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Encompass Africa
- Located In:
-
Australia
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2009)
- Member Of:
- ATTA, CATO & ATAS
- Tour Types:
- Custom luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
-
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- Price Range:
- $225 to $1,925 ppper person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Will | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Lack of flexibility , poor quality vehicles, sub-standard accommodation
We chose Encompass Africa to assist us with our African safari as they espoused flexibility, ensuring they were up to date with migratory patterns and were able to change their plans, itineraries and accommodation locations to cater for the unexpected and unpredictable nature of the environment. This was not the case. We spent three full days searching for the elusive big 5. Only a few wildebeest could be found. The great migration was delayed due to unseasonal weather patterns. There were very few animals. We were told this prior to traveling to the Serengeti by other travelers who had already experienced this. When we relayed this information to Encompass Africa, they refused to change the itinerary and relocate us to where the action was - central Serengeti. After the third day and only after we strongly insisted, did they move us from one camp to the other. Both of which, by the way, were well under capacity. We finally saw what we came for - animals in abundance - lions, leopards, hippos, many buffalo and of course wildebeest and antelope.
The vehicle we had was very old and run down. Roofs either did not open, or closed unexpectedly - luckily escaping serious injury. The seats were bereft of cushioning and the air conditioning did not work. Very disappointing.
Part of our trip was to visit a Maasai school at a local Maasai village. When we arrived, there were no children. They claimed it was school holidays, however, after seeing the empty classroom, it appeared the school had not been in operation for many months. Rat droppings covered all the children’s desks and the teaching materials looked ‘staged’ leading us to question the purpose of this visit.
We were told that tipping at the village was not expected, however, we were lead to their ‘jewelry’ market, where the Maasai women made and sold bracelets , earrings etc. We felt obligated to purchase many of their items, as we were lead around the area several times. The Maasai women continually appealed to us to buy their beads. We felt very uncomfortable, almost believing we may have been rude or offensive if we refused their products, leaving us in a very awkward position. It appeared we visited the village under the ruse of seeing the children in the school, when really it appeared to be all about selling Maasai beads for exorbitant prices.
I would not recommend this tour operator. We need to be honest with our reviews so that others are not left disappointed as we were.
Disclaimer
- All corporate and/or tour info is provided by Encompass Africa, not SafariBookings
- The tours offered by Encompass Africa are subject to their terms & conditions