NO
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A well organized safari with many highlights
After an earlier safari trip I wanted to show my daughters (19 and 21) the wild animals of Africa.
Amazing Memories Safaris was an excellent choice for the tour! We have 8 days and 7 nights and Anne put together a good itinerary with advise on parks and lodges. Due to heavy traffic on the roads the transport between parks took longer than expected and was a bit exhausting. But that was soon forgotten when we had a lot of wildlife including all Big 5 close up to our car. We had chosen to have a private Landcruiser to ourselves and that was a well spent luxury.
Favorite park: Amboseli National Park.
Favorite lodge: Naivasha Sopa Lodge.
UA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing, incredible, marvelous Uganda…
We visited Uganda with the 11-day tour organized by Kajie Safaris in July 2018.
When we chose Kajie Safaris, the criteria were: price, reliability, positive feedback and lack of negative impressions among tourists, as well as quick answers to E-mail inquiries, flexibility in discussing the program.
Ronald Muvunyi worked with us. He met us at the airport and then accompanied him along the entire route both as a guide, as a driver, as an translator, and as a friend. He is a man with remarkable organizational skills, friendly, cheerful, with a fine sense of humor. We were very easy and interesting with him. We enjoyed our trip!
During the tour, we wanted to change the program a little. Ronald graciously helped to correct the route, rescheduled the hotels.
When traveling is organized by people who love and know their business - they are sure to succeed!
We were just fascinated by Uganda. The next visit to Africa will be planned only with Kajie Safaris!
We wish you all a pleasant journey and a vivid impressions,
Sergii and Lana.
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent value for money and delicious food
We made a three days trip in Selous and we were really happy of our choice in terms of location and tour operator
The tour operator met all our requests in terms of timing.
The communication was easy and precise.
Our guide Seloum was really professional and tried to comply with all of our requests.
The camp was very nice and well mantained and the food was absolutely delicious: good quality and variety and well prepared.
The overall price very good if compared with other proposals.
I will recommend!
NO
Very good driver/guide
Very good service and communications before and during the trip.
Better then expected
AE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Awesome Trip with John
Everything was perfect from making the reservation, to day 1 and to the last day with Axis. Lennox met with our group in our hotel and welcomed us on the first day together with our designated guide, John. We were a group of 7 friends and we fit perfectly in one vehicle. John knows Masai Mara very well. He is an expert in driving all sorts of terrains. Every turn was a surprise with John. We saw 4 of the big 5, we missed the Rhinos. Overall, experience was great. Service was perfect. Guide was very knowledgeable and accommodating. We had so much fun. Thanks Axis Africa Safari!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Experienced Tour Operator
We very much enjoyed Namibia especially the landscape and wildlife. Thinus was on another tour so he engaged Marcus as driver and guide for our tour. Marcus was a very good driver and at all times we felt safe with his driving. Over the 16 days we covered over 4300 kilometres without an issue despite many kilometres on gravel roads and I feel we would have been very tired without a driver, so I’m glad we engaged Criss Cross for an escorted tour.
Thinus, was very patient in putting the final itinerary together (after four iterations). The quality and hospitality of the lodges we chose was exceptional. We did depart from Thinus' accommodation recommendations for most nights as we were looking for luxury accommodation which is not usually the places Thinus stays in. We also like walking / hiking and had to push for these changes to the itinerary to accommodate this, but once Thinus was on board with our requirements he was very responsive. Best experiences – 2 day hike in the Fish River Canyon, walking in the Naukluft area, hiking big daddy in Sossuvlei, Swakopmund and the cheetah foundation. Least Favourite – The “staged” tribe experiences in the Kalahari & Himba. Organ pipes was also a waste of time. However, the absolute worst was the Lake Oshikoto stop – poor signage, unkept trails around what is really just a quarry. We chose not to do the Damara Living museum and ran out of time to do the Quiver tree forest & Giants Playground as well as Hardap Dam on the way down to Fish River Lodge but I’m not sure we missed much going by the trip advisor reviews. All of our least favourite activities and those we chose not to do require an entrance fee - which is fairly substantial, we would have excluded these if we knew more about them before we travelled.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Pilanesberg Private Safari!!!
Andre did a phenomenal job planning a three day two night luxury safari for us!!! We had two major obstacles - my wife was pregnant (we could not take anti-malaria medication) and we have a two and half year old daughter. Andre found a four star lodge in a malaria free zone and arranged private safaris for us. Once in Africa, every step of the way, the process was flawless. He is great with communication and e-mail.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Absolutely Amazing!
Classic journeys was very well organized. Our leader Mathew was attentive and made sure everything ran smoothly. Our driver was laid back and funny.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our tour operator made our Safari tour experience Spectacular and adventurous.
My Safari tour was AMAZING and magical. I experience riding through the Safari in jeeps and pop up Van's by trained drivers who spoke fluent English and they each had a passion to ensure we enjoyed our venture and received EVERYTHING we could only imagine from seeing it on TV but the service provided by Classic Journeys made our Safari Tour an unimaginable reality. Each tour guide was very friendly, kind, professional and knowledgeable about the animals, African culture and the surrounding areas we visited or drove through. The service provided by Classic Journeys was beyond impeccable and the lodges we stayed in the safari were 5 star. Our Tour and safari trip was Unbelievable and AWESOME...
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
This company misappropriates client funds
The itinerary looked good, with 3-4 star hotels on a 14 day safari in Kenya and Tanzania. The reality was a disaster.
1. The itinerary offered a 4WD. In Kenya, we were given a 2WD van (for 6 of us). Had 8 seats so only room for 2 to stand at a time. Van very uncomfortable and not suited AT ALL to Kenyan conditions. Masai Mara in particular has many 4WD roads only, including the road to the border. Because of the van, we were forced to spend 9 hours going around the park to the border instead of 3 hours through the park. Cost us a day as we didn't get through the border until 6 p.m. and couldn't then drive 5 hours to our next stop in Serengeti until next day.
2. Driver/guide in Kenya was a disgrace. His driving was downright terrifying, and his guiding non-existent. He didn't communicate with us and I didn't even know he spoke english until the end of the second day when there was an accommodation problem. My requests to Solaris to replace the driver and vehicle were ignored.
3. We only stayed in the hotels shown in our itinerary for 5 of the 13 nights. All others were a downgrade, once to a place with no water in showers. Looking on TA, the prices for the quoted hotels was about $300+ pn pp, the ones we stayed in as low as $120. Once in Tanzania, our guide there (fortunately we'd left Joe and his van in Kenya) tried his best to get us accommodated each night, and spent hours on the phone cajoling and fighting with the Solaris office staff. He was terrific and his company Cross to Africa to be recommended.
4. Game park fees, included in our itinerary, were paid in Kenya but not in Tanzania. We ended up more than US$2100 out of pocket as we had to pay our own way in. There have been repeated promises to repay the amounts, but of course nothing came of them.
5. I have reported this company to the Kenyan Tourism Regulatory Authority, and trust that they will soon be out of business. The best outcome would be to see the "Boss" and the directors charged with misappropriation of funds and theft. I live in hope! Sadly, when people ask about our East Africa experience, my response is that Uganda and Tanzania are fantastic, but tread warily in Kenya.