We have had a great holiday in Costa Rica. Alex was really helpful with suggestions and answering queries in the planning stage, and the holiday went really smoothly with good support from the local agent Swiss travel. We used shared shuttles to get around for a tour from the Caribbean coast to the Pacific. All were efficient, though times can be longer than the estimates. Great wildlife and good hotels, well done Tribes!

Our driver on Safari (Adam) was outstanding! As was the Bluebay Beach resort.

This holiday will not be forgotten and we are already thinking when we might be able to go back.

Many thanks
🙏🏻

The company covers all aspects of your travel requirements plus a 24hr customer service hotline. I will use again & have recommended to fellow travellers & friends

The knowledge base of advisors having visited the country multiple times and experiencing different experiences allows them to promote the pros and cons of these to individual travellers. Alex was good at the important part of establishing our expectations and wishes so the itinerary worked well. All was very detailed setting out an agenda that made clear of what to expect, and what not to expect. It did not disappoint.

My fourth time using this knowledgable company to arrange a bespoke holiday for me. They listen to my requirements and find be exactly what I’m looking for! Thanks Tribes, Botswana was amazing. You delivered again!

Everything well organised, good communications. Very pleasant helpful staff.

Alex knew his stuff! We contacted Tribes and described to Alex what kind of holiday we like and the kind of things we prefer to do and are interested in. Alex quickly came up with the perfect bespoke itinerary! Alex had been to many of the places we were going to do was able to offer advice.
Our trip pretty much ran like clockwork and we were in good hands with the local guides.
Would definitely recommend tribes for a great personal service and great communication

We have just had the most incredible holiday for my husbands 60th Birthday we did safari and beach holiday combined tribes were amazing booking so easy they spend so much time getting it perfect for you it really is tailored to suit you , Christine was amazing can’t wait to book again !!

how wonderful the whole trip was

We would thoroughly recommend this holiday!

The initial booking and preparation of our Safari in Tanzania was efficient thanks to the diligent work of the very helpful representative, Vanessa Berry who was knowledgeable and thorough.
Our Safari experience was great, all the staff were very helpful and everything ran smoothly.
In particular our guide was exceptional, he was happy to share his extensive experience and knowledge to make our game drives memorable and rewarding. He looked after us really well, making sure our animal sightings were as good as they could be and his driving skills on difficult roads were amazing.
All of the accommodation booked lived up to our expectations. We would be happy to recommend Tribes to anyone wanting an authentic safari trip.

Great service from the start. Offered a number of options and always easy to contact my contact Andrew Chaundler.
Holiday went very well, all connections on time and hotel good.
I would have no hesitation in recommending Tribes to others.

All of the arrangements worked well including multiple pick-ups / taxis. We visited some amazing places in Costa Rica, and the majority of the inclusive wildlife guided tours were great. You proved the point that local guidance / expertise works best.

Please see below our comments on our recently completed trip.

Swiss Travel Transport was very reliable and punctual even though travel times were generally much longer, for example, Tamarindo to Finca Rosa Blanca was not 4-5 hours but 7 hours.

The guide for Tortuguero, the accommodation and catering at Everygreen Lodge is listed as 3 star and full board. All of this aspect of the trip was extremely poor and quite unacceptable. The cabin was infested with cockroaches, the walls were running with water/condensation, the bedding was damp and the food was of very poor quality and no better than food served as school dinners from the 1960's, served in a similar fashion. They tried to insist that we sit outside and therefore at the mercy of the mosquitoes, quite ridiculous.

Whilst we accept that the area has a high rainfall it would be reasonable for us to expect that the Guide would take us along the canals in a covered boat rather than the open boat in near monsoon conditions that we were subjected to with no offered protection until we were completely soaked with a couple of inches of water in the bottom of the boat. The Guide seemed to have little or no knowledge or any equipment other than the internet on his mobile phone to take us to locations where wildlife could be viewed. On the walking tour we were taken to another busy hotel to walk around its grounds to view the wildlife, not surprisingly there was none there. The sum total of wildlife seen was one crocodile and a few birds mainly spotted by other visitors in our party.

The Lomas del Volcan, also described as a 3 star property, was indeed to this standard. There was also high levels of humidity here but they provided dehumidifiers and air conditioning to counter this problem. The Guide at Sky Walk was knowledgable and considerate. Your description of the walk was 'non strenuous', this was far from true and caused me to have a medical episode. With the help from the Guides I was able to return to the base without the need for any medical emergency involvement but only completing less than half of the walk. The Sky Tram was enjoyable.

The Trapp Family Lodge in Monteverde was described as a 4 star hotel and should have provided a fridge in the room (as stated in your email of 11 July 2023) specifically for my medication. It did not have a fridge and we were told they do not provide fridges. This questions whether this was ever requested by Tribes. The breakfasts included with the accommodation was of an unbelievably poor quality, however the evening meal was satisfactory. The accommodation was dated and basic. The Guide for the Cloud Forest walk was excellent, well equipped, knowledgable and attentive. He knew where to look, he ensured that everyone in our party saw the birds and insects that he identified with his scope and enabled us to take photographs that where only possible through his skills.

Cala Luna at Taramindo is as described a 5 star hotel which was a true description apart from lacking sufficient sun beds.

Finca Rosa Blanca was a 4 star hotel and the staff were very friendly and knowledgable.

Our conclusion having completed this tour is that the information provided by Tribes was in many ways inaccurate, photographs of accommodation are particularly misleading, there appeared to be a lack of research at a local level regarding the standard of the hotels and you appear to have relied on what you could quite easily get from any guide book rather than the claimed specialist knowledge.

The service provided by Tribes did not, in our view, offer value for money and we are not inclined to recommend use of your services to others in future.

We will definitely use Tribes Travel again. They put together a fabulous four centre holiday for us in Costa Rica. All the hotels chosen were superb, the organisation of all transfers was spot on and the guided tours were fantastic. First class, highly recommended.

The holiday was very well organised, each move was seamless with no problems and and the itinerary was well planned. The only reason for giving 4 and not 5 stars was a walk up the lava flow at Arenal volcano which was exhausting for 2 people in their mid 70s.

Very helpful and responded quickly. Holiday was great.

Well chosen resorts and hotels based on our request. Swiss travel transfers were faultless. Always on time. Helpful friendly staff. My only criticism- staff in Tortuguero overloaded the boat, which got stuck on sand and flooded. All our suitcases were flooded and everything ruined.

We have used Tribes Travel 3 times now and this time for our trip to central and South America we were fortunate to deal with Andrew Chaundler. He was patient, knowledgeable, listened to what we were looking for and always friendly. The itinerary that he put together exceeded our expectations and everything worked seamlessly. We would not hesitate to use him and Tribes again for any future trip.

Had a fantastic holiday in Costa Rica all went very smoothly, organised by Tribes Travel.