20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Outsourced to another operator that provided poor service; bad client service after paying money.
The review is a bit lengthy but please read in full. I booked a 3-day shared tour in Masai Mara from 10-12Aug with 7 other travellers. Tour is operated by Bencia Africa Adventure & Safaris (I wasn't informed of this whatsoever until boarding the van).
Pre-tour: agreed on 2-person tent on SMS with Roselyne who had a friendly tone.
Day 1: Was picked up at 8:30am as scheduled and arrived at office at 9am to get into an uncleaned safari van. Other travellers were told to arrive at the office at 8am, meaning they had to wait for 1 hour pointlessly due to tour operator's poor arrangement.
Arrived at Miti Mingi Eco Camp, waited for 10 minutes, no reception at all and of course no room plans. Had the evening drive and returned to the camp at 630pm. Had a 30-minute wait for dinner, during which the tour guide did not give information on room and meal arrangements until we searched for him around the Camp. After dinner, waited for 1 hour to ask for information ourselves by searching for Camp manager / tour guide / etc. At 9pm, Camp manager said the camp is overbooked and asked me and another male traveller to stay in a 4-person tent (with 2 other people), and said "will talk about other things the next days". The other 6 travellers (1 man 5 women) were driven for >15min to another lower-quality campsite.
Day 2: Tour guide gave minimal explanation of animals (total talking time <15min). Definitely not the best guide as Roselyne described, despite his ability to follow other vans to spot the big 5. Visit to Keekorok Lodge was great.
At the Camp, we found the Camp manager for refund arrangements given the inconvenience and no 2-person tent as agreed due to overbooking. He argued he delivered his services because we spent a night at his tent. He refused to provide refunds because he claimed only the tour operator (Bencia), not the travellers, are their customers. His attitude was poor despite we the customers kept calm.
That night, my roommate and I stayed in the same 4-person tent (with no other people). Note that 4-person tents has worse facility and sanity levels compared to 2-person tents that other travellers stayed in.
Day 3: Had an early morning drive. We weren't informed by the driver of when and where the van will stop for lunch during the drive back to Nairobi.
Went to Bencia's office to complain the above issues and asked for some refunds. Bencia said they need to discuss internally for 2 days and will inform me of the decision. No follow-up since then.
Messaged Roselyne to complain politely. She said "There is no refund! You never slept outside. You ate and used water in the camp." "We don't refund clients after they have done a safari and feel like they need their money back. This is fraud!". No reply on messages sent over various days afterwards.
Fraud or not, my fellow travellers, it's your decision.
ttdr: didn't understand the overwhelmingly good reviews of Hyrax Safari and Roselyne.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The park is well maintained and protected by authorities, but wildlife was difficult to spot.
Visiting Akagera National Park was my third game drive in Africa, followed by game drives in Kenya and Tanzania.
Akagera National Park is highly monitored and protected by local authorities against poachers. I was also told a percentage of the park fees are administered to neighboring communities so as to provide some economic income and deter poaching.
I know every game drive is different, and a lot depends on what and how many animals you see. However, my game drive in Akagera was really disappointing. I hardly saw any wildlife- zero in the first half of the drive. I think this was largely due to the fact that most of the park had recently been burned to 'control wildfires'. If I had known most of the park was recently burned, I would not have elected to go on the game drive as
I am sure this scared off most of the wildlife.
I recommend not visiting Akagera from June-August as this is when the park is burned. In addition, there is no off-roading allowed in the park. So, if wildlife are not close to the main road, it will be vey difficult to see them.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beautiful scenery but specific tour was a disaster
Scenery of dunes was amazing
Weather was not that cold for desert and for wintertime , warm during the day
We didn't receive lunch on first day, other days the food was very little, others bought food .The vegetarians and vegans had much more limited options too for barbeque
Guide was not informative and we hardly received any info about sights we visited.
Transportation was a broken down game drive vehicle , some bumping there heads on the roof when we visited Deadvlei .Our specific vehicle broke down in middle of the desert without a spare tyre .
Camping facilities basic and okay
BE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Disappointing experience
The Safai itself was quite well organized and very nice. I would also say that the price was fair, at least the initially planned price. That's where my disappointing experience kicks in:
The payment methods offered by the Red Chilli feel a bit like a rip-off. When I booked the tour, they insisted I would have to pay a 50%-deposit to confirm. They gave me some payment options, but without any information on which option has the lowest fees. As they all locked similar to me, I picked one randomly. This led to bank fees of 60 USD (more than 33% of the amount)! The management later said sorry for this, but refused to give me any form of compensation, even not a sign of good will (like a free night worth 12 USD for example, as proposed by me).
Furthermore, all cash payments in local currency at the hostel use an exchange rate that is 3,5% lower than the real one (there is also a 3,5% fee on card payments in the local currency) . Thus, you pay extra if you use the local currency! I obviously only found that out at the end of my stay.
Alltogether, it just didn't feel right. I would not recommand the Red Chilli, as there must be better options out there.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Extremely poor coordination
i booked a safari from Bonfire on 8th September, guide and safari van was ok. the coordination and communication from my agent innocent was pathetic. She was not reachable two days before the safari. Driver and vehicle details were not shared until i made 20 calls to various numbers. finally number was shared on saturday 19.00 hrs for sunday morning safari and to my surprise, the mentioned driver never came instead send some other driver.
this is pathetic and frustrating for the monies paid. i will recommend not to choose bonfire because of very poor customer service.
Regards,
Nachiket
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Terrible Vehicle - Great guide
We were extremely disappointed with our experience with Swala due to the dilapidated condition of the vehicle we were put in. The car was clearly greater than 20 yrs old, super high mileage and in terrible condition. It was very underpowered and clearly badly misaligned. To go straight, the steering wheel was at 4 o'clock. We were always the slowest on the road; our guide did not seem comfortable driving the vehicle at regular speed. 3 of 6 seat belts were nonfunctional, passenger doors couldn't be opened from inside and none of the seats had headrests. The "cooler" did not cool so drinks were always warm. We had several harrowing moments. Leaving the Serengeti, the car made a sparking noise and smoke came out the dash vents. Fortunately, after waiting a bit, it restarted and smoke stopped. Another time, while climbing out of Ngorongoro crater, transmission popped out of gear and the car made a bad smell and initially, would not go back in gear. We held our breaths the rest of the trip out of the crater. Also, the brakes started squeaking horribly and we needed to take the time to take it to a local mechanic because we had no faith that the car could be safely driven. Thank god for our outstanding guide, Sunday, who not only was extremely talented at picking out wildlife and providing a fountain of knowledge regarding animals and habitats but also possessed much needed mechanical skills. Throughout our 7 day safari, I did not see a single other vehicle in nearly as poor condition. Honestly, we felt very unsafe and several times seriously considered abandoning the rest of our trip out of safety concerns..
So if you are looking for a safari with an extra dose of discomfort and fear, Swala is for you. Otherwise, I'd stay away. Sunday our guide, however, was outstanding and I would go again with him (with a different company) anytime.
FYI: Our car did not resemble any of those in their pictures. My guess is they are too embarrassed to show it..
AE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tours are not that organize when it comes to timings.
I was dissapointed as we were not able to see the crossing/migration due to time.
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A great Safari marred by a VERY poor quality vehicles - no satisfaction in getting replacements
Uhuru Travel regarding the vehicles provided for our recent safari with that company.
The vehicles advertised by Uhuru Travel were not provided and very inferior old vehicles were used despite our requests for replacements. We expected a vehicle similar to that in the pictures sent to us in an email but were transported in the sub-standard vehicles.
Apart from the age of the vehicle (manufactured in 1999, hence 20 years old), it had many unsafe features, namely:-
1. We were unable to open the one passenger door from inside the cabin - see pic 4 - jammed up against the seat and difficult to use
2. The seatbelts were difficult to attach and impossible to tighten
3. There was no left-hand rearview mirror - see pic 9
4. The seals were in a poor state
5. The bull-bar was dragging and had to be tied up - see pic 10
6. The seats were extremely uncomfortable - the backs were leaning uncomfortably too far whilst the seats all sloped making for a VERY uncomfortable ride
7. There was only one panic handle with considering the uneven and very bumpy roads further exacerbated the uncomfortable ride
8. The driver had to push up and down his window which was unsafe
9. Limited visibility through the windows
Finally, we paid extra for an upgrade of a vehicle which was not forthcoming.
We were given several promises to replace the vehicle with a better version followed by a number of excuses as to why we had to wait another day for one to be sent. No replacement vehicle was provided. Quote from a director "You don't need a Ferrari for a Safari".
We feel that this company has not been honest with us and has made what should have been a holiday to remember with pleasure and amazement to one of disappointment. We also feel that they have let you (Safari Booking Company) down. We can hardly recommend you or them as reliable sources for safaris in the future.
You may have noted our comments regarding our safari experience on TripAdvisor. I hope the above confirms our poor rating as being far from unfair.
SE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Amboseli National Park by Hanna
Very dusty at this time of the year, august. A lot of tourists in a small park.
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Did not deliver on promises despite our constant concerns
We have just returned from a safari in Kenya and Tanzania. The accommodation was as expected as we checked the lodges online prior to booking to check the level. However the vehicles in both countries weren’t even road/safety worthy and did not look like the picture we received from Abdallah, the owner, prior to booking. To add insult to injury, we paid extra to ensure we had a comfortable vehicle. In both countries we had by far the worst vehicle seen anywhere. One was over 20 years old with lots of safety and comfort issues. When we complained we were told lies after lies and were strung along. Eventually they said all they’re required to do is give us a vehicle that works! I would strongly suggest you do not deal with this company as they’re not trustworthy.