US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Caution to travelers considering Amazing Memories Safaris
Our 15 day safari tour was met with 3 days of frustration when the upgraded hotel accommodations we had contracted were not paid for in a timely manner. We contracted for all services in January 2018, made the $4K deposit and paid the balance prior to our departure from the USA as the Contract required.
It was not until the night before we were to arrive at the Mara Serena that we were told by AMS that the hotel had over-booked and our reservation was not available. We did find out from the hotel manager that AMS had been contacted for payment due, and when it was not received they released our reservation. The same situation for our reservation at the Ngorongoro Serena.
We feel AMS broke our Contract by not paying for our hotel reservations in a timely manner and not providing the accommodations in our Contract.
FYI - these tour companies must pay upfront for hotel reservations. Our advice if you plan to use this tour group, demand that before you leave home you have Vouchers for all hotels in your possession. This is your guarantee the reservations have been paid for and will be there when you arrive.
We also coordinated a visit to Zanzibar for 3 days to relax at the beach, following the safari. AMS did a good job scheduling the airlines and driver for pick up. AMS recommended The Sands on the east side of the island. There is a floor of coral and sea urchins at the shoreline, so this is not a beach you can run out in bare feet and swim. It is a good choice if you just want to relax at a quiet location with lounge chairs and covers from the sun provided on the beach at no additional cost.
HU
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
He was friendly and told a lot about the country and the people.
The campsite was on an island, it was excellent: half-tent-half-house accomodation, campfire in the evening and some wine:) The "room" was also more than okay, better than expected (from an island without any electricity). Both David the operator and the staff were nice, I cannot say a wrong word to them. The reason why I rated to average comes from 2 reasons: according to the description "Travelling time from Lusaka to Camp takes approximately 4 hrs 30min to 5 hrs." while it was rather 6-7 hours (not counting the switch of the flat tire); so practically almost 1+1 days spent with just being on road. The other was that we almost did not see any wild animal (at the very end luckily we caught a leopard). Though I know it's rather an question of luck and for that the safari crew is not to blame, but still it was then bit of a disappointment.
SG
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Satisfied with all arrangements except food
I will recommend this tour operator. Maintain / improve the safari car for best guest use.
LK
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Masai Mara National Reserve by Rajiva Wijesinha
Fascinating to be there and the animals were all present, but not so easy to see given the size and also the sad state of our vehicle. The driver was young and followed the herds, so we missed out on cheetahs and rhinos, but still we did see a great deal in the short time we had.
LK
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Hell's Gate National Park by Rajiva Wijesinha
The scenery was unusual and we had a wonderful walk in the gorge, to the Devil's bedroom.
LK
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very pleasant and I am glad that Safai Bookings gave me a wide choice of programmes and prices.
I travelled with Lenchada which offered a varied tour at a very reasonable cost, including all transportation, accommodation and food. We had a full day, plus an evening and a morning, in Masai Mara, and long mornings at Lake Nakuru and Hell's Gate Reserves. I also had a delightful boat ride on Lake Naivasha.
Rhino Camp just outside Masai Mara was a delight, and young Pixie set up a campfire early to relax before dinner. The other two lodges were also comfortable, and the food good though the general menu was very much the same everywhere.
The only drawback was a terrible vehicle for the first two days, and an inexperienced driver which made it worse, though we still saw lots of lions and elephant and giraffe. And Joshua who took over with another van for Lake Nakuru was excellent. And the flamingoes there were fantastic, as were the plentiful white rhinos.
FR
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very good experience thanks to the driver and guides, poor concerning the organisation and camp
Our experience with Bushbaby call has generally been good thanks to the wonderful guide driver Messe who knows perfectly the parks and tracks to follow near the animals, thanks to him who was for us a permanent ray of sunshine, always at the listen, kind and interesting, we will never forget the wonderful moments spent with him. The other two people who looked after us were also perfect and the cook was very knowledgeable.
On the other hand, there is much to complain about the organization of the trip. We took the BBC taxi, he drove us to the border, we were cared for by a charming young woman who had to make the connection with cars and staff, we waited in vain for the boat to the meal and the cruise that never came to get us, we had thanks to the young woman was able to embark on another boat that hosted us and gave us a very pleasant time and we shared the meal of tourists on board . On our return we waited a long time for the cars
The camp proposed was summary, one of the beds could not be used because dangerous (part had been forgotten) one could say "Wild camp" whereas we had reserved in comfortable lodges and that the person in charge of BBC had told us we provide the equivalent. Fortunately we kept one of them which allowed us to sleep well, restore and wash ... a real pleasure in Mogothlo that we had paid before and accomodations for our guide. On the other hand, we had no problem rectifying the bill which included an undue performance and we spent a wonderful day in mokoro with our friends ...
We had left a tip for the mokoro staff that was not paid to the recipients when the tour took place, so we poured it a second time ...
I think that BBC is an agency that has to make a lot of progress to offer the best services and that the staff that accompanies the tourists has been perfect for us.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Refund
I have previously written a review about the difficulties I had on my safari. However, the company have since apologised once again for the mix up with the vehicle on the final day, and have refunded me the cost of the final day, which is a generous response to a genuine mistake. This also makes me feel sure that the experience I had is not at all the usual quality you can expect from them, as reflect in the other very glowing reviews below! Thanks to Jackson for sorting this out.
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Mediocre at the best.
The Driver would take us no further than 10-15 Kms from our lodge and move in circles and follow the radio if there were any wild life sighting. Going so far from Canada we were disappointed not to go north to see the migration. Out of 3 days one day was a complete wipe out but we were fortunate on one day to see a lion pride and a Cheetah get on to a Safari jeep next to us.
They are nor trained to delight customers but rather make it routine and sometimes monotonous. We spent 3 days in the Serengeai, 1 in Tarangerine and 2 in Ngongoro crater but asides from moments of excitement the vast majority of our drive was boring. When we said that one day was lost in just driving, the driver got offended and confronted us and the rest of the trip lost all its charm.