Mournic Adventures

Mismanaged, Unsafe & Deceptive – Avoid Mournic Adventures

As a solo female traveler with significant experience on safaris in East Africa, I booked a 3-day group safari through Mournic Adventures with the expectation of safety, community, and professionalism. What I received instead was a disorganized, isolating, and at times unsafe journey filled with false promises, poor communication, and outright gaslighting.

The night before my trip, I was informed by Victor M (the company’s main contact) that I’d be traveling alone in a tour van and would join a group the next day. This was never what I agreed to — I booked a group safari in a 4x4 jeep for 2 nights/ 3 days. I expressed concern, but was gaslighted with comments like “bear with us” and “we’re doing this not to inconvenience you”. I felt backed into a corner — cancel and lose my money, or go with it and hope for the best. As a solo female traveler without a partner to discuss things with, it is difficult to know how hard to push because that can also backfire and have huge repercussions so my inner monologue was in a constant battle.

📸 [Insert: IMG_3933, IMG_3934] – This is the broken-down van I was expected to travel and safari in, alone.

Day 1: When pick-up time arrived, no one came into the hotel with the car as requested. They kept saying the ‘car was outside’. Instead, two men (with no safari company attire like their image or dispositions) sauntered into the lobby, which immediately made me question what was going on. I had to insist repeatedly for them to bring the car through the security channels. The vehicle they brought was a run-down van — no guide, no 4x4 jeep, no safety, and not what I paid for. I was expected to ride 3+ hours alone with the driver in the rain, then go on a game drive in this van. It was only after the hotel staff intervened on my behalf and I contacted the company owner, Nicholas R, that a proper 4x4 jeep was arranged — from a freelance guide not affiliated with Mournic Adventures. This car arrived within an hour.

The game drive ended abruptly at 5pm — 60-90 minutes earlier than other groups and when mine was to end — with no explanation. I had no safari guide at the lodge. I ate meals alone and returned to a room the furthest away from the lobby (the last one) with no WiFi and a flooded bathroom. I messaged Victor for next-day pickup details and received vague or no responses. I reported everything to Nicholas, who responded like a true businessman with customer service knowledge. He apologized, took accountability, and said he would follow up about compensation and why the drive ended early. He never followed up about these two things.

Day 2: On Day 2, no one was there at the pickup time. I was given no name or vehicle details. I repeatedly called and texted both Victor and Nicholas — no answer. The hotel staff stepped in again, as all the other guests were gone on their game drives. Victor answered and said someone was on the way. Eventually, a separate company’s guide who was commissioned arrived; he had no knowledge of the situation (thankfully, he was wonderful and it was an awesome group). Later, we were delayed at the park exit because Mournic Adventures had failed to tell him that my pass expired at noon. I was asked to pay $70 USD. No one from the company answered the phone during this hour-long ordeal until Nicholas finally answered my message (Victor still had been unresponsive to all messages). Nicholas’ response was to say this was because they were making up for the hour I missed the previous day. Gaslighting at its finest. The new guide was not told that my pass expired and to make up the hour. We then missed lunch on this day. My excursion this afternoon was the boat ride and walk. I learned that none of the group members were to do the walk, so I opted out. It would be weird to walk alone and make them wait for me.

At the end of the day, I was dropped off at my own hotel and the group went separate ways. Again, another notch in the ‘this is not a group safari’ belt. At one point in the evening, Victor resurfaced with the excuse that his phone screen had broken — yet he picked up when the hotel called, but not when I did. His texts later became weird and persistent, to the point that I had to ask him to stop messaging me.

Day 3: On the final day of transport back to Nairobi, I asked repeatedly for a 7am pickup due to my flight. I was told I would be picked up by 8:00 am at the latest. The safari guide from the day stepped in to help and confirmed a 7 am pickup with me that night. After waiting 2 hours, I was picked up after 8:30am by yet another unknown driver in a tiny old car (in Kenyan terms it was a ‘chapchap’). He stated he was late because he had a flat tire, which was not comforting after he stopped in the middle of the journey to fill up again. He also refused to take the expressway to the airport because of the cost — I had to call Nicholas again to intervene. He answered and took care of it.

Throughout the trip, communication was inconsistent or nonexistent. I was told I was getting a “private experience at no extra charge” — but I never asked for that. I wanted the group experience I paid for in a safe safari vehicle.

This experience was emotionally draining, lonely and deeply disappointing. I found them through SafariBookings.com after reading positive reviews and receiving prompt emails. But this company is either completely disorganized or entirely deceptive. It’s real that these small safari companies take your money and agree to a service but they don’t have the manpower. For a once in a lifetime experience, which you fly across the world and pay over a thousand dollars for, this should not be what you are met with.

I recommend that you do not book with Mournic Adventures. It's not nice for anyone — especially solo travelers — to go through what I did.