Features Africa

Visited: Sep. 2024 Reviewed: Dec. 06, 2024 Submitted in:

I have never written a negative review but I feel it is important for anyone who is considering using Features Africa Journeys to read what my experience was like. When I reached out to Features Africa Journeys the owner Karanja was phenomenal to work with. During the planning phase Karanja replied in a timely manner, he answered all my questions clearly and concisely, and he worked with me to finalize our tour. I was very comfortable with booking with Features Africa Journeys. My group of six booked the 12 day Kenya and Tanzania tour over a year in advance in order to have the best options for lodging.

After we paid the deposit for the tour everything changed. Karanja stopped communicating with us and I often had to beg him to reply. There was a point where we all thought he may have gone out of business. It was quite concerning.

Prior to arriving in Africa we discovered the hotel confirmation Karanja booked for us in Nairobi was incorrect. When we arrived in Nairobi the driver Karanja hired dropped us off at the wrong hotel. Thankfully the hotel brought us to the correct hotel.

The 12 day itinerary included staying at 6 different lodges. Karanja changed 3 out of the 6 lodges without our knowledge which caused undo stress every time we drove by the lodge we thought we were staying at. The second change was a serious downgrade from what we paid for. We paid for semi-luxury lodging and ended up at an eco lodge that had no other customers, no amenities, no hot water, and holes in the floors where snakes could get in. I spoke with Karanja and explained changing the lodges without telling us was not okay and the downgrade was not acceptable. I ended the conversation asking that he not surprise us with a lodge change again and he agreed. The very next day he did it again! It appeared he had no idea where we were staying and was trying to figure it out while we were driving around the park. It added a lot of unneeded driving around and once again a downgrade from what we paid for.

Entering the parks also proved difficult. When we arrived at the entrance to the Serengeti our tour guide, who was a contracted guide in Tanzania and not an employee of Features Africa Journeys, struggled to get us through the gates. Karanja had only paid 2 out of the 3 days we were scheduled to stay in the park. After 1 1/2 hours we were given permission to enter the park but our guide would have to resolve with Karanja how to pay the third day. If not resolved we would have to leave the park early or be arrested. It took our guide a full 24 hours to resolve the issue and then the following day we had to drive out of our way to a ranger station to finalize the park pass.

When we crossed back into Kenya Karanja became our tour guide. When we arrived at the entrance to the Masai Mara we once again sat outside the gates waiting for the park pass to be processed while watching other tour companies pass into the park.

Near the end of our tour Karanja came to me and blindsided me by asking for a considerable amount of money due to an increase in the cost of the park passes and lodges. I could not believe it. We booked our tour more than a year in advance therefore the lodges should have been booked at the lower prices if they did go up. I also believe the park passes should have been purchased at the lower cost but I am not sure what the process is for obtaining the passes.

All the difficulties we had could have been avoided if Karanja had communicated with us regarding unexpected expenses he encountered prior to our arrival. We would have worked with him and paid the additional cost of the park passes. Instead he downgraded our lodging and caused undue stress when entering the parks. He never explained why all these changes happened until my group was already agitated and confronted him. Being small business owners and understanding things happen we stupidly agreed to give half of what Karanja asked for. We knew the cost of park passes had increased a considerable amount. But, after the last downgraded lodge and extra unnecessary driving and frustrations I asked for half of what I paid to be refunded. Karanja agreed, he showed us the request for the refund, and we shook hands and said we were trusting him to make sure the refund happened and he said it would.

Unfortunately, like the review written my another customer in 2023 (which I wish I had seen before booking with Features Africa Journeys), two months later we have not seen the refund and Karanja stopped communicating as soon as we left Africa.

My advice to anyone looking to book a safari tour is there are plenty of other tour operators to choose from. The safari itself was EPIC but my review is based on Features Africa Journeys.

Countries visited:

0People gave this
a kudu