50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Birchill Expeditions… in our experience, we felt scammed and misled. We would strongly advise others to avoid booking with them
As some others have said, we strongly advise caution when dealing with Birchill. In our experience, we felt deceived and believe that what happened to us amounted to being scammed. We did have a fantastic 5-day safari in Rwanda and Uganda BUT only because we had an amazing guide who kept things going for us. We had to pay $548 extra for services already included in what we had prepaid.
For example, $200 for golden monkey trekking permits, $88 for entry permits to Queen Elizabeth National Park and $260 for chimpanzee trekking permits. Birchill kept promising to refund the money but eventually didn't follow that through and advised to dispute payments through Amex (card provider). This might bear fruit but it is a long-winded process and through no fault of our own.
In addition, Birchill did not pay our guide and also did not pay the vehicle hire company for our 4WD. The latter resulted in the hire company refusing to let our guide move the car whilst in a remote part of Uganda. Eventually, Birchill did send some money to them which enabled us to get back to Kigali airport but not until after a lot of stress and a frantic drive.
I have to say the safari itself was amazing and our guide (Darius) was sensational but he and his freelance guide colleagues won't work for Birchill again. My advice is to avoid Birchill like the plague unless you want to be paying out more money and having to go through a lot of stress to try to get it back.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
I don't recommend trusting this company
We booked a two-day safari with ZeroOne to the Masai Mara, including travel from Nairobi and two game drives — one on day one, and a sunrise drive on day two.
After finishing the first drive, we asked our driver about the plans for the following day, only to be told there was no game drive scheduled for day two. We showed him our booking confirmation, clearly stating the two drives we had paid for (as you will see from the picture, it is not ambiguous!), but he said there was nothing he could do.
We called our contact, Maureen, who admitted she’d made a mistake but refused to fix it or offer a refund. Instead, she offered a tour of a Masai village or a one-hour boat ride in Naivasha as a “replacement” on the second day — not exactly a fair swap for a missed game drive in the Mara.
The result? We paid for two drives and got one. The single drive we had was excellent — because the Mara is incredible — but Safari ZeroOne’s attitude was appalling. They showed zero accountability, zero effort to make things right, and zero concern for customer satisfaction.
This is a company you cannot trust. If you value honesty, reliability, and getting the trip you actually paid for, avoid Safari ZeroOne.
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Disorganised organisation
We booked a luxury shared safari tour. The organisation jointed us with fellow travellers with different needs (they were staying at camping sides). It caused misunderstandings, significant delays, hundreds phone calls and WhatsApp messages and very unpleasant situations, resulting in daily arguments and buck-passing between Allan, the driver/guide, and the organisation. The driver/guide (I find it difficult to define it as such)was a bully-boy and very unprofessional. For example, he pretended we had to leave our lodge at 5 am in the morning (without having breakfast etc) not to begin the game drive but just to pick-up the other members, who were staying at far-away camping sites. This happened three days out of four. It was we who had to be flexible although we had paid for a luxury safari. We had to argue to have our rights respected. We lost a lot of time waiting for other needs.
Although we had stressed our need for ad dairy-free diet (my daughter is severely allergic), no one had been informed about it. Every day we had to call the agency to be sure.
My review concerns only the organisation "Mercy Africa Serengeti Adventures" and Allan, the driver/guide: National parks and Nature are fantastic. Two lodges out of three were excellent and the staff very professional.
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Nice place, the worst services in whole Africa safari regions
Terrible experience with the Safari company MAKINI company, Tanzanians asking for a lots of money with very poor services, much better the safaries in South Africa or Kenia. Parks are managed by the Government and if you sleep in the Camps its own your risk, animals in between the tends, most of the time not water in the public toilettes...dirties etc. Food prepared by Cookers in a vey lack of hygene conditions, roads are terrible, but Tanzanian Gov, gets 45,00 Usd for each tourist going in the parks.
I don't know if you see the above mentioned comments cause I tend to think this site its manipulated
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We would advise others to avoid Silver Spark. In our experience, their conduct felt unethical
I booked almost 8k worth of trip and got cheated by this company . Bad broken van, terrible transfer from Kenya to Tanzania via rural road to save toll fee, worst of it is to cheat us out of hotel that we paid for to a cheap hotel in a weedful beach in Zanzibar. After promising to return 300 dollars for 8 months and 50 msg exchanges, I had to pay my friend on my own as I booked the trip . I feel terrible and stupid to have trusted them
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Warning: Ramesa Adventures – Avoid This Irresponsible, Dishonest Tour Operator
We booked our safari adventure with Ramesa Adventures, but what should have been the trip of a lifetime turned into a nightmare of mismanagement, deception, and outright violation of agreements. The company failed to honor multiple basic contractual obligations and ignored our repeated requests for a refund, as previously agreed upon due to their disgraceful service. Not only did they disappear after promising compensation, but their lack of accountability and professionalism has left us feeling cheated, stressed, and deeply disappointed.
Contract Violations: We were promised a specific itinerary, including full-day safaris, prompt transfers, qualified guides, and basic provisions. Almost every promise was broken, and key activities were missed.
Utter Lack of Responsibility: After acknowledging their failures and agreeing to a refund, the company simply vanished and stopped all communication, leaving us with no support or resolution.
Customer Service Failure: Ramesa Adventures has demonstrated total disregard for customer welfare, safety, and trust. Their business practices are a cautionary tale for any would-be travelers: avoid at all costs.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
stay away from this company
Rosallin Adventure and Logistic Ltd provided the actual safari services, but their execution was grossly incompetent and dangerous. The staff displayed alarming inexperience, ignored safety protocols, and failed to deliver the essential activities we paid for. The replacement driver was completely unqualified, repeatedly got lost, ignored advice from local guides and authorities, and put our safety at risk on multiple occasions.
Safety Hazards: The driver risked our lives by using unsafe routes, ignoring mechanical warnings, and refusing to call rangers during emergencies (including when we were stuck, exposed to wildlife, and one guest suffered a panic attack).
Deception & Inexperience: Our driver had minimal safari experience, misrepresented his skills, and failed to navigate basic routes. He also attempted to falsify official park entry times.
Provision Failures: There were days with no food, no water, and no basic care for travelers’ well-being, despite these being described in our package.
Total Disregard for Guests: At every stage, the company ignored our concerns and failed to provide the support and minimum service standards expected from a safari operator. This led to fear, distress, missed experiences, and wasted time.
A warning to all travelers: Both Ramesa Adventures and Rosallin Adventure and Logistic Ltd should be avoided. Book with trusted, highly-rated operators who genuinely care about your safety and experience. Don’t let your holiday become a disaster like ours.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
terrible experience. never again in my life. I felt scammed.
I spent 4760€ 3 days for 2 pax of safari and the other 6 days in Zanzibar, of all the hotels that were put on my itinerary only one respected, all the others cheap and not all-inclusive as he had put me in the itinerary. Additional extra uncalculated expenses and vacation 200% ruined
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Worst experience of my life
1 star as it is not possible to give less. We booked through Ramesa Adventures who chose Rosallin Adventure and Logistic to carry over the actual safari (Michael for 2 days and then Morris that we were told after the safari that he was on training; indeed he used the binocolous the other way around - picture as evidence. He said that pelicans were flamingos and that in Lake Nakuru there were tunas). We’ve been left 1 day without water during the safari, the second guide kept getting lost as he didn’t know the roads in the parks (asking to other guides or even kids!!!!). Our life has been put at risk twice (one going off a road as it was pouring rain and the driver was on the phone with Michael asking for indications; he lost control of the road and we nearly went down in a huge hole. The second time we got stuck in the mud off-road in a park next to leopards area and with one mama elephant approaching with a baby the water next to the car. Morris refused to call the rangers to get help as he would have got fined. Result was us stuck almost 3 hours with incredible amount of stress and fear.) After being stuck it was US the tourists noticing that a tyre was flat. The guide didn’t have the tools to change it so he had to call for other cars to support. Cherry on the cake, the tyre changed was not adequate for the car and we had to stop other 3 times the day after. Both Ramesa and Rosallin refused to give us back money for a Masai Mara entrance that we didn’t do as it took Morris 8 hours instead of 3h to drive us from lake Nakuru to Masai Mara. They also refused to refund as a reasonable amount for all the stress caused to us showing that they haven’t even realized at all what we went through and the basics of tourism. In addition to that they also started saying that our intention was from the beginning to get money back - as if I spend almost 10k dollars in a once in a life experience hoping to live a nightmare and get some money back. Pictures as evidence. Some people should be just not allowed to work in tourism. We are now in conversations with authorities reporting the whole fact.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
They did not deliver what was promised
They did not deliver what was promisedI emailed the company prior to arriving at nakuru to get a price for 2 people to hire a safari van and driver to visit nakuru national park. I was told 10,200KES as per the website was correct plus 3000kesfor the driver. When booking we were told the van would be for just the 2 of us and would be a 6:30am-6:30pm full day game drive. The driver collected us at 7:30 an hour later than agreed and there was already 2 other passengers in the van. We were told we could have 1000kes discount on our price per person but then this was retracted. The game driver was finished by lunch time and we were back at out villa for 2:30pm. Huge disappointment as we didnt get to see all the animals and how they behave during different times of the day. My advice is avoid this company at all costs. They were dishonest, unreliable, overpriced, under delivered on our tour ! Poor customer service only interested in your money!!!!