FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Avoid !
Did a Masai Mara Safari with Bencia end of July. It was supposed to be 3 days and we only spent 24 hours in the park, our guide pretending that the car broke down to force us to go to the Masai Village to force us to go to the Masai Village and to avoid paying the entry fee for another 24 hours.
We've had to complain and got 80$ back, so that we wouldn't put a bad review online. They pretended it was the guide's fault, and told us they gave him all the cash to pay the park fees. Although the park fees can't be payed by cash.
I met later a couple who told me the same thing happened to them, so it must be a regular thing.
Later on I met two Italian guys stuck in Serengeti campsite for two days without getting on any safari because they booked with Bencia and their driver never showed up!
Avoid!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
terrible experience, not professional, NOT recommended
Our experience with tinga tinga safari was horrible. They are subcontracting the clients to other companies so their cannot guarantee ANY itinerary, rendering them meaningless.
We had booked a safari to see the great migration and thus paid extra especially for it. We confirmed the day before with Akim, the person in charge, that we would be able to see it. He assured us we would. Well we didn't, not even close: After being bounced around in different cars, we ended up in a car doing a completely different itinerary than us. When these changes occured they assured us they would partially refund our money. After we got back they didn't refund us anything and Akim stopped answering our texts altogether.
They acted very unprofessionally toward us and lied to us from start to finish. I would not recommend them.
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Terrible experience
- Terrible experience, from the beginning to the very end.
- Terrible attitude from the staff asking for ‘goods and gifts’ before our arrival.
- Several problems with the payment and more than 50$ charge for paying with card.
- Real disgusting responses by “the boss”.
- Terrible car conditions and driving manners. We had a serious accident with a truck caused by our driver, when we asked the company for the insurance they ignore us and, literally, laughed at us.
- Do you really need more reasons to ignore this company? Make yourself a favour and avoid them.
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The worst experience of our lifes
I’m writing this coment from Nairobi airport still shaking. Today me and 4 friends were coming back from Masai Mara area to Nairobi to have dinner and then take our flight home. We were in a van of the company “Africa Home Adventure”.
During the way it started to rain and the traffic became very slow. After a couple of minutes, when we were next to the Riff Valley our driver decided to overtake some cars so he moved to the other lane (uphill) but a truck was going downhill (in his lane). The lorry driver tried to stop, I even saw the smoke in the wheels but it was too late. It hit our van and we almost fall into the valley.
Fortunatelly, only one of my friends had some small cuts because of the window glass and I have a big swollen circle with a bruise on my leg starting to show.
The driver stopped another tourist van that offered to take us to the Tour company office. It was raining and the traffic became cahotic so honestly we just wanted to go away.
Around 300m later there was another accident. A big lorry fell into the valley and we believe that accident was due to ours, because after our crush the traffic stopped moving.
Finally this driver that helped us called our company and we met one member of the staff at the center where he was waiting us with a different car (a small one) and driver. He smiled the whole time, saying that it wasn’t a big deal and that it was the lorry’s driver fault. We couldn’t believe it. We all are drivers and we saw perfectly what happened. He just said “ok I’m sorry you can go to the airport if you want with him”, pointed out to the new driver.
We are ok but still in shock. I’m sorry for such a long text but I just want to let you know that if you are looking for a Tour company in Kenya NEVER choose “African Home Adventure”. In addition they charged me 23$ more when I payed the due balance at their office, saying that it’s because their rate change is different (apart from the 6% charge for paying by card, which I find it normal). When I tried to explain them that my card (Revolut) make the payment according to the exchange rate of the day they refused, I didn’t want to start our tour arguing so we didn’t reply and we payed.
By the way, I’ve seen they have great coments from a man called Abednegoh, he works for them. He was the one who was laughing while we were telling him that we almost die, and the one who texted me through WhatsApp a few days prior my trip which present I would bring him from my country.
There are hundreds of good and reliable safari and tours companies in Kenya but this one is not one of them.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Extremely disappointed and will recommend not to use them
Communications:When he knows there is a problem he decided to avoid answering the phone, other than that he responds ok.
Service:Not good, we definitely didn't get a good place to stay nor the trip was done as discussed!
living up to expectations:We found ourselves in a deserted camp-not sure if it was a camp-one hut with a small dining area.No other customers were there even though it is the season.
The food(ad the waiter) was brought in the car with us-which by the way was apparently a frozen chicken and eggs and we lived off that till the next day's lunch when we finally had enough and wanted to move camp.Of course we had to pay for the new camp as well!!after we complained to Rama/Gecko and his response was it's not his fault!!!
The Safari tour:
We booked two nights and three days:
First day:
the plan was to drive us from the ferry, have lunch and head to the camp and catch the ferry.They came on time to pick us up, however the trip somehow took longer than they expected so we ended up not having lunch and running to catch the boat.
Second day:
We drove up to the game park no problems.
Third day:
We were supposed to have our walk in the game park , we ended up just walking around our camp cause Gecko-Rama-decided to not buy the entry ticket and save some money!!While it only costs about 130 dollars for two people and we paid him more than one thousand dollars for two nights and we ended up paying again for another camp because the camp he chose for us was terrible, even the waiter came with us to the camp and he was the only waitron top of that we were the only customers staying there and I couldn't sleep the whole night!
*We were looking forward for this holiday, and we paid well and discussed all the arrangements in advance, but still nothing was done according to plan.It is very unfortunate to be treated this way.I would not recommend nor wish this to happen to anyone else.
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
NIGHTMARE. This is a company full of liars and cheaters. Be careful, if you see one of them, RUN!
I point one start because it's not possible to put half or any of them.
This is a company full of liars and cheaters. They will try to fool you, get your money and then, seldomly they will fulfill the agreement you pay for. We hope that company will close soon and not more tourist will be fool by them.
Be careful specially with Ben, he will say at all your requests "tomorrow we will see", and then one they, he will respond to you, "sorry, but your complain are not mentioned on time"...
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Help yourself, choose others
We booked one thing and we received a totally different service, starting from the camping that was not the one agreed and of lower qualities where we could not sleep since tents and sleeping bag were in awful conditions, to the number of people in the tour (maximum should be 6 and we were 7) and we had to share the same seat on the jeep in two. Not really comfortable.
We discovered we paid much more than the rest of the group. When we pointed out all these things the only answer was we are sorry. Not enough. Absolutely to avoid.
Not serious, only a lot of chit-chat without facts.
IN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Cancelled trip on the day of the Safari. Please avoid.
Was looking for a Tsavo 3 day trip and booked with World Escape.
Response usually was slow, but would get a reply to queries eventually.
The day of the safari, I call the number and am told that there was a problem with the safari van, and they will update me.
Am told an hour later, the van can't be fixed, and hiring one from another partner will vost more. They offerred to refund my money. I asked them to defer the trip to another date. They said they'll try, and post that the person I was speaking to stopped answering my calls and messages.
Got my money back thankfully.
No apology.
Had to pay to change my flight dates, and had a stressful morning trying to make alternate arrangements.
Please avoid them at all costs.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
BEWARE OF SARDIUS TOURS/FELIX NDUNDA
FELIX NDUNDA and SARDIUS TOURS AND SAFARIS is a business that needs to be avoided. May this serve as a warning for everyone. HE IS DISHONEST AND A PROFESSIONAL SWINDLER. HE IS SCARY AND MISLEADING. If you are looking for a quote for African Tours, please get quotes in safaribookings.com or safarireviews.com. There are hundreds of operators that you can compare with in those 2 websites. Don’t enter into any deal with him if you want to have peace of mind. Here are the reasons based on my experience why you need to stay away from this Felix and Sardius Tours:
1) He didn’t refund our deposit when we requested to cancel our booking due to plan changes even though we are entitled for full refund.
2) If you look at his prices in his website, they all look affordable but they are all inaccurate and unrealistic and will trap you to believe that he offers tours/services at lower prices. The price he quoted us is about 90% higher compared to the prices indicated in his website.
3) When I asked him to revise the itinerary so it will be more affordable, he never emailed a new one therefore he is not willing to accommodate the needs and requests of his clients. Otherwise, majority of the lodges and hotels in Kenya mostly probably is refusing to work/partner with him.
4) Before we gave him money, he will respond to our inquiries/emails after few minutes or few hours of sending the emails. After we paid him, it takes him days and up to longer than a week to respond. There are times he won’t respond at all.
5) It was too late for us to learn, but he was ousted by KATO because of all the dirty job and practices he’s doing with his own employees, lodge-partners, and tourists.
6) It was too late for us to learn, but he has very bad reviews since he started his business. Please review the following links:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294207-i9695-k5744405-Sardius_Tours_rip_off-Nairobi.html
http://www.african-safari-journals.com/sardius-tours-review.html
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294207-i9695-k964770-Anyone_know_about_Sardius_Tours_and_Safaris-Nairobi.html
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/africa/tanzania/sardius-tours
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294207-i9695-k4269296-Sardius_tours_or_Skyview_of_Africa-Nairobi.html
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294207-i9695-k1510372-Sardius_Tours_and_Travels_Con_Tour_Operator-Nairobi.html
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Terrible from the very beginning.
This company was recommended to me by some friends, so even with the terrible communication and rude service from Johnston, I decided to stick with them. Firstly, Johnston’s is extremely rude, and barely understands English so don’t bother talking to him on the phone, he literally hung up on us after getting angry that he couldn’t understand us. Prices were listed as 240$ for the particular camp we wanted to go to but he was quoting us 640 each for a week. We had to seek out someone else to deal with. Just go with another tour operator, very very unprofessional company.