WARNING: RORAIMA/ANGEL FALLS TREKS
I went with B_ckpacker Tours from Santa Elena on a Roraima Trek and everything turned out great, although the equipment wasn’t as good as certain travel books claimed. The tents were way too small for 2 people and the sleeping bags and mats were pretty worn out. I also paid $390 for an Angel Falls trek with B_ckpacker Tours as well and they sent me off to Ciudad Bolivar to a second party group called Gekko T_urs. What Gekko didn’t tell me is that they knew that the river to Angel Falls was dried up before my flight on January 2 to Canaima. According to many other travelers that I met, they were only telling parties that did not book the riverboat ride up so that they could sell additional Angel Falls over flights to those parties. Gekko did not tell the other travelers that I met with a tour to travel up river and an overnight stay at Angel Falls as not to alarm these parties or to give them a chance for cancellation. I did not find this out until the next day-3 hours after my flight arrived in Canaima that the riverboat ride to the falls was cancelled and we could not see the falls. In Canaima we were sent to a third party group called Kavac Tours, which told me personally that they contacted Gekko the day before our flights to let them know that the river was too dry and it was impossible for boats to pass. I spoke with the owner of B_ckpacker Tours and he would not offer a full refund. He did offer other options, but none of these were acceptable to me for the amount of money I paid. I wanted to return to Ciudad Bolivar immediatetly with a full refund due to the dishonesty. He said I would lose over half of the $390 because he would not refund the flights or any meals eaten if I wanted to return early. I said this was not acceptable due to the dishonestly of his affiliate Gekko T_urs. We eventually saw Angel Falls as the tour owners sent us on an over flight before returning to Ciudad Bolivar, but that is not what I paid for and I feel that Gekko T_urs was very dishonest and unethical in trying to hide the fact that they knew that the river was dry. B_ckpacker Tours can sell tours, but not guarantee the tour when something like this goes wrong with an unethical partner. When I returned to Gekko T_urs, I told a German guy working there that their company was unethical for hiding information and he started swearing at me and claimed he didn’t know that the river was low even though Kavac Tours told me that they called Gekko T_urs to let them know. The guide at Kavac Tours seemed very frusterated as it appeared that this was normal practice with the other two tour companies at this time of year when the rivers run low. I would hope that these companies could start dealing on a more professional level with their clients. Maybe owning a bunch of Landrovers, Land Cruisers, posh posadas, and profits are more important than decent customer service?
I recommend for anyone going on an Angel Falls tour:
Arrive in October when the falls have the most flow.
Go to Ciudad Bolivar and book your own flight to Canaima and use Kavac Tours in Canaima. This way you will bypass the first and second middleman tour operators that are dishonest and don’t guarantee what they sell. You will probably save a bunch of money too.
www.excursioneskavac.com.ve
