IE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Aquila is terrible. May as well go to a zoo!!
Terrible. Not really a safari. Beside main road, loads of fences and gates. Few animals. Day at zoo would.be better
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Bait and Switch Scam - AVOID
We booked a 12 day Luxury+ tour through Kenya and Tanzania with Orongai. Despite Orongai confirming all the lodges were booked and paid for (included a number of the high end luxury AndBeyond lodges), itinerary we were promised was nothing like what we got. After 4 days of the 12 days, we cancelled the trip in the middle of the Masai Mara due to serious safety concerns and made our own arrangements to get home. We have never received a dollar of refund from Orongai despite multiple attempts.
Some key experiences:
- The vehicle provided was an old and unroadworthy 2WD van completely unfit for driving through national parks. Side door did not open from the inside, so you couldn’t get out without being let out from the outside. Driver was not a qualified safari guide, but a Nairobi taxi/van driver.
- We had our accommodations changed last minute or without notice from high-end luxury lodges to cheap tent accommodation. After this, we called ahead to the lodges booked according to our itinerary, and only 3 of the 9 remaining nights had been booked. Orongai was unable to be contacted and dismissed emails requesting the confirmation of bookings. We were stuck in the Masai Mara without knowing where we would be sleeping the following night.
- On the second day, we were forced to leave the lodge at 6am, missed the planned game drive, and had to sit in the unairconditioned van for 8 hours till we arrived at the next lodge. We had to use a pit in a village for a toilet break, which felt far from safe. When we arrived at the lodge, they had no record of our booking and hadn’t heard of Orongai. After an hour of the driver trying to contact Orongai to find out where we were staying, we then had to spend another 3 hours in the van to drive to a grossly inferior tent camp on the other side of the Masai Mara.
- Attempts to contact Orongai to confirm our lodgings and provide booking vouchers were futile. At this point, we discovered from reviews that others who had booked this trip had been held against their will, demanded more money be paid for fuel concessions, park fees etc, extorted, made to miss international flights and been in serious car accidents. Note: we couldn’t get out of the van from the inside!
- We realised at this stage that not only had we been completely scammed on the promised accommodation, activities included and itinerary in general, but we were not safe remaining on the tour, and informed our driver we would not be continuing. He became distressed and seemed petrified of what might happen to him if he did not deliver us to the Tanzanian border the following day. This only reinforced our fears, and we had another lodge come to pick us up as soon as possible.
We have been unable to get any refund from Orongai, and since the trip, I have experienced a large amount of serious fraudulent/scam activity on my email and personal accounts. This may be unrelated to Orongai, but seems more than coincidental.
I am sure if we continued the trip, this review would likely have far more sinister content. Glad we got out safely, despite out of pocket a very large some of money.
Bottom line: AVOID. Book your dream trip with a reputable travel agent.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Lies lies lies- false promises and overpriced
Promised amazing accommodation totally private Safari . Originally priced competitively but when Seth received his payment the details changed . Different accommodation outside of the reserve instead of inside as agreed. Then charged even more for accommodation he originally stated was inferior . Which we paid because we couldn’t trust him anymore but we had already paid a lot and money to this con artist. Told me balloon Safari was private, wasn’t . Changed our dates of balloon without our consent after we arrived having previously stated we couldn’t have money back as already booked and paid for. After our Safari we travelled back to Nairobi and heard many more stories about this company but that is for other travellers to comment. There are so many genuine companies out there don’t use this one
SE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
5 day safari became 4 days...
We pre-booked a 5 day safari in November 2019 with Uhuru and Mr Abdallah. Good reviews on Tripadvisar and SafariBookings.com together with a fair pricing made us choose this company.
This review is only for the company of Uhuru Travel & Tours Ltd and the owner Mr Abdallah and not for the safari and our guide Zabron which were both great!
We prepaid 60% of $4400 in November and the rest was supposed to be paid 10 days prior safari start. When trying to pay the rest (40% of $4400) the link sent by Mr Abdallah didn't work. I quickly responded and two days later I got a new link which worked and now 100% of the safari was paid. We had a conversation on WhatsApp and Mr Abdallah responded fairly quick that everything was fine and that we should enjoy our safari. When we asked for a pickup time the day before departure he responded "Pick up can be 0730am or 0800am or 0900am."
We waited. At 0747am we sent a message that we were ready for take off and Mr Abdallah responded: "My Opertion manager will arrive there in time." He did not.
5 minutes later he replied: "We have a small problem with credit card payments... please pay $1300 for park fees". " We have cash flow problems".
We responded that we already paid $4400 and did not trust him on paying an extra $1300.
3 hrs later a van came and picked us up and drove us to Mr Abdallahs hotel McEllys in Arusha were we had lunch on his account. That's when we realized that there won't be a 5 day safari. Several hours in the hotel restaurant and no response from Mr Abdallah on WhatsApp made us choose to stay one night at the hotel on his account. He now promised through his local manager Mr Roy to arrange a 4 day safari starting at 10am tomorrow.
Even after we started our now 4 day long safari Mr Abdallah did not communicate with us and we demanded to have some sort of compensation after missing an entire day of safari. It ended up with an upgrade to Acacia Luxury tent worth about $500 but this was not near our expectations of a compensation.
Please be aware of Uhuru Travels & Tours Ltd since their owner Mr Abdallah is not trustworthy nor reliable.
Since Mr Abdallah is replying on many reviews on both Tripadvisor and SafariBookings.com I hope yo understand that we had a horrible experience with him and his company regardless of what he replies.
Our safari ended well with a good view of the big 5 and many many more animals. Our driver and guide Mr Zabron was super!
AE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Disgorgement by a dishonest operator
African portfolio refused to accomodate a simply request to change a booking, then sought to keep a deposit which was not marked as non-refundable and retroactively change the terms of our contract/agreement. All I wanted was to postpone my booking, they are refusing to do this and have made clearly false and misleading statements in an apparent effort of disgorgement. I have asked for my deposit to be refunded, and will update this review if this progresses satisfactorily.
NO
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
This is a scam operation - please avoid
I am truly sorry for not writing this review before as I can see that others have had the same experience as me. I paid them $1000 up front and when Ken met me in Rwanda he told me that they had made a mistake and bought the gorilla permit for the wrong day. Also - since this was a weekend, the banks were closed and they didn't carry that much cash on them. So he requested me to put up the money for a new permit and he would refund me the money later. What choice did I have? I was then taken to the Uganda border and more or less left on my own.
Of course - no money was ready when I returned, and no money was deposited to my account when I got home either. After several weeks of mailing back and forth I contacted the guys behind the site for which the safari was booked. They were very helpful and leaned on CDS so they eventually refunded my money. See - they depend on these sites as the money flow comes through here. If you paid directly to them - God help you. Or - the credit card company may be able to help.
Even with my harrowing experience I wanted to give them the benefit of my doubt as I don't want to take away the livelihood from people, but after reading these reviews I'm certain that these are bad guys that you should just definitely avoid at all costs.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Horrible Car Rental
Rented a car for our Kenya Safari. The rental was outsourced over three people without our knowledge. Wasn't the same car as on website and in terrible condition. Still waiting for the security payment we had to give at the rental beginning. Quick replying over email but at the end not helpful.
VN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Memorable safari with terrible ending
We have booked a 7-day safari with Shemeji. It was our first trip to Africa and the first safari experience, therefore we didn't really know what to expect therefore decided to rely entirely on a local provider. We found Shemeji on the internet and it caught our attention because it had an excellent rating as well the offer matched to what we were looking for.
We believed an experienced service operator would know exactly what they were selling and would assume responsibility for the events happening during the trip. Well, it appeared we were wrong about it.
Firstly, we would like to shout huge thank you and express endless gratitude to the guide/driver Elemes and the chef Isaack, who did absolutely everything and more to make our trip comfortable and memorable. These two gentlemen service was 5-star throughout our entire tour. Always smiling and always helpful, they made our trip successful within all their capacity.
However, what made us give Shemeji 1 start is the company management approach to the problems we faced.
We had to pay 100% in advance, which is understandable but they added 5% to the price if the payment is by a credit card. This is not a standard procedure as in the hotel we were not charged extra to the card payment.
As mentioned earlier, we relied on the local operators, expecting them to know the situation better than us coming from another continent.
Out trip didn't start very well, as the car was delayed on the first day already due to technical problems. The second day the car got stuck in the mud for over 2 hours on the campsite just before leaving for the safari drive.
Not only our trip was again delayed but also a car of another couple whose staff was trying to help our driver. The quality of the car we got was rather poor but we accepted it as we didn't mind the conform as long as the safety wouldn't be compromised. We trusted the company did treat the safety of their clients and the staff seriously.
One part of our adventure was the visit to Lake Natron going from Serengeti. Due to the heavy rain, the roads and bridges were cut off and we were forced to turn back, which resulted in driving again through Serengeti.
We did understand the weather unpredictability and followed the situation without complaints. However, later on, we have learned that Lake Natron, during the rain, is dangerous and we shouldn’t go there. I would think a local company would know that during the rainy season rain comes rather frequently and either shouldn't include this point in their itinerary or would have advised us on the potential risk beforehand. But instead, they have sold the trip without any notice.
Somewhere on the way, it happened that the car got a flat tire, which again we understood and didn't complain about it either.
On our way back through Serengeti the car got seriously broken. Our rear wheel fell off. The same wheel as the one which got a flat tire a day or two earlier. This was a very scary situation as we were driving at quite high speed and we realized how lucky we were that the car didn't rollover.
This accident caused a very long time delay and we have lost an entire day of our planned trip waiting for another transportation to take us back to some accommodation, in addition to quite a traumatic experience of seeing our car's wheel rolling ahead of the car.
Later on, we have also learned that after the wheel was fixed and the car was on its returning way it had broken again, which made me doubt in the technical conditions of the car. Is the company truly investing in car maintenance and the clients' safety or is purely focused on sale and profit?
The last day was entirely lost and the next day was too short to fill it with what we have in our plans. We had to return to the campsite and just spent last night in the same place we started, which was not according to our purchased package. The company offered a visit to Maasai Village, which was the only option to do, even though it was not of our interest initially.
We were never demanding and stayed the entire trip very understanding, knowing that the weather conditions cannot be planned, however, the plans we badly affected and we expected the company to take responsibility for the trip they have sold and at least correct the price according to what we have received.
To our surprise Emma, one of the owners (according to our understanding) rejected all the claims, stating that they did us a favor not requesting us to pay extra for the park fees which we had to drive again through, pushing all the responsibility to the weather conditions.
We were also told that the operator had to pay the accommodation booking fees in advance, even though we have found out that the accommodation places and the tour operator belong to the same corporate group.
This was a very disappointing end of our trip.
From 7 days safari that we paid for, we have received actually not even full 6 days. We experience a very dangerous incident and we were left with the impression that we should be grateful that we were not requested to pay extra. This was not what we have imagined from a professional, 5-star rated tour operator.
The safari was great and the guide and the chef service was top notch but if you consider buying a service from Shemeji you may think twice and pay for everything in advance regardless what the trip brings, as you will be charged and given responsibility for everything that happens during your trip.
VN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Poor facility and poor resoponsibilities
We had an unforgettable trip in many ways:
- staff with us are friendly
- but the first day to pick us up from hotel the car had issue so the driver was late 30 minutes
- the company did not consult not give us any advices about the tour they are selling with the weather condition before we decided. When our last day trip was cancelled because the rain washed out the bridge then they played “innocent” and blamed the weather. As a tour agency but they don’t know about the weather of the season and what may cause then they are not professional and don’t know well about their work. We did not received any warning from them
- the chef is nice, cooking well but that is when he cooks. 50% of our lunch box and 50% of our breakfast were sandwiches which I could not eat, I chose to eat other things and sandwiches were the leftover. I know this is not about the chef but that is what the company is able to provide. And normally we don’t eat this kind of food at home bit we know that is what they could offer so we did not complain anything. But I still want to raise my voice on review about this so others could consider.
- office response slowly to give advices to give help when we had troubles on the road. When my driver found down the road was off by rain and he said our trip plan was changed and trying to contact office for advices from morning but until 2 pm we received their phone call to give solution. Same with car broke-down accident, office gave slow response.
- The campsite so call “main office” of Shemeji, the road is really muddy and our car was stuck 2 hours there. The tour agency can’t predict or can’t affect the road in safari but at least they can fix the road at their own place. They should not let the car stuck in mug 2 hours and wasted clients’ time at least at their own campsite. For this, I see they don’t really give their best for the service
- Even though in the “Term and Condition” they wrote: car breakdown is not acceptable but it happened to us and they just blamed for weather and road. It made our trip shorter, more tired, mentally effected by the scare about this risk of life but they tried not to mention about this accident. After all the payment was done we don’t see much any support from management. All they do is trying to protect their own benefit to not refund us the payment we spent for the service we did not receive.
The Safari itself is worth visiting, but Shemeji is not worth chosen for your trip. I don not recommend.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Avoid at all costs
Return customer & always recommended / sent customers here as service provided before was as expected but rapidly gone downhill ever since. Booked into a shoddy hotel last year during the Nairobi tour & charged at a more expensive rate than other similar agents in the area but because of my continued loyalty, I overlooked that & put the “way below par accommodation” down to experience and instead, complained to the hotel directly.
This year I was planning on booking my trips again with them starting with the Mombasa full dayer- again, more expensive than others but because I built a rapport from before I stuck with them. Paid for lunch in advance but on the day after the meal I was informed that even after a starter and a mere main with a few soft drinks I still had to pay half the bill !
Full day trip turned into a half day as halfway through, the guide informed me that he had to leave and that the company was aware of this the night before, leaving me driving around aimlessly round town minus a guide till I was back at the hotel which I could have done in a taxi for a fraction of the price.
The next day I thought it would be an easy resolve given my continuous loyalty to the company over the years and extra custom I had got them through other clients. A sheepish sorry was what I got- I thought I’d give them a break and not suggest a refund for half a service but instead just what I paid to the meal be took off my next trip which was a £1300 Maasai Mara trip- this was declined. I tried my best to make the agent Harrison realise that if I didn’t get the equivalent of £15 off that I would go elsewhere.
Subsequently after days and days of back and fourth messaging reminding me of how he couldn’t get it any less and that a sorry is all he could offer as that he would be doing it for free if he took that off with guarantees that I wouldn’t get it cheaper elsewhere, I decided I had listened to enough of this salesman pitch & took my business elsewhere- best thing I could ever have done. Ofcourse after going elsewhere the discount could now surprisingly be applied although by this time I had made my mind up,
The Mara Safari that he couldn’t take off £15 I now got £195 off and also made a hefty saving on the Nairobi trip but on this occasion was booked into a really nice hotel and comfortable car and made to feel like my custom was valued at the end.
I am fortunate that I return to kenya every year. I would hate to think that if I visited it just once, these customer service issues would be my lasting memory. Shop around if you want a better service, guaranteed customer service if issues come up and definitely more reasonable pricing.
Everything is good till a problem arises - clearly there is no procedure on how to resolve issues. Refreshers on customer service are urgently needed as running on luck & hoping that no problems will come up is just not good enough in an industry where competition is round every corner.
Being scared into thinking you are getting a good deal because they compare their prices to the ones in the hotel is just smoke & mirrors. Be smart