PT
No value for money
The experience was not good. We did 4 days ( Maasai and Nakuru)
The driver was not kind. He didn't listen to our requests. First day we wanted to go for a game drive and he wanted to rest, we were waiting for him. we were always the first car returning to the hotel.
He have few information about the animals and landscape and everytime we did a question he answered with sarcasm ( sometimes he even don't answer)
Finally, we drive 7 hours to Nakuru to do 1 hour game drive on the first day and on he second day again only one hour. We arrived very early in nairobi just for nothing.
Definitely it was not a good experience
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Authentic African safari with a lack of organization
We've booked a "4-Day Kenya Lodge Safari". The first 3 Days in Masai Mara with the Mara sopa lodge for 2 nights and 1 Night in Lake Nakuru NP at the Lake Nakuru Lodge.
Unfortunately we did not get what we booked.
We get a tent camp as an alternative for the overbooked Mara sopa lodge. It wasn't the same standard! Mara Sopa Lodge is much more expensive and we get no money back.
On the 3rd day was a 3-hour game drive according to our booking confirmation. But we only get a 2-hour game drive. On the way to the lake nakuru we had lunch and the driver droped us off with the message, we have to wait for another driver. After 3 hours we were finally picked up!!!
But now it was toooo late for the afternoon game-drive at lake nakuru, because we arrived there around 7 pm.
During the whole stay was promised us according to booking confirmation free water to each meal.
At dinner in the camp/lodge there is no water include! To every dinner we had to pay for water!
When we told all these things to the tour organizer, they said that we should not make a mountain out of this and said, that´'s not their fault because of the free water. We should take water from the car to the hotel to drink this during dinner.
In summary, we can recommend this safari-tour in any case, but the tour operator would have to act somewhat more customer-friendly.
The animals and landscape are unique!
US
20-35 years of age
Beautiful Mountain on its Way to Ruin
Mt. Kilimanjaro is, needless to say, a pretty unique place on earth. Unfortunately, Tanzania runs it more like an amusement park than a place to be revered for its national beauty.
As the camps get more crowded closer to the summit (the trails merge) they get progressively worse. Tour companies do not treat the place very well. Trash is abundant around all the campsites, and the vegetation is trampled/abused all around, I suspect, not by the toursists themselves, but by the 3+ crew members typically accompanying each tourist.
Most disappointingly, human waste policies are almost non existent or just not followed (no bathroom business within 50m of a trail, for example.) Outside of camps, every few minutes, you will pass a spot that smells like the national pee-corner, or a spot with enough used toilet paper to cover a kitchen table. Really detrimental to encounter this so frequently in a place that I'd hope to see as pristine as possible.
Unfortunately, the camp toilets are not much better. In a year of living in Tanzania, the large public toilets with tile floors are the worst smelling restrooms I have encountered anywhere in this country, and of any public park anywhere in the world. The small wooden ones over a pit are pretty standard bush toilets, so they're ok.
I realize that this sounds like a prissy white guy from a developed country has his panties in a bunch because things aren't squeaky clean in Africa, but I relish the "roughing it" experience one can find camping or traveling in less-developed parts of the world. I'm no stranger to gross or inadequate toilets, but I was pretty disappointed in what I encountered in such a world-famous park that supposedly hosts luxury trips. Nothing luxurious about stepping over human feces on your way up the mountain (literally happened).
These two things (trash and sanitation) really deflated my experience of an otherwise incredible trip. The company I went with did everything in their power to make it fantastic, and its sad that my only grievances are with the park itself. The ecosystems you pass through and the views from some of the camps are stunning, and 19,341 feet does feel pretty cool.
But its absolutely not worth paying Tanzanian Natl Parks the fee they extort from visitors for a park that's so poorly maintained. You could have an unreal three week vacation in SE Asia for the same money, without (ideally) hiking through a sewer. If you're dead set on climbing a mountain in TZ though - Mt. Meru is incredible and Mt. Hanang is really cool too. Cost you about 1/6 the money for Meru, Hanang less than $100. Kilimanjaro, is unfortunately, overrated.
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Company not reliable
We booked the Safari with this company because they confirmed to get the lodges we wanted. As soon as we paid they said they were no availibities. So we have been to other lodges (one was an hotel) and very far away from the places we have to go. Peter (Manager of the company said he will do his best to get the lodges we wanted but he never called them (we checked directly with the lodge). The lodges and hotels we went were cheaper than the lodges promised. Concerning the Safari, it was a 4 days Safari Serengenti/Ngoro Ngoro: 2 days were only driving fast on awful roads and not a Safari at all. We paid for a 4 days Safari but had only one day and a half. They were not breaks for lunch (only 20mn the first day, and it was in the car the second day! My back is completely destroyed!!! We asked the driver to have more breaks but he didn't listened to us. The animals we saw were amazing but in awful conditions!!!
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not recommended
Cominciamo col dire che il rispetto dell'orario non è il punto forte di questo tour operator. Il nostro piano prevedeva che appena arrivati all'aeroporto di Dar Es Salaam alle 6.45 dovessimo partire subito per il Selus Reserve. Invece abbiamo dovuto aspettare un'altra turista alle 7.30. Poi fino alle 9.00 in dar Es Salaam perche il driver doveva ritirare il cibo che serviva al cuoco all'interno del camp. Poi finalmente partenza e a metà starada abbiamo aspettato per circa 1 ora e mezza un altro driver che dava il cambio al nostro. In tutto questo, siamo arrivati all'Hippo camp alle 4.30 p.m. e come pranzo ci è stato servito una coscia di pollo fredda e nera, un piatto di patatine fritte fredde e un pò di insalata. A cena, un piatto di spaghetti alla bolognese immangiabili. il giorno dopo il safari è andato bene anche se il pranzo prevedeva un'altra coscia di pollo fredda e nera, un sandwich, uno yogurt e una banana. L'ultimo giorno, dopo colazione, una breve passeggiata di mezz'ora nei paraggi nel camp, altro viaggio di 5 ore per l'aeroporto. Non consiglio assolutamente questo tour operator.
Let's start by saying that respect for time is not the strong point of this tour operator. Our plan provided that we just arrived at Dar Es Salaam at 6:45 pm and we should leave for Selus Reserve. Instead we had to wait for another tourist at 7.30am. Then until 9:00 am in Es Salaam, because the driver had to pick up the food he needed for the cook inside the camp. Then we finally got off and half starada waited for about 1 and a half hour another driver who changed the way to ours. In all of this, we arrived at Hoppo Camp at 4.30pm. And as a lunch we were served a cold and black chicken thigh, a plate of cold fries and a bit of salad. At dinner, a dish of spaghetti with Bolognese inedible. The next day the safari went well even though the lunch provided another cold and black chicken thigh, a sandwich, a yogurt and a banana. On the last day, after breakfast, a short half-hour walk around the camp, another 5-hour trip to the airport. I absolutely do not recommend this tour operator.
FI
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Not what I expected
In this safari business as in many others in Tanzania, it seems that you are buying from some company in particular but then they just put you with the same budget pack that many others offer. We booked everything through Back of Africa but once we arrived to the office, Allan, whom I have been all the time in contact, was not there, there was no signs or credentials or anything that would refer to Back of Africa. We trusted the guy at the reception, his name sounded like "Biarman". So we paid the big amount of money for the safari to him and we didn't even get a receipt. The same guy at the reception was our guide and driver the whole trip. The first day of safari was terrible, the guy was very lazy, not even going out of the car to show us the birds when we stopped at a viewpoint. He could not recognize birds more specificly than the basic information if it was e.g. "a hawk". We didn't have the promised binoculars for each neither the guides, not even one for the whole group of 5 people. Then I contacted Allan try to get some clear info about who is the guide we have and for whom does he work. Allan didn't even know the guy, afterwards he said he was new in the company. But the funny thing is that when we asked to Biarman he said that he works for Sandland Tours, the same company as the logo there was in the safari car. There was 1 person in our group that had booked the safari through a completely different company. We never got this thing clear. And it seems a common practice to put people that has booked through different companies together in the same safari. I think that only in Arusha there was something like 280 different companies, but at the end, many of them belong to the same owner, or they just change the name when the company lose its reputation or whatever, but you can never trust that the company you are booking with, will be the same you are actually going with.
(By the way, Sandland Tours has the worst reviews ever on the Internet...)
Anyways, we tried to make the best out of what we had, we put some pressure to the guide to make a bit bigger effort to find the animals, and it improved, at the end of the day we saw pretty much. I don't think he was a bad guide, but he was not a very good one either. He was just doing his job to get paid, he did not enjoy his job, he was not a nature lover.
The first day we did not have any binoculars, after the second day, we had 1 for 5 people and it was broken and not very good quality. I think it is essential to have good binocular for a safari, and they promised 1 for each, which never happened. We never got any wildlife guide or book.
The camping sites were what they were, don't expect too much, but it was good enough. Our tent was the oldest in the camp and it didn't smell nice. Thank god we brought our own sleeping bags cause theirs were pretty smelly too. We had the poorest chairs to sit during meals, and no chairs at all to be able to relax in the camp site, but the guide had his own nice chair to relax. In some camps there are no lights so they could have adviced to bring own headlamps (we had ours, but other people did not). In one of the camps there was no electricity, so for people without power banks it was a serious problem if you couldn't charge the camera.
There was 2 days that we had to take the cook with us, which make the car not big enough. The cook sat on the front with the driver so we had to share the 4 windows seats on the back with 5 people, while in the national park, seeing the animals. Specially in Serengueti it becomes extremely dusty, it would not have been a big job to cover the bags on the trunk so they wouldn't be completely brown from the dust by the time we reached the camp.
The safari of 5 days in the 4 main national parks in the North of Tanzania was still worth it for the own awesomeness of the places, but certainly not because of the company we booked with, whatever that company was...
IL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Richard the owner and maneger is unreliable, is not helpful and doesn't do what he promices
We hd a 6 day tour with very good driver and guide Horase and the chef Gadi. We got a car in a poor condition with starter problems and brake problems. We were promissed oraly and written to get to see the big migration in the Serengeti. The company tryed to hide from us that it's possible to get there and see it and when we asked for in the middle of the trip Richard shouted at us and asked for more money. unfortunately we didn't get there.
This company is unreliebel, be careful.
IL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Don't book with this company, you'll be desappointed
We booked a group tour and paid for it a couple of months in advance. We aggreed with Tony on a particular itinerary that we carefuly planned out, including 4 safari NP, a walking safari, two tracks and a list of specific lodges we wanted.
When we started the tour it slowly became obvious that we were taken on one of the regular itineraries instead of the one we agreed on. Every day we had to argue about the schedule and make Tony change our route. After one such argument we got our walking safary, only to be taken to literaly a sheep-shit full field nowhere near the reservation. It took some more arguing and nerves for us to be taken on a "real" walking safari. Needless to say that most of the lodges were not the ones aggreed upon in advance, though it being the off season I have to say the lodges we stayed in were more or less on the same level. Still frustrating. Our driver guide was more of a driver than a guide, most of the time just driving us around in quiet. To top it all, the jeep was old and in horrific condition. The ceiling leeked water throughout the tour and we had no less than 6 flat tiers, the last 2 happening in the midst of the Serengeti NP with no spares and no cellphone connection. Luckily we were picked up by another tour group, but than spent the entire day at the hotel waiting for our driver guide to fix the car. No need to tell you how expencive a safari day is and how annoying it is to miss one like that. Got to say Tony paid us back half the price for the day, still waiting on the other half.
In short, very frustraiting. All that we agreed on in advance was completely meaningless as far as Tony was concerned. Don't book a tour with him.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very unprofessional tour
Out safari guide showed up at our hotel with no paperwork or verification who he was. No uniform, no ID. He had to call Kanuth to verify. The vehicle was not in great shape and it appeared his license plates were expired. When ever we stopped at a checkpoint, he took about an hour in each office. All the other drivers showed their paperwork and they were off in 5 minutes. Our vehicle had a dead battery and no Air conditioning. Driver had to get a push start or start on a hill to get going. Very dusty ride. The guide was knowledable about the area and animals though. The guide and the cook did not seem to work well together,, just seemed to be business arrangement.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Not what was agreed or paid for
I agreed and paid for a 'safari' covering the Mara and Serengeti, with some other parks. This was Jan-Feb 2017.
The bottom line to my problem with it all was that I did not get what was agreed (in detail) and paid for. I also lost days off my holiday as a result. I have e-mail evidence etc to support all of this.
It became apparent that some of the things that were agreed were unlikely anyway due to distances and travel connections, in which case, why were they agreed?
I (mostly) enjoyed my safaris, but this was thanks to the actual providers, not to TAAS, who as far as I could tell were only sub-contracting me anyway.
I was meant to be mostly mid-range, but ended up mostly budget, and some of that was severe end of budget.
In practice, especially for solo travellers or couples, you are likely to be passed on to other companies. Many companies barely have offices never mind their own vehicles, etc, they just sub-contract, sometimes many times, and slice money off the top.
As such I would advise paying a little more and sticking to firms with actual offices and their own vehicles and some history, and make your own group if you can. If Serengeti, perhaps wait till you get to Arusha and have a good look at the numerous options available.
The economics and logistics of all the above is understandable and acceptable, but only if clear and transparent. What I can't accept is being promised one thing and then being given another, largely inferior thing.