DK
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Poor planning, no responsibility for their mistakes.
I'm sad to write that unlike most I had a poor experience with Afrishare.
The guide was ok, but manager Ibrahim was not. Because of poor planning on Ibrahims side we didnt meet the agreed itenerary on the first day. I call Ibrahim with whom I planned the itenerary and tell him that because of this i wnat to pay the last 30% on the last day, so Im sure that I will get what I paid for. This he is absolotely NOT ok with, and he accuses me of trying to avoid payment.
Also he claims that I should pay more than agreed upon in the written agreement. We only managed to reach a solution late on the third day meaning that the first three days was marred by hours of discussion and IT-mistakes by his company leading to us not having time for the planned game drive.
The arguments got very childish on Ibrahims part:
1) He argued that I made up IT-issues in order to avoid payment, when in fact his online payment-system was not working, which he in the end admitted, and I was made to make a bank transfer (I had to pay all 80USD bank charges).
2) He said that he knew my "personality type" and that I was making up issues to avoid paying - he said he had had many bad customers like me before.
3) In the end he kept switching between that I should only pay 700 USD in what he sarcasticly called a "free safari" or, that I should pay 2200. I stuck with the 1900 that was in the written agreement in the e-mail.
4) after spending the first three hours of the second day discussing and trying to work out his IT problems, I asked if we could part ways, and I could pay some of his expenses + take the paid hotel stays with me to another operater. He declined this offer saying I had to pay 2200 because he had paid everything already. Later I found out that he had NOT paid all expenses incl. the 300 USD park fees to Ngorongoro crater.
I ended up paying 1900 + 80 USD bank/creditcard charges + 50USD tip for the driver for a genuinely bad experience, only after involving hotel manager and threataning with police. My four year old son and I had been looking forward to this for months, and this was both the worst and most expensive holiday ever. Luckily - and most importantly - my son seemed to enjoy most of the safari. Writing this, however, I feel like I should have accepted Ibrahim's 700 USD "free safari", though I doubt he would have kept his word.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Horrible experience with Dragon Safaris
Horrible Horrible experience with Francis. I would not recommend him to anyone at all.
Never met any expectations of the client. Really dissapointed
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Kenya Tour Budget Safari: Customer Service under construction!!
Cannot recommend this company at all.
I was booking at an early stage and reconfirmed to be accommodated in the 4-star Sopa Lodge. At time of pick-up in the Nairobi Hotel we are being told that the Sopa Lodge is overbooked and we have to be moved to another lodge nearby; Jamba Mara Lodge.
We protested and got at least the last of the 3 nights in the Sopa Lodge.
But the first 2 nights were in the Jamba Lodge which is a place still under construction (mid Sept-18). Containers, building material on the ground, and of course construction noise when we wanted to take a midday sleep between safaris.
Also this place has no pool, no proper view into the park like from the Sopa pool, mediocre quality buffet with little choice, and no comfortable lobby with fire place as in Sopa. Room was much smaller.
Sopa, 1 night; very good experience, relaxing atmosphere, properly maintained facilities, seasoned customer service and Value for Money!
Even once construction is done, Jamba Mara Lodge will not live up to the standards of the Sopa Lodge. The price difference between the 2 lodges are USD 165 per night which indicates the quality difference obviously.
Kenya Tour Budget Safari must take more ownership for their customer service. If their service provider shifts customers from A to B with quality loss, the travel agent has to provide the customer satisfaction which, in this case, would be a refund at least of the price difference between the 2 lodges. Customers left disappointed and service feedback is slow and quiet.
Refund of USD 100 was offered by the travel agent arguing with their bottom line and different flat rates they pay for the accommodation. The quality difference was USD 330 for 2 nights though which requires to be refunded to make up for a disappointing trip to Africa.
Kenya Tour Budget Safari: Customer Service still under construction!
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
ATTENTION IT IS A SCAM! terrible experience
We booked 11 days of safaris with John William of open africa safaris for September 2018. We have been in touch with him for two months (email and whatsapp) and we never thought we'd find out what happened to us. We found good reviews about this tour operator, we trusted on him and we payed him in advance for the total amount of the safaris for our honeymoon (4600 usd). Once we arrived in Kenya he asked to anticipate 2000usd because of transfer problems with the promise of an immediate refunding. He send us a request of refunding by square, however the day after he cancelled the operations without telling us anything. In the following days he asked us other 300usd to continue our tour. Moreover he booked some hotels but he never payed, so we had to anticipate other money. Lie upon lie he destroyed our honeymoon. Once in Arusha we tried to find his office but IT DOES NOT EXIST! Fortunately the tour operators East African exotic safaris (Manager Raphael) and big5 Vojage (Manager Dilunga) helped us to not spoil out trip. They organized safaris for us despite they never get money by him to take care of our trip. They were angels for us. Excellent people in contraposition to the fraudulent open africa safaris. I will be always grateful to them.
I know that my review will sound unique compared to the old reviews but unfortunately this is the reality. Another young traveler can testify because she faced the same problem as us. We are now reclaiming our money and do our possible to avoid that other guests will fall in the same scam. For any further informations please contact me privately.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Abraham and his crew cheated me out pf $360
I was on a 10 day safari intending to go to Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Amboseli and Massai Mara. Abraham's driver picked me up promptly on day one and drove me to a supermarket where I was informed that I must pay "as much as I could" towards the trip. Very strange as I had already made arrangements to pay the balance when I got to Amboseli. I paid him $360 USD to help pay for his crew. He did not even count it ... just stuffed it into his pocket. When we approached Ngorongoro Crater, I was told to pay another $800 "entry fee" and I refused. Other problems included that I was promised "mid-range lodges", but only received budget tents and the fact that even the tents were not available at Ngorongoro. On a brighter note, the driver did an excellent job and the cook did as well. STEER CLEAR OF SANDLAND TOURS.
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bush Troop Safaris is fraudulent and will scam you - CAUTION
We booked through Safari Bookings, using Bushtroop Tours and Safaris (see contact below) -this company is a fraud. They said they would accept visa in Can currency and when asked repeatedly why they didn't process our deposit of 30% prior to the trip well in advance, they said that they were waiting for a more favorable exchange rate. The day prior to the safari they said our visa was a problem and insisted on cash payment via online transfer so they could steal our money and run. They were very suspicious and we asked them to jointly call visa to sort out the visa payment, but they didn't respond and insisted on cash payment. This company is scamming innocent customers. Please remove them from your operators option.
UA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Stay away from this travel agency
I had a terrible experience of a 6-days safari, booked through the Open Africa Safaris.
All that it's representative John Williams said about the tour, was a lie.
In particular, I asked the following questions before paying:
1) Will all six-day safari be the car of your company and run by your employees?
Yes, all six days will be operated by our company's vehicle and employees.
Will there be a safari in mixed with other companies car?
No, all customers will go under our company but from different places ..
But in fact I was attached to a mixed group of tourists from different companies with different programs. The trip took place on the cars of various guides-freelancers. For six days I was transplanted into 4 different cars. None of these machines had the mark of Open Africa Safaris. Two of them did not have a promised chargers, no working fridge and no promised Coffee boxes, Wildlife books and Maps.
2) Do you provide a sleeping bag and a tent?
Yes indeed, we provide all camping equipment including, tents, sleeping bags, mattresses and pollows for each client.
But in fact nobody from our group took sleeping bags for two nights in a row. Only the mattresses and the dirty torn sheet with a dirty blanket. The next night was given only to the mattress itself.
3) Does the safari program have a visit to any river?
Big chences, yes and good news is that our driver will try his best to make sure that you see the wildebeest migration in Serengeti NP.
But in fact in fact neither migration nor rivers have been seen.
4) Do you already know the number of people in the safari group to which I will join?
You will join 5 more people, so total will be 6 people in the vehicle for the trip.
In fact, two days in the car there were 7 tourists, and I had to sit near the driver without a rooftop.
5) Open Africa Safaris is not ASTA member. Information on this site is false. You can check it on ASTA website.
6) But the worst was not even the above.
Day 1. At the entrance to Tarangire, we lost an hour, since the fee for entering the park was not paid.
Day 2. At the entrance to Serengeti, we lost two hours, as the entrance fee to the park was not paid again. Another hour we lost because of a car breakdown (the battery was down, not some force majeure). Accordingly, there was no game drive this day.
In the evening, we found out that there are no sleeping bags for us. Every other tourist from other companies in camp had sleeping bags.
Day 3. Sunrise game drive until 11:00. After that the guide said that entrance fee for second day in Serengeti not paid and we cannot move on game drive around the park. The half of day was held at Serengeti Airstrip near the payment office, waiting for payment, which was never done on that day. The evening was held in the ranger's office by filing applications and explanations. The half of night was at the police station.
Lost a day, no gaming drive. There are no sleeping bags again, only tent and mattress. Very cold.
In addition, it turned out that in one car three groups of people with completely different itineraries on the next day.
Day 4. Got a short game drive only at 12:00, after which there was a road to the camp near Ngorongoro. They submerged me into another car as a seventh tourist, in which I was sitting near driver without access to rooftop.
Day 5. Still in car as 7th tourist without rooftop access. Lost again 40 minutes through unpaid entrance to the Ngorongoro conservation area. They brought to the camp already at 15:00, that is, the half of day of the safari was lost.
Day 6. I began game drive only at 11:30, because there was no group to which I could join this day. As a result, they sent me a separate car, but they did not even give me water with me. Already at 14:00 I was back in the camp.
Besides, I was never in the evening, but even during breakfast I did not know which guides and cars I would go to safari that day.
When I wrote to John Williams about a refund for at least a lost 1 full day, he replied that he did not have the money and that I would contact a the subcontractor with whom he shared me and who actually carried out the safari, which I do not even have contacts with.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Horrific
This company accepted payment for services and did not provide any of what they promised and committed to for our honeymoon. They emailed a ‘story’ of being let down by a partner and took no responsibility for the thousands we paid them.
It now been over a year and we’ve had no refund and I’m astonished to see them trading. They are completely untrustworthy and I recommend you avoid at all costs. They stole thousands off a lot of people and if they hadn’t removed their trip advisor listing you’d see many other similar stories. I’d suggest any good reviews are not genuine. Be warned!
IN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beware of cheaters! In particular Yoeni Japheth . Safari was terrible
Bad! Poor execution and under-delivery of what has been agreed and paid for are my two biggest pain-points with drive tanzania ltd. Even if the company had provided as advertised, I would still not recommend it due to poor overall service (last-minute arrangement and changes), lack of tour briefing (we have to ask what's going on all the time) and the tour guides are not helpful.
So the whole impression was very bad, they were trying to deceive us every time they got a chance. So thank you, Yoeni Japheth 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 Yoeni Japheth . 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.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Don't book!!!!
This company is not fair and not human in case of problems.
I had an accident and needed to cancel the tour.
There was no good communication.
There was no support and interest in the customers.
Nearly no repayment.
Don't book!
There are enough other companies that can show you animals in nationalparks or organize a tour to Kilimanjaro for the same (or better) price.