Rove Africa Islands & Safaris

Very Disappointed - Worst Experience of our lives

If you have a bucket list and one of these once in a lifetime experiences (extremely expensive and overpriced) are not simply visiting the Serengeti but your main objective is witnessing and experiencing the Great Migration River Crossing in the North (at the Mara River) be very cautious when selecting your Safari operator to arrange this for you. In our case Rove Africa was recommended based on their 30 years of experience, integrity and what we were told they deliver in the experience promised, WHAT A HUGE MISTAKE. Our very specific and only request was: a. We are well seasoned safari travellers and for this purpose our one and only goal was to see the Great Migration River Crossing. b. Rove had to suggest the correct/best possible timing (Date). c. Best country, Tanzania or Kenya. d. Best/correct locations including Lodges. e. Suggest the best itinerary and how many days were needed to provide us with the best possible opportunity to achieve this lifelong dream. f. No budget was given in order to motivate them to come up with an itinerary that would put us in the best possible position to witness this river crossing. If the above is your dream, then Rove Africa is not the right company to make these arrangements for you. After lots of communication and e-mails they sold us a “private tailor-made safari” which includes our own drivers/guides (were told they are our very own BUSH GOOGLE) and private Landcruiser to give us the freedom and flexibility to achieve the goal described above. On arrival at Kilimanjaro airport we were met by Untamed Safaris, our drivers/guides for the full trip. At 1st all seemed OK until we reached this antiquated (were later told it was a 1962 model) Toyota Landcruiser. What we did not realize at the time was that this would become our worst nightmare for the entire experience during our safari. We were distraught but believed this was just the vehicle that collected us from the Airport. The next morning we set off on this adventure, same vehicle. We soon learnt that these drivers follow their own rules and speed limits/traffic rules did not apply to them. Soon we were stopped for speeding but a convenient handshake (exchanging funds) rectified the situation and we were on our way. On arriving at the main gravel road which would eventually take us to the correct location we discovered how bad the main road conditions actually were, corrugations and uneven surfaces we had never seen before. This because of 1000’s of these safari vehicles racing towards the next destination. This however did not slow our drivers in any way and these unsafe roads now became more risky as these unsafe drivers were now also continuing at unsafe speeds and in our case we would learn in an unsafe vehicle that was not only aged but poorly maintained and unsuitable for the conditions we were to experience. As we were now more focussed on the unsafe conditions we found it very hard to focus on the safari, spotting animals and enjoying the scenery. Even if you spotted something worth stopping for speeds were too high to stop in time, that is if the driver heard you due to the noise, shaking and rattling of the vehicle. To make it worse the air-conditioning system was not in working order and driver windows were continuously open allowing dust to enter. Further to this the doors and windows were not sealed (broken rubber seals) increasing the discomfort of dealing with the heat and dust. The rest of the week was characterized by tyre failure, mechanical failure, suspension failure, starting issues, refrigerator on board not working resulting in the drivers spending evenings in the workshop to keep us on the road. This caused fatigue during the day and led to a number of dangerous incidents, we believe the driver fell asleep. We questioned the drivers on our itinerary and when we will be at the location to witness the river crossing, we were advised that our lodge was far away from where this takes place (185km’s) and that they were not aware/instructed that we were there to witness the crossing. We now realized we were given a stock standard safari and that Rove never intended to take us to the correct location at all and nor did they advise the safari vehicle company of our one and only requirement, witnessing the river crossing. We were totally mislead. After continuous complaints to the drivers and our SA agent the owner of the safari vehicle (they are contracting to ROVE based on who can meet the lowest prices) gave special permission for us to be taken up to the Mara River. Mechanical failure the day before delayed or departure the next day resulting in a race on these unsafe roads and we were very concerned for our safety (almost overturned the vehicle on the way). We were only allowed to spend 3 hours driving between the herds of wildebeest but drivers were also not in the mood to share too much and we later learnt the information they did give us was inaccurate and not true at all. They continuously said the time of day was wrong and we were on the wrong side of the river to see anything. What a disappointment! By now we realized that we were misled and that there was nothing we could do at that point. We however raised a major complaint with our SA agent, sharing that with the drivers who in turn shared this with the owner of Untamed Safaris. Without going into detail the rest of the trip was mainly survival to reach the end, we also contemplated ending the safari and making other arrangements to fly us back but this was difficult at the time. On arrival back at Arusha the MD of the safari company insisted in a meeting, we agreed and shared our experience with him. He was well spoken (English), understood our concerns and apologized profusely. He explained that he was only the contractor and were given the itinerary and was not aware of what we had requested. These contractors are mainly trying to survive in this heavily overtraded market and need to take contracts based on pricing which has become impossible to maintain vehicles correctly. They are also to scared to address this with the companies like ROVE as this will cost them future business, in our case (we were told) they had to pay for the travel to the river crossing as they were protecting future business. In summary: a. Rove did not pay any attention to our one and only requirement, positioning us in the correct location to witness the river crossing. b. Visiting the website we confirmed that we were given a standard safari package like all others to visit the Serengeti. c. Rove appoint Safari vehicle contractors based on mainly price and do not communicate customers requirements at all. It also appears that they do not have any criteria for choosing such contractors that will at least give you the feel that it is a tailored higher end experience. d. The lodges, with exception of Ngorongoro were empty, in some cases only one other couple. This further gives you the feel that they are more focussed on profits as they were selecting lodges that were offering special/lower rates to keep operating but charging you based on high/peak season prices. e. It was during this Evening at Serena Mbuzi Mawe Lodge that we overheard this American couple being very dissatisfied and we engaged with them to investigate. They had also arranged their trip with ROVE, with exactly the same requirements as us and they were also given this standard safari option including the same safari vehicle company. They had exactly the same complaint as us and insisted on going back to the Mara river the 2nd day, during which they took charge and informed the driver where to go and what the times were resulting in them actually witnessing a river crossing of approximately 12 minutes. f. It was now clear that this was ROVE’s modus operandi and that they did not care at all. There are so many people who have this dream that there will always be more business regardless of what we experienced and therefore there is no threat to business for them. g. On our return we drafted a lengthy detailed report (one should not need to waste your time like this) sent it to our SA Agent who in turn drafted her own complaint to ROVE. Both documents were sent to them to ensure they have the correct information. After many weeks (many excuses later) we received a response but it is clear that ROVE do not take this seriously and they were not taking any responsibility, always passing the blame to others. This left us no option but to submit this review to at least share our experience, hopefully it will assist others to realize their dream. VERY DISAPPOINTED - WORST EXPERIENCE AND HOLIDAY OF OUR LIVES SO FAR