Worst experience in Africa so far
We booked with Erick for a safari in the Masai Mara as Ugandan residents. First of all, the "guide" Isaac basically just functions as a driver without any explanations or insights about anything happening at the Mara.
Thinking that would be the worst of our problems, we arrive to Lake Nakuru for the last day with the surprise that for that specific park the fees for Ugandan residents don't apply and that we have to pay extra 60 USD if we want to visit the park. Of course Erick was not to be reached at this time (as probably he is working along the scam) and we were denied admission as we refused to pay the extra 120 USD, wasting our time and hard-earned money.
Erick and Tracks Berg Travel just excused themselves saying there was nothing to be done. This the worst experience I have had in Africa so far so I would recommend everyone to avoid Erick and Tracks Berg Travel if you want to avoid hidden charges and extra fees on the spot
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Be careful! They tried to cheat us!
Our experience with Pega tours was terrible! We booked two safaris with them ( Hell's gate and Nakuru). We made the deal with Peter, and he charged us 50$ each for the driver and guide in Nakuru and another 50$ each for driving us to Hell's gate and hire a guide in there. The entrance fees and the bike rental were on us.
At Nakuru everything went all right , but when we arrived to Hell's gate they told us we had to pay for the guide. We called Peter and we explained him that we paid 100$ to him for the driving to Hell's gate but also for having a guide in there, and he just hung up the phone to us after saying the 100$ were just for the transportation. Even the guides from Hell's gate were shocked for what he was doing !!! Eventually, our driver, who was great, managed to talk to him and convince him to pay the guide, because we were already talking about coming back to Nakuru.
So my advice is: do not hire anything with them, or at least with Peter! He'll try to do the same!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beware. Possibly scamming your money
I contacted this company through this site. I am not sure even now if the company is real or a fake "brief case" operator that steals your money. When i contacted them through here their email address was different to what is now listed. It was ***@gmail.com, now i see the change im thinking they change it once they get bad reviews.
I contacted them a few months apart and was given a different price for the same tour each time, when i asked why the price difference for the same tour, was told prices had gone up but they would give me a discount to match the original quote. Originally my emails were answered by a Debby, who then put a formal name stamp on emails of Deborah Kanini. Eventually when i asked more questions the emails were simply signed, Regards. I asked at one stage who i was speaking to and the person replied Debrah, spelling her own name wrong !
I was given a bank account to make a deposit into and i said i was making a payment that week. Luckily i got held up and never got to bank to make payment because the day after i was meant to pay i received an email from them saying they had to close that account, please cancel deposit and make another payment into another account, they supplied a new account number. This sent alarm bells going, so i never made payment. When they worked out that i hadnt actually paid and didnt need to reverse any payment i was inundated with emails with many different reasons as to why they had to shut the account. Even got an email saying the money had gone through, please go ahead with planned tour, the rest of the money can be paid once you arrive in Kenya. Seem like a total scam company, their facebook page looks legit, but comments left are normally by "tourists" based in Africa. I have no idea why this happened, every now and again some of the reviews seem real, and they mention a Nancy, not the Deborah i seemed to strike. I did tours throughout Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa and never once saw a vehicle with either a Segein or a Serengeti adventure safari logo.
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Booked for Tsavo est and Amboseli they changed it in 2 days in Tsavo without telling me in advance!
Once i joint Tsavo i found the agency had still to send money to pay the fuel for the second day in Tsavo. I lost 2 hours waiting for the money to come! I ve booked for a jeep but the agency at the last second told me there wasen t any jeep but a van. The price was low but how many troubles!
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
We were not picked at the airport and abandoned
Eugene of Africa Exclusive Escapes is a conman. He did not pick us from the airport on 1st January 2016 and he switched off his phone. We had paid a deposit, thanks God not the full amount of the safari. We went by ourselves to the hotel in Nairobi (Hotel Boulevard) to discover it was not even booked. Finally we had to resort to another contact of tour operator in Kenya to continue our experience. This company might already be closed, most likely, but in case it is still operational, be careful that these are conmen.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Still awaiting a refund of costs we incurred
Please do not book with Golden Travel.
We booked with them in 2015 and found hotels had not been paid or were only part paid.
We ended up paying an additional $6,500 having already paid in full for the holiday.
Despite reassurances 14 months later we are still waiting for Golden Travel to reimburse.
Do NOT use this Company
BE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
17 day camping trip in Nambia is exhausting, not well organized and way overpriced
We booked this tour through a Belgian travel agent that seemed to be well experienced and selling qualitative good trips. Unfortunately the 17 day camping trip with Drifters was far below the quality for what we have paid. It was organized very low budget but the travelers are paying a lot of money. On one side the tour was mostly a rush with only very limited time to visit places/sites etc. And on the other hand it was set up very low budget, parts of the tour were not carried out, the Drifters/Greenfire lodge where we slept was old and rusty and should have been broken down two years ago it seems but they are still putting all their tours in there, so its pure monetary gain!! The truck was very old, seatbelts were not working, the windows were very difficult to open and close, the fridge didn't work how he should have. We were left 2 days on a campsite with more then 40 degrees without any cold drinks, had to take our garbage on the truck. Dirty swimming pool at Greenfire desert camp. And worn out facilities on some camp sites they use because the organize it very low budget although we did not pay low budget prices! Also complaint handling from Drifters organization is 0! Very rude, ignoring the complaints and even putting the blame with us!
BE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Please, do not go on safari with Tembea East Africa Safaris !
We ( a party of 4 ) went on a Tanzanian safari with them out of Arusha.
They seemed reliable, as they were also appearing on Safari Bookings. But what a mistake I made !
When requiring information and quotation, Evangelina, reservations staff, was extremely helpfull and replied by email always within the hour. I did some research, so I gave her the names of hotels / lodges I would stay in ( Arusha - Tarangire - Lake Manyara - Ngorongoro ). She also quoted me the price of this week safari in " all-in formula ". I specifically asked her if this would include all drinks in the lodges ( whether alcoholic or not ) and she replied me yes !
When making the reservation, I had to pay a 60 % deposit. I did this by bank transfer. Damian, the accounting staff, was very eager to get the money, as he wrote me already the next day where the money was. I told him to be patient, since it takes a while before a bank transfer is done between Belgium and Kenya. After 4 days he got the money. Suddenly, he asked Evangelina by email ( with a copy to me ! ) if she granted me the usual discount. Seemed, that by paying the balance 6 months before the trip ( instead of paying cash upon arrival ), I could get a 3 % discount. Of course, this was a trap !!
Upon arrival in Arusha, Mr Issa ( the manager of Tembea ) was there at the hotel in order to collect the balance. He tried to switch my first lodge at Tarangire into a campsite, but I refused.
First day ( a visit of Arusha National Park ) everything went well. Comfortable jeep, excellent driver who gave us a very good explanation with spectacular binoculars. At the end of that day, we made an appointment with him for the next day, when we would leave Arusha together for the one week safari.
Next day... nobody came at the agreed time. More than 2 hours later, a wreck of a jeep arrived, with another driver, who's english was very poor and difficult to understand. He also had binoculars ( when I specifically asked for ) but they did not work !!
With this wreck of a jeep we went on safari. From day one, a warning light was appearing on the dashboard, that the oil level of the brakes was too low. Twice we had a big mechanical problem and had to go to a local garage for a while. The worst mechanical issue was that on the last day, decending from the Ngorongoro Rim to Karatu, we had NO brakes at all for 30 km !! A horrific experience !!
Also, in the contract, they allowed us to go twice into Lake Manyara. But once there, this was refused and only one entry was paid for. The driver would have liked that we would be back in Arusha before lunch, instead of dinner, so to cut our safari by half a day. But this I refused of course.
Besides this, all lodges refused the all-in formula. When I contacted Mr Issa, he said to keep all the receipts and that he'd reimburse me at the end of the trip, back in Arusha. Guess who didn't show up ? He was stopped at the Kenyan border ( he said ) ?!?!
I later on emailed all the receipts to Damian, and he replied me every two weeks, that the refund will be done.
Guess what ? Nothing of all this happened of course !
When asking Mr Issa and Mrs Evangelina some explanations about this trip, no reply came.
They obviously are only after your money. They do not care about customer service at all. They only cheat, lie and mislead you !
Hopefully this will help you to have a wonderfull safari, as Tanzania is amazing !
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Didn't get what I paid for!
I have booked a three days and two nights private safari to Amboseli National Park.
On our way to Amboseli the car broke down (I understand it happens). We waited for a taxi to take us to the park and then we finally joined a couple who was on a private safari and not so happy to have other people joining their safari.
For me it was my first safari and I ended up seeing a lot of wildlife and the car wasn't even stopping or explaining anything (it wasn't my safari of course).
The next day I had my own plan but since I had no car and no guide (that I very much paid for). I joined the same couple again and I had to comply with their plan. At 8am on the second day I returned to the hotel after a morning drive and until 5pm I had nothing to do! This day I wanted to do a full day game drive but again, no car and no guide and most of all no words from Michael. He didn't try to call me even once (despite he had my kenyan number or he could have contacted the hotel). I wasted a whole day and no apologies were presented nor different activities were planned for me. Simply nothing, just abandoned.
At 5pm Joseph the guide finally arrives after fixing the car and took me on a game drive (1 hour). The drive was awful as we only had 1 hour before the park closed. So we couldn't go deep inside the park.
On our last day we had finally one proper game drive (one out of the 4 we paid for).
Again we contacted Michael and tried to get him to meet us in Nairobi. He agreed and then once in nairobi, of course he was not available.
He apologized over the phone but I wanted a partial refund. I paid a very expensive private safari with a private guide. I didn't get what I paid for at all and then he tried to talk about religion and making excuses.
They don't don't how to deal with customers and I practically paid $540 for a 3 days private safari with 4 game drives (I got one real game drive). As my first safari experience it was awful and it was disrespectful to be treated this way.
SG
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not trustworthy!
Bad! Poor execution and under-delivery of what has been agreed and paid for are my two biggest pain-points with Tomodachi. Even if the company had provided as advertised, I would still not recommend it due to poor overall service (last-minute arrangement and changes), lack of tour briefing (we have to ask what's going on all the time) and the tour guides are not helpful. The Managing Director is Joseph Mwema, and co-partner: Jasper Kishari.