Locally Owned And Guided
Kapolondo Expeditions
- Located In:
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 2009)
- Member Of:
- IATA, TATO, TTB & AMREF FLYING DOCTORS
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $180 to $600 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
IL
Email Tony Fishman | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Don't book with this company, you'll be desappointed
We booked a group tour and paid for it a couple of months in advance. We aggreed with Tony on a particular itinerary that we carefuly planned out, including 4 safari NP, a walking safari, two tracks and a list of specific lodges we wanted.
When we started the tour it slowly became obvious that we were taken on one of the regular itineraries instead of the one we agreed on. Every day we had to argue about the schedule and make Tony change our route. After one such argument we got our walking safary, only to be taken to literaly a sheep-shit full field nowhere near the reservation. It took some more arguing and nerves for us to be taken on a "real" walking safari. Needless to say that most of the lodges were not the ones aggreed upon in advance, though it being the off season I have to say the lodges we stayed in were more or less on the same level. Still frustrating. Our driver guide was more of a driver than a guide, most of the time just driving us around in quiet. To top it all, the jeep was old and in horrific condition. The ceiling leeked water throughout the tour and we had no less than 6 flat tiers, the last 2 happening in the midst of the Serengeti NP with no spares and no cellphone connection. Luckily we were picked up by another tour group, but than spent the entire day at the hotel waiting for our driver guide to fix the car. No need to tell you how expencive a safari day is and how annoying it is to miss one like that. Got to say Tony paid us back half the price for the day, still waiting on the other half.
In short, very frustraiting. All that we agreed on in advance was completely meaningless as far as Tony was concerned. Don't book a tour with him.
Disappointing. Avoid traveling with Kapolondo Expeditions.
I booked and paid well in advance for a 6 day mid range lodge safari. I ended up on a budget group safari.
On arrival late at night at Kilimanjaro airport I was met (thankfully - after reading a few reviews I had been nervous that nobody would be there!) and we begun our drive to Arusha, only for the safari vehicle to break down almost immediately. 21/2 hours later we crawled in to Arusha. The vehicle continued to have problems throughout the safari.
On Safari none of the accomodation had been booked in advance. I only stayed at 1 hotel that was on my itinerary (and it was empty of guests). Tony seemed to find the cheapest accomodation going on the day.
At one point Tony told me that the lodge I had booked was full so given that the owners of this lodge owned another accomodation in the local area I would go there. In turn I went to the lodge to ask them about their hotel being full. Turns out both were lies. The lodge was by no means full and the lodge did not own another hotel nearby.
We had to wait for several hours at Serengeti National Park and also Tarangire National Park as the company credit card did not have enough funds to cover the entry fees. Tony finally added funds but with a lengthy and irritating delay. Time spent hanging around at the entrance, watching all the other safari vehicles heading in to the parks was not particularly fun!
The only positive for which I am very thankful is that our driver Bruno (freelance driver) took great care to make sure we saw some amazing sights. He was a fabulous driver, knows the parks very well, taught us about the animals and made sure our journey was as magical as possible.
I have since written to Tony asking for a refund for the sub standard accomodation and the time wasting. He's not particularly repsponsive and when he does he makes up things.
I think the bottom line is, the guy doesn't seem to care. The company has such potential to be a very successful business but the way it is currently being managed, I don't believe it will last much longer.
Do yourself a favour and choose one of the many reputable safari companies, to avoid the stress and worry we had to deal with on the journey.
Happy Safari.
AE
Email Sam | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Disappointed and let down!
My partner and I saw the itinerary for the 11 day exclusive safari in Tanzania&Zanzibar and thought it to be exactly what we were looking for. After confirmations and having our queries answered by the tour operator Tony, we went ahead and booked.
On the day we arrived, after having met our tour guide and Tony, we are told that the agenda for the week has been changed slightly. Reluctantly, we agree since there's nothing we could do at that point. The trip goes ahead just fine and we were meant to be on safari for 5 days spending 2 nights in one lodge/camp 2 nights in another and the last night in another. We in fact ended up staying in different lodges every night of our 5 nights there and were not told that this would be happening until when we were dropped off and told to pack our things for the next morning since we would not be staying here tonight. Completely unsettled for us to have to jump from lodge to lodge every night. We didn't know where we were going to be staying the following night, it was incredibly hard for us to relax comfortably and just enjoy the trip fully.
The itinerary included a trip to a museum and a visit to a Masai village. The Museum was completely scrapped from the list and for the Masai village, we were told that we had to pay an additional $50 each!! After having confronted our guide about this, he too was not aware that we were even meant to be going to these places! It's as though they were trying their luck to see what they could get away with not paying or doing. After putting our foot down and talking to Tony, he arranged for these two visits to take place but we shouldn't have had to have that conversation in the first place.
Lastly, the next leg of our trip was 5 days in Zanzibar. Before booking, we asked Tony if the package was inclusive of all meals and alcohol, he confidently responded yes that the alcohol was also apart of the package. We get to our resort in Zanzibar only to find that in fact he misled us and alcohol was not included in our reservation and so we had to pay for this out of our own pockets.
We were very disappointed and let down by Tony and this company. All communication had seemed to be thrown about of the window, not only were we not informed about changes etc, our tour guide was also sometimes in the dark about things that was meant to be communicated to him by Tony. Nothing at all about this trip was what we expected it to be, I don't think it was worth the money we paid for it, it wasn't a luxury tour like it stated and would recommend anyone against them to avoid such disappointment.
SG
Email Kim | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Book at your risk
I booked and paid for a 15-day joint safari with Kapalondo Expeditions based on an itinerary and cost proposal received from them. Two days prior to my departure, I was advised that the the other members of the joint safari had cancelled, and that my itinerary would change. I did not agree to the revised itinerary, and requested to stick with the original itinerary or receive a refund. The night before my departure, Kapolondo Expeditions agreed to run the original itinerary at the original cost, with two accommodation changes. However, subsequent to my arrival in Africa, further changes were made to my itinerary (one destination was completely cut out) and my accommodation (downgraded from luxury to mid-range or budget) without my notice or consent. There were days during my safari when I did not know where I would be staying that night or in 2-3 nights' time, which was highly unsettling. Whilst I understand the economics of the situation (a joint safari effectively became a private tour, although at no fault of mine), it was handled completely unprofessionally, and at no time were efforts made to respond to/address my concerns or give me any options to change/upgrade my accommodation (even at extra cost). In addition, Kapalondo claims on their website to be a member of the Tanzanian Association of Tourism Operators (TATO), but when I called TATO to seek help during my safari, I was advised that they are not a member (you can verify for yourself on the TATO website). All of this trouble aside, the game drives were excellent and my drivers in Kenya and Tanzania were informative, friendly, helpful and made every effort to turn an unpleasant situation into a positive one. My safari would have been perfect, if not for the complete unprofessionalism of the operator. Based on this experience, I cannot recommend Kapalondo Expeditions.