AE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Do NOT book with this company
Communication with this guy Joseph was terrible. We booked a 3 day trip to Masai Mara. We were supposed to meet them at 9am in the hotel, he arrived by 10 am with another couple saying he had a problem with another driver(probably a lie) and told us we had to share the safari, although we had paid for private safari. Finally we went to Masai Mara, we had our game drives and when we were leaving the camp site on the final day we were told we could not leave because the company hadn’t paid our stay. So to be able to leave we had to pay AGAIN for something it was already included. Terrible company, don’t even think to book with them.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
We received same email as others about technical difficulties for September 2019 8 day safari for 4.
if you paid by credit card, you can try to get refund from credit card company by claiming paid but services not provided. It is a shame he would steal all this money after good reviews on this site and trip adviser. We have had no response from tour since giving information for refund.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY
1 hour after leaving, the 4x4 broke down.. no front brakes! The driver tried to fix it just enough to keep going which meant driving in second gear for the entire journey. A 2 hour trip turned into a 5 hours trip which was just to the park entrance. The driver took the car to a mechanic after our game drive, which was limited to just 1.5 hrs due to our late arrival, but had no luck so we continued with no front brakes. On the way back, one of the doors almost fell off and the driver had to secure it using rubber strap. We had to stop every 40 minutes as something else went wrong (low oil pressure, refill leaking radiator). Eventually the car died and we continued our return in a taxi. We wasted another 5 hours getting back to our hotel. Ann from the agency agreed to compensate each customer USD 50 each, which amounted to USD 200 as we were 4. But as it was a Saturday and she had no cash and we were leaving Iringa, she agreed with the Mama Pizza Iringa Hotel, where we were staying, to deliver the $200 first thing Monday morning which would go towards our accommodation bill. This never happened, the hotel manager (Richard) called her and went to see her in the office but no money.. always offering another excuse. We tried to contact her but she refused to answer. Eventually we gave up and transferred the money to Richard so at least the hotel was not out of pocket. This company cannot be trusted and their service was absolutely terrible as was their unsafe vehicles. As for Ann and the way she managed this situations, she should be ashamed of herself. You can confirm this info with Richard at Mama Iringa Pizza Hotel.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Scam Company
Do not book through this company if you dont want to ruin your holidays. This guy Jose will take your money and will never provide the service. And you will never be able to get him on the phone as he will switch it off as soon as the payment is made. He will ask for advance payment and payment on the first day. Don’t ruin your holidays by booking with him no matter what he tells you. He is a good speaker ! This guy is bag of lies. He should be in jail for escroqueries !
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
They canceled on me the day before
Communication and service was highly unprofessional. The organization confirmed the safari tour in advance, but canceled at 4pm the day before due to lack of vehicles. Upon calling them to see what options I had, they were neither helpful nor apologetic. Be careful in booking with this company. Since I never got to go on a safari with them, I cannot comment on that experience.
FR
absolute scam and fraudster - THEFTS
FRAUDSTERS AND THEFTS : run AWAY ! They are holding my deposit for two weeks now and they are avoiding my refund. I'll report them to the POLICE. DO NOT CONTRACT WITH THEM.
Do not engage with Yoeni Japheth
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Dishonest Company
I'm going to keep it brief, but in general, Ibrahim is dishonest with his customers and unfair to his staff. People considering booking with him should understand the risk of booking the cheapest option.
Three major issues:
1- When we were leaving Serengeti to go to Ngorogoro, we were told at the gate that Angose had not paid our park fees. Ibrahim's solution (by telephone) was for one of us to put the fees (about $700) on our personal credit card and then be reimbursed in cash when we got back. No one was interested in doing this because we felt it seemed like a scam. There's an online portal for safari operators to pay these fees online if they're not able to do it the usual way (pay in cash at the local bank) so it shouldn't have been an issue. We waited at the gate for several hours for Ibrahim to come up with a better solution. Eventually we went to park rangers ourselves and explained the situation and they told us that all we had to do was fill out a form and we everything would be fine as long as they paid the following day before we left the park. If the solution was that simple, and this has happened before (it's noted in another review on TA), then why did we have to lose an entire afternoon game drive because of it?
After my safari, I met another backpacker who used this company and the same thing happened to them.
2- Unbeknownst to anyone, I was booked for a 5 day safari and everyone else was booked for a 6 day safari. No one told us this and we didn't figure it out until the fourth night. On the fifth night, Ibrahim called me and told me, "Ok, your safari is over. You can either pay $150 more and do the last day with the group or take the public bus back to Arusha (2 hours at night)." I told him there was no way I was going to do either of those things. We hadn't gone to Manyara yet which was on my itinerary, I had spent all the money I had budgeted for this portion of my trip, and the bus is not especially safe for tourists (especially at night). He yelled at me and threatened me over the phone. It wasn't until I mentioned the police that he backed down.
3- The way they treat the staff is much worse than other safari companies I have worked with. There's no tent or meals for the staff. They sleep in the car and eat leftovers. Our guide told us that they're paid almost nothing and rely on tips to make a living. He also said that they weren't given enough money for the supplies so he had to pay for our bottled water out of his own pocket.
In conclusion, I think there would be more negative reviews but people either want to put the situation behind them or they're embarrassed to admit they've been scammed.
IN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Fraud!!! Please file police complaint
I had my trip planned for first week August 2019 for which paid over USD 3,800 to KWSS and just couple of days before the trip they cut all communications and just went underground!!!
Called up the hotels who refused to retain our reservations since KWSS had not paid them even for earlier safaris. Had to re-do all the booking again with other operator.
Did file a police complaint on landing at Nairobi and followed-up again on my way back post Masai Mara. Would request all to please file police complaint as well as write to Kenya Tourism Board and other social media platforms to spread awareness and put pressure on authorities to take appropriate action against KWSS ensuring tourist monies are paid back.
There was also an news report in Daily Nation (Kenyan newspaper) on August 11, 2019 - "Duped and dumped: Pain of tourists in hands of fake agents" with reference to KWSS as well as to Mr. Otieno Lysaniash who are fleecing tourist from across the world.
I will also be writing to Kenyan Embassy, Tourism Board, leading influential travel bloggers as well as to the Commercial Bank of Africa (where KWSS has account) to spread as much awareness as possible.
IN
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fraud. Just two days prior to tour commencement they wrote email that Safari is cancelled
We had booked the KWSS Safari for 13 days on 5th of July 19. Paid them advance of 50 percent of tour cost. It was to be our dream tour. The air Tickets to nairobi were on 19 th aug 19 for two of us. On 17th aug we wrote to KWSS to confirm for airport pick up transport.
They wrote back saying Safari is cancelled due to technical reasons and we may expect return of money paid between 60-90 days. We lost nearly Rs 250000/ besides air tickets and ruining our holiday plans as at this late stage as no other Safari is willing to accommodate us.
There is no contact number for KWSS. It has suddenly turned in to a nightmarish scam. How will anyone ever trust such Safari operators. All those unsuspecting tourists looted like this should join together to get justice.
Sanjay ( mumbai india) - +919867455169
CN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
a very bad experience
We had paid for everything before we arrived in KENYA, but during the trip the driver asked us for money every day, at least $100 each time.They changed the bad hotel without inform us。 No one answered the hotline. We can't find staff when we came back to the office. Three travel group suffer from the same problem in the same day, so we had to go the police station, but the money hasn't been returned yet.
Please don't trust their record. This is a very bad company，they have cheated travelers for many times.