35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I felt conned by Catherine
Catherine refused to refund me my money and ignored my calls. She had promised to refund me my money. I started doubting her and lacking peace when she was rushing me to give her the full amount.
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I would advise against using this agency.
I've never encountered a worse agency or customer service than this one! They have absolutely no credit! After I informed them that I would make reservations with another agency, they gave us the price for a private group at $1500 USD per person. After confirming the accommodations and sending me the quote and schedule twice, I accepted their offer and turned out others. They said they made a mistake and could not continue our contract at the original pricing just before I transferred the money. We spent several days discussing this excursion, and he claimed he was unaware that it was a private group. A crazy liar.
I would advise against using this agency since you never know what will happen with these untrustworthy individuals, and they might even break their word.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bad Experience
Attention!!!!!!! We have been victim of a scam we booked a safari for 7 days ,days before our trip, they just write they went to bankruptcy ,we write several times and still non response they just disappear, they ruined our vacation and we lost our money.
DE
Possible Fraud
I read the review from Jennifer and I have to say, we made some similar experiences with Southern Dynasty Safaris this summer. We paid for a service that was not delivered and we did not receive any refund. The problem is, they sit somewhere in Namibia. So, if there is a problem one cannot get to them. Furthermore, they have different adresses on different platforms. So I think, Jennifer is right, please be careful to deal with those guys.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We had a terrible experience with this African safari company and felt misled. We do not recommend their service.
Unprofessional and misleading experience – we cannot recommend this company.
We won a bid for a safari trip through a school gala event organized by "Charity Booster," with Run Wild African Safaris serving as the vendor. Unfortunately, this has turned out to be the worst travel experience of our lives.
From the start, it was clear that this is not a legitimate operation. Communication has been horrendous, with phone calls going unanswered and emails often receiving responses weeks or even months later. The level of dishonesty is staggering—they lie, they lie, they lie!
Before our trip, we were asked to pay unexpected fees $9000 upfront, but we never received a proper itinerary or any detailed information. As a family of four with two children, we were left completely in the dark about what to expect. No pictures, names of hotels, or camping details were shared before our departure. What upset me the most was the unauthorized changes made to our trip.
1. Changed Itinerary: The itinerary provided was vastly different from what was promised. We were misled with the offer of a “free upgrade” and ended up spending four nights in a remote area described as a semi-desert. Despite explicitly requesting to stay in a Botswana safari camp, we were relocated to an obscure location in Zimbabwe that is not even an authentic African safari destination—it’s a mining zone.
2. Misrepresentation of Accommodations: We were told via phone that we would be staying in the “most luxurious” camp available, which could accommodate up to 13 people. They even encouraged us to bring more family members to increase their profits. Shockingly, no photos or information regarding the camp name, food, or accommodations were ever sent to us. It was only through a friend who participated in the bidding process that I learned there would be no electricity, Wi-Fi, or air conditioning at the camp. In reality, we were placed in a tiny, rough tent, far from the luxurious experience that had been promised.
3. Delayed Itinerary Release: To further complicate matters, they withheld our itinerary until just three days before the trip, despite our persistent requests for ten months. They appeared to have intentionally kept us in the dark, knowing that we would be forced to accept their terms with no ability to cancel.
4. Excessive Additional Charges: We were informed of an added fee of $3,500 for “private cross-country vehicle transfers, mandatory taxes/levies, tribal community conservation fees, and wildlife conservation fees.” However, since we will only be staying in Zimbabwe for four nights due to the last-minute changes, the private cross-country transfers are nonsensical and feel like a blatant rip-off.
In summary, our experience with Run Wild African Safaris has been incredibly disappointing and frustrating. We were misled every step of the way, and I strongly advise others to think twice before engaging with this company.
LA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
They disappointed me a lot.
I went on a 15 day tour with Africa joy tours. They disappointed me a lot. They misbehaved me they made me travel to only three places in 15 days and charged me a lot of money. I paid them $4000 first. Later they took another 3000$ from me. They charged me a total of $7000, but our deal was $4000. They are really a dishonest company in my opinion.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
I recommend you go for another agency!
We (my sister and myself) were discussing what score would be the most appropriate here.
We were hesitating between 1 and 2.
And eventually decided to evaluate our experience with Kilipath for one star.
Pity but we couldn’t have found any positive aspect of our most anticipated trip.
I started browsing safari options a bit more than 1 month before our journey to Tanzania. I sent out several inquiries and eventually decided for Kilipath that was able to accommodate my requests quite promptly.
My contact with Judith (coordinator) was efficient. She was very responsive. I was really amazed by how quickly she agreed to embrace my ideas and come up with a satisfactory itinerary.
But it turned out that this quick agreement has its own price…
Once she confirmed she can accommodate all my requests, I paid the required deposit (20% of the full price) and I was happy I finally got it sorted.
The day before the planned start of our North safari, we flew from Dar es Salaam and very late in the evening landed on the Kilimanjaro airport where we have been picked up by Judith and then we headed to Arusha.
We were extremely tired.
The very first thing Judith told us was that our itinerary has been changed and instead of visiting Tarangire Park first we’ll be traveling to Serengeti Park (that is much farther) and Tarangire was put at the end of the trip (not logical at all since Tarangire is the closest destination from Arusha). She said it has been requested by the rest of the group (it was a joining safari). I know the logistics is tough & tight and the accommodation bookings and also parks’ permits need to be managed in advance. However the fact she didn’t tell us that asking for our consent was outrageous. She changed the plan without our approval. She decided on our behalf that is in my opinion unacceptable.
The second info she provided us with was… a tipping guidance. She said it’s expected to tip everyone, including herself (!!!) 10$ per PERSON per day (sic!). That was too much for us.
We know what are recommended tips in Tanzania and 10$ are always appreciated as an amount per group and not per person, especially that there were only two of us (not a big group at all).
At this very moment I got speechless and stopped being chatty.
She also told us that we need to pay for breakfast in our hotel in Arusha (accommodation provided by the agency).
The next day we have been picked up by our “guide” (quotation mark on purpose; explained in another review) and realized there were two other people with us, so only the four of us were going to travel.
It turned out the agenda was changed on request of some other people who were supposed to participate in the safari, but they didn’t show up (either their flight has been cancelled or they missed their flight).
So the agenda was adjusted to people who eventually didn’t take part in the safari and all other people who were traveling were forced to go for it although no one was happy with that.
Another thing was that we were put into a safari group organized by another agency (not Kilipath) and we also haven’t been notified on this; needless to say: asked for our consent. Just shocking.
About the other agency we were on safari with (Serengeti African Tours) I posted a separate review.
This was our first joining safari experience in Tanzania and we didn’t realize that some definitions used by Kilipath in the quote we got (with the detailed plan of the safari) was very ‚tricky’ or better said: misleading.
Later (after another, private safari) when we realized how safari logistics looks like (or should look like, at least), we found some very weird terms in our Kilipath quote, e.g.: ‚transfer game drive’.
There is ‚a game drive’ (driving at a slow pace when you can find animals and observe them) and there is ‚a transfer’ where you are heading to another destination (a normal driving at a normal speed, so: no way you can contemplate animals, because you’re in hurry to reach next place).
There is ‚a game drive’ and there is ‚a transfer’. There is not such a thing like ‚a transfer game drive’! Be aware and cautious! Read your quotes very carefully before agreeing on anything!
Our safari (led by another company) was also a very unfortunate affair (I wrote another review that points out its reasons).
After second day in Serengeti we were so sour, disappointed, angry or even furious that we were considering dropping the safari and asking for a partially refund from Kilipath. Really. Eventually did Kilipath offer a 50$ refund which we declined.
To Kilipath: please do not take advantage of the fact you’re local (in a bad or even in a nasty way). Although we are outsiders, we see things and can easily and quickly realize if someone is trying to cheat on us.
I don’t recommend Kilipath at all. Very poor customer service.
I never gave that low score to anyone.
I tried to mention all the aspects of our experience and explain why we didn’t enjoy it, hence the length of the review
35-50 years of age
Unprofessional and overall bad services
I can't say I got value for money. Because I paid for a tour to the Mara for July for 3 adults 2 kids but got a family funeral which made me postpone...I communicated and the lady "Mary" told me she would communicate with the hotel. I reached out when my schedule opened up in November and Mary gave me a date...only to arrive in the hotel and apparently they didn't have a booking for us. And then we were kept starving with kids in the cold and in the dark coz apparently no payment was made. So we were abandoned by the travel agency and made to pay for the rooms ourselves so that the generator can be switched on and the food be made. Even after making payment to the Agent in full.
Use them at your own risk.
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
$10.000 DOWN THE DRAIN
Scammed by Kipok! Made us pay a massive amount online for the national parks, cancelled our booking and used our money for other bookings. Nothing arranged in Tanzania. No hotel, no car, no guide,nothing. Kenya was done via subcontractor which we paid for again as Kipok did not pay them. Stay away from this company!!!
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
He went bankrucpt and has filed for liquidation Lost $4060
Had booked masai Mara safari from sept. 12 thru sept 20
But on August 26 I broke my hip bone and had to be hospitalized and could not travel. My niece informed William of Madukha tours of the above accident and he agreed to give 75% of the tour money as refund
It has been two months of writing to him but still no reply ,just promises
Finally two weeks ago he informed me that he has gone in liquidation!
So in reality I have lost my money
Madukha is still operating. His website is working and he is making a fool of lots of people
Be careful otherwise you will loose your money.