The Team Behind Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris
Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris Ltd
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2003)
- Member Of:
- Eco Tourism & Kenya Wildlife Services
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $64 to $490 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
US
Email Paul Chaudury | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Received an email they have technical problem and won't do the tour that I already paid
We paid in March for a safari on Aug 22. Today I received an email from the company that they have technical problem and won't provide the service. In other words won't provide the tour. We have already bought non-refundable air tickets from USA costing over $2000. I replied to the person, Julius muchiri, who emailed me from Kenya Walking safari company but I haven't received any reply yet. I always had the fear of booking with small individually owned compnies in a foreign country. I won't give up. Will do everything I can to let all African authorities know what happened and seek compensation.
US
Email NP | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fraud!
Our honeymoon trip is in 3 days and we just received an email that the company has technical problems and therefore cannot give the required services. You will receive the funds between 45-90 working days. I'm really panicking
UA
Email Valerii | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fraud!!!!
Before doing payment we examined the all feedbacks about the company. Everything was Ok. And in 1 day after we did the payment the company diaapearred and many many tourists sticked in the situation that the company did not serve it. I have no idea how can we get back our money.
IN
Email Jigna | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
FRAUD FRAUD FRAUD....Beware
It is a fraud company. They have taken $500 as advance
Our tour is starting from 9th August and today, 2 days prior to the safari, I have received a mail to inform us that they have cancelled the tour due to some technical problems. They are saying that they will refund the money but i am pretty much sure that that would never happen.
BR
Email Andreza | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Went to the police
We went to the police station after Mr. Otieno didn’t show up as agreed.
After 3 police station the 4 was the correct place. It’s at Ngong road besides kenyatta hospital.
The policeman in charge of the case said he has 10 cases like ours at the moment.
He said that last year he had a similar problem and he payed everybody. I just don’t know how we couldn’t find coments about that on the internet.
If you are in a similar situation, I recommend you book another safari because he won’t show up. And if you come to Kenya, go to the station make a complaint so he can be sued and stop stealing from people.
AE
Email Cris | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fraud!!!Be aware
We booked a 4 days trip safari for Kenya 3 months ago. I already payed and have received an email saying:
The company
has technical problems and therefore cannot give the required
services.You will receive the funds
between 45-90 working days...I am calling them and nobody answer..We are going to the police office.
BR
Email Andreza | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fraud
We booked a 4 day safari with Mr Otieno on May. It was supposed to start on August 4 at 8:30.
We kept contact with him throught email until August 31. On August 2 we tried to contact him without success. The website was off. All the telephones off. We read coments on trip advisor and safari bookings that he disappeared since August 1.
Today he didn’t show up to pick us up. We are going to the tourists police.
Email Sarah | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
BEWARE: Please do not book before reading this!!
When my mom and I agreed we wanted to come to Africa this year, I contacted multiple safari companies. Kenya Walking (KW) was the fastest to respond. I also chose to go with them because they are local, the reviews online seemed great, and it was in our budget. We paid half then, and half when we got here on July 17th. We were supposed to have a 15 day Kenya and Tanzania trip.
Our first 10 days, all in Kenya, were fantastic. We were very satisfied with the experience and nothing went wrong. However, on our 11th day, when we were supposed to go to Tanzania, everything dissolved into chaos. The driver who was supposed to pick us up at the border was not there. There was a group before us to told us they had been waiting at the border a day, and they did eventually get picked up. We were worried, but we waited there like the company told us to do. KW kept saying they would be there shortly. After hours in the hot car, we finally went to the hotel. KW told us to get a room there (we paid for it), and that the driver would arrive in the morning. The next day, after calling and waiting for hours, still no driver. KW hung up on me and then just stopped answering the phone.
We were finally picked up, just as we were leaving to go back to Amboseli, and taken to Tanzania. The next 5 days there ( we stayed a day extra because of all this) were awful. No permits, hotels, or meals were paid for. We would be waiting at the park gate for hours until either a permit came through, or we paid for it ourselves (it is way more expensive to pay for permits yourself. we paid $280 just to get into serengeti). There were a couple middle men between KW and us, and all of them were calling us telling us a different story or a different plan. The hotels we did stay at, we either paid for or the owner let us stay there, despite not being paid yet. Of our 5 days in Tanzania, only 1 was very good, and we had to pay for hotels that night. Between my mom and I, KW had been paid $440 each day for us to be there. That money was nowhere to be seen. I soon found out the likely cause
Fortunately, getting back to Nairobi was smooth. There was a driver there to pick us up. By this time, I had peiced together some of the story. Our driver then told me the rest.
KW is run by a guy named OT. Last year, OT apparently spent the equivalent of $500,000 on a peice of land with tourist money. He thought the land investment would return a profit by the time the tourists arrived in june/july. The guy who sold him the land was a conman, and the money was lost. So, clients were stuck in the same situation. At the time, OT had his tour company license taken away. Somehow, perhaps with a bribe, he got it back. He also seems to have doctored his reviews online (there is warning on trip adviser now about it). This year, it seems he may have done something similar, lost all the company's money. This disaster unfolded starting on Saturday, July 28th, when the group before us got stuck at the border. It has been one week since then, and now the company's website is down, multiple guests (including myself) have filed reports in the Kenya Police office and with the Kenya Tourist Police, and the drivers are doing the same because they have not been paid. Our drivers were so kind, I feel terrible that they have not received compensation for their time and work, as this is their livelihood. I was also told there are 16 people stuck at the Tanzanian border, and more tour groups stuck around the country. We received an email from KW promising to refund us by certain dates later this year, but I have doubts that will happen.
What a terrible situation that has impacted so many people. We feel fortunate that this didn't happen before we got here or right after, because we did have a great first 10 days.
ES
Email Ana paez | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beware!!! Fraud
We arrive today to a 10 days trip, already payed and they didn’t show up! We when to their office and there was no one. They dont get the phone... we went to the police and we found 3 more persons as us.
Now we dont have the money and we dont have vacations!
What you do in this cases?
CA
Email Eadie | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Feel lucky to have gotten a refund..
At the end of April, 2018 I booked, what I hoped would be, my trip of a lifetime. In May I had a serious medical event and on the advice of my doctor, in June, I cancelled the trip. Mr. OT advised the refund would take 3-4 months to process. After many frustrating emails, excuses and problems, I finally did receive my refund this month, December, 2018. Six months, almost to the day of booking.
I did read about Mr. OT’s accident in September and am happy to hear he is doing well. That unfortunately made the refund process even more doubtful and I feel grateful that after a stressful 6 months I did receive a refund.
Perhaps in a year or so I may be able to book another safari. It will certainly be with a different tour operator.
Reply from Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris Ltd
Posted on Dec 23, 2018Thank you for your feedback.
APOLOGY
Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience that you experienced as a result of delay.
THE CAUSE:
This was occasioned by Mr.Otieno's accident;Mr Otieno is the CEO and Founder of Kenya Walking survivors safaris who handled the management of the company's operations by himself.He was involved a road accident on 18th September 2018 and was admitted to hospital in September upto 26th September in ICU 2018.This caused a major disruption in the normal operations of the company.With No Management back up plan in Place,He his now fully back in the operation
WAY FORWARD:
We are committed to ensuring that all our clients;current and future realize value for money spent and have a seamless safari experience.We have therefore restructured our operations to ensure that there is business continuity to prevent the same from reoccurring.We also have seven,New professional Departmental Managers in charge of the company's operations.
As soon as we get booking form details/Deposit from any of our clients we shall give them accommodation/flight references within 7-14 working days
We thank you for choosing us as your African safari partner and hope that you can rely on us in future.