Stuff waiting For You :)
Hekima Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2006)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $210 to $1,200 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Behnaz | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Mixed Experience - Communication Needs Serious Improvement
We booked a mid-range safari with Hekima Safaris after reading many positive reviews, and while there were some great aspects to our experience, we were also disappointed in several areas.
We made our booking early in February for a September safari, specifically because of the positive feedback about Hekima going above and beyond for their customers. However, communication from the company was lacking throughout the process.
Two days before our arrival in Kenya, I messaged Hekima to confirm our airport pickup and overall itinerary, but received no response. As we were flying all the way from Australia, this caused significant anxiety — especially given the common warnings about scams. Even during our layover in Mumbai, I messaged again, only to see the message was read with no reply. Out of concern, I contacted the hotel we were due to stay at in Nairobi to confirm our reservation. While they did have a booking under our name, Hekima had not yet paid, so the hotel staff said it wasn’t guaranteed.
Eventually, after we landed in Nairobi around 5:40 AM, Hekima responded and provided a contact for our pickup.
We also learned at breakfast that Hekima had sent an external guide to pick us up, as the staff members were away on another safari. This gave us the impression that our safari may have been overlooked or forgotten, despite our early booking.
Communication after our deposit was made became noticeably slower, whereas responses before payment were immediate. This shift in engagement was disappointing.
However, we were especially disappointed with the guide in the Serengeti. He did not make an effort to connect with us, and we felt like the "going above and beyond" service we read about in reviews was not true in our case. The guide seemed disinterested and did not engage with us or go the extra mile to enhance our experience. He did mention he hadn't slept but there was plenty of time to sleep and rest after coming back from game drives in the evening.
At times, we felt uncomfortable asking for a few extra moments to enjoy the sunrise or take in the animals, as if we were inconveniencing him.
There were also issues with accommodation changes not being communicated in advance. One of the lodges we were taken to was not the one we had booked, and it did not meet mid-range standards – dirty showers and poor food. On another day, the same thing happened again, but thankfully, the alternate lodge was significantly better.
That said, there were definitely many positives too — don’t get me wrong. The guides made sure we saw all the animals we wanted to see, including the Big Five. The lodges (with the exception of one uncommunicated change) were fantastic, with great food and comfortable amenities.
On the day we were flying out, we were told by the airline that our flight was actually departing from a different airport. Jackson and Benard rushed back immediately, picked us up, and drove as fast as they could to the correct airport. This really helped us, and we can’t thank them enough for saving the day.
Overall, the safari had its highlights — and we especially want to give a big shoutout to Jackson for his support and professionalism. But unfortunately, due to poor communication, last-minute changes, and a lack of attentiveness at times, we can’t give Hekima the 5-star rating we had really hoped to.
There is definite potential here — but improvements in communication and customer care are needed.
BE
Email Wim | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nice safari experience, with an organisation that has room for improvement.
My partner and I thoroughly enjoyed this safari experience. We had a fun group (us and 4 others we did not know beforehand), and each national park visit was breathtaking in its own way. The organisation was adequate in some regards, but did fall short in some others.
- Our guide knew his way around the parks, and managed to make sure we saw a ton of different animals. He answered our questions but did not take a lot of initiative to give us explanations about the animals/areas we saw. He was enthousiastic and playful at times, but overall did not seem very interested in getting 'connected' with the group, with an attitude that can be best described as nonchalant: not to a problematic extent, but not very involved. Adequate, but not great.
- The camping experience was quite adventurous. The tents were ok, but it was not possible to really secure them into the ground. During a storm at night, this lead to some panic with someone's tent flying around the campsite (that had a large number of jackal and hyena visitors). Nobody got hurt in the end, but several people of the group were (understandably) scared out of their minds throughout this all, yet our guide did not seem to care very much and did not give an impression of being committed to helping out, and to keeping the group safe and at ease. "Just keep sleeping" is not an appropriate response if a scared person asks what to do incase a hyena manages to enter your tent at night.
- The food tasted good, but the way it was stored was often quite unhygienic. Of course, while on a safari adventure in Africa you need to have realistic expectations about this, but there's a minimum of effort you would expect a cook to make regarding hygiene and ours didn't always do that. The best example: the fruit and vegetables that we were to eat later on were lying on the ground in the camping site kitchen, with rats and birds running rampant through them. We suggested to the cook to put this food in a box (the least you can do to keep it protected a little better) and helped him do it, just to find the food lying around on the dirty ground again the next day for no apparent reason (once again between the rats and birds).
- On the fourth day of the trip, we were told the plan was to visit the Ngorongoro crater for just +-3 hours and then leave by noon, even though our park entry pass allowed us to stay in the park until much later. The group needed to do some negotiating with the guide to keep us in the park for the maximum amount of time. In the end we had a great day there (and after talking about all this, our guide did put in a much better overall effort in Ngorongoro), but that does not change the fact that that day would have been cut inexplicably short had it not been for the group intervening.
- The Hekima House, were we stayed our last night of the trip, was ok overall but our room was quite unclean. The food, bathroom and staff were nice though.
In the end we got the impression that the organisation was receptive to our feedback and willing to improve, which is definitely a positive aspect worth mentioning. We believe Hekima is a young organisation capable of giving many people great safari experiences in the future, but also that they need to improve in the aspects mentioned above. Even though these things did not ruin the entire experience for us, they very well might for other travelers.
About the parks:
- Tarangire: various types of vegetation, many hilly parts so beautiful viewpoints, lots of animals.
- Serengeti: more flat open spaces, less vegetation, many animals yet more spread out from each other, lots and lots of lions.
- Ngorongoro: unbelievable setting, many different animals close together in a breathtaking volcanic creater, no doubt the highlight of our trip.
- Lake Duluti: definitely not a 'safari' day, more of a relaxing experience on the last day, enjoying some peace and quiet (and birds). A nice day but not comparable to the true safari experiences in Tarangire, Serengeti & Ngorongoro.
Reply from Hekima Safaris
Posted on Dec 18, 2018Dear Wim,
thank you for your review. We would like to take this chance to apologize for all the inconvenience and we are sorry to hear that you were less than fully satisfied with the service. We used the chance to talk to you in person directly after safaris as the owner of the company found you at Hekima House and tried to clarify some details.
We pride ourselves on our customer care so it came as a surprise, and we would like to explain as follows!
We make sure that our guides are competent and knowledgeable. As far as we understand some people love fully enjoying the nature. The guide makes his best to find his way to find animals for you and provide you some information. Than, without questions, he can stay quiet in order you can enjoy yourself watching the nature. It is his part of the job to replay questions as they appear and we do hope you found it satisfactory when you had some questions.
We do understand that camping experience can be quiet an adventure for some people. We make our best to prepare tents and all the equipment in order you can enjoy it. We always explain the difference between camping programs and luxury lodge programs. Yes, there are some animals around the national parks. Some people find it exciting, some a bit scaring. Yes, some unexpected situation may happen during the camping eg becose of weather conditions. Yet we always do explain to you the real situation and try to react on time. Please take our apologies if you didn't have an impression of your guide being committed enough to comfort you when you get scared during the night time. As our team get used to with animals around, maybe the guide didn't understand how big impression this situation made on you and was not sensitive as he suppose to.
Thank you for bringing the issue about food to our attention. The safety and security of our guests is always our top priority! As we do receive people from all over the world the quality of food and water provided is very important issue. Our team do everything possible to keep people safe which sometimes is hard due to diffrent bacterial flora in Tanzania. We are sorry if you had diffrent impression. First of all, the food kept for guests is store in diffrent conditions than food kept for the team (guide and cookers themself). Secondly, on campsite there are some places especially prepared for storing food - it is the governmental requirement and foreigner guests are not allowed inside those places. Maybe you didn't understand well the situation and due to some language differences didn't understand each other well with the cooker. At the end, we are really happy that the food itself was tasty.
If it cames to the itenary of safari, you are provided of it before the experience. Time spent in Ngorongoro depends on two circumstances - first, the permit is limitited of time becose of Conservation regulations and second, it depends on your itenary. Guide do not decide himself about the time spent in crater but is strictly instructed from the company. Please remember, doing gamedriving genarte costs eg like fuel for the car you use. We do our best to provide for you the best possible experience and sometimes we try to go an extra mile in order to create amazing memories for you.
We do appreactie your feedback about Hekima House and we take it in serious consideration to improve the facilities. We are on process of changes inside the property and you are welcome any time to be back and see how the positive improvements may suprise you!
Last but not least, we do hope that you will keep good memories only from your stay in Tanzania, thank you for traveling with us.
With kind regards,
Magdalene,
Hekima House