50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Pleasant
Thomas, our driver was pleasant enough. Driving is a little aggressive, however road conditions may play a role.
PL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Family Safari
Before I booked the safari with Kentau Safari, I did thorough research and read many reviews. Since we were traveling with a child, I chose the most expensive option so that the accommodation, food, and car would be comfortable.
And that brings me to the car. The car sometimes barely drove. We even ended up in a repair shop with it, and the whole time we were worried we wouldn’t make it back. It had nothing to do with comfort. It was worn out, dirty, kept breaking down, and was very uncomfortable. The middle row of seats was broken, so we had to sit in a semi-reclined position the entire time, which on long distances was really poor and very uncomfortable.
As for the guide, Modi, he was okay. However, because of a bad decision he made, the car got stuck in the mud and instead of enjoying a full day of safari, we spent 4 hours stuck in the field and another 2 hours in a repair shop :( . On the positive side, he was kind and seemed to be trying his best.
I’m not someone who usually complains or writes negative comments. But I paid a lot for this safari, which was supposed to be the luxury option. The hotels were good and the food was fine, but the car situation completely ruined the comfort of the trip.
I’m writing this so that others first check and ask what kind of car they will actually be traveling in. I think the responsibility for what happened lies with the owner of Enta Safari (Dominic?), who should never have allowed a car in that condition to go on a safari trip.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bad Organization, good safari
Unfortunatley we can not reccomend this Safari operator. We booked a 10 day mid-range lodged safari for Kenya and Tanzania.
The organization was really bad, especially in tanzania. The lodges were mostly nice except the Hotel in Arusha wich was really bad ( absoloutley not mid-range). There was no running water on the first day and they scammed us at the check out as they charged our card twice. What really destroyed the experience was the drive between tanzania and kenia. The direct road from amboselli seemed to be destroyed so we had to do a 10h drive over Nairobi and were charged 80 Dollars extra. The drive back to nairobi was even worse. We were crammed into a small overloaded bus in wich we each only had half a seat for a 6h drive. It was absoulutley horrible. The Safari was nice though the drivers really did their Best so 5 Stars for them.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Didn't meet expectations - we wish we booked it ourselves.
The itinerary planning and booking process was generally smooth. Communication during the planning phase was adequate, and it was easy to make adjustments to the itinerary both before and after booking. The platform and team made it relatively straightforward to build the trip.
Unfortunately, once the trip began, the level of service dropped significantly. We received no proactive communication from Viatu while we were traveling. Early in the trip we realized we needed to contact each hotel or safari lodge directly a few days prior to arrival in order to confirm check-in details. In multiple instances, the check-in times we received from the properties did not match the information provided by Viatu. For a service positioned as a curated travel experience, we expected more reliable coordination and support during the trip itself.
We booked this trip as our honeymoon, and candidly, we feel we likely would have had a better overall experience planning the trip ourselves. Over 16 nights we stayed in six different locations, primarily 4-star accommodations, ending with a 5-star luxury safari experience on a private reserve. In reality, only one accommodation truly stood out as exceptional (Tamodi Estates in Plettenberg Bay). We actually preferred our 4-star safari experience over the 5-star lodge, which cost roughly three times more. Additionally, one property in the Winelands was so poor that it was surprising to see it included in a professionally curated itinerary.
It was also uncomfortable that nearly every property asked the purpose of our visit and seemed unaware that we were on our honeymoon. In several cases, staff expressed surprise and said they wished they had known in advance so they could have done something special. This felt like a significant missed opportunity. One of the main reasons to use a travel advisor or agency is their ability to communicate key details to partner properties and help create memorable experiences for special occasions. That coordination did not appear to happen here.
Overall, while the trip itself was enjoyable, the level of curation, communication, and attention to detail did not meet the expectations we had for a professionally planned honeymoon experience. In hindsight, the value of booking through Viatu was not clear, and we believe we likely would have had a better and more tailored experience arranging the trip independently.
BR
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Tarangire National Park by Paula Bravo da Costa Ferreira
If you’re planning to visit Serengeti, no need to visit Tarangire
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Sweet arrangement from Splendid but mixed experience with the guide
We had an 11 day safari in Kenya, it’s such a wonderful adventure. Splendid did great in helping us with the arrangement and making sure everything connected smoothly. Our tour consultant James from the office was patient, reliable, and a pleasure to communicate with. I was a little nervous in the beginning paying the deposit when I’m not in the country yet, but the moment we landed in Kenya and were met by the James and the driver, we instantly felt relieved. The vehicle was in excellent condition—clean and tidy inside, spacious and comfortable, and fully equipped with charging ports and a fridge. Splendid even prepared special honeymoon decorations on the back of the car, which was a wonderful surprise for us. It attracted many smiles, friendly conversations, and congratulations along the way. It was clear that they had put a lot of thought and care into making the trip special for us. They had been quietly working behind the scenes to make everything run smoothly.
Although we had a very good experience with our tour consultant James, who was professional, reliable, and patient, our experience with our driver and guide James was mixed.
On the positive side, James is an experienced guide and very good at spotting animals. We weren’t focused on ticking off specific animals from a list—just encountering wildlife naturally was already a joy for us. But thanks to James’s excellent spotting skills, along with some good luck, we ended up seeing an amazing variety of animals and birds. James was also a good driver who always managed to get us arrive in time and drive smoothly even in the most bumpy conditions.
However, there are things we did not feel comfortable and behaviors that are unprofessional:
- About driving off-road: this is the dealbreaker experience that made us very unhappy. During our time in Masai Mara reserve, James asked for 200KSH to pay the rangers, I didn’t think too much and thought probably just rangers trying to make a living. But when it happened the second time in Mara Triangle it concerned me, and I did some serious research afterwards on driving off-road. When we were at the gate of Mara Triangle, James read the rules to us (not sure if its park requirement) and one of them was: cars are not allowed to drive off-road and not allowed to drive too close to the animals. In later conversations with different people, I learned that as a private conservancy Mara Triangle had strict rules and enforcements, bribing the rangers is unlikely to work here. We were seeing a cheetah along with a group of other cars and then saw the rangers coming to get the cars to move. James asked us for 1000KSH cash, saying everyone will have to pay. Instead of driving away like other cars, he drive towards the rangers and spoke Swahili that I don’t understand but the rangers seem serious and James also did not look happy. After the conversation James also drove us away. We did not see any official fine issued, receipt provided, or payment made directly to park authorities. Later, when we asked for the money back, James said that he dropped the money on grass through the window (when there’s a cheetah in close distance?) and other cars paid through m-pesa (how possible they know which ranger to pay?), if we don’t pay they will charge a huge fine, and said this is good for us… I just don’t feel he is being honest. If he is honest, then these people playing with the rules in the grey area is ridiculous. Neither is acceptable. It’s not about the money, but about honesty and integrity. If you’re a good guide we’re happy to pay you good tips, but trying to make money in a sneaky way is just not acceptable. Looking back, I felt guilting getting on the grass and getting close to the animals, if I was given the choice, I will for sure not do that. To us, integrity and honesty is more important than getting close to the animals. We hope guides could follow the rules, transparency and clarity could be ensured in such situations in the future.
- Being late: this is a huge red flag for a safari guide. James was on time for the first day when he came to meet and pick us up. But later, he was late most of the time and we rarely met at the supposed time. When he says we leave 7:30am , that probably mean 8am. There’re many times when we’re wrapping up with our breakfast close to our leaving time, we see James just coming for breakfast. I have to admit sometimes we’re behind a little bit, but we’re usually late within a 10min range. We pay for our guide’s time so the guide shouldn’t be the one to be late…
- My husband is a kind and gentle guy who is easygoing and always treats people nicely, but I feel our guide is taking advantage of it. James did not remember my husband’s name even till the last day (11 days and private car with just the two of us) and called the wrong name after multiple times of correction, it’s not a name in a different language but an easy English name, so he just did not want to pay attention.
- He was on the phone ALL THE TIME. Probably 50% of the times when we’re in the parks James is busy on the phone, we had to wait if we had questions about the animals. James is good at spotting animals but didn’t share much about animal knowledge, we had to keep asking questions. We kept asking so he started sharing more towards the end of the trip. He’s different from all the other guides we met during the safari (guides from hotels and parks during our visit), while others usually try to share as much as possible. This is probably just his style.
- Some times I feel confused if we’re the customer or our driver is the customer… most of the times we’re the ones waiting for him; he asks us to take pictures and asks us to send it to him. I feel I have these tasks assigned from him that I have to get done during my travel time. I’m happy with that, but there’s a line between being pushy and asking politely, and you know when the line is crossed, and if you ask for something from someone else, you’ll need to follow their timeline, instead of expecting them instantly.
- The binocular is by default in his hand, he not only asks for the binocular from us when watching animals (for him to take pictures from his phone) but also asks for our phone / camera for him to take pictures of the animals for us (and then asks us to send this this pics), I felt okay at first but uncomfortable with constantly doing so. It’s my experience, its only meaningful when the photos are taken from ourselves, so refused to do so later.
I hesitated for quite some time about whether to include these in the public review, but in the end I decided to do so. I believe people should be accountable for their actions, and sometimes only real consequences can lead to change. With all the aspects that we’re unsatisfied, we still left a good tip in the end—far more than the service level we were provided. We appreciate James' hard work and did not want him to feel that his efforts had gone unnoticed or unappreciated. However, the things that made us uncomfortable are something we hope the travel agency will take seriously.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Satisfactory but could be alot better
Driver was great, was knowledgeable. The drives themselves could be much better scheduled. Especially in times of inclement weather. The drives were too short and for such a big area, it takes time to explore. I'd rather do that than sit in a hotel.
BG
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Amboseli National Park by Lazar Bazlyankov
Kilimanjaro was in clouds, so missed the main goal of our visit there; we've already seen the animals in Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Truly wonderful and amazing with easy access to abundant and diverse wildlife
The people, culture and wildlife is an amazing experience I recommend.
Unfortunately we had an unethical and neglectful tour operator "All Wheels Experience ' which cause delays and missed experiences we had paid for.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
a guide who was inattentive, dishonest, and only cared about money
Although our guide John might not be the absolute worst, I still want to write about some of the unpleasant experiences during our trip, both for your reference and in the hope that it will catch the attention of the tour operator's management.
1. Suspected Ticket Fraud:
· Our scheduled 3:30 PM – 6:30 PM safari on Day 1 was reduced to 30 mins.He took us to two overpriced souvenir shops. At the first, he disappeared; at the second, he pressured us to buy, saying it "helps the locals."
· Arrived late at the park gate ~5 PM, but he kept us waiting at the gate, claiming the "ticket system was down." We entered near 6 PM.
· We later learned that entry after 6 PM is free for guests staying inside the park. Our $100/person fee (included in the package) was likely pocketed. He refused to provide a receipt.
2. Poor Game-Spotting Skills:
· Spent more hours on common animals (giraffes, zebras) while other groups saw leopards and cheetah kills.
· Claimed he "discovered" a pride of 4 lions and bragged to every guide, then demanded $10/person tip for it. We gave $5, and he sulked afterwards.
· When we asked him to find the scene that the other group has already seen, he was very serious and told us not to give pressure on him.
3. Safety & Scary Incident (Nakuru transfer):
· Stopped on a roadside for a boxed lunch; a nail punctured the tire, according to his words, when parking aside, the nail punctured(I was doubtful). During fixing the tire, a mentally unstable local opened our car door, shouting aggressively. It was terrifying. John just told us to hold our valuables on the car. We are confused and scared and not dare to get off the car, though they are fixing the car.
4. Rushing & Dishonesty (Crescent Island):
· Gave us only 1 hour at Crescent Island, rushing us back for his own schedule (wanted to "wash the car" and meet friends).
· Later asked for Day 1's tip again, hoping we forgot. We paid for safety.
5. Tardiness & Lies (Amboseli transfer):
· Arrived 3 hours late, lying about "car repairs." Hotel staff helped us to urge him.
· "Compensated" us with a cheap fast-food meal, claiming it cost him $70. We checked the menu – it was about $15. At first, he said he will compensate 3 hours late, but finally he said he catched up with the safari 3:30pm, actually it was 3:40pm and haven't reach the Amboseli gate.Not a word was mentioned about the loss of out hotel rest and leisure time.
6. Final Day Greed:
· Rushed us through the market/supermarket (total 2 hrs).
· Demanded $20 for highway tolls (far exceeding actual cost). We paid the actual receipts.
· Dropped us far from the terminal.
I hope this feedback will make them reflect on the essence of doing business—it should be built on integrity, not on deceiving customers for short-term gains. As for the guide's misconduct(other frustrating details I won't mention more), much of it was obvious to us at the time; we simply chose not to confront him for the sake of our safety and a smooth trip.