Friendly hospitality at a high price.
The Sunset lodge is a nice and wonderfully located in a private game reserve. If you are looking to get away from the big city and stress, and are willing to be overpriced for it, then this is the place for you.
Unlike what I was told by Rueben, there was no buffet for meals, but a limited tasty set meal each day. On the actual safari days, although it says you will get sausage and eggs and hot coffee, in reality it is one boiled egg, a muffin, maybe no coffee, or one sausage, and the rest of the items mentioned (depending how many people are in the group).
At dinner, all beverages ordered - juice or wine - you will be charged for it, even if it is a glass. I think this this important to mention, because for the price you pay, you would expect a glass of wine or juice would be included with dinner. They never tell you the price or that you will be charged for it until the last day you leave which was a surprise to me. Although it wasn't too expensive, it still was an unpleasant surprise. Another unpleasant surprise is here on Safaribooking.com, it says a 3-5 day safari is whatever, but they charge an extra 14% in taxes which makes it more than originally advertised when you actually book with them.
If a single person did this as a once in a life time event, then I would rate the Themba operators and the whole experience as average and overall a great experience with the wildlife and seeing this part of the world. If I rate this for people who have a family, I would say it was overpriced for what you get, especially the bigger the family.
Considering that a four person family is paying about $4-500 a day to be there, you are paying a lot for limited food and drink (although the family who runs the Sunset Lodge are spectacular), and time. A "3 day safari is really 2 days - or 1 1/2 days" etc because the last day you are only driving back to Johannesburg, and the first day you take 6 hours to get there, and you are paying for any snacks or drinks along the way. This is WAY too much to pay for what you are actually receiving.
However, with this being said, the animals in and around Kruger's park are amazing, and the experience was unforgettable. I will definitely go back, but I am unsure I would use this operator again unless I got a serious discount to match what I felt I received.
DK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
nice
The safari was fun, we saw a lot of animals. The food was really nice.
Prices are high for the issues offered
It was really good with the first tourist Guy Simon but the second tourist guy Suma just drive.
The parks are really good. The things need to be more organize. For example My IPhone was stolen at Sunbrigth campsite. All tourist guy have to speak about the safari like Simon did. You have to be clear we is the campsite.
IN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good first time safari experience
We traveled to Lake Nokuru national park and the Masaimara reserve. Both the places were truly breathtaking, full of wildlife. We did have lots of fun. However, our accomodation at lake nokuru was inside the nokuru town - it would have been a much better experience had there been something close to or inside the park. The hotel facilities at nokuru were however excellent. Same cannot be however said for the Masaimara camp. The biggest downside was that power was available for only 4 hrs in the evening and there were no charging points in the tents.
Great for Kenya, bad for Tanzania
We did an 8 day private safari this past summer, and KWSS offered the most reasonable price and flexible itinerary, plus they were really responsive on email. Once there, the experience was absolutely bipolar, with an excellent guide and experience in the Kenya part of the trip, vs. a terrible subcontractor and tons of problems on the Tanzania part.
You can read details on my blog:
https://bonatravels.wordpress.com/2014/07/29/country-summary-kenya/
https://bonatravels.wordpress.com/category/tanzania/
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
An outstanding moment in Tanzania
I have fallen in love with the beautiful country of Tanzania and will make sure i return soon with my family in July next year. this was my second visit and Alpha tour made it different from the first time....had great time as felt like home..
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Julius the guide was very good. But....
Julius our driver and guide was very good and could spot animals far far away. He was also careful as a driver and with us. But Victor the owner was not well organized and said we could pay with credit cards then we ended up paying mostly in cash. It did turn out well though at the beginning we were worried. The food was simple but good. Philip the cook worked hard.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Let down by easily fixable problems
We did a five-day, four-night budget (camping) safari with World Tours and Safari in December 2014, visiting Tarangire, Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Lake Manyara national parks.
Let’s start with the good:
1) this really is a budget safari – from our conversations with other travellers, you’re likely to pay $700-1000 more for a very similar itinerary with many other operators out of Arusha.
2) we saw a great many animals, and had some very exciting sightings – more lions than we could count, a leopard (!), a lion-buffalo showdown (the buffaloes won), lots and lots and lots of hippos, hyenas, jackals, owls, vultures, even rhinos in the far distance in the Ngorongoro crater (etc etc). The places we saw are jawdroppingly beautiful, and all in all, just being there is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
3) a couple of the (freshly cooked) meals were very tasty.
4) (though this is by chance) we had great company, getting on very well with the couple who were in the Land Rover with us – which made the trip so much better than it could have been.
HOWEVER:
1) While Richard’s communication had been fast and informative when we were booking our trip, he firstly made us change our initial leaving date, with a story of us joining what we suspect to be a fictional couple (since our eventual companions had been told exactly the same story) and secondly, he then changed our itinerary the day before the start of our safari. Make sure to check that you’re still spending the same amount of time in each park as initially agreed upon, and be firm about getting exact details. Also, when planning, stick to what you want, and when you want to leave.
2) Our guide and cook were both very nice and friendly men, who both appeared to be trying their best. However, their English was quite poor, which made communication and planning for the day difficult. Our driver did know a lot about the bush, and clearly loved (spotting) animals, but it took time and patience to draw it out of him, that you don’t always have, and he didn’t volunteer information very often. In other words, he was much more of a driver, than a guide. This led to frustration from both sides, and made some meal-times (when it is the custom that the guides always join the clients) quite awkward.
3) Our Land Rover was old, and stalled and overheated a number of times – the worst of which was for about 45 minutes, as it was getting dark, on the way to our third night’s camp.
4) The tents are very old. The worst however was the camping equipment, all of which was very old and dirty. The mattresses are okay, but the sleeping bags and pillows are downright disgusting. Bring your own!! We also really didn’t like that the guides had a much worse tent than us (!), and lower stools (which broke) rather than proper chairs. More (easily avoidable!) awkwardness.
5) As above, a few of the dinners and the one lunch that was freshly cooked was tasty enough. However, the packed lunches were all the same, and not very palatable (dry fried chicken for the third day in a row, anyone?). Take the menu on the website/in your itinerary with a very generous pinch of salt, and be prepared to bring your own snacks along to supplement meals, particularly fresh fruit, nuts etc.
To reiterate, we were on a budget safari, and the result was – the incredible scenery and wildlife aside! – a budget experience. What is disappointing though is that many of these things could be fixed quite easily, and at minimum cost (or perhaps by increasing rates only slightly). The cook needs a bit of training and some new ideas (make a chicken mayo sandwich on the third day! Add fresh tomatoes to your lunch menus!). And fresh safari uniforms for both men would also go a long way to make the operation look more professional. Give your customers and your guides a detailed itinerary for each day, and impress upon your guides that they need to stick to it as far as possible or communicate any changes to your customers. Fix your vehicles!
Weighing it up, we probably wouldn’t recommend World Tours and Safaris. Rather go on a shorter safari with a more expensive (and professional) operator.
PL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good Safari but with problems
I was on safari with Marta. I confirm that we are very badly treated by the owner of this company As a result of our complain about not good service. This would be also confirm by American lady who attended also our safari from the second day. We were as a group of three people. Mr Richard knew the name of the hotel because he gave us the transfer the day before. I tiiped 100 USD for both of them, even we were cheated about the cost of visit Masai village which for us was 100 usd per car, whereas for others 40 usd - we got this information from other tourists on a camp in Serengeti. My suggestion: Think, read a long comment and then decide.
PL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good safari but with problems
We had 5 day and 4 night safari Tarangire/Serengeti/Ngorongoro with world-tours-safaris. At the beginning the contact with Mr Richard was very fast and clear. We got a lot of information that we need. But the first day of safari was terrible for us. We heard that the other couple who had joined to us did not come on the time. We had one hour late pick up from the hotel, then we started the safari at 11 with minivan (not land cruiser that was in offer). My seat was wet. The minivan had an open roof but without the top-up roof so we had a lot of sun when we open and spend all the time open and close the roof at the safari. No air and very hot in the car because the windows were not openly and were with a lot of scratches and we had not a clear view. Our car was the worst on the safari that day. We were disappointed of this day and Mr Richard told us that we agreed with this and it was private safari when we gave the call to him at the evening - although we did not have any other option. The second day we start our safari with land cruiser and with another one tourist - not that couple. From this day we had a good safari to the end with our guide Aron who was engaged. We saw a lot. But at the end when we were in the office Mr Richard start our conversation from worlds: What was the problem. We were so disappointed. We didn’t heard a word of sorry and any questions about our feedback. The other things from our point of view - be prepare for old tent with not so nice smell and the other equipment’s are old and very used.
We had also not nice case of visit Masaii village and making the picture of this community and not nice the case of tips from the other tourist who was with us. Serengeti was fantastic i would like to be there again but I would like to try with another company.