DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect trip with a perfect agency!
Thomas and Kima Adventures is more than just an agency. Thomas lives his job, loves his land and shows this to us as his more than welcome guests.
If you wanna see and feel the spirit of this wonderful country.... if you wanna see more, than the stuff you can book in every travel agency, you should ask thomas and his team. Best service, nice accomondations, deep views into the real life of the people and for sure actions in the wildlife...
Thanks a lot! We will be back again!
Your friends from germany!
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The safari was really good, we enjoy a lot and we saw a lot of animals. Khalifa was a really good gu
All was good, Ibrahim was very attentive in every moment.
KR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect trip and wonderful staff!
My wife and I had a wonderful time with The Reny safaris. Our trip was for 4 days 3 nights visiting the lake Naivasha and the Masai mara safari. Regina and Francis welcomed us from the begining to the end. They told the itinerary exactly and was performed the same as it was told. And most of all, our driver-guide Fredrick was fantastic. He told us about all the animals we seen in the tour and took care of us safe and comfortable.
Thanks to the Reny safaris for the wonderful memories we had in Kenya. I would love to recommend the Reny Safaris to everyone who are willing to visit Kenya.
OM
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fraud Travel Agent in Kenya duping international tourists.
This review is about LIANS Travel – actually LIA'R'S Travel,
Run by a woman named Lilian Maina – actually Lie-Liar.
BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE
This company and the woman are a big dirty fraud, playing with international tourist’s money and time and taking them for a ride completely sabotaging their holiday plans.
Unfortunately, me and my wife (Indians) availed their services for a 10 days tour in 2nd week of August-19, but had to return home within 2 days, courtesy Lie-Liar.
Lilian Maina (Lie-Liar) has absolutely no knowleage of her own country's geography, parks, attractions, logistics, flight network, hotel availability, etc., etc. and is incapable of organizing any tours for the discerning international tourists. They are here only to con international tourists and earn a fast buck. Lie-Liar is an epitome of disrespect, arrogance, rudeness, selfishness and impoliteness and does not care a hoot about international visitors.
Everything went wrong once we paid the initial 30% advance.
1. The responses from Lilian (Lie-Liar) became slow & required follow up for getting things done
2. There was no sense of urgency in booking the hotels and internal flights although our tour was to start in a week’s time. Finally, Lilian (Lie-Liar) sent fake unconfirmed hotel vouchers.
3. Lilian (Lie-Liar) abruptly moved our first hotel stay to a remote location of her choice at the last moment with total disregard to our itinerary. This resulted in compromising our 1st day's itenerary plan and settle for something that we did not want – but which Lie-Liar wanted !!
4. Lilian (Lie-Liar) advised somebody would pick us up at Nairobi airport on arrival. However, nobody turned up for an hour and until we called her up.
5. Lilian (Lie-Liar) demanded for the 70% balance payment on arrival in cash, without providing any confirmed hotel bookings for the entire itinerary. By this time, we had realized that we might not get the services that we are paying for, and deferred this payment for a day, telling Lie-Liar that we shall pay online when we reach the 1st night’s destination.
6. Incidentally, our fears/doubts turned out to be true -
- Lilian (Lie-Liar) had agreed for a 4x4 Land Cruiser initially, but on reaching Kilaguni Airstrip, gave us the oldest possible rickety van (and of course the cheapest possible) which was so uncomfortable & noisy that it frightened all animals from afar making any sightings impossible.
- Lilian (Lie-Liar) had advised the name of particular Guide cum Driver initially but instead sent a shady character at the last moment with whom we felt very unsafe and unsecure. His main agenda was to take us to the lodge as soon as possible so that we can make payment to Lilian (Lie-Liar) who was eagerly expecting her 70% payment.
- Lilian (Lie-Liar) had agreed that all Park Fees are included in the package price, but when we landed at Kilaguni airstrip and entered Tsavo-West National Park, she asked us to pay them instead.
- Lie-Liar had mentioned that bottled water is included in the price, but did not provide any.
7. Lilian (Lie-Liar) had thanked us initially for the business and said she will not disappoint us. However, as soon as she got the 30% advance, she gave us only disappointment after disappointment. What a shame for a woman.
8. Once Lie-Liar realized that we are not falling prey to her tactics and accepting whatever she is doling out to us, she became angry and abusive saying that she does not trust Indians. For a tourist service provider, these comments are in poor taste and clearly reflect that she hardly cares for her international clients and is here just want to make a fast buck.
9. Completely exhausted with her tantrums and upset with the proceedings, we were in no mood to go ahead with the tour and therefore decided to abort the trip and returned home within 2 days.
We are sure this must have happened with many international tourists who may not have posted their reviews for various reasons or would have ignored whatever sub-standard stuff was thrown at them. All the good reviews 4/5 and 5/5 that we read about LIANS (LIARS) Travel on various travel sites are fake and just cannot be true. These are definitely posted by Lilian (Lie-Liar) herself. One personal meeting with her is enough to understand what a criminal woman she is, but by then it is too late for the hapless traveler.
To cut the long story short, once the international tourists have paid the 25% - 30% advance, they are caught in the web of LIANS (LIARS) Travels and are compelled to accept whatever is doled out to them. Thus, their tour is completely deranged and they may even have to return empty-handed as we had to in 2 days.
We would therefore strongly urge all international tourists to refrain from taking LIANS (Lilian Lie-Liar) Travel's services for organizing any safaris in Kenya. There are similar bad reviews and experiences from many international tourists about LIANS (LIARS) Travel that are very clear warnings to all. We therefore urge all travelers not to trust LIANS Lilian (Lie-Liar) in any case and BOYCOTT LIANS (Lilian Lie-Liar) FOREVER.
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Professional service for a budget safari, best value, highly recommended.
Our dream of the great Kenya came crushing a week before commencing when we got a letter from the scammer, Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris saying that they can't provide the service.
Luckily, Sam, the manager of our Hadassah Hotel at Nairobi got us a similar safari at about the same cost. No need for any advance payment which is good. We don't trust paying out-front after losing 50% to Mr Otieno.
We met with KARIBU Safaris Mr Robert at the hotel for briefing and payment and everything went smoothly thereafter.
Our driver/guide, Arroni is the best guide you could possibly have. He had been doing this for 23 years and can sight a selval cat from such a distance from a moving van where all we saw was something lying in the savanna. We got to see so many animals plus 4 of the Big 5 and Arroni had the gift to position us for the best angle to photograph them. And we got to witness the great wildebeest migration up close.
Two of our team members who had been to many Safaris in South Africa were so impressed, they wish they can have him as their driver/guide in South Africa.
We had such a wonderful experience with Arroni that we were actually glad our original tour was cancelled.
SG
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful good quality Safari experience
Paul was very helpful in providing details and responding to questions before the trip. A detailed itinerary was sent out to us months before.
Payment was very smooth and was done in cash at the start of the safari trip. Very trustworthy safari.
Justin who was our driver was really helpful, and brought us around safely. He also made the extra effort to help us spot the Rhino when he could have easily brought us back to the hotel and end his day. 5 star service.
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best safari and kili experience ever!
Absolutely amazing safari experience. From the moment we contacted Rajab, months before our trip, he was extremely helpful and very prompt with responses with excellent communication. We got to tell him the type of things we wanted to do and he was extremely accomodating and created a customized itinerary for us for a very reasonable price. We did a 5 day safari (tarangire, lake manyara, serengeti, ngorongoro crater) and a 2 day hike in Kilimanjaro. We had the best safari guide Manasei, he was so knowledgeable and also very helpful and accomodating. Our Kilimanjaro guide, Adam was also great! The accomodations that Rajab arranged for us were outstanding we did campsits, tented, camps, hotels, basically all types of accomodation, ranging from busget to high end) and the meals were great. Rajab and his team made this the best honeymoon for my wife and I. I 100% would recommend anyone thinking of doing a safari or Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to book through Raja tours.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
AMAZING TRIP
We had an amazing trip to Tanzania planned by Ibrahim.. Every detail was taken care of and made for a perfect holiday. Can’t recommend them enough!
CN
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Terrible experience with Gassitours and its irresponsible owner Belaza
I’m writing this review to share my family’s disastrous experience with Gassitours and its owner Belaza during our recent trip to Madagascar. In a nutshell: 1) Gassitours’ internal coordination errors caused us to miss our flight, which forced us to stay in Morondava for an extra day. Not only did Belaza fail to arrange a guide to help us, he also refused to cover any hotel and transportation expenses for this extra day 2) The contract we signed clearly stated a seven-seat van with air conditioning, but upon arrival we were ushered into a battered seven-seat SUV with a broken air conditioner, and we had to open the windows on the dusty road. Moreover, the poor SUV broke down one day, leaving us waiting on a deserted stretch of road. In the second leg of our trip, our four-person family was arranged a five-seat SUV, with three crammed in the backseat. On our last day in Madagascar I asked Belaza why he didn’t follow the contract, he said: haven’t you completed your trip anyway?
Our family of four booked an 11-day trip to Madagascar from Gassitours, inclusive of all transportation and accommodations, and we had paid in full. The trip was from July 21st to the 31st, with a flight from Morondava to Tana (short for Antanananrivo) on the 28th. However, when we arrived at Morondava’s airport, the check-in was closed because the flight had changed time to take off earlier. The airline had notified Gassitours of the change, yet our tour guide Tujo never received any notice from the company. Tujo (and Belaza over the phone) attempted to persuade the airport to let us board, as the flight had not taken off yet, but to no avail. We had to wait in Morondava for the next day flight (there is only one flight per day). I asked Tujo what to do next, he said he didn’t know, and then he told me that he and his driver would have to immediately pick up their next clients, who just arrived at the airport.
So I called Belaza asking what he was going to arrange for our delayed day, wherein he replied that it was up to us, as he was unable to send anyone over to help us, nor would he pay any transportation or hotel expenses we would incur. I told him we had already paid Gassitours in full, and the situation we were in was due to their mistakes, so of course he should be responsible. He started making up inexplicable excuses, at which moment I realized that I was probably facing an immoral man. I decided to not argue with him further, taking into account that we still had three days left in Madagascar with his company, costs paid for in advance. We arranged and paid all expenses in Morondava ourselves.
After losing a day, we landed in Tana and immediately drove to Andasibe, but we were picked up in a five-seat SUV; our family of four could only cram three people in the backseat on the bumpy road for four hours. I asked the driver Alan: weren’t we supposed to be in a seven-seat van? Alan replied, yes, it would have been a bigger car, with a driver and a tour guide, if we arrived yesterday — but now he was only following Belaza’s arrangements. I was extremely disappointed. For the last seven days, we had been in a muggy seven-seat SUV with a crammed backseat, broken AC, and on the 25th the engine failed in the middle of the road, destroying our plan to see the Avenue of Baobab at the sunset. Now even worse.
After returning to Tana on the night of the 30th, Alan asked me whether I was satisfied with the trip. I said no. Alan then called Belaza and told me that Belaza would meet me in person at 8:30 the next morning (we were to fly out in the afternoon).
The next day, Belaza was an hour late, showing up at 9:30am. The first thing he asked was if I was satisfied with the trip. I replied, of course not. I asked him to explain why he didn’t tell Tujo about our changed flight, causing us to waste a day of our vacation. He said that it was Tujo’s fault, that he should be ‘able to tell’ that the plane was to take off early. I pointed out that Tujo was an employee of Gassitours, whether it was his fault or not, the company should still be responsible. Belaza then began to say that the airline had a problem. Since it had not yet taken off, why not let us get on the plane? I warned him not to make misleading excuses with me. He said he wasn’t a bad person, otherwise he would disappear and would not come to see me. I was surprised that he had even thought of "disappearing".
I asked him what he planned on doing about the extra expenses I had in Monrondava on the 28th. He said he didn’t have that much money, but could “compensate” for half of the amount. I pointed out that because we could not fly to Tana on the 28th, the payment to the hotel in Tana was returned to him. Moreover, in the entire travel expenses we had paid, he reduced his costs by replacing the cars and the hotels specified in the contract: 1) Our van was changed to an SUV without AC in the first 7 days, and then changed to a five-seat SUV in the last 3 days. Belaza explained that the seven-seat van with AC was allocated to another client because it was peak season. 2) One of the hotels we stayed at was switched out for a cheaper alternative. On the night of the 25th, Belaza was unable to secure a hotel as stipulated in the contract, and swapped it for a cheaper hotel, as well as changing our two-room booking to one four-person room. Belaza looked at the contract and continued to talk in circles for half an hour, saying he didn’t have the money. I became irritated and told him stop talking about his lack of money, just answer me one question: why didn’t he honor the contract?
Not only did Gassitours change the car type and the hotel room on the 25th, they also changed our two-room bookings to cheaper four-person rooms on the 23rd and 29th, and were only placed back in two rooms upon our insistence (the hotel on the 25th was full, so we had to stay in a four-person room). The first time this happened on the 23rd, we asked Tujo to contact the company to rectify this mistake and ensure that it would not happen again in the subsequent trip. After the second mistake on the 25th, I sent an email directly to Belaza, verifying that our future bookings were all for two separate rooms, to which he replied confirming it. However, upon arrival to Andasibe on the 29th Belaza had still booked a four-person room.
Belaza’s explanation was such: we were a four-person family, and staying in a four-person room should be no problem; although the car was not the one specified in our contract, it still ‘successfully’ brought us to the end of our trip. I was furious, and refused his supposed compensation, deciding to go online to inform other people what kind of person Belaza is. In more than an hour of discussion, he fully demonstrated his cunning nature, collecting as much money as possible and not taking any responsibility for even his own mistakes.
Be careful when you book with Gassitours. We chose them for our trip because we saw good comments about them, probably because there had been no hiccups in those trips. However, once things go wrong, Belaza is completely unreliable.
Feel free to contact me at [email protected] for questions and more details that I haven't written about.
MY
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Arroni is the knowledgeable driver and guide. We are lucky to have him
Karin Safari is Reliable, experience and customer oriented .Highly recommended for friends to use their services when they come to Kenya