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Cover Kenia Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2010)
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
-
KETZ
- Price Range:
- $150 to $250 ppper person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Michele | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Always going for your money
Kenya-Tanzania 11 days safari trip. The safari was good but the company is not trustworthy. We booked more than 6 months ago to avoid surprises and they have been very responsive all the time. But, the day we departed, they told us we had to pay about $400 each extra if we wanted to sleep on mattresses and not on a sleeping bag on the floor. They blamed that Tanzania sleeping options were too basic. So we paid but I am sure that was an excuse to get extra money on the spot. After that, on the first night, they told us to collect the park fees as they were not included. I had to do a bank transfer to pay for it. Only when I find proof that it was all included, they accepted to refund us. It took till the end of the trip to get the money back and I had to drive to their headquarters and get the money. Even there, they gave me $100 less and only after I counted the money, they found another $100 in their pockets. Lunch packs during the safari were very bad, not much in it and low quality. Some extra money were asked for some extra experiences, more than agreed at the beginning. Find a better company to do your tour and save yourself some disappointment.
Email Nicola | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Satisfactory, but lacking.
- Booked 9 months in advance.
- Told them early on that we were 5 people (80 year old, 2 retirees & 2 younger) some of whom would not appreciate sleeping too roughly - have emails to prove it. Asked them to find accommodation that wouldn't be too rough.
- First day, upon collection, Mike said "Because we are heading into the busy season, we are having trouble finding accommodation in Tanzania that will be comfortable, so you will probably be sleeping on the floor without a mattress or pillows". A few days before, we had also asked Vinny in a text if we needed to bring pillows and he said "No". You had 9 months to sort that out!
- It was clear throughout the trip that Cover Kenya hadn't booked our accommodation because the guides never knew where we were staying until that afternoon, as we asked them.
- They did in the end find better accommodation, for a price. My husband found suitable much cheaper accommodation in Booking.com, but we had to go with their expensive options.
- We DID see all the animals we had hoped to see, and that was thanks to Kelvin's excellent communication with other drivers via radio & phone within the parks, so well done for that and thank you. Our other driver in Tanzania did not communicate with other drivers except when we stopped to speak with them in person, but luckily we'd seen almost everything we wanted to see by then.
- Kelvin, however, is NOT a tour-guide, he is a DRIVER and that was abundantly clear throughout our Kenyan safari. Not once did he tell us where we were going, what we were doing, if we needed to be dressed warmly for an activity, a briefing or how long the drive would be without us asking. He didn't learn a single one of our names, and even though I asked to see something specific, he said he would show me but didn't. We also told him an activity we wanted to do, and he tried to drop us off in a random town at night - unsafe.
- Both drivers took many phone calls while driving, I understand some of those were for the benefit of the tour (where an animal was etc), however many were private calls. Whatever the company policy is with this I don't know, however it is unsafe to drive for short and long periods with the phone in your hand, especially on those crazy roads - get a Hands-free setup, please! I saw many drivers with hands-free, just neither of ours, it is very unsafe.
- The car was "beeping" the entire time we were in it. I have a recording of it.
- I don't recommend the optional boat trip, however the walking tour with the Zoologist/Biologist was exceptional - however it was a cost that we were not told about until the last moment (and not in any correspondence).
- When we crossed the border, we were dropped off at the Arusha hotel without a word about what was going to happen, who to speak with, what time we needed to be ready etc. Once we messaged Cover Kenya, then we were told - Oh the agent will meet with you at 6:30pm. This happened twice, when we were dropped back to Arusha again, no word of what we needed to do or where to go.
- Booked an All-inclusive trip. Told on the second day that we needed to pay for the park fees in cash extra. Queried this with Vinny - he agreed, but we couldn't, as they hadn't told us in advance, so transferred. Later, upon showing evidence to Vinny of the 'All-inclusive' aspect of the tour, Cover Kenya agreed to return the money. Which they couldn't do via transfer (even though we could do it to them?). This was an unnecessary stress.
- Upon arrival in Nairobi at the end of the tour, we drove to Cover Kenya's HQ, where we met Mike who proceeded to give us the cash, MINUS $100US. Luckily my husband counted it in front of him, when he miraculously found the lost $100 in his pocket.
- Vinny stated that they kept our tour private, however we know that they were trying to find another person/s for the tour, but couldn't.
- We did not feel comfortable giving feedback during the trip about the driver/tourguide, as they were the person solely responsible for us - if they became unhappy with us, we could suffer.
Average User Rating
Rating Breakdown
- 5 star 39
- 4 star 0
- 3 star 0
- 2 star 2
- 1 star 0
Disclaimer
- All corporate and/or tour info is provided by Cover Kenia Safaris, not SafariBookings
- The tours offered by Cover Kenia Safaris are subject to their terms & conditions