YES WE ARE RELIABLE TOUR OPERATOR
Okoa Africa Tours
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2010)
- Member Of:
- Kenya Tourism Federation, Museum of Kenya under Nature-Kenya & TRA under Ministry of Tourism in Kenya
- Tour Types:
- Small & medium group tours (Budget & mid-range)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $559 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Don’t select, we were left stranded twice with independent drivers that did not know our itinerary.
We are experienced travelers who generally don’t mind small hiccups or slight plan changes. However, we experienced many issues on this safari that were unacceptable. No matter what tour agency you select, you will see the animals and the landscapes. If you don’t want those memories clouded by stress, uncertainty, and worry, pick a more reputable tour agency. This is not a professional outfit.
We were dropped off at multiple locations that didn’t match our provided itinerary with no Wi-Fi / service to contact the agency. In one instance, the next driver showed up 15 hours late. There was a lack of information and transparency that left us feeling unsafe, vulnerable, and stranded. We paid extra for a 4x4 Jeep but spent half of our time in various small sedans. We were not able to drive to one of the parks due to this.
A flat tire is reasonable and common. However, setting off on a three-day safari in the Serengeti with a damaged, leaking radiator is negligent and unsafe. We were stranded for two hours because the engine overheated and had to make several other stops to check on the vehicle throughout the tour.
Despite paying for an all-inclusive (planned) safari, we had independent or sub-contracted drivers who were not aware of our itinerary —including what parks we were to visit, where we were staying and the logistics of our next (unexpected) hand-offs. These drivers also didn’t have our information and we were forced to trust they were somehow affiliated with the company.
In one specific incident, a driver had no idea what our final destination was or where we were staying. This driver attempted to pick up friends along the way until we demanded to be taken to our accommodation. He didn’t know this accommodation, so we told him to take us to the accommodation we stayed in before we departed for the park where we knew we would have access to Wi-Fi to call for help. We then had to go to the new accommodation that was not on our provided itinerary.
Other issues we experienced:
1. Our accommodations didn’t match those listed on our itinerary and we were never provided with an updated version.
2. None of the jeeps were affiliated with Okoa Tours or the Tanzanian counterpart called Seven Wonders, despite other legitimate companies having branded vehicles.
3. All jeeps’ were older than the pictures provided and the charging outlets did not work as described.
After the tour we reached out to Okoa and they responded “But as far as the Kenya side nothing went wrong” because we arrived at the 3 listed parks.
Reply from Okoa Africa Tours
Posted on Oct 4, 2022Dear Nick we are glad to received your comment about your safari which you booked through Okoa Africa Tours and we are glad to hear your opinion about the safari and where we should improve our services especially with our working partner in Tanzania. Although it seems like your comment has some typo error on 15hrs waiting it must be an error you wrote because your safari it was a total of 9 days safari joining group budget camping safari and in Kenya you went and cover bother Masai Mara and Lake Naivasha as per the itinerary and the Tanzania side you went and visited Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro and all these parks you did a game drive as per the itinerary NO park was skipped. So this is why we believe that your comment about 15hrs is an error because if you could have waited for 15hrs you could NOT manage to cover all these parks and since you did visited all these parks in Tanzania side then you could have needed 1 day extra to complete your tour itinerary and since you did not add any extra day and your safari ended exactly on day 9th it is obvious that your comment about 15hrs is error typo on your side. Well during your safari its true you encounter some challenges because of the lack of communication between our Tanzania partner and his driver guides because you started safari with the driver who has the information about your accommodation on the last day in Arusha but due to the group joining safari some were remaining and you were to be drove back to Arusha and you were transfer to another car with another driver who did not have the information about your hotel in Arusha and i really appreciated how you communicated to us about it and we called our partner in Arusha and our partner in Tanzania followed with his driver guide to informed him where they booked for you in Arusha and that was solved within 15minutes after our Tanzania partner communicated with their driver and that the WAITED WE ARE AWARE OF BECAUSE YOU COMMUNICATED TO US ABOUT IT. Another challenge which came and you communicated to us about it and was solved immediately was at the hotel in Arusha for first night when the hotel thought that your room was only booked for bed & breakfast without dinner but again this was communicated by us to correct it and your room was later confirmed to you that is full board meaning included, bed dinner, breakfast. All the misunderstanding which came during your safari you communicated with us and was corrected immediately. On the issue of Wifi THIS WAS BUDGET CAMPING SAFARI AND AT CAMPSITE THERE IS NO WIFI YOU CAN ONLY GET WIFI AT MID RANGE AND LUXURY CAMP OR LODGES AND IF ITS HAPPENS YOU GET WIFI AT A BUDGET HOTEL LIKE YOU DID IN LAKE NAIVASHA THAT IS A CITY HOTEL NOT AT THE PARK. Thank you so much for your comment and advise and we are going to work on the things you recommend we improve on and next time when are you are booking your safari with Okoa Africa Tours you will not have a repeat of such challenges. Thank you so much and we are looking forward see you on your next trip to East Africa in the future.
IT
Email Francesco | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
good tour, but poor communication from the tour operator
5 stars to the experience, amazing landscapes and lots of animals
5 stars to Boniface who went to great lengths to show us the best
5 stars to the group, very nice and friendly people, it was a pleasure to stay with them
4 stars to the accomodations, considering the budget it was good
3 stars to the food, it was good, but always the same, and as vegetarian for lunch bag always boiled eggs
2 stars to Okoa, we had to pay 7% more because we paid by card, and no one had warned us that there were additional charges with the card, otherwise we would have paid in cash. The tour is the same with other tour operators, we were staying in the same van, same hotels, all the same, with people who had booked with other tour operators, but maybe with other tour operators we would have saved money.
Reply from Okoa Africa Tours
Posted on Aug 29, 2022Dear Francesco,
Thank you so much for your comment, we are glad to hearing back from you and is great you enjoyed your safari. The card charges its not ours but by bank and the charges is less than 5% NOT 7% YOU MENTIONED we believe maybe that was error you wrote