50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Disorganised and unreliable
Whilst our guides were excellent and our sightings and experience of the Okavango delta was wonderful, we were very badly let down by Fred's on the ground organisation. Our camps were not set up on time on three occasions leaving my Son and I waiting for hours to rest and eat. Fred's unreliability and string of excuses added to our frustrations and disappointment. Given all this and on balance I will not be recommending Savannah safari and tours, and will look to alternative operators when we return to beautiful Botswana.
MX
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Definitely disappointed.
We booked our 6 days safari in Tanzania through a partner company of Serengeti Clarity, since we did 1 week in Kenya and 1 week in Tanzania. Being said that, I don't know if it was because we didn't book directly with them, but they sent a very inexperienced guide. We met him at the border at Isebania since we came from Kenya, first thing, he didn't even introduced himself properly. Second, he guided us inside the government building, he took us to Health Services and straight out, he never led us to Immigration Offices, which was a huge legal problem when trying to fly back home, result on us paying for a fine because of his error. We really can't believe he was so inexperience that he didn't even know the right process to cross the border, since this is a very common situation in Tanzania safaris, and we as customers and being our first time in this country we trust the guide the company sent. After this unfortunate event, he drove us to Serengeti National Park, he stopped several times to ask for directions to the park, second red flag for us. At sunset, we finally got to the hotel, but then we realized that was not the hotel the company booked for us, he took us to the wrong hotel, so we had to drive to the right hotel when it was really dark and we didn't feel safe. The next day, our second day with this guide, he just drove without any direction, we asked him to take us see the great wildebeest migration, he took us really far from where the migration was and we didn't get to see it. That day we asked the company to change the guide, he didn't know about animals, he spoke really bad spanish and english, we couldn't really talk to him, aside from everything else. Thankfully our request was heard, and the next day we got a new guide, Kelvin, who is just the best thing that happened to us. Since the very first moment he met us, he introduced himself, he explained the map of the Serengeti, he explained the migration and the took us as close as he could to see it. He is so knowladgable about animals, we learned so much about animal behaviour from him. The rest of our safari was amazing, thanks to Kelvin that goes beyond expectations to make you feel comfortable and safe. On the last day of our safari, driving to the airport, we ran out of gas, Kelvin explained that the company didn't gave him money for gas because they gave it to our first guide and he haven't returned that money yet, which shouldn't affect our safari nor Kelvin since this was not our fault, this was the company's fault to hire such an unsuitable guide. This was our first time booking a guided tour ever, we always travel by ourselves, and it really wasn't a pleasant experience, because you trust the company you hire will give you a good service and this was quite the opposite. Our recommendation and learning from this experience, is to ask the name of the guide, the years of experience he has and reviews from previous customers, to make sure you have someone you can rely on.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A place to preserve for future generations
Great sightings and accommodation at Crocodile Bridge rest camp exceeded expectations. However, will never book there again:
1. Noisy at night and hearing traffic from outside the park.
2. Dog barking the entire night. Presumably one of the worker’s dogs as barking came from their compound as I understand.
Also, stopped at Satara rest camp for lunch, which was also a major letdown. Firstly, no water so toilets were a mess. And secondly, rudest cashier ever at Cattle Barron grab&go and waited on our take away (2 chicken wraps & small fries) for much over an hour. Will definitely avoid these 2 camps in future.
Overall, amazing park and wildlife, please preserve and maintain for future generations to also enjoy!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good tour operator.but not so good driver
The was good until the last day. On the second last day our driver Roger made us aware of protests happening on the following day and gave us a choice of whether or not to go straight back to Nairobi rather than do an early morning game drive. We wanted to go back to Nairobi to avoid the protests but then he adamantly took us to the national park in order to "secure a good review" (his words). We all told him that we didn't feel safe to hang around to do the game drive after which he said we'll go back to Nairobi, but then he lied and still drove us to the park. We were all furious with him.
All in all, although the tour operator and safari were good, best to find out who your driver is in advance to see if it is roger.
Also a side note, Axis may say it's not needed to carry your passport with you (in case you decide to leave it at your hotel for safe keeping), but one of the hotels in Nakuru did request at least a copy of your passport upon check in.
Final side note, we gave our dietary requirements (vegetarian) but for some reason Axis did not relay to the camp in amboselli. Fortunately the camp managed to accommodate us as best as they could.