Safari.com
- Office In:
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 2000)
- Member Of:
- Southern Africa Tourism Services Association
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $1,326 to $21,081 per person per day (MXN, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
An expensive stressful drama-filled two day trip to Victoria Falls - not worth it, won't do again
The one good thing I can say about AfriTrip is they are responsive. But our 2-day trip to Victoria Falls was not relaxing or enjoyable due to the stress and drama that ensued and the total cost was way more than the value we received.
The night before we are to leave we receive urgent messages that our Air Zimbabwe flight from JNB had been canceled and they rebooked us on British Airways. At that point it was an annoyance but not too bad. We had to get up earlier the next morning and switch airlines but still looking forward to our trip.
We land in Victoria Falls airport and the driver was surprised to see us since he thought we were still on the canceled flight! He didn't get the updated info so we were lucky that he was there waiting for others or might have been stuck with no ride. Victoria Falls Hotel where we stayed was okay but not worth the price. It's not a first-rate experience, e.g. the front desk agent forgot to return our passports! That caused some unnecessary stress. The room itself was mediocre.
Now, Victoria Falls itself IS amazing and worth seeing and we quite enjoyed it, just not the rest of the experience. For example, we had a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River that was so touted on KrugerPark.com for seeing wildlife and all we saw was a croc and some birds. I understand nature is unpredictable but I find the sales pitch misleading. Also, the cruise served snacks and drinks yet didn't have proper bathroom facilities! More unnecessary stress.
Now the worst part of the trip is the day before we are to fly back to JNB we get messages that our return flight on Air Zimbabwe has been canceled again! The airline wants to move to us a flight that's 5 hours later. Knowing how unreliable the airline has been we were not going to take the last flight out of Victoria Falls (on any airline) and risk getting stuck in Zimbabwe. How could KrugerPark.com book us on such an unreliable airline! Even after this, they refuse to rebook us on British Airways so, after a ton of back and forth (instead of enjoying our trip), we paid $724 to do it ourselves. They did refund us $322 which they claim is the cost of the flight plus their commission so we are out over $400 additionally.
In total we paid over $2500 for this two-day trip and did not see the value. Both flights getting screwed up, a mediocre hotel, and some mediocre tours. Overall it was a 5-star price for a 2-star experience. The Falls ARE spectacular though!
P.S. If I quickly do the math it doesn't quite add up. We paid over $2100 to the tour company. Based on the refund, flights were $322 each way including commission. Hotel was almost $800 for two nights (yes, quite expensive). Falls tour was $40 retail. Sunset cruise was $106 retail. And we got 6 transfers total which were maybe $100? We even had to pay $60 entry fee for the Falls and $20 for the River ourselves! This adds up to not even $1700 which includes part of their commission so how much are they jacking up the prices to make a package deal?! Knowing what we know now, we would've been MUCH better off booking the trip ourselves.
Email Steve | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Set and forget (Vic Falls Safari Lodge did it)
While the lodge staff and the experiences werefantastic, Safari.com provided no itinerary, luxury deck on cruise not honoured.
It was like a set and forget.
Once we had booked and paid there was little or no communication from them.
Hence we arived at Lodge not having an itinerary!
We had to take a photo of our itinerary from lodge to find out what it was!!
After I booked, did not communicate what she should have.
I had a good experience booking my trip, but after I paid, communication was lacking. When I was looking to book, the agent got back to me very quickly. Once I paid, it could be days before I heard from her. I've never used a travel agent before, but I expected to be told more. I was not given a detailed itinerary until a day into our trip by someone else on the ground, who was supposed to be available to me. Also had no idea we were flying into Zimbabwe (supposed to go to Zambia and Botswana). We needed a Declaration and $100 US dollars to enter the country. This was not communicated to me at all!!, and we almost didn't make it in. I assumed a travel agent would let know. Am I wrong?? Then I got very sick (got insurance with booking) and asked the person I was to contact on the ground what to do, and crickets. The actual places and things that were booked were wonderful and exactly what I wanted. It would have been nice to have the communication, especially since I was't sure we could continue in Zimbabwe and would have to return to South Africa.
SE
Email Chirster Svensson | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
rather average compared to other safaris we did in the greater Krüger area
The flights and accommodation were arranged according to our bookings. Unfortunately, we could not do the promised last morning game drive, but dit a rather disappointing Panorama tour ( short stop the waterfall, not the Potholes ...) on our way to the airport instead. The other game drives were rather 'a hunt for the Sabi leopard' whilst kind of sometimes missing the overall safari experience .
IT
Email Franco | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
more expensive than planned
As I have already told them I felt cheated when I was charged the drop off of the rented car. At Kruger park they knew it from the very beginning that the trip included renting the car in Port Elisabeth and driving all the way to Cape Town and dropping the car at the airport. They never told me the was an extra charge for it and I felt cheated, I also felt cheated when they charged me 2.5 % for paying by credit card. Other than that the trip was fine but i would not use them again ! sorry but you need to be clear from the onset.
PT
Email Manuel | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
I went a lot of to Kruger (more than 30 times...); it was the 3th time that I have problems with c.c
Your safety is our priority. As an accredited member of South Africa's
most well-known tourism authorities, Cape Town Tourism and the Southern
Africa Tourism Services Association, we uphold strict policies and
adhere to stringent regulations. We use state of the art encryption and
never store your credit card details. We are also the first South African
travel company to use 3-D Secure (3DS) credit card security.
It,s not true!!!
My credit card was used for somebody during my stay with you, and they "stall" my money from my account...
Reply from Safari.com
Posted on May 9, 2016Hi Manuel.
We hear your frustration.
Credit card fraud, especially skimming, is a global problem and we do everything in our power to prevent it from occurring.
As a travel company, we process a high volume of credit cards, therefore, we use 256 bit encrypted SSL and 3DS, for supporting banks, and do not store any of the card details.
If we can assist with a formal investigation please contact your consultant and we will be more than willing to assist.
Our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience.
Tedious, since I continuously needed to follow up on my queries and bookings!
The tour that I had in mind, was booked as per request, except for one stay at Skukuza. The hosts that are present on the live chat need to make more effort to provide guidance and really find out what it is the customer wants on their trip. Overall, we were very happy with the suggestions and our bookings...however, there were one or two camps that didn't provide us with what we wanted. (Self-catering) wise...this is not a train smash, but it could have been avoided.
Reply from Safari.com
Posted on May 9, 2016Hi Joey
We are glad to hear you were happy with the suggestions. Feedback is what helps everyone improve and if you mail your consultants about exactly what was lacking at the self-catering camps we will pass the feedback along.
Thank you
Email Blits du Plessis | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Booking made in name of agent, not us,thus creating stress when we could not access park
Safari tour ok, other time spent great! Booking was made under agent's name, and not our name. We therefor struggled to convince gate personnel that we did book, as they could not find our names.
MX
Email Jorge Alarcón | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excelente service, just would like to know before the trip to have more options in different costs.
Excelent service from Zené and all the workers on Safari, very trustful page, just in value for money would like to know, before doing the trip the more differnt options you have, once you're in Southafrica you realized this.
Email Ian | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Generally good but Tour Guide Disappointing
We arrived on Victoria Falls Tour at National Park Entrance and the guide hands out cold water bottles to everyone in the group, but mine was a used bottle which was 3/4 full and seal was broken so handed it back the guide he then took the last remaining full bottle from the esky for himself and excepted me to accept the used bottle. For the money we paid for the tour provided by Victoria Falls Safari Lodge it clearly shows customer service is non existent and they are a pooly managed company treating customers without respect. The tour guide should be terminated instantly from Victoria Falls safari lodge.