The Wayfairer team training in our UK office
Wayfairer Travel
- Offices In:
-
United Kingdom
United States
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 2012)
- Member Of:
- ATTA, ATOL & ABTOT
- Tour Types:
- Custom luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $1,019 to $2,580 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
US
Email Camila | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent pre-trip planning and support; room for improvement during trip - solved at the end
I planned two safari trips with Wayfairer this year. The first, in Kenya in March, went without a hitch. Planning was courteous and responsive and local partners were spot on for what we were looking for. Memorable staff, beautiful lodge, and astounding animal sightings. Logistics went smoothly.
Trip two comes along in June for a longer, two week adventure spanning Rwanda, Uganda an Tanzania. Things in Rwanda and Uganda did not go well. Local partner was unprofessional. Sent a guide that did not speak English, had next to zero professionalism or knowledge and did not know the way to hotel. This would have all been OK had we received a prompt response and solution from Wayfairer. Our emails went unanswered and private messages followed the same route. Eventually, I reached out to the local tour operator hired out by Wayfairer and it happened to be the case that Wayfairer had not even communicated the situation to the local travel partner. They were appalled and immediately sent another driver. This was a world away: professional, courteous, knowledgeable. As we tried to figure out what had happened, this is what we were able to discern: Wayfairer subcontracts to a reputable local partner for Uganda and Rwanda; lets call them "A". Said local partner then subcontracted the hotel for our driver/guide. The hotel then went on a third round of subcontracting and hired a small, new, non-reputable Rwandan agency to deliver the service. Agency "A" did not know the hotel had further subcontracted. Needless to say, neither did Wayfairer.
We completely understand that hiring local partners is normal and part of the way travel works nowadays. What is problematic is that in this case communication channels were not established, we got no response from Wayfairer which were the only ones with which we had communicated, and there was no accountability for what took place while we were there.
Once we left Rwanda and got plugged into their Tanzania partner, the trip was everything it should have been from day 1: engaging, professional, surrounded by experts during the game drives and caring staff at lodges.
Wayfairer did eventually react, apologize and issue a refund for the transportation costs of the Uganda leg of the trip.
All in all, I think it is a well put together agency with its values in the right place. It just needs to smooth out and address the growing pains of receiving more bookings and keeping track of their clients all the time, regardless of who they have subcontracted out to.
US
Email Juan Carlos | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Moderately satisfied
Safari Adventure Experience. Incredible wildlife, comfortable accommodations. Highly recommended. Finances lacking clarity.
Uganda Trip
We are very happy with the service and attention from Eleanor Roberts, the itinerary was very clear, the service of the guides and quality of the cars was really good as well. The hotels booked were amazing despite the short timeframe planning the trip.
I would recommend Wayfarer Travel.
US
Email Dan | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
They deftly juggled complicated logistics.
They put together a multistop Zambia pleasure trip for me (solo traveler). I presented them with my interests and after some communication, they put together a plan. Their knowledge of the area and operators was very helpful. When, as they do, issues came up they were flexible in modifying my agenda (e.g. one of my extensions was canceled due to river water levels). I feel that their expertise made my experience much more enjoyable as I could focus on my trip and not the logistics.
Pro: professional, approachable, non-judgemental, flexible
Con: tends to gravitate to the more expensive experiences (which you can "tune" down), some difficulty reaching them during a weekend issue (consider international mobile phone rather than wifi based communications)
US
Email Rachel | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our trip was wonderful
We traveled to Tanzania for the first part of our trip, staying in Moshi to do a day hike to the waterfalls, a village visit, and a day hike to Mount Kilimanjaro. The hike was hard, but such a great experience. Highly recommend this in your itinerary.
We then traveled to Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara, and the Northern Serengeti for the safari portion if our trip. Tarangire was beautiful and had so many amazing animals. Our guide was very thorough. The camp was a bit far from the park, but that is just something to keep in mind when deciding when you will leave to get back for meals, relaxing, etc. We then traveled to Lake Manyara. I do wish we had skipped this park as we did not see many animals besides monkeys and a few hippos in the water. Many of the roads were flooded and it was very crowded with cars, many of which caused traffic backups in the park.
Our guide in the Serengeti was also amazing. He was truly so knowledgeable. One of our favorite activities was the hot air balloon ride. It was breath-taking and such a surreal experience. We highly recommend booking this when in Africa.
For the last part of our trip, we visited Zanzibar. Stone Town was a lot of fun, especially in the evening, but we felt the walking tour was too long. Ours exceed 5 hours when it was supposed to be a little over 1.5. We were exhausted. The beach was perfect and relaxing and a nice end to our adventure.
The booking experience was good and pretty seamless. There were a few times when communication could have been better. I do think this is very important, especially once travelers have landed on the ground. The value for the money was good. We knew we wanted to make this trip amazing and we thank you all for your help in doing so. Wayfairer was reliable, had reliable guides, reliable accommodations, and was truly a pleasure to work with.
CN
Email Wendy | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
it is a very good operator whose staffs are responsible, in patience, well organized.
I chose Wayfairer Travel because when I wrote to them to inquire itinerary of my journey, they wrote back very soon and accurately. In general, everything was good, such as service, reliability and the tours. As our journey was tailored, there were 4 different places and local company served us, respectively Roots & Journey in Nokanyana and Mopiri Camp, Jackalberry chobe, bayete Guest Lodge, Kruger Shalati. Roots & Journey is very good, the best one in this journey.
There is one thing I felt sorry. The representative might not fully understand me when we discussed our itinerary, because I think the best place in Chobe is Savute and Linyanti, but we didn't visit it.
US
Email Lori Goodman | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good service - more reasonably priced than high luxury
We traveled to Tanzania on Safari planned by Wayfairer travel. We used one private guide to visit three camps plus the Ngorongoro crater. Our experience was excellent. We loved our choice to have one guide and drive through the country. Wayfairer was helpful and worked with us on price. One thing I wish they had done was to let us know at the time of booking that we would need to visit a travel specialist doctor to get vaccinations. We didn't receive that information until 6 weeks before our trip and we were out of the country for business much of that time. It made our immunization visit more stressful than necessary. We loved this once in a lifetime trip and would absolutely recommend Wayfairer.
Reply from Wayfairer Travel
Posted on Sep 23, 2019Thank you so much for your great review Lori and we're delighted that you had a wonderful, once in a lifetime trip to Tanzania! Regarding vaccination advice, please note that this is always given to you at the time of booking as well as in your pre-departure documents. Thanks once again for your feedback and it's great to hear that you'd recommend our services to others.
Email John | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Kilimajaro and Zanzibar
The bulk of the tour went very smoothly, all very relaxed and Wayfairer chose good quality hosts that made our stay enjoyable throughout. The service was flexible, and the team worked to tailor the tour to our very specific dates and requirements throughout, providing clear advice on what would and would not work.
The information pack we received was clearly laid out, with all relevant information provided. In particular, highlighting key restrictions at various points in the trip.
Awesome
We had an amazing trip to Southern Africa. The itinerary we had included Victoria Falls (the Zimbabwean side), a day trip to Chobe, a visit to Great Zimbabwe and Cape Town. Wayfairer Travel was amazing at booking our travel, ensuring that we had the best tour guides and any issues we faced were resolved immediately. They really surpassed our expectations.
Email EE | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Well organised, communication could be better though.
The accommodation was great, well organised trip, our driver was excellent, good car. The communication and pre-trip information could have been better. We were not aware of mandatory tipping (which is quite high), also not aware of an additional guide for Rwanda - certainly didn't need one.