CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
I recommend you do not use this company!
Do not use this company, we feel scammed!
My husband and I, along with 3 friends, booked the 14 day, 9 parks Ultimate Kenya Tanzania Safari on Dec 1, 2024 to start Sept 25, 2025. Our contact was MARY. On day 5 of our tour, our driver, Sisto, told us that he had not been paid and that none of our accommodations going forward had been paid. We had to either pay again for our accommodations and all of our park fees or else we were done our tour. We decided to continue our tour as the only thing worse than being scammed was to go home without the experience we came for. Our driver took us into Nairobi on day 6 to confront HUMPHREY, the owner, and for almost 3 hours he gave us every excuse in the book. We did get confirmation that we had accommodations booked (not paid) and a new driver for the Tanzania portion so that we could finish our much anticipated trip, which we did. For the five of us, we were scammed out of $25,000 cdn.
Based on our experience do not book with Africa Kenya Safaris or any other company headed by Humphrey.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Terrible
I had the WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!
Booked with them Nairobi national park game drive
Driver arrived 1hr late, drive was to start at 6am it started at 0705
To cover for his lateness he started rushing us and was very entitled
He wanted us to work with his schedule not our schedule as if he's the one who paid for the experience
Insisted on exiting using Eastgate leaving us in the middle of nowhere we couldn't even find uber to take us back and I had clearly told Diana Mumbe who helped with the booking which gate we prefer using
26,499kshs spent with zero satisfaction
Driver main excuse, he was only informed that morning about the drive as someone else was supposed to take us. The number I was given by Diana was not even for the driver who came to take us
What is posted online is very different from what is delivered
I WOULDN’T RECOMMEND them to anyone
Book somewhere else
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Awful
My wife and I had a safari booked to celebrate our 39th anniversary.
Unfortunately before we could travel our daughter was sexually assaulted and we were unable to go. I spoke with wies who assured me that the worse case scenario was that I would lose my deposit.
After 6 months of being fobbed off Wies now tells me that there will be no refund only a change of dates.
Talk about making a bad situation worse. £10000 lost to a lack of humanity.
Great service
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Do not book with this company!
Two friends and I paid thousands of dollars for a 5-day safari with this company. We arrived in Nairobi only to find out that they cancelled on us the day before we were due to leave. Two other people ended up on another safari with us who had the same problem. It has been 5 weeks, and they have not refunded any of our money, nor do they respond to our communications. We believe we have been scammed! Do not use this company.
KZ
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Don’t recommend Safari Talks Tour
That was not my first safari in Kenya and this bad experience will stay in our memories. The issues started from the border between Tanzania and Kenya. Time of the road was not respected (4-5 hours instead of 2 hours that was said). Last minute they told me that they booked another hotels, not what I selected and agreed with them. Vehicle was old and dirty, no cleaning after whole day of Safari and it’s not comfortable to take dusty car in the morning for the whole day. Park fees I paid myself because Dan being the owner of the company didn’t know they don’t accept cash in Masai Mara, but bank card only. Finally the old jeep was broken in the middle of nowhere and Dan left us waiting for 2 hours alone with unknown people while he was looking for help or spare parts. We reached Nairobi with random driver who fortunately dropped us off in the hotel. We missed whole day of the tour. We changed our itinerary because they wanted us to take same old Jeep to continue safari. No reserve vehicle, no internet (we used WiFi from other Jeeps), no service. Finally Dan charged us additional money for changes when we saw risk to our life and safety. I don’t recommend you to use Safari Talks Tour. There are a lot of other tour companies who can help you to enjoy this beautiful country.
KR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
He is kind lier
He took me to a different place than I booked. If he had explained things honestly and asked me first, I think I would’ve been fine with the change. But he didnt
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Dishonest company
Don’t book any service through this tour operator. In our experience, we felt scammed — they took our money and did not follow the agreed itinerary. Afterwards, they stopped responding and left us stranded. They kept saying ‘Hakuna Matata,’ which, in hindsight, felt misleading and dismissive.
(automatic translation from Italian)
DE
An agency with a poor service
We booked a prepaid private 9 days safari starting in Moshi. We were very disappointed about their pure operational services. It started that the promised briefing didn‘t take place. They changed the driver on the day of arrival with no information of our safari or any further hard copy. So we got into the situation , when we were to leave the National Park, the rangers didn‘t allow us to leave. They didn‘t find any payment for the fees from Monkey. After two hours discussion with them we paid about $ 500 out of our cash reserve. The driver promised us, we will get the payment asap what didn‘t happen. As we wanted to address our frustration, the manager refused to talk to us. As recently as we put a lot of pressure on them, we got our money back in several steps in TS. There was no proactive service at all. The only positive point was the experienced and knowledged driver. Many thanks for the nice game drives John. Summary: If you look for an operator with good service, we definetly can not recommend.Monkey.
CO
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A nightmare in Namibia
I paid the MHOF agency 76,051,000 NAD for an 8- day,7 night tour,starting on September 26th and ending on October red,2025 It included lodging,meals,safari, vehicle and Guide.At the agency director's insistence,I paid everything a month in advance.two days before the Safari tour was scheduled to begin,the owner contact me demanding inmediate payment of U$2,600 as a condition for the Safari to take place.At that time ,I was travelling from my Countriy,Colombia to Namibia.I did not agree to their request since
I had already paíd everything that has been agreed upon. The manager did not fullfill the agreement,there was brother a vehicle nor guide.of the seven days of accommodation,the agency had only paid for five.
I believe,I have been scammed by the manager ,Mrs Berlinda of the MHOF agency
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
This agency isn't very reliable as soon as there's a problem (caused by their own mistake), they do
I used Chenggong for a 3-night private safari. The pre-departure service was good; we agreed on the accommodations best suited to us and our budget.
On the morning of the first day, they showed up on time, and we began the tour. The basic organization was good; I was initially happy with the service offered, BUT THEN THERE WERE SOME UNPLEASANT SURPRISES!
Already 20 days before departure, the agreed-upon price had changed because I'd been informed of the increase in park entrance fees: we'd have to pay an additional $60 per person. Of course, I wasn't thrilled with the increase, but I realized it wasn't anyone's fault, and I paid the extra money. I simply asked the agency to accommodate us with the price, given the already high price we were paying (remember, it was a private safari). They simply ignored this question and pretended nothing had happened.
The first day in Amboseli was fine, until we arrived at Tsavo East National Park, where we discovered that CHENGGONG HAD NOT PAID FOR ALL THE PARK ENTRANCE FEES: we were missing one day of entry, as our lodge was inside the park (and they had recommended it because it was cheaper than others outside the park). After contacting the agency, they began to argue, claiming that it was a new feature of the park that we had to pay for the first day's stay only, due to the price increase on October 1st, for which we had already paid a premium. I don't know whether to believe them; the basic problem is that even if it were true, they should have known, it's their job, AND THEY HAD TO TELL US. They completely ignored it, or pretended not to know. Had we known, we could have agreed to pay more or change our accommodations for one outside the park.
After speaking with Chenggong, they even refused to admit it was their mistake, saying, "It depends on the park." Shouldn't the agency I book through know about it? So, why did I pay them?
In that situation, we had no choice but to pay: the accommodation was already paid for, and by not entering, we would have lost that money too.
I repeatedly asked the agency to acknowledge their mistake and pay them or refund us (at least a portion, to make things easier).
RESULT: WE HAD TO PAY ANOTHER $180 on top of the nearly $2,000 we'd already paid for a package that included "all park fees," but that wasn't the case.
The icing on the cake: at the end of the safari, we were supposed to take a morning train from Voi to Mombasa, but Chenggong, WITHOUT TELLING US, booked the evening train, ruining all my plans. Anyway, once we took the train to Mombasa, there was supposed to be a driver to pick us up from there and take us to Watamu, also organized by this agency. Result: we arrived in Mombasa and not only was the driver not there, he hadn't even told us he was late, so I feared no one would come. It was late at night, the taxi drivers were getting very pushy, and I didn't have our driver's number. Chenggong didn't answer: he had to call a local to get in touch. The driver, who I don't think had even been notified, arrived at the station more than an hour late, laughed in our faces when he saw us exhausted and angry, and drove terribly. Chenggong claims he was stuck in traffic: first of all, if he had been serious, he would have left earlier given the city traffic; secondly, he should have at least told us. Finally, more than an hour's delay is unacceptable after all these mistakes!
We arrived in Watamu after midnight, so even our plans for the next day were dashed.
For days, RIDICULOUS excuses followed, but never a hint of fixing the situation, or even refunding us part of the money we lost due to their mistake, something they didn't properly inform us about. I asked for two weeks straight to speak to the boss, but there was always the excuse, "He's busy, he's at church, you'll talk to him on Monday." BUT I STILL HAVEN'T TALKED TO ANYONE.
Final advice: only use agencies that someone you know has already tried firsthand, especially for such important and expensive experiences. Don't ruin unique experiences like a safari for untrustworthy people like these! Don't even consider Chenggong.