35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Slow and rude to respond, then failed to organise the few things left to him
Indigo safaris were sometimes slow to respond. The scanned documentation provided failed to give enough information, which also led to some confusion, for example exactly which side of Victoria Falls we were visiting. There was also a breakdown of communication between Indigo Safaris and the 3rd party safari provider in Kasane which resulted in us waiting from 6 am until 7:30 am to go on safari.
We had asked for a game drive as early as possible, as this is the ideal time to see birds. Along with an evening boat trip - also ideal as you get to see an amazing sunset. What was arranged was a mid morning boat trip, followed by a game drive starting at 1:30pm, i.e. the heat of the day. When I pushed back about this, I was told via email:
"All that has happened is that they have been switched round as Kalahari Tours have put their scheduled game drives on in the afternoon and boat cruises in the morning as they that gives better results."
When I said this was not what we wanted, or paid for, and gave good reasons, I was then told:
"I can ask to move the boat safari earlier, but doubt it will be much earlier.
The afternoon game drive in Chobe is a group activity, as you know, and the focus is going to be on animals and they love to go to the river to drink when it’s hot."
I then pushed harder, with an emphasis on how I felt we would see more first thing. The trip was then changed to what we wanted. Albeit on the day the change had not made it to the schedule, hence standing around for an hour and a half. Plus Christopher continued to argue the case for midday safaris. Perhaps he should put that as a unique feature of his safaris!
US
Gombe National Park
Gombe is beautiful, the scenery and waterfall very picturesque. If going, please know that the chimps do migrate and follow the food source. For example, when there in April, the chimps are at the top of the mountain. The hike is very strenuous and takes several hours. At other times of the year, the chimps are much lower in the mountains. The guides live and work there and are very knowledgeable. We were not able to see the chimps. But, visiting Jane Goodall's research center was very interesting.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
money hungry
when i booked this trip the owner insisted i paid upfront so i did i paid all the money through a bank transfer but somewhere along the line one bank took a $40 dollar fee which when i went into my bank said it was not them but he insisted i had to pay it so i would suggest you use another company
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
more expensive than planned
As I have already told them I felt cheated when I was charged the drop off of the rented car. At Kruger park they knew it from the very beginning that the trip included renting the car in Port Elisabeth and driving all the way to Cape Town and dropping the car at the airport. They never told me the was an extra charge for it and I felt cheated, I also felt cheated when they charged me 2.5 % for paying by credit card. Other than that the trip was fine but i would not use them again ! sorry but you need to be clear from the onset.
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good and affordable safari organization
The Safari was great and they offer a price that really worth it. But the manager not always fulfill his word. Becareful just to pay for what you consumed. Do not let them any money extra. You will never see it back again.
IT
satisfactory but not excellent
communications before the trip were somehow slow, never complete and the cost turned out about 800 Euros more than expected for the following reasons:
1. I had to pay for the drop off of the rented car in a different town. Your agent new from the start it was to be in a different town, he should have told me immediately that his price did not include it.
2. Only when I was due to pay I was told that paying by credit card would cost me 2.5% more . Not providing proper i nformation is very close to lying.
3. The exhange rate used in quotions was way below reality.
I am happy to say that other than that there were no major surprises and the hotels were fine.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Wasted to much time due to bad planning, had up to 10 hours driving between destinations.
Pick up was good, staff who we meet helpful and vechicals OK. This is were it stops! The office staff were not overall helpful when we tried to amend the end of our trip which although annoying was not the worst. The loss of enjoyable holiday time was the worst part.
Prior to arriving in Kenya we received our Itinary that listed leaving after breakfast and arrival for drives or dinner time. also the list of travel. What it did not mention was the hours of driving every day needed to travel between the different location listed on the Itinary.
every game drive we had exciting as they are were distant memories as we then had to spend 6-8 hours driving to the next location. Longest drive 10.5 hours which upon arrivals at destination were told we had 30 mins before a game drive, which we saddly cancelled due to been sore and tied.
Accomodation at the sopa lodge is average and no power or hot water during the day. The restaurants ok.
Summing up save your money go elseware. We used African Safari company in Zimbabwe and Botswana they were brilliant.
PT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
I went a lot of to Kruger (more than 30 times...); it was the 3th time that I have problems with c.c
Your safety is our priority. As an accredited member of South Africa's
most well-known tourism authorities, Cape Town Tourism and the Southern
Africa Tourism Services Association, we uphold strict policies and
adhere to stringent regulations. We use state of the art encryption and
never store your credit card details. We are also the first South African
travel company to use 3-D Secure (3DS) credit card security.
It,s not true!!!
My credit card was used for somebody during my stay with you, and they "stall" my money from my account...
Tedious, since I continuously needed to follow up on my queries and bookings!
The tour that I had in mind, was booked as per request, except for one stay at Skukuza. The hosts that are present on the live chat need to make more effort to provide guidance and really find out what it is the customer wants on their trip. Overall, we were very happy with the suggestions and our bookings...however, there were one or two camps that didn't provide us with what we wanted. (Self-catering) wise...this is not a train smash, but it could have been avoided.
BY
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A mixed experience
We opted for a 5 days private reserve tour + Panorama route with RedAfrica.
Overall, we have to highlight that it was very pleasant to spend time in Jaco’s company: he is a highly dedicated and motivated person eager to do his best to share his passion of nature and his knowledge. We greatly enjoyed our exchanges with him throughout the trip and his respectful attitude towards us.
The first part of our tour – the gorgeous landscapes that we saw along the Panorama route – was just great.
However, the private reserve part of the tour was unfortunately disappointing: the area, which was described as located in the Greater Kruger ecosystem and thus hosting the same animal and bird species, was highly affected by the recent draught, which forced the animals to migrate elsewhere; a factor which we were not aware of prior to our trip. During our stay in the private reserve, we thus saw extremely few animals. Moreover, the information and time management by the reserve staff was not entirely satisfying, which added to our overall frustration.
Afraid of leaving Kruger disappointed, we requested Jaco to change the plan for the last day of our trip and spend it in Kruger proper instead of the private reserve. Luckily, Jaco was flexible and accepted this last minute change. This last day trip (although a rushed one) enabled us to see almost all of the Big Five in one day and somehow compensated for the frustration related to the impossibility to see animals during the previous days.