35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Misled, ignored calls & pocketed $830 of my money without paying for services
This tour operator shouldn't be advertised on this platform and shouldn't be approached. 'Eddie' assured me that I was being booked on a group tour - and yet I was on my own. He failed to provide timely communications and updates to me until prompted. My driver was about 1.5hrs late to pick me up, then got a traffic ticket, afterwards getting pulled over by the traffic police, to wait in a hot field by the side of the road for over 45 minutes. As a result of these delays, we spent the last stretch of the
near 10hr journey in the dark on dirt roads, with few updates conveyed to me. The next day, on arrival at the Bwindi gorilla base camp, I was left alone as two separate trekking groups came and went, without any communication until more than 2 hours later, when it materialised that Eddie had not paid for the gorilla permit, that I paid him for, over a month ago. Eddie failed to pick up his phone or respond to messages from the driver or myself all morning. I had to either leave without seeing the gorillas I had come all this way to see, or pay another $800 for the permit. I had no choice but to pay again before the cut-off for that day's gorilla trekking. Eddie then decided to become available at around 11, and has since that time come up with a range of excuses (no apologies) and has continually delayed and prevaricated reimbursing me. I believe I have been scammed. I have reported this to the police. It has left me suspicious and spoilt my experience of visiting Uganda. I trusted Safaribookings and was let down with their vetting of tour operators.
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
We feel cheated by Mwajabu and lost out money
I recommend anyone who is thinking about booking trip with them to not pay any money in advanced to not face the terrible experience we had. We paid to Mwajabu $6,000 in advance by Westen Union, an when we arrived to Kenia, the driver told us that the hotels, park fees and driver were not paid so we had to pay everything again!! TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE. When we requested an explanation to Mwajabu she told us a story about her accountant and she promised to return all the money. It has been more than 1 month and we are still waitting for our $5,000 back, following up with her false promises and excuses everyday. Honestly, this is the worst situation I have ever faced travelling and I feel she cheated and stole our money that I will never get back. It is sad to see that we can’t trust some local touroperators.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
I would advise you don't book
I have been to Kenya and Tanzania a number of times. This trip that I booked with Safari360 was my worst experience ever. I almost lost my life because Petro runs a business that uses totally filthy, substandard and unsafe vehicles, and crowns it with unprofessional drivers to take unsuspecting travelers for a ride. The first jeep that I was sent did not have any working windows or doors. They did not open from the inside, and had to be pried open from the outside by the Driver, whenever needed. That 2 seater jeep was filthy, smelled, and had one "functional" seat, but no seat belts. The driver had the switch to open and close the windows as the switches by the windows were inoperable. He smashed my fingers in the window a total of 4 times as he could not control the switch. When I asked for a replacement vehicle, I was sent a 6 seater Toyota Range Rover. At first I was relieved when I saw it from the outside. However, very soon I learned that it was no different from the first vehicle. I was basically made to jump from the frying pan into the fire. This vehicle had totally broken seats, no seat belts on any of the seats, and again doors and windows that were not operable from the inside, The vehicle appeared never to have been cleaned from the inside, but worst of all, various parts of this poorly maintained jeep kept breaking down. We had a total of 4 breakdowns with issues ranging from the rear axle, to the shock absorbers and followed by the struts. The final blow was when the brakes failed. The driver had to pull into mechanic shops at remote villages where we spent between 2 to 4 hours getting the repair work done. Petro, and his partner, who provides the transport, did not approve any fuel purchase along the way. As per his calculations he had provided enough fuel for the entire journey. At no point had he taken into consideration the lousy and treacherous road conditions and other factors that could and did affect the "mpg or kpl." I had to pay for the gas out of pocket as it was either that or be stuck in the middle of nowhere. The height of indifference and couldn't careless attitude on the part of Petro and his partner towards the safety of the Driver and me was reached when the brakes of the Range Rover failed as we were descending towards a valley on a very steep hill with a 7% grade, as the posted signs showed. We would have ended in a head-on collision with a truck that was going the opposite direction because the bus behind the truck decided to pass him without bothering to see if it was safe to do so. The road was very narrow in both directions. How we did not have a fatal collision with failed brakes is still a mystery to me, and gives me the creeps till today. Your entire life truly flashes before your eyes at that moment. After this incident we drove downhill to the very next village at 5kpl. We were fortunate to find a mechanic who spent 3 hours fixing the brakes. I have never had such a harrowing trip anywhere in the world since I have been traveling. Please, I advise you do not use Safari360. Petro's only objective is to make money. Period! He is an unscrupulous, unethical and unprofessional Safari Tour operator. Your safety is never his concern. I wonder if the Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism that issues Safari Operator licenses are even aware of how businesses are run once they issue the licenses. Does that department even have any checks and balances or monitor these businesses. Since Tourism is a major income generator for the government I am sure they would be interested in hearing about some of these horribly and unsafe practices by some tour operators. That is something worth looking into. Buyer Beware.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
They are a dishonest company based on our experience
I used this company for a Kenya family safari in 2017 and we had a great experience. Based on this, we booked a new 5 day luxury Safari with them. I had every expectation that - based on my prior experience from 2017 - we could expect another great experience. This was not the case. Something has clearly happened and this company has gone totally downhill.
In summary - we were assured that our private Safari trip was completely lined up and on track. However the moment we paid them the money ($12k for a family of 5) - the problems immediately began. Firstly we were lied to about the hotel we had chosen somehow not having availability and we were rebooked into a different hotel of a much lower caliber (and told that the price was the same). I later confirmed that there was NO lack of availability at our originally selected lodge - rather the company had never made the reservation and had just pocketed the money. Secondly the company never paid the Safari park fees (despite us having paid them IN FULL prior to our arrival). We were left stranded at the park entrance for over an hour and were constantly being pressured to just pay the park entry fees in "cash" and told we would get refunded later. I refused.
This company ruined our family vacation. They took our money upfront and assured us our trip is all paid for. Then left us stranded in a foreign country and told us to just pay in "cash" to cover ongoing costs. Our attempts to get a refund are met with a combination of them ignoring emails/phone calls and them sending us generic emails.
The people we dealt with are Fred and Humphrey. I would advise you don't use them and do not make the mistake we did.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review
Very terrible service, we weren’t given Locks for our camp site and got robbed. The food was also terrible and didn’t cater to any dietary needs.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
From my experience they're untrustworthy company
From my experience, I would not recommend trusting this company. They kept our money!
We found ourselves in Africa, a whole family thrown away and abandoned because they had not paid for anything for our trip.. It seems they spent our money on other things....
He says he's going to give it back to us... always excuses and problems...
$5000 lost!
It's disappointing to see companies that we believe may not prioritize the well-being of their customers. We hope this serves as a warning to fellow travelers.
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Very careful. Do not book with Nali Safaris
Our trip was a real nightmare.
We booked a tour of 4 people with car and driver with Nali Safaris for 17 days in September 2024 at a total cost of 9,000 euros which, as per the contract, were paid in advance.
All contacts were made through Pendy Masule, the owner of the agency.
After 4 nights from arrival in Namibia, we discovered that from that moment on all the subsequent hotels booked were not paid for and we had to make our own arrangements. You can imagine the dismay, amazement and trauma of all of us when we discovered this. The entrance fees to the parks, fuel, excursions and everything else provided for in the contract were no longer paid for; we were left with only the car with the driver and a thousand problems to face in order to continue the trip. A terrible experience.
I am writing after 3 months of returning because Pendy continued to claim that he had financial problems that were being resolved and that he would soon reimburse the 2400 euros that we had to pay to complete the trip.
As soon as we returned from the trip, all the documentation relating to the expenses incurred was sent to Nali Safaris and Pendy always assured that the reimbursement would be made shortly.
I do not know if we will ever get our money back or if Pendy has stolen from us but I certainly had a terrible experience with Nali Safaris and so that other people can avoid finding themselves in similar situations, I will report everything to the competent bodies and associations of the tourism sector in Namibia.
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Attention, our money was stolen !!!!!!
Attention!!!!
Company of dishonest people from our experience!!!!
They have stolen all the money we paid for the safari, and we have had to pay it all again.....
I am writing this information so that what happened to us does not happen to another family!!!
It was very unpleasant to find yourself with children in Africa, and that nothing was paid for and all the problems!!!
They have been saying for over a month that they are going to give us back our money.....
Always false promises and the money does not appear....
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Look for another company
I don't even know where to start commenting. We booked a day safari with Sylwia. We paid everything a month in advance and they confirmed that everything was OK. The day before leaving on safari, having asked several times if anything was missing and they told us that everything was fine, they told us 12 hours before leaving on safari that they had made a mistake booking the plane tickets and that there were no spaces left on the plane. After much negotiation, they sent us to a worse park for the same price and the same day we had to return to Spain. They tell us that they will reserve a hotel for us so that we can take a shower before the flight, but when we arrive at the hotel it has not been paid for and we have to pay for it ourselves. I do not recommend it, they are very unprofessional and will leave you without the safari.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Big warning! They stole our money and left us without any Safari
We booked a 15 days Safari with them for Christmas and new year. When we arrived they told us to book a new Safari and our own cost, they can not do anything for us. Than they blocked us. Kept all the money and didn’t give us the Safari so we had high prices on flights and hotels to spend Christmas, organizing to get back home somehow instead of having a Safari.
Just starting a trial against them.
Don’t ever book with them.
Wilson and Samuel work together to steal your money.
