Africa - Travel Agency/Tour Company Recommendations

[Deleted]

I'm looking to book a trip for 2016, hopefully to South Africa so we can do a safari as well as visit vineyards. I started Googling but the number of tour companies out there is overwhelming! Has anyone used one that they highly recommend? We're looking for a group tour; a private tour will be out of our price range. Any information you all can share would be really helpful!

[Deleted]

I used to live in South Africa, so this is my advice.

Since it doesn't seem like you're a billionaire that can hire out private everything ( ) ...I'd say South Africa is VERY easy to plan for without the assistance of group tours.

I'd fly in to Joburg. I'd do 2 days there. With 1 day going to the Apartheid Museum and Constitution Hill and the other day going to Soweto and Nelson Mandela's house. I feel as though those are must visits and do the country injustice if you don't visit them to learn about the history of the country.

After that head out to Krueger for your safari. Sorry I have no specific recs for that portion as I always did self-guided tours, but there are options for every budget depending on how luxurious you want your stay to be.

After that, fly to Cape Town and spend a few days there. I'd recommend a car in Cape Town, but it's not absolutely necessary. For the wine part there are various companies that will pick you up and take you to different wineries. Again, sorry I don't have specific recs because whenever I did it my friends set it up and they'd honestly just google and pick whatever van could come pick us up on the day we wanted to go.

So all that to say, I don't think you need group tours or to find a specific travel agent to arrange everything if you're looking to save some money. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask.

[gigem]

We did South Africa twice with Africa Travel Resources, they were awesome. They give you several quotes after you tell them a bit of what you want and your price range then you go back and forth until the trip is what you'd like best. They never lt us down and had us go to places we might have overlooked. Have fun!

[gigem]

Also they don't charge you a fee directly, they take their cut from the hotel, as I understood it. I always checked the rate they told me against the rates on the hotel websites and it was either the same or better. And they got us into hotels that looked fully booked on the websites.

[sunnysally]

We used Rhino Africa and have nothing but great things to say about them. I know you said you can't afford something private, but I would email them, tell them what you want and your budget and they will send you an itinerary. I usually don't use a travel agent but when I started researching I became overwhelmed with choosing charter flights and everything. It was the most relaxing trip of my life.

[chicago]

We also used and loved Rhino Africa.

[tres3]

We used True Africa. www.trueafrica.com/home.

They were great to work with (although time difference is a little cumbersome) and really thought of everything and got us great rates.

[Deleted]

Thanks everyone! I have an inquiry out to Rhino Africa - looking forward to seeing what package they put together for us.

[definitelyO]

we used Africa Adventure Consultants
adventuresinafrica.com/

as did RockNVoll and kelley182

they are able to work with any budget to put together the vacation/safari you want. They are based in Denver but used to live in Arusha, Tanzania for years and still spend a lot of time in Africa

[kelley182]

Dec 28, 2015 16:26:07 GMT -5 definitelyO said:

we used Africa Adventure Consultants
adventuresinafrica.com/

as did RockNVoll and kelley182

they are able to work with any budget to put together the vacation/safari you want. They are based in Denver but used to live in Arusha, Tanzania for years and still spend a lot of time in Africa

Yes, I highly recommend Kent at Africa Adventure Consultants.

[klingklang77]

You can plan it yourself, but I have used Discover Namibia tours for Namibia and they are excellent! They also do South Africa I believe.

[gtkim]

Dec 28, 2015 16:26:07 GMT -5 definitelyO said:

we used Africa Adventure Consultants
adventuresinafrica.com/

as did RockNVoll and kelley182

they are able to work with any budget to put together the vacation/safari you want. They are based in Denver but used to live in Arusha, Tanzania for years and still spend a lot of time in Africa

I also used AAC and was very pleased!