CZ
4 days MM and Nakuru with Navasha
Safari was good itself, not the organisation. Mr. Benson didn't keep promise to side boat tour in Naivasha, even after I notified few times in advance, and only offered to pay taxi for myself back to Nairobi if to go so I had to resign. At the arrival he let me wait over an hour abandoned in a car park in Nairobi without transport until I got my own.
The driver failed in critical interaction with local authorities and after bribing them he demanded money from me to pay all to him. Very disappointing customer care
PK
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
She was good but didn’t tell the whole picture
We booked trip to safari for 2 persons . They said it will be whole day safari as charges were too much . Guide picked us at 8:30 am from hotel , reached safari at 1:15 pm . Then they said you have 2 hours for lunch , that’s ridiculous. At 1:30 we boarded our jeeps and to our disappointment, safari ended in 2 hours
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great at communicating, unhappy safari guide, poor planning and value for money ,
The communication from splendid was prompt and efficient. Vehicle was robust and well serviced. Driver/tour guide was grumpy and rude at times. Only on the last 1 hour drive of a four day tour decided to share his extensive knowledge. Company grossly misrepresented transit times between parks -2 hours was actually 5/6 hours. Hotels were fantastic.
NZ
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
NOT in the Okavango Delta, NOT really a safari - read the fine print carefully!
Be Warned: We were so excited to book our Luxury Okavango Safari. The blurb said that the luxury tented safari lodge is located on the banks of the Boteti River which has its origins in the heart of the Okavango Delta. What didn't it say? that the Lodge was 3 hours drive from the Delta on the other side of Maun, in the middle of farmland next to a muddy fried up river. We felt pretty stupid to have been conned, but the only other couple at the lodge when we arrived said that they had been taken in too and another guest had chosen to leave early for the same reason. The misleading advertising felt very deliberate. For a luxury experience, other things seemed off too. There was no cooling system or fridge in the tents (this was a problem as my partner had meds that needed to be kept cool). Drinking water had to be purchased by the bottle. The swimming pool was green with algae when we arrived - the staff did empty, clean a refill it but it was not available for the first two day of the stay. If after reading this you are still keen to go (or you've already paid and can't get your money back), what can you look forward too? The small staff was very friendly. The guides were extremely knowledgeable. Our main guide went above and beyond to ensure we saw lions in Moremi even though he must have put in a 13+ hour day with all the driving to and from the park. The chef was excellent. We were asked about preferred foods and eating times (the lodge was extremely quiet when we were there so she tailored things to our exact wishes). The mokoro and walking safari, and Moremi game drive were wonderful (just wish we hadn't wasted hours getting to them). However, as some other reviews have said, it seemed like the foreign owners didn't really care about the lodge, the staff or the visitor experience that they were offering. I would recommend avoiding, and finding somewhere actually in the Delta to stay. If you can't afford that, just stay in Maun and do daytrips.
AE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Didn’t meet the expectations
The experience overall was not the best. Very few things could have made it a lot better.
I have to say the driver (guide) was very nice and helpful. All else wasn’t up to the expectations.
The car had too many issues, we had to stop at least three times to fix things. Each of course wasted time. Almost everything in the car was shaking and with the roads it was a lot worse.
The food tasted bad, the quantity in the was very little, but when i complained, they fixed this. And then came the tents, mattresses and sleeping bags. This was horrible. They smelled like pure sweat. It was raining at night and tents were leaking water. My mattress was soaking wet, my bag got wet, almost everything got wet. One of the guys who were with us got everything wet even her passport.
Investing in a better car, some tents and some more organization could have made the experience a lot better
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not diligent with arrangements
In September 2023, we booked a luxury African Safari through Image Travel Ltd, a Kenyan tour operator. Despite staying at luxury &Beyond properties and having a memorable experience, there were issues. We faced a hotel change and missed activities for which we prepaid $1,100. Despite assurances from Image Travel Ltd, we never received a refund. We filed a complaint with the Kenya Association of Tour Operators (KATO) on January 3, 2024, but haven't received a response as of April 2024. Given their failure in arrangements and because they have yet to refund our money, we cannot recommend Image Travel Ltd. Instead, we suggest booking directly through &Beyond for a seamless experience. Their properties and staff made our trip unforgettable.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Not the "luxury" we were expecting (Capetown)
This is my experience and my opinion of my latest trip booked with Kanyezi. This is my 2nd time I booked through Kanyezi. The first was a last minute trip (2-3 weeks notice) my flights were my only gripe and I take partial blame for that due to my last-minute booking, so this time I booked my flights myself to solve that issue.
I was expecting luxury or at least upper end accommodations based on their sales of a "luxury" trip, their contract and my previous experience. Our accommodations in Cape town were changed the last few days prior to us leaving on this trip, they were changed from a wine estate to a golf resort? This was not what we had been planning, we don't play golf but we were to go with this change as we were told the other accommodation (Spier or Lanzerac) were not available. The resort, which I will call a "motel" was def not upper end/luxury. We did not even have a/c one night as it didn't work, mold in bathrooms, hairs in the bathrooms, a kitchenette (like an inn suites) also there were private residences on this property, so dogs were barking constantly, laundry hung out to dry all over the place, dust an inch thick on the plastic plants, you get the drift. When I called Chris to express my discontentment he really didn't care and said when he stayed here (10 years ago) it was a nice place. He would rather argue with me than try to sort out our stay somewhere else that was more of what we felt we paid for and were expecting. He was NOT customer service oriented and had a lot of excuses, some were just downright untruths.
There actually was room at the other resorts as we checked, and another couple booked also through Kanyezi actually moved to one of the "unavailable" resorts, however our funds were paid to Kanyezi and we simply didn't have extra funds to make the move to the nicer and what was expected accommodations.
The way were treated by Chris was unacceptable and honestly shocking! This was 4 nights (33%) of our 12 night trip spent in unacceptable accommodations.
Also, I will also say their communication was poor and often took days to respond to emails and most often didn't answer my questions I had asked in my emails. The lists of restaurants to book for dinners given by Kanyezi had not been updated and most of them I called were now permanently closed, because they had not even bothered to check to update their recommendations. Our contract was not updated throughout after they changed our accommodations in Capetown still saying the original "Spier Wine Estate" throughout. Chris is very "contract" driven and mentions his contract regularly.
Given the response and treatment to our situation I would never use Kanyezi again and would not recommend!
I will say Dulini, the safari resort, and The Palms in Zimbabwe were both excellent! I will book direct next time and save myself the hassle of being treated like crap not to mention the anger and frustration I experienced the first days of our long awaited and expensive trip to South Africa. Never again KANYEZI!!
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A mediocre experience at best
So the tour started about 1hour and 30 minutes late because the initial driver could not pick us up because the safari car broke down on the way to our hotel. So we got assigned a new driver and this driver was supposed to arrive at our hotel 20 minutes later than the actual pickup time. But he arrived over 1 hour later and the boss of the travel agency promised us to extend the game drive for the amount of the time the driver was delayed. So when the driver arrived he was in not so good of a mood because he had been woken up in his sleep to do the tour instead of the other driver. So his bad mood was understandable to us at first. We continued with the tour and tried to make the best out of the situation. The Safari tour felt rushed and the actual Safari was very underwhelming because we just rushed through the main paths of the national park for about 2 hours and did not get any explanation of the driver whatsoever without us actually asking him specific questions. We did not see many animals and our requests during the drive were not regarded. The Safari was expensive (500$ and more for 2 people) and it was not worth the money at all. We spent 25$ per person for a meal which was just rice and vegetables and the driver even was rude to us when we asked him why he was making us rush through everything when actually we were promised a longer Safari tour because of the delay. We can’t recommend this agency although not everything was bad.
CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Thornybush Game Reserve by Debra Younghans
Wildlife viewing paled in comparison to Timbavati Nature Reserve. The vibe at the lodge was good but not exceptional like Kambaku.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Debra & Angi
Because of the increasing salt water is everything destroyed!
More over we didn’t have time to se much because our plan was in the afternoon at 3 from Arusha…