DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
3 day Masai Mara
We got picked up at 6.30 am and went to the office of Big Time. But the thing they do is that all the companies try to fill up their buses and so we were driving for probably four more hours through Nairobi to pick up people from other companies. This caused us then to arrive at the camp so late that we couldn't go out for safari anymore. The plan was then to start the next day really early with breakfast at 5.30 to compensate the missed time and to see the sunrise. But this didn't work out because there was no breakfast until 6.15am so we also missed the sunrise. The rest of the day was really awesome, we saw a lot of animals and the Masai Mara national park is really worth a visit. When we asked in the evening for water they told us that there's only 1 liter each per day and in my opinion this is too less if they say that water is included!
On the third day we actually made it to see the sun rise and left to Nairobi at 8am and arrived at home around 4pm. Besides that we had a driver who wasn't speaking at all to our group and was racing all the time so that we were just shaking in the bus the whole time. It would have been nice if he would have explained sometimes things about Masai Mara but at least he knew the ways there very well.
So I definitely would recommend to go to Masai Mara National Park but in my opinion not with the Big time company. Probably spending more money would be worth it.
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Solo Traveler Advised to Book Elsewhere: What's Wrong with my $58k?
So, after getting a quote, they apologize that their young operators think I should join a group and they can't fulfil. This after factoring in many single supplements, etc. Do they need a full vehicle for more tipping customers? What is up with this? I travelled all over the world for Conde Nast's Traveler, Departures,
Brides Magazine, Family Circle, Elle Decor, & about 40 in all. Never had my money asked to go elsewhere. Hmmmmm.
AE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Hide a lot of informations
The only concern I have with this company in Uganda, that they don't explain to you everything, for example no one told us there is direct flights to our destination, in addittion when you request to visit a place they don't give you a recommandation that it does not worth a two night stay. We were obliged to change the program when we arrived because of the lack in information and experience, it seems they are experienced in Uganda not in other countries. Thanks good we were not in a family
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Subcontracted safaris were great, transfers between them were not
We went on a 9-day safari that included Masai Mara, Lake Manyara, Seregeti, and Ngorogoro Crater. Each of the parks were very enjoyable and we saw a ton of animals, including all of the Big 5. However, all of our transfers between the parts of the safari were very stressful.
When we flew into Nairobi, there was apparently a driver waiting to take us to our hotel, but we were not told to expect a driver nor did we see anyone at the airport that seemed to be looking for us, so we took a cab to our hotel. When we got back from the Masai Mara leg of our trip we were staying at the same hotel for a night, but the hotel had to call Erick, the safari manager, to verify that we actually had a reservation because it didn't seem to be on the books. We then had no idea when we were going to be picked up in the morning to go on the next part of the safari. It turned out Erick was coming to the hotel to talk to us later that night, but we were not told to expect that. He told us he would be picking us up in the morning to take us to our bus to Arusha, but in the morning he did not show up, so we had to call him, and then eventually someone else showed up to take us where we needed to go. Once our bus got to Arusha, there was a crowd of safari bookers and cab drivers waiting to take the bus passengers where they needed to go. All the other passengers either knew where they were going, or a safari booker came on the bus and knew the passenger's name and where they were going. We were left on the bus with no idea where we were going and no idea if anyone was supposed to be picking us up, and then we were asked for our bus ticket, which we didn't have. We luckily had Erick's phone number from calling him that morning, but our phone's didn't work in Tanzania so we had to have someone else call him. Erick told them the safari company that was supposed to be picking us up, but they didn't answer their phone when called. We almost took a cab (that we would have had to pay for) to that safari company's office, but luckily the people who were supposed to pick us up arrived right as we were leaving and caught us. We had a similar experience when arriving back in Arusha at the end of our trip, and we had to have the hotel call the Tanzanian sub-contracted safari company (which we luckily remembered the name of) to verify that we had a pre-paid room, and then again in the morning to verify they were actually coming to pick us up. When we got back to the bus, we were again asked for a bus ticket we didn't have, and we again had to have them call someone to verify that we had a prepaid bus trip back to Nairobi.
A lot of this stress could have been avoided by giving us a detailed itinerary with all the information about the sub-contracted safaris, pick up times, and contact info for a person at each transfer.
To top it all off, before we even left our home country, Erick contacted us to inform us of some increased park entry fees, letting us know we should bring a little extra money to cover them. We did so, but when we settled our balance on arrival, the balance did not include these increased park fees. Then, on our second night in Nairobi (between the Masai Mara and Tanzania parts of the safari), Erick gave us a long explanation about how he sets the safari prices for the whole safari season even though Tanzania often increases their fees in the middle of the season. He told us that he does not force his clients to pay the increased fees since they agreed to a lower price, but that he tells his clients about the increased fees in the hope that, if they have a good time, they choose to pay the price increase. This made it sound as though he wanted us to think of a the increased fees as a tip that he should receive if he did a good job. Because of this long-winded explanation, I chose to see how the rest of the trip went before deciding whether to pay the fees, and since we had to convince people at every leg of the trip that we were pre-paid and have them call various people to make sure, the trip didn't seem like it deserved an extra tip. However, once we arrived back in our home country, we received numerous communications from Erick asking us for the money for the park fees. All of this felt pretty slimy to say the least. The ridiculous part is, if he had just included the park fees in the balance when we settled up at the beginning of our trip, I wouldn't have thought anything of it. Instead he had to make it seem like he was demanding a large tip for a very sub-par job.
DE
A loveless performance of the tour with poor information
The tour has a great potential for a very good safari, but it's not used! For example: 3 hole-day-trips by bus occur on 4 succesive days (10 of the 12 participiants were mostly reading, sleeping oder gaming with smartphone during the bus-trips). Therefore the order of events should be changed. The information about land and people was poor.
The highlights of the trip were performed from other business-men (lodges, guides), not from land and lake safaris!
Disorganized
The safari was ok. Not the best safari but not the worst.
The problem with the company was they were not organized. There were errors such as in flight details that I pointed out before my itinerary was finalized. The worst of all was they forgot to book one leg of my flights even though they confirmed everything was booked and I realized that I don't have a ticket for the next flight on the plane. Really subpar.
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
I haven't like this tour operator
We booked a five days safari to Masai Mara, Nakuru and Naivasha. The driver , and he didnt take us to see the migration. It happened the 4th of August. Later, a person who was in Masai Mara that day, said me that all tourists were seeing the migration. Instead it, he "sell" us a "walking" to see Mara river. the price (the tip) was 5 dollars. Besides, he was very dangerous driving.
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.
QA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
If something goes wrong, you lose.
Our family just completed a 5 day camping safari. Tanzania is awesome, but not to be confused with the tour company. Driver was clean, polite and helpful but lacked good wildlife knowledge. Didn'y always stop when we wanted to take pictures or observe. Also, 3 days before our departure the company contacted us (after we had negotiated the price and paid a deposit) and said the government had raised the tax by 18% and we had to pay 18% extra. We tried to get a refund or a sufficient email respose, but no joy, so rather than lose the deposit we went with the increase. For our budget it was a hit. Next time I would chose a more ethical company.
QA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Disappointed a real shame and ruined honeymoon
I never want to write a negative review but on this occasion I must as we were badly let down. Despite being notified at an early stage Somak failed to register that this was our honeymoon trip. In our group of 6 there was another honeymoon couple and they received special treatment but my wife and I did not, this lasted for the 7 days of our safari. This culminated with the last stage of our trip on Zanzibar when we arrived at the hotel and I told staff it was our honeymoon. However, they told us that they had not been notified of this, so we were denied the honeymoon package. I spoke with the Somak rep and he said he would pass the complaint on to his manager, and that the manager would meet us at the hotel the following day. He never came, in fact they just avoided us for the duration of the stay and did nothing. Thankfully the hotel guest relations manager became aware of the situation and stepped in to made our last three days special.
It is a real shame that we suffered this negligent communication error as the safari driver was great and he was tireless in searching for the fauna we wanted to see. Another plus was the Serena lodges we stayed at which were fantastic. To date we still have not even had a reply from Somak to offer an apology...