DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
I strongly advise you avoid Birchill Expeditions!
Warning: Scam Alert – Avoid Birchill Expeditions!
I want to share my terrible experience with Birchill Expeditions to warn others. I paid this company $800 in advance for a gorilla permit, trusting them to handle my tour properly. However, just one day before my scheduled trip, the operator canceled everything.
My tour was supposed to last several days and include multiple activities, but they failed to arrange anything. To make matters worse, they never refunded my money and have ignored my attempts to contact them.
This company is completely untrustworthy—they took my money and provided nothing in return. I strongly advise everyone to stay away from Birchill Expeditions to avoid being scammed like I was.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Terrible
Terrible experience. The Company didn't pay park's entrance fees and didn't answer to our many calls . They just disappeared and we had to pay everything again by our own . drivers told us they were freelance without any bond with the Company. Our guide was not professional and didn't speak good English.
We completely missed 3 days of safari that we paid in advance because we had no accomodations or equipment or meals during the Safari. Also the car was not suitable at all and broke several times. We wasted our money and in the end paid double for everything.
We believe we have been scammed. Don't book with them.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Warning – Refund Issues Experienced
I strongly advise against booking with this company. We have been trying to recover our refund through the Tourism Police and Regional Commissioner, but the process has been very difficult. Please exercise caution and thoroughly research before making any payments.
CH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unprofessionell
Absolute disgrace and immense disappointment!
You decide on an operator and a safari because you think the route is great and you like the accommodation. And then you arrive and are completely thrown into the deep end. None of the promised accommodation was received. The route has been changed & the travel plan. The safari including accommodation was simply changed without my knowledge. You get a downgrade without being informed about it. Bottomless impudence. At least 10 hours are lost because you have campers in the car and loading and unloading them takes so much time, which you were never informed about in advance. Communication and organization the worst I have ever experienced.
When I complained to the organizer, I was confronted with incorrect figures about the costs and that my safari was more expensive than I would have paid, which is absolute nonsense. I researched all the costs and came out with a nice profit for the organizer. Frank Robert tried to emotionally blackmail me with false charges and police threats.
The next day he offered me gifts to make up for it. Professionalism and honesty look different. Don't book with this organization, you will only be disappointed and hardly be able to enjoy your safari because none of the promised things (accommodation, German-speaking travel guide, travel route + massive unnecessary lost time, soft drinks and so on) will be adhered to and you will only hear lies and excuses as excuses. Believe the negative reviews and book with a more professional company.
None of the safari participants were satisfied with the process and everyone was disappointed.
In the end he gave me gifts that no one could use and $150 to make up for it and wanted to use it to buy a good rating, so to speak. What unprofessional behavior. You can't go on a safari every week, the disappointment and drama is inexcusable.
You cannot simply change the booked safari without informing the customer and without his consent!!!!
A licensed company is worthless without professional work!
PT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Terrible experience
Our experience with Karibu Safari Kenya was terrible. The accomodations were very different than the ones that were promised by the company, we discussed the issue with the company and they didn't even know that our driver was taking us to different hotels, much cheaper and with much worse conditions than the ones that we actually paid for. We demanded a refund and it's been weeks and they don't even reply to us. The driver was very rude, the itinerary was constantly changing and it was very different than the one settled for us by the company. We only enjoyed a full day of safari in Masai Mara and there was a day where we just spend the entire morning driving from Masai Mara to Lake Nakuru and spent the entire afternoon in the hotel room as the driver refused to take us in a morning game drive in Masai Mara claiming that there was "no time".
The company doesn't deliever what is promised and they don't even try to compensate us or to do service recovery. The company nor the driver were not professional AT ALL being very rude to us. I felt that I paid for a 3 day safari and only enjoyed 1 day, not worth at all.
If I could go back I would book it with another company
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I recommend being cautious when booking with this company. Paid for service that we did not get
Sadly, like a bunch of others you can see on TripAdvisor, we lost thousands of dollars due to the actions of this tour company. This company operates under African Kenya Safaris as well as Natural World Kenya Safaris, so beware of both those names. We paid for our entire trip, in full, weeks before flying out to Kenya. When we arrived at our second hotel, they said our booking had been completely cancelled by this tour company one full week before we arrived.
Our next two hotel stays were still booked, but the company never paid. We spent 1.5 hours, each time, back-and-forth calling and messaging on WhatsApp in the hotel lobby with all our luggage. Neither were ever paid. It was late, dark, and we were tired and hungry, so we paid (again, since everything had been prepaid before we left home) with our credit card for the hotel - AFTER the tour company rep, Mary, agreed the company would reimburse us. She acted like this was an outlier, but we later discovered there are plenty of other victims.The hotel staff were shocked and felt so bad for us, and offered to comp our drinks at the restaurant. One guide said he had never heard of anything like this in over 18 years of being a guide. It has been weeks since they said they would refund us the money they owe, but now they will not reply to any messages. Beware of this tour company.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Bad Experience
We booked 8 days custom luxury safari. Out of 8 days, one day spent sitting in a hotel room Picnic food was frozen rice, salad without dressing salt or paper, frozen fruit, Chapati with Guacamole that was turning brown. I ate but requested luxury as your stated. Moving forward, initial three days none of the five big one was seen. Other tourists were able to see so they were there. But our driver took us to far remote areas where no other safari drivers cars were going. He never used the radio to communicate with other safari drivers When I questioned and stated him about wasting our precious vacation days, he literally threatened me. Remember Serengeti means endless, large area. They can take you to remote areas where and drop you, no one will ever find you And that is what his threat meant to me. I have copy of the chat to prove it. Horrible and expensive experience. Buyers beware!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Stole from us
We went on this tour with Ken and Barack in January. We sent them money for the Gorilla Deposits in advance and when we arrived they said the government had stolen our money. They story didn't add up, and they promised they would pay us back, but in the meantime we had to buy new permits. Having traveled so far, what else could we do?
In the end, they stole our deposit. I highly recommend finding a different operator with a longer history of reviews.
The gorilla trekking itself was incredible.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
I do not recommend booking with then
I had a very disappointing experience with Dan and Denhum Holidays. My group and I paid over $35,000, but the services we were promised were not delivered, and we have not been able to recover our money. Despite this, the company continues to operate.
I strongly advise travelers to exercise caution and thoroughly research before booking with this company.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Disappointing safari
Essentially we had a driver not a guide on our 6 day safari. Ben could not answer very basic questions. So our safari was very low information. By the end, our driver was barely talking to us. Tension bad on vacation.
The company also made changes without telling us in advance. And really did not plan or prepare well, though we booked 3+ weeks in advance. A disappointing trip which was quite pricey.
We travel all over the world. First time to experience such rudeness and unprofessionalism.