US
Can't contact them and they have our money....are they still open?
Is there someone we can contact to get our money back or did they steal it? Website now has nothing and they said we could reschedule due to COVID.
SE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
AVOID! AVOID! AVOID!
With this I am expressing my deepest disappointment regarding the 3-Day tour we received from Karibu Safaris in Kenya.
The communication with Robert and the tour planning was ok, I have no complaint about that.
The problem is the way the tour was guided and the attitude from the driver and tour guide HAMISI, it was a very strong disappointment and even humiliation towards us as visitors and customers.
- no drinking water for the guests. When I asked about the water, the tour guide HAMISI said "sorry, I forgot". But at the same time he had drinking water, even several bottles!!!, at the game drive and was drinking himself and keeping them in the cooler box. That was very very much humiliating. Very unprofessional conduct. Phaawww!
- on the 3rd day's morning we were supposed to have a game drive in Amboseli park till 10am in the morning (that was confirmed beforehand by Robert - the organiser), but we left the park at 8:40 already with no reason. So the driver cut us the pleasure of experiencing the park by one half (50%), as we spent there only about one and a half hours (90 minutes). Another hour and 20 minutes were stolen. It's a huge disappointment. Robbery!!!
- the choice of the roads. In order to maybe make a small fuel economy (6 to 10$), the driver chose rural roads that in parts were hardly passable and full of dust, all our clothes, bags, hair, bodies and electronic equipment was in dirt and dust. The driver, willing to save a few hundreds of shillings, was driving the roads that are no good for safari tours. We did not meet a single other Safari tour operator's vehicle while taking the rural roads, while there were many of them on paved roads. So the point is that the unprofessional driver/tour guide deliberately chose bad roads just to make some "shortcut" meanwhile breaking the company's vehicle and disappointing the customers that were on a private tour. That is soooo STUPID!!!! We made a remark on that before our return on which driver HAMISI only laughed at us - straight into our faces... Very very humiliating!!! Guys avoid this scam of an operator!!!
There are some more problems and negative remarks that I should point out like a lack of explanation about the parks, surroundings, eco-system, animals, history, etc.; - instead the driver is chatting by sending texts on his smartphone...
- the vehicle arrived to pick us up dusty and dirty inside (from outside was ok) - it's just a proof of to what extent this company is unprofessional and do not consider the comfort and needs of their customers. I have experienced over six different tours in Tanzania and Kenya and I can compare the services received by this incompetent company with others.
This operator should be AVOIDED!!!
I need to express that I deeply regret having chosen this company's services and I have to warn other visitors and possible clients to AVOID tours given by Karibu Safaris in Kenya.
AVOID! AVOID! AVOID!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Team of scammers
Not at all professional. Reservation not respected, calls not answered by the agency. The agency forced us to stay in an unwanted place and refused any changes on the grounds that the lodge does not want to refund the cost of the room. A whole day lost and no valid compensation given from the agency. In short, I do not recommend at all! They are thieves and liars.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unhelpful to the max
We booked our trip for 2020. They were very happy to help us select them and arrange the entire trip with them. They highlighted (over and over and over again) that they were a five-star resort, which to me means five-star assistance and service. Then COVID happened and they ignored our requests for help. We did have travel insurance (as they recommended) but they were not interested in helping us with the process. We will NOT be booking our next safari with Kenyazi.
FI
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Safari was great but we lost over 30€ because of their PayPal was not working
Would have given more stars to JADI safaris if it wasn’t for their mistake during payment that cost us a loss of 30€. They asked us to pay in PayPal (as it is written in their webpage) and after we did use this method they told us that their PayPal is not working properly and that they will refund our money and we have to pay in cash instead. Because the PayPal exchange rate had changed after our payment we got 34.25€ less.
They also send us the message telling this one day before our safari so we didn’t have time to get the needed amount in cash in a foreign country. We almost had to cancel the long waited safari because of this but luckily in the end it was ok to pay in KSH.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
This company is a Cheat and tries to scam people of their money.
It does not deliver on the packages it advertises.
AE
20-35 years of age
Worst management
People like to lie Including Mr. Herbert Mr. William all in management level I don’t know how they lie on daily basis they have to repay my money while family of Herbert like to lie and play with people life If possible someone help me to get back my money it’s a request for the people who are reading this I a family to take care
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Liers
Made us pay for things that they never provided. Terrible service. Just do not use them.
IL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
*WARNING* Very nice people. Faulty cancelation policy
Please read until the end.
My wife and I planned a long Safari with Opulent Tours and Travel. The staff was very helpful and patient as we made out plans. We had made 2 substantial down payments towards our trip when Corona Virus hit and our country issued a ban on citizens from entering South Africa. Following the travel prohibition, we immediately informed Opulent Tours and Travel and filled out their official cancelation and refund documents. I would like to point out that the cancelation was well within the criteria and time frame for a full refund.
The company replied that returning the money will take some time and I need to be patient. It is only at this point and after re-reading the terms and conditions, that I noticed that while my payment timetable is very clear, there is no defenition of the time frame in which Opulent Tours and Travel is committed to returning the money on cancelation.
Two months have gone by since my original cancelation, and as of yet, we have not received any refunds. While I appreciate the challenges of the times, it seems disproportionate to have us pay almost half a year in advance but then not have any commitment on the timeframe for the refund policy.
(I will make an effort to update this review if there are any developments. )
DK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Worst safari experience thinkable
Me and my girlfriend went to Arusha, where we had planned a 4 day safari to 1125 USD per person - we got picked up at the airport, everything was very nice.
We had agreed on a private tour with some good accommodation, and we thought it was a good deal. at 8 PM the day just before safari, John, the guy we had discussed the price with, wrote a message to me on WhatsApp saying that we should talk.
He got to our hotel and said that we wouldn't be able to do the safari with the accommodation that we had agreed on, if we wanted to do the safari we would have to pay 200 USD more..
Of course we didn't wanna do that since we agreed to a certain price.
John tried to make some alternatives, where the accommodation would be a bit worse, and we still had to pay 45 USD more, even tho the places were significally worse.
We took all the way to Arusha/Kilimanjaro just for the safari, that we already paid 2250 USD for.
We didn't come to any agreement and therefore we both decided it would be best to just cancel the safari. John didn't want to transfer the money back to us, as the fees for international travel would cost him money, and withdrawing the money would be 1.44% that WE had to pay, even tho it was him screwing the safari.
We therefore only got 2217 USD back, and not the full 2250 USD.
We really felt like being scammed, and would therefore not recommend this company to anyone.
Best part of the whole experience was getting the 2217 USD back.
In total we spent 111 USD getting to Arusha and paying the fee for international money transfer, just for the safari to be cancelled.
And still John didn't want to pay the 1.44% that the cash withdrawel would cost.
I recommend to find another operator.