Our group of four people booked a self-drive for a route through different national parks in Tanzania.
It all started very nicely and the owners made the impression of being easy going as well as professional at the same time. We even had dinners in their home and personal conversation. We asked all questions that came to mind to be prepared for the trip as best as we can.
On our first route we had problems with the electricity in the car which started smoking. After also the ignition of the Landrover failed driving up hill, we somehow made our way to Migombani camp and Shaw Safaris sent their employee to repair the car the next morning. (In the end they said it was our fault, because we turned the key the wrong way.)
On the way into the serengeti the next problem with the engine cooling system appeared, because a pipe went loose and we were stranded on the side of the road. We were dependent on other drivers along the way to help us out to get the car running again. Shaw Safaris let us continue the trip after communicating over the phone.
When the car finally broke down several times on the way back to Ngorongoro a few days later on the same road, they at first refused to send an exchange car for us.
To sum this up: One day receiving help from others was allowed, but when the car could not drive anymore when leaving serengeti, it was blamed on us, because we had mechanics do the repair who we thought were sent out by Shaw Safaris, but only found out when "the real" mechanics appeared at the scene, who made an even less professional impression.
It was all a big mess and very complicated to solve the issue. By calling our german travelling agency African Dream Tours, we negotiated a meeting to get an exchange car.
We finally finished our route to Tarangire and back to Arusha Airport to give back the exchange car and fly to Zanzibar.
Instead of receiving a partial refund for all the trouble - we had to make a payment to get our luggage back from the employees car and to be able to catch our flight. The owners did not appear to sort everything out, even though the car return took place in Arusha. Again, phone calls and whatsapp messages were exchanged, but under the pressure we payd to not miss our flight.
In our view the Landrover was not fit to go in the first place and Shaw Safaris tried to pin it on us.
Aside from all the complicated communication during our trip to find ways to stay mobile and somehow stick to our travel schedule, we wrote lots of emails and letters afterwards to explain what happened and to prove that we handled everything as responsible as we could, we wrote down all things both cars were lacking in terms of safety (that we noticed while driving) and showed our disappointment. In their answers they rewrote the story in their own favour, said we did not look carefully enough when taking over the cars, and wanted to charge us more money for all repair that we never saw any reliable proof of being done.
I did not yet mention that one camp site we booked was not even existing anymore and we had to set up camp in an undesignated area in the serengeti. We could not reach anyone over the phone on this day and it was too late to find another campsite on our own.
I must say: In the end our safari turned out to be a nightmare for us and also the german agency stepped back from negotiating and let us know it was our fault.
I did not expect a wellness trip on which everything works out perfectly, but the stress and fear we faced was just too much and above and beyond to be called an "adventure".
Some drivers on the way told us, Landrovers are good cars, but these are too old. When looking at the latest reviews on google I see Shaw Safari gives out Toyotas now.
It all happened in October 2023 and almost one year later I'm still angry and sad.
Overall I can NOT recommend travelling with Shaw Safaris as well as African dream Tours, the...
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