BD
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari experience was amazing. Unfortunately, this tour operator failed to give the value for money
Safari experience is definitely amazing
1. I was not informed of the changes in my itinerary.
2. I told them beforehand I do not eat seafood, but the first day, our food was tilapia (fish)
3. I was asked to stay in the tent which I did not pay for. If I not insisted, I will be staying in that tent.
4. No coordination with my accommodation.
The coordination among themselves badly needs improvement. They tried compensating by giving me a free massage, but this cannot make up for their miscommunication and severe lack of coordination which made me lose much time and energy.
CN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Kenya Tanzania Travel
This trip was based on a friend's itinerary and chose Meijo Safaris. Sales representative Marcelina responded very promptly and actively resolved various issues, but there was one thing that was not very good. The night before departure, she was informed that a new guide had been replaced (any subsequent dissatisfaction was caused by the new guide). Kenya's guide Henry Gichura Very good, professional, enthusiastic, and proactive. After the replacement in Tanzania, the guide Pete was very unprofessional, not communicative, and not proactive (reasons: 1. He only opens the roof when we need to prompt him to do so; 2. He doesn't pull the handbrake every time he stops; 3. He doesn't even know where the restroom is on the way from the Tanzanian border to the northern part of Serengeti; 4. He didn't even tell us when he changed our hot meal to a cold meal. We asked him why our meal wasn't hot, but he said he didn't know. I asked the salesperson later, and the salesperson said it was the guide who changed it. They were worried that it would be inconvenient for us to eat hot meals when we saw the horses crossing the river, but the guide never told us about it; 5. Every day, the guide said it would start at 8 o'clock. Our friends also encountered the same problem, so we requested to move up the time. Of course, we also said to leave early and return to the hotel early, The guide disagreed, but only agreed after reporting to the sales team. However, they returned to the hotel very early; 6. Safaris often makes long phone calls during the process, which I feel is very unsafe. ）Based on the above situation, if the evaluation is 5 points, I can only give 3 points, of which 2 points are given to Henry Gichura, the Kenyan guide, and 1 point is given to Marcelina, the salesperson.
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Buyer beware, our trip turned into a nightmare of delays and non-payment of services promised.
I gave my review two stars to firstly acknowledge the great tour guides and hosts at our accommodation venues. The accommodation 'camps' were outstanding, the people went out of thier way to make us cared for, and the food was good and plentiful. The second star is awarded to the experience in the Game Parks themselves; animals appeared and behaved as expected. As a biologist, I could not have been happier with the experiences in these Parks. However, the integrity and reliability of African Marvel and their principle executives left a lot (everything) to be desired. It was humiliating for everyone to be waiting around at borders and accommodation sites for paymentd to be received from 'head office'. On the last occasion in Kenya, the manager of the site let us travel on and claimed that our accommodation at his beautiful site had been paid. We believe that this was not the case, and that he was being gracious rather than enduring the embarrassment of 11 of us being held 'hostage' to Marvels poor performance. As he said "this does not reflect well on our country".
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Makgadikgadi Pans National Park by David
Wildlife everywhere
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Spoiled by your manager
We had a great time at the lodge,lovely food,fantastic service an guides so helpful only to be spoiled by observing your manager duncan brittons perverted an disgracefull behaviour at one of mauns bars.Putting a black mark on your fine reputation. Duncan please behave accordingly when out in public.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An Unforgettable Safari — in More Ways Than One
We recently returned from what was meant to be a 10-day Kenya and Tanzania Epic Safari organized by John Rejeaeli from Tanzania Vacation Operations. It truly was an experience we’ll never forget — though not always for the reasons one would hope.
Our journey began in Nairobi, heading toward the Masai Mara. The Jambo Mara Safari Lodge was pleasant overall, though instead of the promised “excellent modern rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows,” we received a more basic wooden cabin. Still, the game drive was outstanding, and our Kenyan guide, Kibe, was exceptional — professional, knowledgeable, and determined to make our experience memorable. Thanks to him, we saw 4 of the Big 5 in just one day.
Unfortunately, once we crossed into Tanzania, things began to unravel.
Our Tanzanian guides arrived three hours late at the border, leaving us waiting with no explanation. Their vehicle looked more suited for retirement than a cross-country safari: missing windshield wipers, several mechanical issues, and, according to the VIN, produced in 1989. On the way to our first lodge, we had to stop multiple times — once due to rain (no wipers!) and again to fix an electrical short circuit. Because of the delays, we missed our evening game drive and were taken to a different lodge than the one we were promised.
The pattern continued.
The next morning started with a beautiful game drive — we even witnessed a great migration river crossing — until the car broke down around 9:30 a.m. After a three-hour wait and help from local rangers who brought a mechanic, we limped to the nearest town for repairs and fuel. By the time we returned to the park, it was too late for further activities. That evening, we again found ourselves at a different accommodation than what we had booked — a tented camp instead of a lodge. It was comfortable, and we were the only guests, but still not what was promised.
By Day 5, things briefly looked up. We enjoyed a seamless day in Serengeti, guided by Kelvin and Geoffrey, both incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about the wildlife. However, as night fell and we drove toward our next lodge, the car’s headlights failed. Geoffrey had to buy a flashlight in a nearby Maasai village, and we crept along the dark road at low speed until we finally reached our (this time, correct) lodge.
The following day in Ngorongoro Crater, déjà vu struck — the vehicle broke down again. This time it couldn’t be fixed on-site, and we were evacuated to yet another unplanned hotel.
By morning, we finally received a replacement vehicle and enjoyed a wonderful day in Tarangire National Park before heading to Arusha. Sadly, the hotel there was, once again, not the one promised.
Our final two days were meant to be spent in Amboseli National Park in Kenya, and we hoped our misfortunes were behind us. Kibe met us at the border and, as always, delivered a fantastic experience. We arrived at Sentrim Lodge, as booked, and thought all was well — until the next morning, when hotel staff informed us that our paid reservation covered only one night. Upon contacting John, he asked us to pay for the last night (even though it was already paid) and promised a refund. A week and two reminders later, the refund never came, and we are now initiating a credit card dispute.
In summary, I would give zero stars to Tanzania Vacation Operations for the organization, communication, and repeated false promises — but five stars to our incredible guides:
🌟 Kibe (Kenya), Kelvin, and Geoffrey (Tanzania), who truly saved the experience with their professionalism, knowledge, and kindness.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Could do better
4 Day Masi Mara & Lake Nakuru
Communication in booking was ok, payed deposit and balance on arrival, some questions asked wasn’t answered or content missing.
The first half of our trip was great the second part not so great, the pick up was ok as we meet at the organised place, we had Joseph as our driver who drove for 4 hours had a lunch stop then another 3 hrs to our camp, this was as expected, apart from no running cold water was ok, our game drives from here went well with Joseph giving information during these.
When it was time to leave for our next destination (lake Nakuru) this was roughly 100km but the route taken was far more taking almost 8hrs with a lunch stop and pick up passengers that were also from our same camp.
We changed drivers during the lunch stop, our new driver Edu was extremely erratic almost crashing on numerous occasions, we finally arrived at our hotel where the driver gave no information about what times to meet or any details to help out.
After dinner the driver finally gave us info at 10pm for a meet up at 6:30 to check out and take our game drive at lake Nakuru.
When we arrived at the gate the driver informs us that he forgot to purchase the tickets for entry and they wouldn’t accept cash, so we had to pay for ourselves and the other passengers or we wouldn’t be going, the driver gave us the cash for this but not all as he never had enough change!
During the drive he never gave any information and was speeding around not stopping long when needed, and kept moving the vehicle when we were trying to take photos.
When we left we thought we was heading back to Nairobi as this was our agreed place for drop off, except we went in the opposite direction to pick up more passengers even though there wasn’t enough seats, so one had to sit on a cool box.
After this on our way to Nairobi we crashed into the back of another jeep as he was going to fast in the wet! After this the driving never changed almost crashing another couple of times. When we finally arrived in Nairobi after driving round for 45mins, we kept trying to get info as we had a flight to catch and others had their destinations to get to.
Our agreement was drop off at the collection point and given a time to arrange flights, if I’d had followed these we would of missed our flight due to the extra time spent travelling around rather than going direct to our locations.
I had to call the head office about this while still being driven round Nairobi as the driver was laughing about the situation.
I wouldn’t recommend these as I’m sure some of the journeys could have been a lot shorter giving more time to relax before taking drives and allowing a less stressful time for all.
This wasn’t the experience we was expecting after all that had been payed out
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An unreliable trip with a severe overload of passengers in the vehicle
First of all, I need to clarify that the scenery I saw during this trip to Kenya was very beautiful. However, the services provided by travel agencies are extremely unreliable. The travel agency originally said there would be no more than six passengers on the bus, but they ended up arranging seven adults and two children. This family of Indian tourists with children was extremely noisy and almost treated the bus as their own private car, which was very impolite! The travel agency doesn't seem to consider children as "human beings". The children sat on adults throughout the journey or were crying and fussing. They didn't have their own seats.
I think that when travel agencies encounter such passengers, they should allocate personnel based on the number of people. Are children no longer human beings? Don't children need seats? Why let this extra child affect others' travel experience? We can only squeeze in the middle of the last row, which is ten times more dangerous and crowded!
Besides, the tour guide and driver on the bus are not fixed. When your itinerary changes compared to others, you will be "sold" to another tour guide, and you don't know at what time the next tour guide will come to pick you up the next day. This is a very nerding thing. Moreover, once you have paid, the travel agency will not reply to any of your messages.
All in all, the irresponsible behavior of the travel agency made me dissatisfied with this trip. Overloading of personnel not only leads to a noisy environment inside the vehicle but also poses a threat to personal safety. I'm really speechless.
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Disappointing Experience with Dextrip Safaris – Would Not Recommend
Our recent family safari to Maasai Mara had its memorable moments, especially thanks to our ranger, who was incredibly kind, attentive, and clearly committed to making the most out of our time in the park. He went out of his way to accommodate our needs, and we truly appreciated his efforts.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Dextrip Safaris, the company that managed our trip. Despite having a confirmed written agreement for game drives on all three days of our safari, the third day was abruptly cancelled by the company, with the justification being the increase in park ticket prices. This change was not communicated in a transparent or timely manner, and we were left feeling disappointed and misled.
On the second day, our itinerary stated a full-day game drive, yet we were taken out of the park by 3 PM to visit a Maasai village—an activity we had not requested and were not interested in. This caused us to miss the late afternoon hours (4–6 PM), a peak time for wildlife activity in the reserve.
Additionally, the vehicle had flat tires three times in just two days. While we were patient and understanding about these delays, expecting such things can happen in remote areas, it made the lack of honesty and flexibility from the company even more frustrating.
What troubled us the most was the lack of responsibility and push for silence. We received several calls and WhatsApp messages from Dextrip Safaris urging us not to leave a negative review. But we feel it's important to be honest so that other travelers can make informed decisions.
In summary, while the Maasai Mara is breathtaking and our ranger was fantastic, our overall experience with Dextrip Safaris was far from smooth. We felt scammed, unheard, and disrespected. Sadly, I do not recommend this company and would advise others to book through a more reliable operator.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beware of Sun Safaris – they did not pay local vendors
We recently went on a safari to Kenya through Sun Safaris. We worked with Natasha, who was very professional and responsive. HOWEVER, when we were on our trip, we received a very concerning phone call from one of their local vendors. They informed us that we owed $21,994 even though we made final payments to Sun Safaris months before. We were also told that after repeated phone calls and emails, they couldn’t reach the owner, Brett, and that we needed to pay the amount the following day. Apparently, they were never paid. While we were able to reach Natasha, who said things would be sorted out, we were very worried that arrangements (hotels/services) might be cancelled. We never heard back from Sun Safaris until we returned home from our trip.
Based on another review I saw after our trip, I learned that this is not the first time the owner hasn’t been responsive or paid vendors in a timely manner. While the safari overall was great, the incident was very concerning. Based on this experience, I would not recommend Sun Safaris.