65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Operator Sandi died taking our deposit.
Took our deposit for 10 people and did not pay the tour in Tanzania. We tried to get a refund for months. Many crazy stories from Sandi about Bank, hospitalization, etc. Now she is dead?
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Worst travel experience of my life due to Martha
I do not recommend orongai safaris. We booked for a 5-day safari un Tanzania during calving season. We asked to different agencies for prices and orongai offered us the best price for the trip we desired. We closed the final budget in January and we paid for the 30%. One week before the trip they changed the budget and added another 650$ pp. We tried to explain to Martha (that managing director of orongai) they couldn't do that. It was imposible to communicate by mail or phone with her, her messages were inconclusive, full of missenses. We told her we wouldn't pay the extra amount and she just responded: "see you on Saturday please". So we did the biggest miskate, we flew to Tanzania. Once there she insisted on the extra 650$ pp. Arguing with her is totally imposible. The Spanish ambassy put as in contact with Angel (from Itaka safari which I deeply thank) who came to try to help us. The night finished in the tourist police with Martha and angel. We finally had to pay 200$ pp extra and changed from a luxury safari to a midrage. Orongai sent us to tented camps were, some nights, not even the showers worked or we couldn't charge our cameras over night. Even if the safari itself was spectacular, Martha put us through one of the worst days of my life. By the way, Fred was a very nice guide while Asseri wasn't. He never put the Jeep in a good place for pictures, had a poor communication with us and barely told us any interesting things about the place or animals. Please stay away from Orongai, there are plenty of tour operators working much better!
CH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
CAREFUL! This company, despite written and verbal confirmation, has not refunded my money!!
AVOID BOOKING WITH THIS COMPANY!!!!
CAREFUL! This company, despite written and verbal confirmation, has not refunded my money!!
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A genuine fraud. He stole our money. Danger!!!
We booked a 16 day safari from Kenya and Tanzania with an end in Zanzibar with this tour operator whose manager is called Aidan Lucas. We paid for the safari more than 4000$ pp. The most incredible thing is that just a week from starting my safari in Nairobi, the manager (Aidan Lucas) tells us a story that his bank blocked the money and could not pay the hotels or anything even though we sent him the money 30 days before the start of the safari to close all the reservations and he replied at the time that everything was ok and even sent us vouchers from each lodge with all bookings (We have the vouchers of reservations). All was false!! He didn´t pay anything. We have the vouchers of reservations. He asked us for $2,500 more to pay Kenya’s expenses and once in Tanzania he would pay us back without fail. Bullshit. It was all a lie. When we arrived at the Tanzanian border in Namanga he did not have the money and we had to report him to the Arusha police and the police proceeded to arrest him. We have proof of the complaint and the name of the arresting officer. The next day we started our safari in Tanzania by visiting Serengeti and Ngorongoro and guaranteed us at the police station that everything would be ok. It’s a new lie! When we got on the road the guide told me that we had to pay for the gasoline since the manager (Aidan Lucas) did not give him a dollar to pay for it nor to pay for the entrance to the parks. We had to pay from our pocket all this and, to top it all off, we had not paid for the lodges either. Nothing. I don’t pay anything even though I sent him the money by wire a month before starting the safari. We had to pay all cost ourselves. Neither I pay the flight to Zanzibar nor the accommodation there. A scam in full rule. We knew that Tanzania is one of the most corrupt countries in Africa since it is not the first time there. You get that there and you are left helpless. We exposed our case to UNIPOL and the TATO (Tanzania Association of touroperators) in order to expose a complaint against this tour operator and this person so that he does not deceive more people.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Terrible touroperator!!
We contacted this tour operator for a 3 day safari in Chobe and it was a real disaster. The 4x4 was in terrible condition and left us stranded several times; camping tents were awful and super old. An experience to forget.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Poor customer services and coordination of events
good marketing of their events. The problem is that they dont respect their clients. Had a poor experience with them and the management team did not live up to my expectations.
ES
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Beware of Orongai Africa Safaris!!
...and beware particularly of the Sales Manager Martha and her tricky and confusing invoices. We enquired them in December for a 7-day safari in Ndutu/Serengeti Area for late February during the calving season. They answered immediately with a nice trip and a very appealing price so we finally hired them. The offer included a trip back to Arusha from Seronera by airplane. We were asked to pay a 30% in advanced and we did it. But when arrived to Arusha to start the trip we were asked to pay an extra cost of 650 USD per person (a 30% more!!!). This extra was not included in the total amount written in the invoice. Also, the flight back to Arusha had been changed to optional (the word “optional” never appeared in their offer) and had to be payed apart. They said that as this additional money was for hotel bookings it should not be included in the total cost, which is a ridiculous argument. Shocked we were by the surprise, we refused to pay that extra cost as we believed we had been cheated and then started the discussions. Arguing with Martha is like a toothache. Her head is hard as solid rock and it was impossible to make her understand that any money the client should pay to the operator MUST BE included in the Total amount of the invoice. Her explanation was that since the 650 USD PAX was for hotel bookings that money is not for Orongai!!! Fortunately, we called the Spanish Embassy and they put us in contact with a Spanish Arusha resident tour operator (Special thanks to Angel Pujol of Itaka Safaris) that helped us managing the situation. With his advice and after long and extenuating discussions we finally reached an agreement: we payed 200 USD PAX and they lowered the grade of the lodges. At the end, the Safari was performed under the new conditions although we had to visit some filthy accommodations and eat some uneatable picnic. So, my advice is to hire some other operator (there are many of them) to avoid troubles.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Terrible
Humura tours was very disappointing. The driver abandoned the team, we were taken for less days than we had paid for, we were forced to pay for some of our meals and yet the fee we paid was supposed to cover everything, our hotel bookings were cancelled and taken to cheaper hotels. Mr. Nathan Tindyebwa apologised for this terrible experience and we agreed that he would refund part of the fee for compensation but he just keeps giving excuse after excuse to avoid this. I would like someone out there to learn from my experience and not use the Humura services
CZ
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bad safari, not lunch, shouting rude owner,left on Maasai Mara roadside,
I was with my family in Kenya, East Africa, my husband and daughter going to Maasai Mara on 11th February until 14th February. For me and my family members, all the fees were paid. We had problems from first day, I was sick and I could not get free lunch, I’m not sure why not, I was sick and I didn’t even get some free lunch. I missed the safari anyway but it was my decision to miss it. On 14th February, our driver didn’t want going on the journey, our friends we travelling with told that driver not paid his money but we had paid in full. We asked if they can calling this owner of company, we had seen her in the first day, her name is Lilian. Our friends and the driver tried calling her but she was always shouting, and we not speak English good. We stopped many times because driver didn’t want continue with journey but we still must going to Nakuru park. Our friends told us that lady we met on first day, Lilian, from Lians Travel said we must “sort ourselves out” meaning that it was our problem and she said on phone, “I don’t care”. I have video of it and I will make it on all social media because it was very bad day, everyone frustrated, poor safari and we must pay for transport and entrance for Nakuru. Our friends after safari which we paid alone went to police station but no justice and no refund for our money. It was a terrible experience for my family and my first time in Africa. I not speak English and if I alone, I would in big big problems. Is many travel companies, please do not using Lians Travel because they make my family safari very horrible. I not recommend this company!
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A few words of caution
I am reproducing below my note to the Kenya Association of Tour Operators. Please review it before making a decision as to whether you should use All Seasons for your travel planning.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I write to you regarding my recent experience with All Seasons Safaris & Tours, and it’s owner Alex Thuku. I am not sure if I am reaching the correct office to report what I think of as patently unethical behavior. If I should be contacting an entirely different office kindly direct me to the correct one.
In the interest of brevity I will summarize the charge. I contacted All Seasons for travel arrangements to Uganda, and Tanzania back in June of 2018. Of the total estimate of $ 23,940 I made a deposit of $8,692 soon after. The trip was to commence in February 2019. The quote included all lodges, air travel in east Africa, park fees and guide services. In September I was informed that all bookings had been made and were confirmed. The balance of payments were made by late November 2018.
We arrived in Entebbe on February 5, 2019 and realized immediately that very few of the arrangements that had been promised and confirmed had been made. It set the local agent in Uganda (James Kateeba of Travellust) scrambling to just get us to our first destination. For the next twelve days we had to pursue Mr. Thuku on a daily basis. I have copied below my note to him on February 13th to give you a flavor of the dilemma we faced almost every day during our journey.
“Alex, though all of this messaging back and forth, you seem to miss an essential fact. You betrayed a customer trust by misappropriating his funds, and using them for personal needs. The funds were to be used to confirm, and pay all of our travel and stay in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. Instead, you used the funds elsewhere, scrambling to make our arrangements day by day, after we landed. We in turn have had ten days of constant anxiety as you were trying to stay just one day ahead of us, and finally could not even do that. To sum it up, you have ruined a long anticipated, and carefully planned vacation which cost us a significant amount of money. Your partners in Uganda and Tanzania, and I dealt with you as a man of integrity. You have proven to be anything but.”
In addition to Mr. Kateeba in Uganda, Mr. Omar Mshana of Tanzania Insideout Discovery, Patricia of Kibo Palace Hotel and Junia O’kubasu of Serena Nairobi were all similarly inconvenienced by Mr. Thuku’s almost cavalier approach to his obligation. Our trip finally reached a point where he no longer could pay for the services for which he had already received payment, months ahead of time. I ended up making duplicate payments for a number of hotels and airlines so that we could conclude the trip. I have a complete list of emails with Mr. Thuku, What’s App messages and bank transfer documents for every aspect of the charge I level here. Please advise me if I should forward them to your attention.
I am deeply disappointed in my experience with All Seasons. In addition to the substantial additional cost I incurred, and the trying days just to gain clarity on what exactly was happening around us, I was left with a sour taste in my use of a local tour operator. About three years ago (when I was conducting a workshop for senior executives for government and industry leaders in Nairobi), a senior executive strongly urged me to support and use local operators for my travel plans in east Africa. This experience certainly gives me pause. I would be much more cautious, in using or recommending that any of my family or friends do so.
I am displeased enough with the entire affair that I mean to do all I can to ensure that Mr. Thuku and All Seasons are held accountable for their inappropriate conduct. I would hate to see someone to have to go through the same experience. An equally disturbing aspect of our experience is that it casts a long shadow on local operators in Kenya, in general. I am not aware of which the correct regulatory (or self regulatory) agency is within which to formally lodge a complaint, and to look to recover the additional money I had to spend to duplicate what was already sent to Mr. Thuku. I would be grateful for any direction you can provide me.
Please also advise me if I should also drop a note to the Ministry of Travel and Wildlife. I am happy to do so.
Thank you for your attention to my complaint.