Dens Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2011)
- Member Of:
- Zambia Tourism Board
- Tour Types:
- Small & medium group tours (Mid-range)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $1,560 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
SG
Email Sammy Six | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Dens Safaris: avoid at all costs!!
This is an honest and complete overview of my encounters during my trip with Dens Safaris in Zambia from Sept. 1-16, 2017, which I hope will provide a meaningful insight into the practices of this company for future clients.
My itinerary was arranged and paid for back in December 2016. Initial e-mail conversations with Denver Mbewe, the owner of the company, went smooth but further questions a couple weeks before my flight to Zambia went largely unanswered. These were critical questions related to the visa requirements, malaria pills etc. I sent a few e-mails and even a message on their Facebook, which was read but never answered. The only reply I received was that I was going to be picked up at the airport and someone would be waiting with a sign with my name on it.
My personal driver and guide in South Luangwa was an unexperienced young guy aged 24 (the youngest guide in the whole national park) who was clearly not used to dealing with customers. On the second day, I was told by him to repay my park fees for my entire stay at South Luangwa, totalling $250, which I already paid in advance 10 months ago as part of my all-inclusive package. I did not receive a satisfying answer on the phone by the office manager as to why this happened, but decided to go ahead and pay in order not to waste too much time.
I was driven around the park in an old safari vehicle which had issues with the engine radiator, which repeatedly overheated. Over the course of 4 days we used up to 3 different cars, all of mediocre at best quality. To make matters worse, my guide did not even have a radio with him on any of the days he guided me and also forgot to pack water and a cooler box during many days.
On the day of transfer from the Mfuwe to Nsefu sector of the park, my guide informed me that he was going to pick up a friend of his. I was not provided with any explanation who this person was and why he was joining me on my private safari. I assumed he just wanted to catch a ride from Mfuwe to Nsefu and we were going to drop him off once we arrived in Nsefu. Upon arrival in another bush camp, it became apparent that my guide was not at all familiar with the Nsefu sector, which is why he took this guy with us, although also he had to admit he was only partly familiar with that part of the park. During one of the game drives, he thought it to be a good idea to throw some large branches at a baby crocodile (twice) so it would move and I could get a better picture of the animal. I immediately told him that this was unacceptable.
Citing obvious safety hazards, the owner of the bush camp rightfully decided to send my guide back home. She also shared with me some stories about other Dens Safaris customers she had received in the past months who were anything but happy. She herself was only briefed about my arrival a couple days before, and thought I was self-driving to the park. She then kindly proposed me to use one of their guides who was a qualified professional South Luangwa guide. The difference in the quality of guiding was stark: the number of sightings went up and I felt much safer given his possession of a radio and plentiful water and food supplies. Because of the last minute change in plans, I had to join another photographer during most of my game drives in Nsefu, and I also had to give up on all day game drives as the other guests at the bush camp paid for morning and evening game drives. Therefore, I did not get what I paid for, which was strictly a private trip consisting entirely of full day game drives.
After my stay in South Luangwa, I flew to Lusaka for a transfer to the Lower Zambezi national park. After waiting for half an hour, Denver and his office manager picked me up and drove me towards Kiambi lodge. I repeated the issues and concerns I had been facing throughout my trip, which I also e-mailed to him a couple days before. Denver acknowledged that mistakes were made but did not come up with a proposal for compensation and left me at Kiambi without communicating how he would work this out in time before my departure back home.
In Lower Zambezi I stayed at the Munyemeshi River Lodge, a self-catering lodge were I seem to have been the only guest. The lodge was under renovation and there was hardly any staff around let alone any convenient amenities: no bar, no restaurant. My first room did not have warm water in the shower, and in fact there was hardly any water coming out of the shower head. I then had to go to another room where the shower was leaking. I stayed here during the second day with two other disgruntled Dens Safaris guests, who did the full two-day canoe tour. I dropped out after half an hour during the first day as I did not feel comfortable nor safe in the water which was infested with hippos and crocodiles. The couple mentioned to me that they had to find another guide the day after given that the first one was to drunk to wake up in the morning, which confirmed my belief once again that my safety had indeed been at risk.
During the first day game drive I was driven around by a guy who was clearly not a professional guide. His command of English was poor, he hardly spotted anything and was unable to answer my questions about the wildlife. What was worse is that he stepped on the gas and increased the speed of the safari vehicle when there were elephants blocking the road. The elephants were clearly in distress and some of them initiated mock charges at us. This happened at least three or four times and I told the driver this was unacceptable and unprofessional but he didn’t care to listen. When animals associate humans with danger, this will lead to fatalities and the end of the tourism industry in Zambia.
I decided that I could not tolerate any further risk and stayed at the lodge during my last day, although another full day game drive was on the itinerary. By then I was sick and tired of the unprofessional and dangerous treatment I had received and thus had to end my trip disillusioned and disheartened.
In summary, Dens Safaris makes you pay premium prices for subpar guidance using the cheapest people they can find, which has severe implications for your wellbeing and general safety. Therefore, DO NOT book with this company and spread this message as much as possible to prevent future malpractices.
Sammy Six
Reply from Dens Safaris
Posted on Jan 26, 2018 Dear Sammy Six,
Thank you for you honesty option and expressing your dissatisfaction in our services. It is only though feedback such as yours that will help us maintain and indeed, where necessary, improve upon services that we provided to our valued guest.
It is of great disappointment to read of your experience with us, whilst an apology will regrettably not alter the outcome of your experience on this occasion, I do extend it with all sincerity. We set a high standard for ourselves and are truly sorry to hear that the standard was not met with us. Our Clients happiness and safety is our number one priority.
Providing our Clients with the best possible hospitality and service has always been our mission. We may not agree to some of the complaints you have raised but we have addressed all the issues you raised and have spoken with our partners in question (Lodges) on some of the issues affecting them.
In as much as we were looking at finding a solution to challenges experienced while on a safari with us, I personally did meet you 4 days prior to the end of the 15 days trip to hear you out in person and what we could do but to my surprise I did find it strange to sorting out challenges experienced on your safari by having an HONESTLY REVIEW NOT WRITTEN in exchanged with a FULL TOUR COST REFUND or YOU DON’T GET A REFUND and write BAD REVIEWS on every site you could find as per your proposal to us in both oral and written (email) , it’s a pity we couldn’t manage to give you a FULL TOUR COST REFUND as we felt it was not fair to the both of us (it serious felt like blackmail to us) and indeed the general public as we believe a business that offer services should not buy review be it good or bad, nevertheless we have learnt our lesson on the importance of meeting everyone needs and expectations and we hope to meet your expectation next time you will need our services. We want you to know that we truly enjoy sharing our passion for our destinations and want our clients to walk out of trip and go home feeling refreshed.
As a Local based company we shall try to see to it that we go an extra mile to make sure our Clients are Happy and enjoy our services, we once more apologize for not having met your Expectation and going back home not happy.
I do hope you don’t judge the entire company by this one experience.
Thank you for your feedback and we wish you the very best.
Denver Mbewe
Dens Safaris
US
Email David Schlick | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Professional, Exceeded Expectations, the Thrill of a Lifetime
My daughter and I did a 3-day Chobe safari in December. We were picked up at our hotel, escorted through the boarder, the water safari, awesome buffet lunch, and three days camping in the jungle. It was all amazing. The camp site had great equipment and the staff cooked delicious meals. We saw so many animals. In the morning, right behind our tent we have about 50 impala and two giraffes. We were the only two on our trip so it was a very special time with my daughter that I will remember for ever. Our guide was amazing and really tried hard to find all the animals possible. I would highly recommend this company and can't wait to do it again.
Email Min | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent hospitality, amazing experience
My husband and I had a wonderful time on the 3 days/2 nights tour in Chobe National Park thanks to the fantastic team at Dens Safari. We were initially a bit apprehensive about the safari experience - we’d never been to Africa, we had a tight schedule to adhere to and we were booking from overseas through the Safaribookings website. However, we were very impressed at the ease of communication and professionalism shown by the Dens Safari team and Denver - everything was taken care of from the moment we arrived in Livingstone to when we flew out. Every part of the safari tour exceeded our expectations - the guides were not only friendly and informative, but they really made an effort to make sure we were looked after and that we were enjoying ourselves; from Levy in Livingstone, to Simon and Stan in Chobe National Park. The game drives were unforgettable, and the drivers worked hard to ensure we were able to glimpse up close, the lives of many of the wild animals in Chobe National Park. The camp sites were always set up comfortably, and we enjoyed multiple delicious meals each day, thanks to our wonderful chef, Six. Overall, it was a very memorable trip, and I would love to come back and see more of Africa with the Dens Safari team again!
Email Nadia Smith | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Dens Safaris is a fake agency, do not book here.
Denver Mbewe is the owner at Dens Safaris, he stoled us the money we paid him for the hotels and tours. He "get confused" 3 times during our trip to Zambia and we had to pay twice, as he is not paying for accommodations nor the tours we already booked with him. Be aware and far from Dens Safaris.
Reply from Dens Safaris
Posted on Jan 24, 2020Thank You for the review Nadia Smith but unfortunate you maybe getting us confused for the 4th time if at all we got confused 3 times as you put it, we do not remember offering you a Tour last year in April or indeed at anytime. If in-deeded that happened and you we made you to pay twice i think we would easily remember the Name due to the fact that you would have at the least indicated that to us in the first place.
IN
Email Dr Rajkumar | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Keep Off
We a group of 6 make an African safari almost every year and we got to know about this operator through internet search. We were happy initially as we felt the owner himself Mr. Denver Mbewe is dealing our travel arrangements, but the shocker came after our lower zambezi leg when we were supposed to fly from royal zambesi to Mfuwe for our South Luangwa, but Denver informed us at 9.30pm the before night that the flight is unavailable (not booked to save moneh) and so we need to drive to Lusaka. As we didn't have any other option, we were driven for 5 hours in roads riddled with potholes at break neck speed, starting at 2.30am!!!!!
We had a good time at South Luangwa and Mr. Denver struck again. He was trying to arrange a vehicle for us at 10am, for a trip to Nfesu which was supposed to start at 9am. Ultimately he got some money from us(not part of package??? ) and arranged a vehicle at 2pm.. Nfesu was great and Mr. Denver struck again to deliver the final nail on the coffin.... He had not paid the entrance fee to Nfesu sector with the park authorities and we were stopped for more than an hour on our way back and the park management was magnanimous enough to pardon us. This guy hasn't invested any money for his travel company and arranges with the money of the customer at the last minute to save money and this seriously backfires on seasoned travellers. So Keep off this guy / company? if you really wanna enjoy Zambia in peace
US
Email Judy Olivares | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Kudos to Denver. He is a true representative of Dens Safari, a reliable & trustworthy tour company!
Planning a Zambian safari was an experience in itself; but Denver was ever quick to reply to all of my queries. He was right on time at 6:00 AM to pick us up in Lusaka for a 4 day adventure in the South Luangwa National Park. Since the drive took all day, Denver stayed at our lodge for our entire trip. He even went out with us on the first of our four safari drives. This adventure more than met our expectations. On our first drive we witnessed an impala being chased by a lion. When the impala fled into the river we thought it had escaped harm. Not 3 seconds later the unfortunate impala was killed by a croc! Everything happed so fast there were no pics of the action. On subsequent drives we saw every animal on our "wish" list and more. The last night we were taken to the place where lions had taken down a giraffe. Up close, we witnessed the pride feasting on this enormous animal.
The lodge used by Dens Safari took good care of us, and watched over us during the night when hippos and elephants come into the camp to feed. After this adventure, Denver took us back to Lusaka to spend the night. Early the next morning he picked us up to take us to Livingstone / Victoria Falls. Again, the lodge was very nice, and Denver went out of his way to make sure we saw all the amazing views of the falls.
I cannot overstate the great service Denver provided. He is a quiet and humble man; but willingly shared knowledge about his beautiful country. The reliability alone was worth so much, yet the cost to me was very modest. My highest recommendation goes out to Dens Safari...
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Email Jan | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A Good Camping Experience
The communication we had with Denver was excellent. He was always quick to respond to emails and provided accurate information. He had great knowledge of national parks and attractions in Zambia and provided good recommendations when requested. We had a great team for our camping trip: driver, cook and company representative. The latter was always very concerned for our safety and made sure to make our trip as comfortable as possible. The crew was very friendly and made us feel welcome. While on the trip, my husband developed an infection in his leg and the staff, concerned for his health, took us to the hospital where he was treated, upon our return to Lusaka. They stayed with us the whole time while he waited at the clinic. Members of the team did call us on several occasions to check up on him while we were in Zambia. I would make a few recommendations, however, It would be an improvement to have cots, as sleeping on the hard ground was hard on the back. Also, carry extra blankets as on some evenings it got chilly. Understandably, they already had a fully loaded van; they were talking about adding trailers to their fleet for added storage. One area of concern was security of our luggage and backpacks. We initially stored our things in the van, but then the driver had to leave for another engagement and we had to leave our things in our tent. Unfortunately, upon returning to Lusaka I found that my unopened bottle of Jack Daniels that I bought at the airport duty free shop was missing. When I told the representative, he was very apologetic; but still not a good way to end the trip for me. Overall, we were satisfied with our experience with Densafaris.
IT
Email Franco Rigotti | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
dens safari - zambia tour
Densafari is a reliable operator. Denver has easy and always prompt contact.
We were 8 persons and we visited in Zambia the Lower Zambesi Park and South Luwanda Park.
Everything perfect
He is recommended particularly for private tour and small groups.
AT
Email Martina Janka | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
3 days and 2 nights in Chobe Botswana
We had an amazing experience in Chobe. We have done a tent safari for 3 days and 2 nights. Our guide in Chobe "Stanley" and "Simon" were great, we saw almost everything. And our meals were also delicious. I would do it again!
CL
Email Helmut & Jessica | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A great experience in South Luangwa
Our experience with Dens Safaris was quite good. We hired a 5 day and 4 night tour to South Luangwa.
Denver picked us up at our accommodation in Lilongwe (capital of Malawi) and moved us in a private vehicle to the border with Zambia, where we changed to another vehicle that took us to South Luangwa. Denver explained to us that they use their official 4x4 vehicles only if the number of passengers justifies, and as in this case we were only my girlfriend and I chose to mobilize from and to Luangwa in conventional vehicles. In any case, Denver told us that the game drives would be carried out in 4x4 vehicles.
We stayed at Croc Valley Camp as planned by Denver. Initially we had a tent (tent), but we were finally accommodated in larger tents equipped with beds and a safe (a major improvement!). The service at Croc Camp is very good (meals especially), and you have the possibility to see animals roaming freely around the place (at night they even crossed a couple of hippos a few meters from the store).
The game drives were carried out in 4x4 vehicles of Croc Valley Camp, some of which are quite old and require improvement. Even so they never had a panne or problem that prevented us from continuing. In total we had 7 game drives (4 sunset / night and 3 morning), all guided by the same guide that is part of Croc Camp Valley, and shared with other guests of Croc Camp. Denver was present in most of them, showing their interest that everything turned out well in our tour (the rest of the passengers depended only on Croc Camp). The guide that took us to the game drives (Simon) had a lot of knowledge, but often he gave a lot of time to animals or birds that were frequent to find, and little time to others that could be more attractive or unusual (many very showy birds and colorful were ignored, either because the guide did not see them despite being in front of him, or they may not have been attractive to him .. who knows). Despite those details, we saw many species of mammals, reptiles and birds, which confirmed that South Luangwa is one of the places that every lover of safari MUST visit. Especially we highlighted the possibility of spotting leopards hunting during the night, which was repeated during 3 of the 4 night safaris! Wild dogs, many elephants with offspring, thornicroft giraffes, lions, birds, etc.
We recommend Dens Safaris since the price paid is reasonable considering the number of game drives that included the tour and the facilities where we stayed (approx USD 490 per passenger, + tickets to Luangwa for USD 25 per day per person).