Very Good and refunded the added fuel surcharge
Update on my review below, Tanzania Specialist got in touch and has offered to refund me the full amount of the extra fuel surcharge which i have accepted.
Great choice of company overall with knowledgeable guides and helping to tailor the package to suit our budget and places to visit, however the downfall was that they asked for an additional 4% fuel surcharge 3 weeks before we were due to fly out, even though we had already paid the full amount 5 months prior. When I questioned it their response was its because of the recent war price increase, but no other companies were doing this, just this company even though they already are the largest safari provider in the country! When asked for a further breakdown for the charge, they weren't able to provide this, only gave a few numbers against fuel for cars, plane etc, nothing in depth to justify the charge. The original quote already includes the daily fuel charges for your trip. There was no mention anywhere during the course of planning, booking and paying about this possible extra charge, they hit you right at the end knowing you can't cancel the trip at this late stage and will pay! We already paid in full which was quoted in USD, then another 4% charge of total trip amount, converting to AUD$ is a lot money for us!
Because of this i won't be choosing them again
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very patient with us
A chance to know more about nature and making new friends
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Honeymoon
A lot of money for not the best accommodations think they like to make a lot of money in you .
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Drivers were very good couldn't do enough for us. The accommodation was diabolical. Food was was .
The transport was good. Needed Mike so we could hear in the back. Driver were very knowledgeable about the animals and the area.
NZ
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience but some points to improve
Communication: Monametsi is the point of contact, easy to talk with him either email or whatsapp but sometimes it may happen that he is outside on safari and that can delay a bit the information.
Profile of visitor: Couple (2 people) on a private safari trip.
Service: All correct, they are an integrator of services where they carry their own transportation inside botswana. At Zimbabue where we were picked, the service runs on the local lodge. Lodge was ok, but you expect a bit better when price is around 350 US dollars per day per person.
Also, it may interesting on advice that Victoria falls stroll takes around 2 hours. If you rather do some activities (extremely expensive compare if you do this in Europe) as ziplines etc. maybe 2,5 days, so you can economise as we may have done doing that in our day of arrival and move to Kasane or advice to profit a early flight over or the rafting activities.
Kasane boat was nice, done with an external company (Kalahari Tours) and we stay in a nice lodge (Nxabii Cottages) where we stayed a night for a morning game drive and transfer to Savuti.
Savuti totally deserves one or two nights, it depends if you can arrive to see the afternoon game drive, maybe you can just stay one night or two nights and take a flight to Maun to avoid the transfer to Moremi game reserve.
Moremi game reserve has the added point of the mokoro trip, which is a nice experience but really similar game than in Savuti, in our case less. So maybe if you are a regular visitor trying to have the safari experience, with one day should be good.
Support team is great, food is really good, the camping is nice, they are equipped with all that should have. Nothing to add here.
Here comes the negative I do see on the way the safaris are establish, transfers are done on these land cruiser modified to improve view during game driving making them last too long and quite uncomfortable. Also, when the support team has another one on camping place, that alternatively can be used for the game driving and use a smaller one for transfers.
- Transfer to Savuti was around 5h, it is 20km/h average when possibly with a smaller RAV4 or other 4x4 should have been 2.5h. When we arrived, since the transfer took that long we went directly to the game drive without passing by the camp, this end up in getting lost, arriving 1h in delay to the camp and got freeze not having the possibility to have a shower.
- Transfer from Savuti to Moremi, took around 6h-7h for the same reason, car is not the more appropiate when you can do this with a couple in a smaller car, this made that we rather not doing the game drive at our arrival.
Main important points:
- Well organised, we had a great experience. Mona communication and support was good. Overall prize is ok, neither hell of expensive, neither cheap.
Cons:
- Transport improve and maybe adapt the fees to the service. Overall, because economizing on timings and transportation, it may do more accesible the experience.
CA
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Lacking
Our driver Freddy M. Was exceptional at finding wildlife. Freddy was dangerously aggressive driver as squeezing a lady on her pedal bike onto a truck(happened). Freddy did not hear or chose not to hear my request for lunch box( fruit) till I got upset. The transfer of drivers to get to the airport was surprise and not agreed on, caused us concerns and unnecessary trouble, stated in emails guide to take us to airport period. Freddy only talked to our daughter and basically ignored Donna and I.
DE
Serviceteam was great. Guide was awful
We had a very disappointing experience. Our tour guide was rude and unfriendly, with very poor hygiene. He did not wash his hands after using the toilet and then handled bread and cheese with dirty hands. There was also a complete lack of communication.
In addition, we had four breakdowns with the vehicles. The cars were old, unreliable, and not suitable for use in the wilderness, which caused significant inconvenience.
On a positive note, the service team was excellent. They were very friendly, the food was great, and the tents were well set up and clean.
Unfortunately, due to these serious issues, we cannot recommend Kalahari Skies.
IN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good efforts in showing all the big 5
Rudzani drove us from Kruger to Johannesburg . He showed us some rhinos on the way. He dropped us safely
TH
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Well-intentioned, responsive, local, caring but maybe lack experience to deliver to certain standard
Generally communicated well and were very responsive in the period leading up to my and my 9-year old's 6D/5N Okavango camping safari.
Well-intentioned, attentive and caring team with good local knowledge during the tour period. BUT there were some significant issues that substantially negatively impacted the quality of the tour and our experience: (1) On our arrival in Maun, the team were not adequately prepared for our tour despite us having booked months in advance. We were left waiting for 3+ hours while the team "bought supplies". As a consequence, we left Maun late, arrived at and set up at our first camping location well after dark, and missed a scheduled game drive, (2) there was a big difference between the indicative photos of camping accommodation provided in the pre-tour period, and the actual accommodation when we were there, (3) after arrival the team often seemed unaware of the agreed itinerary, changes to it and their necessity/rationale were not well communicated to us, and some planned activities did not happen e.g., 2 game drives, walking safari, boat trip (though apparently sometimes for reasons beyond the team's control), and (4) there were no seatbelts for passengers in the vehicle. Overall, I do not think these issues were intentional and probably related to a lack of adequate experience in delivering a product to a certain level.