Bamboo Rafting and Monkey Cave with ATV Jungle from Phuket

We were shocked that this trip has had good reviews, as for us it's by far the worst excursion during our 2 week stay in Phuket. We selected the trip based upon previous customers reviews. It was advertised as a 7am pick up, but we got an email from the tour operator midday before the trip, advising that the pick up time had now changed to 8-8.15am. We were ready and waiting in the hotel lobby since 8am, at 8.15am we received a call and messages via what's app advising that the transfer was 'held up in traffic'!!?? It was now delayed until 8.30-8.40am. Finally it arrived at 8.45am. The van had insufficient air conditioning and was smelly and hot, the driver insisted on taking photos of us before we were permitted to board despite us having tickets. We feel there was a lack of information in general about the trip, such as the location and transfer times, we hadn't realised it was in Phang Nga and not on Phuket. The 'Tour guide' wasn't great at all, she didn't explain anything very well or properly tell us what was happening. Our group was mixed with those who had booked the zip wire and water rafting. If we had known this we would not have booked as it negatively impacted on our time and we didn't get sufficient time in the areas we wanted to do, frustratingly, we just sat around waiting for everyone else to complete their activities. Bamboo rafting was 'okay', but it only lasts about 10mins and covers quite a short distance, the terrapin and tortoise area is a joke. We were dropped off first to do this experience whilst the rest of the group swapped into another vehicle and continued to the area to do their water rafting. After our 10min bamboo rafting experience had finished, we were driven to the same destination to find out that they hadn't even begun their water rafting, we were told we could 'explore' the waterfall, which was beyond disappointing, tiny and nothing exciting!! - we then had to wait around here for a while to kill time. When we got back the group were only just leaving for their trip and the tour guide was trying to get us to buy water rafting tickets to join them. This is not what we wanted, nor were we interested in doing, otherwise we would have booked a different trip to what we believed we were booking. We were allowed to eat lunch whilst we waited for them to finish their activity and were told it would be another 45mins before they would be back and that we would need to wait for them then to have their time at the waterfall and lunch. It then transpired that they also had the zip wire to do and the tour guide again asked if we wanted to get tickets to do it - We didn't and spent 2 hours waiting around for the other group to finish their activites so that we could finally move on. Lunch was underwhelming, just water (not bottled) or coffee offered. Options were plain rice, plain pad Thai with chopped up omelette, vegetable stir fry, deep fried sweet potatoes, onion rings and something green, spaghetti and a tomato sauce. Chicken drumsticks was the only meat on offer and this was being guarded by one of the ladies, they were not left on the side and were rationed to one per person. Soft drinks could be purchased for 50 baht each. There was water melon to follow, but generally lunch was very basic and extremely disappointing compared to other trips we have done during our time here, We boarded the van again and drove for another 20-25 mins passing lots of water rafting places, elephant riding centres and ATV spots. These other ATV locations looked far superior to the one that we eventually arrived at. The quad bikes were ropey and the first one packed up so we were swapped to one that one of the instructors was using, this one was no better, it kept cutting out and we'd have to wait for an instructor to come back to jump start it several times, leaving us well behind the group. A ride through the jungle is a huge misdescripton, not exciting at all and apart from a few muddy puddles not much in the way of off roading. The instructors were in our opinion rather rude, only the girls represented the true Thai culture with their warmth and friendliness. A good amount of photos and video footage was taken by them, which can be purchased after at a reasonable price. From here we travelled immediately for about another 20mins to see 'monkey cave'. It's worth noting that the monkey cave doesn't contain the monkeys, these are outside in the trees in a very small feeding area that is filled with rubbish and pigeons. We were informed upon arrival that we only had a max of 30 mins to explore the area, to feed the monkeys and visit the Budda cave, which pissed me off due to the amount of our time that had been wasted waiting for the other people in the group to do their activities. We also struggled to actually get out of the van, due to Thai vendors jumping on us offering bags of way too much fruit and corn to feed the monkeys for 150 Baht. They did not want to take no for an answer We did not have any time to see or photograph the beautiful surrounding buildings, visit the souvenir stalls or buy refreshments which we were in need of. Instead as soon as we had finished exploring the Budda statues and seeing inside the cave we were shepherded into the van on the journey back to the hotel. We are very disappointed with todays experience, there was no guided tour really to speak of. Information was very lacking and she didn't really address the group when she was talking. She only joined the transfer van after all passengers had been collected and she took a while to introduce herself. Information and guidance were woefully lacking and not to the standard experienced on other trips. She was the first to be dropped off. Total time on activities was an hour and 10 mins to an hour and a half max, the rest of the time was spent on the van travelling, eating lunch and mostly waiting around for the other group. Was it enjoyable?? - no not really, would I recommend it??, no there are much better options available. It is definitely only worthy of half a day and should not have been a mixed experience group

Fantastic experience on the bamboo rafts would highly recommend. And the staff were brilliant 👏 really enjoyed the day

Was all great apart from the Atv’s. The people that ran that are rude. The man in charge was shouting at us as soon as we stepped off the bus. He was rude and abrasive. Kept telling up to “drive slow” walking speed as there is NO insurance and we would have to pay a lot if we crash the atv? The helmets was still wet with previous riders sweat and the atv’s was in a terrible state, hardly drivable. My one didn’t have much brakes. The took us in a circle of the car park 4 times. Then 4 laps of the wooded area right next to it while driving at 5/6mph. If you go faster they scream at you. Soooo boring and pointless. The other activities are good and the tour guide was great. Change ATV company that you use please