20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great tour but my payment was scammed
The safari tour itself was great, the driver we had, George was phenomenal. He tried really hard to show us all the different animals and was very knowledgeable and friendly!
However when we paid the deposit it was fine, but for the final payment we felt scammed as we communicated to the provider through email, someone had hijacked the email chain and offered me PayPal payment option instead. This, I had to pay again on the day of arrival. I have since contacted the tour company and thankfully they are investigating on the matter and have since taken action to prevent this from happening to others.
Therefore although the tour was good, please be careful with payments and make sure it is secure so the money actually goes to the safari company.
NL
Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Disappointing
We got a recommendation to contact Nature Travel for a safari in Namibia. However after a few emails discussing our trip and asking twice for a quote we didn't hear anything from them.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fly don’t drive
The safari itself was fabulous saw loads of wildlife with a great guide also a great lodge (green fires)
However what is described as a 5 hour drive was actually over 8 hours. It was so bad we paid for a flight back to Johannesburg.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Mt. Meru Trekking
We booked the Mt. Meru Trekking (3 days). The communication with Emanuel was always prompt and helpful. Our chef on the hike prepared great food for us
The hike itself was challenging but also fun. The problem we had was our guide Mike who started too late on summit day, so that we were rushed to the summit without any possibility to catch breathe or stop for drinking and didn't make it on time for sunrise. And the worst for me was his unprofessional behavior in challenging and dangerous parts of the mountain. But this rate is only because of the bad experience with this particular person not overall with the company.
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience, but it could have been perfect
The organization of the safari was very good, and the campsites were well arranged, with perfect meals and very kind staff. However, there were two drawbacks: we had to wait half a day for the guide and the guide for the last three days was not well-prepared and gave no explanations. I am sure that with a more knowledgeable guide we would have seen many more animals. On the other hand, I was very happy with the guide during the first two days and with the open jeep, which made the experience much more enjoyable.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Joseph was 10/10, but organisation from Safarilink lacking
We experienced an issue whereby our transfer was recorded on the system as being at 9am, however it should have been booked at 7am. We confirmed this with Safarilink the day before we were due to travel and thought it had been corrected. On the day unfortunately the driver was only able to pick us up at 8:30am due to the system error.
Thankfully, we had Joseph who kindly made up as much time as he could in a safe manner - he was brilliant, telling us about our journey and made time for a comfort break without leading to a delay. He did everything he could to get us to our destination quickly but safely which we appreciated.
Safarilink were contactable by WhatsApp and phone which was helpful. It’s a shame about the delay.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Joseph our driver was great. The organisation however was awful
We booked a private transfer from Johannesburg to Krueger. This was booked for pickup at 07:00. The transfer was for 2 pax and we paid 4,500 Rand. We booked through MoAfrika tours but the transfer was with SafariLink (the vehicle we were picked up in had branding for both).
We were contacted by SafariLink on WhatsApp to reconfirm the booking details the day prior. The re confirmation stated a pickup time of 09:25 which was incorrect. We confirmed the correct details with SafariLink via WhatsApp on two occasions during the day and were told the booking was updated and we would be collected at 07:00 as expected (on both occasions).
On the day of pickup we checked out of our room early, missed breakfast and were ready for a leisurely drive to Krueger. We were ultimately picked up at 08:30 after lots of calls and messages to try and work out where our driver was.
Unfortunately the administrator at SafariLink who had confirmed the 07:00 pickup via WhatsApp had not passed the details onto Joseph. This meant we had to drive directly to Krueger with only a 5 minute stop along the way in order to ensure we did not miss any of our safari activities. The drive is c6 hours with no stops.
Joseph did a great job of making the best out of a bad situation. He made time up, he contacted our lodgings to make sure they were aware of our arrival time and kept us updated on progress along the journey. The organisation by the team who sit behind Joseph though left a lot to be desired.
The transfer vehicle was clean, modern, good WiFi capabilities etc. Joseph was also a very safe driver and pointed out points of interest along the way.
I have provided a 3* review as we paid a lot of money for the private transfer and all it led to was extra stress and inconvenience (we should have just taken the shared transfer that was included at not extra cost). Were it not for Joseph this would be a 1* review. Was the pickup on time then this would be a 5* review.
If using this Company I would suggest triple checking your booking confirmation well in advance and in the run up to your journey.
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Gerjanne Bosman
If you want go to Lake Manyara, please let this be your first Safari park. Compared to the other parks, this park is not that exciting for me
TW
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
We felt like John lied to us, the rest are good
Our trip in Kenya at 8 days. First three days we went to Amboseli, the guide is Reuben. He was really great, actively looking for animals and finding locations to take photos for us. Then we went to Masai Mara , the guide change to John and our nightmare started.
John lied to us He wanna deceived us for additional $400 Maasai Mara park fee. We called Dume’s boss-Henry to check there was no extra fee, then John started felt angry and maliciously shortening the Safari time and treat us very bad like verbal threats and provocations and rejected any service like pulling up the Safari car roof, taking our luggages and so on.
John never actively searches for animals during safaris (he doesn't even have his own binoculars). He told us to searched the animals by ourselves. He simply drives around, and only finds animals by following the group of parked safari vehicles.
On our way back to Nairobi from Naivasha, John, without prior notice, took a stranger (John claimed to be his wife) into our safari vehicles and brought her back to Nairobi.
We talked to Henry twice to report John's malicious actions. Henry repeatedly insisting that John was "his friend and a good person" and simply saying he would discuss the matter with John. So we simply requested that John behave in a normal so that we could complete the rest of our trip smoothly. But still disappointed us, he still not change.
After the trips, Henry finally called us and we repeatly told him about John's bad behavior from the first day. He finally apologized to us and treated us a lunch to make amends.
When we got back home, Henry called me again, saying that Dume have two John. And he already fired John. So be careful, maybe he will go to another safari company. （The photo is John）
Except for John, Reuben and Naivasha Hill‘s gate bicycle guide Sammy (He had his own planned path which is very beautiful and he took really good care of us) are great! All stars were given to them but John minus all the stars.
PT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Overall a Average Safari
Overall, the experience was average. There are some important points that need improvement.
Negative aspects:
The main issue was the scheduling and travel times. According to the itinerary, on the first day we were supposed to arrive at Masai Mara around lunchtime and have a game drive in the afternoon. However, we only arrived at 4 PM, and the park closed at 6:30 PM.
On the third day, we travelled from Masai Mara to Amboseli Park, and the journey took much longer than expected. The proposal mentioned we would arrive around lunchtime, but we only got there at 6 PM, with the park closing at 7 PM.
As a result, on those days we barely had any time for safari activities, even though we paid the park entrance fees. At one point, we were even advised to go straight to the accommodation instead of entering the park, but the entrance fee would not have been refunded.
This was quite disappointing for us, as we were expecting plenty of time for game drives, but ended up spending too much time on the road instead.
About the organization:
Peter, who handled all the arrangements, always replied quickly to our messages, which we appreciated. However, at the same time, it often felt like he wasn’t fully attentive or dedicated to our questions. During the trip, he was not flexible when we raised concerns about the limited time we had in the parks, which added to our frustration.
Positive aspects:
Our driver and guide, Songe, was good. He really tried his best to make up for the lost time and to follow the itinerary as planned. As he mentioned, the people who design the itineraries are in the office and don’t really understand the reality of travelling on the ground.
The accommodations were also very good and matched our expectations. And, of course, the safari itself - the game drives - were fantastic. Our driver worked very hard to show us all the animals, and that made the experience truly memorable.