20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Team of scammers
Not at all professional. Reservation not respected, calls not answered by the agency. The agency forced us to stay in an unwanted place and refused any changes on the grounds that the lodge does not want to refund the cost of the room. A whole day lost and no valid compensation given from the agency. In short, I do not recommend at all! They are thieves and liars.
SE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
AVOID! AVOID! AVOID!
With this I am expressing my deepest disappointment regarding the 3-Day tour we received from Karibu Safaris in Kenya.
The communication with Robert and the tour planning was ok, I have no complaint about that.
The problem is the way the tour was guided and the attitude from the driver and tour guide HAMISI, it was a very strong disappointment and even humiliation towards us as visitors and customers.
- no drinking water for the guests. When I asked about the water, the tour guide HAMISI said "sorry, I forgot". But at the same time he had drinking water, even several bottles!!!, at the game drive and was drinking himself and keeping them in the cooler box. That was very very much humiliating. Very unprofessional conduct. Phaawww!
- on the 3rd day's morning we were supposed to have a game drive in Amboseli park till 10am in the morning (that was confirmed beforehand by Robert - the organiser), but we left the park at 8:40 already with no reason. So the driver cut us the pleasure of experiencing the park by one half (50%), as we spent there only about one and a half hours (90 minutes). Another hour and 20 minutes were stolen. It's a huge disappointment. Robbery!!!
- the choice of the roads. In order to maybe make a small fuel economy (6 to 10$), the driver chose rural roads that in parts were hardly passable and full of dust, all our clothes, bags, hair, bodies and electronic equipment was in dirt and dust. The driver, willing to save a few hundreds of shillings, was driving the roads that are no good for safari tours. We did not meet a single other Safari tour operator's vehicle while taking the rural roads, while there were many of them on paved roads. So the point is that the unprofessional driver/tour guide deliberately chose bad roads just to make some "shortcut" meanwhile breaking the company's vehicle and disappointing the customers that were on a private tour. That is soooo STUPID!!!! We made a remark on that before our return on which driver HAMISI only laughed at us - straight into our faces... Very very humiliating!!! Guys avoid this scam of an operator!!!
There are some more problems and negative remarks that I should point out like a lack of explanation about the parks, surroundings, eco-system, animals, history, etc.; - instead the driver is chatting by sending texts on his smartphone...
- the vehicle arrived to pick us up dusty and dirty inside (from outside was ok) - it's just a proof of to what extent this company is unprofessional and do not consider the comfort and needs of their customers. I have experienced over six different tours in Tanzania and Kenya and I can compare the services received by this incompetent company with others.
This operator should be AVOIDED!!!
I need to express that I deeply regret having chosen this company's services and I have to warn other visitors and possible clients to AVOID tours given by Karibu Safaris in Kenya.
AVOID! AVOID! AVOID!
US
Can't contact them and they have our money....are they still open?
Is there someone we can contact to get our money back or did they steal it? Website now has nothing and they said we could reschedule due to COVID.
OM
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Desperate customer service
Again I am waiting on a refund promised by the managing director to pay at the end of Feb, Jan and also December. So far having committed to payment and having submitted account details at their request I have not received anything. The airline refunded in 1 weeks, hotels within 2 weeks, and even the government refunded the visa fee due to us not being able to travel on account of an international travel ban. I feel like I have been robbed, with repeated requests to honour their word being ignored.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
DID NOT RETURN MY DEPOSIT
Beacon Safaris (Robert) failed to refund my deposit. I had written agreement with him that he would return within 2 weeks of request.
I have been following up for 11 months now. He has been evading with different types of excuses. Now stopped responding to emails as well.
Pl. do not send him any advance.
UA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The company provides false information about the services it offers.
Regarding communications - Said (representative of Saving Tour) did not answer the question - which company provides the tour, then it turned out to be 3 Wonders Expedition, it had bad reviews before.
Regarding the service - Said (Saving Tour representative) promised us campsite accommodation with beds (luxury+)
In fact, it was just a false advertisement, 3 Wonders Expedition placed us in regular tents at the Nyany Public Campsite - we slept on the ground, covered with old sleeping bags.
But on the first night, in the Serengeti, it was warm. And in Ngorongoro, the temperature at night was about 10 degrees Celsius, and summer sleeping bags (one of them was a child's size) did not protect us from the cold, later I fell ill with pneumonia.
Do not contact Saving Tour. After my complaints, I realized that cheating is their modus operandi.
PL
Scam
We agreed for 4 days(3 nights) in Masai mara but after we have arrived it turned out that we only have two nights there. 1 day less that it supposed to be. The other thing is that on the first day we’ve been on the game drive only for 2h, next day was full game drive but on the third day there was no drive at all so from 4 days we only spent 2 in the park.
PL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
CHEATER
Benard Nzavi is a cheater, we agreed for 5days safari, paid for extra day, but when we came at the safari camp we got informed that we have only 3nights!
He stole our receipt when he was counting the money to get our proof!
Also didnt want to show his copy of a receipt, be aware of this SCUM!!!
RU
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I highly discourage contact with this company
We took 2 of the same safari Tarangire NgoroNgoro. We talked with Jimmy to agree on the dates and times of arrival, as well as all the details of our safari. On the first day I paid, everything was great. On the second day we were asked to pay an additional $ 300 for Ngoro-Ngoro because they did not find a suitable group for us. Jimmy did not get in touch, an Inno answered the phone. They refused to fulfill their obligations. As a result, in order not to lose the day, I had to go to Lake Manyara. The overall impression is ruined. The money is lost. I highly recommend not contacting this group.
Мы брали 2 же сафари Тарангире + НгороНгоро. Общались с Jimmy согласовали даты и время прилёта, а также все детали нашего сафари. В первый день я внёс оплату, все было замечательно. На второй день нас попросили доплатить 300$ за Нгоро-Нгоро т.к они не нашли подходящую группу для нас. Jimmy не выходил на связь, по телефону отвечал некий Inno. ВыполнТь свои обязательства отказались. В итоге чтобы не потерять день пришлось ехать на озёро Маньяра. Общее впечатление испорчено. Деньги потеряны. Крайне не рекомендую связываться с этой группировкой.
KR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Lies after lies after lies. TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE!
I wish there was 0 star to give.. Burton- the person I dealt with is such a trickster you must avoid to deal with.
At first I thought he was very passionate and hardworking to match our budget to a trip to Serengeti as he offered lots of options and trying to meet our budget via email and whatsapp constantly.
I got a similar offer from another company but I wanted to pay back his time and effort and decided to go with him.
When we met his staff to finalize our deal they told us an extra charge of $300 which was never mentioned even when we asked him to confirm if the price he offered was the final price with no extra charge.
After we dropped his deal, he came up with a new offer that could benefit us especially to my Tanzanian friends and they liked his new offer so, I decided to give him a second chance. Up to this point I really thought he is just trying to make it work and hustle his life through and I always appreciate hard workers so I accepted his offer and that was the biggest mistake I made...
He changed his words again 10 hours before our trip. 'There is this and that, additional fee....'
I can't even... It makes me still furious and frustrating just thinking about it after a month now.
My friends couldn't afford the deal and it was very late for us to find a new tour company and we basically had to call and search all night and even the next morning as we must have started a tour the next day sue to our schedule. Luckily we found another company and the it was very pleasant but, we had to leave late in the morning and we basically wasted most of the morning.
I honestly think this is his work ethic, first offer something the client would want and close the deal and make them have no other choice and then tell them an additional charge at the very end.
LONG STORY SHORT, AVOID THIS COMPANY.
This is an honest review and 100% true and if you want to see if I am real or not, visit my instagram and ask @findingminwoo
Don't deal with this company or Burton.