20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safety, Planning, Transparency and Trust were at the heart of it...
Prime Safaris Uganda gave a good first impression. Cate wrote in a welcoming and professional manner with strong salesmanship. The emails were filled with ‘exciting’, ‘thrilling’, ‘adventure’, ‘amazing’, ‘rewarding’ and many more positives. It was to be a 21 day custom trip starting in Rwanda and traversing throughout Uganda using budget accommodation. I was swayed to pay an average of £300 a day for the trip. I had high hopes.
The trip didn’t go well at all. I’ll start by describing safety concerns then describe some of the days in relation to the accuracy, transparency and planning. At the end is a series of tips worth reading to prepare for a safari in Uganda or nearby.
3 of the lodges had Mosquito Nets which were torn, with holes in or not properly attached to the bed. Both the guide and myself frequently ended up with stomach problems so I gave him some of my medicine to help
The car was in serious disrepair. Loose electric cables and faulty air conditioning which worked half the time and regularly leaked onto the feet.
Later on, the speedometer and other instruments stopped working. The guide mentioned that we’d be lucky not to be stopped by the police.
One of days early in the trip was a visit to Lake Bunyonyi. We reached at midday and the guide left me at a lodge on an island while he looked for accommodation on shore. He soon messaged me to say the car’s axle broke and he'd search for a replacement part. I did not see or hear from him until the following day. When I raised this with Prime Safaris, they responded with a defensive email denying the breakdown happened at all. I couldn't tell if the guide was lying or they were. Two days later, I was left alone again while the guide said he would take the car to get the AC repaired. Later, in conversation, he mentioned that he tried repairing it using tape so I'm not sure where he went that day. It wasn't repaired and began leaking again.
A day on the itinerary had a briefing of “amazing cycling experience traversing the Fort Portal Crater field with scenic crater lakes and hollows. From the activity, transfer to Lake Albert enjoying the views of Albertine Rift valley including the scenic flats, escarpments and the Blue Mountains of Congo. Enjoy a thrilling bush dinner under the lush tropical sky.”
The day had under an hour of cycling along a city road. It was really disappointing and made worse by all available bikes having grave faults including some with nonfunctional brakes. I went with working brakes but faulty gears.
Before we set off along the road to the Amabere caves, I asked for a helmet for safety but they said they had none. We cycled at a leisurely speed but, strangely the bike guide needed to pause every few minutes to regain his breath. The remainder of the trip, cycling up to the crater lakes, was cancelled due to lack of time.
After driving back to town, we had a rushed lunch and the Prime Safaris guide admitted he was surprised all this activity and distance to travel was planned for a single day. We set off at 1pm and drove at full speed to reach by 8pm, luckily sooner than expected because the guide managed to find out about a shortcut from speaking to locals. When we reached, the reception said it was too late for the bush dinner and we would have needed to have arrived by 6pm for it to be ready. Later, while waiting for a meal, I conversed with a member of staff and learnt that they hadn’t even received a request for the bush dinner in advance. I raised concerns with Cate by email and she responded again with hostility, asserting that I was an hour late to breakfast and took multiple stops of 30-40 minutes. “The guide advised against such stops which would cause late arrival but you said it was okay for late arrival”. I was taken aback as it wasn’t true. It became clear that they phoned the guide and he came up with these lies to try and defend himself. It shows that Prime Safaris are not interested in listening to their customers, only in defending their mistakes.
Another surprise was a day described in the itinerary as “Take up a lasting authentic cultural to the indigenous Karimojong on the great hills of Mount Morungole.” “It’s an active adventure to the Mountains and it’s a whole day experience with great sightseeing as well.”
It turned out to be a short drive to a nearby small town where a local gave a brief spoken tour of their customs. It was all there was to do so we drove back to the lodge to rest before having lunch. The guide said he knew that this was what to expect and he’s unsure why the office described it as a full day with active adventure.
A similar falsehood occurred earlier in the trip with the activity at Lake Bunyonyi described as “do canoe paddle exploring the Island Communities & the fishermen”, “a canoe ride exploring this amazing lake, hopping between Islands and visiting the Islands to view the way of life of the Islanders and their traditions.” It turned out to be a motor boat trip with a member of staff from the lodge talking a bit about the history of the area. He didn’t know what else to offer so stopped at a nearby market and chatted to locals he knew.
There are many other examples of the experience not matching the itinerary that was sold.
To conclude, the initial customer service, exciting itinerary and great expense gave me high hopes. When things started going wrong and Prime Safaris put me at great discomfort, I raised the concerns with Cate by email. I asked her to focus constructively on the remainder of the trip and hoped for the best. Surprisingly, I received defensive and hostile replies, dismissing all the concerns. Prime Safaris were not interested.
Following each email, the office phoned my guide a number of times and became very aggressive with him. It made him visibly upset, trying to defend himself, and the trip deteriorated as a result. Feeling we were both victims, I chose to confide in him and mentioned that I might request a partial refund.
When I returned to the UK, I received a very hostile email from Cate who stated she was disappointed I did not want to meet her and her peers at their office, revealing that they gathered “a comprehensive day to day report about what transpired during your tour, photos, voice recordings and videos which we had intended to share with you”. Realising that they wanted to intimidate me with recordings made behind my back, I was relieved I did not meet them.
The email ended with Cate stating that Prime Safaris “are satisfied that you got your moneys worth and are not giving back any refund what so ever. Wishing you a wonderful stay back home.”
By no means am I trying to say the entire experience was awful but, when you consider that I spent £6000 for a 21-day trip and could have realistically hired a quality guide myself, BOUGHT a car that was reliable and had a much better experience for a lot less money, it was a huge regret going with Prime Safaris.
Tips
• Remember insect repellent and lots of anti-diarrhoea medicine.
• Bring a few lightweight long-sleeved shirts to protect against insects and sun
• Bring something warm if you’re visiting high altitudes.
• Use a walking stick if going walking; many paths aren’t maintained and can be very slippery. They’re often provided.
• Brace yourselves for small lizards about the accommodation – might find them moving across the walls in your room. If you’re in a sealed tent, have a look around to make sure one didn’t get trapped in.
• Two weeks max is more than enough to see the best bits.
• Check the route planning if you’re using a customised itinerary and watch out for days where there’s a tight squeeze for participating in activities and making long drives.
• Avoid Queen Elizabeth national park in Uganda. Guides I spoke to said many companies leave it out because the growth of nearby towns caused wildlife to migrate.
• Many guides are primarily experienced in driving and networking, not wildlife. If you’re concerned with competency of the guide, don’t hesitate to ask for a new one. Part way through the trip, I lost trust in the guide and requested a new one. Steven Ashley replaced him and turned out to be a brilliant guide with great enthusiasm and experience. He told me he’s happy to arrange safaris directly. Message me if you’d like his email.
• If you do go with Prime Safaris, ask for Steven Ashley as your guide. Steven is someone who always has a smile on his face and his positivity makes you forget about the failures the company makes.
TR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fake Company
Tour Agency is not a real company. Owner Joshua stole our money. We traveled with 20 pax and paid our accommodations, transportations (land cruiser) and entrance fee twice. Cause he had pocked our money.
Don’t work with Joshua and Polmans Holiday and Travel Agency!
TR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Cheater Joshua
The owner name is Joshua. He is a cheater.. Really it’s a fake agency.. we sent to our tour budget advance. he didn’t pay our hotel, jeeps,entrence fee etc. we had to pay again. And the last day he stole my 700 usd.. joshua is a thief..
TR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Bubble Agency
Never work this company and owner JOSHUA K KASAU . We agreed with 3 land cruiser but he brought us 3 old minivans. Minivans broke down on the way. Paid him thousand dollars via bank but he did not pay our hotels and also Masai Mara entrance fee.
Don’t trust him!!!!
We couldn’t get the money back. Kenya has a many professional tour agency. You can work any agency except Polmans Holiday and Travel
CH
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
DON'T TRUST THEM
In January I enquired Orongai AS for a 5 days safari for late July. Since the beginning, I required to book ONLY lodges from the Serena Hotel Chain with an HB meal plan and to buy the flight from Arusha to Zanzibar for which I already had a reservation. The proposed program for the safari was meeting all my expectations and therefore I paid 50% of the total bill to confirm the trip (with 6 months advance).
FIRST SURPRISE: in June, after my request of details about the baloon trip that was listed into the proposed plan, we discovered that this was actually not included in the price I agreed (and already paid) but was an extra, costing "only" 510 US$ per person!!! After many e-mails back and forth with Martha, where I also proposed to pay 50/50 their mistake, I finally end up talking with the owner of the company (Mr Asseri) and I accepted, to pay the extra 510 US$. After we arrived in Tanzania, we were transfered to the first hotel where the Orongai rapresentatives showed up with more than 2 hours delay to the agreed breefing.
SECOND SURPRISE: checking out from this hotel, I discoverd that the meal plan was not HB as per the plan accepted by me and I had to pay 25 US$ per person for the dinner.
THIRD SURPRISE: the off-road car for the safari was a 30 years old Toyota Land Cruiser (much older than any other car we meet during the safari) with (probably) a few MILLIONS miles story: fortunately we had no mechanical problems (and this is a real miracle, considering the treatment this veicles receive) but the level of confort of that car was really poor.
FOURTH SURPRISE: we started the tour and we discovered that the plan was shuffled and instead of the agreed Tarangire-Ngorongoro-Serengeti sequence we would follow a Ngorongoro-Serengeti-Tarangire schedule.
FIFTH SURPRISE: despite my cash paiment for the ballon trip, they didn't succeed in boking that experience.
SIXT SURPRISE: when we were in Serengeti, we discovered that our hotel for the next 2 nights would have been a tented camp (and not a lodge as agreed).
SEVENTH SURPRISE: on the last day we discovered that the flight we were booked on was not the 5:10 pm one I originally requested but a earlier one (3:15 pm).
Based on this, would anyone trust them??
PS1: looking at other feedbacks in this site, looks like I'm not the only one having had this kind of disturbing experience with Orongai AS: probably the blame is not to be put on me
PS2: the only good thing of this safari were the guide (Gabriel) and the driver (Francis). They exceeded all our expectations under every aspect: nice and polite, skilled and commited
CV
Dont waste yr Time and MONEY
I still recovering from the disappointment. QUEEN ELIZABETH PARK has almost no wildlife at the moment. One pays a lot to see nothing around even if one drives for hours. Even antelopes, which are normally abundant, are rarely seen therefore spotting the lions is almost impossible. The guides and the company rep, only after your first hours of game drive, start telling that it s been years not much animals are seen in the park n the government needs to open new tracks. My guide even lied to us about the number is lions in the parks. There are many villages within the area of Queen Elizabeth hence wild animals are destroying people crops and livestock n sometimes kill people and in revenge lions have been killed decreasing the numbers in the park. I would say don't fall into the trap unless you want to waste your money and time driving around an almost wildlife less park.
The park is huge and the number of animals are insignificant comparing to the massive area of the park. Won't recommend it to anyone.
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unprofessional
Johnston was absolutely terrible in communicating while trying to set up this safari. He tripled The listed price of our safari and was very obtuse and vague about why. Extremely unprofessional and rude. Communication in English with this man is exceedingly difficult, he became rude on the phone and hung up on me. Very unprofessional, look elsewhere to book your safari.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Rip off! Don't waste your hard earned money!
Poor communication, old vans for safari. Our van broke down and the safari was limited due to the status of the van. Didn't get to see all the animals at the maasai Mara. We had initially booked to stay at another hotel and they switched arrangements last minute to a mediocre camp that had bad food. Never again! Not worth it.
AE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Terrible
Great that you replied on my email acknlowedging below mistake '' I still didn't receive a reply to my messages on whatsapp. Further to the lies, I had to pay 70,000 TSH for a different driver who agreed to take me to the airport because the safari driver was not told to take me to airport. Where your quote mentioned drop off at the airport is included. I need a compensation for this plus a compensation for your bad planning which ruined my vacation'' with(swahili paradise) Unfortinately the driver made a mistake, because it was included bust still we can refund you $40 to your account as i have informed the accountant. And no refund has been done ever since or even a reply which confirm what a fraud you and your company are!!!!!!!!!!
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Avoid at all costs - this is a schlock outfit!!
Utter shambles. Of 5 nights of mobile camping - reserved, confirmed, fully pre-paid - we were cheated out of 2 nights. On arrival we found out that the first night nothing whatsoever had been arranged, other than a back-handed suggestion to stay in some shabby motel in the middle of Maun - and even though our itinerary clearly stated that we would be bush camping in Khwai. We were also told that, on the last night, we would be unceremoniously dumped in Kasane and left to our own devices - and even though our itinerary clearly stated that we would be bush camping in Ihaha. The so-called "organisation" was an unmitigated disaster. The vehicles (yes, plural, there was a series of replacement ones as they were in such bad condition!) bordered on dangerous. All the equipment was old, worn, broken (tents), dirty (sheets), badly stained (mattresses), or incomplete (towels never materialised). When I confronted the owner, he did not seem surprised and indicted that other travellers had also had abysmal experiences with Bush Baby Calls. But this did not seem to bother him! At best, ineptitude. At worst, fraudulent. Only saving grace was the actual guides who were superb. For both, it was the first time working freelance for Bush Baby Calls and they were clearly horrified, though too professional (and embarrassed) to discuss the situation. Even the officer at Khwai Gate - when we finally got there! - rolled her eyes and said, "Not them again , they are always messing up!" Be warned: book with Bush Baby Calls only if you want to have your dream mobile tented experience completely ruined.