35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Changed the program. I had to stay 1 day in a not booked hotel without any program. Never again
During the Safari my program was changed by Bienvenido Tours. I had wait 1 day and night for another group from a different tour company to continue the trip. I lost 1 1/2 days with waiting in the accomodation and waiting for the other Minivan. I even had to pay the hotel that I booked after the Safari and couldnt use because of the delay. Bienvenido Tours didnt accept a money refund. I'd not book with this company again. The Mara, Nakuru and Amboseli are wonderful places to see. The accomodations in the parks are very basic, but that I knew before
AR
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very bad vehicles, old and poorly maintained and terrible guide.
The attention of Alex and Denis is excellent and they try to fulfill everything promised.
The problem is the vehicles used for the zafari, old, poorly maintained, they break halfway and lost hours on the route with mechanics, as if it were not enough to finish the arrangement I had to pay for the repair with later refund of money . Even there are mornings in which you have to push the vehicle because it has exhausted the battery. This means that the itinerary can not be fulfilled, and late arrivals to destinations are reached.
But even worse is the guide in Kenya (Paul) is lousy, has a bad predisposition to explain, is rude, does not even have a bottle of water to facilitate, which was committed in the contract. And of course he does not have binoculars like the rest of the guides.
The place is wonderful, but my advice is to hire another company to be able to enjoy without suffering these inconveniences.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Alex was very accommodating, however the tour guide was incredibly disappointing.
We got very close to a pride of lions, were present at a lion ‘marriage ceremony’ and watched a leopard/cheetah for many hours. Are your guide had a good eye but lacked communication skills, we were not sure where we were going half the time, he would make decisions without informing us or explaining to us. I believe this was because we were 2 young female travellers. Given the amount of money we paid I was highly disappointed at this and it ruined our trip.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
African Safari
We were party of 14 adults and had two SUV from this company. The drivers were excellent in terms of their services and demeanors But we were given one relatively new vehicle and other one was very old. One of our vehicle broke down twice once in Masai Mara and second time in Serengati national park. The ride was very rough with broken seats handles and malfunctioning windows.
PLEASE BE CAREFUL IF YOU PLAN TO CHOOSE THIS COMPANY AND ASK FOR A NEW VEHICLE WITH COMFORTABLE SEATS AND WEFI ONBOARD IF POSSIBLE.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Company did ok but guide was disappointing
I communicated via email with Benson on a 1-week itinerary for me and my 3 children and he presented a comprehensive mid-range safari package in a timely manner. Everything went well until we started out with our private guide. Logistics were smooth with one exception that was clarified with a quick call to Benson. Otherwise, the guide was obviously more interested in chatting with others on his 2 cell phones and car CB than in providing information to us, his clients. Some of the communication was between guides sharing animal sightings in the area and there was no shortage of those the guide pursued but there was more than one case of me seeing an animal in a place that required backing up and the guide disregarded my request. This was my 3rd time on a guided safari but my childrens’ first and they missed out on so much, even with my advocacy. I prompted the guide several times to provide information - differences in species, etc. - and answers were one or two sentences at best. It got to the point at one meal where, after loudly reminding my daughter that using electronics during dinner was rude and unacceptable, I had to ask him to put his cell phone away minutes later. He never asked what kind of animals we were interested in, never pulled out a field guide, and offered very little personal insight. I felt like my family was a load to be transferred between locations rather than a family who had crossed half the globe to appreciate his homeland. We met other Benson guides who showed far more interest in their jobs (and us) so I think we got the guy who’d grown tired/bored after 15 years of guiding. One other minor thing: Benson claimed he would come by to meet us which he never did. The week was good in the sense that the animals are everywhere in the parks, camps and food were good and we didn’t have any catastrophes but I know the trip would’ve been MUCH better with a different guide.
IL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Richard the owner and maneger is unreliable, is not helpful and doesn't do what he promices
We hd a 6 day tour with very good driver and guide Horase and the chef Gadi. We got a car in a poor condition with starter problems and brake problems. We were promissed oraly and written to get to see the big migration in the Serengeti. The company tryed to hide from us that it's possible to get there and see it and when we asked for in the middle of the trip Richard shouted at us and asked for more money. unfortunately we didn't get there.
This company is unreliebel, be careful.
NZ
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Poorly organised and quick to take your money!
Where do we start!!! We gave all of our hotel pickup details in Arusha week's in advance of our safari. Nobody turned up to collect us until after 2 hours passed when we finally managed to make contact with the company and explain that we were waiting. The driver had no idea where to pick us up from. We believe if we hadn't made contact no one would have ever come to collect us. Then, on the second day of our safari the exact same thing happened, we were left stranded waiting for almost two hours and had to get our lodge staff to chase up the tour company drivers. No compensation was offered even though 4+ hours of safari time were lost/wasted by the company (this is a lot when its only a two day safari). The company was quick to take our cash at the beginning of the tour. The guides gave little or no information about the animals or parks unless we constantly asked them. They expected tips (what for!). Overall, a very poorly managed company and despite seeing lots of amazing animals (which we would have seen with any other safari company also) I would not recommend Tanzania Joy Tours to anyone! Very unprofessional and no doubt relying on outdated high review ratings!
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not actually delivered by East African Safari & Touring Company
we booked the safari with East African Safari & Touring Company but we learnt during the safari that we were actually with another companies. Apparently East African Safari & Touring Company does not have the TALA licence anymore and are almost bankrupt (at least this is what our guide told us). The safari was overall disappointing, e.g., we left Arusha very late on the 1st day (11am) and therefore we stayed less than 3 hours in Ngorongoro. We had to pay ourselves for the private campsite in Serengeti, despite was included in the agreed programme (we were later refunded once back in Arusha by the owner of the company employing the driver and owning the car), and this took a lot of time, long discussions with the driver and the parking rangers, two visits to the park HQ, etc.
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Was supposed to be luxury but was not
We wanted our safari to be luxurious and pay for the level that was just below highest luxury. Considering we paid $30K USD we felt we did not get good value for our money and they did not do a good job booking us in "luxury" accommodations. The first camp in Okavango Delta was nice and the food was excellent but it was still not luxury. The second locTion in Chobe was an absolute disgrace. It was a hotel that served a buffet for all three meals. This is NOT luxury at all. The activities at Chobe were not good either. The third camp we went to in Victoria Falls was Elephant Camp and again it did not meet our expectations. As well Zambezi did not book many activities for us so we had one full day of no activities. OverLl we were not very impressed and did not feel we got good value for our money. Especially when we found out what the cost per night was of the camps we were staying at when you could have booked them yourselves! I wouldn't use them agIn.