philo Loc: philo, ca

I'm thinking about booking a trip to South Africa.
I have never traved with them. Looking for comments if you have.
thanks

Canonuser Loc: UK and South Africa

I have a house in South Africa and usually spend just over six months of the year there.
I don’t have personal experience of this company, but they look no better or worse than dozens of others.
One really important thing is to know exactly what you want and check that the company you use provides it.
For instance, many will offer safaris and many people want to do one. However many of these safaris are what I call ‘canned’ safaris. These cover thousands and thousands of hectares but the animals don’t exist in a natural way. The lions in these places are always kept in enclosures (very large ones) as there is an insufficient range or number of other animals for the lions to catch and feed on. Seldom either will you see Leopards or Cheetah in these places.
To see life in the raw without these constraints it’s necessary to visit the Kruger National Park in the North East of SA where accommodation can even be booked. However if you don’t like seeing lions bring down live prey and eat them, the Kruger may not be for you.
Some packages on ‘canned’ safari areas provide different length packages and some travel companies include longer ones that can actually become boring.
It’s always been my advice, dependant on what people want from a holiday to book themselves into accommodation in areas they want to be in. SA guest houses are usually superb although you always should confirm that breakfast is included, as it’s not in some. Eating out is fantastic and very cheap, at least compared to the U.K. Driving outside of busy cities like Cape Town is easy, but outside of peak traffic times, larger cities are OK.
In summary I find most travel companies are a little restrictive in what they are able to offer.
SA has a reputation of being unsafe with lots of crime. OK there is crime and it’s essential to be careful. However avoiding townships after dark is vital.
My wife and I drive into our local town, Stellenbosch, regularly to visit movies or restaurants. We usually park in the street, ask the inevitable car guard to look after the car and give him a few Rand when we return and there’s never a problem.
Don’t even contemplate booking anything until Covid gets sorted. We were locked into the country in March when all international flights into the country were banned. We only managed to return to the U.K. on a very expensive repatriation flight. At the moment with the new SA mutation of the virus, again most countries have banned flights from SA certainly the U.K. has.
My wife and I are spending our first winter in the U.K. for fifteen years as a direct result of Covid.

jccash Loc: Longwood, Florida

A couple years ago my daughter and 23 friends from Manchester England and South Africa took a couple weeks Krueger park safari with the guys company. I highly recommend him. Also they give tours in Mozambique.


https://www.facebook.com/warren.russell.africa

tcthome Loc: NJ

Tom Payne Loc: Central Ohio

Mountain Travel Sobek was our travel company of choice, would still be if we would get to go again. Probably 15 memorable trips, both hemispheres, never a disappointment. Small groups is the way to go.

JBRIII

Also check details on any insurance. My wife and I have med-evac coverage for anywhere, even Anarctica) thru the University we went to. Just got a letter this week stating it would not apply for any country rated 4 or worse by CDC or State dept. (Not sure which). Were to go to Namibia last May, now this May, but presently rated at a 4.
Told by trip leader, we will almost certainly need to be vaccinated, but if delays continue, could see where what means could be iffy even then, first shot March 1, 2nd April 15 (if they allow 6 weeks between), time to be effective?, but certainly not May 1.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

Getting your second shot April 15 should get you a plenty high antibody response by May 1. However - we all need to pay attention to the new South African mutation that may not be so sensitive to the antibodies generated by the current vaccine. Of course, travel restrictions may get worse and make going to and from many regions very difficult.

jcryan Loc: Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic

We went to South Africa with Go Touchdown Travel in 2019. Great trip. We spent three days on a "real" safari at Humala Lodge in the Songimvelo Game Preserve. No lions there, but everything from antelope to zebras. We did a couple of "canned" days at an Elephant park and a Lion park and a day at Pilanesberg I'm not sure what they do there, but animals were plentiful including hippos, lions (we saw a pair mating), elephants and rhinos.