AE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Misleading and Bad Organisation
My experience of Mousebird Safaris is not great. I booked a shared - mid range safari package - 4 nights 5 days. After sending the deposit "to secure the accommodation" a month prior to the trip - I did not hear back from the company until I arrived in Arusha. Gift came to my home to collect the rest of the payment the night before being picked up by Samuel our driver the next morning. The other 5 in the vehicle I would find out later were on different itineraries. After the first day I was told my accommodation had changed as the other people were in different m and mine was too far away. I was put in a different vehicle at the gate of the first Park to be given a lift to the first nights accommodation. Next morning I was picked up and we made our way to Serengeti. I was again told that ,y accommodation for night 2 was again different to what I had booked due to the distances between the groups' accommodation. Night 3 was in the camp I had booked. However day 4 in Ngorongoro Crater was cut short and we were heading out of the park at noon as the rest of the group were on 3 night 4 day itineraries and were due back in Arusha (with a family of 3 flying from JRO that evening ) So I lost 1/2 a day of Safari ( not to mention the hours lost driving around on a morning to the other accommodations. ) The final night was in my booked lodge as advertised and Gift came to the Lodge with another driver for my last day in Manyara.
On return to Arusha I informed Gift about my displeasure at losing so much time - especially in Ngorongoro as it was wonderful there. No attempt to reimburse me was made for the lost time and changes to accommodation.
A hugely disappointing experience as it was my first time on Safari and first time in Africa.
The time in the vehicle with Samuel ( the driver ) and the other travellers was great and we saw lots of wildlife - but the whole experience was affected by the poor organisation.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not reliable - questionable business practices.
If you only read the first paragraph of this review, we would highly suggest you do not book your next vacation with with Sunsets in Africa. Do book your tour through TourRadar and if you are searching for outstanding transportation, consider using Professional Safaris based in Arusha, Tanzania. For reference purposes, our trip was a 15 day safari to Kenya and Tanzania.
Why not use Sunsets in Africa? They are not reliable nor in our opinion completely honest. We just want others to not experience what we did while in Africa. A vacation should be a vacation not an anxiety filled and somewhat intimidating experience. Let me explain.
The good: Kenya and Tanzania are truly special and even though our original tour operator was on the edge of awful, the countries themselves were wonderful. We loved the people, the scenery and the animals we encountered. And the hotels in Kenya booked by Sunsets in Africa were the ones we asked for and were paid for prior to our arrival in Kenya. We are not sure about the hotels in Tanzania because we did not use them. More information below.
The Bad: We arrived and thankfully our hotel provided us with transportation to our lodge. However, once we were picked up by our safari driver in Kenya, we found out a couple days into our vacation that his company (Sunsets in Africa subcontracts out the transportation) had not been paid for our transportation and at one point our driver told us his manager said to just leave us in the Maasai Mara. Whether or not this was true is unknown. A call to Sunsets in Africa was answered by Gladys who said the transportation company can't do that and she would take care of the issue. Yea right. She texted me to not worry everything was fine. The next day or two we were told that Sunsets in Africa had not paid anything and more than more than 30 calls on WhatsApp to both Dexter and Gladys, co-owners of Sunsets in Africa, were ignored. Dexter was available but choose not to answer. At this point, we felt as if we were being mislead by everyone including the transportation companies in Kenya, Tanzania and Sunsets in Africa. I guess the breaking point was when I read a message sent by Dexter to the owner of the transportation company in Tanzania saying that I had agreed to pay for the transportation in both Kenya and Tanzania. I wrote to Dexter and told him I never agreed to this and why would I because I had already paid for transportation! He never reached out to me to discuss this and frankly, there was no way I was going to pay twice even if he promised to pay me back. At that point, I reached out to our planned transportation company in Tanzania and I asked if they were canceling our tour. Response, "I'm not canceling your trip. Just need some money to facilitate your program". I asked why he couldn't wait to be paid by Sunset's in Africa? Didn't he trust the company to pay him? His answer was, "I really trust him but I have no cash to facilitate your program". Doesn't this feel like a shakedown? We had it at that point. Between the two transportation companies, they wanted me to send them ~$4700. Can you imagine?
The Solution: Thankfully, we did a bit of research and realized we had originally paid for our trip through TourRadar. A quick call and TourRadar put in motion changes. They paid for the outstanding transportation bill in Kenya, they rebooked all our remaining hotels and booked a new transportation company (Professional Safaris). Thanks to Kristina at TourRadar, the rest of our trip was outstanding! And I can't say enough about Gerald our driver, Medcine owner of Professional Safaris in Tanzania and TourRadar who saved our vacation. These companies are outstanding and more importantly, honest. We would highly recommend both organizations and especially Gerald!!
Finally: Just so you think this just happened to us, we met another group that used Sunsets in Africa and they too experienced the same issues. Unfortunately, they ended up paying for all the unpaid transportation in both Kenya and Tanzania. I'm not sure if they ended up paying for their hotels as well. Their only recourse to file a report at the police station in Nairobi, and hope their travel insurance covered the charges or credit card reversing the charges. Sad. We heard of a third group as well but this can be construed as hearsay.
I know this review is long and it does not even cover all the issues we experienced before and during our trip. Do yourself a favor. Find a reputable company that pays their subcontractors before you arrive!
BE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bad organisation
Sorry but I wasn’t that happy with how the safari went .. Everyday another jeep with another driver and other peoples, the planning changed totally from day 1 without any communication or plan. I slept on other campsites then my planning said, every morning I had to search by myself to my driver and nobody knew anything. Everyday we left very late (also not on the planning). And my driver forgot to pick me up at lake manyara to Serengeti so I’m not that happy
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unprofessional travel agency
The travel agent I had did not pay attention to details, she got me mixed up with another client which caused delays in payment. Bonfire does not accept credit card payment from foreign travelers, agent also gave me wrong information about Safari itinerary over a phone call, may be that’s the reason why she did not send me an itinerary. I would not recommend Bonfire Adventures to foreigners who live outside of Kenya.
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Kruger National Park by Julie Hamlin
Again no rhinos , one lion sleeping, lots of elephants Giraffes and Hippos. Guide was very unsociable and drove around too fast.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Beware of rip-offs
I booked a seven day safari with Kennafrica Adventures, which included the Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, and Amboseli. The exposé was excellent, and the tour was slightly more expensive than comparable tours, which would have been absolutely fine considering the services promised.
Unfortunately, the stated inclusive services were not provided.
For example, a walking safari at night, a visit to a Masai village, a photography workshop, a visit to an elephant sanctuary, or cheetah tracking on foot, to name but a few.
The tour was ultimately carried out by a third-party provider (I would give this provider at least four stars).
What is particularly annoying here, however, is that this provider was (initially) not paid. Kennafrica Safaris was then suddenly no longer available by phone or otherwise, so I first had to advance money to the subcontractor in order to continue with the safari. Only after many (unanswered) phone calls and threats with lawyers, the police and the Ministry of Tourism was the corresponding fee finally paid, 770 dollars. I myself had paid 1200 dollars. The considerable difference might in my view be explained by the omission of services that were promised but not provided. All in all, a very disappointing experience and so different from all the hospitality that one usually experience throughout Kenya.
Finally, I can absolutely recommend the route itself, especially the Masai Mara, and also our driver Evans did a great job.
To be fair, they have apologized for all the inconvenience, but I personally would not book with them again.
CH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
They do not feel responsible for the satisfaction of their clients
I was doing the 1day Chobe trip. We were 7 tourists leaving victoria falls for the Zim-Botswana border. We were early and arrived at the border before the crowds, so the checks at the Zim border were straight forward. Then they split our group, 4 could continue immediately, 3 of us had to stay and wait for others customers. Busloads of tourists arrived and after about 1 hour also our customers, we were waiting for, arrived. Now at the Botswana border it took ages to pass the checks. We started our game drive at 10.30 with a long delay. At that time you hardly see any animals anymore. Lunch was good and the river cruise as well. Then we went back and after the Zim border we had to wait again for another 45 minutes for 1 tourist we originally started with. On the way back to Victoria Falls I complained to the organisator, why on earth they splitted our group, since we were 7, could stay together and wouln't have to spend about 2.5 hours at the border. The answer was that it happened on the Botswana side and they would not be responsible. That might be partly true, but the organiser who takes the money, should try to make things better and can't just say, that it's none of their business.
ES
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Mufasa did not reach our expectations of an enjoable and rewarding safari.
In general we felt that Mufasa ones we did the booking, and paid, forgot about us. We had to ask the person in charge of our trip ( Caroline) to send us the name and details of our guide-driver because she hadn't done it and it was friday afternoon and our flight was departing Europe on Sunday. At that moment she told us the rules for Masai Mara had changed and even if we had paid extra to sleep inside the park the last night so as to do an early game drive, that wasn't possible unless we paid one extra entrance ticket. It was too late to cancel the lodge for another outside the park and cheaper. It was very anoying.
On the other hand the guide-driver: Nafthali, was speaking on his mobile very often, even when he was driving uphill and the road was wet!. And when we were watching animals he rarely explained anything, unless we asked heim for information, because he was chatting on the phone or with the whatsapp.
Of course, ones the trip ended, Mufasa did not request a feedback. They were aware of their poor service!!
As a conclussion, Mufasa did not reach our expectations and was not a good value for money.
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Hugely disappointing
We were constantly down-graded with accommodation, itinerary changed.
Sunsets refused our calls or just didn't respond.
It was a physically & emotionally exhausting safari, projected hours of travel on corrugated tracks vastly underestimated.
Sub-contracted by TourRadar, they cut & pasted our paid for itinerary, under-delivered and caused huge stress to all 7 on our tour.
Don't travel with this company.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Poorly organised & we still haven't been refunded for cancelled activity
- Before the trip even started, communication (regarding payment & our pickup arrangement) with our booking agent was so terrible to a point where we suspected the legitimacy of this company.
- We had to chase our booking agent numerous times (payment has been made at this point) before he finally sent us a pickup driver's contact details
- Before we departed, we sent the pickup driver a message to confirm. He was surprised to hear from us as he wasn't aware of this pickup arrangement and said no-one had contacted him, nevertheless he still agreed to pick us up when we arrive (thank god).
- We we arrived, the pickup driver had no idea where to drop us off as he did not know anything about our itinerary. After many phone calls, he finally found out where we were staying and managed to drop us off at out accommodation. However he did not work for this company and it was still unclear why our booking agent had given us his details.
- the next day we found out one of our activities in Arusha wasn't booked and we had no idea until we arrived (after driving aimlessly for 2 hours).
- We requested for a refund for this cancelled activity as well as our accommodation for the night (as we wouldn't have booked accommodation for that night if it wasn't for the activity mentioned above).
- Staff agreed to refund the activity and suggested they would confirm with their management team and try to refund the accommodation, and promised to sort this out for us before our trip ends. We believe their words.
- After coming back from safari, we returned to Arusha for 1 extra day, We contacted the staff regarding our refund, they said they were still working on it.
- It's been a month since we are back from the trip, we have been contacting the company regarding this matter, and we have been ignored.
- It's been a really dodgy experience overall. Do yourself a favour and avoid this company.