35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
They do not care about your health
To prepare for the Kilimanjaro hike, I made sure I was fit and ready for the 8 days hike. On day 1, I had a porter who was coughing terribly. In short I got a sick person in my team to take me to the summit. I got sick and it was difficult to get sleep as I was coughing non stop as well. I made it to the summit with several days of minimal sleep and difficulty breathing on summit night.
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Dishonest! be careful
In my experience, this operator was not honest. I found David particularly unreliable. I felt misled, so please be cautious and consider not booking with them
(automatic translation from French)
TW
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bad and dangerous experience
Bad and Dangerous Experience
- Lush didn’t book our flights between Rwanda and Kenya. They had to change our itinerary last minute while we are in the forest.
- We almost couldn’t go gorilla trekking because they messed up our reservation with the national park.
- Dangerous driving in the mountains at night. No AC no seatbelts in the cars.
- Communicating with them was a nightmare
不要訂快跑！
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Trouble from the beginning. Dishonest, lies to customers
This is a review of my Safari with Twinkle Tour Tours & Safaris, Limited & owner Mr Oketch.
I used this company twice, 2022 and 2025. The trip in 2022 went fine. But the trip from Hell was this past September, 2025. Everything was messed up. Just warning you that the owner is very dishonest. Here are things that happened.
We went on a 16 day safari. It was a private luxury safari. The 1st day we were we were to go to the elephant feedings. James did not buy the tickets in advance. Our tour guide tried to call James (owner) many times about this and he never responded. We sat in the car for over a hour waiting to get in. George was very upset and it made us very uncomfortable. Finally we do get in and we missed the entire feeding and just saw them leaving. James said he bought the Private Safari. He bought them 15 minutes before the show ended.
We then go to the giraffe sanctuary where we missed everything. We did not get inside at all. George our guide was very mad and the stressed out. The owner, James was now here to be found.
One morning our guide, George did not show up at the correct time. We did not leave to about 1100 am. We were sitting outside for over 3 hours. George was fired. We got a new driver/ guide. When we were about to leave
the original guide showed up. There was a scene at the front desk. Both of them wanted to take us.
We got to Tanzania and more problems. James changed 2 hotels without telling us. He put us in inferior ones and he pocketed the money for himself. We paid for luxury hotels, which these were not.
The trip was diminished by these actions. James agreed to pay us back $1,500 for compensation. We agreed on payment plan to pay us back. He kept telling us he doesn’t have the money. He kept telling with us that that he is waiting for the money to come in. James told us week after week his money is coming in. He promised us at least 6 times to pay us back. So months later, no payment.
Stay far away from Twinkle Star Tours and Safaris. They are having big time problems. Go look on recent reviews and there are a few with bad reviews. With very similar problems as what they did to us. Bottom line, he is not a honest business man. There are so many safari companies out there. Find a better one, just don’t use this one! Do not use Twinkle Star Tours and safaris. If you see the name James Oketch stay far away.
FR
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
SCAM: Abandoned at Park Gate - Confirms Financial Crisis Reports
Our experience (December 2025):
Booked 3-day Tsavo East safari, $1,730 total
NO pickup at Mombasa Airport (1 AM arrival)
Driver Shem: no AC vehicle, warm water only, demanded tips for ice
Day 2: Decided to leave due to poor service
Driver tried to COERCE lodge management to keep us there
When we insisted on leaving, driver REFUSED contractual transport to Malindi
ABANDONED at Sala Gate in extreme heat
Armed guard present - told we must pay him to arrange taxi
Found our own transport after hours of distress
Company NEVER responded to any communication
Extra costs incurred: ~$350 USD
This matches other reports: company has severe financial problems, doesn't pay suppliers, clients held hostage at hotels.
Formal complaints filed with TRA Kenya and KATO.
NZ
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great guide, bad organisation
We did a 7 day safari with Lenchada Safaris and while the wildlife itself was incredible, there are serious transparency and communication issues that future travelers should know about.
The main problem was in Amboseli National Park. The safari package is sold and charged as if you enter Amboseli for 3 days, but in reality you only enter the park for 2. The itinerary clearly mentions a night game drive on day 5, a full day game drive on day 6, and a pre morning game drive on day 7.
The night game drive on day 5 never happened. Our guide clearly told us that they have NEVER done the Amboseli night game drive on day 5, yet it is still advertised in the itinerary they send to customers.
There was no refund and no option to recover the unused park entrance fee. This is not about a missed service. It is a park entrance ticket that was never used. Amboseli park tickets are valid for 24 hours. What they do is enter the park on day 6 around 10am, which allows them to re enter at 6am on day 7 using the same ticket. This means they only pay one park entrance instead of two, while charging the customer as if three days were included.
If you actually want to do the evening game drive on day 5, you would need to leave Hell’s Gate no later than 10am. This was not done and it was never communicated in advance.
I have screenshots of the emails from Lenchada Safaris showing the itinerary exactly as advertised (you can go to google reviews and check the actual conversation there in screenshots). I also have screenshots of WhatsApp conversations with Sam, the Operations Manager, where I raised this issue. In those messages, he first states that they never offered the day 5 game drive, and later says that because there is not enough time on day 5, they instead do the pre morning game drive on day 7. These explanations contradict each other.
I initially dealt with Collins during the booking process. He was responsive until the deposit was paid, but after that it became extremely difficult to get answers or support from him.
It is also worth mentioning that Lenchada Safaris is a subsidiary of Jocky Tours, which operates several other safari companies as well.
Our guide Kikitu was excellent, honest, and very knowledgeable, and the safari itself was enjoyable from a wildlife perspective. However, the itinerary is misleading, park fees are not handled transparently, and communication when issues arise is very poor. I strongly recommend clarifying exactly how many park entrances are truly included before booking.
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Cancelled holiday because of unrest and Government advice.
Unable to travel because of FCDO advice, dilute to political riots.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
My worst experience ever, can't recommend anyone to use the same driver, Andrew was terrible!!
The driver, Andrew kept on making unnecessary stops on our way, he spent most of his time on his phone as he drove, everytime he complained about the fuel being insufficient yet we had 110 litres at the time we set off from Kampala, the game drive only lasted for just an hour, and he refused to do another one. We never had a chance to visit the falls since he hoodwinked us into taking a shortcut and headed straight to the Gulu route back to Kampala yet it was part of our to do list, he restricted our movements and made our trip terrible, infact my daughter cried because she never visited the top of the falls. I regret booking with him.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Extremely Disappointing Safari Experience, Would Not Recommend
Unfortunately, our experience with this company was deeply disappointing. From the start, the service fell far short of what we paid for. Our guide, Isiah, consistently did the bare minimum and showed little interest in providing quality experience.
In Tsavo, he spent much of the time on personal phone calls and speeding through the park, even when wildlife was visible. He rarely attempted to spot animals, and when we asked him to stop, he did so briefly, sometimes even driving off while we were still standing to take photos. Questions were ignored or answered incorrectly, and his overall knowledge seemed limited.
Amboseli was worse. After only 1 hour and 45 minutes in the park, he decided, without consulting us, to head back to Nairobi. Not only did we miss time in the park, his decision to leave early put us so far ahead of schedule we also missed the prepaid lunch. On the way back, we were left waiting in the vehicle twice, once for him to have an extended coffee break and then several minutes while he shopped for personal groceries from roadside vendors. While he was out of the vehicle, we experienced aggressive harassment and uncomfortable confrontations.
When I raised concerns with the company, the response was dismissive and offered no real solution. The last two days were more of the same: distracted by his phone, ignoring wildlife, and even discussing letting strangers join our private tour, something we paid extra to avoid.
Thankfully, the second week with a different company and team was a stark contrast: professional, passionate, and truly representative of Kenyan hospitality.
Sadly, Mimsoft Safaris failed to deliver what was promised and missed an opportunity to make things right. Based on this experience, I cannot recommend their services.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Lovely nature and tour, but rather badly organized
Unfortunately I can't give a rating that is too well.
First of all, we booked this tour as it promised an early-morning gamedrive in Amboseli, which unfortunately did not happen. When reaching out to the office, they did not even apologize.
Moreover, the organization of the tour was rather bad. It always took forever dropping all the people of at the different camps, and the people were told super weird times for pickup. The next camp was not even 5 min away from ours, but they told them to be ready 20 min later than us. So no wonder that we then had to wait for 15 min at there camp.
Moreover, during our trip, basically all the people changed in between, so you always had new people join in.
Also the end was quite annonying, as everyone was brought to their hotel in Nairobi, instead of bringing everyone to the office first, and then bringing them to the hotels from there (as was done on the first day).