Andrew will take you to remote places
Wildebeest Safaris
- Located In:
-
China
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 1997)
- Member Of:
- ETT & TRA
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $450 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
KW
Email Ahmad | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Look For Somewhere Else !!!!!!!!!
When my flight arrived at 10:30am driver wasn't there I waited 2 hours for him to arrive. And the driver wasn't my actual tour guide he is a tour guide for another group. His excuse for arriving late that his car was damaged, but in the end I found out he was lying and my actual tour guide made a deal with this other tour guide (Who will pick another group that I don't know) to go to the airport to pick me up because I was solo. And because of that he arrived late cause the other group's flight arrival is at 1:00pm. My trip plan is private tour which means driver must to pick me up alone without other group!!!!!!!!!!! And to top all that the car was in super bad condition. To sum up this company is a so unorganized, very old vehicles, don't care about customer satisfaction, and do whatever they want to do without even asking beforehand if I agree or not. Please avoid so that you will not end up with similar experience or even worse.
Reply from Wildebeest Safaris
Posted on Mar 28, 2023Dear Ahmad,
Thank you for your feedback. Ever since we have replaced old vehicles with new ones. Furthermore improved communication skills with clients between the office and driver/guide to avoid such scenarios.
Kind Regards,
Noah
Email Ed | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Everything was substandard after reading other people's reviews. We were mistreated + put in danger
We trawled reviews and websites looking at hundreds of operators, and settled on Wildebeest in the end because of pretty good reviews and also a willingness to book us in the resort that we wanted to go to. We did not use the one with 1600+ 5 star reviews.
We agreed on the price and all the inclusions beforehand, to include driver, 3 days 2 nights, all costs included for 2 adults 1 child 1 infant, for air-conditioning, pickup and drop off in Nairobi at specified times, a private 4wd tour, accommodation at our preferred resort, and also air ambulance evacuation cover. Communication was excellent.
We were picked up on time.
We never received confirmation of air insurance till we were nearly home on the last day – ensure you receive your policy numbers before you leave on safari to ensure you are covered while you are far from medical facilities!
The vehicle was fitted with a fridge, 2way radio and power points. We were unable to attach our baby seat to the car properly as it did not have the required anchor points for a baby seat- so we had to improvise and use the headrest as our anchor.
It wasn’t till we hit the dirt roads a couple of hours later where we noticed things going wrong. We had a tyre puncture in the searing midday heat. I was left in the car with a screaming 6 week old baby. There was no air-conditioning as promised AND despite their website also stating that “ALL vehicles are fitted with air-conditioning.
Driving on, our car was filled with thick dust – there was a hole in the floor allowing dust in. We resorted to wetting some baby clothes with our drinking water and blocking up the hole so we didn’t choke to death. The baby carseat I covered with a wet towel to try to trap the dust. My son was beside himself screaming with dust inhalation and heat. Then the ride got violently bumpy… in fact so bumpy I had to take him out of his car seat and hold him mid-air for suspension. I was afraid he would get brain damage with the violence of the car. My daughter was telling the driver he was going too fast, she was also being thrown around like a sack of potatos. Other Wildebeest and safari cars were flying past us without issue. So here I am holding my baby in a wet wrap over his face mid air for hours in midday heat… I started to message the company owner saying this was dangerous and I wanted the car changed. He didn’t bother to reply to me.
Outside the Masai Mara we were asked to change into another Wildebeest vehicle at the entry, and our car was taken to the mechanic. It turns out the suspension was broken.
The new 4wd was coasting along no issues with dust or bumpiness, so we knew we had been given a lemon of a 4wd.
My review of the resort is on its own post.
At the resort our driver didn’t engage with us much, sit with us or explain what the plan was, we were just left hanging. In saying that, he was polite and never rude to us, but lacked communication skills with us. I was watching Dennis, another Wildebeest guide, who ate, laughed and talked to his clients… and enroute was actively chatting, informing and having a great time himself.
The next day, the driver had lost his keys, so we were put into a van instead, having to get into our 4wd through dodgy unlocked windows to get our things out of the 4wd. Then someone told him they found his keys so we drove back to the “fixed” 4wd. We noticed more flaws with the truck – the 2way radio was never on, it didn’t even have a mouthpiece to speak through – so I guess we missed out on all the game sighting calls and were in danger should we have needed help in an emergency while out on safari. The drivers door was jammed so he had to exit through the window! The fridge and electrics just turned on and off with the bumpy roads… flickered and rarely even worked. Some of the seatbelts did not work, windows were jammed, the car was generally in very poor repair.
We did see all the park animals - except Rhino, which are too rare. The following day, we were meant to do a morning game drive, stop at NON TOURISTY souvenir shops (not the safari preferred ones where they get kickbacks and charge customers ridiculous prices). Our game drive was a hot footed exit out of the park, the driver didn’t speak, nor slow down, nor look for any animals. By this stage I was so furious with the company, I just wanted to get home. The owner never replied to my SMS or emails alerting him to the danger to my family and requesting a replacement vehicle. We had no other way to get home other than the same vehicle back. We stopped at one pathetically expensive tourist stop – you know with the special “guide waiting room” where they can chat, have drinks and wait for their customers to be ripped off blind and collect a commission. He knew we wanted to stop at either street sellers or the other numerous shacks set up on the road selling masaii wares, but he didn’t stop at those. Into Nairobi by 3pm, our driver did help us unpack and then even apologised for the terrible vehicle – again an admission from the company.
In ADDITION and the worst of it all – there is a pop top on the roof of the 4wd. One support strut had rusted through and I had noticed it was cable-tied down to stop it rattling – rather than being fixed. While driving home the 2nd strut failed and the roof crashed down. Had my daughter been standing at the time she would undoubtedly been killed. For an adult we would have suffered severe injury to the head.
I followed up with Noah the owner – he told me that the vehicle had come down from the north of Kenya and he had noticed that it was in very poor repair. Rather than talk to us and reschedule/give us the option, he just allocated it to us knowing we had a newborn and a toddler with us and required safety and air conditioning. I had even mentioned a reviewer before me mentioned an old vehicle and in poor repair, and had asked for assurance that this was not going to happen to us! At the end I requested a rebate of $250usd which was roughly the cost of a proper vehicle, which we FINALLY got after harassing them for months. Despite having kids, the owner doesn’t seem to have any insight into the grave situation they placed us in, nor care about his company reputation. I have read all the reviews, and know someone who has used them multiple times and likes them. From what I saw of other vehicles and Dennis, the company does have the potential to stand up to what other reviewers say, but we just drew the short straw and were really mistreated and put in danger.
Reply from Wildebeest Safaris
Posted on Mar 28, 2023Dear Edd,
Thank you for you review. We took steps on matters regarding the old vehicle and we disposed them replacing with newer cars.
As for the Driver, we noticed we had similar problems with him and we got him replaced with more experienced and charming driver/guide.
Also, please confirm you received refund of USD.250 via your paypal account.
Kind Regards,
Noah
US
Email AnoopAkanksha | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Worst experience ever
DO NOT BOOK. We just visited Masai Mara and after seeing the reviews booked it with Noah. We experienced a lot of trouble as both the tour guide and Noah were just trying to fleece money out of us. They did not pre book anything and would not accept card payments. We were not informed till the day of the tour that they could not take card payments. On top of that, they did not check if we had resident status and charged us non resident prices while paying the hotel only resident rates. When we asked them to reimburse the difference, Noah started yelling at us. The guide (Youstas) seemed experienced but very disincentivized because we found out how they were cheating people. He did not have a radio like other cars and did not tie up with other drivers. We are very dissappointed overall and would not recommend them.
Reply from Wildebeest Safaris
Posted on Mar 29, 2023Dear Akanksha, as always we do appreciate our clients feedback after Safari. Please explain to our readers how we tried to fleece money out of you. We are really ashamed after all the negotiations we did with the hotel in order for them to extend resident rates to you. We also went ahead and upgraded your transportation from Minivan to Land Cruiser at no additional charges. We had done bookings with the hotel please do not mislead our readers again. As earlier explained to you on email, we required 100% full payment before Safari but you insisted on email on paying 50% and the balance after Safari it never works out that way. No company accepts those terms. Then again about credit card, yes we do accept payments by cards but our agreement was for you to pay by cash in the morning before departure as per the below email you had sent us.
from: Akanksha
to: Wildebeest Safaris
date: Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 1:51 AM
subject: Re: 3 Days Masai Mara Private Safari
"Thanks Noah. Could we then do either US$300 per person- since the last day we are leaving earlier than the other tours which leave after lunch at 1pm or alternatively could you arrange it for me and husband to leave after lunch, after finishing a morning drive, at US$400 per person.. we can pay advance cash at pick up".
I would like to take this opportunity to assure our future guests and those who are in the process to travel with us that we are very keen when it comes to customer service delivery and pricing without compromising on quality.
Again, thank you so much,
Kind Regards,
Noah Kuti
AE
Email JH | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
The tour guide was only interested to get his job done asap. Low knowledge about animals and nature.
Booking was easy and professional. We were picked up by the wrong tour operator which had almost the same name but this was sorted out quickly. The car which we booked had technical issues so we ended up with an alternative for the first day. Our driver and guide was the worst ever. Very bad experience.
Reply from Wildebeest Safaris
Posted on Jan 19, 2016Dear Jurgen,
Thank you on your review and on pointing out issues which have influenced your overall impression of your Travels with us. It was very bad staying at the Airport for close to 2 Hours waiting for your arrival only to find that you had been picked by a different Tour Operator. We were genuinely astonished to read of the details of your overall Safari experience with our Driver/Guide.
Our astonishment was even greater since our Guides are serious people with more than eight years of experience in guiding and travels business and for many years we have only received praise from the guests for there work and effort. What has happened, why and how on the occasion you have described we cannot say, but we can with certainty assure you that any arrogance or sarcasm you have experienced was not in any way a standard behavior we expect from our staff and that we will take actions to secure such occurrences are not possible ever in future. As you have mentioned in your review all other arrangements were handled in a professional manner and mishaps sorted out quickly.
We are all very sorry you left Kenya with such unfortunate impression on your very last day and that we were unable to discuss the matter with you in person. Thank you for booking with us and we hope to have an opportunity to show ourselves in a better light on some other future occasion.
Yours sincerely,
Noah Kuti,
Business Development Manager,
Wildebeest Safaris LTD