This Tour Is Offered By
Tanzania Vacation Operation owners-Family couple
Tanzania Vacation Operation
- Office In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2018)
- Member Of:
- IATA, TTB, KINAPA & TANAPA
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
-
KETZ
Tanzania Vacation Operation LTD are Tanzanian leading Ecosystem company-tailor made authentic safari company Showing the Wild, experience Nature and Live Nature of Africa with better value and more exciting safaris We have served the world’s most respected institution and organizations Specialists in Shared and private Safaris: Tanzania and Kenya. Explore the heart of Africa in an incredible safari in a 4x4 vehicle and you will discover the still untouched great parks of the planet.
Reviews15
HK
Worst nightmare
If you are looking for a tour company for your dream tour in Africa, NOT THIS ONE. Run away!
Only if there was the option of negative stars, this company would deserve 10 of them. Travelling with this company was the most horrifying experience, but trusting his owner John was the worst decision we had in life. He was lying to us till the very end of our tour. Never had I want to go home that badly for any vacation.
My husband and I came for our 12 days honeymoon, paid huge amount of money (50% deposit upon booking with them and 50% upon arrival, totally of $5500 USD per person) for everything inclusive and got the worst nightmare in our lives.
We know for sure we are not underpaying them, but they have not been keeping their promises, not even making sure everything on the itinerary were carried out accordingly.
It was a trip including safari at Kenya, safari at Tanzania and beach holiday in Zanzibar, Kenya.
The trip in Kenya was the first nightmare. The owner John, who was helpful and responsive ONLY ONLINE, turned to this disappearing person that never replied to us when we got here. He outsourced the job in Kenya to a local guide called Rufus, whom had never showed up at all. There was no designated person for our 4 days there, different people were responsible for driving us and bringing us around. They changed our itinerary without prior notice. One day, we left early morning towards the safari from Nairobe Kenya. We were promised lunch on route and afternoon safari game drive once we arrived. But that day, we arrived at 2:30pm to the hotel and didn’t have lunch till then. Itinerary also got changed from an afternoon safari game drive to a village visit which was a complete tourist trap and scam to us. They just found some Masai people on motorcycle and picked us up from the lodge, and told us this is the activity we have for the day.
The next day, we had our game drive at Masai Mara, we had to start late because the driver forgot to order lunch boxes from the Lodge the day before (all the drivers just came and took their lunchboxes and went for the game drive right away). We ended up waiting for 60 mins for lunchboxes to be ready.
At the National Park Gate, there were also some ticketing issues which made us wait for another 30 mins for entrance, which was not seen in the other jeeps. The worst was yet to come, Rufus hired a shabby car to drive us 5 hours to the Tanzania border, very terrible condition of the car and very poor road condition. We got stopped by the rangers at the park gate, and even got pulled over by the police because it was an illegal car for driving passengers.
Luckily, the experience in Serengeti National Parks in Tanzania was good, because John happened to have outsourced the work to a responsible and helpful guide called Michael.
Just as we thought the nightmare in Kenya was going to be over. John threw us a surprise again. Right at the time we boarded the plane to Zanzibar from Arusha, John sent us a hand written letter saying he could not pay for our trip at Zanzibar because his staff made a calculation mistake, and requested a top up of $1000 USD per person in order for him to complete our tour in Zanzibar. That was already the 8th day since we have settled out final payment, this whole calculation thing should not have heppened if he had booked everything for us as soon the payment was received. Therefore, we did not believe him. We didn't pay him, and the nighmare extended till the end of our trip.
These are what happened in Zanzibar:
1. He did not arrange transport for us from the airport to the hotel, so we were left stranded and helpless at the airport at 8:30pm at night.
2. He did not even book the hotel for us that night until our guide in Tanzania Michael helped us to call him. But when we arrived at the hotel, the hotel staff actually asked us to pay the hotel by ourselves. We refused and after negotiation with John, he finally agreed to pay the next day
3. We had to keep asking him for confirmation on the activities written on the itinerary. Eventually, there were 2 days of activities and 1 night of hotel not booked and not paid by him, which include 2 scuba dives ($120 per person), 1 snorkelling tour with dolphins (~$40 USD per person, and 1 night of hotel stay ($230 USD),
4. We had to pay by ourselves the diving we had, which was $250 for 2 persons, and paid $230 for 1 night at the hotel because he stopped replying to our messages. He made a lot of promises, but never came to fulfil them.
We have proof and receipts of everything we had to pay on our own. And we have pictures of his hand written letter.
From our experience this is the worst company you could get, terrible management, untrustworthy and dishonest owner, and all together made our nightmare.
HU
Great safari experience with excellent organization and friendly staff
We joined a 7-day safari with Royal Tiger Tours in late July, visiting Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara, Serengeti (two days), Ngorongoro Crater and Arusha National Park. Everything was very well organized from the moment we arrived in Nairobi until the end of the trip. They arranged all transfers seamlessly – between our Nairobi accommodation and the shuttle, in Arusha, and also for our return to Nairobi at the end of our holiday.
The accommodations were simple (as we requested to keep costs low), but clean and well maintained. The only exception was the public campsite in Serengeti, which was quite worn down compared to the excellent campsite at Ngorongoro. Communication was always smooth via WhatsApp, and any questions or requests we had were handled promptly.
One of our sons has gluten intolerance, and the team took special care to provide him with suitable meals. The cook prepared separate pancakes from corn flour, used the gluten-free bread we brought for sandwiches, and often made dishes everyone could enjoy. The food was plentiful and tasty throughout the trip.
Our guide and cook were both friendly and attentive. The guide always did his best to find the best spots for wildlife viewing, and the cook surprised our boys with small treats from shops along the way (lollipops, sodas, chips, even sugarcane). These little gestures made the trip even more special for our family.
Overall, we had a great experience and would definitely recommend Royal Tiger Tours to anyone looking for a well-organized, affordable, and family-friendly safari in Tanzania.
BR
Amazing experience!
John's team is wonderful! We planned an ambitious itinerary that included Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania, and John's company took care of everything in the latter two countries! We covered many kilometers, passing through villages and towns, enjoying an authentic and genuine experience. He spared no effort to ensure we saw the great migration, monitoring the herds and making the necessary adjustments to ensure everything went smoothly. The guides are patient, knowledgeable, and very friendly! The hotels were excellent, as were the vehicles we used. We highly recommend them!
NL
Quick replies, understanding, kind
We booked the 7-day Nairobi-Amboseli-Tarangire-Ngorongoro-Serengeti safari which was great! Our guide in Kenya, Rufus, and our guide in Tanzania, Ludo, were exceptional! They really went all out to show us everything there was to see. We saw the big 5, and lots of other animals. The lodges exceeded our expectations. Most people only do the Tanzania part, if you do, I recommend asking for Ludo.
NL
Amazing
We had a amazing safari! We have aren the big 5! All thanks to our guise Peter! The food in the hotels is not high standaard and also the room at our First stay was very basic but Malaika was super! Food the lodge and the staff! We loved it! John the contactperson of Fig Tree respons always very quickley and arranged everything very well!
