Reliable safari packages for international market
Africa Flash Mc Tours & Travel
- Office In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2008)
- Member Of:
- KATO, Ecotourism Kenya & Travelife
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $500 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
US
Email CN | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Worked out but stressful
I used Flash Mc Tours to do day trips in Nairobi and to provide driver service as we were flying in and out of Nairobi to Zambia and Tanzania. The first driver went to the wrong terminal. Fortunately, my son had a phone that could make international calls so the driver finally was contacted and provided the ride to hotel. The next day, a different driver picked us up on time and did a great job taking us to Amboseli NP. Our main contact Peter seemed disorganized and wanted us to provide flight information repeatedly. He also forgot to schedule a driver for one day until we reminded him.
The last day we had a city tour. Our driver was nearly an hour late with Peter and the driver pointing out that it was the other's fault. Our city tour driver told us that he specialized in city tours but really turned out to just be a very pleasant driver. He provided very little information.
If you are going to use Peter and Flash Mc Tours, I suggest that you constantly remind Peter about your needs. Perhaps our problems would have been less if we had a continual safari instead of needing services over 2 weeks as we flew in and out of Nairobi. However, I was upfront and contracted with Peter for the services before arriving in Nairobi.
Reply from Africa Flash Mc Tours & Travel
Posted on Aug 8, 2019Jambo CN,
Thanks for choosing to travel with us, and writing us the review. This will help us improve on our short comings. My apologies, and I take responsibility for any delays and inconvenienced caused.
Allow me to give a short explanation,
1) When you made the booking for your transfers, you only shared the details of your arrival time, but not the actual flights details, thus when we sent a driver to pick you up, and did not have the flight details, he may have gone to the wrong terminal, as different flights use different arrival terminals. Thus if I had the actual flight details, it would have helped a lot. The flight number would also enable us to know, if there were any delays with your flight. This is the reason, I would always email you, to request you to send us the flight details even though we had the time of arrival.
2) As for the City Tour, we were meant to begin with a visit to DSWT and only opens up for 1 hour between 11:00 am and 12:00 noon. The schedule was to pick you up at 09:00 am, but since it happened to be a Sunday and there was no traffic, I thought, it would be best to pick you up at 10:00 am, so that you do not wait for long before being allowed for the viewing. I sent an email, but on the change, but it must have been a bit late, as I had spoken to your driver as well.
I can however assure you that, this shall not happen again, and I will work on all the other areas you mentioned. Thanks once more for choosing to travel with us.
QA
Email Nan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Both Good and Bad Experiences (9-day trip with kids)
I just came back from a 9-day safari trip from Kenya and Tanzania. I want to write down both good and bad experiences. We have 2 adults, one 10.5-year boy and one 2.5-year girl.
Good experiences. (Peter is the one who runs the company)
1. Peter is very nice, from email contact to meeting me in the airport.
2. Peter upgraded my last night room in Nairobi for free, since I had some bad experience (see shortly below).
3. The travel guide is good.
4. The hotels are good.
Bad experiences.
1. On the trip from Masai Mara to Serengeti, Peter told me that it will take 4 hours. In fact, it took 14 hours, which was a terrible mistake. Although Peter said later that there is another route that he tried to ask the driver to use, however, I don't quite trust it since (a) the > 12 hours route is written in the itinerary; and (b) we have met in that day, if he knew another way, he should change it. BTW, the 12 hours driving is without traffic, but with very bumpy and dusty road.
Things got worse that night that the car we ran out of gas, in the middle of the big Serengeti national park. I don't know how professional people can make such mistakes. That was totally a mess, and we were lucky that the Tanzania guide found his friend to fix the problem, which took one hour. The worst case could be that we stayed in the car with kids for the whole night.
2. The car in Tanzania was bad, with a lot of dust, which made my daughter coughing and in fever for 2 days. Peter has no ability to change it, since it is from another company.
3. From Ngorongoro to Lake Manyara in Tanzania, it should take only a little bit more than one hour. However, in fact, it took us 4 hours. The reason is that Peter forgot to buy the pass. In Tanzania, you cannot even pay cash for the national park, the money should be transferred and the car should be registered before hand. This made us very unhappy since my son was sick and we wasted >2 hours for the pass (ticket) that was not prepaid.
Adding to the above bad experience is that, if you take more hours (for nothing) on the road, simply you have less hours to see animals, which you have paid for.
Again, Peter is very nice and he is very sorry for my bad experiences. However, I have to write down my experiences.
Reply from Africa Flash Mc Tours & Travel
Posted on Oct 1, 2015Dear Nan
I would like to thank you for choosing to travel with us and having shared your experience, and also apologize to you and your family for the challenges you faced during the safari with my company as below;
1. On the distance from Maasai Mara to Serengeti - When I gave you the distance on the safari I used google map to determine the shortest distance, and I was hoping to use the road that crosses Maasai Mara directly to the boarder and that would have reduced the time by half, but after further consultation while on safari I opted we use the longer distance but I was not aware it would take 14 hours to the to get you to Serengeti. I apologize because it was my responsibility to know this would happen and I should have informed you accordingly.
On the fuel part, I never knew that happened until I saw and read your review. I have contacted our handler in Tanzania and he informed me that the vehicle still had fuel in it as the Land Cruisers have 2 tanks, and after the first tank ran out, the knob that was supposed to allow the second tank to begin it's consumption failed thus why the vehicle failed and they were able to manually transfer the fuel to the 1st tank and continue with the safari although this took an our of your time. This would have been avoided if I had taken adequate measures and ensured that the vehicle being offered on the Tanzania Part was well maintained and had not failed along the way, thus I take full responsibility for this and apologize for putting you and the family in that position.
2. The car in Tanzania, was a total failure on my part. After closing on the car on the Tanzania Part and being assured that the car was what I had requested, I should have traveled to Tanzania and ensure what you were offered is what had been agreed between me and my handler in Tanzania, and if this was not the case I would have put a mechanism to have another vehicle in the stand still ready to replace it. I can assure you that this information is very important to me and that I will ensure this never happens again.
3. As for Ngorongoro to Lake Manyara, I assure you that it was not a complete failure on my part as I had paid all your fees before hand through my Tanzania handler and you should not have had any delays, and when you called about this I made every effort to ensure this was resolved including sending additional cash to guide Leonard to ensure the trip proceeded without any further stalling and resolve the issue with him when you got back.
In light of the above I have put all the necessary measures to ensure the above never happens again, including buying a Land Cruiser purposely for Tanzania Safaris and opening an office in Tanzania to handle all our transport issues within the shortest time possible.
Thanks for Choosing us
Peter & the Team
My trip
The goods points of my trip with Flash Mc Tours are that the company was able to accommodate my needs in terms of price and schedule. The guide/driver was very solicited and we were able to see various animals in Amboseli as well as visit the Masai village. The lodge was also good and the staff very friendly. The points that could be improved are punctuality (the car was 2h late to pick me up in the airport and we missed the first day game as we arrived very late in Amboseli, which was compensated later). The car also needed regular maintenance.
Reply from Africa Flash Mc Tours & Travel
Posted on May 21, 2015Hi Pepe,
Thanks for the review and pointing out the areas that need to be addressed. Again we are sorry for the delay in pick up from the Airport which was a result of the heavy traffic which we should have anticipated and be at the airport much earlier. As for the vehicle we have that under review and we have brought another new fleet of vehicles to replace the old ones. Thanks once more for travelling with us.
Best Regards
Africa Flash McTours C.E.O
They paid back the $240
** UPDATE MARCH 2015
Peter paid us back today. He called me a few times in the past weeks to explain he was sorting out the financial trouble he got into, and promised he would pay back the money. So he did, the full amount. I am writing this update to do justice to him and his company. Despite the trouble, he's now trying to sort this, as he has done with me and my family.
** ORIGINAL REVIEW
Be aware if you consider to book with this company - I / my family still hasn't received the $240 refund. We paid up-front for a number of things including a safari (and park fees) to Amboseli. The deal was my family would visit Amboseli for 2 days, but they ended up going only 1 day. As the park fees for 2 adults and 2 children were already paid, Africa Flash Mc Tours need to pay us back the $240. Despite NUMEROUS emails, phone calls (Peter's number and the hotline number on their website), whatsapp messages to Peter etc I still haven't received anything. I got a few promises ("you'll get it tomorrow because I have reached my ATM limit", or "I will get it to you by Monday", etc etc) but still no refund... This refund is what obviously concerns me most. But, I'd like to add that generally their services are not great either. My family was supposed to be picked up for the Masai Mara at 8.30am (which I felt was a bit late, but Peter said this was fine), but the van showed up at 10.00am! I didn't get a justification why they were 1,5 hours late (yeah traffic....). I do want to do justice to two of their guides for the Masai Mara and Amboseli - my family did really like them.
BE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amboseli 2 days, 1 night at Kimana Tented camp
Let me start by saying that the communication with Peter went good.
He replies very quickly on his e-mails.
(Which, in my opinion, gives you confidence that it's not a scam)
When I had to pay half upfront, I started wondering if it would be a scam or not.
After paying I received a receipt. 2 days later, the driver was at my door to start the Safari as aggreed.
Conclusion: No scam
In our original itinerary it said we would be staying at Kibo.
I decided to stay in my own tent. Peter forgot to mention that it was not posible at Kibo. Therefore he booked us at a less luxurious camp. With, lets be honest, basic facilities. That was a dissapointment since I was expecting Kibo. Which, according to the website, looks very nice.
The driver was friendly.
I also liked the fact that he didn't take many crazy risks on the busy road towards the park.
In the end, I had a good safari.
US
Email OZo | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Needs improvement
The Masai Mara is an incredible place with incredible animals and landscapes. Peter was excellent at communicating with us in a timely manner to answer all our questions and set up our itinerary for our safari trip.
However we were not satisfied with the behavior of our driver who tried to convince us to enter and exit the park at the times we suggested. We think he was doing this in order to avoid paying the park fees for one day (each entry fee is valid for 24 hours). However we wanted to have as much time as possible in the park, as per what we had paid for, and in accordance with park timings. When we asked to stay in the park a bit longer than the time the driver was suggesting, he proceeded to avoid driving us out of the park through the main gate and instead drove us off track and trespassed through the Masai village at high speed. There were small children on the path and adult men and women (who carry sticks) started yelling at our van and throwing stones as the driver sped through. This was extremely embarrassing for us, as well as dangerous, as it was very dark and there were small children in the way.
Then the driver stopped and a man who seemed to be a Masai chief entered our car and spoke to our driver the entire way back to our hotel. We don't know what they negotiated or what they were talking about, since we don't speak their language and our driver wasn't communicating anything with us.
We hope Flash McTours will work on improving their services. This kind of experience is not conducive for a pleasant safari experience. It is unsafe and likely to make your visitors feel very nervous and uncomfortable. Furthermore,
It is essential that safari companies follow park rules and regulations and respect the Masai community, and their land.
IE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Refunded for day 1 of trip
** UPDATE APRIL 2015
Thanks to peter for refunding us the cost of our first day's travel as promised
** ORIGINAL REVIEW
We booked transport from Nairobi airport to Masai Mara for 7.30am dept time so we could do an afternoon game drive. We left nairobi 8 hours late at 3:30 pm having waited all day and arrived at 9:30pm and missed entirely one of our two days of game drives. We were given continued excuses over and over again and several requests for money en route for expenses etc. We had paid upfront and in full. This company almost ruined the entire trip. Thankfully we had independently booked great accommodation who provided their own good driver and guide for our game drive the next day. This company is not anywhere near good enough and should be avoided at all costs. They have promised a refund but continuously have deferred about paying this.
Reply from Africa Flash Mc Tours & Travel
Posted on May 21, 2015Dear Patrick,
Sorry for the delay in departing for the Maasai Mara on the first day and missing out on the game drive on that day! This was as a result of change in vehicles for the safari and the vehicle assigned to you was late from a safari thus failure on our part to depart for the safari on time. This has been rectified by having a vehicle in standby just incase one of our vehicles does not make it in time for a pick up.
I am also sorry for the fact that you paid for some expenses, although all that was refunded this was not supposed to have happened and I have dealt with the issue permanently to ensure it never happens again.
Best Regards
Africa Flash McTours C.E.O
HK
Email Kelvin | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Stay away from this company. Still owed a refund
I travelled as a group of 4 and booked a trek and safari trip with Peter at Africa Flash McTours and paid in full before my vacation. He never showed up for the safari trip and I was left on my own to book another tour when I was in Africa. He promised to refund me my money (a couple thousand US dollars) and after 6 months, he still has not.
There has been mixed reviews on this company on safaribookings. Im sure Peter (who runs this company) has had some good tours in the past, but there are also many many poor reviews you need to be mindful of because they are in fact true. His company is NOT registered with the tourism board and he has a history of not showing up on time, changing itinerary and cheating people their money.
For the past 6 months he has continued to say he would send the refund that he owes my group. Every week he fails to do so. He has stolen over $2000 USD from my group.
Do NOT risk your vacation with this company. Do NOT put your trust in Peter. There are so many other safari tour companies you can go with.
US
Email James | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Our guide, Dennis, was never on time, and never even showed up the final day, leaving us stranded!!!
Everything leading up to the safari dealt with Peter, who led me to believe everything would go seamlessly. The safari was an absolute disaster. We never even met Peter, and our guide was so late each day that we missed activities in the morning, afternoon and evening each and every day. Moreover, on the last day, he was slated to pick us up for a private tour at 3AM at our hotel, and never showed, never called/texted, and to this day, we have never heard from him or Peter. After 10 African countries, this was the worst experience we had by far! Stay far, far, far away!!!
Reply from Africa Flash Mc Tours & Travel
Posted on Sep 5, 2016Hello James,
Greetings from Africa Flash McTours.
Thank you for taking time out to post your review of Africa Flash McTours on Safari Bookings.
Kindly allow me to clarify that at Africa Flash McTours, my team and I value all our guests and treat them all as valuable since they are the reason for our being. Services offered to all our valuable guests are also of the same standard. Any variation of the service standard is most of the time supplementary which the individual guest may have paid for separately. In regard to your complaints;
I want through it, and realized there was much that was not tended to, but on following up with your guide I also realized you made some arrangements with him that were not part of our initial itinerary, that caused your disappointment;
1. You requested to be taken to be local town center in the middle of the night, which only exposed you to threats that were unwarranted for. The guide could not do this as this would mean putting you in harms way.
2. Planning a 3 am safari to Amboseli that, never went through the office, and was not part of the itinerary, and I only came to learn of it through your review. This is not allowed with the ministry, to move our guests in the night. You should have consulted with me on this.
I only disputed the above, because of the above information, which should have been communicated to me. Should anything have happened to you, I would be fully liable yet I was not even consulted.
I am sorry for the bad experience, and sorry that I couldn't meet on the day of the safari, but this is because I was not in town and all the safari arrangements had been made prior. I have taken further disciplinary measures with the guide, to ensure this never happens and also put a team in place to ensure that all our clients are met not only, by our guide for the safari but also the an office representative of the company.
Please plan to your next safari with us and we shall ensure you have a memorable one.
We at Africa Flash McTours always endeavor to exceed our guest expectations.
The team and I look forward to hosting you again.
be careful - wrong itinerary
I'm so sorry, but be careful. You can't trust the company.
The itinerary was wrong (5 days Mt Kenya, 2 days Samburu NP)
and you can't trust the stuff:
I left my luggage in the office, and after the Climbing, I missed my electronical values.
Reply from Africa Flash Mc Tours & Travel
Posted on Aug 6, 2016Dear Eva,
Greetings from Africa Flash McTours.
Thank you for taking time out to post your review of Africa Flash McTours on Safari Booking.
Kindly allow me to clarify that at Africa Flash McTours, my team and I value all our guests and treat them all as valuable since they are the reason for our being. Services offered to all our valuable guests are also of the same standard. Any variation of the service standard is most of the time supplementary which the individual guest may have paid for separately. In regard to your complaints;
1. For the mount Kenya trekking safari, you were supposed to join a group, but the other members of the group that you were to join, changed on the dates of their safari, this however does not mean that we have to cancel anybody else trip booked on the same dates, even if it cost us more to take you alone, as the cost for hosting on person alone while trekking is the same as if we had 3 people. Thus there was no saving on our end.
2. You also requested we change the route while at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, from Sirimon to Chogoria, which I was fine although there was a higher cost implication on our end. You can check this online based on the cost for the trek I offered and the one the route you requested, thus you asked we change the itinerary for you and we obliged.
3. For the Samburu safari, the park is divided into 3 parts, i.e Samburu NP, Buffallo Springs and Shaba. Once we enter into the gate of any of this park we have to pay our clients park fees for the 2 nights. With this park fees you are supposed to utilize the 48 hours you are there and we take our clients to this 3 parks as the cost of the park fees allows. From previous safaris we take this seriously and ensure you get to enjoy all the park has to offer, which we did, so I am sorry if this was a mistake and we since you wanted to visit Samburu alone.
4. As for the Ipad, I requested you come to the office after your safari, but you declined. I however followed up on the same. You did not mention of any valuables in the bag that was left at the office. I made a formal complain on this, but you didn't come so no one could back for the insurance to cover for this. Also we have not had any such incidence before.
Please plan to your next safari with us and we shall ensure you have a memorable one.
We at Africa Flash McTours always endeavor to exceed our guest expectations.
The team and I look forward to hosting you again.