NZ
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Untrue and dishonest to secure our budged joining safari booking
In Aug 2023 my wife and I signed with African Paradise Safaris (APS) to join a 6-day budget safari of Masai Mara, Nakuru and Amboseli National Parks. We loved the parks, saw plenty of animals, and enjoyed the park environments. We were very disappointed with the arrangements made by APS, the blatant untruths told to us in order to secure our safari booking, and the unprofessional manner in which they avoided addressing issues that we had regarding their safari arrangements.
Prior to arriving in Kenya, APS was very communicative in answering all of my questions. On the basis of the information they provided, we signed up to join their budget safari. Unfortunately, it turned out that a lot of the information provided to us was completely untrue.
APS guaranteed that we would be in a safari van with a maximum of 6 passengers, but the van had 8 seats and 8 passengers, which makes the small van too crowded, particularly when you are trying to stand on the game drives. It also means that at least two people sit in the middle, without direct access to a window.
We were told that the safari would be operated by APS and not by another company. On the day, APS was nowhere to be seen, and we were told that we were joining a safari operated by Big Time Safaris. There were people from 3 different safari companies in the van, all with different itineraries. When we raised these issues with Big Time Safaris, they told us to contact the safari companies that we had booked with. (APS).
We were told by APS that all participants in the safari would stay with the safari throughout. This wasn't true, with some people leaving the safari at different points.
We were told by APS that everyone would be staying the same accommodation on the safari (so time wouldn't be wasted picking people up before the game drives). This wasn't true. People were staying in up to three different lodges and both budget and moderate accommodation each night.
In our itinerary we paid for 7 game drives. 3 at Maasai Mara, 1 at Nakuru and 3 at Amboseli. Our safari van broke down on two occasions, taking a total of 5 hours to repair on the roadside. As a result, two evening game drives in Masai Mara and Nakuru were shorter than they should have been. Due to changes to the itinerary as a result of vehicle repairs, and to changes in Masai Mara ticketing fees that were not communicated to us by APS, we missed a further two game drives completely - 1 in Masai Mara, and one in Amboseli. When we brought all of these issues up with African Paradise Safaris, they completely ignored us, and would not correspond with us regarding all the misinformation they had provided, the issues with the vehicle, or the missed game drives. In fact, we never met or saw any APS staff at any time either before or after our safari. The other members of our safari were met by staff from their companies at the drop off in Nairobi and at least one received some compensation for their missed game drives. APS was nowhere to be seen.
APS have many great reviews and I suspect that if we had booked a private safari with African Paradise, our experience would have been completely different, but be aware that if you are booking a budget joining safari, there is a good chance that APS will tell you whatever they think will secure a safari booking, but it will not necessarily be the truth. I would recommend you look for a more trustworthy company for a joining safari.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Poor service
I booked an 8 day Kenya/Tanzania safari for my 2 children and I. Purity was amazing to work with prior to leaving my home country. She was very responsive and even went to the embassy on my behalf when I was having problems with my visa. However, once on the safari things started to go wrong. We were picked up from Nairobi and took the long drive to Masai Mara, we did an evening game drive that first day and was brought to our tent camp for the night. Camp was very basic, only had working electricity in the main cafeteria area, so had only a few hours to charge devices. The 2nd day was a full day game drive and visit to Masai village which was wonderful. Day 3 (which was my birthday) is where the itinerary changed. We were supposed to visit Lake Nakuru for a safari boat tour, but that was canceled, there were no other plans for the day besides to drive back to Nairobi and go to a hotel, the next day the plans were to drive from Nairobi to Tanzania and check into hotel upon arrival. That was 2 days back to back filled with just driving. That was not fair to my kids or myself as that was not in the itenerary and I did not pay for 2 days of driving. I emailed purity as I was unsure of what to do and she apologized for the inconvenience. I decided to cancel and book with a different company as I really did not want to spend the entire next day driving. I asked to be dropped off at the airport and took a flight to Tanzania and was picked up from another tour company and had an exceptional experience. Essentially I paid more for the 3 days I was with this company than the 5 days with the second one. The food provided was very subpar, for lunch having boxed sandwiches with cucumber and tomato. Our tour guide was nice however not very helpful with telling us about the things we were seeing. It was a very frustrating experience to say the least, but I am glad it ended on a more positive note with a different company. Please do your research prior to booking. Research the lodges, the amount of driving that will be done and if possible request a specific tour guide. I was hoping for a very positive learning experience for my kids and that was not the case. I also requested a hot air balloon ride over the Masai Mara and was told that would be available at an extra cost and was not available to us while there.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Robert was responsive and staff friendly but............. NOT an overall great experience - Sadly
Robert was very responsive. In fact, I contacted a few companies and thought that I was working with Robert for a couple of weeks to find out that it was another company. A couple of days before I thought I was going on Safari, I found out from the other company that it wasn't Karibu and didn't think I would have a chance to go on a safari last minute. I called Robert and he said he needed to call me back to see if it was still possible. I was then confirmed for a 7 day safari that was to start in Masai Mara and then go to Amboseli as the last park. He also said that I could pay in Shillings since I did not have USD. (I was on a working visa and had been in the country for 3 months, so only had Shillings)
I was greeted a few days later by a driver who was picking me and taking me to the office to start my safari. I didn't think any of it. Got to the office and signed my paperwork and paid. Was brought downstairs and put in the same low rider vehicle that the driver picked me up in. I just thought the driver was taking me to the place were the Open top Vans or jeeps were going to be. After the driver started to drive out of town, I questioned him on the vehicle and he said no that it was just me and him and in the car. He then said, instead of going to Masai Mara, we were going to go to Amboseli first and go backward because the car can't be driven in Masai Mara. I told him that I was not happy and didn't think this was going to work. He said that even with a car, It wouldn't be an issue getting great pictures in Amboseli. After trying to contact the office and not getting through, I felt I had no choice and agreed. SADLY, not true.
Don't get me wrong, the driver was a GREAT guy...... and due to CoronoVirus and the country shutting the borders and airports down, I had to leave after the first full day. Karibu did give me a partial refund (only for 4 days of park fees - about 200) but I was hoping for more due to the fact that I was in a car that was so low, the undercarriage of the car came off and we couldn't go that far into the park because it would flood out or scrap. Plus trying to take pictures so low in this car with tinted windows was a nightmare. I only got one day and it really didn't give me the happy experience I was looking for. When I got home aside from the photos on the hilltop from lunch, they were not great!!!! Not from my cell phone or borrowed camera.
I took pictures of the car but it doesn't allow me to add them onto this review sadly. You will see what a disaster of a car it was for a safari.
Like I said Robert was nice and replied back quickly and Raymond the driver in the car was nice and felt bad. The staff at the tented camp was great too.....
If it wasn't for the LOW RIDER CAR, and the fact that they didn't refund me in full the money for the other 5 days, I think this company might have been fine which is the reason why I gave them 2 stars. I feel bad for rating so low but it just wasn't practical putting someone so low in a car with dirty tinted windows for a safari after they confirm via email that the vehicle was an open-top Van. I honestly would have rather not even gone and saved myself a lot of money.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The guide was great but the rest was lacking
The communication was poor. We did a Maasai Mara tour with this company and the guide was excellent, the food was poor though as we had lunches that we a slice of tomato and a slice of onion between three pieces of bread. Despite this we decided to book another safari from Mombasa to Nairobi with stops in Tsavo West and Amboseli. Although we sent them a map showing where the pick up would be, the company went to our previous hotel in Nairobi. They tried to skirt blame over this putting it squarely on us, even though on several occasions we made it clear where we would be. Thankfully we were able to find another tour company which provided us with great service.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Mixed bag but overall disappointed
We went on a 4 day, 3 night Marc's treehouse lodge. The first night was at Tremisana Lodge, we had a sunset drive and a dinner at the boma. This experience was fine. The lodge is budget, so it's nothing fancy but it's sufficient for what we needed. The second day we went on a bush walk, which was ok but one bush walk on the trip is more than enough. It was good to stretch our legs but otherwise it was not really value added to our experience. Then we sat around the lodge for 5 hours doing absolutely nothing...this was frustrating since we paid so much money to be on game drives and having more opportunities to see the animals. Logistically this was terrible scheduling and a waste of my time and money. In the evening we went on a short 90 minute drive and then were transferred to Marc's Treehouse lodge. The treehouse lodge was a cool experience, we really enjoyed the lodge. The staff were helpful and knowledgeable. The day we were scheduled to be in Kreuger park was very frustrating. We know that you cannot control the animals and it's always a game of chance when looking for them. What you can control is when you are in the park and making sure you're there at the best times possible - which is sunrise and sunset. We did not get to the park until after 10am which is when most of the predators are resting for the day - hence we saw NO cats on our day in Kreuger. The final day was a short bush walk (which was not any value added and we wished we could have spent that time doing something else) and our transfer back to Johannesburg with a stop in the Blyde River Canyon which was beautiful. We were back to Johannesburg OR Tambo airport in good timing, just before 5pm.
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
No information, no organization.
This agency is run by a person with a lack of education and will attempt to defraud you at any time. The guides / drivers are not professionals and they do not have the necessary education. The exception is in the team of cooks, who do a great job.
As a reference, I must say that we did another safari in Kenya and it was completely opposite, we were with great people and professional people.
You should avoid contracting with this agency, and if it is part of a Kenya-Tanzania combined, you should specify to the Kenyan agency that you do not hire Sandlans Safari for the part you will make in Tanzania.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Subcontracted safaris were great, transfers between them were not
We went on a 9-day safari that included Masai Mara, Lake Manyara, Seregeti, and Ngorogoro Crater. Each of the parks were very enjoyable and we saw a ton of animals, including all of the Big 5. However, all of our transfers between the parts of the safari were very stressful.
When we flew into Nairobi, there was apparently a driver waiting to take us to our hotel, but we were not told to expect a driver nor did we see anyone at the airport that seemed to be looking for us, so we took a cab to our hotel. When we got back from the Masai Mara leg of our trip we were staying at the same hotel for a night, but the hotel had to call Erick, the safari manager, to verify that we actually had a reservation because it didn't seem to be on the books. We then had no idea when we were going to be picked up in the morning to go on the next part of the safari. It turned out Erick was coming to the hotel to talk to us later that night, but we were not told to expect that. He told us he would be picking us up in the morning to take us to our bus to Arusha, but in the morning he did not show up, so we had to call him, and then eventually someone else showed up to take us where we needed to go. Once our bus got to Arusha, there was a crowd of safari bookers and cab drivers waiting to take the bus passengers where they needed to go. All the other passengers either knew where they were going, or a safari booker came on the bus and knew the passenger's name and where they were going. We were left on the bus with no idea where we were going and no idea if anyone was supposed to be picking us up, and then we were asked for our bus ticket, which we didn't have. We luckily had Erick's phone number from calling him that morning, but our phone's didn't work in Tanzania so we had to have someone else call him. Erick told them the safari company that was supposed to be picking us up, but they didn't answer their phone when called. We almost took a cab (that we would have had to pay for) to that safari company's office, but luckily the people who were supposed to pick us up arrived right as we were leaving and caught us. We had a similar experience when arriving back in Arusha at the end of our trip, and we had to have the hotel call the Tanzanian sub-contracted safari company (which we luckily remembered the name of) to verify that we had a pre-paid room, and then again in the morning to verify they were actually coming to pick us up. When we got back to the bus, we were again asked for a bus ticket we didn't have, and we again had to have them call someone to verify that we had a prepaid bus trip back to Nairobi.
A lot of this stress could have been avoided by giving us a detailed itinerary with all the information about the sub-contracted safaris, pick up times, and contact info for a person at each transfer.
To top it all off, before we even left our home country, Erick contacted us to inform us of some increased park entry fees, letting us know we should bring a little extra money to cover them. We did so, but when we settled our balance on arrival, the balance did not include these increased park fees. Then, on our second night in Nairobi (between the Masai Mara and Tanzania parts of the safari), Erick gave us a long explanation about how he sets the safari prices for the whole safari season even though Tanzania often increases their fees in the middle of the season. He told us that he does not force his clients to pay the increased fees since they agreed to a lower price, but that he tells his clients about the increased fees in the hope that, if they have a good time, they choose to pay the price increase. This made it sound as though he wanted us to think of a the increased fees as a tip that he should receive if he did a good job. Because of this long-winded explanation, I chose to see how the rest of the trip went before deciding whether to pay the fees, and since we had to convince people at every leg of the trip that we were pre-paid and have them call various people to make sure, the trip didn't seem like it deserved an extra tip. However, once we arrived back in our home country, we received numerous communications from Erick asking us for the money for the park fees. All of this felt pretty slimy to say the least. The ridiculous part is, if he had just included the park fees in the balance when we settled up at the beginning of our trip, I wouldn't have thought anything of it. Instead he had to make it seem like he was demanding a large tip for a very sub-par job.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Terrible choice to sub-contract the Tanzania portion of our Trip
We recently went on a Safari (Kenya and Tanzania) with SafariBookEvolution. These guys can handle Kenyan safari alright, but they were not forthcoming about the fact that they don't run the Tanzanian safari themselves, and it was nothing short of a disaster as they sub-contract to Jackpot safaris (who basically give you dangerous cars, careless guides and put your lives in danger. See below the list of issues we faced. I wouldn't recommend them and can't say much for Safaribook Evolution as they but us in a very terrible situation.
Kenyan Safari issues
1) no power at destiny Eco camp for 2 days
2) no hot water at destiny Eco camp for 2 days, although we were promised.
Tanzanian Safari issues
Safety - We put our families in danger. Don't risk it!
1) Car's door kept opening right in the middle of game drives and on the highways endangering our families.
2) The car's open top literally fell on us which could have killed all of us. Thankfully we were sitting at that time.
3) Car broke down in the middle of forest. And the driver had least concern for our safety. A speeding vehicle nearly crashed on our car.
4) We were lost in the jungle of for four hours with the driver George not having a clue about where we were. He didn't even have the mobile number of the Kati Kati camp.
Value for Money - Zero
5) We paid a lot for the Kati Kati camp's luxury tent, but stayed there just for 8 hours in Kati Kati camp without enjoying any part of the stay. Thanks to George who got us lost in the jungle.
6) Car was small and cramped in Tz for 3 days. When we complained about this, George said he couldn't drive the other car so we ended up using the same cramped car for one more day which eventually broke down.
7) The guide/driver was very rude and arrogant, not well informed(like he didn't have the phone number of the Kati Kati camp when we were lost in the jungle.
8) The tents given to us at the flamingo hotel were so small. We had to pay $200 extra to get the rooms. Andrew (Jackpot Safari) threatened to cancel the whole safari even though he saw we had 2 small kids.
9) No binoculars for the Tz safari, although we were promised that we will be given one.
10) The itinerary was changed mid way, only one day at the Tarangire national park as opposed to two days.
11) the Tz driver has a total lack of interest with the safari, with us having to push him to go on game drives. For example we spent only 2 hours at the Lake Manyara game drive. Then we had to call the managers to get him to take us to another game drive.
12) The Tz driver only drove us around the main gate most of the time. We had to constantly push him to drive a little bit further. As soon as he shows us one thing, he will be satisfied, but we were not as we have paid a lot of money.
13) The last two days were completely useless, especially Tarangire was a complete waste of time. We didn't see anything partly because of the itinerary change. George, the Tz driver, lied to us that Tarangire will take 3 hours to reach when it took only an hour and a half.
14) The Tz driver tried to sneak into all the parks without paying for the kids
The list goes on. But there are two big things to keep in mind. First, Safaribook Evolution never informed us that they subcontract the trip in Tanzania, nor did they tell us who it would be doing our trip. In the end they are responsible for our trip and our safetey. Second, was anytime we spoke to Andrew about the problems he was not willing to discuss ways to solve them, but would simply threaten to stop the safari and abandon us in Arusha. This is very unprofessional, especially as we were only asking for what was written in the itineary and to be in a safe vehicle.
Don't use them of Tanzania!!!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Low low low budget
I knew this was going to be a low budget trip. I have lived in Africa in several different countries for over 6 years. I am used to things not working, cold showers, camping and roughing it. What I did not know is that I would be hungry most of the trip because they don't have enough coolers to store food for breakfast and lunches. I also did not know that most of our days on the trip would be spent just driving and not really doing anything but looking out the window. In retrospect we could have spent about the same amount of money or just a little more seeing the gorillas and then flying from Rwanda or Uganda to Tanzania and also camping but having more days to see the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. So many days were lost driving and spending time on a dirty bus, with very little food and 21 other people that were nice but that I did not necessarily want to spend 24hrs a day with doing nothing on a bus.
I would have planned the trip differently if I had to do it over again. Maybe if you are going from Nairobi to Cape Town this would be the trip for you. They do organize everything and you really get to see the real Africa on this bus. So, logistics are not something you ever have to worry about with this tour company and that is a nice thing. Our guide and truck driver were so kind and helpful.
Of course Africa, the safaris and gorillas were spectacular. I just wish we could have seen them and not felt so dirty and hungry the whole trip and also not wasted so many days driving with strangers that were nice but not going to be lifelong friends.
NL
So-so safari
On the plus side, drivers and other tour staff were helpful, kind and eager to share stories and make the trip more personal. Also, the food provided was decent.
Even though our safari experience at Amboseli was enjoyable, there were some issues.
- Chaotic. Upon departure it was revealed that we were joining other groups in Nairobi, from other operators; merging the safari participants became very chaotic, nothing was communicated or planned, many different people were involved and we were kept in the dark. Similarly, upon returning, we had no idea how or with whom we would get home after dropping off the others at the airport as nothing was communicated by the operator.
- Camp. We arrived at 22h (while we departed at 14.30 from our place in Nairobi) in the budget option camp. When we were taken to our tent the lights had been left inside which basically resulted in an unnecessary bug-fest. Then we tried to use the bathroom but there were still feces there which came up when we tried to flush... When we made inquiries someone did come over to 'fix' it but the bathroom floor was covered instead. Then we were left alone for the night, though we were promised a new tent in the morning. While the website promises the best of the budget camp, it was clear there were cottages better than our tents.
- Organisation. The point of the third day was to go for an early morning (6.30am) game drive and then head back to Nairobi. However, when we arrived for breakfast at 6am nothing was prepared and in the end we had to wait exactly and hour. While we had clearly communicated an allergy for eggs, the breakfast consisted of pancakes and omelettes. Furthermore, the car needed fixing and we ended up in the park after 8am instead. Soon after we got a flat tire, resulting in no time left to watch game as we had to leave before our 24hour park permit expired. Lastly on the way back, our driver kept falling asleep behind the wheel.
Despite these issues we had a good time in the Amboseli National park.