DK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Suspicious about the money
We had a mixed experience with Bongo, easy booking and communication, and our safari driver was nice and helpful. But on the day, before going home, the owner called and said he could not transfer money for our hotel stay and asked me to pay for it, and he would pay me back, i accepted since i had no choice but thought it was wierd, he would meet me the same day at where i was staying and give me the money, but he showed up an hour too late and did not have the money, i insisted that he would bring it the next day and he accepted it, but if we had gone home the day after, we would never have seen that money again, we called him all day the next day and he finally showed up with the money, mixed experience, felt very unsure and thought i had lost alot of money. Would not book again.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Do not recommend. Dishonest business practices, poor communication
We booked a 3 day Masai Mara safari with Unscripted Safaris. While our time in the park itself was good, the whole experience was marked by poor communication and shady business practices. The first point of suspicion was that the tour informed us several months after booking that our costs would be increased by nearly $300 a person due to an increase in park fees. However, these fee increases had been announced well in advance of our booking and we had assumed that they were already included in the price of our safari. We had no choice but to pay. On the day of our safari, the guide that we specifically had requested was not there, and was replaced with someone else. This was done without any prior warning or communication. Most critically, our itinerary at the time of booking that our tour would a 3 day safari that included an afternoon game drive the first day, a full day the second, and a morning game drive on the final morning. Halfway through our safari, we were told by our guide that this was not possible, and we would have to leave immediately in the morning of day 3 and depart the park. This was supposedly due to park policy, but none of this was communicated to us in advance. Our tour was cut short of what was promised, and our request for a partial refund was refused.
It was clear that Unscripted was simply telling us whatever we wanted to hear in order to make the sale. Once we had booked, all sense of customer service went out the window. Next time, I will go with a more honest company.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I would not use this company
The safari day and crater day were good everything seemed to be going well.
When we arrived at the second hotel it went down hill from there, the hotel was not as expected. Food took nearly 4 hours to come out and didn’t want to eat it as it was cold and looked awful as such we did not want to eat breakfast and risk food poisoning, when I gave feedback to the person I was in communication with for our tour I was told to “just go and eat the food multiple times.
The next day we arrived at the waterfall experience, where there was a complete lack of communication, I was very clear that we had an older person traveling with us and therefore couldn’t do much physical activity.
There was a 30 minute walk which involved climbing down and up rocks to get to the waterfall.
The lack of communication and the behaviour of the tour guide was unacceptable, the tour guide tried to push us into doing something else when we were very clear we could not do that activity, we lost money as they wouldn’t give a partial refund and made the end of our holiday very unenjoyable.
I would not recommend this company if you are traveling to Tanzania
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Ken showed up drunk twice during our safari
Although Uganda was lovely and a highly recommended destination, unfortunately we finished our safari with Bushmemories with a feeling of a relief. During our 10-day tour, Ken showed up completely drunk on two mornings, putting us in an uncomfortable position as the trip was already fully paid and we depended on him. Moreover, his organization was already a bit erratic before and during the trip, and overall we did not feel we got a great value for the money we paid.
The first situation took place in Fort Portal, his hometown, where Ken showed up 2 hours late for our morning departure, drunk and with a bleeding wound on his face. The second situation took place on the last day of our safari, when Ken showed up at 6:30am with a drink in his hand and barely able to stand straight, and without enough money to pay for our hotel, fully refuel the car or provide a lunch for us (although at this point we preferred anyway to arrive as soon as possible to our hotel in Entebbe and be free of him). He never apologized for his behavior, and we didn't feel secure enough to confront him. We were grateful that our driver Johnson was an extremely responsible and dependable person.
Before the trip, he did not give us a clear payment schedule, instead asking (with urgency) for different amounts at random moments. He changed the price relative to the original quote mentioning a change in the rate for gorilla permits, and tried to reuse this same excuse again later to increase the price further. On multiple occasions we started the day from driving around town to run Ken's errands that could have been easily taken care of the previous afternoon, as we usually finished our days early.
We requested a program that would not be too packed (also for budget reasons), but we were disappointed to realize that the last two days of the trip we were mostly confined to our hotels with no activities planned. Several items on our itinerary called "experiences" consisted of looking at something (tea plantation, long horn cows) from the car with some explanations from Ken. Having paid more than 200 USD per person per day, and having stayed mostly in budget accommodation we would have expected something more.
We did enjoy our holiday most of the time and loved what we saw in Uganda, but Ken's behavior was completely out of line and inexcusable leading us to leave the reviews to help other travelers make better choices in the future.
TH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience - bad organisation
I did a 6 day safari and the organisation here was very poor. Despite being assured i’d have plenty of time for my flight out of kenya, i almost missed my flight whilst the driver insisted in dropping every other person off first as it was a more convenient route for him (they were travelling between 4 hours to 1 day after me, so not urgent and dropping me off first would have added max 15mins to his driving). Everyday of the safari there was a late pickup, a failure to communicate changes in the schedule. What was worse that the driver generally seemed to have not been told, or had forgot, the agenda of my tour from the africa flash so was constantly asking me things I had not been told either (eg the name/phone number of the driver i was going to be dropped off with for the next days, where the meeting point was).
I’m an easygoing traveller and usually dont mind this sort of thing on normal holidays but when you’ve paid a lot of money (as these safaris are expensive) you do expect that the organisation at the very least would be in place.
In retrospect, i think it would have been less stressful and cheaper booking the hotels, transfers and safaris myself. Even one of the hotels I booked in the tour was not where I ended up staying because according to the tour operator supposedly the hotel had overbooked so I needed to be moved to another hotel (given all of the other things i experienced - i suspect that they had just failed to book my hotel).
I’m giving it two stars because despite my complaints above i did have a wonderful experience, i’m just not sure how much the tour organiser contributed to that.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unfulfilled refunded after 1 month due to their mistake
Our recent 8-day trip to Kenya and Tanzania with Morningstar was far from the unforgettable adventure we’d hoped for. Starting from Tanzania, everything went wrong and they still own us a huge number of money for nearly a month. They promised to refund next week everyday, but still seeing no money yet. And we even got a message from him saying we are NOT PATIENT!
In Tanzania, we had to pay for multiple services, including park fee, transportation fee, etc, twice, losing 2 half-day of safari due payment not done in advance. Despite reassurances from Dennis, Morningstar’s owner, promised refunds for these extra expenses never received. Further more, Morningstar has no direct staff in Tanzania, so they rely on a partner agency, which resulted in poor coordination and minimal support.
Having made our full payment two weeks prior to departure, we trusted that all fees were covered. However, upon arrival in Tanzania, we learned that key expenses, including park entry and transport, hadn’t been paid. Faced with the risk of being stranded, we had no choice but to cover these costs ourselves. Dennis blamed the missing payments on a hacked bank account and again promised a refund once we returned to Kenya—a promise that remains unfulfilled 25 days later.
While our guide Caleb in Kenya was experienced and dedicated, Morningstar’s overall handling left us disheartened. The lack of support, broken promises, and financial inconvenience made what should have been a dream safari a frustrating experience. Sadly, I cannot recommend Morningstar based on our trip.
Furthermore, I don't know if there’s anything related to racism or not, but I do find that reviews from other countries are great, they did not had to experience paying everything twice, while many Chinese tourists report money loss without timely refunds.
We do sincerely wish that the excuse from Denise is true and he will refund as he promised. Please get us the refund ASAP. If so, the whole trip is a memorable experience with MorningStar.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Last minute hotel change and no refund for hotel difference
The night before our tour after receiving our full payment, agency informed us of the hotels for our tour, two-thirds of which were different from the hotels we had initially confirmed. The point is that when we booked our trip more than three months ago, agency clearly wrote the hotels to be stayed at and broke down our total cost into each individual item, including the hotel cost of $3,210. Therefore, it is reasonable for us to know the actual cost of the changed hotels and ask for a refund of the difference, if any. However, when we asked agency to provide the relevant invoice, agency only provided an invoice for one hotel and then never responded again.
They never explained the reason for the hotel change. We had booked and paid a deposit more than three months in advance, but never received notice until the night before our trip. One of the hotels that was in the nature reserve was replaced with one in a town, so we had to spend an extra half day on transportation instead of game-driving. Most importantly, when we wanted to know the actual cost of the hotel, they responded with ignorance and silence.
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good but problem with payment and price
We booked in 2019 with them for a safari in Tanzania and everything was perfect. This time, it was for a safari in Kenya. The safari was perfect too, but we deal the price severals months before the departure and 2 weeks before the safari, they said that we will need to pay more money. They said it was because of troubles with the municipal council and the payment of taxes. They were supposed to return the extra money we paid, but since now we lost 1400$. I don't recommend Kiliholidays since you will not be sure the price you will pay at the end.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Not suitable for a couple's getaway
My fiancé and I booked a 6-day Kruger safari with Wild Planet Safari and we were so excited! Unfortunately, we were disappointed and ultimately, I do not recommend this company.
I will say that the safari guide was super knowledgeable and was able to answer all of our questions regarding wildlife.
I think the biggest problem we had is that we went as a couple, and it was not specified that all three meals would be eaten with the guide and his assistant. We were looking for a more intimate experience at dinnertime under the stars with a bottle of wine.
In general, we also had problems with the included food; the “friendly coffee gatherings” – as to quote the day-by-day itinerary– in the early mornings, for instance, consisted of instant coffee served in tin cups. (All coffee drinkers will agree that instant coffee is terrible). I had pictured sharing a hot thermos filled with freshly brewed coffee. There were coffee shops at the camp sites, so this could’ve easily been arranged.
Some of our food and drink requests (which were approved prior to the safari) were not met; and there were no crackling fires and bonfire glows at nighttime, as to quote the safari description. The owner (who was very defensive when I emailed her afterwards) told me that because of a cold front (which only started at the end of our safari), it got very windy and they could not risk lighting bond fires. She also said our opinions were molded by the cold weather when we had packed long layers, gloves, jackets, etc. just to be on the safe side.
Whoever wrote the safari description is a fantastic writer because we didn’t even think about asking questions re: coffee and fires (etc). I really fell for the beautiful, idealized descriptions of the itinerary.
There were a couple of other little things, such as a missing bottle of wine, some terribly overcooked steaks (I find that mind boggling, because the cook asked us how we wanted it prepared and we said “rare” and “medium”, yet everything steak came out identical); and I still don’t know what happened to a dinner salad that supposedly went bad. I eat TONS of fruit and veggies, so yes, it was THAT important to me.
They do get 5 stars for providing us with great wine in the evening though :).
So if your heart is set on visiting Kruger, I strongly urge you to choose another company.
PL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
not reliable
Overall, we do not recommend this company due to the dishonesty of the owner.
The opinion is based on experiences during an 8-day safari including Parks in Botswana and Victoria Falls.
Cons: Why do we rate the Owner of Lucky as dishonest? We had to buy our own entrance tickets to Victoria Falls, which he confirmed were included in the safari fees. Furthermore, even though he promised to refund these tickets, we never received our money back. An additional minus were the cars we drove - they were not properly checked and prepared, so one of the two vehicles broke down halfway through the safari, and Laky ineptly repaired them after two days.
Pros: It should be noted that the service team itself is great and we highly recommend them. A very good and committed guide, he tracked down every animal and always got very close to it. He was very nice and took care of us at every step. We would also like to thank the chef and assistant for the super tasty food and good organization of the camp, it was delicious, clean and very nice.