It was a great holiday but here are a few tips of the pitfalls we had.
We arrived after the welcome meeting at the Panafric Hotel in Niarobi. The hotel staff said they did not know who Imag Traveller were & there was no info in our rooms as pre departure info stated. Hmmmm....what do we do? After chatting to various hotel staff members the door man eventually said they did know who to contact about our arrival and we finally met our tour leader at 11pm. At last a good night sleep was on the horizon.
Safari was great. The transport is not mini bus or landrover style but a big (I mean big) blue bus. You get bumped around a lot but game viewing was excellent & plenty of sapce to move around, kids to play cards & you did not feel on top of one another.
The drive back to Niarobi is 6-7 hours and gruelling. The most disappointing part of that day was not being able to enter the animal orphanage as there was a private viewing. Instead we were taken to a zoo!! How can you take people who have just spent several days on safari to a zoo to see caged frustrated animals. Need I say more?
Getting checked in at the Panafric then took over 2 hours with tired, hungry & somewaht upset customers after the zoo. Even gthough it was after 6pm the rooms were not ready. Still all is well that ends well!
The real upset came on arrival at the beach resort. Our bookings stated we were B&B not full board. The activities require you to have an assessment or lesson at a cost & most seemed to be away from the hotel complex & therefore motorised and charged for!
After contacting Imag-Trav in UK we were given a local contact tel no....local being Cape Town SA! Craig was great and with his help & my husband pestering hotel staff we were advised we were full board and that sailing/snorkelling/body boards were free for 1 hour each person each day. Don't be fooled by brochure where it sounds like there is endless free activity!
The hotel and staff at the Indian Ocean Hotel were excellent. They were always polite & helpful and lots of smiles & apologies. The pool and beach were great, the animation team fun but time keeping was not their forte.
As I said at first, the holiday was great. I just wanted to warn others of the problems we encountered & hope they have been sorted for forthcoming trips.
Hi Dr Nutting,
Thank you for your feedback on your recent Kenya Wildlife and Water tour. I'm glad you had a good trip and would like to thank you for your feedback - this is invaluable to us as a means of improving future trips. Sounds like you saw some fantastic wildlife!
I would just like to respond to the points you have raised:
As you arrived after the pre-departure meeting on day 1 of the tour we instructed the hotel to give you your welcome note with your room key, which unfortunately does not seem to have happened. The meeting point hotel that we use in Nairobi does not allow notices to be put up in reception so this is the best means we have of communicating with clients who arrive later in the evening. We have taken this up with the hotel for future departures.
It's great to hear that you enjoyed your time on the overland truck and found it spacious. Our family tours are always run in this type of vehicle, a custom built safari truck, which can seat up to 24 people and gives you great height for game viewing!
We are a little confused with your feedback about the orphanage. According to our tour leader you did visit the orphanage - these orphans have been rescued from the wild having lost their parents. They are kept there into adulthood, rather than being reintroduced into the wild. Perhaps this is why you say it felt more like a zoo?
We are sorry about the delay with check in at the Panafric Hotel when you returned to Nairobi - we have taken this up with them, as this kind of delay is unreasonable.
I'd also like to apologise on behalf of the Indian Ocean Resort - it was unfortunately their error on your group's booking that they had you booked you in on a bed and breakfast basis rather than full board. They also did not explain clearly enough to you about the activities that were included in your rate. It should have been explained to you that non-motorised activities are free - although you are required to take lessons in windsurfing before you can take a board out the first two lessons are free. Snorkelling on the reefs in front of the hotel is free but if you would like to travel further out on a boat to further reefs this is chargeable. We have asked the hotel to explain this more thoroughly to our clients in future. As you say Craig, our Operations Manager based in Cape Town, contacted the hotel and rectified the situation quickly for you. We do also have an office in Nairobi - contact details for this office and the Cape Town office are in our East Africa country dossier. It is great to hear that you enjoyed relaxing in the pool and on the lovely beaches!
Please do let me know if you have any further comments.
Once again, thank you very much for your feedback and we hope to see you travelling with Imaginative Traveller again soon!
Kate Hudson