SE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Meeting the Gorillas changed my life, meeting Uganda changed it even more!
I’ve been to Paradiset, also known as Uganda! I bring home a wealth of experiences after meeting a country with a beautiful nature, fascinating animals and truly kind and generous people. First in line is Joseph our wonderful guide! With a big smile, a great knowledge and love for his country he provided all the information and attention we could ever ask for. A truly great ambassador for Uganda.
SE
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A Great Trip With Crystal Safaris including To visit chimanses, and Gorillas, meeting Uganda People,
Thanks to our guide Josef we had a wonderful trip- learning About Uganda in many aspects, Taking part of the Beautiful nature, amazons wild animals!!! And the culture and much more
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Absolutely good organized by Makasa safaris
Good communication with Makasa.
We had a lot of amazing experiences in every park we visited.
The guide Daniel knew exactly where the interesting places were to see the wild animals.
And on top of everything we had some Young cheeta's climbing at the back of our jeep to have a good vieuw.
We did not know anything like that could be possible.
Alle the lodges were very good and the food more than enough and good quality.
NL
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Wonderful 7day-trip to Kidepo Valley National Park and Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary
Back in cold Holland we have the best memories about our week to Kidepo and Ziwa with your driver/guide Sam Lugayizi.
We made a wonderfull trip with the comfortable Landcruiser , with nice lodges with good food and with attractive activities.
Sam proved to be a very pleasant companion, a safe driver and guide, and a man with a lot of knowledge about nature, birds and beasts.
Everything was perfectly organized. We really have no suggestions for improvement!
Matoke Tours and Sam, thanks a lot!!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Joseph was an amazing and informative guide.
We didn’t have a rep so Joseph was our rep & tour guide. He explained a lot and showed us around. This was a great experience, especially traveling during thanksgiving by myself. When I come back I hope Joseph is around.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent service, reliable and responsive
They answered all my questions. They addressed all my concerns, and they dealt with any issues that came up.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
We have for an Unforgetable experience in Moremi Game Reserve
It was rainning ao much. But they are very patient and try to find every single animal. We were very happy to see their passion and kindness. Finnally we ended up seeing lions that are hunting. It was perfect. I really had a lot of fun.
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Trip of a lifetime
My two friends and I spent five days with Devine African Safaris exploring Uganda to savour the wildlife and particularly the mountain gorillas. I am beyond words from the wonderful service and care extended by our hosts Devine African Safaris and in particular Nicholas who handled our booking and Chris who was the exceptional guide for the trip. He made the trip interesting sharing his vast experience in the different locations that we visited (Bwindi, Kibale and Queen Elizabeth parks) and charming personality. We did see the gorillas, lions, elephant herds….. I recommend this company totally
US
BEWARE: DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY - DRUNK DRIVER & MORE
I cannot urge people strongly enough NOT TO TAKE a safari with this company. It was the most horrible trip our family has ever experienced from start to finish. We had used this company in the past with no incident but, unfortunately, a lot can change in four years and this company is not only unprofessional but unsafe to use.
The main issue is that our driver showed up DRUNK and my dad had to drive through Amboseli because the driver literally PASSED OUT DRUNK and then we got lost because we could not wake him up. The driver was still DRUNK the next day and actually confronted me and got in my face yelling about losing his job. We thought he was going to be physical but luckily got away before it got there. Even with JUST that, the issues did not end there.
A few other things to note - we booked our safari with the company a year in advance and had made half payment at that time and then made our full payment 2 months in advance so many of the other issues outlined below are unacceptable and unprofessional (they literally forgot to book ALL of our rooms or buy entrance passes).
After the trip, we obviously asked for a refund and were promised a partial refund. Here we are SIX months later and we still do not have the money. Alex has continually made up excuses and lied to avoid payment. We have sent him our bank details multiple times (and confirmed with the bank that all is accurate). We also have provided him with our PayPal (which is how we paid) but to no avail. It was all just a sham to drag out us posting this review.
I do want to note that Kenyans are amazing people and the landscapes were beautiful so we would actually recommend a safari in Kenya just not with this company!
Below is a full recap of the disaster and again – do not use this company.
Pre-Arrival: The owner was extremely slow at responding and we would have to send multiple emails and often wait weeks (if not longer) to receive any follow-up answers.
Day 1: We were scheduled for a homestay but they had forgotten to book us one as the original one we were supposed to stay at, we were notified that it had changed the night before. When we arrived, we sat in a dirt alley in a not very good part of town for 30 minutes (this was after flying for almost 24 hours and it was near midnight) and when we got in it was very clear she was just told as her clothes were in heaps as if she had just pulled them out of the closets and she had just started trying to make food (again, it was midnight).
Day 2: We were scheduled for a game drive at Amboseli after arrival. Instead our driver, told us that we were to do a quick trip to visit a Maasai village prior to a game drive and he abruptly left. The Maasai arrived and this should have been our first inkling that something was not right because they asked – ‘Where is your driver? Wait, you are walking?’ We had been told it was a quick trip/walk by our driver but it was four miles through rugged terrain (and we were told to be careful of extremely poisonous snakes that were known to frequent the area such as the mamba).
My parents are in their late 60s and we would not have done this long of a trek as it took over 2 hours. After completing the tour of the village, we expected to see our driver but he was not there and he actually had told them that he wanted them to walk us back the four miles to our hotel. We said absolutely not and he finally shows up but it is getting late in the day now but we still ask if we are going to do any part of the game drive – he says no at first but we finally managed to get him to take us in for 10 minutes (it was supposed to be a several hour game drive). We found out the next day that he had actually already started drinking by this time which is completely unsafe when you are in a park with wild animals.
Day 3 (The start of the real nightmare): We are supposed to meet our driver at 6:30 am for a game drive of Amboseli. He rolls up at 6:45am completely drunk and stinking of booze – he can barely walk, his pants are not zipped/falling off and he is slurring his words. He is in no position to drive. As mentioned, we already missed our game drive the night before because he had gone to get booze and had started to drink early.
At first he says that he can drive, we say absolutely not. He then asks if my dad would drive but that he would navigate and that he would sober up soon and would take over the driving. We reluctantly agree as we had paid all this money to go and this was our final day in Amboseli (which was 1/3 of the trip) so we thought we should at least try. It should also be noted that these are extremely rugged roads, it is the right-side drive (we are American which is left-side drive).
We pull up to the guard station to try to enter the park and the guard is completely perplexed why my dad is driving. We end up getting out of the car to explain to the guard what is happening and he offers to help us contact the owner of the company as this is unacceptable and unheard of for safari drivers because these are coveted positions in their country. Unfortunately, the owner did not answer so we proceeded on our way not knowing if we would be getting a new driver (as we had no confidence in the current drunk to show up sober for the remainder of the trip).
The first couple of hours are okay (as okay as it can get when you have a drunk safari tour guide who cannot drive). He manages to somewhat point us in the right direction but he cannot name any animals and is not on his radio to talk to other drivers to find out where the animals are located. He does however say on REPEAT that he was sorry that he was drunk, he has a drinking problem but please do not report him. As noted above, we thought he was a huge liability and we could not risk having a drunk driver the remainder of our trip as he had proven himself to be drunk the first 2 days so we said we would talk about it later as we did not want it get confrontational in the car.
He proceeds to drink from his ‘water bottle’ and the car wreaks more and more of vodka and he gets MORE drunk (which is pretty hard because he was completely smashed already) and this is the point of the day where he PASSES out. Of course – he passed out when we are in a remote part of the park and we cannot see any CARS.
We also realize that we only have ¼ of a tank because he had not filled the car up and we do not want to run out of gas so we start trying to frantically figure out how to get back or at least find another car to help (note we had no cell service). We continually try to wake him up but to no avail. He is out cold.
After an hour being lost and my mom and I in tears because we are scared and thinking we are going to run out of gas and be stuck in a remote area, we finally see another car. The driver pulls over and gets out to ask us what is wrong and asks if we will get out to explain the situation to him. He is shocked that the driver is passed out drunk and takes photos of him and the vehicle to report it and says that he will help escort us back to the main gate (it should be noted that every driver/Maasai that we passed while my dad was driving gave us the most shocked look like WHAT is happening).
To make matters worse, while we are talking to the other safari driver (he spots LIONS in the field only 100 feet away and we have to run back into our vehicles which makes already heightened nerves EVEN WORSE as that is SCARY). Alas, the other safari driver escorts us out of the remote area until he reaches another driver who proceeds to take us back to the guard gate.
Note: Shout out to the other companies for being so fantastic and helpful in the midst of this awful situation.
After 7 long hours, we finally made it back home. We were supposed to do an evening game drive but clearly that was not happening since our driver remainder passed out in the car (and our nerves were frayed and we were all extremely upset by the day’s events.) All the workers saw him passed out in the vehicle and profusely apologized to us and how it was embarrassing and unacceptable for this to happen to us.
We finally got a hold of the owner, who told us he would be sending a new driver later that evening.
Day 4 (a continuation of the real nightmare): We had briefly met our new driver and one of the managers at the company (not the owner) the evening before and we were to meet in the morning to start fresh.
We arrive to breakfast and the original driver comes in STILL DRUNK. He sits down at our table and is slurring his words – he initially is apologetic but then he starts screaming at me that I got him fired and is getting in my face. I jump up to get away and both my parents and husband also thought he was about to get physical. The other drivers run over to get him away from the table and we make a quick exit out of the breakfast. Again, more tears and frayed nerves – they should have NEVER allowed him near us – it was a security risk. I will note that our new driver was nice and professional but now we move onto the other issues because you would think the company would roll out the red carpet after this experience but WRONG.
As mentioned earlier, we had booked this tour a year in advance and had specifically requested certain hotels as we had done the safari in the past. Minutes before we are to arrive at the hotel in Lake Naivasha, the owner calls and says that he forgot to book the room but he found a replacement. We go to view it and is not nearly of the same caliber – we had specifically requested rooms with balconies to see the hippos come in at night (a large part of why we came to Lake Naivasha). These rooms had no balconies and were shabbier.
Day 5: We had initially been scheduled to stay at one place – were told days before we left that we were actually going to stay in a new place and so after the incident the day before – we do a little more digging and it turns out that it is 80 km further into the park and will reduce the amount of time for game drives – we groan but think – it is fine since at least it’s a nice hotel. NOPE. HE FORGETS TO BOOK THE ROOM AGAIN. As we are minutes away from arriving to the Mara, our driver is frantically trying to work with the owner to figure out where we are going to stay (more on that shortly).
So we arrive at the Mara and it turns out the owner forgot to get the passes beforehand for access to the park (every other safari vehicle just rolled up and went through). Our driver then asks if we have American dollars to cover the entrance fee for everyone (i.e. $100s of dollars) as he did not have it. We say no since we did not have that much cash on us. We have to turn around so the driver can go pull out money from an ATM. We end up sitting for over an hour in a very hot van. Again, this is on the heels of many bad days. We finally arrive to the hotel and they clearly are only accommodating us because there was nowhere else in the Mara with any availability. We end up in these brand new tents (they literally were only furnished with beds and the floors had JUST been varnished (we are grateful to the hotel for finding us a place to sleep but the point is – we should have had proper and full accommodation since we had paid in advance).
Final Day: So we are finally supposed to head back to the airport but we had booked a tour to visit the elephant sanctuary. The owner had told us to adopt the animals beforehand but he would book the tour himself. We got confirmation over email and he again confirmed on the phone that he had booked the tour. Shocker, HE FORGOT TO BOOK IT and it was fully booked. Luckily the guard took pity on us and let us in.
I know that was long-winded and it only was because SO MUCH WENT WRONG. Again, please go visit Kenya – the people and places are amazing but save yourself many tears, stress and heartache and do not book with this company.
CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great experience
The safari tour was amazing - the guide knew the area very well and was very knowledgeable. Our main guide was John, and he was fantastic. He knew detailed information about all animals that we came across, and also shared with us interesting facts about the various areas we drove through. Service throughout the trip was excellent.
Communication was good, considering how big of a group we had, and that we were booking from abroad. Our needs were accommodated, and our expectations were met. The trip was well-organized, and guides were flexible, allowing us to change the itinerary slightly when we needed to. While we enjoyed the food at all of the lodges, some of the packed lunches en route could have been better.