IS
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
4 Parks in 6 Days - Once in a lifetime - Amazing trip
I guess I´m the first to review them here, but hey, sometimes always first, great review coming here!
Impeccable service from Wakawaka Adventures. Here are some details:
I got a recommendation from a family friend, that is how i chose them. First of all their answering and communicating through internet and phone with them was so professional, so speed, so good explaining of everything.
I was so surprised overall with the amount of animals and nature we were brought to. Every park was different than the other, every park with its own special something, quality. I must say the most memorable time was in Serengeti, with the view of the Cheetah mama and her babies, i was felt just paralyzed....of beauty.
Greg our chef! It was so surprising the amount of delicious food he could do for us on this single piece of gas thing where he cooked everything! Sometimes it got a little chilly in the evening and he just took all that away with his delicious vegetable - and other soups that he made for us.
Our guide, Samweli, what to say, his ability to find the animals was scary! Let me just say the other qualities simply:
Punctual
Entertaining
Funny, great sense of humor
Knowledgable
Comfortable
Friendly
I thank the Wakawaka team tremendously for arranging this once in a lifetime trip to Tanzania for us. Highly recommend anybody to go with these guys! Asante
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
We dealt with Pennina who was very efficient and responded to our many queries with patience
We had excellent experience. They suggested locations for our preferred holiday destination in Mombasa and made bookings with professionalism. Pennina was patient as we kept changing preferences and her invaluable knowledge of alternative ideas came handy for us. We highly recommend Oakland Tours and Safaris and look forward to using them again for future holiday plans.
Lantana Galu recommended by the Oakland Tours and Safaris was one of the best locations I have had the pleasure of visiting.
LU
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect safari experience
The pick-up was at the hotel and in time, good driver/guide who brought us to Selous and Mikumi in a 4x4 Landcruiser. Food during the 4 nights was above expectations and we enjoyed it very much. Lot to see in the reserves, quite a long drive from Selous to Mikumi, but interesting.
Overall very good safari experience, Thanks.
BE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience, perfectly organiseed by Encounter Africa!
Here's my thoughts on our recent holiday in Uganda:
1. First of all, if you are hesitating whether or not to travel to Uganda .. don’t, please just go! It's an amazing experience in a beautiful country, with warm and friendly people. It's not unsafe at all (taking the ordinary precautions when travelling in Africa, South America or Asia for that matter). It’s not too touristy (yet) so the other tourists you meet there are generally very also very nice and open-minded people.
2. I struggled to find decent reviews of safari operators causing me quite some stress given that you have to book your permit through the company (and gorilla spotting is not exactly cheap!). I spent hours looking for reviews online. We ended up choosing Encounter Africa Safaris (mainly by luck I think) and could not be happier with our choice. Its strengths include: fast response times to emails, very clear and to the point communication, great value for money proposition and perfect execution at destination. We corresponded with Chris re the booking, which went very smoothly. He also helped us at destination to get a nice(r) hotel (with pool) for our last night at a reasonable price. Joseph, our driver/guide, played a very big role in making this trip an unforgettable one. Impeccable timing. Made sure we got into the right groups and had the best guides to see the chimps and gorillas. Truly went above and beyond to ensure we enjoyed our holiday. Very knowledgeable. Gave the relevant level of detail/information whilst travelling (you don’t want too much information nor do you want too little, right?!). And also .. just a really nice, funny and friendly guy (important when you spend ca. 10-12 hours a day together). Encounter Africa also booked us into very nice accommodation (we did the mid-range travel but they got us an upgrade by lake Bunyonyi) and we had lunch/dinner in great restaurants.
3. I don't have experience that allows me to compare our gorilla tracking in Uganda with a tracking in Rwanda, but my impression is that you get a tracking in Uganda is more genuine (including the drive through the Bwindi forest which is amazing as such and definitely puts you in the mood!). Don't believe any claims that the percentage of seeing gorillas is higher in Rwanda than in Uganda - it's not. Our team in Bwindi was extremely professional and well-organised. Whilst there are no guarantees when you want to spot wild (albeit habituated) animals, considering how well the families are tracked/monitored, I think the default position is that you see them. No words can describe it when you do ... it's simply amazing.
4. One last tip: if you do go to Uganda, don’t limit yourself to just seeing the gorillas. There’s also other primates (Kibale is the best place to see chimps!) and beautiful nature (source of the Nile, hiking in the East, secluded animal parks in the North etc.). We were however told to avoid Kampala due to its manic traffic.
Excellent service throughout
My wife and I would like to express our appreciation and thanks for what we consider to have been the holiday of our lifetime! The whole experience was delightful - your representatives were excellent as were the various Lodges where we stayed during our Safari. Our driver, could not have been more helpful - providing us with innumerable opportunities for our cameras. Altogether, it was a really wonderful holiday and with many thanks to Somak!
Oakland Tours & Safari's is Home when it comes to Travel & Reservation Arrangements !
They are Excellent, Great Reception and Quick in Response.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A superb venue for dramatic landscapes, scenic hikes, and superb birding.
My wife and I recently camped for two nights at Augrabies Falls National Park, whilst on a three week road trip in South Africa. The campsite has a peaceful and pleasant atmosphere with excellent facilities. Lots of Rock Dassies and birds made for some fun and easy photography. Apart from the Dassies, I got great close-up photographs, in the campsite, of the Village Weaver, Red-eyed Bulbul, ad Glossy Starling, but saw plenty more birds while out walking. A troupe of monkeys kept us entertained in the campsite - the youngster's antics often hilarious to watch. We did a very early morning walk to the falls, which was great - especially as no one else was around. That morning was a solar semi-eclipse - and I had great fun photographing the sun: a bright orange disc, but like a biscuit with a bite taken out. The light was superb and I got great photos of the gorge and waterfall. Another walk later that day took us to Moon rock. This spectacular granite whale-back hill rises out of a lunar landscape carved with jagged rocks - as far as the eye can see - and was one of the great highlights of the entire road-trip for me. The park has a lovely swimming pool and a wide range of accommodation options. There are also several long drives through the park, and some dedicated 4x4 trails as well. Take your camera and binoculars, and whether you walk or drive, you'll wish you had more time at Augrabies!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about South Africa by Errol
The South African National Parks are superbly managed, and cater to every possible taste. All the national parks have fabulous birding and photographic opportunities, as well as excellent game viewing. Many of the parks have the big five.
PT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
An experience of a lifetime
Uganda is a fantastic country with exceptional and genuine landscapes and wildlife and Katona Tours made our days in Uganda an experience that we will never forget. Jackie was always very efficient in back office, very quick with replies, trying hard to clarify and please us. During the safari she phoned every day to check if everything was going ok. Jack, our guide, was local, very friendly and truly learned in animals and local habits and he did his best to give us the best of time.
Although we opted for the budget accommodations, we loved all the places we have stayed since they all had a very special atmosphere. They prepared us excellent cooks and we dine under the stars (fantastic sky) and close to the fire. Yes, it was cold in equator…and also hot…could you imagine it?
The gorilla safari day was a hard walk, and we had the greatest heavy rain of our life, but it was very well rewarding to be so close to those humbling and awe-inspiring animals. But Uganda has much, much to offer and to pick a favorite moment it is very difficult… we also loved the chimpanzee safari, all Queen Elizabeth safaris and the close-up with the tree climbing lions. Thanks Katona Tours!!! We will treasure our Uganda trip, always!
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bitter aftertaste of being scammed
My wife and me made a 7N/8D safari with KenyaBushExcursions going to Amboseli, Aberdares, Masai Mara, Nakuru and Naivasha in early December 2015. We paid a total of 2780USD.
Overall we made many enjoyable experiences owing to the drivers and the parks themselves, and I really would love to give a better rating. However we have the bitter taste of feeling scammed by KenyaBushExcursions as we did not receive what we paid for in terms of accommodation and transportation – partially due to being dumped on an ultra-low budget safari joining group.
The details
The good:
-Santos was very responsive and accommodating in providing us with a customized itinerary fitting our wishes; pricing seemed OK
-We got to see many animals, we always felt safe and we followed our itinerary (except Aberdares see below)
-Our drivers (Stanley and Jackson) were overall really great guides, very knowledgeable and it was a great time. Especially the drive with Stanley in Amboseli was amazing, Jackson in Masai Mara felt a little bit like working down a checklist (lion check, leopard check, Giraffe check).
The bad:
1.) Scammed by 600USD on accommodation:
5 nights out of 7 nights we slept in cheaper accommodations than what we were quoted
a) In Amboseli we slept 2N in AALodge instead of Kibo Safari Lodge. There is a huge price difference between the two – judge yourself on booking.com of 200USD/ night
b) In Mara we slept 2N in Miti Mingo Eco Camp instead of Rhino. Our specific tent in Miti Mingi was really a dump, dirty and molded (think they also have newer tents though). Though Rhino does not seem hilarious, according to the resort web pages there is a difference of 60 USD/ night
c) In Nakuru we slept in Miale Hotel instead of Lanet Matfam. Lanet is also twice as expensive as Miale.
2.) Overloaded minibus:
For 3 days we were cramped with 10 people in the minibus though we were quoted a maximum of 7 people (so that everybody has a window seat). Believe me that makes a difference if you spend a lot of time on the road and also if you go out for game drives.
Change of accommodation and the overloaded bus were partially caused by us joining on a super-low budget safari by BigTime Safaris for the part of Masai Mara and Nakuru. The other guys only paid 250USD for 3D/2N safari or 400USD for a 4D/3N safari. I understand this is possible only with the cheapest accommodation possible and sitting in an overcrowded bus.
3.) Bad planning around Aberdares/the Ark:
Not having the game drive and rushing through the most expensive hotel in the itinerary was waste of time and money in this itinerary: we couldn’t make a single game drive in the Aberdares as we arrived in the Ark around 5 pm in the evening and already had to leave again at 6 am the next morning to meet the joining group. If we had known that we would have skipped it
4.) Attitude/unprofessionalism:
All of the above wouldn’t have been a drama to me, if Santos would have acknowledged that there were deviations between what we paid and what we received (accommodations!) and if he had provided us with a fair financial adjustment. However, it turned out to be very unprofessional:
a) Santos joined the last day in the car and he provided us with a cost break-down on the itinerary we received, however that was clearly fudged to match again very close to what we paid.
Actually I just noticed later that the devil was in the details, it was inflated in terms of transportation (quoted us 10 days of transportation for being less than 7 days in the car on a 24hour base) and also the quoted park fees were not the amount paid by the driver I know for sure.
b) There were all kind of excuses, such as that he already had to pay tax on the money received, hotel prices were similar (obviously not)…. If I was harsh, I would say that I don’t care, risk of doing business.
c) When they dropped us at the airport it got insulting, I especially remember two phrases “what do you want, you got to see all the parks” and “you are just angry that [the other part of the joining group] paid less than you; you know this is a free market with free prices” –seriously? We simply didn’t get what we paid…
To date, I still wait for a fair offer from Santos, unfortunately no reaction.