CZ
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
If you want to enjoy your holiday, avoid this "company"
If you want to enjoy a holiday in Tanzania, then definitely avoid Sam's car rental. Their services are terrible, you spend a lot of extra money and when something happens with the car, you have to take care of yourself because they don't care. I described our experience in more detail here: https://teamontheroad.blogspot.com/
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fraud
This is not Nchingo Safari company, this is a fraud, person named Shaban does not exist, his name Victor and he falsificate all invoices of real company Nchingo Safari and when he took part of the payment he even was not interested to attend us.When we contacted real company through their web page, they even did not know about any tour with us. So currently this person has been reported to police.
IL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Update on My pervious Review - From bad to worse.
After almost 2 years of waiting for Opulent Tours And Travel to return our deposit, we decided to give Evans Kadzomba the C.E.O at Opulent Tours And Travel, a chance to redeem himself and his company. (Please read my previous review for the full story. ). This is what happened:
Opulent Tours And Travel kept telling us that they cannot return the money because they had already paid advances to the lodging (2 years ago). We told them that since they are not returning our money, how about we come to Africa this July 2022 to do the original tour? We then received a reply that was nothing short of a slap in the face! Although the original tour was 31-days, and the new one only 25, Opulent Tours And Travel demanded another ~3000$ for the tour. The best part was that they claimed that because we gave them a negative review, we had to somehow compensate THEM! Naturally, we declined the insulting offer and once again requested our money back. Since then, Opulent Tours And Travel have stopped communicating with us.
To make a long story short - Do yourselves a favor and find another travel company with some professional dignity.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Do not use. They will scam you.
They charged us for a private car to Moshi from Nairobi. The car broke down 1 hour into the journey then we had to get a bus the rest of the way. A 6 hour journey took us 10 hours. They refused to give any money back. We negotiated they take us back to Nairobi in a private car for £65 extra which was agreed. The driver turned up late in a safari jeep which is meant for off roading and not to travel a long journey. This was ridiculous for a 7 hour journey. They then agreed to swap for the original car (that the GM had decided to use herself instead of giving it to us despite us paying for it) that was agreed and the GM herself turned up an hour late again and had no excuse and refused to offer any explanation. Literally when asked she said "I have no explanation and don't want to talk about it". Because we were so delayed, our journey ran into the evening when it was dark and we then pulled over by the police who extorted another $60 of us. During this time, the driver left us alone in the car and I am so sure he was involved in the extortion as when we were originally pulled over he said something to them and then left us alone and only got back in the car after we handed the money over. Do not use this company. They are involved in scamming. They take your money and do not deliver. Don't ruin your holiday. Absolutely awful. I will be telling local hotels not to use them too in order to save guests being ripped off and lied to. We wasted 2 whole days of our trip because of their incompetence. The drivers name was Goodenough and the lady who is the GM and an absolute joke when it comes to looking after customer safety and service, her name is Beatrice Dimitris Dallaris, General Manager of Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge and Classic Tours and Safaris and Ngurdoto Shuttle Services. STAY AWAY FROM THEM.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
DO NOT USE THEM! NO JOKE!
If I could give a lower review - I would.
It started with lots of promises, it followed with asking for more money after we paid the whole price and already started the trip (he surprisedus by meeting us on the way to the Safari and wasted a whole day planned ahead), it continued with my fiance that needed to fix the jeep in the middle of Serengeti because Alphonce, the owner of the company sent us with a broken jeep. Can't imagine what would happen if we didn't notice the problem. This agency is dangerous! Not joking. Do not use them.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
The most corrupt, dirty city littered with beggars
Dar-Es-Salaam is the most corrupt, dirty city. Littered by beggars constantly asking for money. From the time you land in Dar-es-Salaam until you leave they will extract as much money from you as a foreigner and create unnecessary problems for you even if you do not have one just to extract money from you. During my recent experience I was returning back to England and I was asked for USD 100 just so I can take some species I bought. The country has no laws or regulations. Everyone makes their own laws as they go along to create problems to tourists and extract as much money as possible. A destination to avoid at all costs.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Terrible! Fraudsters. Do not book!
I paid $5k for a safari to the Serengeti. They gave my money to a fake safari guide. He did take us but he was terrible. I've been on lots of safaris before so I know the quality of service that is normally provided. He knew nothing about the animals. He tried to take us away from an amazing hotel we booked and put us somewhere cheaper next door. He was angry when checking in and the hotel manager told us he was aggressive towards him. African Sunset travel pretended they cared but they didn't. They offered zero compensation. They are a fraudulent company do not book!
US
Horrible - thieves and scammers - stay away at all costs
Charles was the highlight of the trip itinerary was not followed, hotels were canceled at the last minute and rebooked with lower quality, balloon trip was canceled at the last minute for no reason which I actually rebooked at 10 o’clock at night as it was a surprise for the family on my own and paid for it even though it had been pre paid
We were scammed with our covid test, they were supposed to come to Our hotel in Tanzania and do the test, we paid an extra thousand dollars for this And they never showed up and told us they were going to take the Antigen test it was taken three days prior at the border coming into Tanzania and turn it into a PCR test which is medically impossible
I don’t know who they paid off at the border to get us through but I know it was illegal. They took our passports, made us wait at a restaurant for 3 hours and then came back with the passports stamped and ready to go across
I have it in writing in a credit memo that they were supposed to come and give me cash ($2900)the night we left but never showed It’s been four months since we left and back-and-forth they were supposed to send me a wire transfer but it never came and now they are ghosting me.
Avoid them at all costs. Any positive reviews must be written by them or their friends
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
TWO YEARS WAITING FOR OUR MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our history is summed up in that they do not give us back 2000 dollars. Our experience is being HORRIBLE.
We booked the safari in 2020 and they told us to pay all the amount, we did it (we shouldnt have done it, but now its too late). We couldnt go because of the Covid, so we ask for our money.
I have written them lots and lots of emails and whatsapps in this TWO YEARS and their answer is always the same: soon we will pay you the money. AND IT NEVER HAPPENS.
They give us excuses all the time, like: I've lost my cell phone, I've been away, we have few reservations... It's absolutely exasperating. We have been waiting for 2 years for the refund. We did not even demand 100% of the money, because they told us that 40% is used to reserve, so they would return 60% to us.
If you can, book the safari with another company, because this company is anything but serious.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Disorganized and felt unsafe
I would warn against booking with this company. I felt unsafe on this trip, particularly once the safari moved from the portion in Kenya to the portion in Tanzania- to the extent that I ended my trip four days early I was frequently handed off between different guides and drivers without a secure way of confirming who was affiliated with the company and who wasn't, and was sometimes left without a guide or driver at all. At the Namanga border crossing I was left by my driver/guide and a local was paid to see me through the process and onto the shuttle to Arusha, Tanzania. I didn't have service in the area, and if anything had gone wrong had no way to contact anyone. I did not know who I would be meeting in Tanzania or have a way to reach them or know when they would be picking me up. Once I was in Tanzania, my itinerary was changed so that I could be shuffled to join other drivers and tour groups. While I was still slated to visit the same places in the end, changing the order meant that my family and friends at home would not know where I was on a given day, which made me uncomfortable as a young, solo female traveler. Because I was being passed between groups, I also didn't know who my driver would be, where I would be going on a given day, or who might contact me with this information and when. When I contacted the company with concerns they didn't see these issues as valid.
Part of the reason I booked this specific tour was because it is advertised as vegan-friendly. Despite letting the company know in advance that I was vegan I was frequently unable to eat anything besides fruit and juice, and had to re-explain what my diet was over and over again. Two days into the trip I contacted the company about this and never received a response. I think it's dishonest to advertise this tour as vegan-friendly.
The guides and drivers were all friendly and honestly trying to help solve my problems, admitting that the way things were being handled was far from ideal, and I saw many beautiful animals, but I don't feel like this was enough to overcome the company's mismanagement.
Other travelers I was with were in similar situations, with their itineraries being changed last minute and sometimes prices being increased beyond expected while they were already on the tour, or having their lodgings changed to cheaper options after they had already paid.
*I found this tour through TourRadar, and though they asked for my review the review I submitted never appeared on the site.