Camps International Reviews 66

I think the price is completely ridiculous, I was planning to go to Borneo with my school via this company but the total came up to over £5000 the expectation for 15-16 year olds to earn that much money is laughable and the simple fact that it would cost that much to go to a hotel rather than sleeping in a hammock. Because of this revelation I had I decided to cancel the trip and we were expecting a refund of £1000 as that's how much we had paid so far minus the deposit of £500, but we got nothing back because of the small detail on the website that there won't be refunds, fair enough we should have read it however it made no sense for us to not get a refund as when I cancelled back in August the flight hadn't been arranged, the days were going hadn't been arranged so obviously the expectation of getting our money back was there as nothing had been planned. The point is that this company is money greedy and are terrible planners

My daughter tried to commit suicide i wrote to this company and told them the situation they refused to refund any of the money I had paid despite multiple emails no passport details where provided yet they feel they can rob me of over a 1000 pounds also after noting that most of the the good reviews where from teachers and reading other bad reviews I would not recommend this company at all also as you can they replied to this review acting like the situation would be resolved still no resolution just more stress back and fourth message and am now contacting citizens advice do not use this company they will rob you

Awful company. Avoid like the plague. Customer service poor, all staff saying different things. Daughters fund raised and unfortunatly changed her mind due to family issues people wanted funds back, camps international said it had already been used to pay for the expedition. Point blank refused to consider exceptional circumstances. Have spoke to local MP and small claims court as feel this needs to be escalated as we are £1000 out of pocket.

It was honestly the best experience of my life the mix between travel days ,project days and just adventurers is the perfect amount you do so many different things. We got stuck in with the community but you also got to just chill with people you just wouldn't speak to and it's just amazing. I went to Cambodia and did SCUBA the instructors were kind and supportive. The people in the camps were always perfect and solved any problems you have. The one downside I found was the travel days because sometimes you can be on a coach for 6+ hours but you have adequate brakes, space and air con is there. If you are picky about food don't work because some days you will just eat rice but others you can try there traditional food. You may even try grasshopper or tarantula leg like me. This trip honestly changed me and I don't think I could ever forget it. It's the little things like inside jokes you get to have and at the end of a long project day playing netball in the pouring rain with no care in the world. If you can you must try to do this experience. 10/10 Wish I could go back and do it all over again!!

This is a money incentive, my child went on a trip to Costa Rica, in which there was poor leadership, the forced him and 3 other children to leave overnight for another camp, when we made it clear they should not leave, they were blamed for an incident when it was not their fault.

Leadership was poor.

3 children taken to hospital and parents not notified, all put on a drip and given medication. No contact home.

Food was terrible.

There was no fun on the trip, scuba diving was supposed to be 5 days, was only 3.

Management and leadership is poor, no 24/7 contact. No accountability
Leaders not qualified to manage children of the age

BE CAREFUL OF SENDING YOUR CHILDREN WITH CI, THERE ARE COUNTLESS OTHERS TO PICK

Cambodia -Great variety of project work and sightseeing. On visiting Cambodia there was a good balance and variety of project work to keep the young people engaged. We dug wells, built chicken coops, built a toilet, made paving slabs and laid them, did some bricklaying and made concrete pots to provide a water collection source for families. We engaged with school children, even being able to teach some English in the schools. During some downtime R and R we were in lovely hotels and experienced some of the history and culture of the country. We toured S21 and the killing fields, giving an insight to how things were and explored the ancient temples, amongst other things, like bartering in the local markets for those all important elephant pants and souvenirs. A very well balanced trip with interesting and useful projects.

My 15 year old son has just returned from a month in Kenya and whilst extremely difficult for me, he had an amazing time and worked so hard! Many of the negative reviews I’ve read are about not being able to get a refund should your child no longer be able/wish to go on the expedition…
1. You are made aware of this in the early stages of considering the trip and are offered 2 payment schedules. I opted for the deposit, 3 scheduled payments then the lump sum balance at the end, just in case my son backed out for any reason, the lump sum would’ve been saved.
2. Lack of contact/social media posts whilst away…
-Again, however hard it is, you are repeatedly told to accept a ‘no news is good news’ approach. Different teams are at different sites throughout their expeditions, they will have different signal opportunities and different power supplies. My son’s first week was spent in a camp with only a generator for power, so nobody charged their phones to more than 10% battery the whole time. Just because one team get 2 updates and another team get none doesn’t mean a great deal. It is frustrating, I as a parent was beside myself a lot of the time, but you are told this. I didn’t hear from my son for 3 weeks and didn’t hear his voice for a whole month! But I wouldn’t lodge a complaint with Camps about that, it was explained to us that that would be the case. I did pay for an Esim for him but that didn’t work…annoying but not Camps’ fault. It was extremely difficult as a parent but it wasn’t about me, this was my son’s experience and he had an unforgettable one. His expedition leader posted on instagram when he could and I know he focused more of his time on the students than posting on instagram, which I’m grateful for.

It’s not an easy ride but once their expeditions are complete, the pride you feel is incomparable.

Camps International provide once in a life time experiences and opportunities for students! The local community work is incredibly purposeful and rewarding. The trips also involve a huge amount of culture and adventure. I would recommend Camps International to anyone!

Great memories from Cambodia; very well-organised. An eye-opening experience that I will treasure for the rest of my life. Well worth the money.

Recently returned from Borneo and all I can say is that it was brilliant. Camps really look after everyone on the expedition, the in country staff were fantastic. The project work was meaningful and the engagement with the locals was magical. The adventure element of the jungle trek was great. The highlight was seeing the development of the students over the course of 4 weeks. They arrived as students but left as adventurers, conservationists and builders. They left lasting impressions on the local community and have made memories that will last a lifetime.

This was a great experience for our students. They learned so much about travelling safely in unknown territories, working hard as a group to help contribute a little to the communities we visited. They saw how difficult life is for so many Cambodian people and really wanted to make a difference.

I chose Camps International initially because they are professional and adopt a safety first approach - it means that we can focus on the students, their life-journey and their expedition-experience, confident that the rest is taken care of by the Camps team.
I choose to stay with Camps because the staff & leadership culture is so welcoming and so focussed on the students and teachers. Nothing is too difficult, everything is possible, and it’s the same Camps culture the world over.
The impact on the students is remarkable - simply life-changing.
On this recent expedition, we estimated that our student team had delivered around 1500 voluntary project days. That’s toilets for families that have never had one, fresh water pots so that families don’t have to collect water each day, meaning in turn that children can go to school, or simply enjoy playing. And it’s schools - we laid the foundations for one, and completed the walls and uprights for another whilst in the different regions of the host country. We also estimated that, of the funds we’d raised in order to go on the expedition, around US$240k went into the local economy - shared across communities through jobs and local supplies of food etc,
Having fun whilst changing lives, not bad for a summer holiday!
Thank you, Camps, for what you have done and most importantly for what you are going to do.

I think it’s about time I reveal how my school trip to Kenya went in 2017, which we were told to keep quiet about for various reasons. But why I’m sharing this now, is because I’d like a response from Camps International, especially regarding the ethical outcomes our trip supposedly had for the locals.

So to start off we arrived at Nairobi airport on the 17th November, which happened to be at the same time Raila Odinga, the leader of Kenya’s National Super Alliance (Nasa) also returned home from an overseas trip. My group of twenty 14, 15 and 16 year olds left the airport and was ushered quickly into mini buses. The urgency of the situation started to be realised and the panic set in. Supporters and protesters gathered around us awaiting Odinga’s arrival. As our buses pulled away down the Main Street leaving the airport, protesters started throwing rocks from the roadside at every vehicle leaving the airport. Water cannons attached to army tanks ahead and behind us were spraying them down, but rocks still smashed through car windows injuring the drivers and passengers around us. It was utterly surreal. I distinctly remember putting my face to the window looking out and a rock bounced right on the plexiglass window infront of my eyes. Thank god for the choice of bus window material that day, I wonder if this choice was intentional…

“Five people have been killed in Kenya's capital Nairobi as police broke up crowds of opposition supporters. At least two of the victims were shot dead, reports said, while others may have been stoned to death by a mob.” - this is the BBC report from that day.

So… health and safety wasn’t off to a great start, I’ll talk more about this later actually 😅 but I want to get into the real reason for my review: The “mission” for our trip was to help build a classroom for a school in Taita. We were told previous groups had built the building already and the group right before us had laid down the floor, however the floor “wasn’t level” so unfortunately our group had to break it down with pickaxes and make cement to then lay the new cement floor. I am deeply concerned this may have been an ongoing cycle of floor destroying and rebuilding with every new group of kids. My suspicions have arisen following a recent Vice interview with a girl who saw firsthand the events of her international school trip with an undisclosed company which had similar features. We also donated money, toys and school supplies just like her trip (did the money go to the kids and the community? tbf one of kid knicked my mates wallet so I doubt it. I’m happy that kid at least got something). And, just like her experience, we were also told to keep quiet about the events of the trip. The video is titled: “ the dark side of rich kids volunteering abroad” on YouTube.

Camps international please respond at least to this accusation and give me some closure so I know whether I should feel like I helped make a difference, or just paid for an experience.

Whilst i’m here wasting my time, instead of writing my dissertation, I might as well add the story of the teacher and the machete who later got fired.. potentially for this, although I never found out. So on the last day our group went on a safari, which was amazing and definitely a once in a life time opportunity. On the way back however, around about the time the sun was setting, our bus got stuck in the thick orange mud. After multiple attempts of every kid, teacher and guide trying to push the bus free, it remained stuck. As the light began to fade, the team called for support of 4x4 trucks. Naturally as kids would do, we started playing games to pass the time, playing tag and covering ourselves in mud as we were already covered from the waste down in mud from the upkicking tyre spins. Our teacher was provided with a machete … for our safety… to which he held it up to my friend whilst shouting to quit acting up. “I’m the one with the f****** machete” he shouted. Despite the obvious lack of professionalism, it was quite an effective strategy to make us stop doing dumb s***. Of course we were told never to repeat what he said and to never receal his roadman acting upon returning. Naturally this has no blame on camp international here, but worth a mention.

Sooo yeah, what a wild trip. There are many more stories that I have from this trip that are equally as absurd but brilliant memories. Back in 2017 my 15 year old self would have given this trip an easy 5 stars, but now looking back on it… wtf 😂 If anyone else had a similar experience let me know.

I am writing to formally raise a complaint regarding the upcoming four-week volunteering trip to Kenya, organised through my school in collaboration with Camps International.

I am one of only five students from my school who signed up and made a significant financial commitment to this trip, including the major payment instalment of £2,500. It is extremely disappointing that we were only informed after this payment was due that there would no longer be a teacher from our school accompanying us. This directly contradicts the guarantee made in your initial presentation, where you assured parents and students that under no circumstances would students travel without a teacher from their own school.

As the eldest participant in our group, with the others being only 16 years old, I am extremely concerned about our safety and well-being during this trip—especially considering the destination is a high-risk country and I suffer from anxiety. Had I been informed of this significant change before the payment deadline, I may have reconsidered my participation.

Furthermore, I am confused and frustrated as to why this same trip was able to accommodate a teacher from our school a few years ago with the same number of students (five), yet now we are told it is not possible. The offer of a 25% discount for a teacher’s ticket feels wholly inadequate given the circumstances, and raises serious concerns about how the funds we are paying are being allocated—especially if part of the student payments were initially intended to cover staff costs. There has been a complete lack of clarity or breakdown on where this significant sum of money is actually going.

In addition to this, there has been no support from Camps International regarding fundraising activities, no communication from your team (despite promises in your presentation of being approachable and responsive), and no effort to link us with the other school attending. This lack of professionalism and disregard for duty of care is both alarming and unacceptable.

My school has indicated that a refund may be possible, yet Camps International insists it is not, which leaves me in an extremely difficult position both emotionally and financially. This contradictory communication further undermines confidence in your organisation and leaves students and families feeling misled and unsupported

Before you are drawn in by their impressive claims, presentations, and glossy façade, beware. What they say before you pay your money may not actually be the whole story, or fully accurate.

Read their terms and conditions very carefully (all sections) which are tailored to safeguard them against as many foreseeable challenges as possible (financial and safety), and take heed of the very true reviews on here, whereby, once you have paid money to this company, it is almost impossible to receive any kind of refund.

The company is totally unregulated, even by the FCA, meaning if anything goes wrong, or a dispute arises, your only means of recovery is via civil proceedings. The company will claim they are regulated but this goes as far as simply the standard CAA and ABTA regulations associated with air travel, not the travel organisation or expedition.

Whilst the company suggests they take safety very seriously, from my experience of the company, this is questionable, with them having relevant T&Cs in place to legally safeguard themselves as opposed to the individual. Having reviewed pertinent (and somewhat retrospective) risk assessments, and having a background in risk management, my opinion would be that the risk assessments are poor, a paperwork exercise, with the company favouring 'dynamic (non recorded) risk assessments' instead. The company will reflect on historical situations where things 'didn't go wrong' as reassurance that it won't go wrong this time.

Unfortunately, from experience, this company does appear to put money before morals.

Absolutely disgusted. My child paid deposit and one installment, at the school meeting we were told we could be refunded 100% up untill a certain point (next year when around 30% of the cost had been paid and when the organisation would be booking flights and insurance) there is still over a year untill this trip and not even 10% of funds paid and yet my child has been told not entitled to a refund due to being 5 days past the full refund deadline. A total contradiction of what we were told I person. The dead line aparently was 12th December (trip not untill Aug 26) my child was in hospital that date (week) and I didn't not feel I needed to email them at that time and I could wait untill my child returned home. The money that's been paid so far has been kept for their own benefit as we were told in the meeting the flights insurance and costs don't get booked untill later next year. Not only does this leave us out of pocket of those 2 payments but also double that due to having to pay donors and sponsors back due to my child's health requiring him to step away from expedition with over a year till he was due to go.

From start to finish everything was well thought out and planned. We were made to feel welcome by all staff and that we had become part of the family. Loved my time in Borneo and can't wait to return.

Thank you Camps International for an adventure I will never forget. The attention to detail and organisation for this trip was second to none, from the fabulous food to the care taken to ensure all participants were comfortable at all times. The relationships Camps have with the communities they work with is inspirational and humbling, and their passion for the projects is contagious. A highlight for me was the jungle, a little nervous to start the expert guides soon alleviated any worries and I left feeling accomplished having set up my own hammock that kept me warm and dry, and in complete awe of the wildlife I saw. Thank you Camps I can’t wait to visit beautiful Borneo and it’s wonderful people again.

The Camps were generally good but the services offered by Camps International on days off were quite poor. We ended up being driven around the same town (on both our rest days) and taken to dodgy shops. One of the rest days was planned for a Sunday so everything was closed! The staff just seemed to be going through the motions and not really caring about the experience of the students.

There was also too much money being made on the side by Camps International Staff. At one camp on the coast they were charging students at the Camp more for coke and chocolate than the luxury beach resort on the other side of the bay. So I often took groups of students there to buy refreshments as they were cheaper.

At one camp the staff were drinking and partying with other random adults inside the camp. Some of our female students were heckled and made to feel very uncomfortable by some of the drunken men in the camp. Several of these men did not have ID badges and were clearly not supposed to be on site.

The driving safari, walking safari and the waterfall expedition were very good.

The work projects were not varied and my group spent over a week just mixing cement. This upset several of the students and this was made worse when we were not always provided with basic safety equipment - masks / eye protection etc.

The evening activities we were promised were very underwhelming and on several nights the staff were not around to even do them.

Overall it was OK but many things need to be improved.

My son took part in the Costa Rica trip in August 2024. Whilst it was a great experience for him on many fronts, I feel it important to share some of the not so good points about the trip:
- there was a lot of emphasis/ selling around the scuba diving, and we were led to believe the kids would scuba dive for a week. They actually dived two days!!!! Not quite the 7 days we were sold!!!
- this is definitely the wrong destination for a summer trip: it is the rain season, making the whole trip a little less pleasant
- there seemed to be a difference between the accommodation provided for the boys vs the girls. One of the camps they stayed at was so basic, I was horrified: no privacy for the toilets!!!
- the itinerary we were given suggested the kids would sample local dishes. I understand that the choices would be limited, but they seemed to eat for the whole four weeks was beans and rice. Surely given how much we paid for the trip, a little variety and genuine local dishes should have been provided!
- there was zero interactions with local kids from local schools. Again, great emphasis on this during the sales pitch…
- we feel a three week trip would have been sufficient