape and the animals are great but sure thing we would chose different company for a safari.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Overall good experience but very dependent on which safari guide you are given
The tremisana lodge was a little tired and basic (compared to other lodges I've stayed in before).but the staff at the lodge were very friendly and helpful. The Dutch lady (I can't remember her name) who was the manager at the lodge was absolutely lovely and very warm and friendly. The safari guides were very variable. We had a day safari to Kruger with James who was absolutely outstanding. He is the best safari guide I have ever had. He was knowledgeable and worked tirelessly to find wildlife for us. He was truly excellent. I can't recommend him highly enough
Murray, was also an excellent guide and knowledgable and enthusiastic.
We had a morning safari walk with Philip, however, which was very poor indeed. He seemed totally uninterested and the entire morning was very dull and I would not recommend doing this with him.
We also did a sunset drive with Rex. What should have been a nice evening safari drive was ruined by our guide, Rex. He was obviously upset at the vehicle he had been assigned and spent the drive complaining about the organisation of the company and the poor state of the vehicle. We then stopped for a drink to watch the sunset and he spent this entire 30 mins or so complaining to us about viva safaris, their organisation, the staff, the lack of investment and how he had used to work in 5star lodges that were much superior. I found this odd and very unprofessional. If he had an issue with his bosses etc then I would expect him to discuss this directly with them and not spend a few hours moaning to us about it. In summary, I think safaris are good here if you are lucky and get a good guide (James or Murray from my experience). But I would be careful because if given a poor guide in my opinion it can really spoil the safari.
Experience level: over 5 safaris
Disappointing i m afraid though maybe ok for first time visitors to Africa
We travelled Johannesburg to Victoria falls last November. The truck was full to capacity at 12 plus provisions and was far too cramped. We had two guides, only one of whom could drive the vehicle and he was by far the better at his job. The second guide had preferred clients and was often rude to those not among them; his knowledge was poor, demonstrated at the zimbabwean border crossing when we found his visa advice to be incorrect and more generally in terms of local traditions. Group integration was poor based on our worldwide experience. The farewell event was pointedly only open to those favoured few.
However, the local park-based guides were really good. We saw all the animals we hoped to see and more thanks to them. No complaints about the food either.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Bad experience with Terminal Tours
My friend and I signed up for a 3-day Masai Mara tour with Terminal Tours (Kenya).
Terminal Tours arranged for us to stay in Rhino Camp for 2 nights, which turned out to be quite a bad experience. Firstly, the electricity was unavailable during some parts of the promised hours and hot showers (generated by wood fire) were mostly unavailable during the promised hours too.
Our driver (and guide) Sammy does not seem enthusiastic in leading the tour. He was often quiet during the game drive and only spoke when people in the tour group asked him questions. Furthermore, he seemed clueless to some of our questions, to the extent that two of the Canadians in our group sarcastically told him to "at least make up a reason to tell us when we ask you again".
Also, the apparent owner of Terminal Tours - Nelson, practices price differentiation to a huge extent. For example, people on the same tour were charged in varying amounts between USD$360 and USD400+. Hence, it might be wiser to book a tour with a tour operator that has a more transparent pricing structure. On a side note, it is intriguing that Nelson issued me with an invoice with a stated amount which is lower than the amount I had paid him and he told me that it is okay.
Lastly, do not rely on their promised free transfer service. Terminal Tours was supposed to pick my friend and I from our hotel to the bus terminal at 6:15am in the morning to catch a bus at 7am. We waited until 6:25am and no one turned up. I have explicitly mentioned to both Nelson and his assistant - Steven, the day before our departure, that the driver must before 6:15am as we needed time at the bus terminal to have our tickets confirmed. Eventually, we had to fork out money from our own pockets to pay for a taxi to the bus terminal. Nelson eventually arrived at the bus terminal himself, just before our bus departed. Ostensibly appearing apologetic, he started arguing that I have told him to send the driver to our hotel at 6:30am instead. I was totally disgusted by his actions and words.
In conclusion, I will not recommend anyone to sign up for a tour with Terminal Tours. As my friend says, it was "a ruined experience in Kenya".
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Not professionnal or serious enough
I booked two different safari tours with this company. I had to pay cash for the 2 tours and the tour operator applies a strange conversion rate (440$ -> 48400 KES). I did'nt complain at the time.
The first tour was a 3 days in Masai Mara tour - safari joining group : it went quite well, especially thanks to our guide James who really did his best to help us find the Big Five.
However, we didn't get water as planned on the website. When I asked the company, they put responsability on the guide.
The second tour was a One Day solo in Amboseli: the guide was supposed to pick me up at 5am at the hotel. He arrived at 5:40 because of a technical problem with the car. This car was so old that it was already amazing that it could still drive. The first guide drove at a gas station and I had to wait for another 15 minutes for a second driver to come and pick me up. A lunch box was supposed to be included so we could have lunch in the park but it was'nt. So we headed to the park and had nothing to eat before 5 pm, at a gas station, when we came back to Nairobi.
When I wrote to the tour operator to complain and ask for compensation, they didn't even bother to answer and at least apologize.
I know I booked cheap tours, but even when it's cheap you can expect the basic professionalism from a tour operator.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Hillary swapped customers to cheaper tour operator without disclosing this
I spent a good while researching safari options prior to my trip to Tanzania. I chose to book with Suricata Safaris based on their great reviews (#6 of 1,294 Outdoor Activities in Arusha) and accepted the cost as a part of the great experience I was in for. Weeks in advance, I had emailed the company to confirm this tour was going ahead on that day. Hillary from Suricata Safaris confirmed this.
When the tour started, I quickly realised it was not the 5-star treat I had paid for. Another day in, I realised that we had ended up with Arunga Expeditions & Safaris (#674 of 1,294 Outdoor Activities in Arusha) and their rude personnel. When I asked about this, our driver told me to "stop complaining". When I confronted the Suricata representative, Hillary, he said that they moved me to a cheaper operator to save costs.
My experience with Arunga was very poor. There was no toilet paper, no hot water and no WiFi in the camps, and I shared a small tent with two people (I was told differently when I made my online enquiry with Suricata Safaris). When one of our crew fell ill and needed transportation out of the nature reserve, our guide suggested that we need to sort that ourselves.
I ended up getting dinner and 10% of my money back from Suricata Safaris after the tour. This really does not make up for the difference in quality for the two tour operators.
