Monkey Adventures

Reply from Monkey Adventures

Dear Ms. Noreen,

Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry to hear that you felt unwell during your climb. We take the health and wellbeing of our clients and crew very seriously. However, to ensure accuracy for future climbers reading this review, we must clarify the facts regarding the timeline of your illness and the conditions on the mountain.

1, It is important to address the timeline of your symptoms, as our records differ from your account. You arrived in Tanzania on September 26th. During your briefing on the evening of September 27th—before you had even met your porter team—you informed our guide and operations manager that you were already feeling unwell with a cold and runny nose. You specifically requested a stop at a pharmacy the next morning to buy medication. We accommodated this, and the team stopped at a pharmacy in Sanya Juu on September 28th before the hike began. This clearly establishes that your symptoms were present before you had any interaction with our crew.

2, Regarding your claim that you caught an illness from a porter on the first morning, this is medically and logically implausible. As you stated in your messages to us and other online forums, your coughing began the very same day(sep 28th night) you met the porter(Sep 28th mid day). Per established infectious disease guidelines, respiratory infections have an incubation period of at least 24 hours, and usually several days. It is not possible to contract a virus and develop symptoms within a few hours. Furthermore, during the trek, no concerns were raised to the guide about any porter appearing unwell, and no symptoms were observed or reported among the staff. If a porter had a contagious illness, it would have likely spread to the other crew members as they all share tents. It is highly probable that you misinterpreted dust-induced sneezing, which is common in the dry mountain air, as a sign of sickness, while your own symptoms were the result of the cold you reported the previous evening.

3, We strictly prohibit sick crew members from starting a tour. The physical demands of Kilimanjaro are far higher for porters carrying heavy loads than for clients. They carry all their own gear plus another 15kgs. It is physically impossible for a sick porter to perform their duties at that altitude. Our Operations Manager assesses the crew before every departure, and anyone showing signs of illness is replaced immediately. There were no sick crew members on your expedition.

4, Your daily health logs contradict the claim of severe illness and sleeplessness. Our daily health checks include specifically asking climbers about breathing difficulty, sleep quality, and other symptoms, and no such concerns were reported at any point. Furthermore, across all eight days of the trek, you self-reported scores of 0/5 for symptoms like headache, fatigue, gastrointestinal issues, and dizziness, indicating you were in excellent physical condition. Your oxygen saturation was excellent throughout the trip, recording 96% at 4,800 meters. Additionally, in your daily self-assessments, you rated your sleep as excellent for six out of seven nights on the mountain and mild sleeplessness on the summit night. Crucially, your summit night health readings and guide observations did not indicate respiratory distress, and no difficulty breathing was reported during or after the ascent. Had you reported these issues, we would have intervened immediately with medical aid or evacuation. After the trek was complete, we offered to take you to a hospital for doctor consultations both in Moshi and again during your safari in the Serengeti. Both offers of medical assistance were immediately declined by you; instead, you requested a complimentary spa service.

5, Finally, we find your request for a full refund inconsistent with your actions and our agreements. You successfully completed the 8-day hike and the subsequent safari, participating fully in both. Immediately after the trip, you rated our crew and logistics 5 out of 5 stars. Despite the fact that your illness was pre-existing, we extended a one-time, non-liability goodwill refund of 20% of the trek cost, which you accepted. It was only after this acceptance that you escalated your demand to a 100% refund for both the trek and the safari. Furthermore, even after this dispute, you continued to communicate with us to request a booking for a future Uganda safari. This continued trust in our services suggests that your actual experience was positive, as indicated by your initial high ratings and the acceptance of our goodwill offer.

We are proud of our safety standards and the hard work of our crew. While we regret you were not feeling your best, we cannot accept responsibility for a pre-existing condition, nor can we offer further refunds for successfully completed tours based on these claims.
We wish you good health in your future travels.

Sincerely,
Fred