FR
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Honeumoon: total fiasco and bad fait from discover africa
We booked our honeymoon through Discover Africa, which included three stages, including three nights at Kambaku Safari Lodge in Timbavati. Overall, this was a very expensive trip. Let's be factual: for the first and third legs, the contract was respected to the letter and the travel itinerary matched reality perfectly. However, for Kambaku Safari Lodge (sold and cataloged as a 4-star establishment), it was a succession of disappointments, with deplorable crisis management and customer service.
Accommodation scam and lack of security: Upon arrival, we were placed in a communicating room with the connecting door locked, reducing us to a tiny room, completely unsuitable for a honeymoon. After complaining and emailing the agency (Vihann), we were moved to a family room. On site, the lodge manager confirmed the existence of the actual "Honeymoon Suite" that the agency had sold us and written into our official travel itinerary... except it was occupied by a British couple! The agency is now trying to hide behind an initial global quote to deny its own travel itinerary. On top of that, the rooms do not lock from the outside, leaving our personal belongings unprotected, while the provided safe is too tiny to fit even a tablet.
Unsanitary room, unsafe water, and abandoned facilities: The replacement room had numerous dysfunctions: unacceptable bathrooms, a clogged shower causing a pool of water, a cracked sink siphon (causing leaks and a moldy smell), leaky faucets with no pressure, and hot water running out after three minutes. Despite our reports, technical intervention was limited to a superficial cleanup with no actual repairs. Regarding health, the lodge supposedly provided "filtered water" in dispensers, but we witnessed them simply being refilled without being replaced. As a result, I ended up getting sick from this water. When I asked for sealed bottled water to take my medication, I was simply told there was none. Outside, the pool was unmaintained and very dirty. The agency tried to blame this on a gust of wind, even though the pool stayed in this state throughout our stay, only being cleaned in a rushed way on our last day, curiously right after we took photos.
Catering not matching the standards: Our official travel itinerary clearly stipulated that the package included three full meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner). Instead, there was no actual lunch, just a minimal "brunch" with very few choices. Regarding the hot dishes of the brunch, they consisted of recycled leftovers from the previous day, such as yesterday's ostrich steak turned into shepherd's pie. Services fell far below what was expected of a 4-star lodge.
The fake last-night "upgrade": For our last night, we were "upgraded" to Kambaku River Sands, presented as a special gesture from the agency. The reality was quite different: our previous family room was already booked for new guests arriving that day. The lodge simply had no other alternative.
Deficient customer support and agency contempt: The Wi-Fi in the room was so faulty that it was unusable, forcing us to try and catch data out in the bush during our game drives to try and resolve issues. Despite our explicit requests to be called via WhatsApp for efficient communication, the agency never bothered to call us, hiding behind emails with replies spaced several hours apart. On site, we were told to "enjoy the rest of our trip peacefully" with the promise that everything would be sorted out upon our return. Result? Upon our return, the management completely took the lodge's side, flatly rejecting our word, denying the facts despite the evidence, and trying to pass off our forced room change as a gift.
In short: If you use an agency, it is precisely to be protected and supported when things go wrong. Instead, we felt completely abandoned on site, and then looked down upon and contradicted upon our return. Given this complete lack of support and professionalism, I can only recommend that you use another agency.
MY
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
NOT recommended especially guide Richard in Kenya - AVOID AT ALL COST.
We booked this company for Kenya + Tanzania safari trip, Strongly NOT recommended especially guide Richard in Kenya- avoid at all cost
Here’s what was advertised:
1. Full-day game drives running from 8am to 6pm.
2. Experienced and professional guides.
3. Close coordination with the hot air balloon operator to ensure timely pickup.
4. Smooth handover between guides at the Kenya-Tanzania border.
5. All meals included throughout the safari.
6. There will be airport transfers on arrival and departure.
7. There is tipping culture but not compulsory
Here’s what actually happened:
1. Richard picked us up 30 minutes late in the morning and returned us to the hotel as early as 3:30 pm during the full day game drive. In between, he also had his own sweet time having lunch breaks up to 2 hours, leaving us waiting in the vehicle with nothing to do. As a result of starting late, long lunch breaks and ending early, our actual game drive time was only about 4 to 5 hours per day.
2. Besides the common herbivores, we only managed to see lions and cheetahs in 3 full days in Maasai Mara, which our guide Richard is so 'proud' of. He is so stubborn and repeatedly claiming that "Other guides didn't find lion and cheetah", "You will see the same animals anyway", "There are no more river crossing now". Mind you, we are in Masai Mara during start of August. All of this turned out to be false. Once we crossed into Tanzania and were guided by Godlisten from Migada Tours, we saw river crossing and all of the Big Five within just two days.
3. After our hot air balloon trip, Richard failed to show up at the designated pickup point. He gave us no communication whatsoever and eventually arrived an hour late.
4. At the Kenya-Tanzania border, Richard simply told us to wait and walked off to chat happily with other guides. We sat inside the hot car under the blazing sun for no clear reason. Eventually, guide Godlisten from Tanzania found us and personally escorted us through the immigration process.
5. On one of the days, Richard forgot to collect our packed lunch from the lodge, leaving us with absolutely no lunch for that day.
6. On our final morning, we had arranged a driver to pick us up from the hotel at 8:30 am for our airport transfer. No one showed up, and we received no notification. After calling to the agent, we were finally told that the driver had been in a minor accident. Whether that was true or not, the complete lack of proactive communication left us scrambling and arriving at the airport in a stressful rush.
7. We tipped all our guides daily, following the recommended amounts or even giving more. However, after the string of disappointing experiences with Richard, we decided not to tip him on the last day. He responded by begging for tips persistently and refused to leave until we eventually gave him something.
Overall, this company failed to deliver on almost every promise. I strongly recommend looking elsewhere for your safari.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Pedaso Safari / David – My personal experience of a 14-day Safari in Kenya and Tanzania; I strongly advise future travelers to choose this option care
I don't usually write such long negative reviews. I can completely understand minor problems during a trip, especially in Africa, where there are many uncontrollable factors such as roads, weather, wildlife, and local suppliers. However, this approximately 14-day Kenya + Tanzania Safari made me increasingly feel that the problem is not just "an occasional minor mistake," but rather that the travel company's organizational skills, communication skills, accommodation arrangements, local ground handling capabilities, and how they handle problems are all seriously flawed. So I decided to write down the whole process in detail, hoping that future travelers planning safari trips to Kenya and Tanzania can understand what we actually experienced before choosing a travel company.
First, the conclusion: **The animals did not disappoint me at all.** The Great Migration, the Serengeti, Amboseli, and the wildlife we saw along the way were all well worth it; this should have been a truly unforgettable trip. What truly disappointed me was Pedaso Safari and its manager, David. The following is all based on our personal experience during this trip.
## 1. Accommodation Arrangements: What Did We Actually Pay For?
First, let's address the most basic issue: accommodation. Our payment/booking information clearly stated **"2 × Double Room"**. Before departure, I specifically asked David if we could get a lower price since we could share a room, but he clearly stated no. We accepted this and confirmed again on WeChat that we would be accommodated in two double rooms.
However, later, especially on the day we arrived in Nairobi, David's stance changed. He suggested that if we insisted on two rooms, my sister and his son would share, while I might have to share a room with a stranger. This arrangement completely deviated from the initially confirmed "2 × Double Room" and made us realize for the first time that the actual accommodations weren't following the initial booking.
Throughout the safari, we actually only had one room. Later, during the camping phase, it became even more absurd that the three of us were put in one tent. The problem wasn't just "crowded" or "uncomfortable," because there simply wasn't enough space in the tent; we didn't even have a proper place to put our luggage, and eventually, ants even crawled into our suitcases.
I believe there's a very basic principle regarding travel accommodations: if a travel company is prepared to have customers share rooms, tents, or three people share one tent, that's fine, but they should inform customers in advance so they can decide whether to accept it, rather than having customers pay and depart only to find out on-site that the actual accommodation arrangements are completely different from what they expected. Especially since this was a 14-day safari, accommodation isn't a trivial detail; it's a service we paid for.
## 2. The Guide Incident: We don't object to carpooling, but we object to last-minute changes to confirmed arrangements.
Here I must specifically state: **Carpooling on the Safari itself is perfectly normal; this is not the reason for our complaint.** We were never unhappy because other tourists joined the car. The real issue is that before departure, we clearly confirmed that Daniel would be our guide for the next few days, and we accepted this arrangement and began our trip accordingly.
However, during the trip, a white male tourist joined the car. This in itself was not a problem, but after boarding, this tourist continuously criticized Daniel's work and contacted his travel agency, demanding that Daniel be reassigned to his Amboseli itinerary.
What truly made us uncomfortable was the way the whole situation was handled. As Asian tourists, we clearly felt throughout the process that our needs and the arrangements confirmed before departure were not given the same level of importance as this white tourist. I don't want to directly accuse anyone of racial discrimination because I can't know their true motives. I can only describe our feelings as customers at the time: Why could our pre-confirmed guide arrangements be suddenly changed because of a last-minute request from another tourist? If the travel company needed to adjust the guide for operational reasons, I could completely understand, but they should at least have informed us beforehand, explained what happened, discussed it with us, and let us know what options were available, instead of having Daniel leading us one second and then telling us he was leaving the next.
We also had a 6-year-old child and a lot of luggage. This wasn't a simple "change of driver," but a major change to our confirmed travel arrangements. I believe that regardless of the other party's nationality or skin color, if it involves a confirmed customer itinerary, the travel company should communicate in advance, instead of demanding immediate acceptance after the fact.
So we contacted David. David told us, "15 minutes, I will call you back." A little while later, he said in the group chat, "Problem solved." Seeing this, we naturally assumed the problem was resolved, meaning our original arrangements with Daniel wouldn't change. So we told Daniel, "It's okay, we'll stick with you." But Daniel told us he hadn't received any notification.
So I called David again. This time, David explained that they had a large team and needed to coordinate different tourists. But this only confused me more: **If things were still being coordinated, why tell us "Problem solved"?** If it wasn't truly resolved, they should have told the client, "We're still coordinating," instead of letting the client believe everything was back to normal.
In the end, the problem wasn't actually solved. To avoid further disruption to the entire group's itinerary, we had to sacrifice our planned Hell's Gate trip and go to Amboseli earlier. In other words, we didn't request a change of itinerary for our own reasons; rather, we bore the consequences because the travel company hadn't properly coordinated the arrangements between different tourists.
What I found even more incomprehensible was that David then demanded additional fees. I was speechless because we didn't actively request a change of itinerary; we were forced to change it because of this problem. The final result was: **we lost our own itinerary and had to pay extra fees.** **
## 3. Upon Arrival in Tanzania, Things Became a Massive "On-the-Spot Itinerary"
After entering Tanzania, the situation became even more chaotic. We went through seven different people before finally arranging the rest of the itinerary. From our experience, this frequent changing of liaisons wasn't normal internal team coordination, but rather suggested that David himself lacked local ground handling capabilities in Tanzania; he was simply constantly transferring our itinerary to different local companies. Therefore, our Tanzanian portion was likely temporarily "split" and assigned to other teams.
More importantly, during this process, we were actually directly "inserted" into another tour group to perform the same itinerary, and this group's itinerary had already started before we joined. In other words, we didn't start with a complete itinerary, but rather joined a group that was already in progress. This directly led to the misalignment of parts of our original itinerary—for example, the national park that was supposed to be our first day's itinerary had already been visited by members of this other group before we joined. When we joined the group, this stop had already been "skipped" and moved to the back as a make-up stop.
We didn't initially have much of a problem with this. Adjustments to the itinerary during a trip are normal, and we were willing to cooperate as long as the trip could ultimately be completed. However, the problem was that since the itinerary order had changed, had the travel company reconfirmed the new hotels, drivers, and subsequent itinerary? What happened later told us that they hadn't.
## 4. Fig Tree: You told me it was "all arranged," but it wasn't booked at all.
On the morning of the day the previous leg of the trip was about to end, I proactively contacted David to confirm the next steps, where we would stay, and what the next leg of the trip would be. David's replies were consistently very clear, giving the impression that everything was arranged without worry. So, of course, we believed him.
But in the afternoon, when the driver dropped us off, he suddenly told us: **David hadn't booked Fig Tree for us at all.** More importantly, Fig Tree was fully booked for that day.
Here I must emphasize that this wasn't a last-minute change of plans, a last-minute request to change hotels, or us being late; it was that the travel company told us the hotel was arranged, but in reality, it wasn't booked at all.
We kept trying to contact David with the driver, but he was unreachable. He finally appeared over an hour later, explaining that he was taking an exam and couldn't bring his phone in.
I completely understand that everyone has their own things to do, and it's normal not to bring a phone during an exam. However, the problem is that our trip didn't suddenly happen while he was taking an exam. He could have easily arranged the hotel beforehand. If he knew he wouldn't be able to handle client affairs for a certain period, he should have confirmed everything in advance. What I can't accept isn't "David is taking an exam today," but rather: **because you're taking an exam today, we don't have a hotel tonight.**
## 5. Even more confusing is the different explanations that followed for the same thing.
The explanations we received later regarding why Fig Tree wasn't booked also left me very confused. David initially said he was told we were too tired to go; but this explanation itself is hard to believe—if we were really too tired to go, why did I repeatedly confirm the arrangements with him early in the morning? Later, he changed his story, saying the driver had the wrong hotel. Throughout the whole process, his explanations kept changing, more like constantly finding different reasons to explain the problem than directly stating what actually happened. The problem is, we'd stayed at this hotel before, and the driver had taken us countless times, so I find it hard to understand why it ended up being a "driver mistake." If the hotel was truly booked, the simplest solution would have been to produce a booking confirmation, which wasn't available at the time.
For consumers, what truly matters isn't how many explanations the travel company can offer later, but rather: **Was the hotel actually booked?** If it was, they should provide confirmation; if not, they should admit it wasn't, instead of giving different explanations at different times and constantly shifting the blame onto the driver or us.
## 6. So we had no choice but to return to Arusha with the driver.
Since Fig Tree was full, David was unreachable, and there were other passengers in the car, we had no choice but to return to Arusha with the driver. On the way, we confirmed again: "Where are we staying tonight?" David replied "Charity." Based on our previous communication, we chose to continue trusting this arrangement.
But when we arrived at Charity, we discovered that the hotel was hosting a wedding event and was fully booked, unable to accommodate us.
So the problem returned to square one: we were once again taken to a hotel that was actually unavailable.
We then contacted David again, and his response was still: "Let me make a call."
At this point, the essence of the problem was very clear: this wasn't a single booking error, but a series of systemic issues—**failure to confirm hotels in advance → last-minute change of plans → new hotels also unavailable → further last-minute failure**.
For a travel company responsible for arranging the entire 14-day safari itinerary, this level of accommodation mismanagement was no longer a simple communication problem, but a very serious issue of itinerary management and execution capabilities.
## 7. We later gradually discovered that Pedaso seemed to lack sufficient local ground handling capabilities in Tanzania.
It was also during the process of resolving these issues that we gradually learned that David/Pedaso Safari's itinerary arrangements in Tanzania seemed to require the involvement of other intermediaries. Based on the information we gathered, it seemed that David contacted Deo, who then contacted the local agency.
I don't know the specific business relationship between them, so I won't speculate here. But for tourists, the truly important question is: **When we're in Tanzania, haven't booked a hotel, and the driver is unsure of the arrangements, is there someone who can immediately take responsibility and resolve the issue?**
From our experience, no.
Every time a problem arose, we contacted David, who then contacted someone else, and we waited. But for someone traveling in Africa, you're not sitting in an office waiting for emails. You're changing hotels and national parks every day, traveling with luggage and children, and often without stable internet access. In this situation, the most crucial element for a travel company is its local ground handling capabilities.
And this is something we clearly didn't experience on this trip.
## 8. From Arusha to Nairobi: The Driver Didn't Even Know Who He Was to Pick Up
Finally, we finished our Tanzania trip and needed to return to Nairobi from Arusha. A driver was supposed to pick us up, but he didn't show up for ages.
We contacted David, and his first question was: "Which hotel are you staying at?"
I really didn't know what to say, because this meant the driver hadn't even received the complete pick-up information beforehand.
The driver eventually showed up, but we later realized the problem was more serious than "incomplete information": the driver hadn't actually received our pick-up information in the first place. He had been dropping off other passengers and had already driven for about half an hour before finally showing up.
(automatic translation from Chinese)
QA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Marhaba Holidays ruined our trip!!
This was undoubtedly the WORST and MOST STRESSFUL trip we have ever experienced, entirely due to Marhaba Holidays tour organizer FELIX. We booked based on a personal recommendation and paid the full quoted amount by day three after things initially went smoothly.
Issues began the morning of day five during our planned 6 am full-day game drive at Masai Mara. Felix failed to buy our park entry tickets, offered excuses, and asked us to pay $700 out of pocket with a vague promise of reimbursement. We refused. To accommodate the situation, we absorbed the cost to delay our flight so we could do the drive the next day. Despite our flexibility, Felix delayed the next morning's drive by TWO HOURS, though we eventually completed it.
Upon returning to Mara Sweet Acacia Lodge at 2 pm, the hotel held us HOSTAGE and refused to release our bags because Felix had not paid for our two-night stay. They improperly pressured us to pay $400. After detaining us for over two hours, Felix arrived and was also detained, leaving us stranded without transport for our six-hour drive to Nairobi to catch a flight in under 12 hours. Cornered, we paid $160 out of pocket to secure our and Felix's release. In total, the hotel detained us for OVER 4 HOURS, leaving us barely enough time to reach Nairobi for our flight.
I believe Felix is a cheat and a fraud. Our family suffered immense mental stress, embarrassing conditions, and an extra $600 in out-of-pocket expenses due to his failures.
Avoid this agency. Felix (the so-called Manager) can ruin your vacation, shatter your dream safari, mentally put you in hell and try to steal your money.
I would advise you never book Marhaba Holidays if you want a trustworthy tour operator.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Terrible experience we wouldn't wish on anyone
We have had a terrible and incredibly stressful experience with Congema Safaris. Everything started off great until they got a deposit from us and then it became incredibly difficult to get any communication from them, for months. We found out that nothing on the itinerary was booked for us by contacting hotels and providers directly. When we requested our deposit be refunded, they said they would do this after almost 2 months and explained they used OUR money to book other groups in for a trip that was cancelled. They seemed quite happy to let us think our holiday was all booked for months, which makes us believe they were scamming us. They have not refunded our money and are ignoring our communications again, which makes us believe we won't receive it. Please make sure to look for well reviewed providers so that you don't go through all the stress and struggle we have.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Do not use this company
Our money, over $2500 US dollar cash was stolen inside the Safari jeep that we took for Masai Mara safari tour. My main contact for this safari tour is Peetah from Peak Season Africa Safaris company, who repeatedly asked us to bring cash to settle the balance. On the morning when the safaris tour was about to begin, our tour driver brought us to the parking lot of Peak Season company’s office. When Peetah and I met at the parking lot, I took out the cash from my bag pack when Peetah actually saw exactly where the cash came out from. When I step away from the Safari jeep with Peetah to the inside of the building, I found out that my old phone came out from my bag pack and realized that my bag pack was touched by someone while I was away, my money was stolen during that short period of time. When the stealing was actually happening, our tour driver and my wife was actually standing outside on the driver side of the jeep, and they didn’t notice the theft, except that our tour driver saw someone walking by on the passenger side of the jeep. We can’t afford to lose time to report to the police, and our tour driver suggested to write this on the Peak Season’s review. Bottom line is that our tour driver failed to protect our property from stealing, I wouldn’t recommend to use this company.
IN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent
Good work, Peter Kapino! 👏 We booked our safari with Axis Africa, and Peter was our safari guide. We are from India, and Peter was an excellent guide—very friendly, knowledgeable, and professional. He explained everything about the animals, wildlife, and the places we visited. His boss was also a very nice person.
However, I would not recommend Axis Africa because of Winnie, who handled our itinerary. She made several mistakes in the itinerary, which ultimately cost us around ₹1.60 lakh extra, and this should not have happened. After taking the advance payment, she gave us an incorrect itinerary and later asked for additional money or suggested cancelling one of our Maasai Mara drives.
So, Peter was excellent, but my experience with the itinerary management was disappointing. If you book with Axis Africa, I would strongly recommend double-checking the itinerary and all costs before making the payment.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
We believe they are scammers
We believe we've been scammed by Congema Safaris and Constantine. We paid a deposit in January 2026 for a Rwanda trip in August 2026. We didn't get updates from April onwards, despite constant messages to them, they just ignored us. Luckily, we contacted the hotels we were supposedly booked into and found payment wasn't made and that the gorilla permits we paid for weren't booked.
We were told in June that we would receive a refund by 10th August for our deposit (over $4000), but it is now the 14th and they are again not responding to any emails we send.
Please be careful and choose a more reputable and well reviewed provider so the same issues don't happen to you.
UY
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I do not recommend them
tThey are just a WhatsApp number. What they do is outsource absolutely everything to other agencies. This means that you are constantly added to different groups where the guide has no idea about what you previously arranged or requested with them. Even when I went to make the payment, the office had the name of a different agency.
SAFETY: They subcontract independent guides who have vehicles in very poor condition, making the experience unsafe.
The tires on the vehicles were completely worn out.
The vehicles did not have basic recovery equipment such as shovels or recovery boards. At one point, due to the driver’s lack of skill, we got stuck in a ditch and another vehicle had to come and pull us out.
The seat belts were broken. The front windshields were cracked. Some vehicles had no windshield wipers.
We lost a significant amount of time due to engine problems—time that we should have spent looking for animals.
VEHICLES: Very poor maintenance. The refrigerators did not work, so the water was always hot. The inverter for charging our phones did not work. The seat belts were broken.
COMMUNICATION: At first, they responded quickly on WhatsApp. Once we had paid, they stopped responding and stopped taking responsibility for the various problems that came up during the trip.
GUIDES: The groups were a mix of customers from many different agencies, and each of us had been sold different things. The guides did not even know where we were supposed to go the following day. This caused them to be constantly in a bad mood.
PRICE: The price seems good at first, but after talking to other people in the same groups who had booked through different agencies, we found out that they had paid 10% less than we did. This makes sense because ETA outsources everything and adds a markup. They don’t actually operate anything themselves.
LUGGAGE: Because they did not take proper care of our luggage and overloaded the vehicle, they broke one of our suitcases and never acknowledged or compensated us for it.
PAYMENT: I paid part of the cost in cash when I arrived. Despite asking for a receipt every day, they never gave me any proof of payment.
FOR THE SAME PRICE, YOU CAN FIND SOMETHING MUCH BETTER.
50-65 years of age
Caution female solo travelers - not safe
Caution - solo female travelers - was subject to isolation from my friends, manipulation onto the wrong trail, and theft of cash by their team on Mt.Kilimanjaro trek, and it cost me making the summit. Reported incident to the company and to date not happy with the resolution. Do not book with this company.