African Sky

Customer Reviews

• P

  PaulDunmore

  · October 6th, 2019
  I am an older person(60) and I thoroughly enjoyed this tour. I was worried about the camping as I did not want to share a tent. I had my own tent for the entire trip and the assembly and tear down was not an issue. Most of the people were younger as expected but I fit in well and the age diversity actually added to the experience. This trip allows you to experience the local culture more so than an upscale trip without sacrificing animal viewing capability. In fact I think we were advantaged in our ability to view animals in the Serengeti. The truck is slower than 4 wheel vehicles but more comfortable due to the ability to stand and move around. Our group was small so our leader did most of the cooking. Thanks !! We participated in the meals by way of cleanup and vegetable chopping. I am very grateful that the leader did most of this work. Check that your tour included admission to the gorillas and Serengeti and transpiration. The African Ski trip did include this cost but others had to pay extra. You will be visiting 5 countries. Convert only as much money as you think you will need in each country as the money changers take advantage of inter country conversions. US to local currency seems fair. Take advantage of local visits such as schools and towns. Buy something from the locals. It’s usually the lowest cost and they are very grateful for the support. The animal viewing, culture opportunities and group fun exceeded my expectations. Great life experience.
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  Absolute Africa commented on this review

  Thank you for your review, Paul, and great to hear that you have come away with great memories and experiences from your time in Africa. Some great tips there too! As we always say, age is just a number and if you are happy with the style of trip and... Show more
  
  Trip date: September 2019
• MM

  Margaret

  · January 24th, 2019
  For the price, the trip was amazing. We saw tons of wildlife, which was my main goal. Campsites were generally good although, as advertised, hot water was not always available. There was one hostel we stayed at that did not have showers and at times the guides did not speak English so it was hard to communicate. Also, the 4x4 we were put on for the Ngorongoro Crater tour was in disrepair — windows did not roll up and the guide was on the phone way too much with personal calls. Breakfast was toast and fruit about half the time and dinner was generally just okay. It would have been nice if the truck had a larger cooler for food. All in all, a great experience but definitely room for improvement.
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  Absolute Africa commented on this review

  Thank you for taking the time to leave your review, Margaret. We are glad to hear that you had a great time and saw all the wildlife you came to Africa to see on your trip. Our tours are affordable, camping safaris. Basic facilities are often the norm,... Show more
  Trip date: December 2018
• M

  Matt

  · December 11th, 2017
  The two of us (my wife and I age 32) were quite happy with the trip. The wildlife spotting was excellent and the people throughout Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda were amazing. As with any tour like this, the people you're with make a huge difference. We were lucky to have a really good group overall, but as always there will be some people you won't enjoy being around. Here are our tips or things we wish we had known ahead of time: 1) There will be very long days in the truck. Even though it's 7 hours to the destination, you might spend 4 hours in the truck leaving the park/wildlife spotting before your journey starts. So you're usually in the truck between 7 - 12 hours each day. 2) Find out what special excursion options are available before you leave as best you can because you'll need to organize it with the driver and guide in advance. Some may be helpful and anticipate it, but make sure they know what you want to do. 3) ATMs are few and far between, so make sure you get enough cash. Tanzania was more expensive than we expected relative to Kenya and Rwanda. 4) Our biggest disappointment in the trip was the gorilla trek from Kisoro. It was our most anticipated part of the trip, but unfortunately our tour guide 'checked out' and let the manager at the accommodation organize everything. We were looking forward to a 3-4 hour hike through the Bwindi forest to locate the gorillas but were never informed about how the day would go, what to expect or asked anything about fitness or expectations prior to getting into the transport at 6am the day of the trek. On the way there, the driver asked if we wanted a long or short trek in a very conversational way and each person in transport responded with their preference (3 long and 1 short). We had no idea how this would affect our day or that our responses were being used to plan our day. We felt it was him simply being curious. When we arrived at the meeting point, the drivers ended up organizing the groups from multiple accommodations and our driver put all 4 of us in the shortest trek of the day. We requested multiple times to join a couple that we had been traveling and planning our gorilla adventure with that was in the other transport vehicle from the accommodation, but they told us that it had all been decided and we could not change. The driver then spoke to the rangers and updated us with information saying that our two groups had about the same distance to walk (1-2 hours). We were satisfied with that and stopped trying to join the other group. After walking down an open dirt path for about 15 minutes outside the boundary of the forest, we found our gorilla group 10 meters into the forest. The gorillas were amazing and we really enjoyed our time with them. But for us, a major part of the adventure involved tracking the gorillas through the Bwindi forest. When we got back to our vehicle, we asked our driver if he could take the 3 of us that wanted a longer walk on a trail in the forest and he requested an additional $125 / person for a 45-minute walk. As it turned out, the other group went on a 4 hours trek. At that point, we realized that our driver simply told us what we wanted to hear so that we would shut up. For the most expensive and for most people the highlight of the trip, I really felt that the guide (and Absolute) did not take any responsibility or make any effort to ensure the Gorilla trek was the highlight most people want it to be.
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  Absolute Africa commented on this review

  Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We are glad to hear that you enjoyed the tour overall and particularly the wonderful wildlife for which Africa is so famous. The tips you have given are useful points and these we specifically outline... Show more
  Trip date: July 2017