The team
Karibu Safaris In Kenya
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 1986)
- Member Of:
- KATO, Tourism Regulatory Authority & Eco Toursm Kenya
- Tour Types:
- Small & medium group tours (Mid-range & luxury)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $80 to $280 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
IL
Email Zeev | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
If you have another option, choose to use it
Safari is minimal in terms of conditions.
The vehicle was Oldest relative to other safari vehicles.
Unconventional tour coordination, planning was poor, not based on customer requirements, the driver wanted to finish as quickly as possible without taking additional sites. Edward and recommended his name to go with it.
Robert was not available to solve problems, and at the end of evaded answering the allegations.
There are other companies that drive safari, recommended to get them on trips in Kenya.
Reply from Karibu Safaris In Kenya
Posted on Mar 29, 2017
Thanks for the feed back,
I took sometime to make a follow up on your complain and questioned robert and edward and was told that all was well when you did the 4Days Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru(even the guest from Ukraine (Aleksandra) wrote a review immediately after getting dropped at the hotel from the safari, the whole problem started on the last day when you were taken to at the base of mount kenya to take photos and you demanded be taken for game drives which was not included in the package you were offered and when Edward asked you to confirm with your program and whats included you confirmed and saw it was not included, as for you to have game drives we had to pay park fees and car and driver park fees and Edward suggested that you pay the park fees and then you be taken for game drives which you declined and returned to Nairobi.
Robert on the given day was not around(Saturday) we usually send him out on the field over weekends for camp/accomodation inspections, but we sent Arony the driver guide that you went with the 4Days Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru and when he reached the hotel was told your out, he called you and you told him you were out and you will call him when you arrive which you did not.
About the safari vans we have the latest safari vans in kenya(wish could attached some of the photos) that's why many small safari operators trust us and give us there guests to join with ours to take on safari.
Sorry once again and i will do my investigation keenly and who ever will be held responsible has to be punished.
Regards
Msafiri
CHAIRMAN
Email Anna | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Not professionnal or serious enough
I booked two different safari tours with this company. I had to pay cash for the 2 tours and the tour operator applies a strange conversion rate (440$ -> 48400 KES). I did'nt complain at the time.
The first tour was a 3 days in Masai Mara tour - safari joining group : it went quite well, especially thanks to our guide James who really did his best to help us find the Big Five.
However, we didn't get water as planned on the website. When I asked the company, they put responsability on the guide.
The second tour was a One Day solo in Amboseli: the guide was supposed to pick me up at 5am at the hotel. He arrived at 5:40 because of a technical problem with the car. This car was so old that it was already amazing that it could still drive. The first guide drove at a gas station and I had to wait for another 15 minutes for a second driver to come and pick me up. A lunch box was supposed to be included so we could have lunch in the park but it was'nt. So we headed to the park and had nothing to eat before 5 pm, at a gas station, when we came back to Nairobi.
When I wrote to the tour operator to complain and ask for compensation, they didn't even bother to answer and at least apologize.
I know I booked cheap tours, but even when it's cheap you can expect the basic professionalism from a tour operator.
Email stelio | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
missold package
We have missold a Safari Package, we took the Kenya and Tanzania package as advertised on their website and we paid $1700 per person for 10 nights.
First of all Karibu Safari is not licensed to operate in Kenya, so basically they took us to the border, put us on a transfer and gave us to a different agency... very different from what we had paid for and we were expecting
Karibu Safari and Robert demonstrated their incompetence from the information stage until the organization stage of our trip.
More specifically we experienced the following issues:
1) they sold us a package with max 6 people in the van and for 4 days there were 7 people in the car
2) WIFI at lodges and hotels, Robert told us that there was WIFI at the lodges and hotel in Kenya but there was not WIFI in any of the lodges in Kenya & Tanzania, the quality of the lodges and the services offered was ridiculous, we spoke with other travelers and our lodges were the cheapest and the worst ones that you can find...
3) Waiting time, on the way from masai mara to lake nakuru, we have to wait 3 hours in the middle of the road for an other car to change passengers and due to this inconvenient we lost our night game drive to lake nakuru
4) Lake nakuru to Amboseli trip: they told us that was 4 hours driving when it took more than 10 hours due to the fact that we have to go to Nairobi to pick an other tourist and got stuck in the traffic
5)Passing from Kenya to Tanzania, we had to wait 4 hours, the transfer that Karibu arranged for us did not have valid documents to pass the border, as a result of it a group of 14 people spent 4 hours with 40 degrees waiting.... a taxy would have costed $30 and would have avoided our group of 4 people waiting 4 hours.
The result of this 4 hours waiting time was the shift of lake manyara and the cancellation of our night at ngorongoro camp, again this is not what we have paid for and with a little bit of care and attention should have been avoided, we were not paying the price for a budget safari and there are not excuses for this lack of organization, an agency who arrange a crossborder transfer with a car who has not documents should be closed straight away....
6) We were in the group with Tanya (you can read the other 1 star review) and we agree with everything that she said, Karibu staff was just rude and careless promising things that they were not willing to do just looking how to get few more dollars...
I really cannot believe that the 5 stars review are genuine, personally we had a terrible experience and the worst element was the discussion with Robert and the other Karibu staff who wanted to be right and cannot accept the evidence, after several discussion they apologized and they refused to offer a compensation for all the inconvenience that we suffered.
Robert and his staff think that the fact that they have not left us in the middle of the road is a success, they have no idea of what it means customer service and they think that tourists are just chicken to get money out of it, they cannot understand customer need and if they only wanted to, they could have offered a much better service making customers happy and giving value for the money spent
Reply from Karibu Safaris In Kenya
Posted on Jul 31, 2015Karibu Safaris is licensed operator in Kenya(Anybody in doubt we can email them the certificate offered to us my the ministry of tourism).
There was a recently new accord signed by both Kenya and Tanzania that no operator shall be allowed to operate in another country even there vehicles should not pass the border point hence work in partners as agents from both countries.
You and Diana(traveled as a couple) you have posted 2 similar reviews, so we have responded to her review page.
Sorry for the bad experience you had while on safari,as much as it has tainted a bad picture it has made us also change the way we operate group joining safari for the better and nothing like this will ever happen in the future.
DIRECTOR
Msafiri