65+ years of age
Trek to Kilimanjaro;change of plans; poor decisions;no real interest in clients;unsatisfactory; bad
Not what expected; "ladies group"? I was told on the day "just you" but luckily one more lady otherwise me at 75 and 7 or 8 local men. Route changed for doubtful reason . Staying at Kibo Hut for 2 cold nights a bad decision. No breakfast and a few dry biscuits, peanuts after a 5 hour climb, starting at 5am. Should have been 4 am but guides overslept. Could have reached final summit easily with a good group. Physically fit, no altitude problems just terribly hungry. I am quite small. A fuss at the hotel over security of items left "in Storage". A plan to drive 2 more hours was changed by me. Trauma in Arusha when Tony attacked a man.
JP
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great guide, worst agency
I do not recommend this agency at all.
All the bookings are fine, but they hadn’t pay petrol fee to our guide in advance , so we had to stay at petrol station twice for long time to wait them to send money to our guide.
Eventually they did not send him money so he had to pay out of his pocket. Which is INSANE.
As you know, petrol fee in Kenya is bloody expensive.
Anyway, our guide was super nice guy. He said that our tour will be the last job with this agency. Bless him.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
They are terrible. Very poor customer service.
They promise a lot but deliver nothing. What was meant to be a guide was just a rude semi illiterate driver who had no clue about what a guides role is, never mind that we had been promised that we would have the services of an 'experienced tour guide'. Poor customer experience. You do not get value for money. They are big on brand, but zero content.
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Changed itinerary in the morning of the tour.
We booked a 4 day safari with two nights in Seronera, Serengeti. They changed the itinerary in the morning when the safari started. We ended up having 1 night in Seronera and therefore no full day in the Serengeti. This way it is cheaper for them as we spent the first night outside the parks, that is why they did it. Given this change we wanted a discount of around 100$. They said we can have 20$ discount and if we do not accept we can have all the money back and leave. That was in the morning when the safari should have started. They could well have informed us the evening before when we paid, but they did not. As the choice was between no safari and changed itinerary we decided to join. The car was the oldest moving thing you can imagine and broke down in the middle of the savanna. They did not have tools with them to repair it. They did not have walkie talkies to call somebody for help. They did not have a rope in the car to tow away the car by another bypassing car. Imagine you get stuck in a water hole? In the end they repaired the car with the leather-man of another tourist who was in a car which stopped to help us. We ended up missing the last hour of our late evening safari because we had to bring other passengers to their camp. As we were very lucky we ended up seeing all the animals the next morning, but that was really pure luck. The parks are great and the guide was very friendly and did his best given the means he was given by the company. Again this was pure luck, all the other guides of the same company seamed not very competent. Food was ok. The overall organization done by the company was horrible. We booked with Trip Advisor Africa Safari, but basically this internet companies are selling their costumers to a Tanzanian operator. Ours operator was Sandland tours of Abraham Shaidi. The itinerary change was apparently the fold of Trip Advisor Africa Safari and its owner Seth Vincent. The bad equipment of the car is the fold of Shaidi. So even if you book with other companies ask for the operator and check its reviews.
CA
They stole our money
We booked a 7 day safari with ISIA. We have received word that they have gone bankrupt and they are not being honest and returning our money. I have tried to contact the owner numerous times and no response. HAs anyone else heard from them or understands how to get money back?
PT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
My worst experience, ever
I have travelled all over the world, and this was not my first safari, indeed. But I never found an operator that avoids its responsabilities in such a way like this one. There were services not provided to us, and when we asked the operator for a solution, he just said "no problem", and nothing else. They will tell you "no problem" to everything you ask, but actually they will do nothing, they will not accept any responsability, they will not compensate you for any service not provided. Maybe others have had a better experience than us, but I would never recommend this operator.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very disappointed
Extremely disappointed with this company. They had good reviews on tripadvisor so I signed up to a safari with this. At 9am I was excited to be leaving my hotel and going on safari. However, it became clear very quickly that I had not been picked up by a Big Time Safari car, but by another company. Big time passed me on to another company without telling me. The company they had sold my trip on to was called Right Choice, and believe me, it wasn’t the right choice. The bus was broken, and it took 9.5 hours for us to drive from Nairobi to Masai Mara. When we finally arrived it turned out that our rooms hadn’t been booked at the camp. Once that was sorted out it turned out that the driver didn’t know what time dinner would be. We went for a terrifying 1 hour game drive that evening. The rain was pelting down and the ground turned into a swamp, and the broken bus (with even less power than these buses normally have) got stuck several times. Fortunately we didn’t end up stuck in the mud in Masai Mara overnight, but between the broken bus and the rain it was more luck than anything else that we didn’t. I cancelled my trip the next morning and returned to Nairobi with a much more professional company. Big Time safari expressed no apology for selling on my trip to another company without notifying me. Nor have they been willing to refund any part of my failed safari.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Avoid this company at all costs
I recently did a 4-day Safari with World Tours and Safari in the Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater. It was a once in a lifetime experience that this company continually tried to sabotage. I booked three months in advance to go to Tarangire, Serengeti, and Ngorogoro. When I arrived in Arusha, the manager Richard changed my itinerary so I never made it to Tarangire. Then, he tried to cut my Safari short by one day so we could drive a separate party to the airport. When confronted after the trip with these complaints, Richard was rude to myself and my family. He never even addressed our concerns as we attempted to talk to him in a calm manner. I later found out he suspended the driver for our trip, who was by far the highlight of the trip and pleasure to be around.
If you are looking to book a safari, just avoid this company. There are plenty of great companies out there operating similar safaris that there is no need to deal with Richard and the hassle of World Tours and Safaris.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Dishonest company
I booked with Dosasha as they seem a very passionate and reliable team with good reviews in Safaribookings.
However, they deceived me. I got a Safari booked for September 25th. After paying the $1000 deposit the problems started, with them first not being able to fulfill the hotel orders as promised (Likely no hotel was booked by then)
The worst is that they sent a message 1 month before my trip telling me they are cancelling the tour and that they will refund, however no money is sent or coordinated at all, and they keep saying they will process the refund without any actual refund made.
Simply this company seems to have stolen from me. Be careful.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
They cancelled and kept my deposit!!
They cancelled my 5-day safari a week before it was about planned to start. They still haven't refunded my 30% deposit ($500 USD) and no longer reply to my emails. They told me they have "financial and operational challenges" and have to cancel the safari. That email said they would refund me my deposit, so I gave my details, but they have ignored me since then. If they offer tours in the future, I would NOT recommend them as they could do the same to others in future!!
