CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
a guide who was inattentive, dishonest, and only cared about money
Although our guide John might not be the absolute worst, I still want to write about some of the unpleasant experiences during our trip, both for your reference and in the hope that it will catch the attention of the tour operator's management.
1. Suspected Ticket Fraud:
· Our scheduled 3:30 PM – 6:30 PM safari on Day 1 was reduced to 30 mins.He took us to two overpriced souvenir shops. At the first, he disappeared; at the second, he pressured us to buy, saying it "helps the locals."
· Arrived late at the park gate ~5 PM, but he kept us waiting at the gate, claiming the "ticket system was down." We entered near 6 PM.
· We later learned that entry after 6 PM is free for guests staying inside the park. Our $100/person fee (included in the package) was likely pocketed. He refused to provide a receipt.
2. Poor Game-Spotting Skills:
· Spent more hours on common animals (giraffes, zebras) while other groups saw leopards and cheetah kills.
· Claimed he "discovered" a pride of 4 lions and bragged to every guide, then demanded $10/person tip for it. We gave $5, and he sulked afterwards.
· When we asked him to find the scene that the other group has already seen, he was very serious and told us not to give pressure on him.
3. Safety & Scary Incident (Nakuru transfer):
· Stopped on a roadside for a boxed lunch; a nail punctured the tire, according to his words, when parking aside, the nail punctured(I was doubtful). During fixing the tire, a mentally unstable local opened our car door, shouting aggressively. It was terrifying. John just told us to hold our valuables on the car. We are confused and scared and not dare to get off the car, though they are fixing the car.
4. Rushing & Dishonesty (Crescent Island):
· Gave us only 1 hour at Crescent Island, rushing us back for his own schedule (wanted to "wash the car" and meet friends).
· Later asked for Day 1's tip again, hoping we forgot. We paid for safety.
5. Tardiness & Lies (Amboseli transfer):
· Arrived 3 hours late, lying about "car repairs." Hotel staff helped us to urge him.
· "Compensated" us with a cheap fast-food meal, claiming it cost him $70. We checked the menu – it was about $15. At first, he said he will compensate 3 hours late, but finally he said he catched up with the safari 3:30pm, actually it was 3:40pm and haven't reach the Amboseli gate.Not a word was mentioned about the loss of out hotel rest and leisure time.
6. Final Day Greed:
· Rushed us through the market/supermarket (total 2 hrs).
· Demanded $20 for highway tolls (far exceeding actual cost). We paid the actual receipts.
· Dropped us far from the terminal.
I hope this feedback will make them reflect on the essence of doing business—it should be built on integrity, not on deceiving customers for short-term gains. As for the guide's misconduct(other frustrating details I won't mention more), much of it was obvious to us at the time; we simply chose not to confront him for the sake of our safety and a smooth trip.
CO
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excelent Safari Experience
Instead of foreign companies operating in Africa, we wanted to hire a local company for our safaris in Kenya, so we booked Axis, but the experience was a bit of a struggle. They weren't very assertive in suggesting itineraries, they took an excessively long time to reply to messages or emails, and they weren't very careful with the information that should give clients peace of mind. At 8 pm the day before the private safari, which we had paid for months in advance, we had to anxiously search for them to get information about the pickup, schedule, guide, etc.
Thanks to the guide, Raymond, our safari was a wonderful experience. Besides being a very skilled driver, he is passionate about the game drives and search of the animals.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Responsive admin, nice driver.
I booked this tour for 2 adults and 3 children. We received a nice brochure with full description of the tour and a map, which looked wonderful but no were was mentioned a travel times between points. It was a very long time on the road. So all day in the car with limited bathroom stops.
Logde was nice, animals are beautiful. I wish the tour was more interactive for the kids. May be music or fun facts, books..
Plenty of safari operators, choose wisely.
PT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good experience, but expected better organization for $6,000+
We did a 9-day trip with Safari Soles. Overall, we enjoyed the trip because Tanzania’s wildlife never disappoints—we saw everything, the Big 5 and the Ugly 5. But honestly, if we had gone with any other company, the wildlife part would have been the same. The difference is the service, and for the money we spent (over $6,000), there were too many "hiccups" that really bothered us.
Guide : First, the guide situation felt like a total last-minute decision. We saw reviews mentioning specific guides, but we were assigned a freelancer with no info given to us beforehand. When we met him, he was very quiet. For the first 2 days, we had to ask him for info instead of him telling us. By the end of the trip, we actually became very good friends and he was a great driver/knowledgeable, but when you pay this much, you expect more from day one, not someone you have to warm up for days.
We talked about it to Safari Soles on very first day, they said they'd talk to management. But we're already deep in the parks for 3 days, so there's nothing they can actually do at that point. We just had to accept it and make the best of it which we did eventually.
Food: We told them multiple times "no beef, no pork," but we were still served beef. The guide/lodges clearly weren't informed properly.
Hotel : During the initial discussion we were proposed a booking for Serengeti Safari Haven, but then the company told us there was some "confusion" about availability and moved us to Tukaone Camps instead.
Accommodation Quality: One of our stays (supposed to be mid-range) was the worst night ever. No AC, no fan, and full of mosquitoes. We couldn't sleep at all. At another hotel, they didn't even have our booking on file when we arrived.They don't actually check these places out, or they know they're bad and book them anyway because they're cheap.
Transport: On our day trip to Kilimanjaro, they sent a car with AC not working. We were driving on broken, dusty roads with windows open in the heat.
Overall, the management is nice and very reactive when things go wrong, but these small things add up. When you spend this kind of money, you don't expect to deal with basic issues like booking errors or hot cars. We left wondering if we should have booked with a different operator.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Overall I would not recommend Ngoni Safaris company for a trip around Uganda
Good
1. We had a nice 10 day tour around the beautiful country, visited multiple national parks, gorilla and chimpanzee tracked, and had nice accommodations, plenty of water, hot meals, and our guide Eli cared about us having a great time, despite the shortcomings of Ngoni Safaris Company
2. When our bags were delayed by a day, Sedrick/Ngoni arranged for it to be picked up from the airport and delivered 6+ hours to our lodge (for a fee), but I was grateful they quickly helped us during a very frustrating start of the trip (fyi baggage is frequently delayed at Entebbe airport so pack accordingly)
Bad
VEHICLE QUALITY:
1. They speak about their great land cruisers but it was of very poor quality
2. Bad suspension, extremely loud, constantly shaking during the entire ride, seatbelts were broken, and handles were missing, I’ve been on multiple safaris across Africa and never had this experience
3. It also was unsafe and broke down multiple times, the engine would cut off randomly, and it would refuse to start. Which is extremely dangerous when you are driving around mountains, in rain, and in vast emptiness
4. This was a major problem on multiple occasions as we had to be manually pushed for the car to start, we got stuck in a national park which is terrifying with large wild animals roaming around, and we broke down and had to visit mechanics multiple times during the trip, the guide was very frustrated with this situation and I blame Ngoni Safaris Company
COMMUNICATION:
1. During the months leading up to the trip, we received no assurances about reservations; money received etc, and the company was silent for weeks on multiple occasions, this is tourism 101 and they failed, it really makes you question the quality of the company before you start
2. I had to request a packing list, and even then it was missing key items, so thankfully I did my own research or I would have been in a bad position
3. No communication the day or week before arrival to set expectations (e.g., name of guide, where to meet), even upon arrival it took an hour for the company to respond to my text asking what to do, that is unacceptable
4. However, when it came to them pressuring me to choose the company and requesting payment they were quick to send multiple nagging emails which is unprofessional and shows what they care about the most
OTHER ISSUES:
1. Our guide did not have our proper itinerary and multiple times on the trip I had to correct him and make sure excursions I paid for were included. Even upon arriving we had scheduled a Mabamba swamp tour and our guide thought we were driving directly to the rhino sanctuary. Thankfully he was accommodating and we did not miss an experience but it’s frustrating to have to keep correcting the guide
2. We told Ngoni Safaris we were celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary, and they agreed to provide wine, cake, and special accommodations for one night which was a great gesture but when it came to execution it was not coordinated ahead of time and I had to remind Sedrick of this before the last day and they threw something together, but I could tell it was not communicated to the lodge ahead of time. Even our guide had no idea we were celebrating such an occasion which is a huge miss
3. A couple of the lodges had some rooms with air conditioning that were nominally more expensive, I was aware and requested to be placed in those rooms, but without my research we would have had no idea. These are little things that Ngoni should ask the clients about, so we can make informed decisions
Overall I could feel that this company is not of a high standard and they should really improve how they operate in order to be at a 5 star level
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranch by Lothar & Jelena
Only there to see Rhinos . Lodge was not good
Tomus was very friendly and kind informing us each an every way he made the tour very peaceful
Safari link is a very well organized tour company very happy with there services
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Operator excellent 5 star but guide in our case poor 1 star
We booked a luxury Safari in Tanzania, and Nyemo was dry helpful and efficient in planning and organizing our trip. Very carefully planned our itinerary to visit a set of luxury lodges and it was a good value. The camps and lodges beautiful and the wildlife experience great!
Disappointed though in the guide and the vehicle which was in poor condition. The biggest concern was that the seatbelts were broken, and not usable. This made us very uncomfortable being that we were traveling in remote areas far from medical care and safety and prevention of injury so important. The vehicle also had electrical problems from the day we were picked up necessitating midway through the trip a stop at a garage for half a day and lost safari time.
The driver also was unfamiliar with any of the camps we had chosen, and in every instance was lost trying to find the next camp delaying our arrival by as much as one or two hours each time we changed camps. We chose luxury camps so we could also enjoy the camp ambience at end of day, but the delayed arrival left us feeling rushed.
I believe this experience must be an exception since in all the other reviews, the guides are outstanding. Also I would have thought there would’ve been some follow up from the company at the completion of our tour, but we were never contacted.
RS
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Satisfying, but somewhat disappointing
We (my partner and I) were part of a safari tour that lasted 6 days, 5 nights in Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru (we were supposed to go to Naivasha but we didn't) and Amboseli.
Let me start with the positives first... during this tour we managed to see all the big 5 and ugly 5 animals, as well as many other ones, met interesting people along the way and managed to take pictures and record content that will serve as eternal memories of these wonderful places. While I don't regret doing this tour, I have to leave my honest comment and complain about the following… Our guide Dennis made this trip less than perfect with his inappropriate behavior. From the very beginning, he did not get off his phone, he was not in the mood for a friendly conversation (on the contrary, he made rude comments on several occasions), and when he did talk, he was so quiet that if you weren't sitting next to him, you couldn't hear him. At some point I gave up trying to hear him altogether and just watched what was going on outside the vehicle. On top of that, on the third day of the safari, when the optional boat ride on Lake Naivasha was planned, Dennis decided not to tell anyone that we would skip this ride due to the alleged bad weather. Although optional, this would've been our only activity on that day. Later, I found out that people from other tours were actually going on boat rides during this day. Dennis preferred to talk on the phone during the lunch breaks, which were taking too long for no reason. So long, that upon arriving at the hotel in Nakuru, after a 7-8 hour drive from Masai Mara, the hotel pool was not working because we arrived too late. Even though we had no other activities on that day. So on day 3, we were pretty much just driving in the vehicle with no activities. On the following day, after doing an early morning game drive in Nakuru, we were informed that we had to change vehicles and continue our tour with another group. At the place where we were having lunch and where we were supposed to change vehicles, Dennis was rushing us while we were eating (literally 5 min from the start of the break). The other guide was more friendly but was driving like a mad man, and we felt quite unsafe in the vehicle driving for another 7 or 8 hours from Nakuru to Amboseli. So on days 3 AND 4, we were just driving around doing nothing except for an early morning drive in Nakuru.
Only later did I find out that most of these budget safari companies work together and that in case one company does not have enough passengers on a certain day, it will use the services and employees of another company, and mix their passengers with people who booked through another company. Which is something that we would not accept and agree on, if we had known in advance.
Axis did offer us a tour of lake Naivasha free of charge at a later date, but we couldn't accept it because our schedule did not work. The communication with the company in general was clear, but we had to remind them of a couple of things during the booking process and later.
I would repeat a safari tour with a budget company only if I were staying in the same place for several days (Masai Mara for example).
BE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very much garbage (plastic and other rubbish) next to the roads
The safaris are certainly not animal-friendly. For example, 25 safari jeeps around one single leopard. Of course, I chose this myself, and I'm complicit.
The people in Kenya are generally very friendly. I enjoyed my trip to Kenya.
