Wilderness Anmeldelser 104

excellent service, very attentive, available and caring..

Great experience booking our family holiday! The consultant, Anneli, was very knowledgeable about the location and also helpful in suggesting options of places to stay and activities in each place. She supported us throughout to get every detail just as we wanted. Very happy with the outcome and would highly recommend Wilderness Safaris!

We just booked our second adventure in Botswana with Wilderness Safaris. Starting from the moment of contact until you are back home checking out all your amazing safari pics, well, this is the only way to go. Friendly, caring, diligent, Wilderness Safaris makes sure this is a trip of a lifetime no matter your budget. I have traveled the world, and our previous trip with Wilderness was our all time favorite. At least until the trip coming up!

Prior to the review we will say that it was the perfect safari that we had thought and planned which was executed by Wilderness Safari in an irreproachable manner. We had no surprises, what we had anticipated was exceeded in quality, service and information. It was what one could state irreproachable.
Now the question is, why was it so ?
We first identified 3 operators stating what we were looking for. One company never replied whilst the other delayed answering our queries. We received a reply from Wilderness safaris whom we had chosen years ago for a similar trip in Zambia. We spoke on the phone with Emma who immediately understood what we were looking for responding to all our inquiries and comments personally and diligently
Our priority was genuine: small but quality tented camp in a bush environment with professional Kenyan guides and drivers so that our grand children would not just look at wildlife but understand and share the importance in maintaining this unique environment and its complexity.

1. Advise on travelling
The information on Kenya entry requirements, visa, health documents, international arrival and departure were given in details and were invaluable.

2. Lodges
We were astounded at the genuine, friendly and efficient service given by all Kenyan staff and managers throughout our stay.
Tortillis Camp in Amboseli: Coming out of the plane, on the landing strip, Joseph greeted us with coffee, tea, etc, and then drove us to Tortillis whilst game viewing. Joseph is an exceptional guide, companion and his scope of knowledge of unbelievable depth in terms of nature, wildlife ranging from ants to the big fives.
The camp was personalised and professionally run, the lady assistant manager was efficient, friendly with a good sence of humour. There are outstanding views from bar areas and the privacy element of neighbouring tents was perfect. The pool was an asset but was at time noisy.

Wilderness camp in Laikipia: A charming but less sophisticated camp in a more remote and wilder environment of african bush. Great safari tents very private with a romantic element of outdoor bathroom and an outside verandah overlooking the valley. A mixture of game viewing, bathing in the river, climbing rocks, identify foot prints etc.. Ideal timing between the first and last camp where games where essentially in 4X4. Our kenyan guide/driver Steven was perfect in all senses and was able to find and follow the wild dogs pack through the bush by just following their tracks.

Offbeat Mara Camp
“Un sans faute” Dubai lost masai Bob a perfect gentleman, host, great sense of humour and a magician of surprises organising an unbelievable, magical and moving bush dinner starting with drinks around a camp fire that opened up to a silver set candle lid dinner table to celebrate two birthdays. A return to the magic land of Kenya and the thrilling masai traditional dancing and jumping, a stirring and emotional site into weawing between us all. Neither our grand children, our daughter Josephine, her husband nor ourselves can ever forget.
Once again, our guide/driver Joseph was astonishing in his knowledge of wildlife and during bush breakfast a great story teller in through african tradition.
The quality of food was remarkable in diversity, taste and presentation. The living room, bar area were extremely well decorated, confortable with the added charm of a birning fire place. The tents were again perfect and not forgetting the hot water bottle in ones bed !! The ultimate in personalised service.

The choice of various parks and lodges/camps were all wonderful. Fabulous experience. The guides were all exceptional and very knowledgeable in all the parks: Amboseli. Laikipia, Masai Mara.

It was a memorable experience. Absolutely wonderful and magical.

We have taken many trips over the years, but this tour, arranged by Wilderness, was by far the best. Our agent spoke with us many times, carefully arranged and rearranged our schedule, found just the things we wanted to see and was responsive throughout. We were met by staff on schedule everywhere we went; our accommodations were excellent; our guides were knowledgeable, and we were treated beautifully. The safaris were truly the highlight of our weeks in South Africa and Botswana. Words do not do justices to the beauty of the animals and the landscapes. We had not use Wilderness before, but surely will again.

What a wonderful team of professionals! I had a million questions and found this group to be thoughtful, patient and accommodating. I tried a couple of other agencies and Wilderness Safaris was by far the most responsive and professional.

We are thankful that we were connected with Wilderness Safaris. We worked with Emma and she was amazing. At first we talked through what we were looking for out of a vacation and then Emma went to work. She truly heard what we were wanting. The proposed plans were great and she patiently talked us through the choices and alternative ideas. She helped us add length and a total new environment to our trip. She was very responsive to anything we asked.
The trip itself was a great match for what we wanted. We are a family of four with boys 10 and 13 years old. The transitions between places was seamless. We really appreciated being meet behind pass control at the airport upon arrival. Each place was wonderful and offered something different from the others. Emma had communicated our dietary issues ahead of time and all but one place was ready and all of them kindly accommodated of our needs. We loved all of the places we stayed and would consider going back to them.
Upon returning home, Emma reached out to hear about our trip. It was nice to tell her about how much we enjoyed it.

Wilderness Safaris was recommended by fiends of mine that have traveled to Botswana twice. My experience so far has met and exceeded the high praise from my fiends. We are really looking forward to our trip.

We just booked a trip with Wilderness Safaris and so far, the service has been excellent. Even when our first contact went on summer vacation, the next person picked up right where she left off and responded to all questions and concerns with experienced, first-rate advice and guidance. Emails, phone calls, and any changes were immediately answered, making us feel that the team here works well together, and has a deep appreciation and knowledge of the places they are sending their clients.

Very supportive and flexible to accommodate the client‘s preferences

The Wilderness Safaris team is very attentive throughout planning and decision-making, tailoring solutions to the client's exact needs. Also, very knowledgeable on current Covid considerations and safety overall - providing peace of mind during this ever-changing international travel landscape.

It has been a pleasure to plan our safari with James Shortt. He is extremely detail oriented and thoroughly answers all of our questions. James has planned all of the travel details and has offered many wonderful trip suggestions. We are super excited about our trip!

Two years ago we had a fabulous trip to Namibia with Wilderness Safari . In December 2022 we are planning a trip to Botswana and Zambia with our 2 children and 2 grandsons. I contacted Emma with WS and she has worked with us to plan every detail of this . We had many questions and considered many options until Emma put together a comprehensive trip to 4 lodges that fit our needs and budget. Emma was timely and responded to every question we had. We look forward to this and will write another review post holiday .

Wilderness Safaris was an outstanding partner in helping us plan our bucket list trip to Botswana/Zambia! If the pandemic has taught us anything, it's that the future is not guaranteed -- so we decided to finally fulfill a lifelong dream and travel to Africa. The prospect of deciding when, where and how was overwhelming at first -- but Emma was an invaluable resource for helping us make those important decisions. She was impressively knowledgeable, always responsive and provided objective information that allowed us to build the perfect custom safari! I'm certain that the same level of personal service will be provided throughout our trip and I have high confidence that we will enjoy an unbelievable - and safe - journey to Africa next year!

Emma was efficient and wonderful to work with. She listened to our needs on this trip and quickly put together an itinerary that met all of our needs. Thank you for putting a trip of a lifetime for us!

We were in the middle of a vacation in Southeast Asia in March when the borders closed and our travel was canceled. We were assured by Jacada Travel that we had credit and would be able to rebook the remaining two weeks of our vacation later in 2020 or 2021 with little or no additional cost to us.

In August, having heard nothing from Jacada since March, we wrote asking for an accounting. They told us that they had “forgotten” to include us in the group of clients who were owed money and received notice of the receivership in May and the sale of Jacada’s assets to Wilderness Safaris. They said that our $12,000 in remaining travel credit had been used to pay other creditors and that we had no travel credit with vendors in Vietnam because, rather unbelievably, they had not actually paid for any of the hotels, cruises or flights scheduled for the last two weeks of our trip.
KPMG had no explanation for why we weren’t given any notice of the receivership but said that we are unlikely to receive any money back and that Wilderness Travel would not cover our lost monies. No one can explain how our money was used or how Jacada had could have not paid for the flights or the Heritage cruise we were about to board? Wilderness got the benefit of Jacada’s assets without any obligation to make its travel clients whole. Avoid them all if you don’t want to see your money spent on someone else.

I booked a safari in Botswana with Wilderness-Safaris.com last September. Vumbura Plains was one of 3 camps and lodges and I have never paid such a high price for such miserable camp and weird experience.
Many people mix the safari experience with the camp or lodge experience. Let me explain: I went to many countries for safaris and all were wonderful: Kenya, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania .. So, of course, Botswana was good, but like others country, and certainly not better.
But Botswana is certainly the most expensive country for safaris and I really do not know why I paid so much money for such a disappointment and I'm still waiting for the answer from wilderness-safaris.com 1 month on the justification of such a price for a camp miserable and poorly maintained.
So I arrived at the Vumburas camp and they took me to a room with a small outdoor pool with a disgusting green color. The window blinds were plastic, very old and non-transparent and had not been cleaned in years. It was dusty. and very dirty. So I paid an indecent rate per night to have such an experience in an unserviced and mediocre camp. I feel so stupid for agreeing to pay such a high price for such a disappointing experience, but when you pay so much, you have the feeling that it's the guarantee of an exceptional stay.
The next day, they explained to me that my pool was under a tree and that birds were defecating in the pool which explained the dreadful green color. So they knew the problem, did not tell me that I should not get into this polluted water but obviously Wildernes never imagined they could move the pool or protect against this terrible disadvantage.
I was transferred the next day to a similar room which has not been renovated for at least 15 years and has not been serviced and cleaned either: dirty plastic blinds and worn furniture and faded. And it was not over, I was lying on my bed in the afternoon, the mosquito net fell on the bed and was held by the fan, who could also get stuck under the weight of the mosquito net and fall on my legs.
It's just unimaginable to pay so much for such a miserable camp and it's a shame for Wilderness to offer such an experience at such a high price.
So I definitely advise about Botswana: it is more than 2 times more expensive than other countries that organize safaris. During this trip, my best experience was in South Africa: of course wonderful safaris but an amazing lodge with every imaginable comfort (wifi, air con..) and cheaper than Vumburas camp which was really miserable.
To offer such basic and unmaintained camps at this price is obviously very profitable for Wilderness-Safaris and I absolutely advise against this unscrupulous company.

below some pictures of the room : dirty, opaque blinds, faded furniture and a terrific swimming pool
i can proof everything : pictures, invoice, complaints to wilderness-safaris.com...