35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Still waiting a refund for money paid out due to park fees not being paid and a cancelled flight
I've held off from writing this review as I'd hoped that the owner would do the right thing and refund us the money that he owes us but unforuantley after 3 weeks despite promises we have not recieved anything. It's a long list of issues below but basically, we paid out for the park fees that should already have been paid as part of the holiday. We also have not recieved a refund for a flight that did not happen. I have found other reviews around Septemebr/October time saying the same thing. Around $2,000 owed.
We booked our holiday and safari using JT Safaris as we had used him 20 years ago and since then our parents had also booked tours through him. All those times, everything was fine. This holiday was a special treat for us and not something that we can afford normally so we really wanted it to go smoothly and hoped by using the same company it would.
Looking back, the communication was poor and I had to chase for the confirmations of bookings etc but I convinced myself that was OK. I wish I hadn't.
The holiday started OK with a lovely hotel but the next morning we found out that the flight to the Mara had been cancelled. No reason given and we had to drive. OK these things can happen and we were assured that we would recieve a refund the flight.
We then got to the lodge but it wasn't the one we'd booked. The driver assured us this was an upgrade so that was good right? Yes, it was lovely but it wasn't what we'd booked. I'd purposely booked tented accommodation as we wanted our daugther to experience 'glamping' in the wild.
Then on the second day of safari, the driver told us we had a problem. The money for the park entrance fee hadn't been given to him and because it was a holiday the money couldn't be transferred. He had managed to get us through the gate so far as he knew people but he couldn't guarentee that for the next day. We were really upset and didn't know what to do, we couldn't come all this way and miss out because of a mistake with money transfer. Again looking back we should have pushed back harder but stupidly we agreed to pay the fee. The guide was adamant that JT Safaris would honour the payment, do not worry, we were told. Again it was stressful and not something that we wanted on our minds. £1500 on top of the holiday isn't something that we can easily pay out.
After the safari, we flew to the coast. Again paperwork was missing and we only got it just before our flight, again stressful.
We then arrived at our beach hotel. It looked lovely but then we were taken to the basic rooms at the back of the complex. During the booking of the holiday, I'd been told that I needed to pay early to guarentee a beach view which I'd done as we wanted the better room.
We managed to get the room changed but the hotel was adament that the original room was the one booked and that we couldn't have a sea view as they were booked early. I got no clear answer as to whether a booking error, whether the seaview room had never been booked or if the hotel made a mistake.
We went to the offices at Diani and being far too nice for our own good, we believed the apologies and confirmations that the money would be transfered for the flights and the park fees. We contacted JT Safaris several times for updates and each time there was an excuse or they had to go to the bank in person etc etc. We have since tried multiple times to ask for a refund but again keep being told, it is on its way or the bank has said it will be with us. Still nothing.
Don't get caught out the same way.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
I advise you do not a safari with Brian or Dahlia Tours especially for Wheelchair Travel
We planned an extended family vacation in July 2024 with an US travel agent who connected us with Brian & Dahlia Tours. Our needs were specific as my father is in a wheelchair and we were a group of 9 with ages from 80 to 11. We spent over 1.5 years planning and paying for this trip of a lifetime. Unfortunately, Brian/Dahlia failed to make hotel payments, reservations for excursions, arrange disabled friendly travel and generally lied to us about the status of our trip. We confirmed all plans with him and our US travel agent frequently prior to departure for East Africa. Upon arriving, we were met with unpaid hotel reservations, unbooked excursions, limited English speaking guides, very old vehicles in Tanzania, hotel bookings that were not per our itinerary and not disability friendly, unpaid game park fees and the list goes on. It was a stressful and dangerous trip due to his poor planning and lies about his poor planning.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
I recommend you stay away... 4k USD wasted
Amani is a professional con artist in my opinion. He first spoke to me last year Sept through safari bookings and I decided after my quote was received not to go to Serengeti that year fast forward a year later he contacts me out of the blue on WhatsApp to offer me a tour. I agreed after much back and forth. But alarm bells should have rung when he contacted me out of the blue. He lied by sending me provisional bookings which looked genuine but u could of course cancel and once he received my money he stopped communicating much and didn’t deliver anything as promised. This guy knows exactly what he is doing. Just stay away from this cowboy company. I am so shocked Tanzania tourist board and the Arusha police still allow this guy to trade and how he is not behind bars is beyond me. I feel sorry for all of us who got conned.
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Not to be trusted
If it was possible to give 0 stars I would have done so! Do not trust this company, I felt lied to and conned. All my Tanzanian and Kenyan friends told me to be careful, of course I wanted to trust them. Already they never responded to my messages a few days before to confirm, it was only very late in the evening after multiple reminders that I got news. The appointment in the morning was at 8:30 a.m., he never showed up! I called them ten times, he told me he was coming... I waited 2 hours, TWO HOURS. Extremely disappointed and angry that I was lied to like that, I call them so many times, they don't answer me, they hang up on me... Put yourself in my place, I'm a stranger, the guy cancels the activity I'm dreaming of for 2 years, I've been taking my plane in the evening and this guy doesn't care! Not even able to find another driver. It's me who offers to pay me a Bolt to go there, and he asks me to pay again! This guy is a scammer of the worst kind and I'm not going to leave it at that. Be certain
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I strongly condemn owner Paul Shayo also his guides
My girlfriend Tammy and I decided to travel to Tanzania and climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Since we were both young girls, the decision was not much thought out and we looked for a good company and contracted with Shayo Trekking and Safaris Company. Everything was fine, but when we got there, the owner of the company, Paul, demanded more money than the previous contract, which we refused to pay. Since there were no men with us, they took advantage of our weakness, even we were sexually assaulted and had their guides Nelson & Saimon Urio nearly raped try on the mountain. We were accompanied by guide Saimon Urio in the tent where we stayed at night. We felt very uncomfortable while he was there. After he leaves we are relieved. When we told the matter to the owner he demanded only money from us without any response. I strongly condemn Paul. My opinion is that he must be a bad person that's why his guides do such horrible things to customers. Anyway we survived somehow. Anyone thinking of traveling with this company should avoid them as they offer the worst jobs like rap and extortion out of contract. From our experience no woman should travel with them.
BE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
My advice - Avoid Morningstar, There are better options
Before diving into our experience with Morning Star, just a note on the side that we were happy with our lodge Zebra Plains. Nice room and proper food, however all items which Morning Star had to foresee (transport & guide) were far below expectations.
Transport
- Car we very old and not clean
- Some windows didn't open and some didn't even have a handle anymore
- Seat belt didn't work so one of us had to move to the back of the car
- The back of the seats could only be reclined if you put all your weight on it and forced it down
- Every rest spot was a tourist trap next to a local souvenir shop, especially on the way to the Mara when you still hadn't even see anything stopping for souvenirs doesn't make sense. Other companies were stopping at the big fuel station where you had nice restaurants for a break.
"Guide"
- this was the most disappointing of all!
- Our "guide' was a disaster, actually he was not a guide, he was just a totally not interested driver.
- In case we saw an animal he said maximum two lines of explanation, or sometimes we even had to ask to give some info of the animals we saw
- He seemed not interested in us nor in the safari, his goal was to start late and return early to limit his time on the road
- We also noticed the lack of flexibility. An early safari was not possible, for some reason the earliest we could leave was 7 am which is again a huge lack of customer intimacy
- The only day he proposed to start early was the day we had to head back to Nairobi so he could finish early and go home
- He also didn't show any interest in taking our pictures at certain spots. He only left the car for our picture if there were other 'guides' around taking pictures of their customers
- All tips we gave him were a real waste of money
- I have wanted to go to the Mara since I was 10 years old, with a heavy heart I can only say that he ruined our experience and will always leave a stain on our memories of our Masai Mara safari. Zero conversation, zero enthousiasme, zero interest... just a disaster experience with him.
When looking at the other agencies parked at Zebra Plains, we noticed the drivers of Mufasa, African Horizons and the Holiday Dealers were much more friendly towards us.
They asked us several times how we were doing and what we had done on the day, while our guide disappeared as soon as we left the car. On top of that their cars were much more recent, clean and of better quality.
Looking at the money we spent for this safari, it totally doesn't correlate with the service we received from Morning Star.
There are many safari companies in Kenya who offer these tours, we took a chance on Morning Star and it is clear that it was the wrong bad.
So please choose carefully for your safari as well and avoid Morning Star. As mentioned above Mufasa, African Horizons and the Holiday Dealers would be my pick now.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Could have been a better experience
Itinerary not well structured. Too many hours and days lost driving from place to place on roads that can only be described as horrible.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
No good management
There is two things to distinguish: the safari experience in the national parks (i.e. what you see there) and the how the safaris are carried out.
I could say this is rip off, but I don't say this. We had very bad experience, especially with the owner George. When we had unbelievably bad accomodations booked by him and wanted to complain, he refused to talk to us and told his driver to stop communication with us immediately. He told him, that we could come back to Arusha and end the tour right away on our own cost! The accommodations were so bad, that we had to look for alternatives.
Even though, the driver was excellent, the car war beyond bad. Several accidents were poorly fixed, welded everywhere. The tyres were all worn out totally, almost slick! The two spare tyres were flat and unusable, the so called tools for changing tyres were unusable as well. George left the driver all alone without helping.
Over all, this manager is acting against his clients and is not willing to cooperate. So if you want to get bad value for good money, here you are right. For us: not at all worth the money spent.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Negligent - failed to disclose massive road time.
Ngorongoro Crater & Zanzibar - South Nov 2024
I do not recommend this route nor tour company. No one would sanely want to go on this tour route if they knew how much driving time there is in a truck/ jeep. nomad did not properly disclose the amount of road time on this trip.
why this route is even sold is a mystery. it is just awful. have been roughing it in dozens of 3rd world zones and this was by for the only one I regret. waste of you money, your vacation time, and flight. root of the problem, is that this amount of driving is not disclosed properly on the agenda.
EVERY single day is between 8 and 13 hours of driving (outside of Zanzibar). and we had little traffic and no problems with the dirty vehicle. I will say again EVERY SINGLE DAY is driving (outside of Zanzibar) and very very rough driving.
no tour stops on the journey (outside of game parks and Zanzibar). the only stops are truck stops and on the game drive one a.m. potty stop, one p.m. and one 1/2 hour lunch. all else in a sweltering in a jeep/van. you are with a driver and a cook. no tour guide. we learning only one single factoid from the pair of very nice men, the entire trip.
disappointed is putting it lightly. and we tried to get flights out to get off tour in the middle. not really possible. ashamed of nomad.
please really study and ask questions before booking. map it out.
First seven days' Travel Times Stuffed in a truck/jeep ferry
9 hours: DAY ONE Nairobi - Arusha 7:00am to 4:00 pm
11.5 hours: DAY TWO Arusha - Karatu - Sergetti 6:30am to 6:00pm
11.5 hours: DAY THREE Serengeti 6:30am to 6:00pm
10.5 hours: DAY FOUR Serengeti/crater to Karatu 6:30 to 5:00pm
8 hours: DAY FIVE Karatu to Arusha 7:00am to 3:00pm
13+ hours DAY SIX Arusha to bagamoyo
9 hours DAY SEVEN Bagamoyo to Dar es Salaam to Zaznibar (driving plus ferry)
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
We got incompetence, poor service, and a lack of respect and no refund received
We absolutely furious about our recent safari experience with Shayo Trekking And Safari . For the amount of money we paid, we expected professionalism, care, and quality, But we got incompetence, poor service, and a lack of respect. We tried to raise these issues with the company, they were unresponsive and dismissive. We felt completely ignored and ripped off. So we contacted the company Owner Paul Robert Shayo immediately after the tour to express our dissatisfaction, explaining everything that went wrong and asking for a refund. We told I’d receive a response within a few days, but it’s been weeks now, and all I’ve gotten is the runaround. Every time I follow up, We get vague responses, and they keep promising to look into it but nothing has changed. We have been completely ignored. It’s incredibly frustrating to have spent a lot of money on a safari that didn’t live up to the promises made. Not only did we not have the experience we were promised, but now we left with no refund and no apology. Paul seems to have no interest in customer satisfaction or resolving issues. It feels like they take our money and run. I advise you avoid Shayo Trekking and Safari! This company is a scam from my experience.