US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
We had multiple issues
We would not book again with Jocky tours due to the following issues:
Pre tour:
- Communication - spoke to 3 different people to organise the tour, kept getting transferred to different phone numbers on Whatsapp
- Payment Issues- We tried to organise bank transfer (lower fees) and did not receive a reply until we followed up, when they told us it was then too late to do so. We were told certain payment methods attracted a 5% fee, this was incorrect for us.
- Airport pick up - the website and jocky emails say this is included. I was told on the day that this attracted a further 20 usd fee. I questioned this with 2 different people and it was eventually agreed it was included. We later were told our tour price had an extra 20 usd per person compared to others on the tour for airport pick up, I would suggest specifying not to include this in the price as Uber costed us <$10 USD.
Day 1: we waited in jeep for over an hour after paying - unsure what for. Delayed the afternoon game drive, possibly shortening it as other Jeeps left earlier.
Day 2: our guide/driver got stuck in mud twice for an hour each time, possibly further shortening game drive.
Day 3: the itinerary on the Jocky website and Safaribookings site says an early morning game drive - this did not occur. No game drive this day at all.
Day 4: guide told us to be ready by 7am - at 745 he was having breakfast. Jeep arrived at 8am. Guide's card did not work to pay park entry fees due to what he said was a bank issue - he asked us to pay and he would give us cash. Our cards did not work due to being unable to 2 factor authenticate, when asking guide about other options he raised his voice at us and I felt uncomfortable. We waited over 1 hour to get into the park.
We were initially told by the guide the boat ride was an extra 20 USD - I checked our itinerary which showed it was included and had to tell the guide this.
During game drives, the guide was speaking on his phone almost constantly on speaker phone. We were told to look out for animals while he did this and almost missed some rhinos. I was ignored when I asked a question as he was on his phone.
Day 5: the visit to the geothermal power plant and hot springs was not included - despite being in the park we were not given the option to do this. When we asked the guide, they said this was because some tour members had to go to the airport however they arrived there 5 hours early. We were not informed of this until after leaving the park.
IE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Didn't Deliver Purchased Safari Itinerary
Unfortunately we chose Pride of Africa (PoA) Safaris, as we believed they were an actual safari operator and they would be able to deliver the itinerary that they offered us when we contacted them by email. Sadly, they turned out to be more of a travel agent then anything. In our 10 day safari, we found ourselves pushed along from one operator to the next, as we experienced 5 different groups and 5 different guides. This created a very incohesive experience, where on occasion, lots of time was wasted and lost, and we did not get to visit all the locations and do all the drives on the purchased itinerary.
On the first day, the taxi driver who collected us from the airport affirmed that he had not been paid by PoA, when that was supposed to be included in the tour, so we paid him again. When we met Stephen, he had previously said over email that I could pay by card on arrival - but failed to be transparent about his physical card machine charging a significant fee. Considering that the safari was several thousand USD, the fee was very high. This caused quite some hassle as I walked around Nairobi to ATMs to withdraw a significant amount of cash and incurred almost as much fees in ATM transactions.
Stephen advised us there was a slight change to our itinerary. It wasn't immediately apparent what it was. It ended up being that they had downgraded one of our accommodations from a resort-type accommodation to a tented camp. Thanks to the power of the internet I could clearly see there was a price difference, so I requested they change it back to what we had purchased, which was completed.
The safari guides themselves (not PoA staff) varied significantly in customer service skill and knowledge about the wildlife. Amolo in particular was absolutely outstanding, where as Richard was somewhat short-tempered and ending up arguing with some of the tourists... which was peculiar.
We travelled all the way to the Serengeti just to do one morning drive. The itinerary suggested two days at this location. This was a result of being in placed into a school group of 14 students (who had probably paid a much lower price than we paid PoA) and there was numerous delays resulting from being in this large group. Getting into the national park alone took over two hours, due to some administrative error on all the passengers and vehicles paperwork. PoA had promised small group (max 8) safaris. They did not deliver.
Since travelling to Africa, I have held back on leaving a review. There felt like there was some discouragement to review our experience online. However, I have noticed that quite a number of Pride of Africa's online reviews are likely not genuine. This is apparent once you have travelled because you can recognise several office staff members names on review accounts, or notice that a number of review profiles have only ever left one single review. Be more careful than us. When people ask me which provider I chose in Africa, I encourage them to do their own research.
You'll have a great time if you choose wisely.
BD
35-50 years of age
I wouldn't recommend you trust Moyo
I never went on the tour but I had paid him $600 to make a booking . When I canceled the trip 2 months before going and asked for my refund he pretended to refund me but the money never came through . It’s Feb 2024 and I’ve not been paid. When I asked for proof of refund he never gave me that. Kept lying and saying it’s been sent . I have proof of payment on my credit card but Mr Pankaj the owner till date never sent me a receipt of refund despite me asking for it 7/8 times . So be very careful and don’t trust him . My $600 is now gone .
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very expensive for nothing in the plate for lunch and 1 hour less on the planned program!
It’s could be arrive, but when we went to take lunch at the buffet, there was no more meat, almost no more drinks. Maybe the other participants were served too much before, but that's not my problem, I paid the same as the other… I remember that I only ate rice and few vegetables. The plane took off more than 30 minutes late and we left 30 minutes earlier than planned! result, 1 hour less safari. Bad experience
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
An huffy tour operator
We didn' travel with this operator because their first travel proposal (by Mirta- Director) included hotels and accommodation for 200USD per night and more. So I asked for a lower level of accommodation so that we could have a more affordable price, and I asked for some changes to the program, in order to have a customization closer to our needs.
Although these requests are normal, at least in the early stages of the negotiations, her answer was peremptory and without the possibility of reply. In practice, in addition to not having accepted my requests for adaptation to the program, he told me to turn to someone else.
It is unfortunate to see that it is the Director who is so touchy. Probably this operator don’t need new customers who can expand their portfolio.
AR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Worst Nightmare Ever
Avoid this company. The owner/manager Richard, lied to us. He did not respect the contract, put me in different accommodation, much cheaper and very low quality , than i have paid for. I have paid for gorilla habituation but instead of that i just got the regular 1 hour trekking, he ripped me off u$s 800, which was never refunded to me. The driver Dona who was part of the scam, tried to make me pay for a hotel in the middle of nowhere and when i talked to the police the money magically was sent to the hotel.
Please go with someone else to make you trip of a lifetime unforgettable.
Other companies will make your dream come true.
(images removed for privacy reasons)
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A woman was screamed at by the chef and wouldn't let her leave because he wanted money
We went on a 5 day safari with Focus on africa. The tour guide, Wilson, was amazing. He really went out of his way to make our trip unforgettable. I am very sad to give a one star because he is worth 5!
During the trip I noticed a couple of things which could have been done differently but I considered not to be worth writing a review but I will state them now anyway; we were leaving quite late a couple of times and when spotting animals you have to be there at first light! We were with 6 people in the car including luggage and camping equipment, making so that for a few drives the people in the back seats were uncomfortable. The one star I give for something that happend to a travel companion and makes me feel the need to write; the chef that was with us for 3 days(who cooked nicely but was only acting nice on the last night, all of the group immediately felt it was because he expected a tip) became angry because they gave too little tip. And with angry I mean yelling in their faces for over 15 minutes and not letting them leave the last campsite. They were so scared (2 woman alone) and not one of the 15 local men surrounding the vehicle said anything and let it happen (they work on the campsite and thus are also reprectatives of focus in africa). They felt attacked and it ruined their trip. This was a super scary situation and I would advise you to make sure who your guide will be as this will definitely make or brake it(their last day was spend with another "guide" who didn't know any English).
Moreover, the owner wanted to pay the woman to remove the reviews and out of his messages it appears that he actually agrees the tip is too little and so was accepting towards the behaviour of the chef. Look elsewhere for your safari trip!
SE
under20 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bad organisation
I would recommend you avoid booking with this company.! I did not stay at my booked accommodation and didn’t get any information about times or how the day next would look like until late at night the day before. During one of the days i didn’t get anything that I had booked. It was a completely different schedule and the whole day was very very sketchy and an awful experience for me. I contacted my “agent” at Enjoy Rejoice Adventures to make sure the it wouldn’t happen the next day and for that I had to pay an additional $50.
Overall a horrible experience booking with this company!
GH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Appears not to be a trustworthy tour operator
I booked a ZAR 144k tour with this agency and unfortunately had to cancel due visas issues beyond our control . I paid a deposit of ZAR 78k and the operator advised that they could only refund ZAR 50k , deducting various penalties and their own admin fees. This was happening in summer 2023. I even agreed that they repay in installment of ZAR 10k as they were raising some cash flow issues. For the last 6 months they haven’t paid anything !! They always come with an excuse as to why they have not paid me yet….This has become a nightmare!
I would caution anyone to deal with this agency as I believe they are simply not trustworthy
CA
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Worst Safari Ever
I have been on other safaris in other African countries and this has been the worst by far! Look elsewhere for a safari company.
ITINERARY
Our original itinerary looked good on paper, however, we found out, while on safari, that it involved backtracking which meant the safari had to be changed causing us to miss 2 half day game drives in Masai Mara (which was supposed to be the highlight of the trip!)
DAILY “ROUTINE”
We were told by PRIDE OF AFRICA that we would be starting at 7:00 AM each morning so we would be able to get the most of our safari while in Africa. In reality our normal start was 8:30 AM. We also noticed that other guides brought their clients back from game drives to their accommodation around 6:30 PM. Our guide brought us back at 3:30 PM. This timing was the worst possible! Wildlife is active in the mornings and evenings while we were still at our hotel! We were out at the time when most wildlife is sleeping so we saw much, much less! Our game drives were 4.5hrs shorter everyday.
The only day we did not follow our “daily routine” was the last day. On the last day we started at 6:30 AM. That was the day we were to be “Arriving in Nairobi late in the evening“ (as our itinerary stated). We went on our game drive that morning, but only for 1.5 hours so that the guide could get back home early. We asked him about it and he told us that we could have a longer game drive but we would have to pay him extra for that! A 1.5 hr game drive!!! Our guide wanted to just get home early!
GUIDE & DRIVER
We had an excellent driver. As a guide, however, he did very little communication in letting us know about what was happening and only told us about the wildlife when we asked. He was knowledgeable about the wildlife but chose not to communicate that knowledge with us.
VEHICLE UPGRADE
When we arrived we were taken to the office of PRIDE OF AFRICA and were asked if we wanted additional day tours. After not purchasing an additional tour we were told that we could upgrade our vehicle to a LAND CRUISER. We were told that it would be more comfortable and better able to handle the wet trails in the Masai Mara, We went for the vehicle upgrade and paid US$800.00 for it. When we began our safari there was no Land Cruiser but the standard (2020/21 Toyota Hiace 4x4) instead. A vehicle that was uncomfortable with poor suspension and both side doors could not be opened from the inside (the guide had to open our doors every time we wanted to get out of the vehicle). We felt scammed out of US$800.00 and were never compensated for it.
SHORTFALLS & EXTRA CHARGES
Our original safari outlined several key points that were eliminated in our actual safari.
The first paragraph of our safari description stated:
- Includes "pre and post accommodation"
(We only received pre-accommodation)
- Tour Price Includes “All park entrance fees”
(We were charged an extra $40 to enter Maasai Mara)
- Game drives as detailed in the itinerary.
(There were ignored by the driver)
The itinerary changed and we missed out on several highlights because the original itinerary involved backtracking – A poorly designed itinerary that they changed in the middle of our safari
FOOD
The food was fine. That was not the reason we went on safari in Africa.
OVERALL
Overall a badly run safari.
I would never book again with PRIDE OF AFRICA!!!!!