US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I felt they were unprofessional.
I felt the communication was poor, and our guide was unprofessional. Our driver was at the wrong airport to pick us up, even though I had sent a screen shot clearly showing the airport we were flying into. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the area's ecology, but I felt his behavior was overly attention-seeking and unprofessional. Would 100% not recommend this company. We had a vehicle breakdown at one point and joined another company's vehicle. I felt the difference in the behavior and attitude of their guide compared to ours was shocking. Both my daughter and I felt on edge and uncomfortable with our guide for the whole trip.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Satisfactory, but lacking.
- Booked 9 months in advance.
- Told them early on that we were 5 people (80 year old, 2 retirees & 2 younger) some of whom would not appreciate sleeping too roughly - have emails to prove it. Asked them to find accommodation that wouldn't be too rough.
- First day, upon collection, Mike said "Because we are heading into the busy season, we are having trouble finding accommodation in Tanzania that will be comfortable, so you will probably be sleeping on the floor without a mattress or pillows". A few days before, we had also asked Vinny in a text if we needed to bring pillows and he said "No". You had 9 months to sort that out!
- It was clear throughout the trip that Cover Kenya hadn't booked our accommodation because the guides never knew where we were staying until that afternoon, as we asked them.
- They did in the end find better accommodation, for a price. My husband found suitable much cheaper accommodation in Booking.com, but we had to go with their expensive options.
- We DID see all the animals we had hoped to see, and that was thanks to Kelvin's excellent communication with other drivers via radio & phone within the parks, so well done for that and thank you. Our other driver in Tanzania did not communicate with other drivers except when we stopped to speak with them in person, but luckily we'd seen almost everything we wanted to see by then.
- Kelvin, however, is NOT a tour-guide, he is a DRIVER and that was abundantly clear throughout our Kenyan safari. Not once did he tell us where we were going, what we were doing, if we needed to be dressed warmly for an activity, a briefing or how long the drive would be without us asking. He didn't learn a single one of our names, and even though I asked to see something specific, he said he would show me but didn't. We also told him an activity we wanted to do, and he tried to drop us off in a random town at night - unsafe.
- Both drivers took many phone calls while driving, I understand some of those were for the benefit of the tour (where an animal was etc), however many were private calls. Whatever the company policy is with this I don't know, however it is unsafe to drive for short and long periods with the phone in your hand, especially on those crazy roads - get a Hands-free setup, please! I saw many drivers with hands-free, just neither of ours, it is very unsafe.
- The car was "beeping" the entire time we were in it. I have a recording of it.
- I don't recommend the optional boat trip, however the walking tour with the Zoologist/Biologist was exceptional - however it was a cost that we were not told about until the last moment (and not in any correspondence).
- When we crossed the border, we were dropped off at the Arusha hotel without a word about what was going to happen, who to speak with, what time we needed to be ready etc. Once we messaged Cover Kenya, then we were told - Oh the agent will meet with you at 6:30pm. This happened twice, when we were dropped back to Arusha again, no word of what we needed to do or where to go.
- Booked an All-inclusive trip. Told on the second day that we needed to pay for the park fees in cash extra. Queried this with Vinny - he agreed, but we couldn't, as they hadn't told us in advance, so transferred. Later, upon showing evidence to Vinny of the 'All-inclusive' aspect of the tour, Cover Kenya agreed to return the money. Which they couldn't do via transfer (even though we could do it to them?). This was an unnecessary stress.
- Upon arrival in Nairobi at the end of the tour, we drove to Cover Kenya's HQ, where we met Mike who proceeded to give us the cash, MINUS $100US. Luckily my husband counted it in front of him, when he miraculously found the lost $100 in his pocket.
- Vinny stated that they kept our tour private, however we know that they were trying to find another person/s for the tour, but couldn't.
- We did not feel comfortable giving feedback during the trip about the driver/tourguide, as they were the person solely responsible for us - if they became unhappy with us, we could suffer.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Not the best communication from the operator
The operator wasn’t great at communicating throughout the experience. Before the start of the trek, he had my arrival day wrong and I had to meet him shortly after I arrived (the night before the start of the trek as per his recommendation too). He only told me I was just on my own for the trip that night and no one else was on the tour.
The trek itself was good and the porters were lovely. They were friendly and very helpful. Hygiene is something that could definitely improved as they did provide a hot tub of water for washing but no soap or hand sanitizer at all throughout the trip. Also did not have napkins at all for meals.
Now for the walking part, the pace seemed good but there were times we were taking long breaks for no reason and I had to move around to stop from tightening up again. They were also obsessed with taking photos either their company banner in every single sign and user my phones the camera. They also did push to send the photos right away when all I wanted was to disconnect during the few days of trekking.
We made good pace and when I asked if I wanted to do 7 days instead of the 8 day Kenosha route instead, I said I enjoyed the outdoors so I wanted 8. Later it was decided without letting me know that we were doing 7. I didn’t know we were summiting until the afternoon before. They said it’s because of bad weather that they pushed it up but other people I met along the route said they had fine weather the next day. The only compensation I got for that was they paid for my accommodation the night we got back (which I had to push for).
We did summit and I do appreciate that. But after the summit. I had noticed I had frostbite in my fingers and asked for hot water for my frostbite (same as the washing water I’d usually get). I was told there was no water left and I’ll have to wait until the next camp.
Lastly in terms of tipping the operator told me one thing and the guide suggested another (which was waay off each other) it made for a really awkward tipping ceremony which again I only found out was occurring in the day it was happening.
As much as I enjoyed the trek. There were quite a few things that tainted and took away from the experience.
CN
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The guide is lazy and less experienced.
I regret to give him too much tips .I gave him 2000Kes . Later I ask several other teams other groups other friends they join other company’s safari team,they told me they gave their guides less tips ,they only gave there guides 1000 Kes every one person for three days safari ,but their guides lead them find much more animals ——They saw Five Majestic Beasts of the Maasai Mara Grassland . They also saw lots of wild animals cross the sand river during 11:00~12:30 at noon on 17 July. But our guide only find three kind of Five Majestic Beasts. He even didn’t want to bring us to the sand river to wait for the wild beasts crossing the river at the same day . Although I already told him to give us chance and time to wait for the famous and precious crossing . At last at the afternoon he lead us to the sand river after we ask him go there but we saw nothing because the crossing finished already that time. He said several times it’s too far away to go to those crossing points of sand river to wait the crossing .
CN
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A poorly-managed tourism company
Travelling to the Okavango Delta in Botswana has always been my dream. However, I chose the wrong company. The staff didn't offer us the food prepared by the company and treated us in a very rude way. The camp was very far from the delta. I don't recommend it.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Disappointing and a bit sketchy
Nyala Mobile Safaris is a relatively new business. Our family of 3 adults booked a 5-day budget mobile safari based on a good price for the comfort level and a handful of excellent reviews. Our overall experience was disappointing, including poor communication throughout and some sketchy aspects. We recommend using a more proven operator; we certainly would in the future. For details read on.
The good: The setup of the camps was as comfortable as advertised, with spacious tents, small cots, a portable bathroom and shower, and other amenities. The food was certainly adequate under the circumstances. The vehicle had some issues but none untoward given the exceptionally bad roads it navigates day in and day out. As advertised, there was plenty of free alcohol, which was useful in taking the edge off the steady stream of difficulties.
The disappointing: Our crew consisted of company-owner Mucheka who was in charge of camping, meals, and other logistics; a certified guide who was in charge of the safari aspects; and a "helper boy." Unfortunately the guide was surprisingly incompetent. Over the entire 5-day safari he found literally zero animals we hadn't spotted on our own, and on multiple occasions he got lost when we were on a game drive without Macheka. It's impossible to know how much more wildlife we would have seen if our guide had participated in the spotting (and how much less time spent driving aimlessly if he knew the way), but wildlife spotting has certainly been the norm for guides during the handful of other safaris we've been on.
The sketchy: We paid for a private safari months in advance and confirmed it with Mucheka several times, yet when we arrived at the airport we were told that "two friends" -- a last-minute booking -- would be joining us for the first half of our trip and were waiting in the safari vehicle. We put our foot down and they did find a second vehicle, driver, and dining table, but for the first 2+ days Macheka was juggling two parallel safaris, presumably to the detriment of both. At the other end, when our post-safari transfer, included in the price, dropped us off, we were told Macheka hadn't paid for it and we needed to fork over $105. The money was recovered in the end but not without effort. Overall, communication with Macheka was challenging and a bit slippery from start to finish; it should have been a warning sign.
Again, we would not use Nyala Mobile Safaris again ourselves and unfortunately cannot recommend the company to others.