Safari Jeep ready for departure
Africa Marvel Tours
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2014)
- Member Of:
- Kenya Association of Tour Operators
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $130 to $450 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Ray | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beware beware beware, never again
In a group of 11 and we all paid in full for a Safari holiday to African Marvel. Expecting a holiday to remember but what we got was their management not paying hotels, lodges and park fees and we lost big chunks of time where we should have been viewing Kenya and Tanzania wonders. What we got was hours waiting at park entries, or in hotels not being able to leave because the bill wasn't paid by African Marvel. Tourism is very important for Kenya and Tanzania but this experience has left a bad feeling and we have told family and friends our experiences, a nightmare of failed promises by management. That said the guides were amazing, hotels, lodges, food were also amazing. Even the guides weren't getting paid and relied on our daily tips to survive. So based on my experience, do not use this company, find a company that you can trust. Yes we paid in full but that doesn't guarantee a flowing, wonderful holiday with beautiful countries, animals and locals. Find a financial operator that does put your money into your holiday. Beware, please beware.
Update, now been over 3 weeks and no promised money has been transferred from African Marvel to our group. All words and clearly no action or no care!
Email Pam Buchanan | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Our holiday of a lifetime ruined by the lies and deceit of Africa Marvel.
The twelve day Safari of Kenya and Tanzania was marred with delays, a feeling of being held “hostage” at each junction of the trip until accommodation and game parks were paid; sometimes by Marvel after much pressure being applied, and from us (for a second time!) to ensure that we did experience some of what was promised to us in our itinerary.
Our family group and friends, totalling 11 people, had paid in full and in good faith that the services would be provided as booked.
It was evident that Marvel was stringing us along financially and emotionally, promising us a
refund of the services not rendered, totalling USD30,000.
Not one cent of that huge amount of money, that our group could ill afford, has been paid back. We are still waiting!
Cutting short the safari as once again the accommodation and park fees were not paid for, we returned to Nairobi early.
Even more bad news as the Rwanda 4 Day Tour to experience the Gorillas and the Golden Monkeys for the 6 of us an absolute once in a lifetime “bucket list “ paid to Marvel was NEVER booked at all. When pressed further about this tour he admitted the day before that he had done nothing. We were devastated! It was clearly fraud!
The emotional and financial stress, the uncertainty and betrayal is the key element I have taken from dealing with this company.
We thought we did our due diligence in going with this company, but that proved to be an absolute nightmare on so many levels.
Be so aware!
CN
Email Jad | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Professional and cost-effective.
The 5-day safari was an unforgettable experience of my life, and I highly recommend the company "Africa Marvel".
1. I strongly recommend my guide, Sam. Throughout the journey, he provided a very safe environment, which I greatly needed and am very thankful for. His driving skills were excellent, and he had a very accurate grasp of the road conditions. He was very professional about safaris, helping me spot many wild animals and explaining their behaviors to me. I saw herds of elephants at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro and adorable lion cubs nursing and playing. I am very grateful for Sam's guidance. During the picnic lunch on the second day of the Maasai Mara safari, he chose a great spot under the shade of a tree, allowing me to enjoy my lunch accompanied by my favorite giraffes.
2. I was very satisfied with the accommodations during the trip. Every day I woke up to the sound of birds. Each lodging had a well-maintained sanitation system, with hot showers available and mosquito nets over the beds to keep the mosquitoes away. My favorite was the "Oilepo Amboseli Safari Lodge", where I could see baboons and elephants coming to drink at the waterhole while dining. I could also lie in bed and see Mount Kilimanjaro (of course, this depends on good weather conditions). The yard had beautiful dead trees that were perfect for photography.
3. Although January and February are not the peak times for wildlife migration, there are more opportunities to see young animals, more availability in accommodations, and more reasonable prices.
In conclusion, I sincerely recommend "Africa Marvel" and strongly recommend Sam as a guide.
Email Laura Tranfield | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing
Trip of a lifetime. I can not fault Africa Marvel Tours. From day one we were in contact with Perminus who made the booking extremely easy and was able to answer all our questions and even change the itinerary to suit our preferences. The safari itself was truely incredible, Jo our Kenyan safari guide went above and beyond for us, we can not thank him enough, same goes for Medy our Tanzanian safari guide, he even organised a surprise celebration for one of our birthdays. Both Jo and Medy were extremely experienced game drivers, and extremely dedicated in ensuring we had the best views and opportunities to see the animals.
All of the accomodation booked for the safari was above all our expectations. An absolutely amazing trip. Thank you to all involved
IE
Email Michaela Francis | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The trip of our lifetime!
Myself and my husband had the time of our lives on this trip.
The Safari/Lake Nakuru exceeded our expectations and that was thanks to JOHN who made it happen:)
He has a wealth of knowledge which he shared with us and never missed an animal to see - we saw thw Big 5(the ugly 5 :-D) and everything in between.
His positive and caring attitude towards not only us but mainly for the animals was truly evident throughout the time we spent with him. We love his respect (unlike many other guides) for the animals crossing giving them time and way/switching the engine off and taking the time to observe the nature around us.
Both Tent accomondation in Masai Mara & Lake Nakuru Lodge @ Lake Nakuru were excellent with great selection of food bot different yet enjoyable in their own right.
We were already discussing with John that one day we would love to do it again with the kids when they are bigger and would ask for John.
Thanks again and good luck with the business.
CN
Email Fan CHEN | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very trustworthy
We visited the Maasai for two nights. We stayed at the Lodge. It is a tented lodge with about 24 tents. The lodge itself and everybody that work there was great! The temp was very spacious and had everything we needed.
We went on two full day safaris and a half day safari during our time at the Maasai Mara. Our guide, Joe, was fantastic and we saw all of the big five animals. He was very willing to wait until we got our full fill of viewing of each animal. He also had a lot of information about the animals and the flora and Fana of the area. I’m a Sara was very beautiful and the safari were very relaxing. We enjoyed our time there.
Email Gemma | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not Recommended
Unfortunately I have to write this to warn other people as we had a bad experience with Africa Marvel Tours.
We went in August but it took several months to recoup some money from them and have only just got around to writing this report.
I had high hopes for this trip and spent almost a year planning the trip of a lifetime for my 40th birthday with my family. I had decided years earlier that I wanted to do an African safari in style for this milestone.
When I contacted Perminus, I was very specific with what I wanted and we went back and forth a lot fine tuning our itinerary (10 nights Kenya and Tanzania) and I spent a lot of time researching and selecting specific accommodation based on the effect each would have on the total cost of the trip. I wanted to stay in some more luxury lodges but mix it with some mid range lodges so that it wasn't as expensive in total.
Perminus was very helpful in the planning process and I felt confident that this was going to be the trip of the lifetime I'd dreamed of. We were able to secure all but 2 (out of 6) of the lodges I'd selected but we booked into good alternatives for those 2 that we couldn't get.
Between paying the deposit and the final balance our group had gone from 6 people in 3 rooms to 4 people in 3 rooms. We paid extra to have 2 people in their own rooms.
Fast forward to 3 days before the tour began. I contacted Perminus on arrival in Nairobi (our tour started from a hotel we had booked ourselves in Nairobi) to ask what time we would be collected on Day 1. At this point, he informed me that 3 of the lodges that we have confirmed had been changed. All 3 were the best, most luxurious properties that we had paid a hefty premium for. I was furious. The alternatives were significant downgrades from what we had been told was confirmed prior to paying our final balance.
On arrival at the first alternative property, the reception staff handed us 2 keys instead of 3. They informed us that the booking requested was only for 2 rooms. In fact, they had more rooms available but had just sold them to a family who just arrived and were still there in the reception at the same time as us. So this first lodge was not only quite a lot cheaper than the one we paid for, but we only got 2 rooms instead of 3. We were there for 2 nights.
The same thing happened at our third stop. Exact same story except a bigger downgrade. The poor hotel staff having to be the one to break the news to us because despite our driver confirming with Perminus that we had 3 rooms for the rest of the trip, he lied and said we did, when we didn't.
The 4th stop (the third changed lodge), we had our 3 rooms but this was the biggest downgrade of all. We'd booked a really nice luxury property in Serengeti with a pool and sweeping views over the plains. We were put into a perfectly fine tented camp with no view or pool and it was baking hot there when we were trying to rest in the afternoon. It was worth significantly less than what we'd paid for.
There was no effort to warn us about these things or provide an explanation. I had to call Perminus to demand an explanation during the trip. The explanation given was that his colleague had accidentally cancelled all our bookings instead of amending the number of people from 6 to 4 (this would have been several months earlier and still we weren't told). They were able to get back all the accommodations except the best ones.
Unfortunately I don't believe that is what happened. I believe that this was intentional to make a bigger profit or perhaps, to survive another few months if the company is in trouble. The reason I think this is because I have read reviews of other companies in Kenya doing this, so it seems to be common practice. In addition, a family who went the week after us with Africa Marvel had an even worse time. You can read their review on SafariBookings (Li, Sep 12 2024).
I had to chase and chase them to organise some kind of refund. It was incredibly frustrating. I did my own research and based on published rates, the DIFFERENCE in what we paid and what we got in terms of accommodation was about USD5600. But these safari companies access agent rates which can be 20-30% cheaper. Even so, that would mean that we overpaid by about USD4000. After 3 months of chasing, I finally received USD1600 back. Better than nothing, but we were totally and utterly ripped off and I would hate the same to happen to anyone else.
The places we visited and the lodges were all good and the wildlife was truly amazing. But this experience made what was meant to be the trip of a lifetime, an unpleasant experience where I was having to ignore this stuff in the moment in order to try an enjoy myself. I would be wary of any Kenyan tour company after this and would rather book my own accommodation and fly to each place than risk being ripped off again.
That said, both our drivers in Kenya (Joe) and Tanzania (Medy) were great and I feel sorry for them that they have to be the face of this unprofessional and dodgy company.
Book at your own risk. If you do, go for the cheaper accommodation as you will probably end up there anyway!
Reply from Africa Marvel Tours
Posted on Jan 16, 2025Dear Gemma,
Thank you for your feedback and review, we value our clients feedback.
In reference to your complain about the refund we had it sent within the period mentioned to you on email and we are glad that you acknowledged receipt of the same with thanks.
We looked into your communication with Perminus and It was true there was a lot of back and forth trying to decide on which lodges and at the same time fit your budget. At the time of booking we confirmed that you were informed of the unavailability of some of the lodges considering your booking was during the peak season. As a general practice the agreement was to have them wait listed and see if something will open up with time.
Initially your booking had a total of six people that is three double rooms. One month to the safari start date you reduced the number of people from six to four which meant we change to two double rooms. The last minute booking change affected the booking.
We tried our level best to place you in accommodation similar to the initial booking and only one camp we had to move you from luxury to midrange which we acknowledged there will be a refund for the difference in price. We credited your bank account with the price difference and you acknowledged receipt with thanks via email.
We appreciate that Joe and Medy were great guides during your safari.
Once more we are grateful for your feedback and will endeavor to continue on improving on our service delivery.
Email Lakesha Bell | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Maasai Mara Safari
This was a great tour for the value. Perminus was able to give us all the information we needed during our months of planning. The driver was prompt and we (4 women) felt safe for the entire 3days of our trip. The driver made sure we were able to see as much animals as possible on our outings to the park. We stayed at Enkorok which was very rustic and a great experience of ‘glamping’. The staff at the camp was pleasant and very accommodating. We also enjoyed the balloon ride and the visit to a nearby Maasai village which was also planned by African Marvel.
Email Roselyne | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very efficient and knowledgeable
Africa marvel made it easy for me and my husband to organise our tour within 2 days. They responded to us quickly and answered all questions. I loved the accommodation they booked for us and services they provided.
ES
Email Jorge Barberia | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The best tour in África whit lovely and profesional people
We enjoy all time in tsavo west, east and amboselli. We Leart a lot of thing about de wild live, nature and Kenyatta people.
We knew big five
