DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Don't do your Safari with Ibrahim, he screwed with us!!!
I was looking to do a 4 Day safari with a group. During my search I met a girl who was looking for the same thing. We both decided to do the safari with Angose Travel limited, because a friend referred her to this company with the Guide Jojo. We agreed with Ibrahim that Jojo will be our guide. When I met Ibrahim in the office, he seemed very friendly and answered all my questions. I asked about the camping situation and if people would share a tent. He told me that nobody has to share a tent with someone they don't know.
On the day of the safari I was supposed to be picked up in town, I texted Jojo where I am waiting. Jojo responded that he is not coming, someone else is. Apparently he and Ibrahim had an argument, so Ibrahim decided to change the guide even though we specifically asked for Jojo. When I asked why, Ibrahim told me that Jojo is at a funeral. Jojo texted me at the same time that he is in town and told me to tell Ibrahim that we want him as a guide. The other girl also told me that Jojo was at the office in the morning, so clearly Ibrahim was lying to me.
I decided not to get upset about it and we started with the safari. After the first day in Tarangire we arrived in our camp and we all have been told that we have to share a tent with another person even though we did not know each other before the trip. We called Ibrahim and he only responded that it would be to much to bring a tent for everyone. Remind you, I specifically asked about this.
The safari goes on we saw many animals in the Serengeti and were about to cross over to Ngorongoro. Arriving in the Transit area we had to wait, because Ibrahim had not yet paid the entrance fee. After half an hour our guide came to us and told us that Ibrahim can't pay the fee as the banks are closed (it was Christmas) and asked us to pay 400$ so we could continue the tour. We were all shocked, as we have all paid for everything in advance and it should have been clear that banks are closed on Christmas. We were afraid that we would not get our money back and did not want to pay. We told Ibrahim that we need him to find a solution, as we could not use our credit cards. After almost 2 hours we called him as he still hasn't found a solution. We offered him that he could wire the money over via mobile money(these shops are always open) and we would use the credit card but he only had a bunch of excuses why he could not send over the money. We were even more convinced at this point that using our own cards would mean we would lose the money. After 3 hours Ibrahim told us that we just need to camp at the gate. Camping at the gate is not allowed and as we were stuck between serengeti and ngorongoro we had no where to go. So we had no chance than calling the police. We went inside the office of the gate and asked for the number. Luckily these guys wanted to see if they can help us. The park ranger from the office came to an agreement with our guide that we could go in and do our activities and before we leave ngorongoro crater conservation we have to come to head quarters to see if the fee has been paid by Ibrahim otherwise they would keep the safari car. The ranger also told us that we should not pay the fee, if we had already paid everything in advance, because the chance is high that we would not get the money back. Because of this we lost our whole afternoon and as it was about to get dark we had to rush to our camp which was 3 hours away. We drove so fast that we almost killed the animals on the road. We needed to set up our tents in the dark, were the last to eat dinner and got only very little sleep.
The next day we went to head quarters after our activities and there we still had to wait a lil while as Ibrahim had still not paid. Ibrahim had at this point no other option than paying the fees so he finally did and we could move on.
After my experience with the company I can only tell you do yourself a favor and go with a different company. We were not the only ones at this trip that got screwed over as another group we talked to had also a lot of trouble with Ibrahim.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Extremely negative - driver was dishonest (took luggage and didn’t show up), bad car condition
I used Faustin’s driver and car because I joined another company - Gamily Tour to Selous Safari and their vehicle was not available one day before due to an accident. Faustin sent a driver John to cover for the transportation from Dar to Selous and driving within the game reserve.
First thing to state is that the drivers in this company are driving their own cars (instead of company provided vehicles) so the conditions of the vehicles are understandably more variable than other tour operators.
Several things which happened showed that John is dishonest and owns a car at very poor car condition (and other things eg drives aggressively)
1. Dishonest - he took my tour guide’s luggages and never show up!! On the last day of my tour, when John was driving me and my tour guide back to Dar, I discussed with my tour guide and decided that I would try to experience the “local public transport” thus he and I would get on the local bus for 2 hours. The plan was that John would drive and follow the bus to the station and continue driving me to the hotel. When we arrived at the bus station, John was still at the starting point where we got on the bus (not sure what he was doing for all those times!!). Luckily I got most of my luggages with me, and I didn’t want to wait for him another 2 hours so I took an Uber back to my hotel. My tour guide waited him for another 4 hours and John never showed up, until the next day after we contacted his company (I would have missed my Kilimanjaro hike if I put my luggage in his vehicle)
2. Bad car condition - across the 5 seats in the car, only 1 seat wasn’t suffering from water leakage. Some windows could never be closed. It also could not drive through the roads which other SUV were able to drive through - I was unable to see lions as his car could not drive through one of the flooded main roads leading to the “lion area”.
My experience with the driver and vehicle was extremely negative. While I wish that this is only an issue with an individual, seeing from other reviews, seems like there is a company-wide problem. Anyways, even if you happen to use Faustin services, you should request to avoid using John (and his vehicle) at all cost.
NZ
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Totally let down, simply heartbroken
Consider very carefully before booking with Mushra Travel, NOT a trustworthy company.
My husband and I travelled to Uganda in October , our itinerary was changed, we weren’t told. We booked as a group, Michael told us 4 other couples were aLready booked on our tour, but we were on our own, not bad you say, but we like to meet people. The tour went reasonably well, although our guide wasnt really interested in us and only did what he really needed to do.
Our last day was to see the gorillas, they messed up our permits even though we booked and paid 10 months in advance. We had to change our flights and extend the holiday by 2 days for them to sort new permits. Our driver repeatedly tried to get cash from us to pay for petrol as he said Michael was not sending him money. Then to end the holiday on a high at 8.30pm on our last night, travelling back to Kampala we were pulled over by armed police who told us they were repossessing the vehicle (and our suitcases) as Michael hadn’t paid the lease. The repossession company turned up and we were faced with 3 men and the police telling us we would not be let go until Michael paid up. Michael would not answer our calls or theirs, what a nightmare!
It’s hard to believe this feedback, especially as most people seem to have nothing but praise for Michael. Micheal promised us a refund of our additional expenses incurred due to their cock ups but we have been home for 2 months and no refund has been received, despite numerous messages being sent. I’m not surprised!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Horrible experience! Stay Away
The guide Humphreys was disrespectful to stay the least. Our trip to Amboseli was the worse trip we have taken so far. It started with Humphreys coming late to pick us up at Nairobi and taking us via dirt road to Nairobi National park to "pay" some fees where he was turned down. We reached Amboseli late and the car broke down in the middle of the park! We were on a custom itinerary and we decided to meet at7:30 am and were having breakfast in the hotel. Humphrey claims that he came and was waiting but did not bother calling us. When we came out to the parking lot he was not there and his phone was not reachable. No-one in the hotel knew where he was either. He finally came and from the minute he came he started yelling at all of us (my husband, parents and in-laws) in front of the hotel staff for being late. He called us unprofessional several times in public and threw our luggage in the car. He cancelled our safari on his own without telling us and we came to know that only after we realized we were on our way to Nairobi. So much money paid for what?
When we came back to Nairobi and called the Bornfire office, initially they were sympathetic and agreed to look into the matter, and later sent us an email justifying each and every action of Humphrey and proved us wrong. Even the CEO was cc'ed in the email and we addressed an email to him and have not received a response. We have taken many trips to different part of the world, but this has been the absolute worse! Please please stay away unless you want to be humiliated.
QA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Poor communication and questionable integrity of owner/director. Avoid this travel agency.
Did poor job and did not pay for services that had been paid for by us. Would not recommend.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Peter was the worst person to deal with.
The communications with Peter was the worst, he did not give the Park fees to the driver and every time we got to a different park we would try and call him and as soon as he knows who was calling he said that I will call shortly then he would switch the phone off for the rest of the day. So I would have to pay myself again and for the driver and the car even though I had paid all inclusive. Up to yesterday the driver was calling me to say that he has not been paid yet if I could help, He even called me names once I called him in the afternoon and he was drunk. The driver was very accommodating as he was not also told what he was doing until the morning they both came to pick us from the hotel. We did the parks we had agreed but not in the order that we had agreed.PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY TO SAVE YOURSELF A HEADACHE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Twas terrible. The driver abandoned my parents halfway the trip. Didn't take them to all places
Terrible. Nathan doesn't like to answer calls. And they don't like issuing a refund when the services is below standard
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Disappointing troublesome, frustrating and extremely dishonest in his services and dealings with us,
AFRICAN NIGHTMARE: AVOID THIS BUSINESS AT ALL COSTS
Michael Ahabwe Mugerwa of Mushra Travel, located in Uganda, has provided the WORST travel experience in our 35 years of roaming the globe.. After carefully planning out a 2 week dream vacation to Africa with our best friends (costing in the mid-20k range) our dream journey turned into a horrible nightmare as we discovered that our travel agent had run off with our money.
Michael, who had had made a number of glowing promises in his initial proposal and final itinerary and took our our deposits and told us everything had been arranged and reservations had been made. But while on our trip we soon discovered that was not true and that there were no reservations or payments made, leaving us having to pay twice for most of our hotels and activities promised in our carefully planned itinerary (e.g.the surprise of downgraded hotels, canceled flights, two days of gorilla trekking). So our dream visit to East Africa quickly melted into a pool of disappointment, frustration and uncertainty as to what problems we might encounter next.
Initially we tried to give Michael the benefit of the doubt. But after recurring problems over several days it become evident that these were not simple mistakes or accidental errors but were intentional actions by Michael to deceive, confuse and scam us as he had done with prior clients.
As problems kept recurring and we confronted Michael, he either lied, blamed others, and made excuses, all as a way of not taking any responsibility for these problems Being trusting souls, It took us a few days to realize that we had been scammed and did what we could to salvage some semblance of our planned African vacation. As before on our visits to Africa, we found the people to be warm and friendly and the animals and game drives fascinating
Honesty, integrity, direct communication, dedication, are all traits you would look for in a good travel agent and are critical to a well planned and executed vacation . Sadly, these are traits that do not exist in Michael Ahabwe Muge or Mushra Travel. Currently we are trying to recover some of the thousands of dollars taken from us .But that will never restore or change the complete picture. For Michael not only scammed us and stole our money, but more importantly, he broke our trust and tainted our dream of a wonderful African vacation.
Gary Buffone
GR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Terrible experience with Self Drive Safari/Vehicle rental
We selected Prime Uganda Safari as we through it was one of the best car rental companies in Uganda. Unfortunately we were so wrong.
Firstly, our poorly maintained and serviced vehicle broke down on New Year's day, and the company blamed us for a series of damages which of course were not created by us.
Then, the next day, they sent another vehicle with a driver to continue our journey in Uganda because they could not trust us. So on 2nd of January 2019, the driver, during an overtake, crashed the car into oncoming vehicle from the other side.
Not only the company did not apologize or provided another option (to leave the accident spot or to be moved elsewhere), but the only communication we received is an email with the costs of the alleged damages. They never reimbursed us for the daily rentals for the days that we did not have the car, and they also charged us for filling up two fuel tanks, while the delivered two car fuel empty.
I am really sorry to say that you should not trust Prime Uganda Safari as the whole altitude was completely inappropriate and unprofessional, let alone that they put our lives at risk twice without taking any responsibility.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Trip of a Lifetime Ruined
I didn't want to write this and usually let my husband do these reviews but this experience was so horrible I wanted to share it and warn other people not to make the same mistake by hiring Mushra to plan your trip. I don't want to go over in detail all the painful memories again but needless to say, every day we had to spend hours of our vacation time dealing with problems not handled or created by Michaels' dishonesty or incompetence (e.g. hotels we arrived at with no reservations made and having to pay out of pocket to stay, no flights between destinations after this was in itinerary, no gorrila permits after having paid for them in April and personally assured everything was set, etc.) Don't want to relive it but anxiety coming from these things happening every day ruined what was planned as a trip of a lifetime.