THE A TEAM
Axis Africa Expedition & Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2016)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $280 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
TN
Email Bassem | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Its fantastic and magnifique
For me its a New expérience and fantastic but whe have a problem with masaraii people Always u need to pay them ???
AE
Email Aoife | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Khalifa was absolutely incredible we could not fault him he had buckets of info and stories to share
We chose Axis Africa as it was recommended from another group of friends. I was in contact with Lennox who was organising our trip. The safari itself was incredible and our driver Khalifa made it more special. He shared loads of information about the animals we were seeing and always had a funny anecdote to share which kept everything so interesting! Unfortunately, Lennox scheduled and charged us for a day of activities that we were unable to complete as he didn't allow for transfer time to the airport that day which was a bit disappointing. He didn't have any way to compensate for this and my last two emails to Lennox have been left unanswered.
Reply from Axis Africa Expedition & Safaris
Posted on Apr 25, 2023Thank you for taking your time to share your wonderful experience with our guide Khalifa Ahmed. Glad that you enjoyed every experience on this 3 days safari.
Regarding the refund, as i tried to explain to you via our email conversation, you were on a 3 days 2nights itinerary and its unfortunate that your flight back home on the 3rd day was coming up at around 2pm which based on experience it would have been so risky to do activities of Day 3 in masai mara and still drive back to Nairobi to catch your flight(keeping in mind you need to be at the airport 2-3hrs in advance), in consultation with guide Khalifa we squeezed the activities of day 3 to have you do them on Day 1 on arrival, according to initial plan day 3 was to be a visit to Masai Village, and you did this on Day1 after the evening game-drive. This therefore meant that we freed Day3 for traveling back, we highly apologize for overlooking the fact that you were not aware that Masai mara is some 5-6hrs drive away from Nairobi, and for squeezing the itinerary with the thought that we were creating a risk free travel back to Nairobi airport.
Regarding compensation we thought that since we managed to do all the activities as planned, we had nothing to spare to do a compensation,however we still offered free transportation to Giraffe Center, before heading to drop you at the airport, this was a detour and was not part of the tour plan, it unfortunate this was not a good enough compensation plan.
We highly apologize for this, and appreciate you taking the time to share your experience with us, and we're sorry to hear that your visit didn't meet your expectations. Your feedback is important to us, and we will take it into consideration as we continue to improve and evolve our services. If you have any further concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. We hope to have the opportunity to make it right in the future.
ES
Email Ana | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great work online
The online communications with Axis Africa was amazing. Lennox answered always fast and clear. But the reality afterwards wasn't that good.
I paid for a upgrade and I stay in a low category camp in Masai Mara. Also I was said I will be in the Sopa Naivasha. In from of the lodge I was said then that I was "upgraded" to another lodge. I wasn't. The Naivasha Lodge was worst than the lodge I had paid for. It was a disappointment.
Then, Robert the driver made us leave the last day from Amboseli before time, only because he wanted to go to " no man's land", in the Tanzania-Kenya border to buy grain. Quite a surreal experience! I guess this kind of things happen a lot in safaris, but it was quite surprising for me.
SE
Email Sebastian | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great driver and game drives. Not that great planning.
We took the six day safari with Masai Mara-Naruk-Amboseli. We ordered our safari via Axis, in our car we were 7 people. We were the only ones from Axis. So it’s hard to rate Axis on our trip.
We suffered a bit due to this since all travel groups had different itinerary and accommodations. We spent hours waiting on people and driving to different lodges/tent camps. This made that our tour didn’t followed our itinerary and we had to argue to get what we paid for.
You should be aware of this or demand to be in a car with a group with 100% same itinerary/accommodation if you plan to order this trip.
With that said we had a great safari. We saw the big five on our first full day game drive. Richard, our driver should have the Nobel peace prize for handeling one of our co-travelers that was very demanding. He handled our van with great skills!
Richard and animal-viewing was five stars, the planning with different itineraries in one car was one star!
DE
Email Dennis | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Wildlife, no so great Driver
The Safari was very nice, and we were really lucky, despite rain season. However, out driver always seemed to be in a hurry outside the park and the extra-activities seemed to a nuisance to him
KR
Email Sonia | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari... not what I expected... maybe...
First of all, I don't blame Axis Africa if my safari was less than ideal. I think for the price, I got a great deal. I saw lions, cheetahs. leopards, lots of elephants. giraffes, zebras. Pic-up, drop-off, camps and game drives were exactly as promised. I guess I really came with little experience and expectations. I was in a (nice) pop-up van with a bunch of foreigners (like me). The guide spent most of the time on a radio with other guides. We could guess when he spoke a lot and we say all the vans heading in one direction it was a lion or something "big". It did kind of feel we were harassing the animals, even caging them in with vans. Only once did our driver seem to participate in this (on the last day, he gunned the van to try to get a rise out of a cheetah, who did not respond-- and several of us let him know we didn't think it cool to do this-- but we did notice other vans harassing animals, shouting at them and trying to provoke them. I did get the feeling that the guides on these "budget" safaris would do "whatever" they thought made the guest happy and earn more tips. We clearly went off-road when it was marked. I also had a bad experience at the camp when a driver from another safari made sexual comments and reached into his pants and (well whatever) while speaking to me. (He asked it I was in a tent alone --I wans't) and then I just left.. I probably should have taken his name or photo-- but I was in shock! Anyway, this was not the fault of my company, but it did mar my experience.
In my further travels in Africa, I did another game drive in Botswana that was actually cheaper and more professional. We didn't drive as close to the animals but that actually felt better,
I did feel Axis Africa gave me what they promised in a budget safari. That said, I am not sure what i got what what I anticipated. I did see a lot of animals. They were mostly wild and free, except that we caged them in with our vehicles (and they did seem OK with this). Our guide, while not particularly knowledgeable ("there ix a big elephant and a little elephant") was pleasant enough. I hope this post alerts other women who may be harasssed to take a photo and report it as I wish I had.
Email Ljubo | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bad
the mini bus was terrible, everywhere we ate the food was bad, our main day was delayed by an hour because of other passengers and at the end of the day we ran into a rhino and 10 lions on the hunt and the driver hurried home and didn't let us enjoy the scene 10 minuts more
the only reason for rating 2 is that we saw a big five
Email Kandice | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
It was ok, but overpriced and kind of sketchy
The van was comfortable enough but very old and without AC, so be prepared for that. Our driver was nice, the places we stopped for food were not clean. (Bring toiler paper and hand sanitizer with you) All the restaurants are buffet style and left in serving wear that was sitting out for much longer then I feel is safe.
We were meant to go into the Masai Mara for 2 days, but the driver talked us into only going for one "extra long" day, which was only an hour longer then the day was originally meant to be. He also told us we could go into the Serengeti and instead took us to the border and told us that was it. In the end we paid for two days when we only had about 12 hours, allowing them to pocket the extra cash that would have been spent on the next days entry fee.
The place we camped was ok, not like it was pictured but it was acceptable and the people who worked there were nice. There was an overwhelming pressure from Axis to pay up front and in cash. One day included a picnic lunch, which was precooked chicken that wasn't kept in a cooler, but in cardboard box and ended up giving me food poisoning. I would recommend brining your own snacks.
After the trip we were informed that they are being looked into for questionable practices.
I wouldn't book with them again, especially since there are rumors surrounding the legitimacy of their practices.
Reply from Axis Africa Expedition & Safaris
Posted on Mar 26, 2019Hi Kandice
We are very disappointed for this negative feedback that you have chosen to share , there is no way that one can go to Serengeti national park in Tanzania the same day he is doing Masai Mara, the program indicated very well that during the full day you will be inside Masai Mara park and visit the Masai Mara river which is close to the border separating Masai Mara and Serengeti, no where we mentioned that you will cross to enter Serengeti on this day, this is a language misunderstanding that you did not understand even after explaining to you physically.
About the food, we highly apologize, we have since made the camp partner aware of this case and they have promised to change there packaging of picnic lunch.
About overcharging, that's also not so, you were doing a safari that is longer compared to the rest in your group and that would only mean a slightly higher price for you.
We would like to clarify that we are not illegitimate company as you have mentioned, we have an office which you came to and are licensed by the government, this was a case of misunderstanding on the wording of the itinerary, which if you engaged us we have amicably resolved.
We however believe that the customer /client has to be always right and therefore highly apologize for everything that went negative.
US
Email Astrid | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
If you book with Axis Africa, make sure Jeff is NOT your guide
To be clear, it wasn't all bad. The booking went fine, the agent was informative and helpful, the price was right, and the tented camp we stayed in was pleasant. But what you need most on a tour is a tour guide, and Jeff was anything but. He was our driver, and nothing more.
At the beginning of day 1 Jeff told us to ask questions, and generally one would expect those questions to be answered in addition to the guided tour, but what we got was a few, simple words to answer questions, and further questions seemed unwelcome. In what probably amounted to 20+ hours in the vehicle over 3 days, he maybe said a total of 200 words to us. He would stop, point, and say "impala" (or something similar) and then continue once we were finished taking photos. We got no information about the reserve, the animals, or what to expect from the day. Over several meals at the camp we heard all the other groups talking about what great guides they had and that saddened/angered me.
So, my review is simple: If you book with Axis Africa make sure Jeff is NOT your guide.
EC
Email Elena | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
do not perform scheduled tour
chose by rating, not my first safari. feeling that the comments are paid. instead of 3 promised visits to Maasai Mara. only 1, they got underweight back to the hotel, the guide did not hug anything, pulled from the place so that everyone flew around the cabin. people were stuffed into the car like sardines in a jar.