65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Cannot Be Trusted At All
If you are seriously considering booking any tour with Madagascar Natural Tours, I would strongly recommend that you read this review before you do so.
We booked a 15-day birdwatching tour with Madagascar Natural Tours and started the booking process 9 months in advance.
On the Madagascar Natural Tours website, it showed all of what we were promised would be included in our tour, and Harilala,who is the owner of Madagascar Natural tours, confirmed all of the details.
However virtually every significant aspect of our tour that was promised to us was not provided to us,
We were promised and paid for a 15-day tour but we received only a 13- day tour. We had booked our flights to Madagascar about 6 months before our tour was scheduled to start. Then,one day prior to our scheduled flight to Madagascar, we received an urgent email stating that our flight had been canceled for safety reasons because of civil unrest and violent protests that were taking place in Madagascar. The airline also stated that they were not sure when they would resume flights. I contacted Harilala about this, and he assured me that it was still safe to come to Madagascar for our tour because we were not going to be in the places where the violent protests were taking place. I told him that most airlines had stopped flying to Madagascar and that the government of Madagascar had instituted night-time curfews so that only flights arriving in daytime hours could still land in Madagascar. I told him that I would look to see if there was any way we could still find a flight to Madagascar. Harilala told me to let him know if we could find a suitable flight and then he would try to change the hotel arrangements to reflect the new dates of arrival at each hotel. We were able to find a flight onEthiopian Airlines that would arrive a day and a half later than our original arrival flight and would arrive in the late afternoon. I gave this information to Harilala and he said he would check with all the hotels to make the changes necessary because our tour would be starting on a later date that was originally planned. I checked with Harilala on the following day and he told me that he had successfully changed all the booking dates for all of the hotels for all 15 days of our tour.
Then when we arrived at the Madagascar airport, we were met by someone who worked for Harilala and rushed to a vehicle, Then Harilala showed up briefly to introduce us to a driver who did not speak English and also to a supposed “full-time qualified birding guide”about whom Harilala told us was not really a birding guide, but that he would be with us anyway.Harilala then told us he had something else to do and ran off.
We then discovered that Harilala had not rescheduled any of our itinerary and hotel arrangements like he had told us he had done. He had decided on his own, without telling us or providing any explanation, that we were now starting on Day 3 of our tour itinerary instead of Day 1of our itinerary, Harilala had unilaterally eliminated the first 2 days of our 15-day tour without any advance notice or explanation, and without any recourse. This resulted in him taking away 2 days of our tour during which we would no longer have the opportunity to see the cultural and scenery sights, the birds and other wildlife that we had wanted to see.
We had been promised a comfortable airconditioned 4X4 vehicle for our tour, but what we got on our first day there was a beat-up van with a non-working air conditioner. When we complained about this, we were told that we would get the vehicle we had been promised in another 3 or 4 days. But the vehicle Harilala provided 4 days later was another older van (not a 4x4) which at least had a working air conditioner.
We were promised a full-time qualified birding guide that would be with us throughout our tour, but all we were given was a person who admittedly knew nothing about birds (who provided absolutely no relevant information regarding birds) and was with us for only the first 3 days days of our tour, After those first 3 days, we had no birding guide at all and had only a driver with us for the remainder of our tour. Considering that our tour promised that we would be stopping and trying to see birds as we traveled along from destination to destination, by not having a full-time qualified birding guide with us meant that we would miss out on seeing many species of birds that we should have seen, Keep in mind that Harilala had 9 full months from the time that we first paid a deposit for this tour to find and assign a qualified full-time birding guide to accompany us on this tour but he failed to do so.
We were promised that we would also have qualified local birding guides provided to us on 11 of the days of our tour, but the local guides that were provided were certainly not qualified to be birding guides. Except for 2 of them, the local birding guides that were chosen for us did not own or use binoculars. We have never met or heard of any legitimately qualified birding guide that did not own or use binoculars. Most of the local guides provided did not know the English names of the birds and had to repeatedly try looking up the names of the birds. They mis-identified the birds dozens of times. Two of the local guides did not speak understandable English. Incredibly, one of the local guides blatantly stated that he would not speak to us unless we bought lunch for him.
We were promised in our itinerary that all dinners and all breakfasts would be included in the price of our tour, but on 3 occasions when we checked in to our lodge or hotel, we were told that there was no record of these meals being included. On all 3 of these occasions, we had to ask them to contact Harilala to correct this so that our promised meals would be included. At the last hotel where we stayed, our reservation also had no record of meals being included. When they contacted Harilala about this, we were told by the hotel representative that Harilala deliberately chose the option where breakfast would be provided for only one of us, telling the hotel representative that the 2 of us could split the one breakfast. .
If you look at tour reports from other legitimate birding companies that offer birding tours in Madagascar that have followed the same itinerary as we did on our tour, you will find that a typical 2-week birding tour will result in seeing between 150-200 different bird species. On our tour, we only saw 102 different species. And the reason for that is because Hrilala, in addition to eliminating 2 days of our tour, failed to provide all the key elements that were promised to us, including a full-time qualified birding guide and truly qualified local birding guides.
Obviously, we tried again and again to contact Harilala about this. We made multiple telephone calls to Harilala, but he only answered one of them,and in that call ,he lied about many things. We sent many WhatsApp texts to him that were usually completely ignored, and if they were eventually answered, they were also full of lies and nonsensical explanations. For the last 3 days that we were in Madagascar, we repeatedly asked Harilala to meet with us in person to discuss what had transpired on our tour. He agreed to do so, and then on each of the next 3 days, he made us some excuse why he could show up.
Right after we returned home, we sent a detailed message to him explaining all the things that went wrong on our birding tour because of his failure to provide all that he had promised.We also requested a refund to make make up for the 2 days that he had eliminated form our tour and for not providing the full-time qualified birding guide that had been promised. Harilala said he would soon provide a response to this, and despite multiple further contacts with him over these last few months, he has never replied.
What makes this situation even worse is that Harilala could have warned us or told us in advance about these significant issues, but he never did. Harilala could have asked us if what he was doing would be acceptable, but he never did. Harilal could have offered us an explanation of why he made the choices he did about cutting short our tour and why the promised birding guides were not given to us, but he never did Harilala could have apologized to us for all these things, but he never did. Harilalla could have offered compensation or a refund for not providing what we had paid for, but he never did.
PLEASE BE WARNED: I would expect Harilala to respond to this review, and I expect that whatever he says will be the same kind of lies and fabrications that he has given to us. I believe that Hartilala is essentially a dishonest conman whose only goal is to make all the promises that you want to hear, then takes your money, and then fails to provide virtually anything that he promised,,
We would strongly suggest that you avoid booking any tour with Madagascar Natural Tours. There are many other tour providers in Madagascar that are honest and ethical and will deliver everything that they promise. Use one of them.
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
This tour operator cannot be trusted!
I had travelled 6 times with Right Choice since 2021 and always had exceptional service. However, on our trip in November 2025, my companion was asked by the owner if she would pay for Amboseli park fees as he had been unwell and it was Sunday! As I trusted him completely, I assured her that he would pay her back the following day as he promised. This did not happen! No reimbursement has been forthcoming and my companion is owed the equivalent of £490. Also, we had paid for 3 internal flights but only 1 materialised. Two were "unavailable" so we had to travel by road. We are now owed refunds for the flights we didn't have but, unsurprisingly after our experience with the park fees, no money has been received and now our emails are being ignored. What shabby treatment of a loyal regular client by retaining a significant sum of money to which Right Choice's owner is not entitled.
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IL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Worst experience I've ever had with a tour operator
I traveled with John in August 2025 on a classic eight-day safari trip.
The trip involved serious organizational failures, but most importantly, I am still waiting – five months later – for the return of several thousand dollars that were paid twice and never refunded.
This was neither my first nor my second time in Tanzania, and I am very familiar with how such trips are supposed to be run. At first, John made a pleasant impression and responded quickly to messages, which is why I chose to hire his services. However, already at the very beginning of the trip, he made an utterly unreasonable number of mistakes – mistakes that should not happen even over ten trips. He failed to book some of the hotels, made pricing errors, booked the wrong room types, booked different hotels than those we had agreed upon, and even got reservation dates wrong.
Throughout the entire trip, there was a constant feeling of a complete lack of transparency, as if John was repeatedly trying to mislead me. Even when he came to my hotel in person to try to resolve the issues, it did not help, and the situation only became more frustrating.
All of this is very serious, but the most troubling issue occurred when John asked me to pay again for flights from the Serengeti to Zanzibar – an amount of roughly $3,000 – even though I had already paid him for these flights in advance. He claimed that his bank was giving him problems and promised that the money would be returned to me within a few days.
Five months have now passed. During this entire time, John has not denied that he owes me the money. Instead, he repeatedly promises – almost every week – that he will return it, only to postpone or disappear at the moment he is supposed to pay. This is not a financial dispute or disagreement over services; it is a case of money that was clearly paid twice and never returned.
I waited until now in the hope that the issue would be resolved and deliberately refrained from writing a review, despite the fact that the overall experience alone justified a negative one. Unfortunately, I have now given up and am publishing this review.
I am currently considering filing a formal complaint against John with the relevant authorities so that his license can be revoked.
Anyone reading this review who has made it this far – I strongly recommend staying away from John and not booking anything through him.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Avoid
I relied on the operator for a horse safari in Arusha National Park. Unfortunately, the operator did not take any step towards actually organising it. On the day, there were no horses ready for us. The operator insisted we would have to pay a high additional amount for the horses, despite all fees and transportations being explicitely included in the bill we already paid. After suggesting to substitute the horse safari with a walking safari, he as well asked us to bear the extra costs of the walking permit, despite the fees being covered by the tour proposal and the disaster with the horses. In all of this, the operator maintaned an extremely unapologetic and at times aggressive attitude, which felt very out of place considering the terrible organisation. AVOID
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Completely dishonest tour - took our money and canceled 1 day before flight began
I recommend you avoid Dream Africa tours at all costs. They are very thorough and precise in building trust. I booked a tour with them, they were kind and responsive and we had written agreements in place stating they would fully refund the tour if for whatever reason it didn’t happen.
Then, less than 48 hours before we boarded our international flight to Kenya, they sent an email saying they needed to cancel, without any reason disclosed. When we pressed for information and for a refund, they said they were in a dispute with the Kenyan tax department, and they would refund 100% of the money by November 1 2025 at the latest.
Instead, they have stopped responding to us, we’ve confirmed independently that there is no record of any tax dispute with the company, and they are launching new tour offerings across platforms.
Please avoid Dream Africa tours, as they are targeting international travelers while still not refunding any of the thousands of dollars they took from us.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Poor Service
We have traveled to many countries around the world, and we have never experienced service this disappointing from a tour company. This was one of our worst travel experiences. I am extremely disappointed and regret choosing this company over others based on the reviews we read.
From our perspective, the focus seemed to be on receiving full payment two weeks before the trip. After payment, communication felt insufficient to us. We had to make several calls just to confirm details for the first day, and after the tour started, we personally felt there was no meaningful follow-up to check whether everything was going well or if we had any concerns. We only heard from the company again after the program had already ended.
The meals that were included were not what we expected. Breakfast and dinner appeared to be pre-prepared, and we were uncomfortable with how dinner was being handled by the guide/driver. Because of this, we chose not to eat the provided meals and instead paid for our own breakfasts and dinners. No one from the company followed up with us to ask why we had refused the meals.
Overall, we felt that the quality of the experience did not match the price we paid. In our opinion, we were charged at a premium level but received a much lower standard of service. Because of this experience, when friends asked us for advice about booking a safari this year, we advised them to look elsewhere.
The only positive aspect of the safari for us was the guide, Daison, who was very helpful and supportive during the trip.
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Dishonest company
You risk ruining a lifetime trip to Kenya and thousands of dollars if you book your trip with Mwanje at Image Travel. We paid him over 14000 usd for a fly in fly out trip to Amboselli and Sand River. Everything seems fine at first, good communication and very informative until we made the final payment. After that, communication became bare minimum. We were already in Nairobi before he finally informed us of our bush flights. That was the only thing he paid for out of the 14000 usd. The two accommodations were not paid prior to our check-in and either were the park fees. Communications with him by the hotel staff and us were unresponsive. In order to leave, we had to pay the hotel over again. I was in tears practically the whole trip. But the kindness of the Kenyans at the hotels were amazing. Even without confirmation of payment, they still took us on game drives outside of the parks. I will never forget their generosity. They are wonderful people and Mwanje is not fit to be among them. He is a thief. We reported all to the tourism police and tourist associations. We sent several communications requesting refund to no avail. We are still following up with authorities. So so many good travel agents to Kenya. Be wise and choose a different one or risk your vacation.
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very disappointing. Not recommended.
Never saw the Serengeti despite having paid for it and being scheduled. Unfortunately, it was New Year's Eve and the guides were in a rush to celebrate. The facilities were inadequate, and in the end, they even stole our luggage. The worst of the worst.
(automatic translation from Italian)
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good communication
Unable to review for 2026 trip
We place a booking with this company about 18 months from intended travel. Told that deposit would be held in trust till Dec 2025 and refundable.
Booking contracts were submitted.
Carefully read section on NON REFURDABLE deposit.
Unfortunately we had to cancel approximately 11months from trip because of extreme medical issue and the person has in fact passed.
The booking was for group of 5. Almost $10000 was kept. A limited amount was refunded.
However, they stated that they needed to cover fees for cancelled land content. I check the Web site of accommodation and several had a no cancellation fee this far from stay.
When asked for proof of cost they refused to justify this extreme amount.
Yes they need to be paid for preparation of tour, believe this to be extreme.
Travel insurance not taken out at time because of being more than 12 months from trip and told to take out insurance once flights were booked.
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Horrible, be careful, it doesn't deliver the service you pay for.
Be careful, they don't provide the services you pay for. The conditions we paid for were not what they offered us once we were there. The water service, supposedly free, was a lie; they made us pay for it after the experience was over. The vehicle for the safari was completely different from the one you see in the pictures before we paid for the safari (the condition of the vehicle left much to be desired, and the one we booked was closed on the sides and open on top, and at no point did they provide us with what we paid for). You pay for a guide, and in our case, he didn't speak to us at all during the entire trip, nor did he offer us water all day (when, in theory, you're paying for a guide and for water during the trip). The only time he spoke to us more fluently was at the end of the safari to tell us his name and show us a QR code to rate him, in an aggressive way, as if we absolutely had to give him a good rating. On our first day visiting the Maasai village, we waited for over an hour, and when we finally arrived, they didn't even apologize. The food service was very poor; when we arrived for lunch, we were given a sandwich... They always under-served us. And they offered no solution. We want to claim a refund, but they haven't responded to any of our messages. We will not recommend Kihindo Tours to anyone we know.
