IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Honeymoon ruined by KOFI
We rented a Toyota HZJ78 from KOFI Travel for our honeymoon trip to Tanzania in August. While the vehicle looked good at first glance and we paid it full price, it was a death trap that completely ruined our trip. The damages I'm listing are just a small fraction of the dozens of failures we experienced.
On day one, the starter battery failed, leaving us stranded. The roof rack broke from vibrations, and we almost lost our rooftop tents. The starter motor broke, too. The power steering failed not once, but twice. The rear right wheel was bent, causing severe vibrations that eventually led to a massive oil leak from the axle. The engine was in such bad shape that we had to add a liter of oil every 300km. The final straw was when a brake line exploded, and we nearly crashed.
During one of the many days we spent in a workshop, a Toyota expert pointed out that this was originally a left-hand drive vehicle that had been poorly converted to a right-hand drive. The conversion was shoddily done and clearly not by a specialist. To make matters worse, the conversion was done using the chassis number of an HZJ76 model. I can't even imagine what would have happened if one of these failures had led to a serious accident.
This was not just a series of small issues; it was a cascade of catastrophic failures. This vehicle was not fit for purpose and should never have been rented out. We were lucky to get out of this trip alive
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unresponsive and elusive
I was in contact with the owner Joshua throughout the process. I inquired about a 3 day chimpanzee trekking tour with 2 other travelers. I liked the itinerary and made a deposit. I had various questions and he was unresponsive. I had to follow up 2 or 3 times for him to respond which he was a red flag. My flight into Kigoma was canceled, so I should have been able to request a 50% refund of the deposit I made per their refund policy , as it was over 30 days prior to the trip. When I requested it, He never responded. I followed up various times without a response. Effectively, the refund I was owed was not given to me. I do not recommend this company if you plan on going on holiday unless you want to deal with an unresponsive and elusive owner.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Stress Filled Trip
Our group of twelve began planning this trip in Sept 2024 and hired Craig and Bianca of Southern African Tours to organize what we hoped would be a seamless, once-in-a-lifetime Safari and Cape Town experience. Instead, it turned into a stressful and costly ordeal.
After making our final payment in June, we repeatedly requested confirmations for hotels, internal flights, and Cape Town activities. Bianca assured us everything was paid for, but never provided any documentation. Upon arrival, we were shocked to discover that nothing had been paid for at all—no hotels, no flights, no activities.
Bianca stopped responding to all messages, leaving us completely abandoned and in disbelief.
Our first safari lodge confirmed Bianca only called the day BEFORE to request rooms, without payment. She had held our group’s money for nearly a year yet failed to secure a single booking. As a result, we had to pay out of pocket each day at higher last-minute prices for flights, safari resorts, hotels, tour guides, and Cape Town activities. To make matters worse, internal flights were so limited we had to split our group across different planes.
Instead of enjoying the trip we had spent a year looking forward to, we wasted precious hours daily researching, calling, and booking the rest of our own itinerary—tasks we had hired Southern African Tours to manage.
Thankfully, the staff at Kapama Game Reserve went above and beyond to help us find rooms and salvage part of our trip. Their professionalism was the only bright spot in this otherwise mismanaged experience.
Please learn from our mistake: do not use Southern African Tours. They took our money, failed to book or pay for anything, and strung us along with empty promises before going silent.
South Africa is a breathtaking country and truly worth experiencing—but do yourself a favor and use another travel agency that will handle every detail properly and give you the trip of a lifetime.
RS
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
AVOID Dwayne Tours & Safaris tour operator
From our experience, I would recommend that you AVOID Dwayne Tours & Safaris tour operator
The service with Dwayne Tours & Safaris was extremely disappointing, showing no respect for clients. I want to briefly share my experience to warn others about this agency, which operates in a completely unprofessional way.
Here are just some of the issues we faced:
• We booked and paid for a private tour, which was not provided. Instead, we were placed in a random group without being asked.
• At Chobe River, our program stated we would have a morning game drive starting at 8:30, but we only left around 11–11:30, when animals are much less active due to the heat.
• The “private” game drive turned into waiting for a group of teenagers who were more interested in taking photos in the driver’s seat and climbing trees, while we sat in the vehicle for half an hour. The drive itself lasted only 2 hours (including the waiting), instead of the promised 3 hours.
• Despite paying for an all-inclusive package, we were told there was no water and initially no lunch at the lodge (this was later corrected, but only after a dispute).
• I tried to address these issues with Lloyd, the operator, but he only kept saying “everything will be fine,” without doing anything to make up for the wasted and very expensive time. After traveling 24 hours to get there, his complete lack of awareness or respect for our time and money was shocking.
• When I asked for at least a discount or some compensation, he kept nodding but never did anything about it.
The next day, we were supposed to drive through Savuti to the Okavango Delta. Lloyd told us the journey normally takes about 6 hours (or 8 if stopping along the way). In reality, without any stops, it took us more than 11 hours, which completely ruined our schedule and cost us valuable time on what was already a short trip. This was also our wedding anniversary, which made it even more frustrating.
Later that day, instead of the planned private afternoon game drive, we were again added to another group that had booked a mokoro excursion – so both their plans and ours were ruined. We just sat waiting in the vehicle for them to return. When we tried to talk to Lloyd again in the evening, he became dismissive and even rude. Together with the Kwai Expedition Camp management, he promised us a full day private game drive the following day to “make things right.” Of course, that was another empty promise – we were again joined by strangers and got maybe three hours of private time in total.
At the end of the trip, my husband gave Lloyd the final payment with the words: “If you think you earned it, take it; if not, it’s up to you.” Without a second of hesitation or remorse for the terrible service, Lloyd took the full amount.
After we returned, my husband gave him one last chance to show at least minimal responsibility by refunding part of the money. He never responded.
This was by far our worst safari experience ever – unprofessional, disorganized, and completely disrespectful towards clients.
👉 I feel responsible to warn other travelers: Avoid Dwayne Tours & Safaris at all costs.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Cheated by Craig & Bianca
We began planning our trip to South Africa with a group of family and friends in September 2024. Craig Lucke and Bianca Els of Southern African Tours were contracted to manage the in-country arrangements, including internal flights, hotel accommodations in both Kruger and Cape Town, group transportation in Cape Town, and various excursions.
We made our initial payment in September 2024 and completed the full payment before our departure. However, those in our group responsible for communicating with Craig and Bianca experienced increasing difficulty in getting timely or clear information—especially as the departure date approached. Despite repeated requests, we never received a final itinerary or confirmation numbers for any of the bookings before leaving the U.S.
Upon arrival in South Africa, we discovered that no hotel reservations, internal flights, or excursions had been booked or paid for. We were essentially stranded in a foreign country without any confirmed arrangements. Thankfully, the situation was salvaged—largely due to the efforts of our group members and the kindness of several locals we met along the way.
This was an incredibly stressful and disappointing experience. We have never encountered a situation where a company took full payment and failed to deliver any of the promised services. We strongly advise others to be cautious when considering Southern African Tours.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Frustrating experience
I did a safari with this company and unfortunately had a bad experience. They made me pay the park entrance fee again, even though I had already paid it. It didn’t show up in the system, but that’s something they should handle, not me. I ended up paying over $80 with the promise they’d refund me the same day.
That didn’t happen. They delayed it again and again with different excuses and only on my last day, after insisting a lot, did I finally get my money back. in shillings, not dollars, even though they’d had two days to sort it out.
I’ve done safaris with other companies without any issues. This is the only one that caused me problems. They made the experience stressful and frustrating.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fraudulent Company
I booked a safari with Dosasha for September, but suddenly I can’t get in touch with them anymore. I found out that they have recently scammed many people out of their deposits and balances, then ran away, and their license has even been revoked by the TRA. I hope everyone will stay alert and not fall for this scam. I will report to the police to recover my deposit.
MY
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
They stole our money
5 pax, paid deposit 50% on mid Aug, arrived on 6th Sept and paid the remaining half in the office.
2 days no issue in Masai Mara, though there was a change of lodge (which they claimed their staff booked wrongly, but it's an "upgrade").
Highly suspect they book last minute.
Then 3rd day no accommodation was booked at the discussed Lake Nakuru Sopa Lodge when we arrived at the lodge in the evening.
Driver claimed he got the funds for the park fees at 5pm then no reply from the operator regarding accommodation booking voucher since.
unreachable via phone as well.
Asked the lodge staff to check the remaining of the accom, no bookings were made under their name or our names.
Went to Naivasha Tourist Police Unit to get an advise but he said to go to Dosasha's Nairobi office to claim refund.
Lilian is nowhere to be seen in the office, only Alfa.
Another guy you should be aware of.
TLDR, we involved embassy, TPU HQ, and diplomatic police in Kenya.
They still haven't refund us.
It's a whooping USD 13500 for 5 of us.
Do not go with this operator.
Whichever staff name they claim they are, it's the same person.
Reddit has a year old post that someone got scammed by the same person as well.
They'll likely create another agency name and do the same thing all over again.
I've already have at least 5-6 groups of people around my travelling date that got scammed or last minute cancelled Tanzania part. They thought we can't get them cause we're foreigners.
If you're a victim, make it big.
Involve whoever you think can, only they will take action.
Someone emailed safaribooking.com and they claimed they'll take this operator off the list in the site.
I see it's still all and well here.
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Don't book with them
GREAT guide/driver, but TERRIBLE office organisation. I strongly recommend you don't book with them.
I work in the Tourist Industry and I'm very expert and objective: Never trust Big Apes and Peter for your trip to Uganda.
Our tour guide, Sam Waako, was wonderful - knowledgeable, communicative and funny. The safari itself was great.
However, the office organisation was terrible, not up to par.... Peter (the manager) was absolutely silent. No call, no email, no communication whatsoever if not through the guide but I believe a manager who considers himself as such should pick up the phone and talk to the customer who is complaining of a problem.
My advice would be - book with a different company. It's all fine if everything goes well, but if there's a problem then They won't solve it.
US
Left Stranded in South Africa after using Southern African Tours
Our trip with Southern African Tours (run by Craig and Bianca) turned into a complete disaster. We started planning more than a year in advance (Sept 2024 for travel in Sept 2025) and followed their payment schedule faithfully:
Initial deposit: Sept 2024
Second payment (domestic flights): Nov 2024
Final balance: June 2025
At first, communication was fine. Bianca seemed organized and responsive. But after our second payment, everything went downhill. She became nearly impossible to reach — delays of days or weeks, excuses about being “too busy,” and eventually, total silence.
The real problems began just before departure:
5 days before flying out: We requested a group call to confirm details. She promised Monday — then vanished.
Day before departure: We begged for pickup and flight details. No reply.
Arrival in Johannesburg: No local flight was booked. We had to purchase tickets ourselves at the airport.
First lodge stay: Our reservation had only been made the day before. They demanded we pay again for the first two nights.
Subsequent itinerary: No transfers, no accommodations. We were forced to arrange (and fund) everything on our own.
Cape Town flights: Also never booked. Once again, more last-minute scrambling and out-of-pocket costs.
In short: we paid Southern African Tours in full, but they delivered nothing. We were repeatedly abandoned, overcharged, and left to fend for ourselves.
Looking back, we should have taken other negative reviews more seriously. Their responses always shift blame onto the traveler — now we know why.