65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Cannot Be Trusted At All
If you are seriously considering booking any tour with Madagascar Natural Tours, I would strongly recommend that you read this review before you do so.
We booked a 15-day birdwatching tour with Madagascar Natural Tours and started the booking process 9 months in advance.
On the Madagascar Natural Tours website, it showed all of what we were promised would be included in our tour, and Harilala,who is the owner of Madagascar Natural tours, confirmed all of the details.
However virtually every significant aspect of our tour that was promised to us was not provided to us,
We were promised and paid for a 15-day tour but we received only a 13- day tour. We had booked our flights to Madagascar about 6 months before our tour was scheduled to start. Then,one day prior to our scheduled flight to Madagascar, we received an urgent email stating that our flight had been canceled for safety reasons because of civil unrest and violent protests that were taking place in Madagascar. The airline also stated that they were not sure when they would resume flights. I contacted Harilala about this, and he assured me that it was still safe to come to Madagascar for our tour because we were not going to be in the places where the violent protests were taking place. I told him that most airlines had stopped flying to Madagascar and that the government of Madagascar had instituted night-time curfews so that only flights arriving in daytime hours could still land in Madagascar. I told him that I would look to see if there was any way we could still find a flight to Madagascar. Harilala told me to let him know if we could find a suitable flight and then he would try to change the hotel arrangements to reflect the new dates of arrival at each hotel. We were able to find a flight onEthiopian Airlines that would arrive a day and a half later than our original arrival flight and would arrive in the late afternoon. I gave this information to Harilala and he said he would check with all the hotels to make the changes necessary because our tour would be starting on a later date that was originally planned. I checked with Harilala on the following day and he told me that he had successfully changed all the booking dates for all of the hotels for all 15 days of our tour.
Then when we arrived at the Madagascar airport, we were met by someone who worked for Harilala and rushed to a vehicle, Then Harilala showed up briefly to introduce us to a driver who did not speak English and also to a supposed “full-time qualified birding guide”about whom Harilala told us was not really a birding guide, but that he would be with us anyway.Harilala then told us he had something else to do and ran off.
We then discovered that Harilala had not rescheduled any of our itinerary and hotel arrangements like he had told us he had done. He had decided on his own, without telling us or providing any explanation, that we were now starting on Day 3 of our tour itinerary instead of Day 1of our itinerary, Harilala had unilaterally eliminated the first 2 days of our 15-day tour without any advance notice or explanation, and without any recourse. This resulted in him taking away 2 days of our tour during which we would no longer have the opportunity to see the cultural and scenery sights, the birds and other wildlife that we had wanted to see.
We had been promised a comfortable airconditioned 4X4 vehicle for our tour, but what we got on our first day there was a beat-up van with a non-working air conditioner. When we complained about this, we were told that we would get the vehicle we had been promised in another 3 or 4 days. But the vehicle Harilala provided 4 days later was another older van (not a 4x4) which at least had a working air conditioner.
We were promised a full-time qualified birding guide that would be with us throughout our tour, but all we were given was a person who admittedly knew nothing about birds (who provided absolutely no relevant information regarding birds) and was with us for only the first 3 days days of our tour, After those first 3 days, we had no birding guide at all and had only a driver with us for the remainder of our tour. Considering that our tour promised that we would be stopping and trying to see birds as we traveled along from destination to destination, by not having a full-time qualified birding guide with us meant that we would miss out on seeing many species of birds that we should have seen, Keep in mind that Harilala had 9 full months from the time that we first paid a deposit for this tour to find and assign a qualified full-time birding guide to accompany us on this tour but he failed to do so.
We were promised that we would also have qualified local birding guides provided to us on 11 of the days of our tour, but the local guides that were provided were certainly not qualified to be birding guides. Except for 2 of them, the local birding guides that were chosen for us did not own or use binoculars. We have never met or heard of any legitimately qualified birding guide that did not own or use binoculars. Most of the local guides provided did not know the English names of the birds and had to repeatedly try looking up the names of the birds. They mis-identified the birds dozens of times. Two of the local guides did not speak understandable English. Incredibly, one of the local guides blatantly stated that he would not speak to us unless we bought lunch for him.
We were promised in our itinerary that all dinners and all breakfasts would be included in the price of our tour, but on 3 occasions when we checked in to our lodge or hotel, we were told that there was no record of these meals being included. On all 3 of these occasions, we had to ask them to contact Harilala to correct this so that our promised meals would be included. At the last hotel where we stayed, our reservation also had no record of meals being included. When they contacted Harilala about this, we were told by the hotel representative that Harilala deliberately chose the option where breakfast would be provided for only one of us, telling the hotel representative that the 2 of us could split the one breakfast. .
If you look at tour reports from other legitimate birding companies that offer birding tours in Madagascar that have followed the same itinerary as we did on our tour, you will find that a typical 2-week birding tour will result in seeing between 150-200 different bird species. On our tour, we only saw 102 different species. And the reason for that is because Hrilala, in addition to eliminating 2 days of our tour, failed to provide all the key elements that were promised to us, including a full-time qualified birding guide and truly qualified local birding guides.
Obviously, we tried again and again to contact Harilala about this. We made multiple telephone calls to Harilala, but he only answered one of them,and in that call ,he lied about many things. We sent many WhatsApp texts to him that were usually completely ignored, and if they were eventually answered, they were also full of lies and nonsensical explanations. For the last 3 days that we were in Madagascar, we repeatedly asked Harilala to meet with us in person to discuss what had transpired on our tour. He agreed to do so, and then on each of the next 3 days, he made us some excuse why he could show up.
Right after we returned home, we sent a detailed message to him explaining all the things that went wrong on our birding tour because of his failure to provide all that he had promised.We also requested a refund to make make up for the 2 days that he had eliminated form our tour and for not providing the full-time qualified birding guide that had been promised. Harilala said he would soon provide a response to this, and despite multiple further contacts with him over these last few months, he has never replied.
What makes this situation even worse is that Harilala could have warned us or told us in advance about these significant issues, but he never did. Harilala could have asked us if what he was doing would be acceptable, but he never did. Harilal could have offered us an explanation of why he made the choices he did about cutting short our tour and why the promised birding guides were not given to us, but he never did Harilala could have apologized to us for all these things, but he never did. Harilalla could have offered compensation or a refund for not providing what we had paid for, but he never did.
PLEASE BE WARNED: I would expect Harilala to respond to this review, and I expect that whatever he says will be the same kind of lies and fabrications that he has given to us. I believe that Hartilala is essentially a dishonest conman whose only goal is to make all the promises that you want to hear, then takes your money, and then fails to provide virtually anything that he promised,,
We would strongly suggest that you avoid booking any tour with Madagascar Natural Tours. There are many other tour providers in Madagascar that are honest and ethical and will deliver everything that they promise. Use one of them.
SG
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Extremely bad experience with the Tour Team's planning
Echoing some other travellers concerns, there were things several things that are terribly planned. If the owner (Gashaw) asks you if you wish to let him book your flight on your behalf, do NOT get him to book it for you. Both my guide and I suffered as we had to run in and out the domestic terminal security gates, rebook all the domestic tickets since he booked my Ethiopian flights using Ethiopian National, and he did not add my international Ethiopian airline flight in. In the end, I had to repay all the tickets.
Flights impacted: Addis -> Gondar, Gondar -> Addis, Addis -> Lalibela, Lalibela -> Addis, Addis -> Merkele, Mekele -> Addis (6 tickets)
When I contacted him to get him to pay my guide the money, he tried to feign ignorance and even not returning the call. There was a cancellation of Gondar -> Lalibela flight, causing a huge delay. Requested his assistance to provide the itinerary outline to me to claim against insurance, but no response for 2 months. Missed my flight from Mekele to Addis due to the domestic ticket issue and had to stay extra night incurring additional costs. This is an extremely unprofessional behavior as the issue was not rectified immediately from the 1st instance or 2nd instance. It continued to be an issue for 6 times. This whole delay caused me to miss my cross-continental international flight out of Addis as well.
Do NOT book this Tour, if it goes smoothly, it is luck, and the ill-planning by Gashaw has caused huge losses to me and guide, till now no response has been given.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Rockfowl Safaris Took my Money and didn't Deliver
After spending several weeks researching a big trip to Africa, I specifically booked a tour advertised by Rockfowl Safaris that took you to Chobe National Park in Botswana and a village in Namibia. I wanted to check off two countries in one-day and I paid a deposit 3 weeks in advance, directly to them. I mentioned I was a solo-traveler and saw the tour was brand new, so even went as far as to ask if I may expect to get canceled if a certain amount of people didn't book it. They specifically mentioned they would never cancel a tour, even if one person had paid for it and was confirmed.
I had other options and discount codes available with other operators if I would have wanted to just do Chobe in Botswana, but I speficically paid extra money to include a second country, Namibia.
2 days before I arrived, I sent them a message making sure things were all good, and they assured me everything was good. 24 hours before the tour, they messaged me a lie telling me that the tour to Nambia had to get canceled "because of a storm" which was a lie.
The completely canceled the tour I had paid 3 weeks in advance and just threw me in with another tour company I never had contact just to do the Chobe portion. They did reduce the cost of the package and gave me more money back after I demanded it, but I ended up paying extra for this and didn't get to do the second country.
They took my money and couldn't deliver and on top of that, they lied. VERY UNPROFESSIONAL
SE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unfortunately, we did not get what we were promised: a calculated and cynical move by Knap Tours
Hi,
It's heartbreaking to share this story, but I feel fellow travelers need to understand how Knap Tour operates - and communicates.
November 2, I was contacted by Knap Tours after I asked for a quote on Safaribookings.com
November 3, I talked to their MD on phone to make sure we were on the same page. He confirmed everything in writing.
November 4, I wired money for the 3day trip with Knap Tours
November 5, the trip, with accomodation was confirmed in writing
So far.... so good. But what was supposed to be a dream trip with my 12 year old daughter turned out to be a nasty surprise as we arrived to the lodge. Our guide received a phonecall 1 hour before we arrived. He said that the lodge was full, there had overbookings and standard procedure was to pass on guests to an Ostrich Farm. We refused as the plan was to stay at the lodge. We were offered another place, turned it down, and offered to be driven back to Cape Town with full reimbursement (6 hours drive... don't think so) and my daughter started crying.
I called the MD and asked what was going on and he told me he'd just been informed about the non existing Luxury Tent at the lodge. I found it all very suspicious.
During this converstation with the MD from Knap Tours, I was offered 10% reimbursement.
We had to stay at the new accomodation but upon arrival to the lodge the day after I talked to the MD and booking manager at the lodge who found it all very odd, so they checked.
Nov 3, Knap Tours asked for a reservation
Nov4, the lodge replied that they had no tents or any accomodation for NYE.
So... Knap Tours sold me something that was not theirs to sell. They lied about the process (the lodge confirmed this and told me they would never refer any guest to the Ostrich Farm) and they knew very well that we could not go back to Cape Town. They made a bet we'd accept it without a fight.
Fortunately the lodge was helpful and let us stay in one of their tents (just had a cancellation) for NYE.
When I asked for the 10% reimbursement once back, the MD was most rude to me and then ignored me and my messages.
So: be aware - these guys promise you things they cannot keep, they bet you are not willing to fight for what you have been promised and they are cynical and most rude.
Stay away from Knap Tours and make sure you chose a serious agency if you do a once-in-a-lifetime- trip
Honestly,
//Jakob