Galloping Safaris Staff with Director
Galloping Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2013)
- Member Of:
- ASTA, TATO, TTB & EAWLS
- Tour Types:
- Small & medium group tours (Mid-range & luxury)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $225 to $2,000 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Debra M | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Liar, Cheat, disreputable! Do not use under any circumstances
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. My husband and I booked through a great agency in Kenya who outsourced the Tanzania portion of our trip to Galloping Safaris. Walter, the owner, is a liar and a cheat. Read other reviews (wish we'd seen them in advance). We were in Tanzania for 5 days. He hired a 3rd party guide/driver for us, Athman was EXCELLENT. He saved the tour for us. However, Galloping Safaris (GS) had us pay our entry fee into the Serengeti park (even though we'd paid everything in advance). He said he was installing a new payment system and was having problems. We put the $642 USD on our credit card, assuming Walter would do as he said and pay us back when we finished the trip in Arusha. Walter with GS outright lied to us. We wasted an hour waiting for him to respond so we could even enter the park. Next, as we were exiting Ngorogoro crater, we were not allowed to leave the park since GS (Walter) had not paid the concession fee of approximately $100 USD. Our driver, Athman, convinced Walter to go to the bank to immediately transfer the $$. Another hour wasted there. Then we arrived at Tarangire Park, only to find out, once again, Walter at GS had not paid the entry fees. He then asked us again to pay $227 USD of our own $$. We had no choice but to pay, because where else would we go? Yup, another hour wasted sorting this out. Upon our final day, we drove back to Arusha, met with Walter, his wife Glory (a Director of the company) and someone who said they were his lawyer. He did not have the money to pay us back upon our arrival ($869 USD total), instead he wrote and signed what we thought was a legitimate legal agreement that he would wire us the money in 2 weeks. That date came and went, no $$$, more lies from Walter and now zero response from him. He should not be allowed to operate. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY under any circumstances.
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Email Ken | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unfortunate Experience
Galloping Safaris took our money for a trip they did not deliver. Our hotels were not booked or paid for in advance, as promised. We chose activities that they did not take us on and did not respond to our questions and requests to have our trip as planned. Walter was avoidant of our texts and phone calls, but offered to meet us in person to make it right and explain himself on our last day in Tanzania. We drove for hours to meet up with him and he never showed. Walter has offered to provide my group a refund of some funds, which we accepted, but he has not followed through with that promise. I strongly urge you to pick a different company for your safari.
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Email Melinda | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Broken Promises
I booked a safari though Kenya and Tanzania with Galloping Safaris in 2019. Walter provided a nice itinerary for myself, my husband, and my two best friends. Other providers were less expensive, but Galloping Safaris had great reviews, so I went with it. Walter demanded prompt payment, that the money be wired to him immediately, which we did. The safari took place in February 2020. There were several issues throughout, including Walter and his staff not listening to requests to change small parts of our trip, lying about why we couldn't go to a place we planned to go, and skipping events we had paid for all together. We had paid for two nights at The Four Seasons Serengeti, and Walter instead had our guide take us to a less expensive hotel three hours away, one that was riddled with tsetse flies, without letting us know that we wouldn't be staying at The Four Seasons as planned/paid for. We demanded that they take us to the Four Seasons as planned the next day, but when we arrived the staff at Four Seasons let us know that Walter had not paid for our stay, and we were left sitting in the lobby. They told us that Walter often does this, and they do not extend credit to Galloping Safaris anymore, so we would have to wait until he paid to be taken to our rooms. We asked the Four Seasons staff to confirm the rest of our trip with the hotels in our packet that were booked, and not one of them had been booked or paid for. My guess is that Walter is unable to pay for the current clients' reservations until the future clients give him cash, which is why we were stuck waiting without paid reservations even though we had submitted payment in full to him many months earlier.
When we had issues with the trip Walter ran from us, ignored our calls, had our guide disappear. We drove hours out of the way on our last day of travel to meet up with Walter and settle up our issues, and he never showed up.
Through phone calls and emails Walter acknowledged that he was at fault and owed us a refund, which he never sent. We have contacted him multiple times and its always one excuse after the next.
I have traveled all over the world and have never felt as scammed as I have with Galloping Safaris. I strongly recommend that you book your trip with a more reputable provider.
DE
Email Josef | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Chaos - another name for Galloping Safaris
More than nine month in advance we booked a helicopter flight to Mount Kilimanjaro with Galloping Safaris (920 US-$ per person). The mail contact was easy at the beginnig! later on difficult. For example twice we were promised that the agency would create a simpler - which means less costly - mode of payment --- nothing happened. At the end no mail was answered and twelve hours before our schedule departure we did not know the location for the take-off. The meeting point initial mentioned (Moshi Airport) was changed ten hours before departures to a place on the outskirts of Arusha - without priori notice. If we had not inquired we would not have known the new place for take-off. Since the first place of our departure was supposed to be Moshi we booked a hotel room there and had to travel from Moshi to Arusha early in the morning and without breakfast. By the way: departures time changed from 10 am to 8 am.
Apart from that the payment of the full amount was due well in advance.
Because of all this trouble we would not recommend Galloping Safaris.
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Email Jody | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Most of safari was fantastic, but disappointined with Galloping Safari Owner, Walter Tenga.
Our family safari in Ngorogoro and Serengheti with my two young adult children ( 18 and 21) was an incredible experience. Weather, variety and quantity of game viewed, Four Seasons Serengheti Lodge, Balloon ride and our safari tour guide, Kennedy, were all outstanding and lived up to all our expecations and more! I am, however, quite disappointed in Walter Tenga, the owner of Galloping Safaris. Our hotel the first night in Arusha was changed (downgraded) from the hotel documented on our itinerary, without any advance notice of the change. Mr. Tenga described the change as a "mistake". The hotel we stayed at was nice, but not nearly as nice the one stated on our itinerary. During our return from Serengheti to Arusha on the last day, we ran into a problem with our flight. We wer e told a flat tire on our small aircraft would result in over a two hour delay of our flight. I attempted to contact Galloping Safari Tour owner, Walter Tenga, for help. I called his office and cell phone multiple times, but he never answered and I was not able to leave a message. As a result of our delay, we missed a farewell luncheon at beautiful hotel on our last day and shopping time. No alternate lunches were provided, although I had already paid for these meals in our tour package. I contacted Mr. Tenga and requested a refund for our meals, but my request was ignored. Very disappointing. Last but not least, our Galloping Safari driver who took us back to the Killimanjaro airport seemed to misunderstand our flight information. Once I reviewed our departure time with him, he drove at a dangerously high speed to get us there on time. He was stopped by the police because he was driving so fast. When we entered the airport, my kids and I were met by security personnel because of our very late arrival to board our plane. All this made for a very stressful ending to an otherwise wonderful trip.
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Email Tobin | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great planning, mediocre execution
We booked a 4 day Serengeti honeymoon through Walter with a 5-day Zanzibar add-on. We chose to book with him because he was easy to communicate with and seemed extremely knowledgeable. The detailed trip descriptions customized for the season gave me confidence that he would arrange a great trip for us.
Altogether, Walter's recommendations for lodging were all spot on. All the accommodation he recommended were truly outstanding.
Reasons for the 3-star review:
1) My most serious complaint was our guide named Anderson. While he was a safe driver, always punctual, and seemed very competent at finding game we had an unbelievably hard time communicating with him and that really put a damper on the trip for us. To give you some background, I have lived in the Middle East and Africa for extended periods of time so I would consider myself adept at speaking with non-native English speakers. However, both me and my wife found ourselves constantly frustrated. Anderson could not teach us much about the nature that we came to see nor could he answer our questions. To be honest, we would ask a question and usually get a completely off-the-wall answer as he didn't understand what we had asked. Eventually driving around gets boring if you don't know what you're really looking at with any depth! Other travelers and their guides we met along the way did not seem to have this issue.
2) There were some permit issues entering two of the parks, each one causing a 1-2 hour delay when we would have preferred to have been relaxing in the lodge. The driver tried to tell me it was the network, the park employees clarified it was poor preparations although didn't further elaborate. I ended up having to pay entrance fees to one park which I did get reimbursed for.
3) Our guide decided to go off the road in Serengeti to get closer to some lions. It was our first day and we had no idea that this wasn't allowed. Sure enough, the rangers came and we had to follow them back towards the airport (nearly an hour away in the wrong direction) for our driver to get a 'ticket.' About 5 minutes into this drive they stopped and motioned our driver out of the car. Next thing we knew our driver was asking us for money to bribe the rangers. I said I would not give him money. A few minutes later we were on our way without paying a fine. I have no idea what exactly was going on... I have no idea if this is a setup or common occurrence but it certainly left a bad taste in our mouth.
4) The airport transfer that Walter arranged for us in Zanzibar consisted of an hour of entrapped salesmanship. The transfer company he contracted was also a 'tour company' and spent the hour pushing countless tour options which we were not at all interested in. We both arrived with headaches.
Bottom line: I would trust Walter's planning again but I'd be weary of your guide. I honestly would go so far as to talk with your guide on the phone ahead to be sure you can communicate. Don't trust other's TripAdvisor notes mentioning guides because ours actually had a few decent comments!
FR
Email GHARIANI | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
it was wonderful!!! with an excellent guide
We did 2 days of Safari in Ngorongoro and Tarangiri Park with Galopping Safari.
Mr DISMASS is an excellent guide, very smiling, respectful, and he tries to answer all our questions.
It far exceeded our expectations.
After the end of our Safari, Mr WALTER booked us a taxi (included in the price) which took us to Kilimanjaro airport.
I highly recommend Galopping Safari because the schedule was consistent with the description with very good organization.
Thank you so much
(automatic translation from French)
CN
Email Mia | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing 8 Days Safari Trip
Walter has been a quick responder since day 1 not only through email but also iMessage helping editing the trip and answering questions. It was our first time visiting Tanzania and we went toTarangire, Ngorogoro and Serengeti. We loved the accommodations Galloping picked for us-especially Sanctuary Swala and &Beyond north Serengeti. Not many safari companies I checked offer stays at the Sanctuary but it was amazing.
We read some negative reviews on Galloping Safari and had some incidents during the trip. That being said we managed to work things out with Walter while still enjoyed trip. In addition we run into problems with the local banking system ourselves at Arusha last day, which made us realize that dealing with banks and doing business in Tanzania are not as easy as we thought. We appreciate Walter's efforts to ensure a wonderful trip for us as planned. Walter also came to show us an amazing souvenir shop and explained the cause of incidents to us before our flight when he didn't have to so we did feel the mutual trust, which was really important in picking a travel agency in a country we were visiting for the first time.
We appreciate everything Galloping Safaris did so we could really enjoy our first visit to Tanzania. Hope we can come back soon!
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Email Michael Lossing | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing 8 Day Safari Across 5 Parks
From beginning to end our trip went off without issues. We were scooped up at the airport upon arrival and taken into Arusha to meet Walter and our guide Lawrence. Then it was off to the parks to see amazing animals, stay in wonderful accommodations, and learn about the beautiful people of Tanzania.
Walter had picked out a mixture of tented camps and lodges that were perfect, if not a bit luxurious for us. Every place we stayed, from the Nyikani camps to Escarpment Luxury Lodge could not have been better. The staff at each was over-the-top helpful and the food delicious, even for my vegetarian better half.
Lawrence is a super nice guide and excellent game spotter. He also used his connections with other guides in each park to get us prime viewing of the "big 5" and lots more. I coached him a bit on getting good photo ops, as opposed to just seeing the animals, and he really came through.
Overall, our first trip to Tanzania was amazing, and couldn't have been better thanks to Walter and Lawrence. We appreciate everything you gentlemen did to make us feel special all week long. Asante sana!
GH
Email Mima Michael | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Outstanding Service from a Tanzanian Company
The best decision I have made when planning my trip, was look for companies based in Tanzania. Upon comparing various companies to use, Galloping Safaris consistently provided to be the most economical and reliable, among other factors that made Galloping Safaris the best choice.
To begin our safari planning, I contacted Galloping Safaris and was promptly connected in touch with Owner Walter, from the first moment I spoke with him on phone, he was 120% committed to not only creating a safari that fit our needs, but made sure to take into account our budget. I was pleasantly surprised with how quickly Walter created a possible itinerary in a very easy to understand chart. I am very visual, so this was a huge help to me and one of the biggest things that gave me great confidence in Galloping Safaris from the beginning was how transparent they were about everything, from the price to what was and wasn’t included in that price.
After going back and forth a few times with Walter, we created the perfect itinerary that took into account both what we wanted to see within a price that suited us. Throughout the whole process, Walter was very considerate about what we wanted, revised our itinerary as many times as needed, and never go impatient about having to change various things for our trip before we confirmed it.
Once we confirmed our trip, he created a more in-depth itinerary which I also really appreciated because the last thing one wants is miscommunication on what was expected. Also, a clear invoice was created that he kept updated as payments were made. When everything was settled, payment and itinerary, Walter told us who would pick us up and our safari guide. Upon arriving in Tanzania, we were met by our transfer guide Waziri who has our sign, was ready to go, and made sure we were comfortable.
Our flight was a bit late, but he was right up front and ready getting to Arusha was no trouble and Galloping Safaris made the entire process effortless. The next day our guide, Waziri, was eager to start our safari, had the vehicle ready, and came to our hotel on time. One of the biggest things that will make or break a safari is the guide, and I am happy to say we had one of the best guides out there as a first safari to Tanzania. The entire time Waziri was attentive, spotted the animals, and was well versed about the animals in each park.
Throughout the whole trip, Waziri was very easy to talk to and always made sure to accommodate us in anything we needed. During our drives, he skillfully maneuvered the hard terrain and made sure the ride was as comfortable as he could make it. Keeping in mind the roads are very bumpy, something the drivers cannot help, but he did a great job nonetheless it should be added, the vehicles Galloping Safaris uses are in very good condition considering the roads they travel on, and we never had a break down.
When we arrived at each park, he was able to spot the animals, from a huge Elephant to a tiny Lizard running along a rock. Not only did Waziri do a phenomenal job spotting animal, he knew facts and figures about every animal we saw. Along with knowing information about each animal we saw, he had extensive knowledge about the villages and parks we visited.
Along with driving well, he always made sure to park so that we got the best view possible. Whenever we entered a new park, he did all the paperwork for us and we had no issues at all, too. Even towards the end of the day when we were getting a bit tired, Waziri never stopped scanning the land for animals. To say the least, Waziri is very dedicated to giving the customer a great experience. After the safari when we came back to Arusha, Walter met us one more time to make sure the safari went well and if we had any feedback. This was nice because you can tell Galloping Safaris is devoted to making sure the customer doesn’t feel forgotten once you send them your money and that if there’s any issue, they are there to assist. Unlike some companies who may just send you a survey at the end of a trip, Galloping Safaris meets you in person after the trip to make sure everything went well.
I highly recommend using Galloping Safaris for any of your safari and Climbing Kilimanjaro needs, be it a group safari, private safari, day safari, or week-long safari. No matter your looking for, they will work with you to create a memorable trip that fit within your budget. Plus, no matter what your budget, the places they select for you to stay at are comfortable.
Thanks, Walter, for organizing our amazing safari, and Waziri for being an incredible guide.