Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs H, from London
Review Distribution
Total number of trips
1
Countries visited
3
Lodges stayed in
4
Excursions taken
0
My Sep 2014 trip
Kenya and 2 other countries between 23 Sep 2014 and 7 Oct 2014
Minor:- having spent £15k on the holiday, I felt that,unlike other travel agents we have dealt with, the lack of a personal call on our return and the failure to send us this form until I requested it was not very good PR for Expert Africa.
Major:- on our return, our flight itinerary expected us to sit for five hours at Dar airport ( outside on the roadside on uncomfortable chairs) while we waited for our connecting flight with Kenya Airways to Nairobi. As we were flying business class from Nairobi to London, why were we not on the earlier Kenyan Airways flight so that we could at least wait in a comfortable lounge?
For some reason I had a fever with temperature of 103 and insisted on taking the earlier flight ( they nearly would not let me fly and wanted me to go to the hospital to see a doctor) Because we were flying economy, we had to pay 130 dollars to change flights. On this flight were many of the guests we had met during our holiday that were also on the London BA flight.
As your client it is not up to us to check all the flight times as we have already made it clear that we would want all the most sensible connections. Also,the earlier flights were not new as one guest we had spoken to had booked a long time ago like us and because BA cancelled their Wednesday flights out to a nairobi just before we were going, necessitating a change in flights all round, you could have rechecked then. We do expect to hear from you on this matter as it is not satisfactory and left a bitter taste after such a wonderful holiday up until then."
Feedback response
We are delighted that these travellers had a magnificent holiday over all, though are saddened that there were a few issues resulting from mistakes on the part of Expert Africa. The minor mistake mentioned, was due to Ellie failing to properly set up the personalised email sent to travellers upon their return. This email welcomes people home and invites them to feedback to us about their holiday. As soon as we realised the email hadn't sent, we rectified the situation and these travellers have subsequently had this chance to feedback to us in detail on their trip.
The more major mistake, which resulted in a long wait in Dar es Salaam - occurred due to a time change made by Kenya Airways. This change lengthened the waiting time quite significantly, making in unacceptably long. We should have picked this up, and arranged for the flight to be amended to an earlier departure with a better connection. We have refunded the money that these travellers paid to amend this flight when they were at the airport. We have also sent a gift, as an apology for the oversight and the undue stress it caused on their final day. We hope this goes some way in making up for the mistake.
Ole-Sereni
"Best breakfast choice ever!"
Ras Kutani, Tanzania (this camp has since closed)
"Secluded African beach lodge"
The staff/service was excellent and the food was of a consistently high standard. We made three recommendations while we were there and every one was fulfilled within hours! As you will see from our Tripadvisor report (nandph) we felt that our room number nine on the lagoon was the best except for new/full moons when it was impossible to sleep because of the frogs.
The only personal complaint we had was that the loungers around the pool were not conducive to relaxing/reading in the afternoon as you could only lie on them and not raise them so we had to retire to our room."
Not currently featured by Expert Africa
Impala Camp
"Small is beautiful"
Because out of 47 concessions in the Selous, 43 are for hunting, game is skittish and sometimes hard to find. Our fantastic guide Gerald was a godsend. Not only in finding game and in amazing situations but also in his amazing knowledge. For those like us who enjoy the birds it was fantastic.
The service was a little hit and miss and our food being attacked by birds at breakfast and bush babies at night might have been fun once, but felt the management should have been stricter with the serving staff and stopped some guests from feeding them.
Overall, excellent and would recommend. Our only small complaint was that the new managers did not really have a very good ' bedside manner'"
Mnemba Island Lodge
"Unique and truly exceptional"
From the moment you arrive you are in a different world. The colours, beach room, food,service and the whole experience. The staff really do go out of their way to make your stay memorable-and they succeed. We were lucky to see the turtles going down to the sea and also all the other rare birds/animals on the island. make sure that guests are aware of which way the wind is blowing when they go as it makes a vast difference as to which rooms are sensible.
Obviously we have no complaints - however, I should point out that if there is a gale blowing all the mainland tourist snorkelling boats use the home reef, which is only about 100 metres in front of your room. Contrary to general knowledge, Mnemba will go out of their way to let you leave later depending usually on when their new guests are arriving. We left at 1.30 pm"
Overall, most satisfactory."