Private Nairobi Park & Sheldrick or Giraffe -Half Day Tour

Scammed in Nairobi National Wildlife Refuge

I think it is only fair to tell you that my husband and our family have been choosing VIATOR for our traveling experiences for about ten years! We have always been pleased, until this time. We were scammed from the moment we were picked up for our tour at Nairobi National Wildlife Refuge. The guide, James, called me to tell me Stephen would be picking the four of us instead of him. When Stephen came in a run-down, torn up seats, Matutu, instead of what was pictured in your ads, I knew something was wrong. When we arrived at a littered parking lot outside the park, we met James, who then told us we had the opportunity to upgrade to a lovely Landcrusier (complete with roll up sides) as pictured in the ad I signed up for. The fee would be $20 US dollars per person and they were adding two additional strangers to our “private tour”. Once on the Landcruiser, we began our drive into the park. We stopped at the gate to pay our non-citizen fee $89 US dollars per person, to enter the Park. Our tour was to include a 3-4 hour tour of park, and then to stop at the Giraffe Centre. The park tour was amazing, and James was mentoring Stephen to become a tour guide. James was able to stop at key locations and we saw lions, leopard, Giselles, ostriches, warthogs, zebra, impala, hippopotamus, giraffes, water buffalo, and more. However, as soon as our park tour was over, we asked to be able to shop in the Gift Shop at the park. He agreed, but said he first had to take us to a special stop at a Masai Market! It was outside of the park and NOT part of our tour. We arrived as musicians played music and were lured inside a huge market and encouraged to find something where the clerks would give us a good discount. When the four of us and the two strangers said they didn’t need anything, we all stood outside by the truck. The owner came out to ask us if there was something he could do for us. We said we’d like to go. James/Stephen drove us to the Giraffe Centre. There we were told we each again had to pay $20 US dollars per person. I was angry at this point, having lost a half hour at the Masai market. James demanded that we go back to the gift shop, however, we were out of time and I told him we couldn’t go anymore! He took us back to the rickety matutu that we came in and Stephen drove us back to our hotel. James had the audacity to ask us to leave him a good review on Google or on Viator. We all just chuckled and said goodbye. He may have gotten an excellent tip, had he and Stephen not scammed us from the get go. This is my third trip to Kenya, and I’m very aware of the corruption in this country and in Nairobi, however, Viator is a known and trusted company! I hadn’t planned on being scammed by your company! James assured me that YOU, Viator, take 20% of their sales, so they have to make a living. I scoffed at him and told him that he was NOT up front and that he scammed us. My friends, all US citizens, all agreed that Viator should know about this. The other two strangers in our tour told us that they are from Nairobi. They thought it was also unfair to make us upgrade to a nicer vehicle, and to take us to the Masai market without permission! We will NOT book another tour with Viator in Kenya. This is the biggest joke of all trips I’ve ever taken! Shame on them, and shame on you! Please do something so that more tourists aren’t scammed! You have been notified! Julie Gamm, Deb Burich, Aimee Euhbank, Mark Dougherty

Response from the operator: We are greatly disappointed by Julie's dishonest review having put our best 👌 foot down and ensuring that her group experienced a memorable safari during a very difficult flooding season in Nairobi and East Africa. REASONS 1)Julie booked our discounted Nairobi park- Sheldrik or Giraffe centre package @159 usd (per group) and NOT the Executive 4X4 Open game viewer landcruiser @260 usd 2) The 159usd package is based on either of our standard open roof tour vans and NOT the Executive open game viewer 4X4 Landcruiser as she falsely claims (but which we generously offered them) 3) The standard open roof tour van that picked and dropped them is NOT and have NEVER been a matatu 4) The standard open roof tour van has 9 tour standard seats with canvas seat covers as its common practice in the industry 5) The seat covers are NOT torn as she alleges 6) The open roof tour van is anualy duly inspected by the National transport and regulatory authority and issued with a sticker (NTSA Sticker) 7) The tour van has a tour comprehensive insurance policy and a sticker(insurance Sticker) 8) The tour van is duly licensed by the Tourism regulatory authority and issued with a Sticker (TRA Sticker) 9)Julie's signed package has "INCLUDED LIST" which clearly shows that entry ticket for the three attractions are not included and which all our guests easily buys at the respective entry gates from their respective management with the assistance of our guides * The total entry tickets for Julie's group of four was 488 usd against 159 usd package which she claims included their entry tickets???? 10) We appreciate Julie's self defeating acknowledgement that the park Safari was Amazing. They experienced Flora and Fauna, from Lions , numerous rhinos, giraffes, zebras, buffalos, impalas etc , numerous birds species, reptiles and the park vegetation in a memorable safari experience. (Apart from the entry tickets ) *The giraffe centre experience was also amazing 👌 as they aknowleded while being guided and helped with videos and photos (apart from the entry tickets ) * She self defeats her own false allegations by acknowledging that they tipped but again claims being scammed by the same guide they later tipped ??? *A humble question: How, why and where on earth 🌎 would you be scammed and go ahead to tip the same people who have just scammed you ???? MY CONCLUSION Julie is dishonest, selfish and careless After an after thought she probably under some influence or motivation refused to review the inclusions and the tour details on her signed up package, instead she maliciously accuses us notwithstanding the Great safari experience we offered them and have been offering all our guests leading to great reviews on our Viator and trip advisor profile. She had sighted a negative review from a would be guest (Philipo) who never booked any of our packages ( her motivation) We humbly request the Viator team to strick out Julie's false and malicious allegations which were motivated by a would be solo guest (Philipo) who NEVER booked any of our packages on Viator but went ahead to try and turnish our good image. We invite Viator team to review our inclusions on the subject package( very popular)to ascertain the truth. Regards

via Viator

Nairobi National Park & Sheldrick Tour

Was an excellent tour of Nairobi National Park. Lots of Rhinos and Giraffes, got to see Lions and lots of other animals. They were able to pre-book entry to Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, this too was an excellent experience.

via Viator

Amazing experience

We would like to sincerely thank our guide VICTOR for providing us with an unforgettable experience during the tour. His knowledge, passion, and kindness made every moment interesting and enriching. We greatly appreciate his dedication, patience, and the way he enthusiastically answered all our questions. Thank you for making this trip so special! We will definitely recommend you to all our friends and look forward to another adventure guided by you again.” Thank you for taking amazing photos of us.

via Tripadvisor

Great times NNP & Sheldrick.

I would have given 5 stars but for an important thing. My wife and I chose the private NNP and Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, but no one, either from Jimfire or Viator told us that we have to arrange advance tickets to Sheldrick. Imagine our surprise when on the days of the tour our driver, Victor, asked if we already got the advance entry ticket. Victor told us it would be hard to get same-day tickets but we could try when we got there. So we began our early morning drive to NNP. The experience at NNP was super great. Victor was knowledgeable as he imparted interesting facts about the animals we saw. Near the end of the tour, as we're driving to Sheldrick, we met James from Jimfire. He greeted us and told us he managed to get a couple of tickets for Sheldrick from a scalper, so it cost us USD 5 more per person. In the end, we had a lovely day at both NNP and Sheldrick. We would recommend this tour to anyone -- just double-check everything to ensure smooth operation. Thanks Victor & James.

via Tripadvisor

Exceptional Safari – Highly Recommended!

We had an unforgettable experience during our safari in Amboseli and the National Park. Everything was perfectly organized. A huge thank you to Victor, our super driver, for his deep knowledge of the parks and his exceptional kindness that made our journey truly memorable. We are also very grateful to James, without whom this excursion would not have been possible. We highly recommend this private safari to anyone looking for a unique and authentic adventure.

via Tripadvisor