Natural_World_Safaris-HIDDEN
- Located In:
-
United Kingdom
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2006)
- Member Of:
- ATOL & ABTOT
- Destinations:
- Website:
- www.naturalworldsafaris_OLD.com
Reviews
US
Email Dudley | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
More Money for Less Value
Save money and frustration by skipping Natural World Safaris and go to the actual operator. Natural World Safaris charged us a premium for our Antarctica expedition, yet, does not operate this expedition and has no employees on location. Making matters worse they attract adventurous customers with the lure of camping, kayaking and other expedition compliments without adequately informing you that these require separate bookings (and more money). When we arrived in Ushuaia (after traveling 7,000 miles) we discovered they separated my family into two different hotels, several miles apart. They say they did not know we were a family; however, they got this detail correct on my invoice and contract? Sharing an amazing adventure with my family justified the considerable investment traveling to Antarctica requires; yet I'm asked to say goodbye to part of my family on the first night? Save money and frustration and skip Natural World Safaris. To be clear actual operator, based in Canada and Ushuaia, is fantastic.
Disorganised, disappointing, and expensive
Whilst this is a review of a Natural World Safari holiday in Sri Lanka that we went on and not Africa, we have posted it here to inform others considering holidaying with this company.
We do not recommend booking a holiday with this company. Their online literature gives the impression of a professional organisation offering a wonderful opportunity to swim with blue whales but once out in Sri Lanka the organisation was nothing short of shambolic.
We paid £14k (excluding flights, food, and beverage) to go on a Sri Lankan blue whale safari trip that was without doubt the most disorganised, disappointing, and most expensive holiday we have ever experienced. We had accepted that a proportion of the cost went towards conservation and research, but the holiday was so substandard in every way that we feel totally conned by this. Aside from the trip being a strong contender for the world's worst honeymoon, we were misled to believe that the Picture Adventure Expeditions operation that Natural World Safaris commissioned for this holiday, would have permits to swim with blue whales in the Northeast of Sri Lanka. This was what sold us the holiday. The literature sent to us from Natural World Safaris in both selling us the trip and again after we had paid the first instalment for it, boasted that they work with the top blue whale scientist in Sri Lanka: Asha De Vos. By coincidence, we met two acquaintances of Asha's on a later part of our holiday in Sri Lanka whilst in Wilpattu. They were surprised that Asha would be involved with an operator that allowed tourists to swim with whales and contacted her to verify this claim. It turns out Natural World Safaris were falsely using Asha De Vos' name and she publicly denied all association with Natural World Safaris (which we confirmed by contacting her directly ourselves).
When we contacted Natural World Safaris (at the end of the trip) asking for proof of the permits to swim with whales in the Northeast of Sri Lanka, we were informed that although they had been requested by Natural World Safari's "partner", they had not been confirmed because Natural World Safaris had failed to provide our passport details to them despite them having had them for over a year or contacting us to check whether they had changed.
During our holiday, the incompetence and recklessness of the employed boat captain was truly alarming. This “personally taught” (by Natural World Safaris) captain had no idea how to safely drive a power boat and the tour leader from Picture World Safaris did nothing to intervene despite the distress of his three clients. As a qualified yachtsman and RYA powerboat driver myself, I had to intervene several times to curb his ‘joy riding’ style of driving a speed boat in high waves and at beaching it too. Our accommodation at one point in the trip was little more than a hostel and of the quality that even the cockroaches were trying to move out. On top of this, our guide and operator of Picture Adventure Expeditions, Josh, seemed to be concentrating more on running his printing business back in India than ensuring his guests, who had each forked out £7k were kept safe and received reasonable value for the holiday they paid for.
US
Email Kimberly | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Lying exploitive uncaring irresponsible
NSW tried to have my original review removed they said that my review would hurt Africa. They tried to victim blamed/Shane me. It’s the kidnapping that would hurt Africa!
So, This is a rebuttal to NSW response to the review I left regarding my kidnapping while on tour paid to them. Unbeknownst to me it was brokered out to wild frontiers I was not traveling with natural world safaris but I did pay them. There was no one to meet me at the airport when I arrived, by myself, in uganda but more importantly is their reply to my review. It is nothing short of blatant lies and trying to cover themselves. To date they have never once reached out to me, their statement is completely untrue. However an attorney for me did reach out to them and all they did was pass it onto their insurance company and wish me well. They weren’t even willing to refund my tour. The loss to My life has been inmeasurable both to me personally and professionally. So it’s highly insulting that they want to come on here and leave their untruths so that they don’t suffer. This company did not suffer with me or offer any help of any kind ever. The amount of therapy I’ve had to go to to help overcome not just the kidnapping but society‘s response to my kidnapping including this company has been lengthy and expensive .
Things go Wrong in life what matters is what do you do when they do go wrong as far as this his company is concerned they did nothing but insult on top of injury ,rub salt in a wound, and add to my complex PTSD. And as for not wanting to go into a social media thing now that’s just plain funny. But I do & will . I want to let society know exactly who you’re dealing with when you go into dangerous places were dangerous things can happen and what they did and how they handled it and that’s just the truth.
all you have to do is look at their Instagram page they’ve added Uganda back on the tours (they took it off after my kidnapping ) and David is there recently doing things that I missed out on because, well, I was kidnapped!
Shady & shameful I recommend going elsewhere.
US
Email Kim | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Stole my money and refuses to refund what is rightfully mine
I planned a trip to the Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic in March of 2022 with David at Natural World Safaris. Part of the trip involved a $20k safari with the Congo Conservation Company. Natural World Safaris collected the money for all sections of the trip, included this one. The CCC cancelled my trip a month before the safari was to take place and refunded the money to Nat World Safaris. At the same time Air France also cancelled my flights. Air France has since refunded my money to NWS. It has been 4 months and NWS refuses to refund my money. No one from the company will come to the phone and talk with me. The NWS phone operator tells me that the person I ask to talk to is "in a meeting and will return my call." No one ever returns my call, and I am told that the refund is being "processed." It is quite obvious that NWS intends to keep my money. These people are thieves. DO NOT PLAN A TRIP WITH NWS. They are dishonest and will swindle you. With all the flight and trip cancellations post-covid, NWS must be making a huge, illicit profit.
US
Email Kimberly Endicott | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Kidnapped during tour, they did nothing but send me emails promoting the company
Kidnapped in UGANDA during my tour April 2nd 2019. This company brokered my tour to a more local tour company.
They don’t even manage the tours.
They did, however,
Contact the RSO of Ugandan Embassy no fewer than 25 times during my kidnapping and after my release but never once reached out to me personally to see how I was doing and to check on my emotional well-being after being held at gunpoint for six days taken from Queen Elizabeth national park into the DRC / Congo.
I paid this company close to $8,000usd
My insurance responded
Alaska Airlines responder
REI responded
Target responded
Natural World Safaris, who made the most from me...NOTHING
But they do continue to promote their tours through email to me. The kidnapped victim. There in sensitivity reigns supreme !
You can google, my kidnapping will come up to verify. These people did Nothing but open an office in Los Angeles, my backyard, so to speak.
There are a lot of tour companies that want your business. Do you want to roll the dice with this company that does nothing when things go wrong in a foreign country except for cover their behind, or at least try to. Nobody knew my fate but this company didn’t even care. Trauma is real
PTSD is real and the CEO sending out an email after my kidnapping asking me to rate my Experience is real.
So is “ institutional betrayal” A term I learned in therapy because of my kidnapping.
That’s Natural world safari, It took over a year to leave this review!