50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tshukudu ROARS, Hamala closed, Seasons Resort NOT!!!
Our tour started off poorly when we were met by our tour guide to find out that we would not be travelling to the Humala Lodge. We understand “things” happen, but we were surprised, as was the tour guide, Thabo, that we were not informed by Touchdown Tours in advance. As luck would have it, thankfully they decided to move us to the Tshukudu lodge for 7 days. A simple email in advance from their customer service department certainly would have been appreciated. Not a good way to start a trip!
The Tshukudu lodge is beyond words. The accommodations, the people, the food, the “bush” bar, the game drives, simply put, how about 10 STARS!!!! Karmin and her staff made sure everything was perfect. Our game guide, Tyler, was INCREDIBLE. His knowledge of the animals, the bush and even the dung beetles was AWESOME. I could have listened to him forever!! The staff at the lodge were great, especially Dolly, Bongani and the young lady who made the BEST eggs on the morning buffet!!! We did 6 days of drives, early morning and evening. No 2 drives were alike. We were able to find the BIG 5 and then some. Again, Tyler made these drives SPECTACULAR!!! During our downtime, our tour guide, Thabo made sure our time was occupied with side trips. We were saddened to leave this lodge, especially with what lied ahead.
The Seasons Resort is NOT a resort, a major disappointment. It is a timeshare community with a couple of townhomes reserved for guests. The rooms lacked WIFI, phone to contact the front desk and no safe to lock up our valuables. The room we had was the furthest from the lodge as you could get. Add to that, the pathway was dimly lit, you walked on cobblestones and the walk to the street was at least a 20% incline (wet weather made this dangerous). We complained about this unacceptable situation and spoke with Touchdown Tours customer service. We were told they would look into this and we even asked to be moved to a hotel. Sadly, our complaint fell on deaf ears as NO ONE FOLLOWED UP ON THS!! The side tours that we went on were really nice. 2 of them were advertised as ½ day tours, but realistically, they were only 2 hours each (Walk with the Elephants and Monkey Sanctuary). Had we known about this, we could have flown home a day early rather than being sequestered at this “resort”. Luckily, our tour guide, Fabian, tried his best at making a bad situation better.
The people really made this tour!! Thabo and Fabian were AWESOME tour guides. The entire staff at Tshukudu made our time there EXTRAORDINARY. You MUST have Tyler as your game guide!!!! You MUST have Thabo as your tour guide!!!! Yep, we loved these 2 people!!!
So, would we book this tour again? Probably, but minus the time at the Seasons resort. I think Touchdown Tours should quit misleading people by calling this a resort, call it what it is, a townhome community! Our airport hotel bested this resort easily!!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful family experience
I am a very picky individual but i can testify that I was not disappointed with our trip and experience with UFT. From the choices for accommodation, the itinerary, everything was on point, oh and had one of the best guides to see to this that me and my family had the best experience.
Am definitely looking forward to our next trip
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
She knows the business whole heartedly with excellent customer service
Booked in Qorokwe camp for the weekend through Fine Bush Tours. Had the best experience since we booked during covid, with lot of movement restrictions. The agent made sure she shared all updates with us. The agent advised we travelled by road through the park to the lodge to experience nature at its fullest. The camp layout and rooms are magnificent, with an abundance of game at the waterhole in front of camp right through the day and night.
The food is the best again, that we have had at any Classis camp, thanks to the innovative, always new amazing recipes.
Game viewing with our great guide, Tsabo, was excellent.
The whole experience was value for money.
Fine bush tours arrange a private chopper for us when we left the Camp. The scenic experience was out of the world.
Thanks Fine Bush Tours, we are now like family, we cannot wait to make next booking through you.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Kili Hike Adventures is the Best
Our group of 5 chose Kili Hike Adventures as our tour operator for the Kilimanjaro trek and the 3-day safari.
Words cannot describe how thankful I am for this wonderful experience. Our guides: Bariki, Tom, Innocent, Viviano, Jackson and of course, our beloved Priscus were incredible and we are grateful for what they did for us on this journey. Thank you to all the porters, I tried porting their bags on my head and couldn't stand 5 minutes. Truly remarkable.
Kili Hike Adventures staff, more specifically Joyce, went above and beyond to make sure our experience was top notch, including making sure we receive our lost bags before the start of our trek.
Thank you all so much!
Their company is locally owned and you can trust that they take very good care of their employees. They also rely on how many groups book with them to survive so please, if you consider hiking Mount Kilimanjaro or doing a safari, choose Kili Hike Adventures.
TW
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Top Kilimanjaro Company
Had an amazing safari with Kili Hike Adventure ,Mtui answered all of our questions and put together a great and personalized itinerary for us. He even met us personally at our hotel at the end of our safari. Kisali was simply incredible as our guide - he knew every animal and bird and could recite lots of facts about each including mating and eating habits, differences in appearance between male and female, and much more.
We would happily use Kili Hike Adventure again and highly recommend them to anyone planning a safari. And ask for Kisali as your guide - we became great friends with him, he has a great sense of humor and felt like one of the family over the course of our six days with him. They definitely made our trip a fantastic one!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent Hiking Company!
In 8 Days Kilimanjaro climb, We had a fantastic experience with Kili Hike Adventures.The team of guides,Cook and Porters worked competently and tirelessly to ensure we had a the best experience possible. We are all happy that we have made it to Uhuru peak.Thanks to the team and chief guides Jonathan and Leon
Kili Hike Adventures actively seeks customer feedback to continue to improve but I honestly was unable to suggest any improvements. This is the company that you should book your trek with!
RO
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent services by Drivers & Guides
Prompt replies to any request before & during the trip. Excellent services by the Local Guides & Drivers.
CH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
It was fantastic
Everything was perfect! Eric was our guide, he is a very nice person! The hôtel and food were wonderful
Thank you for all. We had a unforgettable experience
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Worthwhile Trip
We travelled as a family of four to the most amazing places that exist on planet Earth. It is humbling to see that there are still parts on this planet that follow the ancient ritual of life and Africa is one of those.It has been a truly humbling experience.
The entire time period from the time of the booking to the pick up, logistics of driving over vast distances on a tight schedule was smooth and went without any major hiccups. The accomodation provided was also unique and comfortable and food good. The tented acccomodation provided in the Illkeliani camp at the Masai mara was remarkable and qualified more as a luxury tent. Hearing hyenas in the night (in the distance) never let us forget though that man always remains an intruder in the animal world.
Highly recommend the group and we look forward to future bookings with them .
A special word for our driver and guide felix who made this trip all the more interesting for us all !
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing trip with an amazing operator.
I was apprehensive at first as I never usually use tour booking agents. It started as a quote on a website, moved to emails and then was finalised via WhatsApp. I had not a lot in terms of what you would call "official" confirmation of booking. And everything was communicated via WhatsApp.
This being said. It was amazing. Everything that was planned went ahead and we had the most amazing experience. We stayed at Voi safari lodge and Ngutuni safari lodge in Tsavo east. The second night of our planned lodge was changed due to unforseen circumstances but we was accomodated with what can only be described as an upgrade. It was truly magical. We was lucky enough to see many families of elephants, we saw girrafe and buffalo, we was also lucky enough se a pride lions eating a buffalo. Definitely something we will never forget.
One thing to be noted and the only reason they did not receive 5 star is the payment was requested in USD cash. This in it self is not an issue, though upon payment some of the bills had minor wear and tear, such as nicks and cuts on the edges. It was brought to our attention that any bills under a certain year and any that were too heavily used would not be accepted by Kenyan banks. If I didn't have a few spare bills to use as tips this could have had major detrimental effects on the trip.
This needs to be communicated prior to arrival as I could have asked the bank for fresh bills. The agent in Kenya told me this happens often, so why not notify me to stop the issue happening.