We recently took South Africa - Kenya with Victoria Falls tour with my family from 21st Oct till 3rd Nov 2023.
I would like to highlight the non-professional attitude and In-efficiency of your tour guide Mr Santosh Munde.
A) Day 1 we reach the Airport and we see Santosh at the check-in counter. After that he is not traceable till the boarding is announced for the flight. NO INTERACTION with the guests and he was no-where to be seen. This behaviour continued throughout the tour.
We landed at Nairobi and Santosh said "aapko ek hi bag le jana hai extra luggage separate kar dijiye it will go to hotel.
When the guests said - : aapko pehle batana chahiye that he said I had called.
On checking with each other we found he had called only 3 /4 families regarding this. WE DEFINITELY DID NOT GET ANY CALL.
In-fact when I called SNATOSH a couple of times before starting from Delhi, he did not take my calls nor reverted ......there was no response from him, so I finally called up our OLD KESARI TOUR GUIDE (HITESH) -who helped us connect with Santosh - AMAZING ISN'T IT, how the image of KESARI TOURS is being played with.
Santosh also had the audacity to share with me during our conversation- Madam main kisi client/customer ka phone nahi uthata .....dekho (he showed his calls) main sirf company ke calls attend karta hoon- Well done!
Santosh made no efforts to introduce the guests to each other THROUGHOUT THE TRIP.
B) At every Airport when we landed he announced there is NO TROLLEY AVAILABLE, pls carry your own luggage. The average age group was 60 Plus. I was always able to locate a trolley at every Airport and was able to guide others to get one.
Is he handling the South Africa Kenya tour for the first time? Does he not know where the facilities are kept or parked??
C) He lacks manners and has no people skills and is extremely bad at handling people and queries. He was rough with my father when he enquired about the daily water needs- his response was quote" ismein main kuch nahi kar sakta aapko pehle se pata hona chahiye" Unquote .....REALLY?? We are suppose to know things beforehand? Then why do we need such guides?
He is insensitive and also expresses displeasure by making a dirty face at you!!
D) We reach a hotel in Victoria Falls, we disembark from the bus, have some welcome drinks and give our passport to Santosh for room allocation ......AFTER 15 Minutes, we get to know WE HAVE LANDED AT THE WRONG HOTEL !
E) On day 4 (When we visited Victoria Falls) we completed our walk and were doing local shopping ....he kept driving us away from the local shops and kept saying there will be plenty roadside shops ......we had no other agenda lined up it was only checking out from 1 hotel and check-in at other. We reached back and stayed in our rooms for 2 hrs before checkout....I THINK HE WANTED TO REST so the guests were not his priority. And in all the other days, we never found a local shop to purchase souvenirs. All he did was take us to MALLS where we could possibly not buy much....at Nelson Mandela Square (Johannesburg) when the guests complained...HE STARTED LAUGHING - Madam bas ab yahi hai.....jo bi lena hai idhar se hi purchase kar lo.
F) He was only comfortable talking to some guests who were not asking questions/or had any queries.
We finally saw the SYMBOLIC Kesari Flag/ Placard on the 8th Day of our Tour when he wanted to click THE GROUP PICTURE.
HE VERY SMARTLY MANIPULATED PEOPLE INTO GIVING GOOD AND POLITE FEEDBACK ABOUT HIM & TRIP OVER THE VIDEOS HE MADE....including my parents (Senior Citizens, always polite and very forgiving)
YOU MAY CHECK ALL THE FACTS ABOVE WITH OTHER PASSENGERS AS WELL....The Rao's, Desai's and others who travelled with us.
I have travelled with your organisation since 2015 and I'm saddened to say this was my worst experience I had till now, as a good Samaritan, been singing praises about KESARI TOURS, I will never in future take anymore trips with your organisation and will not recommend any of my friends and relatives to take your services.
