Worst tour I have ever had the displeasure of being on!
I booked and paid through Commonwealth Bank Australia via International money transfer for a 4 day Selous Safari with the company with a contract signed and itinerary set out. (6 months in advance)
I paid extra money (above what was quoted for the tour) when I did the IMT for airport transfer and overnight accommodation before the safari.
I was picked up, accommodated overnight and the next morning I was asked how I was paying for the accommodation. I explained that I had already paid for this as part of my tour package and this was sorted out once the tour owner/operator turned up.
I asked if I could go on a night game drive added to the tour (after initial payment in July) and was quoted $150USD. When I was collected from the accommodation I was asked to pay $200USD for the organised night game drive and an additional $35USD. The $35USD was because when I was quoted the full tour amount and advised what I had to pay they did not include the bank fees charged by the tour company’s bank. I paid the quoted amount as advised by them and MY banks fees for the international money transfer. Rather than argue I paid the $235USD to the owner/operator, and I was driven to Selous, to Kinga Lodge.
After 1 night accommodation and a river safari I was told that the booking was only made by the tour company the day before I had arrived in Selous. I paid the full tour amount on 28/07/2014 and undertook the tour on 18/01/2015, so my payment was made well in advance.
The manager of the Kinga Lodge in Selous, Robert, tried to contact the owner/operator of 'time 4 Afrika' to sort out details as no money had been paid to them by the tour company and only 2 of the 3 nights I needed were available for me due to the Lodge being booked out.
Both Robert, the Lodge manager, and I, tried to contact the owner/operator of 'time 4 Afrika', and were unable to. Robert then called, Howard who was the to tour company’s driver and who was staying in the village waiting to transport me back to Dares Salaam at the end of my safari.
Howard made contact with the owner/operator of 'time 4 Afrika' who said he would forward money when the bank opened the next day (19th Jan 2015). Money was received the next day but not all of the fees that were due were sent.
I had no confirmation from anyone as to where my last night in Selous accommodation would be, no details about the night drive and the full game drive, all of which had been paid for by me.
Robert, the manager of Kinga Lodge advised that I should return to Dares Salaam as I had received no confirmation of my accommodation for that last night in Selous or confirmation of my booked activities going ahead.
Howard drove me back to Dares Salaam. On the way back we ran out of fuel and we had to wait in a small town while money was sent to him from the tour company so he could put enough fuel in the car to complete the journey.
I was delivered to the airport and told ‘things’ would be looked in to when Howard returned to the office. I have heard nothing and do not expect to, least of all do I expect be refunded for the accommodation and activities that I did not receive as I am sure this company has no morals or code of ethics.
This tour was stressful and traumatic and I would like to make other people aware of this fraudulent company!
I am 60 years old and I have travelled extensively all around the world. In all my travels this is by far the most disgraceful and dishonest tour company I have ever had the displeasure of being associated with.
They happily took my money and did not even attempt to deliver the good/services they promised!
The worst!
I booked a 3 day safari to Masaii Mara at the last minute with Sun Splash Safaris who contracted with Kairi Tours and Safaris. I have been on safari in Kenya and since I travel to Africa for work am pretty easy going but this was the worst!
In the morning after a prompt pick up when I asked to stop to change dollars for shillings at a foreign exchange the driver insisted I change with his friend on the street. It was a bad rate and I insisted on going to the foreign exchange, but the driver was not happy.
When I arrived there had been 3 days of protest in Narok a town on the way to Masaii Mara unbeknownst to me. As we got closer to Narok the driver was on the phone constantly and there were very few safari vans which was very unusual. there were many cars and lorries pulled off to the side of the road and when the driver was questioned he was evasive. We went to the very "front" of the line to find the road blocked. and as Kenya police cleared the road of rocks and burning tires, we moved forward the road would be blocked in front of us and behind us with more rocks and burning tires. We ended up in the middle of the demonstration with tear gas and police beating people with batons. It was dangerous and totally uncalled for. There were only 2 other safari vans in sight, the rest must have been much smarter than this company.
Needless to say, we did not make our evening safari drive in the Park. Next morning we found out the walkie talkie that every safari van relies on to find the animals was broken and had been broken for 3 days! We spent the entire day driving aimlessly while the driver stopped every van he could find to question where were the animals.
The next day the driver "borrowed" shillings from me to buy an herbal remedy from the Masaii prior to leaving the park.
On the way out of the park the driver stopped at a small store to get himself a soda and surprise! someone jumped in the van for a ride to the next town. Great way to make a few shillings for the driver but not OK.
I have been on safari in Kenya in the past and this was the most unprofessional disappointing company I have ever used. When I got back to Nairobi I sent an email to the company. Their response was not their problem about the protest and while I agree they were not responsible for the protest they certainly had hours of warnings prior to our arrival and could have provided a safer trip. No response about the broken radio, shady driver, borrowed shillings or unexpected passengers in the van. Worst Safari ever!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very disappointed
Extremely disappointed with this company. They had good reviews on tripadvisor so I signed up to a safari with this. At 9am I was excited to be leaving my hotel and going on safari. However, it became clear very quickly that I had not been picked up by a Big Time Safari car, but by another company. Big time passed me on to another company without telling me. The company they had sold my trip on to was called Right Choice, and believe me, it wasn’t the right choice. The bus was broken, and it took 9.5 hours for us to drive from Nairobi to Masai Mara. When we finally arrived it turned out that our rooms hadn’t been booked at the camp. Once that was sorted out it turned out that the driver didn’t know what time dinner would be. We went for a terrifying 1 hour game drive that evening. The rain was pelting down and the ground turned into a swamp, and the broken bus (with even less power than these buses normally have) got stuck several times. Fortunately we didn’t end up stuck in the mud in Masai Mara overnight, but between the broken bus and the rain it was more luck than anything else that we didn’t. I cancelled my trip the next morning and returned to Nairobi with a much more professional company. Big Time safari expressed no apology for selling on my trip to another company without notifying me. Nor have they been willing to refund any part of my failed safari.
Poor experience
Probably the worst tour experience I had in my life. It starts with cheap hotels, even if we paid for the good ones. Then when you arrive at the safari’s gate, the guide tells you he has no money, so you need to pay again for everything, again, and he promises he will pay you back later. Of course Tanzania Joy Tour didn’t pay us back. We dealt with Emmannuel Mremi. He always said “yes” on the phone, then “sorry” in front of us.
Bottom line, even if it appears cheap at the beginning, they’ll try to rip you off. I strongly advise everyone against Tanzania Joy Tour.
It’s sad for the country, Tanzania is amazing, and having such a bad experience with local people ruined part of our experience there.
Go to Tanzania, to Kilimandjaro and visit the parks, but do not go with Tanzania Joy Tour… !
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
agence to be absolutely run away from
Your experience(experiment) confirms in 2015. The man did not change.
a very unpleasant experience with Meru treks and Safari. Violent person in charge on the customers who are not satisfied.
Insufficient food, guide - driver novice. Cook hooligan and liar to get out of trouble. Never at the hour. End-of-life vehicle
We asked ourselves the question to know if he did not get back the rests of the other agencies to feed his customers. To verify.
Agency to be absolutely run away from.
You know now
US
Experience level: over 5 safaris
Extremely disappointing with a lack of respect and courtesy from driver-guide
Driver/guide Haron was rude to us, rolled his eyes if we asked to have the engine turned off to watch wildlife, and raised his voice at me when we chose not to visit a Maasai Village (perhaps he was not getting a cut of the $100). I trusted to go with this company as the Mt Kili guide had been recommended to me had set this tour up; this was a mistake and despite the Kili guide tipping Haron $100 in advance to take good care of me, the customer service was poor. Perhaps Haron was not expecting to be called out on Dec 31 New Year's Eve . . . regardless, the other couple and myself treated poorly.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Do not use this company
Badly organised, rude and incompetent drivers, a lot promised and not delivered
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A ridiculous, unprofessional organization
Where oh where oh where do I start to explain the ridiculous experience I had with this god-awful company. It should be noted to that one of the good reviews posted on here was actually posted months later and from Kenya so that's a lack credibility right there.
I found ancient wild safari's right here on Safari bookings and after writing off to about 6 to 7 operate is looking for a certain itinerary that fit into a certain period of time I landed on this company. At the beginning Michael was very very good about returning my messages and seem to have his stuff together. They didn't have as many reviews as another company I was considering but sometimes I like to try to give the new guys a chance as I know how ihard it can be in business. I found his photo on Facebook and thought he looked very pleasant and like a nice African man. Even when I looked at other companies after I had already somewhat committed to taking the tour through Michael I felt a little bad as I don't like to mess people around. There was a tour I really did like the look of better but I thought you know what let me give these new guys a chance as they hadn't done it that long from what I could tell a couple years versus many.
I spent the first day in Nairobi with Morris a private driver arranged by Michael. He honestly looked very tired at the beginning but he was a good talker and we got along. I was booked to do a group tour with African budget safaris for the first couple of days and then they hooked me up with a sister company in Tanzania as federal regulations prohibit the same tour operator operating in both states. You're actually required to do part of your tour and then you get put on the shuttle bus down to Arusha where the sister company picks you up and you continue. Morris and I had all day together and as the day went on he kept pushing me into doing a private Safari with just him and he kept stressing that I would have more flexibility. Finally at the end of the day back at the hotel we'll sit down together Michael Morris and myself. Michael said to me Morris thinks that you were very friendly lady he would like to take you want to private tour and share his love for Kenya with you and really a private tour would be much better for you so why don't you go ahead and do that. So I agreed and handed him the payment in full for the tour. He gave me a written receipt for the amount and then told me I would need to pay an additional US$300 give or take for the private version of the tour. I didn't have enough money and I told him so and this we agreed I would pay after the tour. I did tell him he better make sure it's a great tour as I didn't want to pay extra if it wasn't.
Morris arrives bright and early the next day. Again though he has these tired tired eyes and it was a little distracting so I asked him are you okay. He said yes. We get out on the road and as we're driving through out the day he tells me how a lot of Kenyans have a drinking problem but they all go out and drink a lot and it's a real problem. It didn't take long for me to put it together that he's tired bloodshot eyes were from a lot of drinking he was doing all night. We get to our first camp and it's quite satisfactory just outside the park Massai Mara. As promised my tent was a permanent self-contained and had its own bathroom with shower and toilet. I had specifically made sure I asked Michael in our email exchanges about these facilities and he told me that both Kenya and Tanzania had the same facilities that is self-contained tent with its own bathroom and shower. I was not willing to sign up with the company that did not provide these facilities and I was ready to pay more if need be but he assured me that these facilities were what I would get. Instead of going to dinner that night Morris decided to slip off into town and hit the bar and while he lied about it to me I'm not an idiot as my ex-boyfriend is an alcoholic and sometimes you can just tell the signs. I was a little put off that he didn't share dinner with me at the camp but I've heard different versions of what's considered appropriate and what's not. The next day we got out on the Safari and sure know if there was an actual beer in the door of the car!!! I mean really people come on. By this stage we were in the middle of nowhere and even though I was in constant contact with Michael at this point I didn't want to mention it as I didn't want to be irritating Morris in the middle of the African bush when it was just him and me in the car. Quite frankly he made me a little uncomfortable so what was I going to do I just had to get through it. So we get through the next couple of days and he smells and wears the same clothes one day as the night before when he picks me up but whatever. The same red tired bloodshot eyes the whole time so I just prayed. We end up in town and Michael is waiting at the shuttle bus to take me to Arusha and all that went okay. I get down to Arusha and get on Safari and that's all very well and fine but then we pull up at our first camp and I walking my little hut and guess what no bathroom no toilet no shower no self-contained nothing but a bed without sheets without anything. Again I was assured it was self-contained which is very important to me. Oh it gets better the next night was actual camping sleeping on the ground in the pouring down rain and me with my bladder issues having to get out in the middle of the night with the water buffalo just 20 feet away from me and I had to pay right outside the tent in the middle of the night with rain gushing down on me and this is exactly what I wanted to avoid and therefore why I made sure to ask ahead of time would I have my own bathroom. It really did suck I have to tell you I woke up in the morning pissed off cold and miserable as I didn't get what I was told I would get I didn't get what I paid full and there's nothing worse than when you're lied to in business. I did let Michael know the night before the first camp that I was irritated and he told me please just be happy. This time I couldn't contact him as I didn't have any cell phone service. The actual scenery was amazing and made it worthwhile but really that's not the point right here. Finally I end up on the shuttle bus heading back to Kenya and he's waiting for me at the other end with Morris to pick me up and take me to this restaurant that's included as part of the whole tour. Morris gets out of the car to greet myself and my new friends and actually staggers and crashes into the vehicle he is that wasted drunk!!!! I could not freaking believe it. I fought with him the whole tour we were on together as each night before we went to bed on tour I kept telling him don't get wasted drunk please please. With these early starts on Safari it's just not enough hours to get all the alcohol out of your system you know. Wasted drunk ridiculous oh my Lord. So I tell Michael hell no I'm not getting in the car with him he's drunk. Michael calls and all the driving and gets us to the hotel that is my friends and I. After we get there I proceed to let him know vigorously how unhappy I am with the alcoholism of the driver and the fact that I was lied to about my facilities in Tanzania and would you believe it he still tries to get the additional $300 out of me!!!!! I dig my heels in and say hello and my friends who actually United Nations offices all jump in and stick up for me as well. He fights vigorously until he gives up and leaves. The next day I proceed to get all these threatening messages from him with verbal abuse telling me that no one on the tour in Tanzania liked me they thought I was a horrible person they thought I was stubborn, I pissed everyone off. Unreal and not true, we had fun and the company in Tanzania was really good, it's not their fault he lied to me and the service they provided had that been my expectation was more than satisfactory and I will give them a great review on here as they did their job very well and professionally.
As for Michael, not once would he knowledge that he lied his ass off to me even though the night before I had showed him all the emails we exchanged back-and-forth and I have witnesses that agreed with me that his communication with me clearly indicated I would have my own bathroom. I don't have to explain why I need my own bathroom it should just be enough that that's a request that I need honored. I get into it with him and tell him that I have a bladder issue and I had to go to the bathroom in the rain and then have no shower for three days because I didn't even have a towel because I was told my accommodation would be self-contained and he actually has the nerve to tell me that I should've told him about my personal bladder issue!!!!! Are you freaking kidding me!!!!! It is no one's business what bladder issues I have can you talk about invasion of my privacy!!!!!! He won't quit and tells me that not once did we actually stop at any accommodation that wasn't on the itinerary. Wow he just doesn't listen it was amazing as that was not my beef!!!!my beef was lying to me about the facilities not that we stopped anyway we weren't supposed to ....my Lord it was so aggravating trying to communicate with him. He told me that I should've called him on tour to say I wasn't happy. Dude we were in the middle of the African jungle with no cell phone service are you really really serious. And not only that I did message him the first place we stopped when I realize the accommodations werent what he promised and all he said to me was please be happy please be happy the scenery is great and that's all. So I'm trying to get to the airport my last morning and he text me to tell me he's going to get the police to meet meet me at the airport and I broken the law and he's going to try to have me arrested and it was just ridiculous and even when I got to the Middle East he was texting me and calling me telling me he had my passport information he was going to the police at the airport he was going to go to the embassy and threatening me and it was just a complete circus. So if you read this far I beg you for your own sanity run fast from this company and save your money and yourself the aggravation of dealing with the most unprofessional, dishonest and ridiculous people I've ever met in my life. Oh and he even accused me of being racist , that was his defense. Yeah I'm racist and Id just come from volunteering at an orphanage where I spent time and money with all the kids because I'm racist and I have a black boyfriend because I'm racist. Fool . If there's any mistakes with grammar or punctuation in here it's because I talk text because I have a lot to say so if you actually want to verify that this is a true and legitimate review please don't hesitate to message me thank you.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Not recommenable at all
I booked a 4-days-Safari to Lake Manyara National Park, Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park and ended up doing the tour with a very friendly french family. At first, also the owner of the company seemed to be a nice guy. Later that turned out to be a false first impression.
The first day we stayed in small bomas, the dinner was reasonable and their was enough food.
We found out the next morning that a another guy would join us for the next three days. Unfortunatly, we had to wait for him, which delayed our drive to the next park, but was of course not the fault of the very friendly south korean guy, who told us that he actually didn't book his safari with the same company we did. Before he joined us, we also spend about an hour at a garage to get the shocker of the jeep repeared.
The time we spend in the parks was great, we saw many animals and really enjoyed it. The smallest problem we had, was that the zippers of the tents that the safari company provided couldn't be closed. One of the things we really got annoyed about was that the driver and the cook didn't stick to the programm which was given to us when me made the booking. One morning, we should have left at six, but they said seven would be early enough because we would have been at another park to early. This would have ment an extra payment, as it was planned for us to stay until afternoon the next day (as you might know the entrance fee is only valid for 24 hours) and only goes to show that the programm was actually full of promises that weren't kept.
Another problem was the fact that there was not enough food for 5 people. When we came to the campsites after a long day, we had to wait for our food for more than an hour twice, while all the other travellers from other companies were already served. It made me upset, when the cook even delayed our moring game drive because he obivously didn't get up early enough to prepare breakfast. The portions were small and compared to what we were served the first evening and what people from other budget safari tours were having, the choice was too.
Also, I had the impression that our driver had no idea where he was going and didn't seem to have control over the car at all. On the way out of the Serengeti we almost overturned after a speed bump and drove into the bushes. How could the driver or the cook even dare to ask for a tip after their services had been so horrible?
When we came back to Arsuha and spoke to Ibrahim, the owner of the company, he wouldn't even listen to us. I was in his office with the french lady and her son. The cook had been taking pictures of some rice and a tiny bit of sauce we left over, so Ibrahim shouted at us and said we were lying when saying there was not enough food. He wouldn't even listen when we told him that we didn't finsh the food because their was no meat, no vegetables, barely some sauce and only this pile of rice left over. It was not possible to have a proper conversion with him and after he had called me a "bitch"and said "fuck you" to me, I decided to leave the office, because this was just getting ridiculous. The french lady asked me to stay which was not a good idea at all, because Ibrahim got very aggressive. We asked him again to stop shouting at us and really felt like I was in kindergarten. When I told him he was behaving like a child, he got up, took my glasses, cracked them into pieces and threw them on the floor. He even shouted silly things about us being christans, complained about us using up to much of the milk powder, claimed he had never had any complaints like this and reproached us for having too high expectations concerning the food. I really could't believe it! Just because he didn't want to take the critism of his clients serious, especially not from a white yound lady, he got violent. Moreover, he pushed the french lady out his office and might have broke her arm. I didn't find out, because they left the next morning.
I haven't experienced anything like that in the last 7 months in Tansania and Uganda. Next time I would definetly spend a hundred dollars more to avoid this kind of hassle. There is still no guarantee that everything will work out fine then, but I think in this case it's worth spending a little bit more money!
Review about North Luangwa National Park by michael heyns
Very poor destination for a self travler. Needed a guide in the park. Felt like a military excursion with a armed guard in my vehicle. Not pleasant at all. If you visit Zambia, give North LUangwa a definite skip.