20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Car flipped, itinerary changed, poor communication
Absolutely DO NOT book with Suricata. The gist: Itinerary changed last minute, despite us booking 7 months in advance. Our car crashed on day one, and management did NOT contact us until we reached out to management directly. We were left stranded at the Serengeti gate for 2 hours after. We had to call multiple Suricata numbers to try to get a hold of someone to help us.
First, despite having booked 7 months in advance for the 5 day mid range safari, the company changed our itinerary last minute letting us know the evening before. We were given different explanations by different people, but ultimately we believe it was due to overbooking and not enough rooms at our planned lodging, Suricata Boma Lodge. We believe this because another tour group from Suricata went on the planned itinerary (booking only weeks before), and had to share a room with a stranger they met on the tour because lodging was full.
Going back to the accident. On day 1, we felt our tour guide was driving recklessly, around 80+ km/hr on a very bumpy road in Ngorongoro Crater. He lost control, we veered off the road, and ultimately the car flipped on the side. Our guide had another driver from another company drive us 2 hours to Serengeti, which is where we were supposed to go to (on day 1) for the game drive after the itinerary change. He stayed behind with the car and was hesitant to give us his phone number. Upon arrival to the Serengeti gate, the other driver dropped us off, and said he wouldn't wait for us to figure out what the plan with Suricata was. We started calling any Suricata number we had, but we could not get in contact with anyone from Suricata, including our initial guide. It's important to mention that the company did NOT contact any of us at all, not during the 2 hour drive to Serengeti after the accident. We called multiple different numbers, none of whom were very responsive. We had to ask another Suricata tour group driver who drove by the Serengeti gate to help us contact management, and it was at that point they said they were going to send someone to pick us up. We waited an additional 2 hours at Serengeti gate entrance to be picked up and dropped off at Tanzania bush camp. This happened to be the wrong location because our names weren't listed and so we had to share a tent with another couple on our tour group we just met.
The days that followed were better, but multiple things came up that were frustrating.
1- We all felt SO unsafe being on the roads again after, and not all cars Suricata provided had working seatbelts!!
2- We changed guides almost every day, but WE had to ask management every day to figure out what the plan was and who our guide was. They NEVER reached out first.
3- Each game drive was probably only 3 hours long.
4- On our drive to Arusha, the Suricata driver pulled us to the side of the road and asked us to stop at the community center so he could get commission. It felt like he was pressuring us.
5- We finally met with one of the managers of Suricata at the end of the 5 day trip. He ultimately agreed to only give us 20% refund because it was 1 day refund. That felt like it was the bare minimum.
The safari themselves were good, but of course this experience itself is amazing. But you don't need Suricata to give you this experience, so I urge you, if you are reading this, DO NOT BOOK WITH SURICATA! They are a large company here in Tanzania, but their customer service, management, and communication is AWFUL. You will feel better cared for with another company.
