US
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
South Africa Safari a $20K DISASTER
My review is based on the Facts concerning our disaster October 2019 Safari: 1. Provided flight times 4X to company, arrived in Cape Town after almost two days traveling and NO ONE from this company was there to meet us, would think that a company had been in business for so many years would have figured out how to meet guests at the airport, we finally found their rep after ONE Hour of searching the airport. We had paid an extra $220 because we were told that the company had to pay a driver to come pick us as we were a separate transfer because of our late arrival. We were very surprised that when we joined our large group that we were packed into a small van with passengers to our knowledge did NOT have to pay an extra transfer fee. We did NOT have a separate transfer as charged. Next, we choose this very expensive company because they advertise in writing that there will be a 10 guests per expedition. Another surprise for us was that we had 28 guests on our expedition which was 4 TIMES the advertised limit!! Because there were SO MANY guests, we were packed into small crowded vans for the entire Cape Town portion of this tour with guides who also served as drivers and their explanations could only be heard in the seat next to the driver, a real disaster, very poorly organized. Also we needed assistance in purchasing SA Rand and were UNABLE to get any assistance from Chris or his employees, we eventually solved the problem ourselves, Cape Town tour was totally disorganized as we had NO idea what to see or what to do with the large amount of FREE time we were given on this tour. This review is just the tip of the iceberg as I could almost write a book on how much we were disappointed on paying over $20K for a safari that we experienced so many problems. We should have spent this large amount of money on a different tour operator who was focused on providing more value for the dollar:(
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
The Tanzania part of the trip was a disaster
There was no driver at Tanzania border for us. The group before us also had no driver show up. The company would not tell us what was going on, and eventually would not answer any of our our calls. So the communication was horrible. We had to spend the night at a hotel by the border and pay for it ourselves (they say they will reimburse us). The next morning, they said a driver would be ready by 10am, but we sat around outside the hotel until 4pm with no word from the office. They were ignoring every call. We were finally met by a taxi driver who transferred us to another driver in Arusha and we had to drive at night to reach the hotel at Lake Manyara at 9:30 pm. As I write this, we are sitting at gate to Manyara Park where we have been waiting for nearly 2 hours, because Kenya Walking Survivors has not transferred money to the Tanzania company so our driver cannot get us in the park. We have no idea how much longer we will wait. They seem to have forgotten to make the necessary arrangements and preparations for our time in Tanzania. Park will not take my credit card because we are in a tour van. So we have lost 2+ days and morning light for photos. We are very unhappy now, and feel that we are wasting a lot of time with only a few days left in Africa.
Our Kenyan driver was very nice, and the Kenya part of the trip went smoothly. Oddly to me though, on the first day we were picked up, driven to office to pay last half of cost, then to get gas, and then to pick up water. It would have been nice if they had gotten gas and water before picking us up. They had half of the money up front. Our lodgings were nice and the Kenya part went well. I was not expecting the very long long drives on bad roads between the parks. It usually took all day (6-9 h) to go from one place to the next. The law does not allow driving tourists in the dark, so we used up lots of daytime to get from park to park. However, that is the nature of traveling in this area.
Our main problem has been the horrible experience getting into Tanzania, and getting into the park this morning has been just as bad. Horrible communication, and nothing has been prepared beforehand.
US
Very Poor Service For Amount Paid
The below is my opinion based on my experience with Go2Africa.
Go2Africa was reasonably good at selling the trip to us - good communication and pitching of experiences. That said, I agree with reviewer Anna who mentioned that they withhold information unless you ask them specifically (and in writing) - items such as the specific location of a lodge, whether you need vaccinations, where your pickup will be from (inside airport or after baggage claim).
Once they took our money is where we felt they really fell short of what we feel we paid for. In my opinion, this was made even worse by a lack of care when we reached out to them - both during the trip and afterwards.
A number of issues were encountered, including:
- Hotels forgot to put enough towels for all of our party - we emailed Go2Africa the first time this happened but it kept happening
- We'd booked and paid for a private vehicle for certain safaris but a lodge we stayed at did not know this - we had to awkwardly "fight for it" after our arrival - we feel Go2Africa should have been "on top" of what we had paid for and ensured this didn't happen
- One of our airport pickups was late, and we were left waiting for 15+ minutes outside of the airport
- One of our lodges was over 50 minutes away from the "prime" safari grounds - this was something they never told us when we were booking
- We were told that Go2Africa is a co-owner, co-investor and/or shareholder in another tour operator, called Asilia, they used this provider for parts of our trip (many Asilia cars advertise Go2Africa on their signage). The Asilia representative in one city offered to us, free of charge, a city tour at our next destination. When we arrived in this next city the Asilia team on site had no idea of this offer and, after loading our luggage into their car started awkwardly asking us for money for the tour. This made us very uncomfortable and when we later commented to Go2Africa, all they said was that they would "investigate" - our experience and time was still spoiled
- Go2Africa claimed to have reserved a restaurant for us but when we arrived we found out that the restaurant was closed on the day they said they'd confirmed the reservation for - this cost us valuable time on our tour (they later said their subcontractor should have reconfirmed this when we pushed them for accountability on it)
- They refused to provide any compensation for the issues we encountered and instead were, in my opinion, very defensive about everything that happened (they chose to blame their subcontractors rather than own the issues we encountered)
I personally would not use Go2Africa again, I feel that we paid for a premium experience and service, only to be treated quite poorly once we had paid them. Having awkward moments in foreign countries with tour operators was frustrating.... When paying for a trip, I believe you're paying for an experience. You have limited time during your travel and want to make the most of it. Go2Africa was very unsympathetic to this. I recommend looking at other options before considering Go2Africa.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Trip, But Very Unprofessional
First I'll start by saying that we had an amazing trip, saw many animals, our drivers were good, and Big Time was much cheaper than the other safari trips that I read about online.
However, I'm rating them a 2 because if you sign up with Big Time, you should understand what you may be getting into. They are slightly dishonest, and they consistently try to get more money from you.
It started by us agreeing to a 9 day safari online in advance of our trip. When we got to the Big Time office, we paid, but they made us pay an extra 5% to use credit card... And they do not accept checks. So they immediately violated the contract we agreed on, but after arguing, there was nothing we could do, because our whole trip depended on this safari, and we had no backup plan. So we paid extra.
Then, we learned that our 9 day safari was actually 2 smaller safaris with travel days in between. And despite the contract saying "all meals and hotels/campsites are included in the 9 day safari price," they made us pay extra for our hotel and meals in between the 1st and 2nd safari. They also charged us $20 if we wanted to use their sleeping bags at the campsite, when bedding was supposed to be included.
Now here comes the most ridiculous part. We were encouraged to change our safari plan by a Big Time manager instead of the one we originally decided on. We finally agreed to do the change. After we arrive from completing the safari, he says that we need to pay extra for changing the route! When this was never mentioned to us before! He even threatened to take the money that “we owed” out of the driver’s paycheck if we would not pay. It was completely unprofessional.
To sum up the experience, the actual safari was wonderful. Our drivers were very nice, and the vans were full (8 person van for safari #1 and 4 person van for safari #2), but we still had great views. However, the management uses too many sneaky tactics to get you to pay extra.
CO
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Sad ending of a dreamed safari
After lots of research we contacted Simon King at Eastco and were very pleased with the tour that he designed for us - although the level of communication (answering our questions, etc,) dropped dramatically once we had paid. The price for the tour was to include all expenses for transportation, food and lodging within Tanzania and admission to the parks and reserves selected. Our initial flight from Dar to Mwanza went smoothly, but our first problem occurred when nobody met us at Mwanza as arranged: effectively we lost half a day before arrangements were evidently cobbled together to get us to our first stop, where our drivers met us the next morning. The next problem occurred when without previous notice, our lodging was changed from Serengeti to tents at a mountain site closer to Ngorongoro - obviously an improvised solution, as we were unprepared for such a cold site and the camp had been hastily set up the day before, and there were insufficient blankets the first two nights; also, the isolation of the site required a long 2 and 1/2 hour drive over a bumpy dirt road to get to and from Serengeti for the additional two days planned there. This way it was impossible to get there early in the morning and we lost many hours in the Serengeti, one of our priorities. Things got worse when we got to Tarangire National Park and there was no money in the debit cards the guides had to pay entrances, and we stayed for three hours at the entrance trying to communicate with the company via email and phone, only after we called the Tourist Board did they contact us and told us to pay the entrance assuring they would reimburse us the following day (today 15 days later still no refund). That night when we got to beautiful Boundary Hill we where surprised with a New Year's dinner of only rice, there where no provisions or drinks (not even water) in the lodge. After the same experience in Arusha National Park (we were stuck at the entrance with no money in the card to pay and this time only one car for the group of eight since Mr. King decided to change guides and failed to replace wonderful Edward on time.) At this point, we decided to pay a visit to him at his "office" in Arusha and refused to leave until we reached an agreement. We ended up paying the entrance to this park as well. Faced with the risk of being stranded without funds for entering parks, etc. during the remainder of our tour, we came to a compromise agreement with Mr, King: much against our will, we abandoned the remainder of our planned itinerary and instead would go to Zanzibar (which would be cheaper than completing the tour as planned) and that Mr. King would refund the entrance fees we had had to pay, the difference in cost between Zanzibar and our planned itinerary and would compensate us for the more than three days lost. This all adds up to several thousand dollars, of which we have not received a penny so far. Perhaps the most irritating and frustrating aspect of this was the difficulty in communicating with Mr. King, and the fact that he offered different versions of the situation virtually every tome we were in contact with him
AE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Disappointed and let down!
My partner and I saw the itinerary for the 11 day exclusive safari in Tanzania&Zanzibar and thought it to be exactly what we were looking for. After confirmations and having our queries answered by the tour operator Tony, we went ahead and booked.
On the day we arrived, after having met our tour guide and Tony, we are told that the agenda for the week has been changed slightly. Reluctantly, we agree since there's nothing we could do at that point. The trip goes ahead just fine and we were meant to be on safari for 5 days spending 2 nights in one lodge/camp 2 nights in another and the last night in another. We in fact ended up staying in different lodges every night of our 5 nights there and were not told that this would be happening until when we were dropped off and told to pack our things for the next morning since we would not be staying here tonight. Completely unsettled for us to have to jump from lodge to lodge every night. We didn't know where we were going to be staying the following night, it was incredibly hard for us to relax comfortably and just enjoy the trip fully.
The itinerary included a trip to a museum and a visit to a Masai village. The Museum was completely scrapped from the list and for the Masai village, we were told that we had to pay an additional $50 each!! After having confronted our guide about this, he too was not aware that we were even meant to be going to these places! It's as though they were trying their luck to see what they could get away with not paying or doing. After putting our foot down and talking to Tony, he arranged for these two visits to take place but we shouldn't have had to have that conversation in the first place.
Lastly, the next leg of our trip was 5 days in Zanzibar. Before booking, we asked Tony if the package was inclusive of all meals and alcohol, he confidently responded yes that the alcohol was also apart of the package. We get to our resort in Zanzibar only to find that in fact he misled us and alcohol was not included in our reservation and so we had to pay for this out of our own pockets.
We were very disappointed and let down by Tony and this company. All communication had seemed to be thrown about of the window, not only were we not informed about changes etc, our tour guide was also sometimes in the dark about things that was meant to be communicated to him by Tony. Nothing at all about this trip was what we expected it to be, I don't think it was worth the money we paid for it, it wasn't a luxury tour like it stated and would recommend anyone against them to avoid such disappointment.
CA
Review from a 3 week tour of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in Jan 2016
Review from a 3 week tour of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in Jan 2016.
Before I begin the review of atc, I wanted to make note that many of overland tours are similar in terms of itinerary, food, vehicle, etc. What really makes or breaks the trip are the people. If you have a bad group (whether crew or passengers), that's really what's going affect you the most.
I did not have a good group - a lot of negative people, complainers who really should have not booked a budget camping tour in Africa but they were too cheap to do an upgraded so instead chose to complain about everything.The point of this is, you can't really base your decision to go with a company based on reviews.
Anyways, overall everything advertised in the itinerary was delivered but I don't think itinerary was transparent about the amount of time spent on the truck. It would have good to include approximate distance and time travelled each day would be good so passengers are informed beforehand (not during) of how much time they'll actually be spending on the truck. I would estimate 3/4 of the time was the truck.
The food mediocre Less processed ingredients should be provided and definitely more variety. There should have been opportunity to try local food but there was none, that was hugely disappointing. Instead of buying crappy food from the supermarket, why not take us a local restaurant once in a while? The crew did not eat what we ate for lunch. They would get local food. In one instance we stopped right in front of a restaurant (where the crew ate, yet we were given the same old thing) and ridiculously overpriced souvenir shop (e.g. quote given for a small wooden statue - $400), absolutely ridiculous.
The overland truck was sufficient though had there been more passengers, I definitely would not be happy being cramped on that truck for the amount of time were on there. The truck itself looked/felt dirty but because it's dated and old but the driver did clean it.
Campsites were in good condition and most (if not all) had an option to upgrade, hot water and wifi (though often didn't work) and bar/restaurant. Tents and sleeping mats were durable, good quality, though stinky because you often have to pack them up when they're still wet from condensation or rain.
Aside from the driver, I didn't find the crew to be friendly or approachable. They did not interact with the group and were aloof and to be quite honest had a chip on their shoulder. I felt that we were a nuisance to them and they couldn't be bothered with us, and it often felt they were talking about us in Swahili. I certainly didn't feel at ease with them. I also didn't feel any effort was put into the trip, just the bare minimum just to say they did it. It didn't come across that the leader and cook enjoyed their jobs.Having said that, the cook did provide us with a hot breakfast everyday even if that meant waking up at 4am.
The payment method was ridiculously complicated and unnecessary. It should be the crew's responsibility to ensure they have the required local payment, not for passengers to be carrying US$ for local payment.
However, my biggest complaint is about being overcharged (and feeling ripped off). For one, the prices for the optional excursion were much higher than should have been. We paid $500 (plus tips for the guides, cooks, etc) for 2 days for the Serengetti excursion, yet others I met during my travels paid the same amount for a 4 day tour! In Zanzibar, the spice tour was $40 with ATC yet I got it for $15 on my own (lunch and transportation included) only 3 other pax. All the Zanzibar excursions were double if not triple the prices. The whole point of going with a group was cheaper prices but ATC charges the same or more.
I also don't understand what the local payment went towards. I paid equivalent of $80USD/day. Campsites cost $5 (according to tour leader), the food purchased cannot possibly be more than $15/person/day - even that is a high estimate. Fuel, I'm not sure how much that would be but certainly not $60/person/day. Most days were spent on the bus (no entrance fees or other costs). So what was that money used for?
Hope this helps others in deciding.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Second rate at best, owner has no integrity!
Where do I start, the food in the camps was good but that's about it! A party of 6 doing a 12 night trip all paid for before we arrived. 3rd day we are at Speke Bay Lodge for one night, our safari landrovers turn up at 1300 hours to collect us, they are immediately blocked in by a tractor and trailer, the management of the lodge inform us that East African Safari and Touring company (also known as EastCo) had not paid for our stay and would not let us go until they did, our luggage was locked in reception. The lodge management then phone EastCO and ask me to speak to the owner Mr Simon King, this I agreed to as I was not happy, after a long chat Mr King asked me to pay off his debt with my credit card, I suggested he use his own credit card, as we had paid for everything up front, he hung the phone up!! About an hour later Mr King phoned and asked to speak to a different member of our party and ask them to pay his debt, again told no, again he hung up. After we had been held hostage for 4 hours, I'm afraid to say that with no help from our tour company, I threatened to kick in the reception door and I would move the tractor (I'm a farmers son) At this point the lodge management get us go, this would turn out to be the first of 3 safari drives we would miss out on due to EastCo's lack of integrity. We drove for 5 hours, mostly in the dark, to arrive at our next lodge at 2100 hours. So lets talk about our 2 Landrover defender safari jeeps, both 15 years old, most of the seals round the doors were gone, so we were covered in dust most of the time, One only had 4 gears out of 5, the other sometimes 3 or 4 gears ( this would cost us another game drive later as the gear box would fall out) this jeep also had 6 warning lights on from day it picked us up! On another day one of the pop up roofs would not stay up, so we were only able to look out of the side windows, most of which were stuck shut! On 2 days we drove for 11 hours between camps, only to be told on arriving at EastCo'c tented camp there was only enough water for 4 people to shower, on the second day at the tented camp 5 French guest arrived to be told there was no water for showers! Ok, I think you are getting the idea of how our trip went, missed game drives, charging a lodge without telling us, the 2 drivers did the best they could with the resource they were given, each time we entered a Game park the drivers had to fill in forms and pay cash which took about 30 minutes, while all the other safari companies stopped for 30 seconds, showed there passes and drove on.
Do not use this company.
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Seen a lot and complained a lot with Meru Mountain Treks
Mating lions in Serengeti, the continuous migration of wildebeest and zebras and the aftermath of a nightly hunting party of thirteen lions in the Ngorongoro crater. Yes, our experiences with Meru Mountain Treks were beyond our expectations. Thanks to our driver/guide Richard. He knows the parks, anticipates the behavior of the animals and turned out te be a nice guy. The cook had had simple tools but presented good meals.
So far so good. Yes, we knew we booked a budget safari (four days, four persons, $600 each) so we couldn't expect to much luxury. The problems started with the jeep. Despite assurances that all our gear would fit in it, the jeep was way too small. Richard arranged al larger one at additional costs ($300). The tents we were supposed to sleep in were moldy, had zippers that couldn't be closed and leaked. The least one may expect on a tent safari in the rainy saison is that the tents are waterproof. The first night there was an alternative: simple concrete huts, the second night half of our company decided to sleep in the jeep and the third night we slept in a guesthouse (again at additional costs of $300).
In stead of a quiet evening after a day of encounters with giraffes, elephants, lions and hippos, we constantly had to argue about the poor accommodation. There were telephone calls with Mr. Ibrahim, the director of Meru Mountain Treks, but he persisted that his tents were fine. After our return in Arusha an employee of Meru Mountain Treks invited us to talk about our experiences and our complaints. He announced that Mr. Ibrahim would show up later to hear our story first hand. But eventually he didn't bother. We never heard from Meru Mountain Treks again. Needless to say that Meru Mountain Treks will neither from us.
PE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It Started in Africa ¿An Option?
I write these commentaries because I believe that we have a responsability with other tourists who, as we did, organize their trips taking into consideration the opinions and commentaries of people in Tripadvisor and Safaribooking.com
I will try to be objective in my commentaries most of all because the experience we lived surpasses all inconveniences and obliges us to put things in their true dimension.
All coordinations were wonderful, Luis Gama as well as Joao Oliveira replied and answered all our questions promptly and clearly.
What did they offer us:
1 "Pickup/dropoff from Kilimanjaro airport":
We arrived to Kilimanjaro¨'s Airport on time, the van that was supposed to pick us up was not there, although we must state that they had arranged for someone to have a poster and explain to us that they were on their way to pick us up.
2. "All our vehicles are extremely well maintained 4x4 Land Cruisers with pop-up open roof":
It called our attention that the van was not as modern as others we had seen picking up groups of turists. The handles of the windows did not work and it was very difficult to open the windows. The door on the right side did not have an internal handle to open it so we always had to ask the guides to open and close the door for us.
The seat on the second row, on the left, was totally broken so it was imposible to go through a long journey without causing back pain. Because of our complains they changed the vehicle. This was worse because the transmition, the springs, the shock absorber and the two back tires broke. It was a miracle that it just added up to a big fright. I want to take this opportunity to thank the African Scenic and the group of young doctors of Hong Kong who so kindly helped us and transported us to our camp. Finally we went back to our first vehicle. They had fixed the seat but, apparently, the steer started to fail and we wondered if we would get to the airport in time for our flight
3 "You will have at your disposal, a pair of High End Large Binoculars (Nixon, Olympus of Bushnell) that will dramatically enhance your safari experience when compared to standard binoculars":
This made us think that each member of the group would have a pair of binoculars. It finally happened but only one pair could be considered "high end", the others were broken or you could not see clearly.
4. "All our safaris have unlimited mileage which means you will be able to do game drives for as long and far as you¨[would like within the parks operational hours": Complied
5. "All National Park entrance and camp site fees": Complied
6. "Accommodation as detailed": Complied to our total satisfaction
7. "All food-breakfasts, packed lunches and evening meals":
The lodges were responsable for our food and the chefs were very kind and prepared special meals according to our alimentary restrictions, if somebody could not eat from the buffet. We were surprised, however, to learn that they did not have our meal restrctions registered, This situation delayed our trip to the Tarangire National Park because we had to look for a restaurant where they could cook special meals.
8 "Bottled wáter and soft drinks": We could always find bottles of water but never soft drinks.
9. "Lonely Planet about Tanzania": In January they offered us that they could buy three of these books in spanish. We paid for them in advance. When we arrived, four months after, they had only two books in english. We understand that it may be dificult to find spanish version but they had four months to do it or warn us that they failed finding them. Finally we got a third book in spanish.
10. "Our guides, which are our real stars and the ones who can make the difference between a nice trip and a once in a lifetime journey that you will never forget for decades to come":
We had Frederick Isangya (Alfred) as our guide in spanish as well as Estomi as our driver. This was a plus as we were told that the presentations were in english and we observed that the driver was the guide in other safaris.
Frederick answered with certitude all our questions relative to the animals, their habitat and behavior. He complimented this information with literature that was in the vehicle and thus allowed us to learn more about this fascinating continent. He always fullfilled our expectations. Estomi is an excellent driver and thanks to his skills the accident we had had no mayor consecuences.
Frederick and Estomi, as the visible face of the Company, had at all times the best disposition to face and solve, in the best way, all the problems and inconveniences during the safari.
When they realized that an adequate lunch pack for one of the members of the group was missing they bought a box and searched for the special meal in a restaurant. They made the necessary coordinations with the Arusha office in order to find a solution to all the inconveniences that arose during the trip and never avoided the reponsability that "It Started in Africa" had towards us.
Conclusion
It Started in Africa did not comply with two fundamental things in order to make a safari successfull : i ) The maintenance of their vehicles and ii) the care of the special food we required.
¿Would we hire "It Started in Africa" again? We dont think so, although we must aknowledge that at all times, through their team, they faced all inconveniences. ¿Would we hire Frederick (Alfred) and Estomi? Yes with no doubt, they were extraordinary.
To finish I would like to state that the group had decided from the very start that nothing would ruin this marvellous adventure and that our motto, in spite of the problems, always was "Hakuna Matata"
I hope our commentaries may be of help to you