It Started in Africa
- Located In:
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 2010)
- Member Of:
- IATA, TATO & TALA
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $150 to $550 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Anthony Kaye | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Still waiting for my refund
It Started In Africa abruptly cancelled my tour a year ago and I am still waiting to refunded US$4,250. Bernard Baraja claims the company is still operational. While in Arusha last year I lodged a claim against ISIA with the Tanzanian Police Department tourist policy department, and also attended the Tanzanian Tourist Board office, which has a thick file of complaints against ISIA for misappropriation of customer funds amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars. I am resigned to never seeing my money again -- this is a warning to all potential customers.
Email Sophia Aussie | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Do not book!
I many problems with this operator. The guide asked me to pay entry into a park then later again w a hotel booking I already paid for which totalled $500usd. I think they hope we feel bad and then let it go. I luckily didnt carry mich cash on me and refused. There was messing abt and possibly no hotel stay. I stood my ground and demanded reimbursement for the amt owed. I was also taken on a shonky coffee tour not like described but by 2 rogue kids.
I was in tears fighting them 2 hrs before my airport transfer and ended up arriving to the airport w 30mins to go.
From my Tripadvisor review i was contacted by numerous people who were swindled their deposit. The company went down, changed names then restarted again under it started in africa.
After my review they offered me monetary compensation to take my review down. I refused. Then coincidentally my tripadvor account kept sending me emails that i wanted to reset the password. Im not accusing anyone of hacking but it was interesting times.
I was emailed by Bernard to review my trip again so they could use it for other travellers. Hope this finds everyone well as a clear warning! I do not advise putting any deposit into this company. Other tours exist so research well and contact the reviewers
CA
Email Kim | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
It is hard to believe this company is still in operation!!
This company stole thousands of dollars from my family. We prepaid for our safari vacation. Just before arriving we were tiled they were bankrupt. No one picked us up at the airport. Hotels were reserved but unpaid. And they were untraceable at their office in Arusha or by email. There is no way they should be allowed to operate. They are a criminal organization. Stay far away.
Email Melanie | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Stole our $4000 deposit and still waiting to hear back! DO NOT USE THEM!
We planned our honeymoon to Tanzania and after paying a $4000 deposit we were told corrupt people within the company stole money. Apparently they filed a lawsuit and Baraja has been telling us the money will be returned to us but now my emails have not been replied too. I cant believe they are still operating when they owe people SOOOOOO much money. Avoid this company at all costs as it could have ruined our honeymoon.
It Started in Africa - Where is my money?
I've now bee waiting five years for the return of US$4,500 from It Started in Africa, for a safari that never happened. My money was only part of hundreds of thousands of dollars stolen from tourists around the world. The company was investigated and taken to court. I personally lodged a claim in Arusha with the Tanzania Tourist Board and a statement with the Arusha police. Still nothing back so far after all these years!
Email Matthew | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Awful! Honeymoon ruined when it started in africa took payment but did not provide any services
Like many other people who have reviewed, my wife and I had a terrible experience. We booked our trip and paid our deposit to spent the second half of our honeymoon on Safari with them.
Despite the money paid no services were provided and no refund offered. I'm now astonished to find out they are still trading!!
For anyone thinking of booking with ISIA, I suggest you avoid at all costs. Even after reviews appeared online stating they weren't fulfilling the services paid for, ISIA requested a further payment from us - extremely distrustful.
CA
Email Neil Kerr | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tanzanian Nightmare! We're out nearly $12K USD - a year later
We had booked 4 days of Safaris in Tanzania and 5 days at an all-inclusive 5-star resort on Zanzibar back in the spring 2017 for a once in a lifetime trip for my family of 5 to celebrate my wife's 50th birthday. We had prepaid 100% of the cost of this epic adventure up front.
2 days before we were to fly from Kigali, Rwanda to Arusha, Tanzania, we received an email from advising us the It Started In Africa was having serious cash flow issues and lots of unpaid for their unknowing customers. We immediately started making calls to the various hotels, safari camps and airlines only to find out that none had received payments in full with a number not receiving any payments at all.
We were crushed...what was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime turned into a total nightmare.
We had followed up with ISIA when we arrived back home in Canada in late August and was told by Baraja that the Police would send us money starting in September. We were later told that we would be receiving a full refund of $11,995.00 USD. We continued to follow up over the next few months and it was nothing but radio silence. Only when we emailed a senior official at the Tanzanian Ministry of Tourism, cc'ing Baraja, did we get a response in November 2017.
The charade continues with only ourselves to blame for being as patient (and naive) as we've been.
I'm glad to read the positive reviews of late and that no one else has seen their trips destroyed. It's hard to stomach though seeing It Started In Africa profit from this while ourselves and many others are out of pockets in the tens of thousands of $$$.
I'm glad to read the positive reviews of late and that no one else has seen their trips destroyed. It's hard to stomach though seeing It Started In Africa profit from this while ourselves and many others are out of pockets in the tens of thousnads of $$$.
Email Matthew | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Horrific
This company accepted payment for services and did not provide any of what they promised and committed to for our honeymoon. They emailed a ‘story’ of being let down by a partner and took no responsibility for the thousands we paid them.
It now been over a year and we’ve had no refund and I’m astonished to see them trading. They are completely untrustworthy and I recommend you avoid at all costs. They stole thousands off a lot of people and if they hadn’t removed their trip advisor listing you’d see many other similar stories. I’d suggest any good reviews are not genuine. Be warned!
US
Email PD | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
This company stole our deposit, made zero bookings, and now will not respond to emails
We have been scammed by this company (It Started in Africa) and cheated out of USD 3,300.
We have been thinking about an African safari for a long time. In July 2017 we started looking into safari companies and selected It Started in Africa based on excellent previous reviews. We contacted then, they sent us an itinerary. After several exchange of emails, we decided to go ahead with them, and wired them a deposit of about USD 3,300.
After this, things started going south. They did not initially send us any confirmations of any bookings at the lodges which we had requested. After many emails, they sent us pictures of lodge invoices, which all showed that the amounts were still payable to the lodges. We contacted each individual lodge, and each one said that they did not have any bookings with this safari company. They had previous bookings, which got cancelled as this company did not send them the advance payment out of the deposit that we had paid.
We also read about several other reviews that indicated that this company had scammed many others out of their money recently, and they had gone bankrupt.
Now we are in a state of panic as we seem to have lost our money, and we do not have any safari reservations at any lodge. Our emails to them are now going un-answered.
If any one has been able to get their money back, please post on this review board on how they went about it.
US
Email Greg Robinson | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
This company stole $2,900 USD of my money! DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!!
I am one of many people who trusted ISIA last year. I wired $2,900 USD to the company a year in advance. Four months before I was to leave, I received an email that my safari was being cancelled because the company was going bankrupt. The money was never returned. A group of us set up a page on Facebook. Some of the clients lost much more than I did to these dishonest operators. You can search for our stories on Facebook under 'It Started In Africa Client Group.'
Please contact me if you have any questions about what happened to me and others. I am happy to share my story with you. Please do not book with this company.