CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
did not deliver
We decided to go with Basecamp Tanzania after reading the excellent reviews, in particular, the comments about the guides .... "incredible", "extremely knowledgeable", "beyond exceptional", "made experience most memorable", "walking safaripedia", "extremely competent", "taught a lot about animal behaviour and ecosystem", etc. etc. Pretty impressive. Unfortunately our experience was nothing at all like the reviews, extremely disappointing. We got a driver, not a guide, who could barely speak English. Attempts at communicating were frustrating and led to misunderstandings. We drove in silence. He stopped when we asked but often drove off while we were still taking pictures. He provided no information about the animals, the environment, etc. On his advice we changed when we visited the crater because he said morning would be better. It was completely clouded in, no views, to which he said mornings always cloudy?? This company was much more expensive than other tours we looked at but given the reviews thought it would be worth it. Not getting a proper guide, feel we paid too much for an experience that did not deliver what was promised. They had to have known this person spoke little English and was not a proper guide. All we received from the company was an apology. Missed out on a once in a lifetime opportunity.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We didn't get what we paid for or what was outlined in the itinerary
Day 1 - Collection from hotel was fine, on time. No problems with long drive or communication. Itinerary outlined a game drive from 2pm - 6pm, but we only did a game drive for approx 90mins. Lodge was excellent, however that has nothing to do with the tour company.
Day 2 - Full day game drive. Lodge told us to leave as early as possible 7am at latest, driver arranged to start at 8am. We saw everything we wanted to on this day. Lions, Cheetah, Leopard, Giraffe, Elephant, Hippo. However this was more due to the abundance on wildlife and luck than the drivers skill or anything like that. I can't really complain too much about this day, as we saw everything we wanted to.
Day 3 - We were supposed to have a game drive in the morning (leaving the lodge at 8am) before heading straight from the game drive back to Nairobi. However our driver slept in and missed his alarm and we were waiting for him to wake up and were late leaving. Upon arriving at the park entrance our driver welcomed a "park ranger" on board who he said we were "giving him a lift" we then proceeded into the park, where we just drove on the main road until we happened to chance upon a cheetah, who was starting a hunt. The driver stopped the van and we asked him to put up the roof of the van so we could get a better look, he refused saying it would interfere with the hunt, however he was talking and laughing with other guides in other vans and his phone was ringing loudly, so I didn't buy that excuse! We asked him again and he still refused, so we had to take pictures through the window. After a few minutes he drove off, and we left the hunt/stalk while it was still in progress/just about to start. We were so annoyed, especially as countless other vans and 4x4s were heading towards the cheetah, while we were driving away from it. We felt like we couldn't complain too much to the driver as we still needed him to take us back to Nairobi and didn't want him to get angry and leave us in the middle of nowhere! He continued driving on the main road through the park and didn't once go on a different road, he then exited the park. Meaning we did not have our morning game drive, he just drove straight through the park from once entrance to another, without lifting the roof - we just happened to stumble across a cheetah. If we hadn't seen that he would not have stopped once! This is not a game drive. We were basically being a taxi service for his friend/ranger. When we got to Narok, the "park ranger" exited the van and he continued to take us back to Nairobi, which was fine.
Overall absolutely disgusted with the final day and lack of game drive! The fact that he drove away from a Cheetah hunt that was in progress is absolutely indefensible - and also twice refusing to open the roof so we could look at the Cheetah while we were there.
I don't know if this was just our driver or it is the company (as our driver said he was fairly new to Wildebeest) But I wouldn't use them again!!
I will formally complain to Wildebeest about this....
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We don’t recommend orongai at all!
The safari itselfs was fine, because Frankly, the guide is amazing! But we had many problems with Orongai. When we arrived to arusha they changed the payment method, ALL the hotels and the itinerary without asking or inform us. The last day we spoke with the manager and he said that was unusual, but reading the reviews we think that they usually work in that way. We don’t recommend work with orongai because you can’t trust them if they are changing everything without inform you in advance and you can’t do anything. We had the feeling that they were cheating us all the time!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Bait-and-switch on lodging, haggling and hassle once arrived
Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this operator. We were sold a package promising accommodation at Azure Mara Haven or comparable. What we got was Jambo Mara Safari Lodge - no WiFi, no pool, no spa, currently under construction and it books at about half the price of Azure. When I voiced my dissatisfaction, I was told that no bookings were available at the former, which a quick Internet search proved to be false. Owner George Oketch reimbursed me less than half of the difference between the room prices, which recovered one star. The other star is for his driver, Martin, who did a great job navigating the Mara and showed himself a kind and generous man with the Maasai who live there.
I learned a lot in this process. I should have stuck to my guns in holding back 10% until the end of the tour (he insisted on full payment in advance...before notifying me of the change in lodging). I should have read more reviews and done a FakeSpot review (using the TripAdvisor reviews they received a "D", https://www.fakespot.com/trip-business/right-choice-tours-safaris). I'll be more careful next time.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Bait and switch by open africa
I was sold a trip with upgraded accommodations, then placed on a budget trip. First i was told the places we were staying were equivalent to my promised itinerary ( which i had luckily printed and brought with me). When i was able to go to the websites of places I’d paid for, and could see how untrue that was, i asked to be ensured i would be at paid spots going forward, i was then told that one place full the night i should be there and another having robberies. Both disputed by those places when i did go there, and patently untrue ( full site only half full when i there on planned night; no signs of repaired tents at place “ with robberies)
It was really unpleasant to have to argue, A Lot, while being repeatedly told lies, in order to get mt paid acccommodations for last two nights of six. When i contacted open africa on return, to request some refund for the two nights i was seriously downgraded, i was told by open africa’s john william that the leader of the tour group i was subcontracted to ( i saw the paperwork that our group used to enter the Serengeti, name was not open africa) that I had said i was happy with my trip , and then never heard from John again, despite contacting him.
So, buyer beware, Tanzania is fantastic, this tour operator not so much
IL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
If you have another option, choose to use it
Safari is minimal in terms of conditions.
The vehicle was Oldest relative to other safari vehicles.
Unconventional tour coordination, planning was poor, not based on customer requirements, the driver wanted to finish as quickly as possible without taking additional sites. Edward and recommended his name to go with it.
Robert was not available to solve problems, and at the end of evaded answering the allegations.
There are other companies that drive safari, recommended to get them on trips in Kenya.
SG
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
uninterested driver
The driver I was with was very unprofessional and had no interest in showing me the true wild Serengeti. I saw more on my last vists in off season then I did in peak season. I did meet others who were having amazing sightings, but our driver was just in no mood to drive around. I felt that he was saving fuel. Also he would never stop in time when I wanted him to t to take a photograph. He did not have any knowledge of lighting either. He would talk back and was rude. It was like taking a driver from a city and sending him on a safari. He claims he has been doing this for a while , but in my opinion he was either inexperienced or uninterested. I would never use nor suggest this company to any of my fellow photographers. This company has just lost allot of business from me and my clients for sure.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Disappointing attitude
I wouldn't recommend TSS to anybody considering a safari in Tanzania - we didn't find them to be very professional at all and overall they handled our trip poorly. Firstly, their representative was late for our pre-safari briefing, and when we tried to call them their number was disconnected. As our hotel receptionist said she had never heard of them we found this a little worrying. When they did arrive we were told that due to reports back from Lake Manyara (where we were supposed to go on our first day) that there wasn't much wildlife being spotted, we would be going to Tarangire instead with a different group. This wasn't really a problem, but it would have been better to be told in advance rather than just before departure as we would have had more time to consider our options.
On the safari itself, our second day took us to Serengeti. As we were driving into the Serengeti the car had a fault, causing us to then be stuck at the gate there for 3 hours while it was looked at. This meant we missed a lot of game drive time, and arrived at camp having to set up our tents in the dark without any assistance after eventually being picked up by a different vehicle just before sunset. While we understand that faults like this happen, the way the situation dealt with was really not good enough - we repeatedly asked what was going on and were not given any information or any sense that there was a proper procedure to follow in incidents such as this.
After returning to Arusha at the end of our safari, two members of our group went to the operator's office in person to request a partial refund due to the time missed on safari, which they were given ($100 each). As we were leaving that day we didn't have chance to do so ourselves, so decided to email Elvice at TSS afterwards. The attitude we received when telling him what had happened and requesting the same refund as the others was appalling and completely unprofessional. He implied heavily that we were lying, and that the others had no such refund (they did, I maintained contact with them and checked this several times), then this changed to him telling us that the others had a refund because of problems in Kenya beforehand (they hadn't even been to Kenya).
The final straw was his attempt at emotional manipulation in telling us that they only offer group safaris to help people and they don't make a profit on them, so this refund would have to come out of his own pocket and would destroy years of hard work and that they'd have to consider stopping group safaris, that he'd have to beg to borrow it from a friend etc etc. At this point I gave up - I am not interesting in bankrupting anybody, and frankly found the whole thing ridiculously unprofessional.
There are plenty of other safari operators available and I would advise avoiding Tanzania Safari Supremacy if possible.
IE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Mixed costumer service and drivers
An honest review - We had a mixed experience with Josana Tours. They are a good company when things are going smoothly but their costumer service is poor when there are issues or things go wrong. We booked the 7 day 6 night safari. The communication before the trip with Joseph was great. 5 out of the 7 days were a positive enjoyable experience unfortunately our last two days were not. We had 4 drivers overall - 2 were very good and 2 were not. Jason was an excellent driver/guide - we had an amazing safari in
Massai Mara. Overall the food was okay-some places better than others - we got sick from one of the lunches. Our last two days, we had a very negative experience with aggressive and hostile drivers. Our full game drive in Ambolsi finished 2 and 1/2 hours earlier than others which led to us missing out on seeing lions and other animals. We spent over 1 hour 10minute sitting in a lodge and then an hour lunch break. We had very little time game driving. The driver was also very rude and uninterested. I contacted Joseph and unfortunately there wasn't much done to rectify the situation or a solution provided. He did apologise for the situation the following day but a client in another company received compensation. If I was booking again I feel I would use a different company as there are many in the same price range and they do the same route. We had a mix of companies in our vans. We thought we were unlucky with the situation that took place however in our taxi to the airport we met others who also experienced bad drivers and bad game drives with the same company. I feel the how a company responds to unexpected changes or incidents shows their strenght and unfortunately Josana Tours were very weak in this area, which isn't what you want when booking a trip.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It is not a pleasant tour which offered by this agency.
It is not a pleasant tour which offered by this agency.
First, the person who contact me during my booking sent a full itinerary of our 7-day trip. According to the itinerary, our transport vehicle is 4x4 Landcruiser, which is written in large bold font in the email. However, they offered us a small ugly van during all 7 days. They changed our vehicle without any inform, so we are demoted to a lower van but not any refund. We paid for the 4x4 Landcruiser, but got a small van finally.
Second, our guide always showed dirty look at most time like that he was not pleasant with us. And during the tour, he provided little useful lesson or knowledge about the safari. We don't think he is a competent guide. Even there is a time when he set a departure time as 4pm, we arrived at the van at 4:03pm. He blamed me that we were not on time. He made us feel that he was not offering service but disciplining even that we gave him tips everyday. Once we changed the tip time from morning to the evening, he asked us in the afternoon that why no tip that day.
By the way, we lost our card reader and mosquito repellent in the car when we are at hotel.
To sum up, the experience during this safari trip is not as pleasant as we expect.
Next year when I take my family here, I will not choose this agency any more.