Meru Mountain Treks & Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2004)
- Member Of:
- Kilimanjaro Association of Tour Operators
- Tour Types:
- Budget & mid-range tours with set start dates and a fixed itinerary
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $160 to $550 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Seen a lot and complained a lot with Meru Mountain Treks
Mating lions in Serengeti, the continuous migration of wildebeest and zebras and the aftermath of a nightly hunting party of thirteen lions in the Ngorongoro crater. Yes, our experiences with Meru Mountain Treks were beyond our expectations. Thanks to our driver/guide Richard. He knows the parks, anticipates the behavior of the animals and turned out te be a nice guy. The cook had had simple tools but presented good meals.
So far so good. Yes, we knew we booked a budget safari (four days, four persons, $600 each) so we couldn't expect to much luxury. The problems started with the jeep. Despite assurances that all our gear would fit in it, the jeep was way too small. Richard arranged al larger one at additional costs ($300). The tents we were supposed to sleep in were moldy, had zippers that couldn't be closed and leaked. The least one may expect on a tent safari in the rainy saison is that the tents are waterproof. The first night there was an alternative: simple concrete huts, the second night half of our company decided to sleep in the jeep and the third night we slept in a guesthouse (again at additional costs of $300).
In stead of a quiet evening after a day of encounters with giraffes, elephants, lions and hippos, we constantly had to argue about the poor accommodation. There were telephone calls with Mr. Ibrahim, the director of Meru Mountain Treks, but he persisted that his tents were fine. After our return in Arusha an employee of Meru Mountain Treks invited us to talk about our experiences and our complaints. He announced that Mr. Ibrahim would show up later to hear our story first hand. But eventually he didn't bother. We never heard from Meru Mountain Treks again. Needless to say that Meru Mountain Treks will neither from us.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Not recommenable at all
I booked a 4-days-Safari to Lake Manyara National Park, Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park and ended up doing the tour with a very friendly french family. At first, also the owner of the company seemed to be a nice guy. Later that turned out to be a false first impression.
The first day we stayed in small bomas, the dinner was reasonable and their was enough food.
We found out the next morning that a another guy would join us for the next three days. Unfortunatly, we had to wait for him, which delayed our drive to the next park, but was of course not the fault of the very friendly south korean guy, who told us that he actually didn't book his safari with the same company we did. Before he joined us, we also spend about an hour at a garage to get the shocker of the jeep repeared.
The time we spend in the parks was great, we saw many animals and really enjoyed it. The smallest problem we had, was that the zippers of the tents that the safari company provided couldn't be closed. One of the things we really got annoyed about was that the driver and the cook didn't stick to the programm which was given to us when me made the booking. One morning, we should have left at six, but they said seven would be early enough because we would have been at another park to early. This would have ment an extra payment, as it was planned for us to stay until afternoon the next day (as you might know the entrance fee is only valid for 24 hours) and only goes to show that the programm was actually full of promises that weren't kept.
Another problem was the fact that there was not enough food for 5 people. When we came to the campsites after a long day, we had to wait for our food for more than an hour twice, while all the other travellers from other companies were already served. It made me upset, when the cook even delayed our moring game drive because he obivously didn't get up early enough to prepare breakfast. The portions were small and compared to what we were served the first evening and what people from other budget safari tours were having, the choice was too.
Also, I had the impression that our driver had no idea where he was going and didn't seem to have control over the car at all. On the way out of the Serengeti we almost overturned after a speed bump and drove into the bushes. How could the driver or the cook even dare to ask for a tip after their services had been so horrible?
When we came back to Arsuha and spoke to Ibrahim, the owner of the company, he wouldn't even listen to us. I was in his office with the french lady and her son. The cook had been taking pictures of some rice and a tiny bit of sauce we left over, so Ibrahim shouted at us and said we were lying when saying there was not enough food. He wouldn't even listen when we told him that we didn't finsh the food because their was no meat, no vegetables, barely some sauce and only this pile of rice left over. It was not possible to have a proper conversion with him and after he had called me a "bitch"and said "fuck you" to me, I decided to leave the office, because this was just getting ridiculous. The french lady asked me to stay which was not a good idea at all, because Ibrahim got very aggressive. We asked him again to stop shouting at us and really felt like I was in kindergarten. When I told him he was behaving like a child, he got up, took my glasses, cracked them into pieces and threw them on the floor. He even shouted silly things about us being christans, complained about us using up to much of the milk powder, claimed he had never had any complaints like this and reproached us for having too high expectations concerning the food. I really could't believe it! Just because he didn't want to take the critism of his clients serious, especially not from a white yound lady, he got violent. Moreover, he pushed the french lady out his office and might have broke her arm. I didn't find out, because they left the next morning.
I haven't experienced anything like that in the last 7 months in Tansania and Uganda. Next time I would definetly spend a hundred dollars more to avoid this kind of hassle. There is still no guarantee that everything will work out fine then, but I think in this case it's worth spending a little bit more money!
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
agence to be absolutely run away from
Your experience(experiment) confirms in 2015. The man did not change.
a very unpleasant experience with Meru treks and Safari. Violent person in charge on the customers who are not satisfied.
Insufficient food, guide - driver novice. Cook hooligan and liar to get out of trouble. Never at the hour. End-of-life vehicle
We asked ourselves the question to know if he did not get back the rests of the other agencies to feed his customers. To verify.
Agency to be absolutely run away from.
You know now
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Serious honest and hardworking for a fair price
Communications, food service and accomodations was very satisfying. I hoped we had seen more animals, maybe the driver could have driven to more different places within serengeti. We drove a lot on the same area. At the end I was very comfortable wit meru treks! Thanks
FR
Email Olivia | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Ibrahim the monster
I don't recommand meru treks at all frist of all the boss Ibrahim he's an asshole I would even say worse but I'll stay polite. It's an horrible person. We booked a 2 days safari with him for 280€ which extremely cheap, he was really nice friendly and professional at the beginning, so we were so happy to get a safari that cheap that we asked him if we could book a excursion to see the waterfalls, to do the coffee tour and to see the kilimanjaro. He said sure it's going to be 30€ more he said we'll take you from your place to the montain. We thought we were going by car obviously so we said yes . So the day after we were supposed to go at 7:30 no one came. We waited and called him he said the guide he's comming. And at 9am so 1:30 late 2 guides came and one of them was drunk and we were supposed to have only one guide. We told the drunk one to leave we went with the other one. And after 5min in car to get to the city centrer he told us that we were going to take the public transports to moshi which is at 2hours from arusha we were so angry because we paid to not take the public transports we could have done it ourselves. When we arrived in moshi we had to take another daladala to get to the mountain and we waited 1hour for the daladala to leave moshi and the guide was smoking talking to his friends so unprofessional. So basically we left at 9am to arrive at the place at 2pm. So we did the visit it was cool but the guide made us rush because he didn't want to miss the last dalala to get back to moshi so we couldn't take our time and enjoy. At the end obviously we missed the last daladala and the guide who was supposed to pay us everything didn't have enough money to pay for the motorbikes to take us to moshi so we had to pay. When we arrive in moshi we spend an hour in the street waiting for him to find money walking around the city to pay the bus to arusha, it was 8pm. Organisation 0 ! And then he finally got the money and we took the bus to Arusha and arrived at 10pm and we had the safari the day after at 7:30 am we didn't even have time to eat. My friend and I were so pissed off then we decided to complain to the boss. So we went to the office before going on safari. And ibrahim's real face appears, we talk to him very politely and he started shouting on us he got crazy he didn't even let us speak he had an answer for everything and he started saying "if you complain for that you're going to complain for the safari so don't go" we were so angry because we wanted to do the safari still but we had to complain about the day before because it was horrible. So he started to take off our bags from the car of the safari and he kept shouting waiting for us to apologise but we didn't, fortunately the driver was great and told him to let us go so we went on safari. Do you imagine 30€ for that ! And he didn't give us the money back obviously. But fortunately the driver joseph was amazing and the safari went well and we saw all the animals. So the 1 star I put is only for the safari and because at least it was cheap. But if you can avoid this company avoid it and especially Ibrahim this monster shouting on two 21 years old girls when he is the on who is wrong.
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Safari
I did the 5 days safari (Tarangine, Serengeti, N'gorongoro, Manyara) with 3 other persons ( i joined a group). So five days were very intense (lot of driving) but it worths every km and mn.
I took the tent camp safari. The camp sites were beyond my expectations: Panorama camp site (2 ights), camp site in Serengeti (1 night) and camp site Simba A (1 night). And the last night in Arusha (Raha leo guesthouse) was included in the price aswell.
It was low season so the Park were "empty" so we could enjoy the view and the animals without any disturbance.
Regarding the company, we had the best guid and cook ever: Mickael and Amani. Those two were the reasons why this safari was perfect.
I really recommend this company.
Ivan, french traveller
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
An incredible Safari, a good logistic, very nice guide and cook who fulfil our projects!!!
The overall experience with Meru Moutain treks and safari has been amazing. This is a budget Safari but you definitively get everything that you need. I went for a 4 days, 3 nights safari in Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. Everything has been working perfectly. The guide was friendly and very knowleadgeable. He drives safetly and took time to show us a lot of things and to listen our wishes which match with the scheduled. We had some amazing game drive in the different parks and we saw a lot of animals and we have been most of the time in a good timing to be some of the first one where the action was. The cook was very friendly and cook for us good meals, with everything needed (vegeteables, meet, starchy food) and more than enough concerning the quantity. It has been a life time trip that i will never forget. I can only recommend to you to go travel with them. Thank you again for everything!
KR
Email Dong-Soo Jeong | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Detail information, kind explanation before travel and truehearted service during travel
I can get a detail information and kind explanation from a managing director before travel and a feeling of satisfaction from the truehearted service of both driver and chef during travel. Also the price is reasonable.
RO
Email Roxana Barbuceanu | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Avoid them!
Ibrahim, the manager, is an asshole! He was rude and unprofessional. The accomodation provided was terrible. I would never ever book another safari with this guy.
The driver, Johnson, was ok and also the lady working for him, who arranged our transfers, was ok. But Ibrahim, the man who owns the bussiness, should find something elso to do for living, as in tourism he's a disaster.
RO
Email Stephan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unprofessional behavior and old cars! Do not go with them!
1st of all I can tell you that you can have a good experience with them but don't risk it.
Part 1. The manager, I think Ibrahim, took us from airport and went to a restaurant, it wa OK.
Part 2 We went to the hotel which had no hot water... Whatever we were going in Safari next morning, he told us that the car will arrive at 8am. It arrived at 8.20 with the problem of windshields. We lost like anotjer 30 mins.
P4 The driver was ok and had the knowledge of the parks (Tarangire and Ngorngoro).
P5 In the first day of the trip it rained in the car, it was during the rain season.
P6 The accomodation in the Manyara Igloo was ok.
P7 CUT TO THE CASE... We should have had another night in that Peace hotel we stayed in the first night. We went to Arusha wit a taxi driver coz' the Safari driver should have stayed in Safari for another day. AND THERE the manager told us that we wont stay at the hotel because président it's in town and there are no rooms left. When I asked him why it wasn't already payed he said that the room was "complementary", not like it was in tha package we paid. Like we should have stayed on the streets if it wasn't so 'kind' to offer us a "technical room" at the Meru Treks offices, with a llt of lound and unclean bed.
DO NOT GO WITH THEM!!!
This guy is full of surpises.
Actally the car broke in the Safari and we stayed there 45 mins...