US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Shady, Fraudulent and Untrustworthy
We booked and paid for a 6-day tour of Etosha National Park, Swakopmund and Sossusvlei (accommodated) on Viator 6-months in advance. A week before the actual trip we got a message from Enrico Safaris and Tours that the tour was cancelled as it did not meet the minimum number. They offered a private tour that was only slightly higher and we booked and paid for entire tour to Enrico Safaris and Tours including accommodation, dinner, breakfast, activities and admissions. We did not realize that we are going to be dealing with a shady and fraudulent tour agency and we are going to have a harrowing time.
On Day 1 we were picked up 2 hours later than scheduled. It was a small car (not suitable for driving on unpaved roads later) and the car’s a/c was not working. After 4 hours of uncomfortable journey the guide/driver managed to get a temporary fix. But we arrived 3 hours behind schedule and had to cut short that days’s game drive in Etosha National Park.
On Day 3 when we reached Swakopmund, the room charges for hotel was not paid for by the Enrico Safaris and Tours. Since they could not be reached, we ended up paying for the rooms for us and for the tour guide.
On days 4 and 5 in Sossusvlei, once again the hotels rooms and dinner were not paid for and also none of the activities were paid for. We had to pay for all these for us and for the tour guide.
The guide/driver (who is not an employee of the Enrico Safaris and Tours, but just hired by them for this tour) tried calling Enrico Safaris and Tours several times to address the issue. They either did not answer the call or lied to the guide about sending money, but never sent the money. The guide/driver was a very friendly and a nice person who tried his best to help us out of the harrowing experience. But Enrico Safaris and Tours did not either answer his calls or lied to him repeatedly that he is going to send the money. The guide/driver managed to get a 4x4 on day 4 for travel on unpaved roads on Day 4.
In summary, Enrico Safaris and Tours did not just mishandle the tour but were defrauding and swindling us. In spite of fully paying for the tour in advance to Enrico Safaris and Tours, we still ended up paying for more than half of the accommodation, dinner and activities.
So our recommendation is “Don’t trust Enrico Safaris and Tours and Do Not Use their services”.
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Dangerous Dishonest Agency
We booked and partially paid in advance a 7-day safari with Uhuru Travel & Tours. When we arrived in Arusha, we met Mr. Loi, who, after asking us to literally "make him rich" with the final payment, put us on a jeep.
After few hours on the car we realized that we were supposed to go back to Arusha after a 4-day safari, against the written schedule we paid for.
We contacted Mr. Loi and the kind secretary of Uhuru Travel & Tours, Margareth, that answered Hakuna Matata, everything would have been fixed and never tried to fix the situation
When we arrived in Serengeti, where we should have spent three entire days, we were told that the next morning we would have left the next morning.
We had to spend hours at the telephone to get what we paid for, since, at the beginning, the agency did not offer compensation for the change of program, then they offered some days in Arusha park. Definitely not what we wanted and we had to receive. At the end, we were abondoned in Serengeti public camp wating an entire day for a driver to pick us up. Finally, the next day a broken and unsafe vehicle showed up without spare tyres and with a leaking tank, which had several mechanical failures and literally fell down while driving, exposing us to the risk to overnight in the middle of the Serengeti.
Once dropped in Ngorongoro we had to wait for another driver, but the authorization papers for the park disappeared with the previous driver.
So, we had an overall bad experience and we would like to advise other people who want to discover the beautiful Tanzania avoiding this dishonest agency.
CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Scam
I am in the same boat as many people. We paid in full along with our friends to find out that the company is a scam. Has anyone had any luck recovering their money? I hope the owner goes to jail.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
800 $ debts!!
James owes me 800$ since I booked a tour and a safari in 2017! I can not advise anybody to book there!!
US
Fraudulent Tour Operator
Baraka and Ken with Congo Discovery Safaris have refused to refund me for a portion of the tour they weren't permitted to take me on. I booked a 4 day gorilla trek and volcano climb in Virunga National Park with Congo Discovery Safaris last year and upon arrival in Kigali in February I found out they could not take me to Virunga as promised because of a rule change with the National Park and I would have to book directly with the National Park, which more than doubled my cost. I ended up having to pay the national park directly for my tour and only used Congo Discovery Safaris for help with my visa and transportation across the border to Goma. Because of this they promised to refund me $850 of the $1050 I paid them since I could not go with them for gorillas or the volcano. I was told they didn't have the cash because they spent it on a mineral investment and would send me a refund once I got home. For months they asked me to wait for the refund because they weren't getting a lot of business and I was patient, but it's been many months since then and they have stopped responding to any of my texts or emails. Ken and Baraka were really helpful and nice to me while I was there with the problems with the national park, but they will not refund your money if you have any problems. There is no reason to book anything in Virunga including transportation there, gorillas, and the volcano hike through Congo Discovery Safaris because you can book directly with the national park on their website.
DK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Worst Tour Operator Ever
NEVER PICK THIS TOUR OPERATOR.
We had ordered 11 days round-trip to Uganda. We met with the owner Richard who brought an itinerary and a contract stating that everything we payed for in the trip was based on the itinerary. However, during the trip, half of the nights the accommodation was changed last minute. The worst thing was that the accommodation change was often for the worse, and some nights we stayed in so filthy and bad accommodation we rather wanted to leave and pay for accommodation elsewhere by ourselves. In the trip we had also booked Chimpanzee trekking in Kibale as the big highlight. We arrived in a town near Kibale at around 3 pm the day before the trekking, where the tour operator (Richard) calls us to let us know that we are not able to make the Kibale chimpanzee trekking because he failed to get the permits, THE DAY BEFORE WE HAD TO GO. Additionally, the itinerary stated that lunch and drinking water would be included all days which we rarely got.
Besides these problems, there were a lot of other issues about Richard miscommunication with the driver/guide and confusing us and our guide several times. Richard does not care about his customers, he just wants their money and will thereafter ensure that you have a completely disorganized trip. We managed to get the money back from the chimpanzee trekking permits, but honestly, with all the change in accommodation and all the last minute changes he put us through, he should have compensated us a lot more money for a failed trip in many regards.
If I could, I would NEVER book this tour again and would AT ANY TIME pick another tour operator. Its one of the most stressful trips and dysfunctional tours I have ever been on even though we payed to have all inclusive in order to relax and not mind anything. Even though I go on vacation 4 times a year and have been pretty much everywhere in the world, I have never tried anything like this.
Luckily, the driver and guide Paddy was an extremely polite and nice young man. We had a very nice time with him, and we felt bad for him that he had to endure the constant miscommunication and our anger about the trip due to Richards incompetence.
LASTLY, there we some parts of the itinerary which was completely wrong and falsely stated. One of the days it was stated that you get to the park, go inside (which cost 40 dollars per day per person) and go for safari. This was not the case, and Richard would not pay to let us stay inside the park and go for safari even though he acknowledged that it was wrongly stated on the itinerary, so we ended up paying ourselves.
Lastly but not least, it got so bad at one time we went to the police in order to charge Richard and make him pay some of our money back for the failed experiences. We found out it was a very long process and did not want to spend vacation time on it, but I would wish now that we would have filed a complaint and charged him so he would hopefully learn that you cannot take tourists money and then piss on them afterwards.
I HOPE THAT NO ONE PICKS THIS COMPANY IF YOU WANT TO HAVE A GOOD NICE TIME AND RELAXING SAFARI.
Otherwise, Uganda is a lovely country and the nature and the parks a breathtaking.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Stole our $4000 deposit and still waiting to hear back! DO NOT USE THEM!
We planned our honeymoon to Tanzania and after paying a $4000 deposit we were told corrupt people within the company stole money. Apparently they filed a lawsuit and Baraja has been telling us the money will be returned to us but now my emails have not been replied too. I cant believe they are still operating when they owe people SOOOOOO much money. Avoid this company at all costs as it could have ruined our honeymoon.
RO
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Avoid them!
Ibrahim, the manager, is an asshole! He was rude and unprofessional. The accomodation provided was terrible. I would never ever book another safari with this guy.
The driver, Johnson, was ok and also the lady working for him, who arranged our transfers, was ok. But Ibrahim, the man who owns the bussiness, should find something elso to do for living, as in tourism he's a disaster.
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Awful experiences
Robert at Wanderlust promised me a tour with two nights in the Serengeti, and after arrival, he made up a sob story about why the tour had to be cancelled and tried to push my child and I to take a generic tour. We had just been to Masai Mara and weren't desperate to see the Serengeti, so I said No. I initially felt sorry for him, even though he'd messed up the dates we were supposed to be in the Serengeti in his "story," so I agreed to take it day by day and perhaps go on day trips with his company.
Before our first trip, we agreed that I'd pay by Western Union, just as I'd done for the deposit, but then he emailed to say he preferred Cash to exchange into USD to pay for our park entry fee. Initially, I preferred this over using my limited US$, but as it got later and later into the evening, I emailed to say I would give 100 USD to his driver tomorrow for the park entry fee. He wouldn't take No for an answer, saying he needed the cash Now to pay for the park fee online, and showed up at my hotel around 9:30 pm. He said we'd just be going to the "nearest ATM," but after we got in the car, we passed by ATM after ATM. More than twenty minutes later, he pointed at the exact ATM he wants me to use and waits outside. Luckily, the machine wouldn't let me take more than 350 USD, and he let us leave. It felt like we'd been kidnapped by loan sharks and forced to go to an ATM. On the way back to the hotel, he greedily counted the cash while talking non-stop on the phone. Very scary.
Via email, we were then informed that instead of 6-7 am, we'd be picked up at 5:40 am the next day. Then at 5:00 am, the lady from the hotel knocked on my door to say the driver was here. The name of the driver was different from the one I'd been given, so I had the hotel staff take down the license plate number. The van then picked up a couple who'd book through another middleman and were told their pick-up time would be 5:10. We then arrived at a camp to join a couple who were on a 3-day safari, but were told they be waking up in about an hour. This couple had booked through yet another company, and the safari itself was operated by another company in an almost unmarked safari jeep.
It turns out that nobody had informed the safari driver that the first couple had to be at the airport at a certain time. So our time on the actual safari was cut short to accomodate this.
Although we still had 50 USD with Robert, for safety reasons, we opted to leave Arusha as soon as possible. I sent him a Paypal request for money, but we never saw those 50 dollars again.
AE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Pathetic
Very unprofessional... Don't plan with them if u want a peaceful trip...