US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
awful
Do not use this travel agency. Go Touch Down and Deon Barnard have used the COVID-19 crises to defraud us of all monies we spent with them for a trip to South Africa. They essentially contend that because our trip, which was scheduled to begin on May 12, 2020, could NOT happen because of the COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa, they should keep all of the $24,513 we had paid to them in December 2019. When pressed as why we were not to receive a full refund, or at a minimum that amount less the Sales Agreement’s specified 20% cancellation fee, Barnard replied, “get a lawyer.” We will shortly be bringing a civil action against Go Touch Down, Barnard and all associated entities. FYI: we received a full refund from Delta Airlines for the airfare purchased for this trip.
CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Scammed
3 Nights 4 Days Serengeti with Ngorongoro Crater
Day 1: Leave Dar at 5.30am drive to Karatu with luxury air conditioned coach with picnic lunch . Dinner & Overnight at lodge.
Day 2: After breakfast Drive to Serengeti National Park with Picnic Lunch For Full Day Game Drive . Dinner & Overnight at Camp.
Day 3: After Early Breakfast Morning Gane Drive & Drive to Ngorongoro Crater with Picnic Lunch & Half Day Game Drive. Dinner & Overnight at Lodge in Karatu.
Day 4: After Breakfast Leave for Dar via Arusha. Picnic Lunch will be provided . Arrive Dar by 9pm.
The tour includes transport from Dar es Salaam & Return By Air Conditioned Coach , Safari Open Roof Vehicle , Food, Park Fees, Concession Fees, Daily Mineral Water Bottle & Packed Juice.
The Cost Per Adult Person
Tanzanian Citizen $ $290
Resident Permit Holders $490
Children 4 to 10 Years 50% with sharing accommodation with Parents This is what we paid for. No booking was done for us in Serengeti or Ngorongo. When we got Karatu we had no coach waiting for us to take us to the game reserve and we could not reach Mr. Mohemmed Kambi. We were advised to file a police report in Arusha. We lost all monies paid and the company is unresponsive. The police are following up on our case. Please be advised that this company scammed us of a total of over $5000.00 USD. I would not recommend to anyone. I would verystrongly advice against using this company.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Hunting atrocities at Balule
Please be aware that Balule not only offers hunting, but has been involved in a number of controversies, including the killing of a young elephant by two (apparently drunk) tourists - 13 shots, 15 minutes of crying torture for the animal:
https://conservationaction.co.za/media-articles/young-balule-elephant-shot-13-times-before-horrified-visitors/
https://africageographic.com/stories/illegal-collared-elephant-hunt-greater-kruger-warden-convicted/
https://twnews.us/us-news/this-l-a-hunter-killed-an-elephant-now-he-s-a-peta-target-in-bid-to-end-trophy-hunting
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Kidnapped during tour, they did nothing but send me emails promoting the company
Kidnapped in UGANDA during my tour April 2nd 2019. This company brokered my tour to a more local tour company.
They don’t even manage the tours.
They did, however,
Contact the RSO of Ugandan Embassy no fewer than 25 times during my kidnapping and after my release but never once reached out to me personally to see how I was doing and to check on my emotional well-being after being held at gunpoint for six days taken from Queen Elizabeth national park into the DRC / Congo.
I paid this company close to $8,000usd
My insurance responded
Alaska Airlines responder
REI responded
Target responded
Natural World Safaris, who made the most from me...NOTHING
But they do continue to promote their tours through email to me. The kidnapped victim. There in sensitivity reigns supreme !
You can google, my kidnapping will come up to verify. These people did Nothing but open an office in Los Angeles, my backyard, so to speak.
There are a lot of tour companies that want your business. Do you want to roll the dice with this company that does nothing when things go wrong in a foreign country except for cover their behind, or at least try to. Nobody knew my fate but this company didn’t even care. Trauma is real
PTSD is real and the CEO sending out an email after my kidnapping asking me to rate my Experience is real.
So is “ institutional betrayal” A term I learned in therapy because of my kidnapping.
That’s Natural world safari, It took over a year to leave this review!
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Avoid it
Avoid this company. Not trustly company. They keep our money due the coronavirus. Not professional answer or solutions.
Choose other companies... Everything was ok by before the payment and after that they disappear.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Do not book!
I many problems with this operator. The guide asked me to pay entry into a park then later again w a hotel booking I already paid for which totalled $500usd. I think they hope we feel bad and then let it go. I luckily didnt carry mich cash on me and refused. There was messing abt and possibly no hotel stay. I stood my ground and demanded reimbursement for the amt owed. I was also taken on a shonky coffee tour not like described but by 2 rogue kids.
I was in tears fighting them 2 hrs before my airport transfer and ended up arriving to the airport w 30mins to go.
From my Tripadvisor review i was contacted by numerous people who were swindled their deposit. The company went down, changed names then restarted again under it started in africa.
After my review they offered me monetary compensation to take my review down. I refused. Then coincidentally my tripadvor account kept sending me emails that i wanted to reset the password. Im not accusing anyone of hacking but it was interesting times.
I was emailed by Bernard to review my trip again so they could use it for other travellers. Hope this finds everyone well as a clear warning! I do not advise putting any deposit into this company. Other tours exist so research well and contact the reviewers
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
SCAM
NOTHING ABOUT THE CLAUDIOUS TOURS & SAFARIS WAS AS ADVERTISED. Our accommodations were substandard based on the amount of money we paid for. Our gorilla passes were for the wrong month and so we never got to go on our adventure! We were never reimbursed for our $600 dollar passes, Uganda VISA's or other expenses based on Uganda. The food was horrible. Never again with Claudious Tours.
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Con Artist!!!
We booked our honeymoon vacation with African Expedia and we were so excited! We booked 8 months in advance.
Once COVID-19 started we contacted him to notify Wilson that we had to cancel due to the fact that we were not allowed to internationally travel anymore.
We tried working with him to either get a refund or post-pone the trip for another year. And then he stopped responding....
He actually robbed us of our honeymoon money!
We hired a lawyer in Tanzania to help us retrieve the funds, but the police have said they cannot locate him and the company does not exist!
Do not under any circumstances book with this company!!! I even called all the hotels to make sure he booked our trip before transferring any money to him.
I cannot believe he could do this to someone, it is actually horrible that he took our honeymoon as a opportunity to steal our money. We are devastated and during a world pandemic when everyone is already struggling.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
words can barely describe!
My experience of the masimara please read!!!
Day one consisted of the guide being 30 minutes late we were escorted into the mini bus after asking for a jeep as it was only me and my wife for the entire trip. We were asked for payment upfront that was £770 the guy who took the cash made it very clear to me and my wife that this did not include a tip! After around 10 minutes the guy who took the cash left the minibus ( I’m assuming to go back to the office) the guide and the “cook” Hardly spoke to me and my wife the majority of the journey.
When we got to the off-road road for the masimara we had seen many different animals like the zebra giraffe etc, we didn’t get to stop to take a photo of these animals but instead had to wait until we had got to the masimara. On another part of the off-road there was another minibus that had got stuck so our driver Sammy and the “cook” got out the car and abandoned me and my wife with the the vehicle. At this point we were then surrounded by the locals (children and adults ) it took around 20 minutes for our guide to return, we then continued with our trip
We finally reached the masimara and had gone on our first game drive for 2 hours. our drive consisted of what looked like Sammy catching up with his colleagues. And towing more people out of the mud. We saw an elephant which he did not stop so we could take photos! This was a very bad first game drive.
Day two of the masimara. We had woken up early to get a start in our long day of game drive, at first I was very disappointed in the lack of water available to me and my wife after all this was included in that £770 price. We drove around for a while taking photos of animals it was very hard to get a photo as Sammy wouldn’t stop moving the bus but just drove slowly. We had to ask him a few times to stop the vehicle before he finally got it! During our drive Sammy decided to go off road in the masimara ( this is not allowed) to see cheetah cubs. We just about got to where they were hiding before we turned around and returned to the road. This was because the KWS had spotted Sammy going off road. Sammy and a few other guides got out of the vehicles and spoke to the KWS (Kenya wildlife services) my wife took a photo of Sammy bribing the KWS (we thought he was paying a fine). when Sammy finally arrived back in the car we asked him what was going on. He told us he had to pay $30 to see the cheetah cubs as off roading is not allowed, this is around 3000 ksh just over. We then proceeded to drive to the cubs though I had asked Sammy not to and just let the cubs be. And I must admit when we got to the cheetah cubs they were beautiful we took a photo but felt terrible doing so. Not to mention they were not good photos because Sammy would not keep the vehicle still. We proceeded on with our drive and it was finally lunch time. We were starving! So my wife is vegan and when arranging the tour online my wife had told the office she was vegan in multiple occasions and when my wife told the cook she was vegan he was shocked after finding out what a vegan was, and asked if she ate chicken. That part is not important but it was funny. Anyway more to the point. We hadn’t eaten much before lunch and when we sat down to have our picnic she unwrapped her sandwich to find she had butter on her bread! It was a good job a monkey stole that sandwich because this was just another example of how unorganised this company really was!
Day 3 this was our final game drive after telling Sammy a few times we did not want to see the masih villages, we headed out! We took the same route as the day before and the day before that but it was a good job we went the same way again as we saw a family of lions! This was probably the best part of our trip. We stayed there for a while before everyone else started swarming in and then we left. On the way back to the gate one of the other drivers had asked Sammy if we can take some one past the gate on the way out. Now bare in mind me and my wife paid for a private tour this was that £770 I mentioned. Sammy had agreed to this and we would stop and talk to this lady and even drive past animals we wanted to photograph the drive back to the gate took around an hour.
Sammy treated our tour as he would a group tour. We would watch animals for as long as he deemed necessary he was on his phone for most of the safari either talking or texting and on a few occasions even in social media (Facebook) a few times me and my wife heard him make jokes to his colleagues about the coronavirus ( covid19 ) this wasn’t funny! And I was very annoyed by this!
I would rate this safari tour with 2 stars as from start to finish as we were greeted with just pure unprofessionalism. This tour was unprofessional disrespectful to the animals and unethical.
I ask anyone that is thinking of going with this safari tour company to please rethink! I regret my decision booking with this company!
NO
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
The guys and the bosses were nice enough, but logistically it was a disaster.
The communications were not good because the contact person were offline due to him being working in areas with low internet coverage, but answered when he had internet available.
We ordered 3 transfers, Harare- Vic Falls, Vic Falls- Livingstone and Livingstone- Lusaka.
Due to the company based in Zambia mixed the dates they hired a Zimbabwe based company to do Harare- Vic Falls. They came late,
drove a 14 hour ride instead of the 7 hour we ordered and demanded us to pay black marked fuel price at 50% higher cost because they had bought it at the black market. Then we understood why they drove the 14 hour route, they could charge more fuel at 50% higher price. I believe they payed the normal fuel price. (This was the Zimbabwe based company they hired.)
We stayed in Vic Falls for 2 nights, then the Zimbabwe guys should drive us to the border dropping us off and be picked up by Tafika travels in Zambia. By this time Tafika and the Zimbabwe based guys had started to fight over the the payment between them, and they didnt want to drive us before Tafika payed them. And my desperate messages to Tafika about our problem werent answered. We had already pre- payed all transfers, so we refused to pay the 800$ the guys demanded from us.
To be fair, our total payement was 960$ for 3 transfers, so the demand for 800$ for 1 transfer was redicilous, but that should have been agreed between them before the transfer, and not become our problem 5 minutes before the original departure leaving us with no transfer between the 2 countries.
The reason for using 2 companies was that we headed for Vic Falls february 9th, but the day before we understood Tafika thought we were going the wednesday 3 days later. So Tafika hired theese guys for the first half of our trip since they had no cars able to pick us up at 1 day notice. The mixed dates mentioned above.
We ended up with paying a local driver money to bring us to Livingstone, Zambia. There we met eventually the driver from Tafika. He was very nice, but had a car to small for our luggage. We ordered a car for 5 persons with luggage (5 suitcases + small bags), but the car could take 1 or 2 suitcases in the trunk. We had to pay 50$ extra for sending the luggage by bus, but only 2 out of 5 came to the hotel so 3 of us had no luggage half the Lusaka stay.
We demanded a refund for the Vic Falls- Livingstone transfer and the 50$ extra luggage cost and were told we should get that back.
After 3 months of waiting we have got only promises but no refund. My last question about the refund werent even answered. That makes me writing this review giving a 1 star. I dont like doing it since the guys were very nice and also promised a refund, but 3 after 3 months I give up.