20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not the best experience in service, but enjoyed the trip
Flight was cancelled a few hours before I was due to fly, options I was provided was to fly to another park ( which after agreeing was told was no longer available) or fly 3 hours later, which meant basically lose the best part of the day for safari, leaving me with no options, in addition this later flight was further delayed when I received the the ticket it was actually due to fly 30 minutes after the time I was told further delaying a already late schedule. In addition. I was told the day would be extended 30 minutes to reduce the 3+ hours lost, however this was not true and the day actually ended around 1hrs earlier, so in total my day ended around 4hours shorter than what paid for
I rarely post a negative review, so to end on a better note, the day itself was still enjoyable, I had no further problems and the organiser discounted me a small amount 50 dollars, although not much considering almost 900 dollars paid and losing more than a third of the time I was meant to be out. I'll give the company the benefit of doubt that my situation is probably unusual, but the resulting service was poor
LV
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Be ready for some unpleasant surprises
We chose Natural world Kenya Safari (NWKS) because of the good reviews, but it seems that the company is currently having some (financial?) problems, which also affects its customers. I booked a safari (5 DAYS, 4 NIGHTS: NAIROBI – MASAI MARA GAME RESERVE– AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK– KENYA BEACH) tour for my family (2 adults, 2 children) several months before the trip. Communication with the Nairobi office specialist Faith was very good - a detailed program was sent and all questions were answered.
As promised, we were met at Nairobi airport by our driver/guide David and we paid the remaining amount at the NWKS airport office. The first two days in Masai Mara were great - we were very kindly welcomed by Orng'atuny Mara King Camp, went on safari trips and also visited a Masai village. The problems started on the third day, when we arrived at Amboseli Park. At first, there was a strange hitch with the accommodation confirmation, but later it was received. The next day according to the program was scheduled for "Full Day Amboseli National park", description: "We’ll start the day off viewing the animals as they first awaken and come into the clearings, seeking their first meal of the day. Then, it’s our turn for breakfast. You can relax now or go on a mid-morning game drive. Or both. You set the pace for the day and we’ll adjust accordingly." Instead, we drove to the park gate around 8:30, waited there for more than an hour, and then returned to the campsite. The reason, as driver David explained to us, is that someone from the office did not send the any confirmation. All the other vehicles drove in without any problems, only we were left outside. We didn’t visit the safari that day at all. I wrote an email to Faith, but I didn’t get any response from her. She didn’t reply either later, when I asked for an explanation again after returning from the trip. Perhaps this is the communication style of Natural World Kenya Safaris - to respond only until all money is received, but not after that. David is a good driver and generally a nice person, but I was also disappointed in his inability to resolve the situation. He just repeated several times that it was not his fault. We spent the last day of the tour feeling a bit stressed, wondering if another unpleasant “surprise” awaited us or if we might be cheated again. Fortunately, this did not happen and we successfully reached Mombasa, but later Diani.
Although this tour also had a lot of positive emotions, I would not risk choosing this company's services again.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Watch out
We booked and paid for a mid-level ensuited tented safari with Jibha last year. What we got was a budget safari with no ensuited tents. Patrick acknowledged that what we got was not of the standard we’d paid for and agreed that we should receive a refund. Despite many attempts to contact him he has conveniently disappeared and we have received no refund. I would just warn anyone considering booking a safari with Jibha.
CW
65+ years of age
Review about Saadani National Park by Andre Smit
Raining season and high grass/bush so we did not see a lot of animals
The service and food&beverage was below standards. We could not sleep in our cottages an there was a national local group who party with alcohol, noise, bring their own food and just camp in front of our expensive cottage.
Never go to National Parks anymore
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not thrustworthy, you should not believe a word they say.
We booked two safaris with Pride of Africa in January 24 for our Kenia holiday in October 24.
Just about two month before the trip we were informed by Stephen, that the park fees for Masai Mara have been raised and that we have to pay a higher price for the safaris. On my complaint, that the higher fees have already been officially released by the time of the booking they said that they expected the government to not really stay with these higher fees and so they did not integrate them into our price and that we will have to pay the higher fees. Finally, we agreed that I will pay some higher amount, but not the full difference and I got the assurance from Stephen that we will find a good solution for both of us when we are there.
Finally the good solution was that I was told to pay the full additional amount and that otherwise they will not start the safari. This really felt like fraud to me, because in this position there was no other way out for me than paying the amount and the obviously knew this in advance.
After my complaints after the tour Stephen promised me several times to talk to his boss again and make sure that I will get a refund (I have this as a written statement!).
Now it is already three month later and I did not get anything than more and more empty promises.
If you ask me for my recommendation it will be that you should not believe a word the say and even be careful with what they write.
Additionally it turned out during our tour, that many of the described and booked parts of the safaris will just not happen, as it is absolutely impossible to do all this in the given time frame and driving distances. And again, I am sure that they of course knew this advance. Don’t get me wrong: Our guides did a good job and in general it was a nice and unforgettable trip, it was just more expensive with much less safari parts than promised before.
To get a good feeling about the honesty and trustworthiness of Pride of Africa Adventures just look further down in these reviews where you will find a review from Phelix from October 24. Everything you read in this review is a lie. Neither has Phelix booked a tour nor was he there with his family. Actually, he was one of our guides and I took the photo that shows him at the boundary stone to Tanzania. If you look at the attached photo you will see the same guy at the same location at the same time. This review is just a fake and maybe a good description of the business of Pride of Arica Adventures
Good
Budget Safari…you get what you pay for I guess? You get everything that is described however 4 days and we are put with 3 different transport vehicles and groups.
We spent the entire of day 3 waiting around and driving, if you don’t want to do any of the optional add ons you spend the entire day sitting around. Overall had a good time but seems a bit disorganised.
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tour Operator Changed Lodging
I wish I had seen previous reviews before booking our tour. As others had stated the tour operator changed our lodging without notifying us beforehand. One lodge was downgraded and NOT what we paid for. We paid for semi-luxury lodging and it was a serious downgrade. A second lodge change wasn't exactly what we had expected but it was fine. No matter what the tour operator should have notified us of any change before we left on our tour. The downgraded lodge makes us feel like we were taken advantage of because there isn't anything we could do but accept the change. No refund was offered.
Very Frustrating!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Shambolic
I booked a mid range tour but was put with a budget group meaning I stayed at different places than the rest. This put an average of 2 hrs a day extra driving each day meaning I arrived at my lodge at 8pm, 7pm and 6.30pm respectively the first 3 days despite very early starts.
One day we arrived at a lodge to be told that I didn’t have a booking but I was in fact booked into a place 45 mins back from where we had just driven.
The following morning we had to retrace the route again to pick the others up then drive back again to enter the Ngorogoro crater.
I had been in the car 2 hours despite being a 10 minute drive to the entrance.
On the final day I joined a new group but as before the tour, I had to chase Noel up twice to find out what was going on.
It was as though he just didn’t care.
I had no contact during or since it ended to see how I found it.
It’s easy to say it’s Africa and that’s the way it is but I’ve been travelling around here for 4 months and this is without doubt the most shambolic episode I’ve had.
I definitely would not recommend this company.
BE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
unprofessional and dangerous
We did Serengeti + Ngorogoro crater. It was a beautiful experience, luckly the view was stunning as where the animals. Unfortunately, our guide couldn't give us any information about the animals nor the bush, he was more our driver then our guide. At some point I asked questions and he just stopped answering. I was there with my partner, and we were with another couple that booked the "budget camping" as accommodation, whilst we booked the option "luxury safari". And I have to admit, the places we slept where beautiful. But on the first night, our "guide" that clearly didn't know the Serengeti, was lost and it was almost nighttime. We asked him to look at our google maps but he was to stubborn and would only do it his way. We ended up riding in the middle of the safari in the dark for more then 1 hour. We finally arrived at nighttime in our first accommodation, the other couple had to drive one more hour in the dark to their tents. The next day we arrived at our second accommodation, which was once again beautiful. We agreed with our "guide" to wake up in the morning and leave at 7am after breakfast. But the next morning they woke us up shouting in front of our tent at 5AM, telling us we had 5minutes to rush and leave our accommodation. It was still dark when we left our accommodation, and we didn't get our breakfast with the sunrise that we booked in this beautiful place. We were told it was because our flight was at 1PM in Arusha, that they booked the day before (it was planned when we booked that they would provide a flight for us in the evening). We then arrived to the accommodation of the other couple to get them, they were still in their tents when we arrived. We then had to wait in a dirty kitchen to eat the breakfast of the budget camping (One fruit and one egg). We asked why we couldn't have breakfast in our initial accommodation like planned (which we btw payed 900$/night according to google), they said that it was to make sure we had more time to visit the crater since we had our flight at 1PM. We ended up waiting for one hour at this camping with backpakers. We then went to Ngorogoro and received a call saying they changed our flight from 1PM to 8pm. It was a really poor organisation. We left the crater for the airport at 3
4PM. When we did leave our "guide" quickly asked the other couple to come and have a private discussion. They talked for 20min in front of us "secretly". Later on we found out it was because the operator wanted to offer them something in exchange for their patience with the poor organisation. We didn't receive any offers. When we left for the airport the driver told us it was a 4h drive. We asked how we were supposed to get our flight, he started driving really dangerously in order to get us to the airport on time. Really dangerous. After 3 hours driving, the driver goes in a little street in Arusha that looked completely abandoned. We asked what he was doing, he told us he had to get "something from his office", we said we were afraid and we didn't like it, he stopped responding. We drove through a gate that 3 Masai men closed after us. We were trapped in a parking in Arusha surrounded by 5 men. Our driver still didn't talk and proceed to step out of the car. Then one person opened our door and told us they didn't receive our money transaction for the safari. They threatened us. We showed the proof that the money left our bank account and was send to theirs, and the fact that they didn't received it could be because international transactions can take up to 3 days. (It was the second day). After threatening us they let us go. The next day we received a text saying they did well receive the money and that they were wishing us a very merry Christmas.
ES
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Feeling deceived
Services contracted: Fully customized private safaris, 4 days Amboseli, Tsavo West and East and 9 days Samburu, Buffalo Springs, Aberdare, L.Naivasha, L.Nakuru, Hell's Gate and Maasai Mara.
First of all, I want to put on record the positive aspects:
- Smooth communication with quick responses from Stephen during pre-hire planning.
- Willingness to adapt the tours and accommodations to our requirements.
- Experienced and qualified drivers.
I am writing this review 5 months after the safari because in those months Stephen from Pride of Africa assured me that he was looking into ways to compensate for the problems I describe below.
- Problems with payments. I paid a deposit by wire transfer to secure the booking. The balance was to be paid upon arrival in Nairobi in USD, but most of the banknotes I had with me were refused. They said they would only accept freshly printed notes, even though the older notes I had were perfectly legal. They also refused to accept payment by credit card or wire transfer. We spent hours at the ATMs until we had reached the maximum on my cards. The driver offered to make up the difference in cash and accept the payment via bank transfer later.
- Non-compliance with the programme. The visit to Samburu Park was cancelled, thus saving the entrance fees, but we have not been refunded. The safari in Aberdare Park was limited to 1 hour in the cafeteria of the Ark Tree Lodge, despite the fact that we had indicated from the beginning that we were not interested in visiting the lodge but wanted to do some of the trekking to the numerous waterfalls in the park. At Lake Naivasha the tickets for the boat trip and visit of the island turned out not to be included despite both activities being included in the programme (the justification was that the programme included the entrance fees to the parks, but that Lake Naivasha was not a ‘park’ (??).
- Non-compliance with the Masai Mara programme. It included 4 game drives in the park: the first in the afternoon on day one after the scheduled lunch at the lodge where we were to arrive at noon, 2 full-day safaris and the last one in the morning before the scheduled departure for Nairobi at noon. However, the driver delayed leaving the previous park (Lake Nakuru) and made several stops along the way, meaning we arrived too late for the first safari. On the last day, the safari was reduced to a drive between the entrance gate near our lodge and the exit gate closest to the road to Nairobi, in a manoeuvre by the driver to save on entrance fees by justifying at the checkpoints that we had only crossed the park on our way from the lodge (we even went through the checkpoints with the roof closed so as not to look like we were coming from a game drive). We reported these irregularities to Stephen before we left Kenya and asked for a refund of the unpaid entrance fees, but since then he has only postponed the resolution (claiming that he had to complain to the driver) and has avoided refunding the money to date.