20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Overall I would not recommend Ngoni Safaris company for a trip around Uganda
Good
1. We had a nice 10 day tour around the beautiful country, visited multiple national parks, gorilla and chimpanzee tracked, and had nice accommodations, plenty of water, hot meals, and our guide Eli cared about us having a great time, despite the shortcomings of Ngoni Safaris Company
2. When our bags were delayed by a day, Sedrick/Ngoni arranged for it to be picked up from the airport and delivered 6+ hours to our lodge (for a fee), but I was grateful they quickly helped us during a very frustrating start of the trip (fyi baggage is frequently delayed at Entebbe airport so pack accordingly)
Bad
VEHICLE QUALITY:
1. They speak about their great land cruisers but it was of very poor quality
2. Bad suspension, extremely loud, constantly shaking during the entire ride, seatbelts were broken, and handles were missing, I’ve been on multiple safaris across Africa and never had this experience
3. It also was unsafe and broke down multiple times, the engine would cut off randomly, and it would refuse to start. Which is extremely dangerous when you are driving around mountains, in rain, and in vast emptiness
4. This was a major problem on multiple occasions as we had to be manually pushed for the car to start, we got stuck in a national park which is terrifying with large wild animals roaming around, and we broke down and had to visit mechanics multiple times during the trip, the guide was very frustrated with this situation and I blame Ngoni Safaris Company
COMMUNICATION:
1. During the months leading up to the trip, we received no assurances about reservations; money received etc, and the company was silent for weeks on multiple occasions, this is tourism 101 and they failed, it really makes you question the quality of the company before you start
2. I had to request a packing list, and even then it was missing key items, so thankfully I did my own research or I would have been in a bad position
3. No communication the day or week before arrival to set expectations (e.g., name of guide, where to meet), even upon arrival it took an hour for the company to respond to my text asking what to do, that is unacceptable
4. However, when it came to them pressuring me to choose the company and requesting payment they were quick to send multiple nagging emails which is unprofessional and shows what they care about the most
OTHER ISSUES:
1. Our guide did not have our proper itinerary and multiple times on the trip I had to correct him and make sure excursions I paid for were included. Even upon arriving we had scheduled a Mabamba swamp tour and our guide thought we were driving directly to the rhino sanctuary. Thankfully he was accommodating and we did not miss an experience but it’s frustrating to have to keep correcting the guide
2. We told Ngoni Safaris we were celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary, and they agreed to provide wine, cake, and special accommodations for one night which was a great gesture but when it came to execution it was not coordinated ahead of time and I had to remind Sedrick of this before the last day and they threw something together, but I could tell it was not communicated to the lodge ahead of time. Even our guide had no idea we were celebrating such an occasion which is a huge miss
3. A couple of the lodges had some rooms with air conditioning that were nominally more expensive, I was aware and requested to be placed in those rooms, but without my research we would have had no idea. These are little things that Ngoni should ask the clients about, so we can make informed decisions
Overall I could feel that this company is not of a high standard and they should really improve how they operate in order to be at a 5 star level
Tomus was very friendly and kind informing us each an every way he made the tour very peaceful
Safari link is a very well organized tour company very happy with there services
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Operator excellent 5 star but guide in our case poor 1 star
We booked a luxury Safari in Tanzania, and Nyemo was dry helpful and efficient in planning and organizing our trip. Very carefully planned our itinerary to visit a set of luxury lodges and it was a good value. The camps and lodges beautiful and the wildlife experience great!
Disappointed though in the guide and the vehicle which was in poor condition. The biggest concern was that the seatbelts were broken, and not usable. This made us very uncomfortable being that we were traveling in remote areas far from medical care and safety and prevention of injury so important. The vehicle also had electrical problems from the day we were picked up necessitating midway through the trip a stop at a garage for half a day and lost safari time.
The driver also was unfamiliar with any of the camps we had chosen, and in every instance was lost trying to find the next camp delaying our arrival by as much as one or two hours each time we changed camps. We chose luxury camps so we could also enjoy the camp ambience at end of day, but the delayed arrival left us feeling rushed.
I believe this experience must be an exception since in all the other reviews, the guides are outstanding. Also I would have thought there would’ve been some follow up from the company at the completion of our tour, but we were never contacted.
RS
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Satisfying, but somewhat disappointing
We (my partner and I) were part of a safari tour that lasted 6 days, 5 nights in Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru (we were supposed to go to Naivasha but we didn't) and Amboseli.
Let me start with the positives first... during this tour we managed to see all the big 5 and ugly 5 animals, as well as many other ones, met interesting people along the way and managed to take pictures and record content that will serve as eternal memories of these wonderful places. While I don't regret doing this tour, I have to leave my honest comment and complain about the following… Our guide Dennis made this trip less than perfect with his inappropriate behavior. From the very beginning, he did not get off his phone, he was not in the mood for a friendly conversation (on the contrary, he made rude comments on several occasions), and when he did talk, he was so quiet that if you weren't sitting next to him, you couldn't hear him. At some point I gave up trying to hear him altogether and just watched what was going on outside the vehicle. On top of that, on the third day of the safari, when the optional boat ride on Lake Naivasha was planned, Dennis decided not to tell anyone that we would skip this ride due to the alleged bad weather. Although optional, this would've been our only activity on that day. Later, I found out that people from other tours were actually going on boat rides during this day. Dennis preferred to talk on the phone during the lunch breaks, which were taking too long for no reason. So long, that upon arriving at the hotel in Nakuru, after a 7-8 hour drive from Masai Mara, the hotel pool was not working because we arrived too late. Even though we had no other activities on that day. So on day 3, we were pretty much just driving in the vehicle with no activities. On the following day, after doing an early morning game drive in Nakuru, we were informed that we had to change vehicles and continue our tour with another group. At the place where we were having lunch and where we were supposed to change vehicles, Dennis was rushing us while we were eating (literally 5 min from the start of the break). The other guide was more friendly but was driving like a mad man, and we felt quite unsafe in the vehicle driving for another 7 or 8 hours from Nakuru to Amboseli. So on days 3 AND 4, we were just driving around doing nothing except for an early morning drive in Nakuru.
Only later did I find out that most of these budget safari companies work together and that in case one company does not have enough passengers on a certain day, it will use the services and employees of another company, and mix their passengers with people who booked through another company. Which is something that we would not accept and agree on, if we had known in advance.
Axis did offer us a tour of lake Naivasha free of charge at a later date, but we couldn't accept it because our schedule did not work. The communication with the company in general was clear, but we had to remind them of a couple of things during the booking process and later.
I would repeat a safari tour with a budget company only if I were staying in the same place for several days (Masai Mara for example).
BE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very much garbage (plastic and other rubbish) next to the roads
The safaris are certainly not animal-friendly. For example, 25 safari jeeps around one single leopard. Of course, I chose this myself, and I'm complicit.
The people in Kenya are generally very friendly. I enjoyed my trip to Kenya.
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
It was okay
Most of the tour was average, as was the lodging. On the return back to Johannesburg, though, we had an excellent driver. Carson was very knowledgeable and loved sharing info about his country. He was also a very skilled driver and made the long trip ho quite quickly. He was very courteous, personable and well-spoken.
IL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing mountain crew, but dishonest and poor management
I would like to share my experience with way2tanzania. While the climb itself was successful thanks to the incredible guides, porters, and the chef, the management by Godfrey was highly disappointing and unprofessional.
The Pros: The mountain crew was outstanding. Special thanks to the chef who prepared delicious meals despite the very limited supplies provided by the company.
The Cons (Management issues):
Shopping scam: Instead of taking us to the city center for gear, Godfrey drove us to some outskirts to his "acquaintances" where there was zero variety. A total waste of time.
SIM Card issues: We were told a price of $8, but were taken to a suspicious place where it took over 2 hours to process 4 cards, and we were charged $10 each. It felt like a small-scale scam.
Food supply: Our group is vegetarian (Kosher). We expected the lack of meat to be compensated with other proteins. Instead, we were given 30g of cheese every other day. Compared to other groups on the route, our food supply was very poor.
Tipping manipulation: This was the worst part. Godfrey told us to pay $200 per person in tips, while telling the head guide we owed $300. Meanwhile, their own website states $20/day ($140 total). This lack of transparency regarding the hard-earned tips of the crew is unacceptable.
Conclusion: Great crew, but I cannot recommend this company due to the management's dishonesty. If you book with them, be very careful with extra costs and "recommendations" from Godfrey.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tour company was ok with changes and not descriptive itinerary but their driver Israel was amazing
Tour company is ok. We had a Lodging cancellation for Ndutu during the migration season and had to recommend staying closer to Ngorongoro created to even have the opportunity to see it on our last day (it was in the itinerary for the last day but because of permit times we would not have been able to see it otherwise). So we had to sacrifice time in Ndutu or crater when both were in itinerary for day 6 and 7. With that being said our driver Israel was amazing and loves and respects the animals in their habitat. Even when others were breaking the rules in Serengeti he maintained the respect of the land and animals. It is nature so there are no guarantees but we saw so much, the big 5 and cheetahs. I give 3 stars because our driver and that side was perfect but company can use improvement in itinerary, permit knowledge to clients (because sometimes we had to leave first thing in morning to be out of parks in time), and responding to clients on changes when they said they would even if they are already on safari.
CZ
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beautyfull nature, lot of animals.
We saw a lot of animals, even very close up, the Massai Mara, Tsavo and Amboseli parks are really vast. Traveling between them is really time-consuming, given the condition of the roads. The condition of the Jeep we had at our disposal, which was probably the oldest compared to the others, certainly had a big influence on this. The windows could not be opened, the seats were almost in a lying position, we even had to deal with a brake defect, which meant an unpleasant 2 extra hours during a full-day journey. The driver Peter was very nice, he drove slowly but safely. Unfortunately, he did not familiarize us sufficiently with the prohibitions during the Safari, so we received a $150 fine from the Rangers for taking photos from the roof of the Jeep.
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Nice but improvable value for money
Good-meaning agency, especially Silence who took a lot of care of us pre-departure, and we went during the green season
Overall a few critical points we observed:
1. the list of payed add-ons has low value for money, and we believe it catered specifically to a particular type of (red, white & blue) tourists
2. We don’t understand why so many meals were excluded: they could add it on top of the Safari package price for an additional +10% difference, a risk we feel not worth the major extra bother of autonomy imposed onto the customers itself.
3. WhatsApp comms with the agency didn’t work while on tour, relied on agency guide on tour (when available). Had to arrange to a cab ourselves go for dinner in VFalls, owing to miscommunication.
4. Little proactivity from agency guide on tour, available mainly when prompted, clarity with briefing can improve significantly.
5. Overall, it’s quite poor in terms of game drives, we added 2 extra bringing the total to 4 drives, to extract maximum wildlife exposure time. The game drives plan per se needs revisiting, as they planned a jeopardisingly-late departure at 8am instead of common practice ~5.30-6am for a morning game drive. We also felt that 2 days in VFalls were too many as we only cared for the falls there.
6. On the bright side, the Hwange Safari Lodge accommodation was magnificent and highly recommended for a stay, and the last-mile guides (on game drives, at the falls, on the Zambezi cruise) were very well prepared, kind and available.