The Land & Lake Team
Land & Lake Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 1986)
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $200 to $2,000 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
US
Email Carol | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
What a disappointment!!!!
I booked through African Budget Safari and they contracted with Land and Lakes Safaris ( L&L) in Malawi. I had a good experience with African Budget Safari. I would use them again in a heartbeat. But I would never use Land and Lakes again.
We had one major issue occurred 3 days into our 7 day tour. We are seasoned travelers having visited over 140 countries and we often travel up to 4 months a year. The major issue we encountered was unique but strange things happen while traveling. We had driven from Malawi to Zambia and arrived at Thornicroft Lodge ( which is wonderful). After checking emails we received 2 of significance. One from African Budget Safari saying that our tour might get screwed up because of civil unrest and demonstrations which were expected to block flights out of Malawi the following week including the day of our departure. An email from the US State Department strongly suggested not flying in or out that week. This major event was beyond anyone’s control, which we understand, but what we don’t understand is why Land and Lakes did nothing to assist us in making alternative arrangements.
I asked our guide, Eric, to check into the situation at dinner that night. He was already aware of the situation but seemed nonplussed. I asked him to follow up with the L&L home office and get back to me after our game drive the next morning.
I also sent the email from the state department to the (L&L) home office saying we may need to change our itinerary to fly out of Lusaka, Zambia instead of Llongwe 4 days later ( airport closures were suppose to start the day before our departure). We were flying on to Uganda so we could not afford to be delayed 3 extra days.
When we got back from the game drive the next morning our guide had no suggestions for what to do, no alternatives, and the home office took until 12:30 to speak to me and say basically “ we know this is serious but you are on your own. You either follow the itinerary and see what happens or you lose what you have already paid plus all costs and inconveniences and changes in hotels, flights and transportation are your responsibility. File with your insurance.”
This was not about insurance! This was about being in a remote place with very spotty internet, trying to book lodges, book a new flight, change an existing flight and arrange transportation! Thank goodness for Thornicroft Lodge ( Nadia and Dylan). They could not accommodate us but they called another lodge and got us a room. They loaned me their phone to call South African Air. They helped me book a flight from the local airport to Lusaka. Are you getting the picture? They did everything over 5 hours that Land and Lakes,which had better phones and constant internet at the home office, should have done. We understand it was our financial responsibility and we will deal with the insurance when we get home but where was Land and Lakes, our tour company?
Why no suggestion such as stay one more night nearby and your guide will drive you to Lusaka and see sights along the way? It is no further than Lake Malawi. Or suggest another itinerary of sights within Zambia? Again Thornicroft got info on driving to Lusaka $80 US pp versus flying $300pp so all the options were provided by them and not Land and Lakes.
Our guide was not allowed to accompany us into the game park and he had meals with us but otherwise was unoccupied. After we reworked our schedule, he informed us he was going back to LLongwe.
I asked our guide what would have happen if we had followed the original itinerary and the airports did shut down - would his company have left us to our own devices? His answer was of course not. So why did they leave us to our own devices in a remote location ? Malawi has been experiencing turmoil since the election in May and I believe any responsible tour company would have an emergency plan in place to assist when problem occurs. If not, they have the resources and should have offered to rework our schedule, at our cost, and see us safely on out way,
As I am writing this it is still a day away from the planned demonstrations and for Malawi’s sake I hope they do not happen. But whatever occurs, safety is first and and L & L let us down on that
front.
A loveless performance of the tour with poor information
The tour has a great potential for a very good safari, but it's not used! For example: 3 hole-day-trips by bus occur on 4 succesive days (10 of the 12 participiants were mostly reading, sleeping oder gaming with smartphone during the bus-trips). Therefore the order of events should be changed. The information about land and people was poor.
The highlights of the trip were performed from other business-men (lodges, guides), not from land and lake safaris!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Let down
We used Land and Lake to take us on a 3 day safari to South Luangwa and while there were no problems with the lodge or the safari drives, Land and Lake let us down on both transport and also failed to communicate with the lodge. 30 minutes outside of Lilongwe we broke down and had to spend over 2 hours by the side of the road while a replacement vehicle was brought out. On the way we met up with another Land and Lake vehicle that had broken down the day before. We arrived at the lodge after almost 8 hours after leaving and missed an hour of our afternoon drive. The lodge (not a part of Land and Lake) and the manager were superb but dietary requirements of half of our party were not passed on to them. Land and Lake have proved unreliable and although I would use the lodge again I would not use or recommend Land and Lake.