US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Compulsive Liar
To be clear, this is NOT a review of our visit to Kenya and Tanzania. This is a review of Features Africa Journeys. We took a 12 day safari tour and the experiences were amazing. Highly recommend visiting Kenya and Tanzania. Just don't do it with features Africa Journeys. The owner, Karanja, downplayed a lot, and made promises he did not keep. The man seems nice in person, but he's actually a shady salesman and a compulsive liar
Save yourself a lot of stress and discomfort and use someone else
Here's an abbreviated list of my issues. More detail below:
1. After first payment customer service and communication ceased.
2. Changing accommodations 3 TIMES after final payment without telling us. To lodges of signficant less quality.
3. Significantly over-promised the amount of space in the safari jeep.
4. Consistent errors in hotel reservations and park passes, risking use getting kicked out of parks.
5. Significantly downplaying the amount of time spent traveling between lodges leading to a lot of missed activities and no down time as promised in the itinerary.
There were plenty of other issues I had with them but my post is already too long.
Here's the details on the above:
1. Initial communications were great! Responsive, friendly, helpful. After our 1st deposit communications came to an end. Days of questions going unanswered, despite our literal begging for a response. The last invoice a month late. We all started researching the company because we were beginning to think it was a scam. Communications did not improve during the trip when we started having issues, detailed below.
2. Changed lodges on us, not once, not twice, but 3 TIMES!!! Without telling us!!! Over half of our trip!!! First lodge added 2 hours one way to our drive. The second lodge he changed without telling us, again, out of our way, and it was a DOWNGRADE. We were finally going to have a couple days where we would have the afternoon off (per our contracted schedule), and I was looking forward to the pool at the lodge we were promised. This place, no pool, no power, no hot water, my mom's phone would not connect to the wifi. No afternoon off. After the 2nd change we even had a discussion with Karanja about it, and again he didn't tell us then about the 3rd change. We found out when we drove past the lodge we were supposed to be at. After explicitly asking earlier that day. Another downgrade, another 2hrs out of our way. Of course the last lodges of the trip so we got to end our vacation on a sour note.
3. Said there would be plenty of room for 6 in the jeep, including the 3 people were of above average height. We were all uncomfortable and in pain, even the shorter people. I have bruised elbows and knees from the drives. Told by another tour driver that the trucks really weren't meant for more than.
4. The first hotel reservations were the wrong dates. We had to pull teeth to correct it despite being painfully explicit how many nights were needed. Find out half way thru the trip our Serengeti permit was wrong too. We were only paid in full for 2 nights instead of the planned 3. At 4pm the day before we would have been forced to leave the park, he sent us a message LYING that it's all figured out, only to find out it was paid 3 hours after his message from our driver. And then we had to drive 7 hours out of our way the next day to pick it up. At the end of our trip, turns out we don't have permit for Lake Nakuru Park either!!! Karanja claimed that "the system needed to be refreshed" but we had caught him in SO MANY LIES at this point we knew it was just more BS.
5. Drives between lodges that we were told were only going to take 3 hours took 8 hours, drives that were supposed to take 6 hours took 11 hours. All of it on water-logged, potholed, lose-your-lunch dirt roads. For 11 hours!!! We missed promised sunset dinners, assuming we didn't skip them completely due to exhaustion, there were lodges we paid a lot of money for that we never got to see during the day, almost no down time at any point, and many lunches were extremely late, 2 or 3 pm. One of our drivers said he'd never work for Features again because of how miserable the timeline was. Even when Karanja was driving us personally, he'd look us in the eye and LIE, telling us 10min when there was 2hrs of driving left.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
SCAM
We booked a 10-day Safari with them. Everything seemed to be fine, there was a website, a responsive e-mail-address, a reachable phone number, an office address and plenty of reviews and social media activity.
Early in the morning on the supposed day of departure I was contacted by the alleged tour guide claiming the company is no longer reachable, the website had been taken offline, the phone number went dead and their various social media accounts were deleted. They appeared to have taken the money and run.
I will not go deep into details here, but our Safari adventure started off with stressful days in a hotel in Nairobi and visits to a local police station.
In case these guys have ever legitimately existed, they've apparently resorted to other business techniques by now. What I am more inclined to believe, is that they have pulled off a scam after putting quite some effort into it, maintaining a website, faking dozens of reviews and feeding various social media accounts.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
This travel angency ruined our trip totally, don't choose it.
This is a very terrible travel agency
Took all our money, but did not perform the contract to pay for our hotel and park fees included in the contract, we had to pay extra by ourselves.
And we spend extra time to communicate with the travel agency hoping the problem can be solved, but now they can't get in touch. So we have to call the police to defend our rights.
It wastes us almost $6,000 per person and two days of Safari, ruining our trip totally. Don't choose it.
Plus, this company only has three full-time employees.Our guide also has not received his oil and labor fees, and will no longer cooperate with the travel agency in the future.
CN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
They’re just a three-person operation and can’t even pay the driver’s fees. It's infuriating!
The travel agency demanded full payment two weeks before our departure, despite the fact that we had already paid a deposit months earlier. Out of caution and naïve trust, we communicated and retained a small portion of the final payment. However, after arriving in Kenya, the owner, William, came to collect the remaining balance and then disappeared. We later discovered that the subsequent six nights of hotels and park entrance fees had not been paid. They repeatedly deceived us, exploiting our trust and isolating us in a foreign country, forcing us to continuously cover expensive costs. As a result, we have not only lost time but are also facing potential losses exceeding $20,000.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A journey filled with wits and courage, yet also extremely exhausting
The travel agency is really outrageous! For the hotels and tickets we booked for a total of six nights, they didn't make the payment and reservation. We only found out when we arrived at the hotel. They even asked us to pay in advance and then promised to refund us. But now, they have lost contact! Moreover, they arbitrarily changed the agreed hotel in the travel contract without notifying us in advance at all! They replaced the hotel in Nakuru with a substitute hotel that is more than twice as cheap, but they didn't refund the price difference either! They have deceived us by various means many times and delayed time, making our itinerary a total mess. They have greatly wasted our time and caused us to lose one day's itinerary in Masai Mara. What on earth is this?
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
the worst travel experience of my life.
Please be cautious of this company that scammed us; this has been the worst travel experience of my life.
1. We paid the full amount, but the 6 nights of hotel accommodations and park entry fees included in the trip were never paid. We only discovered this upon arriving at the hotels. The travel agency asked us to cover the costs upfront, promising to refund us later, but they have since completely disappeared.
2. The agency unilaterally changed the hotels specified in the contract without prior notice. They replaced the hotel in Nakuru with a substitute that costs more than double, and they did not refund the price difference.
3. The agency has repeatedly deceived us through various means and delayed our plans, which has severely impacted our itinerary. We have lost an entire day in Maasai Mara.
This experience has been a total scam and a nightmare, so I urge everyone to be very careful with this company.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Never choose this travel agency. They took our money and disappeared！！！
Issues with the travel agency:
1. For a total of 6 nights of hotel stays and entrance tickets, there was no prepaid reservation. We only found out when we arrived at the hotel. The travel agency said that we should pay the expenses first and they would refund us later, but now we have lost contact with them.
2. The travel agency unilaterally changed the agreed hotel in the travel contract without prior notice. They changed the hotel in Nakuru to an alternative hotel that is more than half cheaper in price but did not refund the price difference.
3. The travel agency has deceived us in multiple ways and delayed for a long time, causing a great waste of our itinerary. We have already lost one day of the Masai Mara itinerary.
CN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
They are thief!!! We have been victims of a scam during our trip to Kenya. Do not book with them!
We have been victims of a scam during our trip to Kenya, and we need urgent assistance.
Our group of seven people from China arrived in Kenya on October 1st. Prior to our arrival, we booked a local tour with a company called Madukha through Safari.com. Upon our arrival, we paid the tour operator in full, a total of $12,090, as agreed.
However, during our stay in Amboseli and Nakuru, we discovered that the tour operator had not paid for our accommodation or park fees. They claimed it was due to a bank transfer issue that prevented them from making the payments. To continue our trip, we were forced to pay all the expenses ourselves.
Currently, we are in Maasai Mara and facing a similar issue. Although we have paid for the hotel, the park entry fees have not been covered by the tour operator, leaving us unable to enter the park and access our accommodation. We are now stranded with no place to go. We request immediate assistance to resolve this matter and hold the responsible party accountable.
(images removed for privacy reasons)
We were left stranded and never arrived
Do not lose your money, they will not answer calls or emails and leave you stranded at the airport
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nightmare experience, never delivered on promises
Update: I previously removed this review because Mataro threatened to withhold the refund of our deposit per his policy if I didn't remove it. We came to an initial agreement about a payment plan for the >$3,000 he owed us over the course of two months. We provided all necessary details to him for payment, but were ultimately not paid when the due date arrived. Instead we were met with additional excuses and a lack of any urgency in resolving the payment owed to us. All I can say is I'm disappointed, disappointed in Mataro and myself for falling for this. We will be working with Trip advisor and other companies to attempt to have his business de-listed as it's evident we are not the first to have had this experience. I'm completely confused as to how he's ever gotten any positive reviews. See my previous review below.
------------------
I wish I could give negative stars. My wife and I, along with our four friends, had the misfortune of dealing with Friends Of Africa Family Safaris Ltd. We originally chose to book with Mataro because he came highly recommended by two of our friends who had previously traveled with him. While they generally had an okay experience and spoke highly of the safari guides, they did share some concerns once our own issues began to surface. For instance, they mentioned that when they arrived, they were put into an enclosed van—not a proper safari vehicle—which then got stuck and had to be pushed. No other reputable tour operators would put guests in such unsuitable conditions.
Despite these warning signs, we moved forward, only to find ourselves entangled in an even worse situation. What started as a promising interaction quickly turned into a nightmare after we paid over $6K in December as a 20% deposit. Mataro, who had been very responsive before payment, suddenly became evasive, offering only vague assurances that everything was ‘under control.’ But as we later discovered, nothing could have been further from the truth.
The Lies and Deception:
Fake Confirmations: Despite numerous requests, Mataro failed to provide actual booking confirmations. When I directly contacted one of the lodges, they had no record of our reservation—even though Mataro insisted everything was booked. He even tried to convince me to stop contacting the hotels, saying I was 'confusing people' and not 'trusting him.'
Manipulative Excuses: When I questioned why we hadn’t received confirmations or why he claimed certain accommodations were booked when they weren’t, he responded with manipulative tactics. He accused me of trying to do his job and insisted I was the problem for not trusting his process. This, despite repeatedly catching him in lies.
Unprofessional Behavior: In one instance, Mataro claimed he had booked three rooms instead of the four we required, blaming my wife for allegedly changing the request—an outright lie that he later backtracked on. He never took responsibility, and instead of fixing his mistakes, he became increasingly difficult to reach, often ignoring my messages or delaying his responses with more excuses.
Failure to Refund: When it became clear that Mataro had no intention of delivering on his promises, we canceled our trip in early May. Despite his own policy stating a refund within 90 days, those 90 days have come and gone with nothing but more excuses. He even tried to claim he needed more time, despite having made no payments to the hotels on our behalf. It’s evident he never planned to return our money and has continued to string us along with empty promises.
Final Warning:
After dealing with months of stress, deception, and outright lies, I can confidently say we believe this company is a complete scam. In our experience, Mataro is a manipulative fraudster who has no qualms about taking your money and offering nothing in return. The level of unprofessionalism and dishonesty is staggering. If you value your money and your peace of mind, stay far away from Friends Of Africa Family Safaris Ltd. This man will take your deposit and leave you with nothing but frustration and broken promises