Planet Africa Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2009)
- Member Of:
- African Travel & Tourism Association
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $544 to $1,632 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
US
Email Wai POON | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Safari Planning Made Easy
My planning started a good eleven months before the trip. While I had the basic structure of the trip in mind, Willow from Planet Africa Safaris had many helpful recommendations and my dream trip was set to reality quickly. I was impressed on how fast she always responded to my every inquiry, as if my trip was the only one she was working on. The airline changed the international flight twice and each time Willow juggled many bookings to accommodate the new schedule. I was lucky that the airline did not change the schedule too wildly and, more importantly, I was lucky that Willow was the one orchestrating all the planning, bookings, flight schedule, and all the details I didn’t think of. On the trip, the logistics flowed smoothly as the Mara River flows and each stop offered new and different experiences: From bush experience at Rekero to solitude at Naboisho Conservancy, from equatorial forest canopy at Rubondo Island to the open plains at Namiri Plains. By the way, this was the second trip Planet Africa Safaris organised for me. And for my next Kenya and Tanzania trip, I will call Planet Africa Safaris, first and only.
CA
Email Lori Plain | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Outstanding from planning and including the safari
Can't say enough about Planet Africa. From the initial contact with the company to the actual safari, nearly every detail was perfect. The representative listened and worked with me and the itinerary was edited a lot of times, even worked around the time zones and called me so we could chat and I could ask more questions. Her recommendations of the camps were right on. The logistics of booking everything including flights and beach time in Zanzibar went according to plan, with someone always waiting for us with a warm, welcoming smile. At first I was hesitant of wiring money abroad, but the company lived up to my expectations and all wiring of money was quickly communicated with me so I knew quite soon after the transfer was sent that they had received the money. Would I change anything? No, it was a perfect holiday! Thank you Planet Safari for making our once in a lifetime trip an awesome experience.
US
Email Happy Traveller | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Planet Africa Safaris created the best trip to Tanzania anyone could want - excellent service!
We returned from Tanzania last week and have to give Planet Africa Safaris credit for delivering a fantastic vacation for us. From the beginning, their communication was excellent. I had a million questions and each one was answered quickly and professionally. I was apprehensive about wiring money in advance but Planet Africa Safaris delivered everything they promised. Someone greeted us at each stop and each tented camp and lodge was just as described.
Our guide was knowledgable and friendly and in the first day, we saw more animals than we ever expected including two leopard sightings. We stayed at Oliver's Camp and Rhotia Valley Camp in the Tarangire / Lake Ngorongoro Crater area - both great spots. Be prepared for an interesting (and bumpy) ride to Rhotia Valley. We flew to Olakira Camp in the northern Serengeti and enjoyed the luxurious life in the bush. Imagine jumping up from the lunch table to watch a river crossing in your front yard! Again, we had an expert guide and saw many more animals, spending as much time as we wanted taking pictures and simply watching.
We wrapped up our trip at Baraza Resort in Zanzibar. Total luxury - nothing more to say. The food, accommodations, staff, beach and water activities were unbelievable.
I am very happy we chose Planet Africa Safaris for this unforgettable trip.
ES
Email Italo Ch. | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Lost 50% of our game drive time at Serengeti. When called Planet Africa for help, they could do noth
Planet Africa Safari organized our trip. They proposed us to go in north Serengeti to the "Luxury" Mara
Mara Lodge of TANGANYKA WILDERNESS CAMPS.
Planet Africa Safari never informed us that the Lodge was 1 hour away from the river where all the action
and animals are, and even less informed us that the lodge chain is on a complete much much much
lower level than the others Asilia Lodges we were. Lower in everything: lodges, food, cars, drivers and
managers.
They completely ruined our holiday, see below the details.
When called Planet Africa for help at the lodge, they could do nothing.
We are claiming to Planet Africa a partial refund for all the mess the Lodge driver and managers did to
us.
DO NOT TRUST PLANET AFRICA SAFARI SUGGESTIONS OF LODGES AND DRIVERS!!! .If
something goes wrong, is entirely up to you to solve it.
---DETAILED NARRATION---:
We arrived at Kogatende Airstrip with our pack lunches from our previous Lodge, our Asilia driver
organized us to have them so we could profit the whole day upon our arrival in Serengeti. Alex, the driver
we got assigned, tricked us and suggested us to go back to lodge for lunch at 13:00, and stay there till
16:00 before going back to river again: he said because animals hide when is hot and we would not see
them. And we were so stupid to believe him.
We wasted half of our days there before realizing we were being tricked by an extremely lazy driver
whose only goal was to have hot lunch at 13:00 o'clock and a little “siesta” everyday.
We realized the trick when we were HUMILIATED, being the ONLY table having lunch at the Lodge the
second day of our stay, while at dinner there were like 30 persons. I have never felt so stupid in my life.
When we asked the driver to leave immediately after lunch, he started negotiating with me, that he
needed some allowance, that were many hours and so on.
We then decided to ask for a drive change to the managers of the lodge while at lunch. Managers let the
diver came to our table. The driver insisted with us like 20 minutes to give him a second change. I could
not had lunch. No manager was there, extremely violent situation.
We insisted on the change of driver and managers punished us making us stay 2 hours at the
Kogatende airstrip waiting for a new driver to come. They sent us without telling us that would be 2 hours
wait.
2 long hours at Kogatende airstrip, with full afternoon sun, on an open car without A/C, with kids,rounded
by tse-tse flys, while paying $$$ for a luxury Lodge with swimming pool. That's crazy!. We had to make a
denounce at the police at Kogatende airstrip, see attached photo of the text.
We lost half the time of our stage at north Serengeti because of this incredible problems, and we were
humiliated in an unbelievable way: first by the lazy driver tricking us, second by the managers backing up
the lazy driver and making us stay 2 hours at the airport waiting for the new driver, and third by the lodge
employees when at dinner they put us at a table right next to where Alex the driver we just changed
was.So that we could hear his loud comments and laughs.
Unbelievable.
Reply from Planet Africa Safaris
Posted on Sep 27, 2019Thank you very much for your post and feedback after your safaris with Planet Africa Safaris. We are truly sorry you are disappointed about a particular incident on your safari. Please find below our response to your feedback:
1 - The location and quality of Mara Mara Tented Lodge in Northern Serengeti:
Depending on the route taken (which will typically vary), the lodge is between 30 minutes to 1 hour to the Mara River (about 13 km), and in a good game viewing area. Its location is on a par with the other good options in the area.
We have sent numerous clients to this camp before and have always received positive feedback. It is a “premium” camp of the TWC group (see their website). TWC acknowledges that they are not a 5* operator - and we had discussed this with you. We maintain that it is a good tented lodge and a solid option in its price range. As you will see from online reviews, Mara Mara Tented Lodge generally gets really good feedback from guests.
2 – You were not happy with the guide that the camp allocated to you:
You notified us at lunchtime on your second day there that you weren’t happy, with what sounded like a case of non-matching characters between you and the experienced TWC guide. We responded within a matter of minutes to advise that we would see what we could do to try and secure you a new guide. Within the hour, we had worked with the camp management and confirmed that it would be possible for you to have a new guide later that afternoon. As explained to you then, the new guide needed to come from a different region of the Serengeti, and therefore it would take some time. We recommended for you to go on a game drive until the new guide arrived but you insisted on waiting at Kogatende Airstrip for the new guide to arrive. On this afternoon, we were in constant contact with you to make sure you were okay. You were provided with a new guide by around 4pm – therefore, within 3.5hrs of your request. It should be noted that a guide and vehicle were available to you at all times. It should also be noted that the alternative guide was organized for you in the middle of peak season (your booking was in August) – a time that accommodations are full and guides are in high demand. We worked hard to try and provide an alternative guide for you at very short notice and we managed to make this happen.
3 – After you returned home, we received a note from you demanding a refund as compensation. We explained to you that we felt that we had dealt with the situation right away and in a fair, friendly and efficient manner, communicating with you all the time to keep you informed of our actions. Nevertheless, we did offer you a compensation as a gesture of goodwill since we are very committed to having happy clients. You turned down our offer for financial compensation and asked for more compensation.
4 – In response to your contrarian suggestion, we feel confident that we are a very trustworthy operator. We have been in the industry for almost 16 years, have lived on the African continent for all this time and have very strong knowledge of all parks and camps we send our guests to. Typically, we have been to all camps we book – including Mara Mara Tented Lodge. We take pride in maintaining good working relationships with the various property companies – as exemplified by us being able to secure you a new guide within a matter of hours (in peak season). We have a strong and loyal repeat and referral client base and have always received good feedback. We take any form of constructive feedback extremely serious, but feel that in this case we have handled your request adequately.
In summary, it is disappointing that you are still unhappy with the various measures undertaken to adjust the situation in the Serengeti for your last 1.5 days on safari. However, we maintain that reasonable steps were taken and a reasonable compensation was offered.
Mary Rijnberg
Managing Director at Planet Africa Safaris