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
NO
Search for Moley
Im looking for a ranger with the name Moley? I hope he is still at Ruaha? Im a friend that worked with him ? Can you please ask him to contact me via mail?
Kind regards
Rudi from Makalali Game reserve?
LU
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
What can you expect, not the extra mile.....
I made my decision for Uhuru because they offered the tour I wanted to do and their price was good. We had several exchange of mails and all went quite well. We realised after that the plan they proposed was unrealistic and the driver, who was excellent, told us it was always like that. Mostly by companies based in Zanzibar....
For the payment, keep some of the total with you. There are always, always, always changes...T.I.A
Still enjoy, beautifull part of the world.
US
Review about Hell's Gate National Park by PeeBee
Hell's Gate is a fantastic park, but not for safari. Take a guided tour of the gorge, climb Fischer's Peak, take in the scenery. But if you want a game drive head to nearby Nakuru National Park.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Unsasisfied client
I had booked and paid for accommodation in the Kruger Park at Bergendal through Afritrip Kruger.Com.On our arrival at Malelane Gate after travelling for 5 hours we were told that accommodation had been cancelled as they had not received payment from Afritrip. You can imagine our disbelief. On phoning the company in Cape Town they found accommodation outside the Kruger Park which was not what we wanted but had no choice and another 2.5 hours drive.Lucky for us we knew where we were going,but you can imagine the horror of foreigners who would be expecting to stay in the Kruger Park.On returning home I sent them emails and phoned the company and to date 11/05/17 have received no response.No letter of apology or anything,just completely ignored.I will never recommend booking through them
TH
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A safari which did not meet my expectations
I had booked a 8 days tour.The whole travel was in an old minibus ,so not very comfortable.Day 5 was confirmed in the program with stay in Mara Sopa Lodge,but i was brought in AA Lodge (4stars) which is not even a 2 star place,but stay was in a cheap place: explication there had been a booking problem,day6 program would have been Mara Sopa again ,but i stayed in a cheap place again:Jambo Mara.So i had payed 2 nights for a 4 star place but got much less.The whole trip was overshadowed with the payment problem(i wrote you that already separately) ther were permanent calls :where is the money.
Seen in total the trip was more a deception then pleasure,and as i continued after this to south africa ,i just can say there its super,everything was at 100% like promised and it was just a difference like day & night
NZ
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Poorly organised and quick to take your money!
Where do we start!!! We gave all of our hotel pickup details in Arusha week's in advance of our safari. Nobody turned up to collect us until after 2 hours passed when we finally managed to make contact with the company and explain that we were waiting. The driver had no idea where to pick us up from. We believe if we hadn't made contact no one would have ever come to collect us. Then, on the second day of our safari the exact same thing happened, we were left stranded waiting for almost two hours and had to get our lodge staff to chase up the tour company drivers. No compensation was offered even though 4+ hours of safari time were lost/wasted by the company (this is a lot when its only a two day safari). The company was quick to take our cash at the beginning of the tour. The guides gave little or no information about the animals or parks unless we constantly asked them. They expected tips (what for!). Overall, a very poorly managed company and despite seeing lots of amazing animals (which we would have seen with any other safari company also) I would not recommend Tanzania Joy Tours to anyone! Very unprofessional and no doubt relying on outdated high review ratings!
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Katavi National Park by Eleanore Avery
Very remote in western part...I only stopped there on way to Mahale park. canals restrict viewing because you cannot cross canals. Lots of Hippos.
IL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
If you have another option, choose to use it
Safari is minimal in terms of conditions.
The vehicle was Oldest relative to other safari vehicles.
Unconventional tour coordination, planning was poor, not based on customer requirements, the driver wanted to finish as quickly as possible without taking additional sites. Edward and recommended his name to go with it.
Robert was not available to solve problems, and at the end of evaded answering the allegations.
There are other companies that drive safari, recommended to get them on trips in Kenya.
BE
Parks were amazing but organisation, communication and trust with the agency were quite poor.
The safari experience in itself was fantastic but this is mostly due to the beauty of the parks rather than the tour agency. We've had too many last minute changes, very poor communication, quite antipathetic driver and we were stolen a significant amount of money during the trip. I'm not accusing anyone from the agency, I just think that the conditions were really not trustworthy.