Good
Budget Safari…you get what you pay for I guess? You get everything that is described however 4 days and we are put with 3 different transport vehicles and groups.
We spent the entire of day 3 waiting around and driving, if you don’t want to do any of the optional add ons you spend the entire day sitting around. Overall had a good time but seems a bit disorganised.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tour Operator Changed Lodging
I wish I had seen previous reviews before booking our tour. As others had stated the tour operator changed our lodging without notifying us beforehand. One lodge was downgraded and NOT what we paid for. We paid for semi-luxury lodging and it was a serious downgrade. A second lodge change wasn't exactly what we had expected but it was fine. No matter what the tour operator should have notified us of any change before we left on our tour. The downgraded lodge makes us feel like we were taken advantage of because there isn't anything we could do but accept the change. No refund was offered.
Very Frustrating!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Shambolic
I booked a mid range tour but was put with a budget group meaning I stayed at different places than the rest. This put an average of 2 hrs a day extra driving each day meaning I arrived at my lodge at 8pm, 7pm and 6.30pm respectively the first 3 days despite very early starts.
One day we arrived at a lodge to be told that I didn’t have a booking but I was in fact booked into a place 45 mins back from where we had just driven.
The following morning we had to retrace the route again to pick the others up then drive back again to enter the Ngorogoro crater.
I had been in the car 2 hours despite being a 10 minute drive to the entrance.
On the final day I joined a new group but as before the tour, I had to chase Noel up twice to find out what was going on.
It was as though he just didn’t care.
I had no contact during or since it ended to see how I found it.
It’s easy to say it’s Africa and that’s the way it is but I’ve been travelling around here for 4 months and this is without doubt the most shambolic episode I’ve had.
I definitely would not recommend this company.
BE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
unprofessional and dangerous
We did Serengeti + Ngorogoro crater. It was a beautiful experience, luckly the view was stunning as where the animals. Unfortunately, our guide couldn't give us any information about the animals nor the bush, he was more our driver then our guide. At some point I asked questions and he just stopped answering. I was there with my partner, and we were with another couple that booked the "budget camping" as accommodation, whilst we booked the option "luxury safari". And I have to admit, the places we slept where beautiful. But on the first night, our "guide" that clearly didn't know the Serengeti, was lost and it was almost nighttime. We asked him to look at our google maps but he was to stubborn and would only do it his way. We ended up riding in the middle of the safari in the dark for more then 1 hour. We finally arrived at nighttime in our first accommodation, the other couple had to drive one more hour in the dark to their tents. The next day we arrived at our second accommodation, which was once again beautiful. We agreed with our "guide" to wake up in the morning and leave at 7am after breakfast. But the next morning they woke us up shouting in front of our tent at 5AM, telling us we had 5minutes to rush and leave our accommodation. It was still dark when we left our accommodation, and we didn't get our breakfast with the sunrise that we booked in this beautiful place. We were told it was because our flight was at 1PM in Arusha, that they booked the day before (it was planned when we booked that they would provide a flight for us in the evening). We then arrived to the accommodation of the other couple to get them, they were still in their tents when we arrived. We then had to wait in a dirty kitchen to eat the breakfast of the budget camping (One fruit and one egg). We asked why we couldn't have breakfast in our initial accommodation like planned (which we btw payed 900$/night according to google), they said that it was to make sure we had more time to visit the crater since we had our flight at 1PM. We ended up waiting for one hour at this camping with backpakers. We then went to Ngorogoro and received a call saying they changed our flight from 1PM to 8pm. It was a really poor organisation. We left the crater for the airport at 3
4PM. When we did leave our "guide" quickly asked the other couple to come and have a private discussion. They talked for 20min in front of us "secretly". Later on we found out it was because the operator wanted to offer them something in exchange for their patience with the poor organisation. We didn't receive any offers. When we left for the airport the driver told us it was a 4h drive. We asked how we were supposed to get our flight, he started driving really dangerously in order to get us to the airport on time. Really dangerous. After 3 hours driving, the driver goes in a little street in Arusha that looked completely abandoned. We asked what he was doing, he told us he had to get "something from his office", we said we were afraid and we didn't like it, he stopped responding. We drove through a gate that 3 Masai men closed after us. We were trapped in a parking in Arusha surrounded by 5 men. Our driver still didn't talk and proceed to step out of the car. Then one person opened our door and told us they didn't receive our money transaction for the safari. They threatened us. We showed the proof that the money left our bank account and was send to theirs, and the fact that they didn't received it could be because international transactions can take up to 3 days. (It was the second day). After threatening us they let us go. The next day we received a text saying they did well receive the money and that they were wishing us a very merry Christmas.
ES
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Feeling deceived
Services contracted: Fully customized private safaris, 4 days Amboseli, Tsavo West and East and 9 days Samburu, Buffalo Springs, Aberdare, L.Naivasha, L.Nakuru, Hell's Gate and Maasai Mara.
First of all, I want to put on record the positive aspects:
- Smooth communication with quick responses from Stephen during pre-hire planning.
- Willingness to adapt the tours and accommodations to our requirements.
- Experienced and qualified drivers.
I am writing this review 5 months after the safari because in those months Stephen from Pride of Africa assured me that he was looking into ways to compensate for the problems I describe below.
- Problems with payments. I paid a deposit by wire transfer to secure the booking. The balance was to be paid upon arrival in Nairobi in USD, but most of the banknotes I had with me were refused. They said they would only accept freshly printed notes, even though the older notes I had were perfectly legal. They also refused to accept payment by credit card or wire transfer. We spent hours at the ATMs until we had reached the maximum on my cards. The driver offered to make up the difference in cash and accept the payment via bank transfer later.
- Non-compliance with the programme. The visit to Samburu Park was cancelled, thus saving the entrance fees, but we have not been refunded. The safari in Aberdare Park was limited to 1 hour in the cafeteria of the Ark Tree Lodge, despite the fact that we had indicated from the beginning that we were not interested in visiting the lodge but wanted to do some of the trekking to the numerous waterfalls in the park. At Lake Naivasha the tickets for the boat trip and visit of the island turned out not to be included despite both activities being included in the programme (the justification was that the programme included the entrance fees to the parks, but that Lake Naivasha was not a ‘park’ (??).
- Non-compliance with the Masai Mara programme. It included 4 game drives in the park: the first in the afternoon on day one after the scheduled lunch at the lodge where we were to arrive at noon, 2 full-day safaris and the last one in the morning before the scheduled departure for Nairobi at noon. However, the driver delayed leaving the previous park (Lake Nakuru) and made several stops along the way, meaning we arrived too late for the first safari. On the last day, the safari was reduced to a drive between the entrance gate near our lodge and the exit gate closest to the road to Nairobi, in a manoeuvre by the driver to save on entrance fees by justifying at the checkpoints that we had only crossed the park on our way from the lodge (we even went through the checkpoints with the roof closed so as not to look like we were coming from a game drive). We reported these irregularities to Stephen before we left Kenya and asked for a refund of the unpaid entrance fees, but since then he has only postponed the resolution (claiming that he had to complain to the driver) and has avoided refunding the money to date.
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
I was disappointed with this safari.
As I mentioned, this safari was very disappointing, didn't see many animals even with the long drives. We had two whole days drive in Kruger park and hardly saw any animals, I understand big part of safari is having luck and being in the right place at the right time. Maybe we were not lucky enough.
DK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Suspicious about the money
We had a mixed experience with Bongo, easy booking and communication, and our safari driver was nice and helpful. But on the day, before going home, the owner called and said he could not transfer money for our hotel stay and asked me to pay for it, and he would pay me back, i accepted since i had no choice but thought it was wierd, he would meet me the same day at where i was staying and give me the money, but he showed up an hour too late and did not have the money, i insisted that he would bring it the next day and he accepted it, but if we had gone home the day after, we would never have seen that money again, we called him all day the next day and he finally showed up with the money, mixed experience, felt very unsure and thought i had lost alot of money. Would not book again.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Do not recommend. Dishonest business practices, poor communication
We booked a 3 day Masai Mara safari with Unscripted Safaris. While our time in the park itself was good, the whole experience was marked by poor communication and shady business practices. The first point of suspicion was that the tour informed us several months after booking that our costs would be increased by nearly $300 a person due to an increase in park fees. However, these fee increases had been announced well in advance of our booking and we had assumed that they were already included in the price of our safari. We had no choice but to pay. On the day of our safari, the guide that we specifically had requested was not there, and was replaced with someone else. This was done without any prior warning or communication. Most critically, our itinerary at the time of booking that our tour would a 3 day safari that included an afternoon game drive the first day, a full day the second, and a morning game drive on the final morning. Halfway through our safari, we were told by our guide that this was not possible, and we would have to leave immediately in the morning of day 3 and depart the park. This was supposedly due to park policy, but none of this was communicated to us in advance. Our tour was cut short of what was promised, and our request for a partial refund was refused.
It was clear that Unscripted was simply telling us whatever we wanted to hear in order to make the sale. Once we had booked, all sense of customer service went out the window. Next time, I will go with a more honest company.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I would not use this company
The safari day and crater day were good everything seemed to be going well.
When we arrived at the second hotel it went down hill from there, the hotel was not as expected. Food took nearly 4 hours to come out and didn’t want to eat it as it was cold and looked awful as such we did not want to eat breakfast and risk food poisoning, when I gave feedback to the person I was in communication with for our tour I was told to “just go and eat the food multiple times.
The next day we arrived at the waterfall experience, where there was a complete lack of communication, I was very clear that we had an older person traveling with us and therefore couldn’t do much physical activity.
There was a 30 minute walk which involved climbing down and up rocks to get to the waterfall.
The lack of communication and the behaviour of the tour guide was unacceptable, the tour guide tried to push us into doing something else when we were very clear we could not do that activity, we lost money as they wouldn’t give a partial refund and made the end of our holiday very unenjoyable.
I would not recommend this company if you are traveling to Tanzania
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Ken showed up drunk twice during our safari
Although Uganda was lovely and a highly recommended destination, unfortunately we finished our safari with Bushmemories with a feeling of a relief. During our 10-day tour, Ken showed up completely drunk on two mornings, putting us in an uncomfortable position as the trip was already fully paid and we depended on him. Moreover, his organization was already a bit erratic before and during the trip, and overall we did not feel we got a great value for the money we paid.
The first situation took place in Fort Portal, his hometown, where Ken showed up 2 hours late for our morning departure, drunk and with a bleeding wound on his face. The second situation took place on the last day of our safari, when Ken showed up at 6:30am with a drink in his hand and barely able to stand straight, and without enough money to pay for our hotel, fully refuel the car or provide a lunch for us (although at this point we preferred anyway to arrive as soon as possible to our hotel in Entebbe and be free of him). He never apologized for his behavior, and we didn't feel secure enough to confront him. We were grateful that our driver Johnson was an extremely responsible and dependable person.
Before the trip, he did not give us a clear payment schedule, instead asking (with urgency) for different amounts at random moments. He changed the price relative to the original quote mentioning a change in the rate for gorilla permits, and tried to reuse this same excuse again later to increase the price further. On multiple occasions we started the day from driving around town to run Ken's errands that could have been easily taken care of the previous afternoon, as we usually finished our days early.
We requested a program that would not be too packed (also for budget reasons), but we were disappointed to realize that the last two days of the trip we were mostly confined to our hotels with no activities planned. Several items on our itinerary called "experiences" consisted of looking at something (tea plantation, long horn cows) from the car with some explanations from Ken. Having paid more than 200 USD per person per day, and having stayed mostly in budget accommodation we would have expected something more.
We did enjoy our holiday most of the time and loved what we saw in Uganda, but Ken's behavior was completely out of line and inexcusable leading us to leave the reviews to help other travelers make better choices in the future.