TH
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I paid $2985 in full for my trip on May 18, 2019. and now I can't contect them
I paid $2985 in full for my trip on May 18, 2019. KWSS also confirmed our contract on June 18, 2019 and has sent me detailed itineraries, including the name of accommodation, telephone number, address and other information, as well as invitation. and Then I applied Visa Kenya and vaccination. I look forward to Kenya with KWSS. On August 8 (80 days after I paid) KWSS suddenly sent me an e-mail informing me that it was cancelled for technical reason, not for political reasons, Ebola virus, terrorists reasons.That is to say, KWSS has made the mistake and should responsible for it. So I sent 2 E-mails to KWSS and try to get the refund but I can't contect them at all.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Akagera Park
The guide was very kind and helpful and we drove a long time so that I could see different animals.
The park in Akagera is beautiful and kept in very good condition.
TN
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Profetional team provided a good services
The trip to Safari and Zanzibar was well organised.
Karibu team respond promtly.
The safari tour was truly amazing, good driver and fabulous guide had good knowledge
The campsites were great.
Thank you all for the safari and stay in Zanzibar.We hope your business goeswell and we will recommend you to everybody who wants to travelto Tanzania.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Absolutely fabulous
I've travelled around Kenya with adventure 360 for more than 4 years now and I've never been disappointed, they are prompt, they deliver greatness and you can be sure you'll have a grand time
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing safari with Tammy Tours!
When you have plans to go on a safari i highly recommend to have it organized by Tammy Tours. Tunu, the owner, is doing everything possible to ensure you have the time of your life. Prices are really competitive, her service before, during and after the game drives is excellent. We also had a wonderful and safe driver who was very flexible and understood our expectations and what we were looking for. He helped me and my son spotting the big 5 and drove us to Amboseli NP with mighty Kilimanjaro, Lake Nakuru NP and Masai Mara Game reserve. Beautiful parks, from a distance not so far from each other but - and that's the only minor - driving from park to park takes you about 6 to 8 hour because of the many trucks and therefore slow traffic on road. I would recommend to only visit 2 parks max when you have a 6 days private safari tour - my recommendation would be Amboseli and Masai Mara and to book the return from Masai Mara to Nairobo or Ukunda by a small plane. Saves you a lot of time, is not too expensive and is a nice experience.
Dear Tunu, thank you again for organizing and hope to see you again in beautiful Kenya!
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Scam
Exactly one year after we booked a 10-day safari and two weeks before it was to begin, we got an email saying that the services could not be provided. Calls said phone service was disconnected and emails went unanswered. I filed a complaint with my credit card company and hope for good results.
I am grateful that we lucked out and found out before our trip. I rebooked with a different company and we leave in a week but am nervous after my KWSS experience.
I hold Safari Bookings responsible for sponsoring such a scam company. Service providers should have been fully vetted and investigated by them before offering their service to customers.
Safari Bookings must follow up on their end and pursue prosecutions against KWSS!
If anyone has information on where to report this in Kenya please let me know.
This is outrageous and a black eye on the country.
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Scam!
We are a family of 6 people who booked a 15 days trip through Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar. The first week in Kenya went well, but with quite a few issues in the plan, that always got sorted out thanks to our driver.
From day 8 they just let us down, the driver informed us that the boss Mr. Otieno had left with the money and all employees and clients were left with no bookings, no money and no info... We basically had to pay the rest of the trip ourselves. When going to the police station they informed us that many other groups of tourists had filed a report against the company for the same reasons. We then got informed that Otieno got arrested and is now under investigation. We have not yet gotten our money back, and waiting for more news on what is happening next.
KWSS was a successful business, all it took to ruin this was a BAD and selfish person. The employees lost their jobs (and God knows that jobs are gold in Africa) and certainly some lives got ruined, all this for a few $$$... Shame.
SG
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good but can be better ...transparency is the key !
When we decided to experience the much famed African Safari, stumbled upon the online market place “Safari Bookings” which has thousand over African Safari operators offering either standard packages or some of them can customise according to traveller needs. It is quite overwhelming to choose from the list of operators – in spite of applying certain preferences. We wanted to cover Masai Mara, Serengeti, Amboseli, Ngorongoro and Lake Nakuru. We saw the standard packages from 3 operators offering these and one of them was TripAdvisor Africa Safaris. We usually rely Trip Advisor reviews but we couldn’t find any review for “TripAdvisor Africa Safaris” which created a suspicion if this could be a scamster operator. But their itinerary was definitely better than others we compared; while Safari Bookings assured that they do verify the tour operator licenses, they cannot guarantee things cannot go wrong with the operators listed under their wings. So we took a chance with TripAdvisor Safaris as Vincent Seth assured us that we wouldn’t regret taking up a package with them. I should add, we mentally prepared ourselves to expect some disappointments based on the past reviews and hoped we weren’t one of those who had to face severe disappointments. Our 11 nights 12 day (Jul 13 - Jul 24 2019) African Safari in Kenya and Tanzania definitely met our expectations though we there were some items of the itinerary had to be skipped – the distances between the national parks are very large and it is not possible to jam pack so many. We had to skip the baby elephant and welcome dinner at Carnivore on day 1 – this I guess depends on the arrival time. We had to skip the Hells gate national park on day 3 so that we shall be able to reach Masai Mara before the stipulated park closure time. Our major gripe is about the accommodation in Masai Mara – we were put up at Sun Lodge which is very far off from the game viewing areas, though it is located inside the park. While the location of the lodge is exotic, the difficult terrain and the long drive makes it very a very demanding. Contrary to the itinerary we were booked for 3 nights here and we were the only family in the entire lodge – that made us wonder if Sun Lodge was so infamous such that even in peak season no one prefers it. I guess this was booked pretty cheap compared to any other lodge in Masai Mara. But it would be bad on my part if I don’t appreciate the service of the most friendliest staff I ever came across in Africa and the sumptuous dinner they had prepared for us. It would have been perfect if not for the difficult terrain and long travel to the park every day. The game drives in all the national parks were very good; the guides were knowledgeable, pleasant – Jacob in Kenya for Lake Naivasha, Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara; Ezekiel for Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Tarangire and Richard for Amboseli. Lion Hill lodge at Nakuru, Kati-Kati tented camp in Serengeti (best experience of the entire trip and sumptuous dinners), Ngorongoro Wildlife lodge, Amboseli Sopa Lodge were all very good and matched our expectations; again in Tanzania, we had a terrible experience at the Twiga camp site – this was not as per the itinerary and a rundown place; food was not good as well. We were supposed to travel to Tarangire and accommodation was Tarangire Safari Lodge but ended up in this Twiga camp site. The border transfers were smooth with the drivers/guides waiting on time – I was quite apprehensive if things would be smooth after reading some experiences. Overall except for the accommodation mess up in Masai Mara (since it was 3 nights high level of inconvenience) and 1 night at Twiga camp site, we had an excellent gaming experience. I am thankful that Vincent made sure that the gaming drives were good, sent us reasonable drivers/guides and most importantly border transfers were smooth with the drivers waiting there on time to receive us. Vincent Seth seems genuinely interested in improving the quality of tours he offers; he can definitely achieve that provided he tweaks his itinerary not to over promise and to be transparent about the accommodation if in case its different from that of the itinerary. One more vital point is to communicate the agreed itinerary to the drivers/guides and stick to it.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Absolutely amazing
Our trip was amazing. Our guide Onan was very informative and spoke great English. We could not of asked for anything more. They went above and beyond.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
If you are looking to go to Africa, Encompass Africa are the team to befriend
It was our first trip to Africa and like most people we didn’t know where to start. Stephanie asked me what we wanted to see, what our budget was and how much time did we have, after having a brief discussion over the phone, Stephanie responded that same afternoon with the first draft of our itinerary. I made several changes to that first itinerary and none of them were a problem. The accommodation we chose was boutique, small and offered everything we wanted, she helped us choose accommodation that was slightly different in all locations, some were luxury tents, others tree top houses or lodges, all with magnificent view of waterholes, and all with exceptional staff and amenities. The trackers and lodge staff are the friendliest and most knowledgeable people you will meet, and are one of the highlights of Africa. The safari activities were exceptional and exceeded all our expectations, we did a walking safari, spent the night in the treetops, had a bush bath and many many more amazing experiences. We saw so many animals and such a wide variety of animals, that we could only dream of seeing. Over 13 internal flights, pick ups, drop offs and tours were arranged perfectly and someone was there to meet us at every point. We couldn’t have had this amazing stress free holiday without the expertise of Encompass Africa, I can highly recommend their services and the knowledgeable staff that hold your hand through every step of the way.