FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Poor commercial attitude and no refund despite force majeure
My experience with Great Lake Safari was extremely disappointing. I had booked and paid for chimpanzee tracking, but my entire trip had to be cancelled due to the tense political situation during Uganda’s presidential election. This was a genuine force majeure event, completely outside my control.
Instead of showing understanding, the company refused to refund the unused activity and only offered a credit note. For a safari operator, this is a very poor commercial attitude. In such exceptional circumstances, flexibility and customer care should be the minimum. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and I cannot recommend them based on how they handled this situation.
IT
Total disaster.
Over three days we had four flat tires. One of these was the spare tire, which turned out to be deflated even before we had the chance to use it! To make matters worse the van ran out of oil. In three days for three times we were stranded in the middle of nowhere for HOURS under the scorching sun. This shows a serious lack of basic vehicle maintenance and preparation.
The itinerary we received before the trip was not followed, promised activities were skipped, and the binoculars provided were half broken. Only our cameras allowed us to see animals at all.
Morris is friendly when everything is fine, but when serious problems arise, that disappears completely. No solutions, no compensation, no accountability.
Poorly maintained vehicles, broken promises, terrible customer service. Avoid at all costs.
Canceled my safari less than a week out. Bad business practices.
Canceled my safari less than a week out. Bad business practices. I advice you do not book. Beware!
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Terrible and a fraud
would not recommend booking with Arosy Safaris Limited based on my experience.
I paid a $1,036 deposit for a safari planned for March 2026. After the initial agreement, prices were repeatedly adjusted and the quality of the proposed accommodations did not match what had originally been discussed. We therefore agreed to cancel the trip.
A refund was confirmed to me in writing, but it has not been processed to date. Communication became very difficult afterwards, and I have not received responses to multiple follow-ups over several days.
As a result, I had to make alternative arrangements at short notice, which caused additional effort and inconvenience.
I hope the company resolves this matter, but based on my experience, I would advise others to clarify refund terms very carefully in advance.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our Kenya & Tanzania Safari Turned Into a NIGHTMARE
It has been 10 days since I finished my Kenya + Tanzania Safari trip. I still can’t get over what happened in Kenya, and I’ve been losing sleep over it. So I decided to write this down.
I started officially planning my Safari trip in October 2025 and discussed the itinerary with more than 15 travel agencies. Lincons from RAMESA ADVENTURE replied the fastest and could basically meet all our requests during communication, so we chose REMESA. But to my great disappointment, we made the wrong choice 💔
Our trip lasted 10 days, and many unpleasant things happened. The most unforgivable issues are:
1. Both spare tires on our Tanzania vehicle were unusable!!
Poor road conditions on Safari often lead to flat tires or getting stuck, which I consider normal. We even got stuck and had a flat tire once in Kenya, and everyone stayed calm.
But near Ngorongoro Crater, after our tire blew out, the driver tried two spare tires in a row — both were useless. One spare tire didn’t even have any tread left!
I really don’t understand how the vehicle was inspected before departure. Why was such a spare tire even kept?
The driver borrowed a spare from another vehicle, but we got another flat tire inside Ngorongoro Crater. In the end, even changing the tire didn’t fix the problem. We had to be escorted out of the park by Ngorongoro’s official vehicles. We barely had any meaningful Safari time that day.
2. REMESA changed our guide without consulting us — the new guide couldn’t find animals or solve problems!
When we paid the deposit in November, we confirmed with Lincons that our guide in Kenya would be Felix. Our itinerary was a loop: Kenya → Tanzania → Kenya.
When we returned to Kenya from Tanzania and arrived at customs, I called Felix but he didn’t answer. I contacted Lincons to tell him we had arrived, and only then did he inform us that they had changed our guide to Mark.
We reached customs at 10:00 AM, and Lincons said Mark was already waiting for us.
After finishing immigration at 10:40 AM, Mark was nowhere to be found.
We called Mark 7 times. He kept lying, saying “20 minutes away”, “10 minutes away”, “stuck in traffic”, making us wait from 10:40 AM until 12:30 PM!!
Later Lincons told us Mark had overslept and was lying the whole time.
Mark was clearly an incompetent driver. He didn’t even have a radio or walkie-talkie in his car.
We saw almost nothing in Amboseli. To avoid work, he took us to a restaurant to rest, claiming the animals hadn’t come out yet.
His driving inside the park was completely unplanned.
We later learned from friends that a cheetah hunt happened in Amboseli that day. Even if we might not have made it in time, Mark clearly had no idea — because he didn’t communicate with other drivers at all.
3. RAMESA failed to pay the off-road vehicle owner, leaving us stranded at the hotel and nearly missing our flight!
On our final day, the itinerary was from Amboseli to Nairobi Airport for our flight back to China.
After we loaded all our luggage into the SUV, Mark refused to drive.
His communication skills were terrible — he wouldn’t explain what was wrong.
Only after the hotel intervened did we find out: RAMESA had not settled the payment with the vehicle owner, who remotely locked the car’s engine, making it impossible to start (I’m not sure if remote locking is real).
Keep in mind we had already paid the full amount in cash before the trip started.
We called Lincons more than 10 times, but he didn’t answer or reply to any messages.
Afraid of missing our flight, we had to pay Mark the $250 that RAMESA supposedly owed the vehicle owner, just so he would take us to the airport.
Two hours later, Mark returned the $250, saying RAMESA had finally paid.
But this situation was completely unacceptable — we nearly missed our entire trip home!
There were other problems too:
Several camps we stayed at had almost no hot water.
We repeatedly asked for three bean bags before departure, but we never got them the entire trip.
We had been so excited for this Safari before we left. But after all these terrible experiences, I’m sharing this to help others choose a travel agency more carefully.
SE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Stuck in mainland Tanzania with kids
We booked a safari with Hello Tanzania in February 2026. Unfortunately, the experience was affected by several serious operational issues.
On the second day of the safari, park entry was delayed because the park fees had apparently not been paid. The company stated there was a problem with the park system, but both park staff and other guides at the gate indicated that this was not the case.
In addition, the return flights that were part of our package were never confirmed despite repeated requests before and during the trip. Because of this, we ultimately had to purchase new tickets ourselves in order to return home (approx. 1038 USD).
The company later acknowledged the situation in writing and promised reimbursement within three days. That deadline has now passed and no payment has been received.
The matter has been formally registered with the Zanzibar police (case reference MAZ/RB/576/2026).
I hope the company resolves this situation and honors their written commitment. I will update this review if the reimbursement is completed.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The guide stole from me!
I beliive these people are deceptive, who stole money by pick pocketing me during a tour
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
I had a horrible experience with this company which works with Cache Safaris. Horrible!
Entirely unprofessional. They work together with Cache Safaris. Avoid the headache! There are dozens of other options… use ANY of them. You will not be communicated with except to apologize for the multitude of ‘mistakes’ in the itinerary. In other words, they will lie to you about the itinerary, do nothing about it, keep your money, and then call it a mistake. Incredibly frustrating! AVOID THIS COMPANY!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
I experienced incompetence and misinformation.
Entirely unprofessional. Avoid the headache! There are dozens of other options… use ANY of them. You will not be communicated with except to apologize for the multitude of ‘mistakes’ in the itinerary. In other words, they will lie to you about the itinerary, do nothing about it, keep your money, and then call it a mistake. Incredibly frustrating! I advice you avoid this company.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Extremely unprofessional Safari - I recommend you do not book
My sister and I booked a safari with Utopia Safari, guided by owner Exude. and it was a complete disaster from start to finish.
* From the very beginning our driver failed to pick us up, and Exude offered one excuse after another.
*Exaud was unprepared - not hat , no bug spray ( we shared ours)and even delivered us to the wrong location for our overnight of which he as to see our itinerary to know where to take us.
*During the safari, he was distracted by business calls and focused on his camera and other toys rather than the experience he was supposed to provide
* He admitted this was his first safari in a while because he had been working mostly in the office marketing.
*We were taken to the wrong location , again, mid-safari, and he blamed the government and the company for not notifying him of site relocation, showing a complete lack of preparation. We inquired to be told an emails are sent 2 months in advance with relocation notification.
*Our safety was ignored as he led us through challenging terrain without consideration of risk resulting in my sister's injury.
*To top it off he dropped us at the airport only to be told we were a day late and missed our departure flights.
These are only a sprinkle of incidences. Exude claimed to see a memorable safari "EXPERIENCE" , but all we received was a disorganization, distraction and negligence. When we requested a 50% refund, he insultingly offered only 20%. While he may know about animals, that knowledge ends there - he cannot run a professional safari business.
I strongly advise anyone considering Utopia Safari to look elsewhere. This experience cost us time, money and peace of mind.