25 Jun 2022
We booked this tour through TripAdvisor/Viator and paid prior to leaving for Africa.
Once we reached Victoria Falls, our guest house host reached out to the tour company to confirm pick up time and location. They said they didn't have any confirmation of our tour and no payment.
After back and forth with our host and our driver, they agreed to do the tour if we agreed to go to the office in town after to discuss the payment situation. They wanted to see proof that we had paid. We showed them our tripadvisor/viator receipt and our paypal receipt.
After seeing the proof of payment, the owner Nick, said his credit card on file with tripadvisor is expired and they have no way to get payment to him. Yet, the ability to prepay remains on the site even today.
Nick said he was not paid by tripadvisor and wanted us to pay him directly. We said we already paid and if we can get a refund from trip advisor then we would send him payment. We are still working on resolving this.
As far as the actual "walking safari"..... We were picked up at the border in an open safari vehicle with the "guide" inside the closed cab. We were driven to the rhinos and walked for about 30 seconds to get closer to the rhinos, take a photo and walk about 30 seconds back to the vehicle. The remainder of the tour we sat in open air with our "guide" speaking to us through a cab window. It was very difficult to hear him speaking.
I just don't understand how our experience can be so different than the other reveiws.