All Seasons Safaris and Tours
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2008)
- Member Of:
- KATO, AMREF & Ecotourism
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $130 to $470 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
BEWARE: DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY - DRUNK DRIVER & MORE
I cannot urge people strongly enough NOT TO TAKE a safari with this company. It was the most horrible trip our family has ever experienced from start to finish. We had used this company in the past with no incident but, unfortunately, a lot can change in four years and this company is not only unprofessional but unsafe to use.
The main issue is that our driver showed up DRUNK and my dad had to drive through Amboseli because the driver literally PASSED OUT DRUNK and then we got lost because we could not wake him up. The driver was still DRUNK the next day and actually confronted me and got in my face yelling about losing his job. We thought he was going to be physical but luckily got away before it got there. Even with JUST that, the issues did not end there.
A few other things to note - we booked our safari with the company a year in advance and had made half payment at that time and then made our full payment 2 months in advance so many of the other issues outlined below are unacceptable and unprofessional (they literally forgot to book ALL of our rooms or buy entrance passes).
After the trip, we obviously asked for a refund and were promised a partial refund. Here we are SIX months later and we still do not have the money. Alex has continually made up excuses and lied to avoid payment. We have sent him our bank details multiple times (and confirmed with the bank that all is accurate). We also have provided him with our PayPal (which is how we paid) but to no avail. It was all just a sham to drag out us posting this review.
I do want to note that Kenyans are amazing people and the landscapes were beautiful so we would actually recommend a safari in Kenya just not with this company!
Below is a full recap of the disaster and again – do not use this company.
Pre-Arrival: The owner was extremely slow at responding and we would have to send multiple emails and often wait weeks (if not longer) to receive any follow-up answers.
Day 1: We were scheduled for a homestay but they had forgotten to book us one as the original one we were supposed to stay at, we were notified that it had changed the night before. When we arrived, we sat in a dirt alley in a not very good part of town for 30 minutes (this was after flying for almost 24 hours and it was near midnight) and when we got in it was very clear she was just told as her clothes were in heaps as if she had just pulled them out of the closets and she had just started trying to make food (again, it was midnight).
Day 2: We were scheduled for a game drive at Amboseli after arrival. Instead our driver, told us that we were to do a quick trip to visit a Maasai village prior to a game drive and he abruptly left. The Maasai arrived and this should have been our first inkling that something was not right because they asked – ‘Where is your driver? Wait, you are walking?’ We had been told it was a quick trip/walk by our driver but it was four miles through rugged terrain (and we were told to be careful of extremely poisonous snakes that were known to frequent the area such as the mamba).
My parents are in their late 60s and we would not have done this long of a trek as it took over 2 hours. After completing the tour of the village, we expected to see our driver but he was not there and he actually had told them that he wanted them to walk us back the four miles to our hotel. We said absolutely not and he finally shows up but it is getting late in the day now but we still ask if we are going to do any part of the game drive – he says no at first but we finally managed to get him to take us in for 10 minutes (it was supposed to be a several hour game drive). We found out the next day that he had actually already started drinking by this time which is completely unsafe when you are in a park with wild animals.
Day 3 (The start of the real nightmare): We are supposed to meet our driver at 6:30 am for a game drive of Amboseli. He rolls up at 6:45am completely drunk and stinking of booze – he can barely walk, his pants are not zipped/falling off and he is slurring his words. He is in no position to drive. As mentioned, we already missed our game drive the night before because he had gone to get booze and had started to drink early.
At first he says that he can drive, we say absolutely not. He then asks if my dad would drive but that he would navigate and that he would sober up soon and would take over the driving. We reluctantly agree as we had paid all this money to go and this was our final day in Amboseli (which was 1/3 of the trip) so we thought we should at least try. It should also be noted that these are extremely rugged roads, it is the right-side drive (we are American which is left-side drive).
We pull up to the guard station to try to enter the park and the guard is completely perplexed why my dad is driving. We end up getting out of the car to explain to the guard what is happening and he offers to help us contact the owner of the company as this is unacceptable and unheard of for safari drivers because these are coveted positions in their country. Unfortunately, the owner did not answer so we proceeded on our way not knowing if we would be getting a new driver (as we had no confidence in the current drunk to show up sober for the remainder of the trip).
The first couple of hours are okay (as okay as it can get when you have a drunk safari tour guide who cannot drive). He manages to somewhat point us in the right direction but he cannot name any animals and is not on his radio to talk to other drivers to find out where the animals are located. He does however say on REPEAT that he was sorry that he was drunk, he has a drinking problem but please do not report him. As noted above, we thought he was a huge liability and we could not risk having a drunk driver the remainder of our trip as he had proven himself to be drunk the first 2 days so we said we would talk about it later as we did not want it get confrontational in the car.
He proceeds to drink from his ‘water bottle’ and the car wreaks more and more of vodka and he gets MORE drunk (which is pretty hard because he was completely smashed already) and this is the point of the day where he PASSES out. Of course – he passed out when we are in a remote part of the park and we cannot see any CARS.
We also realize that we only have ¼ of a tank because he had not filled the car up and we do not want to run out of gas so we start trying to frantically figure out how to get back or at least find another car to help (note we had no cell service). We continually try to wake him up but to no avail. He is out cold.
After an hour being lost and my mom and I in tears because we are scared and thinking we are going to run out of gas and be stuck in a remote area, we finally see another car. The driver pulls over and gets out to ask us what is wrong and asks if we will get out to explain the situation to him. He is shocked that the driver is passed out drunk and takes photos of him and the vehicle to report it and says that he will help escort us back to the main gate (it should be noted that every driver/Maasai that we passed while my dad was driving gave us the most shocked look like WHAT is happening).
To make matters worse, while we are talking to the other safari driver (he spots LIONS in the field only 100 feet away and we have to run back into our vehicles which makes already heightened nerves EVEN WORSE as that is SCARY). Alas, the other safari driver escorts us out of the remote area until he reaches another driver who proceeds to take us back to the guard gate.
Note: Shout out to the other companies for being so fantastic and helpful in the midst of this awful situation.
After 7 long hours, we finally made it back home. We were supposed to do an evening game drive but clearly that was not happening since our driver remainder passed out in the car (and our nerves were frayed and we were all extremely upset by the day’s events.) All the workers saw him passed out in the vehicle and profusely apologized to us and how it was embarrassing and unacceptable for this to happen to us.
We finally got a hold of the owner, who told us he would be sending a new driver later that evening.
Day 4 (a continuation of the real nightmare): We had briefly met our new driver and one of the managers at the company (not the owner) the evening before and we were to meet in the morning to start fresh.
We arrive to breakfast and the original driver comes in STILL DRUNK. He sits down at our table and is slurring his words – he initially is apologetic but then he starts screaming at me that I got him fired and is getting in my face. I jump up to get away and both my parents and husband also thought he was about to get physical. The other drivers run over to get him away from the table and we make a quick exit out of the breakfast. Again, more tears and frayed nerves – they should have NEVER allowed him near us – it was a security risk. I will note that our new driver was nice and professional but now we move onto the other issues because you would think the company would roll out the red carpet after this experience but WRONG.
As mentioned earlier, we had booked this tour a year in advance and had specifically requested certain hotels as we had done the safari in the past. Minutes before we are to arrive at the hotel in Lake Naivasha, the owner calls and says that he forgot to book the room but he found a replacement. We go to view it and is not nearly of the same caliber – we had specifically requested rooms with balconies to see the hippos come in at night (a large part of why we came to Lake Naivasha). These rooms had no balconies and were shabbier.
Day 5: We had initially been scheduled to stay at one place – were told days before we left that we were actually going to stay in a new place and so after the incident the day before – we do a little more digging and it turns out that it is 80 km further into the park and will reduce the amount of time for game drives – we groan but think – it is fine since at least it’s a nice hotel. NOPE. HE FORGETS TO BOOK THE ROOM AGAIN. As we are minutes away from arriving to the Mara, our driver is frantically trying to work with the owner to figure out where we are going to stay (more on that shortly).
So we arrive at the Mara and it turns out the owner forgot to get the passes beforehand for access to the park (every other safari vehicle just rolled up and went through). Our driver then asks if we have American dollars to cover the entrance fee for everyone (i.e. $100s of dollars) as he did not have it. We say no since we did not have that much cash on us. We have to turn around so the driver can go pull out money from an ATM. We end up sitting for over an hour in a very hot van. Again, this is on the heels of many bad days. We finally arrive to the hotel and they clearly are only accommodating us because there was nowhere else in the Mara with any availability. We end up in these brand new tents (they literally were only furnished with beds and the floors had JUST been varnished (we are grateful to the hotel for finding us a place to sleep but the point is – we should have had proper and full accommodation since we had paid in advance).
Final Day: So we are finally supposed to head back to the airport but we had booked a tour to visit the elephant sanctuary. The owner had told us to adopt the animals beforehand but he would book the tour himself. We got confirmation over email and he again confirmed on the phone that he had booked the tour. Shocker, HE FORGOT TO BOOK IT and it was fully booked. Luckily the guard took pity on us and let us in.
I know that was long-winded and it only was because SO MUCH WENT WRONG. Again, please go visit Kenya – the people and places are amazing but save yourself many tears, stress and heartache and do not book with this company.
US
Email Mohan | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A few words of caution
I am reproducing below my note to the Kenya Association of Tour Operators. Please review it before making a decision as to whether you should use All Seasons for your travel planning.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I write to you regarding my recent experience with All Seasons Safaris & Tours, and it’s owner Alex Thuku. I am not sure if I am reaching the correct office to report what I think of as patently unethical behavior. If I should be contacting an entirely different office kindly direct me to the correct one.
In the interest of brevity I will summarize the charge. I contacted All Seasons for travel arrangements to Uganda, and Tanzania back in June of 2018. Of the total estimate of $ 23,940 I made a deposit of $8,692 soon after. The trip was to commence in February 2019. The quote included all lodges, air travel in east Africa, park fees and guide services. In September I was informed that all bookings had been made and were confirmed. The balance of payments were made by late November 2018.
We arrived in Entebbe on February 5, 2019 and realized immediately that very few of the arrangements that had been promised and confirmed had been made. It set the local agent in Uganda (James Kateeba of Travellust) scrambling to just get us to our first destination. For the next twelve days we had to pursue Mr. Thuku on a daily basis. I have copied below my note to him on February 13th to give you a flavor of the dilemma we faced almost every day during our journey.
“Alex, though all of this messaging back and forth, you seem to miss an essential fact. You betrayed a customer trust by misappropriating his funds, and using them for personal needs. The funds were to be used to confirm, and pay all of our travel and stay in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. Instead, you used the funds elsewhere, scrambling to make our arrangements day by day, after we landed. We in turn have had ten days of constant anxiety as you were trying to stay just one day ahead of us, and finally could not even do that. To sum it up, you have ruined a long anticipated, and carefully planned vacation which cost us a significant amount of money. Your partners in Uganda and Tanzania, and I dealt with you as a man of integrity. You have proven to be anything but.”
In addition to Mr. Kateeba in Uganda, Mr. Omar Mshana of Tanzania Insideout Discovery, Patricia of Kibo Palace Hotel and Junia O’kubasu of Serena Nairobi were all similarly inconvenienced by Mr. Thuku’s almost cavalier approach to his obligation. Our trip finally reached a point where he no longer could pay for the services for which he had already received payment, months ahead of time. I ended up making duplicate payments for a number of hotels and airlines so that we could conclude the trip. I have a complete list of emails with Mr. Thuku, What’s App messages and bank transfer documents for every aspect of the charge I level here. Please advise me if I should forward them to your attention.
I am deeply disappointed in my experience with All Seasons. In addition to the substantial additional cost I incurred, and the trying days just to gain clarity on what exactly was happening around us, I was left with a sour taste in my use of a local tour operator. About three years ago (when I was conducting a workshop for senior executives for government and industry leaders in Nairobi), a senior executive strongly urged me to support and use local operators for my travel plans in east Africa. This experience certainly gives me pause. I would be much more cautious, in using or recommending that any of my family or friends do so.
I am displeased enough with the entire affair that I mean to do all I can to ensure that Mr. Thuku and All Seasons are held accountable for their inappropriate conduct. I would hate to see someone to have to go through the same experience. An equally disturbing aspect of our experience is that it casts a long shadow on local operators in Kenya, in general. I am not aware of which the correct regulatory (or self regulatory) agency is within which to formally lodge a complaint, and to look to recover the additional money I had to spend to duplicate what was already sent to Mr. Thuku. I would be grateful for any direction you can provide me.
Please also advise me if I should also drop a note to the Ministry of Travel and Wildlife. I am happy to do so.
Thank you for your attention to my complaint.
AR
Email ADRIAN TORTORA | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very bad vehicles, old and poorly maintained and terrible guide.
The attention of Alex and Denis is excellent and they try to fulfill everything promised.
The problem is the vehicles used for the zafari, old, poorly maintained, they break halfway and lost hours on the route with mechanics, as if it were not enough to finish the arrangement I had to pay for the repair with later refund of money . Even there are mornings in which you have to push the vehicle because it has exhausted the battery. This means that the itinerary can not be fulfilled, and late arrivals to destinations are reached.
But even worse is the guide in Kenya (Paul) is lousy, has a bad predisposition to explain, is rude, does not even have a bottle of water to facilitate, which was committed in the contract. And of course he does not have binoculars like the rest of the guides.
The place is wonderful, but my advice is to hire another company to be able to enjoy without suffering these inconveniences.
CN
Email Cathy / Nancy | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Such an unforgettable journey
Overall it was a satisfying journey. About the price, I cant say it is quite good but acceptable.
We started preparing for the trip a year ago, we planned to go to both Kenya and Zanzibar. It was not always easy to find Alex, but we confirmed the itinerary on time anyway. We discussed the itinerary together and Alex and Dennis did give us some useful suggestions.
About hotels: They helped booking all the hotels we asked for even the hotels in Zanzibar, really appreciate that. Also booked the balloon safari which is such a great experience. The bush dinner was not as good as we expected.
About game drive: The views were fantastic (except the tones of dust on the way). The animals we've found and met were so adorable and beautiful. Only there's something we didn't expect to happen. We met Dennis and Joseph at the airport when we arrived. Joseph is very nice and full of experience. But just the day we need to move to Masai mara, we waited hours at the hotel and then were told that there's some problems with his vehicle so we had to change our game driver. The new driver is Peter, he also has many experience but not the way like Joseph, we didn't have enough time to get used to his way. This is a bit regrettable, or we might have an almost perfect journey.
Email Gladys | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good experience
I booked the tour & Safari for six adults from Alex Thuku and the communication, pricing & itinerary was excellent prior to us visiting. Our driver Richard was polite and knew how to treat customers well. We saw loads of animals. The only hitch was that the safari vehicle was not to standard, it was quite slow to get us to each destination and broke once while on the game drive luckily our driver managed to get it to work very fast.
All the hotels that we stayed were of very high standard ie Panari in Nyahururu, keekorok in Masai Mara & lake Naivasha country club & cant find fault them. The boat ride was also excellent although it rained a bit, not anyone’s fault but it’s just Mother Nature not on our side
CN
Email Keyi Xiao | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great safari but not valuable for money.
I like the Alex homestay , his wife is nice. My safari driver James is full of experience for animals. But I think the travel in Kenya is not valuable for money compare with other nations. Long time for animal safari made us a little bored.
Email Marie and Samad | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
8 days Safari + 3 days Zanzibar
My husband and I had an amazing time for our 8 day safari in Masai Mara and Tanzania thanks to Alex and Meshack. They are knowledgeable, trustworthy and very responsive to emails, which made the itinerary preparation easy. Our guides, Stephen and Santos were very professional, knowledgeable and friendly, so we couldn't ask for more. We saw plenty of animals (all of the big five, yes!!) and some amazing landscape. It was definitely a trip of a lifetime, even though we had some minor hiccups along the way. We loved being in nature, going on daily game drives and be rewarded by nature's beauty. We definitely recommend All Seasons safari, as this was our 2nd safari with them!
Enjoyable trip with a reasonable and hard working company
Our family booked a holiday through All Seasons Safaris.
We really enjoyed the itinerary that they made for us, and they put in a lot of work before we committed to use their services.
The trip itself was fantastic - our driver Daniel was brilliant - and the travelling around the country was made as easy as possible.
Sure there were issues and changes that were beyond their control - we're talking about wild animals, that don't do as they're told!
The bottom line is that this company is friendly, honourable and hard working. They give very reasonable quotes for what is actually a very expensive business.
Email Kate | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fabulous trip
Hi. We completed the safari of a life time. A 2 nights / 3 days migration safari in Masai Mara from 20th to 23rd August
2020 . It was a family of 4 Adults.
We booked thru 'All Seasons Safaris & Tours' whose CEO is Alex Thuku. Initially, we were meant to stay at AA Lodge but then space was later found in Sarova Mara Camp which is inside the park which was previously full. We had a great Guide Steve in a 4x4 safari Land cruiser . Steve is a professional and experienced safari Guide The 1st day trip started on a journey to Masai Mara. An exiting journey with stop over to see the Escarpment a lovely view it was. By noon we arrived at Sarova warmly welcomed booked in and enjoyed the lunch. After lunch had 2 hours to relax before going for an evening game drive. The climax of the day was a birthday which was fabulously orgarnissd by Allseasons CEO. Bravo to Mr Alex Thuku.
We saw the big 5. BUT we missed the migration drama by the river though we got excited to see a young wild east crossing on alone in the midst of Hppos. Wow it was a breathtaking moment. We heard later that they crossed and many lost their lives in the Mara river due to a stampede.
This safari has left precious memories. We can not wait for the next migration period to do it again. I encourage anyone willing to travel to book with 'All Seasons Safaris. They are professional . And they keep their word and follow the agreed Itinerary.They are also quite flexible when it comes to pricing. We really had to negotiate alot back and forth. For a Safari guide will choose Steve any time any day for his professionalism.
Rating of the trip was given 9 out of 10.
Email Ferdinand | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Honest, Professional, Personalized Services and Value for Money
I & family used All Season Safaris for a short 3 days / 2 nights weekend tour to Masai Mara between 20th & 23rd Nov 2019 . The wildlife sightings were amazing . And the choice of hotel lodgings was just what we yearned for. Our initial correspondence leading to the booking of the safari was prompt and both Dennis & Alex addressed all our initial concerns. The price was value for money. In fact I had a long list of Tour Operators to choose from but I finally zeroed in on All Seasons Safaris & Tours. I highly recommend them to all prospective travelers out there who are preparing to tour Kenya. Masai Mara is a great place. Its was one of our family MUST- DOs and we are happy we fulfilled our dream.