35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Really awful trip
Really awful trip with the Kipok Africa Adventures crew. They steal $1,400 from me and move to a more advantageous location. They act unreasonably and don't reply; their behavior and service are appalling. I beg that they be avoided by all. I would rate them with no stars. The Kipok Africa Adventures company is a really bad tour operator that none of you should hire. They didn't go, and their food was terrible.
US
A complete disappointment and not worth the money.
Accommodations was bad cheap place to stay and no wifi 🛜 in the rooms. You will only see one day of the gorilla and will change your schedule. Keep in mind for 2k there’s better accommodations and trekking but make my mistake if you book with this company. Had to take him to the police station to bring down the amount he wanted. The Chimpanzee is very cheap in Uganda and that’s he’s alternative to make you waste another day and he’s plan to fulfill the other trekkings days he promised. He also stated only Americans complain and I don’t have an education?? Keep in mind trekking in Rwanda cost 1500$ in the park where he will take you it cost 800$ so please do the math. Overall you can find way better tours operators who will provide a much better experience. Safari bookings please look into this matter.
MY
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Choose Super Africa Wildlife and Adventure Safaris with caution.
1、【Excessive Charges from the Guide】
Masai Mara was the highlight of our trip, and we relied heavily on the guide’s ability to find animals. The day before heading to Masai Mara, we promised the guide: "If you can show us carnivores in Masai Mara, we will pay a tip of 10,000 Kenyan Shillings each day." We believed this was a fair amount for a tip. However, when we hiked for 15 minutes to the Mara River, which was supposed to be a complimentary activity, the guide and a ranger forcibly charged us a $40 entrance fee. To make matters worse, our teammates happened to see the guide and the ranger laughing and splitting money at the back of the vehicle.
2、【Deliberately Preventing Us from Seeing Animals】
After experiencing this unjust charge, we reported the issue to the guide's boss. The guide became very unhappy the entire afternoon. To retaliate, he turned off the radio used for locating animals, and we crawled along slow dirt roads all afternoon, seeing only a few antelope and no other wildlife. By the next morning, during our safari, he didn’t even open the roof of the vehicle, clearly indicating he wanted us to see no animals at all. The entrance fee to Masai Mara is $200 per day; for four people, that’s a total of $800 wasted. We flew for over ten hours to see animals in Masai Mara, only to have our experience ruined by the SAWAS travel agency.
3、【Late Departures and Early Returns】
The guide did not follow the schedule we provided. After agreeing to leave at 6 AM, he always postponed departure to 7 AM. The worst instance was in Nakuru, where we only had a total of three hours on safari that day.
4、【Inability of the SAWAS Owner to Manage His Guides】
I reported the above issues to the agency owner, but he was completely unable to manage the situation and even passed responsibility onto others.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Do not trust Image Travel
We booked with Image Travel Ltd a 5-Day Luxury Lodges Safari for 2 person. The package cost US$ 4,700.
When we arrived at Nairobi Airport on Oct. 1st, nobody picked us up. The phone numbers were both unavailable. When we checked with three of the hotels, we were told there was no booking information.
We reported our situation to police station at the airport. The police cannot contact them either. This is a fraud incident!
My opinion is you cannot trust image travel
JP
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great guide, worst agency
I do not recommend this agency at all.
All the bookings are fine, but they hadn’t pay petrol fee to our guide in advance , so we had to stay at petrol station twice for long time to wait them to send money to our guide.
Eventually they did not send him money so he had to pay out of his pocket. Which is INSANE.
As you know, petrol fee in Kenya is bloody expensive.
Anyway, our guide was super nice guy. He said that our tour will be the last job with this agency. Bless him.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Do not use this tour operator cancel trip on the day of our departure and took our money
PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS TOUR OPERATOR!!!!!!WARNING !!!!! Six of us ladies decided to take a Safari trip in Kenya. I selected this tour operator and we paid full in advance 6 ladies at $3000 per person. Prior to leaving I was emailing and calling on WhatsApp no answer from Mwanje. On the day of our departure he emailed me to cancel the trip.
CA
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Avoid at all costs
Image travel took my booking for $US 4,500 for a 5 day safari, and became impossible to contact after I paid for my trip. They did not respond to my e-mails and were not reachable by telephone. Less than 48 hours before I was to be picked up at my hotel in Nairobi, and after my flight had left Canada, they sent me an e-mail stating that they were not able to operate my tour and that they would be refunding my payment.
They have remained unreachable for almost 2 weeks now after sending me that notice and they have not refunded my payment. Check a similar review on Tripadvisor from September. I believe they have either gone out of business or are still "selling" tours to unsuspecting clients and absconding with their money. Now I must seek legal action.
Safari Bookings should no longer be including them in their referred list of Tour Operators.
Avoid!
NL
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
It is a fraud
We had a 8-day Safari to Samburu, Aderbare, Lake Nakuru and mAsai Matra.
They did not pay for transport, we had to.
They did not pay for parkfees, we did.
They did not pay for Lodges,we did.
We went to the tourist police to file a report. They say we were not the first one.
So stay away from Madukha.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Denhum Holidays took thousands of $$ in advance payment for a Safari and didn't show up.
We booked a 9 day 8 night safari with Denhum, and per the terms of their contract paid 50% in advance at booking and the remaining 50% two months prior to the trip. The week prior to travel, Denhum Owner, Dan Karikui, informed us that a Denhum representative would meet us at the Nairobi airport upon arrival to provide details of our safari, which was due to commence 2.5 days later. No one from Denhum met us as at the airport so we attempted to call Denhum's phone number with no success; so at 1:00 am we found ourselves to fend for ourselves in a foreign country. For the next 2 days we tried every means possible to reach a Denhum representative: phone calls, text messages, WhatsApp calls and messages, e-mail, and FB messenger. Their phone numbers seemed to be turned off and our e-mail and text messages were not responded to. We waited in the hotel lobby from 7:00 AM to Noon on the morning of the scheduled pickup by the safari driver at our hotel, and nobody from Denhum showed up. This confirmed our fear that we had been defrauded by Denhum Holidays. We have been scammed out of several thousand dollars for what was to be the trip of a lifetime for my husband and I to celebrate 20 years of marriage. I hope this review helps others from becoming their next victim.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Scammed out of 1000 USD
If you do not like being scammed, avoid this company.
We were told upon booking that the park fees (over $1000) were included, but once we got to the gate of the Serengeti, there was an “issue with the company card” and we were asked to pay it ourselves, while being assured that the money would be returned to us soon.
Faced with losing precious time on our safari, we paid.
The same issue happened in the Ngorongoro, and naively we paid again.
The money has never been returned to us three months later, and the owner has blocked us on whatsapp. We really wanted to support a small locally-owned company, but now we understand why most people choose the well-established, larger Safari companies. If you are reading this, I suggest you do the same.
Jeep was old and uncomfortable.