Experience Southern Africa

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  Gerrit
  Written on September 25, 2017

  4.5 - Excellent

  This review focuses on the Intrepid Tour commencing in Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls rather than the entire South African Experience which commences in Johannesburg. A "technical mix up" resulted in our paid confirmed booking being cancelled within 7 days of departure. That matter is closed- Tour Radar worked very hard to create an alternative programme for us and we do not believe this type of mixup is common, but it does explain why the second part of the commencement of the tour is the subject of this review. The tour was a fantastic experience, extremely experienced guides, Jacques, Shimane and Rene managed a group of 11 people beautifully and the elements of the tour were superb. I have two specific pieces of advice. The first is that joining a group that have already been together for 7 days means that you are at a disadvantage - the group is formed and there is an inevitable sense of being the outsider of the group. This has been mentioned in other reviews and my wife and I found that to be true. It is an inevitable consequence of the way in which groups form. Having said that it was not an issue of significance rather some advice for noting. The second piece of advice is if you do have to join this tour late - as we were forced to - go to Victoria Falls a day early - there were so many things to do that we simply could not enjoy. The rest of the group could because they had that extra day. in fact we sat in a hotel in Johannesburg on the advice of Tour Radar and that proved to be a wasted opportunity!! So, our experience started under a cloud and the stress of belated reorganisation, however, the tour was terrific. We are very grateful for the experience and can recommend it to anyone. It was challenging in terms of the long travel stretches but those long days were worth it. The highlights, definitely the Okavango camping experience and the Chobe Game reserve and evening boat trip. We loved the tenting, getting good at erecting and breaking them down was part of the fun. The meals were more than adequate - Rene was creative and very caring in putting together a great variety of food for us. Shimane the driver was safe and very competent - we felt for him on the long days in which he brought us safely to the next location. Boswana generally was a delight. The end point of the trip in Soweto was also special - we stayed in a local B&B and also partook of a bike ride to the famous spots in Soweto. Arrangements were flexible and sensible - the guide team bent over backwards to meet everyone's needs.

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