CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
So many Possabilities.....
This review should be read in conjunction with Clives’s review posted in February 2015—he and his wife were the travelling companions with me and my family (wife, daughter and son). https://www.safaribookings.com/or5815
I have delayed in giving a review of Eastco in order for my mindset to become more objective as Clive has pretty much given an accurate outline of our experience with Eastco plus I was interested to see if Simon would make any contact with us to see what our view was. It is now September and we have not heard one peep from Mr. King although I expect he might have a response to my comments here.
My view of the trip was similar to Clive’s and I back him completely in his version of the events as they unfolded. I will ad that on the face Eastview’s proposed itineraries look pretty good—lots of “game drives” shown, nice mix of mid and very nice accomodations, etc., but what the itinerary doesn’t reveal is that many of the “game drives” are simply long drives over rough and dusty roads to get from place to place with little or no gave evident. The use of Ol Tukai lodge puts you several hours out in a virtual desert and fills in a couple of days there with”cultural” activities involving hot walks to neighboring village and school—I have no problem with learning about local cultures but we specifically stated in our work up that our primary interest was game drives and game viewing.
Boundary Hill lodge, which is a beautiful place to stay, is again a long drive to get to and from with little game in its immediate area so more long drives to see game.
We had specifically planned this trip to coincide with the wildebeest birthing stage of the great migration and clearly set this out when planning the itinerary with Mr. King—no luck, the migration moved faster than expected and had already passed the location of Eastco’s tent camp and lodge accommodation placing the main herd several hours drive from where we were staying—no opportunity was presented or even available to us to change itinerary to accommodate because the Land rovers were broken down.
We had also specifically asked for 2 days in the Ngorongoro Crater—we got one day and one of the accommodation nights was changed to a much cheaper location—ostensibly because the more expensive lodge was full and we didn’t book soon enough—yeh, right!!
The last few days of our itinerary were spent at replacement (read Cheaper) lodges and we were offered no explanation or refund.
We did see a good selection of game but not what we had hoped and planned for—this safari was not good value for the money—which was quite embarrassing for us as we had made the selection of Eastco based on the reviews we had read prior to our trip and our e-mails with Mr. King. We advised our friends that Eastco had good reviews and they went with our suggestion--too their dismay I am sure!
We quite agree with Clive’s assessment that Eastco is a second rate operation and we do not recommend booking with them either. My daughter was quite upset by the "hostage incident" and my wife and I were disappointed with missing the birthing. Mr. King's operation appears to be running so close to financial difficulties that there is little or no room for any flexibility once you are committed to the itinerary--but yet there is no problem in shifting accommodations to cheaper venues with no explanation (or refund).
JP
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Poorly organized, attempted price increase/bait & switch, change of details, unnecessary delays
I have some really mixed reviews about this operator, I honestly wanted to give them a good review and communication during booking was good, but then just before we arrived in Kenya things started to quickly unravel. In short, I can't in good conscious recommend this operator to anyone after the experience we had with them. I went with a 4 day package that was to include Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara. Our flight arrived in Nairobi after noon and most package tours leave in the morning, so I emailed several about this and most were receptive to taking us straight from the airport to our first stopover point right away (we didn't want to waste a night in Nairobi as we had limited time on the trip). Santos from Kenya Bush Excursions got in touch with me and they were the first one to offer the Lanet Matfam resort in Nakuru for the first night rather than the budget hotel in town that most operators seem to use, so I went with them because of that reason. I sent the requested deposit and all was well.
Problems:
1st) 2 weeks before our arrival Santos emailed me and said there was a problem, he said another client cancelled the Nakuru part of their trip and wanted to do Masai Mara only and tried to convince me to do the same, or else pay more to keep our scheduled trip as a private safari. I simply said neither option was acceptable, that Nakuru was part of our plan and we still wanted to go but I saw no reason to pay more since it was already agreed from the start that we were going to Nakuru in a private group due to our mid-day arrival at NBO and our minimum booking number was only 2 for that price anyway. I asked that he either honor the original agreement or cancel and I'd rebook with another operator. (There were no shortage of operators willing to offer nearly the same price). He then said he would work on it and get back to me. A week later he still hadn't gotten back to me so I followed up myself and he said all was fine, that he'd arranged to drop us with another safari operator on the second day to go to Masai Mara with their group. Generally that was fine with me as all operators to Masai Mara were pretty much the same from the quotes I received.
2nd) After arriving at NBO, our driver and Santos met us at the airport. I quickly noted that the car picking us up was not a 4x4 Safari van as quoted, but a small Toyota station wagon unsuitable for a game drive. After leaving the airport Santos again tried to convince us to give up Lake Nakuru and go to Lake Naivasha instead, which I again declined since we wanted to see the flamingos at Nakuru. He was trying to say that maybe the roads in the park at Lake Nakuru were too difficult since it was rainy season (they were fine BTW, and if they would have had the promised 4x4 van then it wouldn't have been an issue anyway). After paying the balance, we had expected to be on our way immediately to Nakuru, but instead they had to take us into the City Market area so he could exchange dollars to shillings on the black market because he didn't have money to pay the driver and our park fees. He was completely unprepared, and if he wanted paid in Kenyan shillings then he should have said that in the booking emails as I could have easily gotten them at the airport saving A LOT of time. It took them over an hour to get the exchange done and payments sorted out as we drove around the city market over and over in the heat with no A/C. Now finally it's well after 3pm and finally we're on the way out of the city. We arrive in Nakuru well after dark.
3rd) After arriving at Nakuru and checking into the Lanet Matfam resort, our driver said that his boss wants to talk to me. I get on the phone and it's Santos again trying to convince me to give up the Lake Nakuru game drive in the morning and just to do Masai Mara because he doesn't have the cash to pay for it all. He said if we want to do Lake Nakuru in the morning (as per the original itinerary) that he wanted us to pay another $150 for the park fees. Of course I refused and said I still don't understand why he's trying this again and reminded him that I gave him a chance to cancel 2 weeks before. I also reminded him that if we were to cancel the Lake Nakuru game drive then it was a complete waste of time to drive there that night, since it's a good 2 hours north of the turn off to go to Masai Mara from Nairobi. Finally he said it's fine and he'd pay the difference out of his own pocket. (I will never believe he paid anything out of his own pocket, maybe he didn't make money on us since other people cancelled but I added up all park fees and they are about 50% of our total package cost, so there was plenty left to pay drivers and budget accommodations).
4th) The Lake Nakuru game drive was in the Toyota station wagon that picked us up from the airport. It was poor because it doesn't have the proper ground clearance for the dirt tracks in the park, no pop-up roof for taking pictures, and is low to the ground hurting chances at seeing animals at a distance. Where was the 4x4 van we were promised?
5th) We'll skip to the last day when arriving back at Nairobi since the part of the tour after joining the other operator and group to Masai Mara was really good. When we got back into Nairobi the driver we were with was already planning to go to the airport to drop off someone else with a similar flight time as us. Instead of leaving us with them to go to the airport, Santos brought his own driver to meet us in the city center to take us to the airport. That in itself was fine, however once again they were totally unprepared. To drop off other people, the van we were in drove through the city market area and went to another parking area about 15-20 minutes away (in traffic, really only about 1km in distance). One parking, Santos and the driver were there waiting, but informed me that the car was actually "a few" meters away. Turns out after walking and following them, the car was actually parked well on the other side of the city market where we had just driven through, at that point nearly an hour before. So here we're dragging our luggage through hot and crowded Nairobi center streets to a place we had already passed once and if he had communicated with the driver of the van we were in, could have been dropped at that spot as we passed earlier. To add insult to injury he made us wait on a street corner for a good 15 minutes after getting back to the city market area waiting for the car to show up from its parking spot. Needless to say I was extremely irritated at this point since the van we started in was going to the airport anyway and all of this was completely unnecessary, my impression was that he was intentionally causing us delay in retaliation for not cancelling Nakuru. There was no other excuse or explanation for it. I was frankly ready to just call in an Uber car and be done with him at that point, the nearest Uber car though was about 15 minutes away and the regular taxis nearby were all pretty shabby looking. His driver did show up finally with the car but by this point the heavy traffic on the road going out to the airport had started and it took forever. We made our flight but had little time to spare thanks to these antics.
Now, the good parts... as far as Kenya Bush Excursions goes, there aren't any, but the operator they passed us off to for Masai Mara was excellent. I didn't get their company's name unfortunately (certainly wish I had because I'd give them a great review), but the driver is Joshua and knows the Masai Mara very well. The first day evening game drive and the last day morning game drive were so-so, but I will blame that mostly on the part of the park near the camp we stayed in, he said the Maasai people drive their cattle through there and it scares away a lot of the animals. The full day game drive he led us on however was really good. He was on the radio the whole day getting locations on big cats and really made an effort to get to them before they disappeared into the bush. We saw more lions than one can count (at least 20 in total), a cheetah mother with cubs, and finally a leopard. Of course plenty of all the common animals too (elephant, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, etc.) but the real gems were the big cats. The cheetah, leopard, and at least one of the really good lion sightings would not have likely been found on a self-drive without someone on a radio.
All in all we had a really good Masai Mara safari and a really poor Lake Nakru one. But the frustrations of dealing with Kenya Bush Excursions were terrible and uncalled for. They are absolute professionals at trying to convince you not to take what you've already paid for or pay twice for the same thing. There is no shortage of tour operators willing to offer the same price with a minimum booking of 2 people. For people doing Nakuru with other operators, I highly recommend requesting the Lanet Matfam resort instead of the budget hotel in town. Considering where we were at, the Lanet Matfam was actually pretty decent (far from luxury, but nothing like the terrible reviews the budget hotels in town get).
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
not well-organized and put me into cheaper hotel than what was quoted in the itinerary
I did a two-week Kenya and Tanzania safari with Kairi Tours in late Sept 2014. (My agent tour is Java Africa Safaris Ltd, but then I found out everything was arranged through Kairi Tours & Safaris Ltd. ) There were some dramas that never happened during my other international trips. When my flight arrived in Samburu, there was no driver to pick me up. The Safari Link pilot had to stay with me for more than one hour in a hot stuffy plane in a dry and windy desert-like wilderness. He was so kind not to leave me along since there were animals all around the air strip. The driver finally turned up after the pilot had to fly away and leave me with a local gun-carrying soldier. It was such a horrible wait under the sun, sweating with dust on my face. Then when I arrived in Tanzania, their tour agent in Tanzania put me into a much cheaper and much lower quality camp site instead of the lodge I booked in my itinerary. They also tried to change my activities to suit their profit without following the itinerary. So basically, every morning before the car started, there would be an argument after I was suddenly notified that I couldn't go to the place as listed in the itinerary. This experience totally spoiled my fun for my Africa safari tour. I have been asking them to provide refund for cost difference between the quoted lodge and the cheap camp site lodge. But they have kept ignoring my request. I would say if anyone making a good comment on this tour company, it would be their pure luck.
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very old jeep
Jeep very slow, very old (20 years), that did not work well (the engine would not start). It 'a shame to have a ruined a trip so nice.
TR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Poor communication, insufficient team spirit
We agreed on a 5-day safari package with Osnet. Our communication was very good beforehand and I had recommended it to many of my friends.
Although the tour started well, problems came one after another during the trip.
On the 2nd day, the Giraffe Center visit did not take place due to lack of communication between Geofrey and the guide. Although dinner was included in the price, I paid for it. The visit to the Masai village also did not take place again due to communication problems. The plan included a Tsavo West and Taita park tour. Our guide suggested to replace East instead of Tsavo West, and I said OK. Again, due to lack of communication between the guide and Geofrey, I had to pay the extra Tsavo East Park fee and fuel cost.
The hotel was not on our plan before the flight on the last day. I asked Geofrey and thanks to him he arranged. He asked 103$ for it and then said he paid himself for cover his excuse, I think.
In summary:
The communication between the team was very poor. Geofrey accusing them, guide and the driver criticizing him, telling he just sitting at the office.
Why I found myself in the middle of unpleasant arguments for no reason? Why did I pay for Park fees, fuel costs and dinner which should be included in the itinerary? Why we didn’t go to Giraffe Center and Masai Village which was also in the itinerary? I spent an hour to explain situations for Tsavo Parks. Why I had to do it on my vacation ?
SG
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good at first but turning bad at the end
We have our tour at the end of July 2024. We have been in contact with Silas all this while for the arrangement. His response is very fast and even like midnight hour for him, he still can give you a response. At first before we settle and confirm the tour package, he always able to give fast response and show his enthusiasm. We have made good discussion, to settle down with our itinerary based on our flight schedule.
At one point in time, our flight got canceled, Silas also tried to accommodate our requirement, where he awaited us to give him confirmation of our next booking of flight. He also quickly responded and re-arranged our booked accommodation as well after our flight was confirmed. Although our request and questions were too lengthy and troublesome, he was still able to make time to explain. But somehow, when nearer to the date, his responses were getting shorter.
On the day Silas and the driver Ken were already there on time to pick us up from the airport. They also took us to get a sim card and buy packs of water for us on the trip. Ken was our driver and guide for all the game drive. We went to Nakuru then go to Maasai Mara, and last go to Naivasha. Overall, during the drive, from one place to another, and also during the game drive, Ken been on his phone always, only on and off will put it down. Even during the game drive, he was on the phone, and we thought that this might be his way to get information on the game drive. We didn't interfere much on this, as long as he driving safely.
Ken is a good driver, an experienced driver, but not a good guide. The problem is Ken shares only the bare minimum information with us. I am not requesting too much on this, but we felt that we were only briefed on the basic information. Most of the time we needed to prompt him with questions before we can get the answers, if we didn't ask or say anything, most likely we might not have given more information. There is a point where another vehicle broke down, and Ken offered to help fetch them together as we were staying at the same place. During this short trip, Ken was also on and off on his phone, where one of the passengers tried to do a video recording on the animals, he had to tell Ken to quiet down so that he could do his video recording on the animal. At which, we had been tolerating him on this, while we also did video recording, but we didn't so harsh on this point to make him stay silence at all.
When we visited the Maasai Mara village, we were asked to pay for the entrance fee, even though the itinerary plan stated it was included. 2 adults ws 60, and 2 kids were 30, so a total 90, where we only had USD100. At that point in time, we just paid first and without getting any change. It is later after communicating with Silas, and then he returned the 100 back to us. This shows the poor communication between him and the driver Ken.
On the journey, I had to find the topic for our communication with Ken, but every time it just went silence after a while. During the end of the trip, we were told that another freelance driver will pick us up, at which this driver Jidraf was able to talk more and introduced us to more information about Kenya this country, even sharing with us the lifestyle, the language, the towns, all those details that seem to be not important, he was able to share with us and tell us the background of that. This gave us a big comparison and noticed how little we got to know on our first 6 days of the trips. We were basically brought from lodge to lodge, and animals to the next animals only by Ken on our initial 6 days drive.
The problem with Ken also less communication with us, first incident is from Lake Nakuru to Maasai Mara. We were never told that we would be going to a souvenir shop and have lunch there. He just drove there and told us on the spot, he could have told us beforehand, we also understand that visiting a souvenir shop is part of a guided trip like this, but don't give us a surprise since it is all planned out.
2nd incident is about visit a Maasai Mara village, Ken could have briefed us on how it is going to be the routine on visit a village, or introduced some background, but nothing was said. Whether to put it before or after the Maasai Mara game drive, it was also not told until we asked.
3rd incident is when visiting the Hell's gate, where we needed to get a bicycle, we are family with young kids, and the young ones still don't know how to ride a bicycle. As an experienced guide, isn't it your responsibility to pre-alert us on what going to happen in Hell's Gate, and what is the plan for that. As a guide, you could have told us how much the price would be and told us to arrange for a bicycle with a children's seat, or a kid's bike with 4 wheels etc. But none was told, only until we reached the bicycle rental some distance before the entrance to Hell's gate, which is USD30 per bicycle. But what we have googled on the website the rental of bicycle only needs less than USD10. If we had not been careful and done our research before, we would have been scammed by the locals there. When we asked why the price hike, then we were told that it was peak season. But, when we reach the entrance of the Hell's gate, and we confront to Silas, only get to know, it is actually can get less than USD10, then we only offered to get the bike at this rate. At that point of time, we really don't know who to trust, neither Ken nor Silas. For those that are going to Hell's gate, please take note there is a guidance fee as well, if you don't pay for that, you don't have a guide inside, and you going to roam by yourself in which you might not know where to go, nobody gives you direction, and nobody brief to you the background of that.
4th incident was after Hell's gate, we were told Ken could no longer fetch us to airport on the next day, also our last day plan was to go to elephant orphanage and giraffe center. (Ken told us his car was faulty and needed immediate repair, but no one knew the truth). They arranged a freelance driver, who knew nothing about our next-day itinerary. The driver was only responsible for fetching us from Naivasha to the airport. Again, all of these was not well arranged and we were not told in advance. I thought the driver going to pick up the rest of the day up until drop us at airport, but after picked up then only knew he only responsible to bring us go to Nairobi and change another driver and vehicle. The elephant orphanage was supposed to be pre-booked one week in advance, and lucky enough my wife mentioned this, only they amended their mistake and booked it like 3 days before. Else I think it will be screwed up and end up we only left with giraffe center to go for.
5th incident is about the departure time from Naivasha to Elephant orphanage, we are foreigners and know nothing about operating hours. We thought visiting can be any time. But in fact, it is only 11am to 12pm. A day before, Ken suggested picking us up at 8am, but we told Ken to pick us up at 9.30am, since we did not have much plan for the rest on the last day. Ken did not tell us about the operating timing when I suggested 9.30am, but after that only he message and told me it will be close at 11am that's why needed to depart at 8am (also this information provided by him is wrong). Then he was like it's not his responsibility anymore, because he was not going to pick us tomorrow. Only then my wife double confirmed the time with Silas, only mentioned we must depart at 8am. Still the driver due to traffic came at 8.35am.
Luckily enough we managed to reach in time for the elephant orphanage. We do understand some hiccups on the itinerary happen, not everything goes to plan well, we only hoped it could be well communicated with us in advance about all the arrangements made. As a tour and guide expert, you should provide sufficient information about those entrance fees, travel duration needed, etc. I surely can google myself for all this information and do my own arrangements, but I trusted you to bring me the best experience. I do have a few persons who enquired me about this trip, but now I hesitate to give them your contact, as I don't know how trustworthy you are after this experience.
Still, I do recognize the effort from Silas, his fast response to requests, only it turned bad at the end of our trip. For Ken, he really a good driver, where he can drive out of the muddy place in a very bad situation, and he helped a few fellows to get out of those terrible situations where their vehicles were stuck. He is helpful whenever someone needs help.
CZ
4 days MM and Nakuru with Navasha
Safari was good itself, not the organisation. Mr. Benson didn't keep promise to side boat tour in Naivasha, even after I notified few times in advance, and only offered to pay taxi for myself back to Nairobi if to go so I had to resign. At the arrival he let me wait over an hour abandoned in a car park in Nairobi without transport until I got my own.
The driver failed in critical interaction with local authorities and after bribing them he demanded money from me to pay all to him. Very disappointing customer care
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Was great with communication until we were in country & checked in; after that, it was crickets
Don’t book with Kennafrica - a possible SCAMMER!
When we booked, everything was supposed to be included (transport, accommodations, taxes and all activities. Once we were picked up, our driver said we had to pay park fees which aren’t cheap then upon checkout the hotel made us pay the remaining bill. Then had to go file a police report and still have yet to hear from him, Joseph Too. Luckily we still went but with all the added fees was not a fun surprise.
Don’t use him - go somewhere else to save you time and money!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Lack of communication
Complete lack of communication. Had us pay for a person that wasn’t even there! If a deposit means something different in Tanzania than America it would have been nice to know. African Big Cats advertises one lodge on their website but downgrades last minute to another. The downgraded lodge is on the complete opposite side (East/West-of Zanzibar) and rooms smell terribly of mold/mildew. Two safari days were not needed (the first and last). Those need to be removed from the itinerary completely. Note that most of these safari companies go to the same exact spots. As evidenced by the massive amount of jeeps at every stop and animal sighting. Skip African Big Cats and go with one of the MANY other companies. Our guides (Zab and Jumma) were good!!
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Very mixed experience with a lot of downsides
It took me very long to write this review, but I think it´s just fair not to write only positive reviews which is of course much nicer. But we would like to let others know what we have experienced. We have been many times to Africa on all kind of safaris from budget to high-end luxury, but never left with this unhappy feeling. So lets start...
I found kingfisher safaris on this website announcing a "private" mobile camping safari operating in Botsuana. Meanwhile they changed the announcement in "shared", thats what we ended up but expecting a private safari . I still have got a screen shot of the original advertisement to proof it.
But already the beginning was difficult. We were picked up late, Pilot arrived than eventually in a hurry, the car packed up with food, equipment up to the roof etc. There was no excuse. Instead he told us, that due to a late arrival of the trip the day before he had to pack new. At this time we were still fine. But as he stopped a little later at the main road offloading us with two chairs and a cooler box, he drove quickly away. My bag with everything like passports, money was still at the backseat and could have fallen off easily from the safari vehicle. We had no idea how long it would take and where he drove to. This was the first time I felt very unhappy. The rest I will write in keywords.
First the positive aspects:
- The staff was extremely nice and welcoming. Pauline the chef did a wonderful job. Elena the host, was such a warmly and attentive person and Collin did everything that the campsite was in a perfect condition.
-The locations of the campsites were magical.
-All the equipment was good.
- Our unexpected co-travelers turned out to be very lovely persons and we appreciated their company a lot.
Now the negative aspects:
- Guiding was less than mediocre. (here I have to be more detailed) I'm pretty sure that Pilot knows his stuff, but didn't show it to us. At Khwai Privat Concession he was only at the radio and driving us from sighting to sighting which others told him. He never was reading any animal tracks, always the windows closed never listening to alarm calls etc. At Moremi as there were just a few vehicles he had to work a bit harder. We wished he would have explained us more about the unique ecosystem of the Okavango Delta and all the connections between fauna and flora. Pilot almost never stoped for birds, mangooses etc. We felt racing from lion sighting to lion sighting, but none of us four was so extremely interested in them. Once I asked Pilot to stop at the zebras which have been in a wonderful light (we are photographers) but instead he was driving to the next lions. He never really attended to our requests. Maybe the worst was, that he was teasing animals , which is an absolutely unethical behavior. For example he provoked a male hippo to attack the car several times. Another example was playing hyena calls from the mobile to a lion family with tiny cubs.
- Logistic is not the strong side of Pilot. We tried to help and let him know before what kind of beverages we like to avoid buying useless drinks. Didn't work. The first evening we were offered an already open bottle of Merlot and I did write before that the only the wine we don't like is Merlot. After half of the time he run out of gin, and to mention we are not heavy drinkers. In the end no tonic water, no Coca Cola, no white wine, no red wine..... and no excuse.
- Driving style of Pilot was fast, sometimes reckless. We had to use the seatbelts first time on a safari. Pilot general did not respond well to criticism or suggestions. In this case when we asked to drive more carefully, he reacted grumpy and kept driving almost the whole afternoon without stopping and talking to us.
Summarising this was unfortunately our worst safari experience so far even though the magical nature of Botsuana and the wonderful staff of Pilot were hard to beat.