Overland African Safaris of selected Africa Safari destinations. Our African Safaris go to South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania ... jenmansafaris.com

Best bet for most... also porini.com pretty good

if budget challenged check out

South African Airways packages deals on travelzoo.com

Pretty awesome values including air...

weather2travel.com Climate guides

travel.state.gov entry safety

quotewight.com comp cover always cheap wise for me.

Congrats and Happy Travels!

We had a superb experience with Africa Adventure Company in Fort Lauderdale -- I admit this was a "once in a lifetime" trip, not our usual m.o. But I am afraid their seamless arrangements (South Africa/Victoria Falls/Kenya/Rwanda) made it hard to go back to DIY! Owner Mark Nolting's Book "Africa - Top Wildlife Countries" might help you sort things out.

I can certainly recommend Sun Safaris. They are located in cape town, and all safaris done with them (3 so far) were top notch. They know their stuff!

www.sunsafaris.com

Ciao,

J.

mandsj,

The first reply to your question probably just made you more confused. The second and third post are actually “spot on”. Sun Safaris in Cape Town is owned by a friend of mine Brett Thompson. I have traveled to Namibia with him in the past and he really knows his stuff. Africa Adventure Company in Ft. Lauderdale is owned by Mark and Alison Nolting. They are some of our toughest (i.e. best) competitors in the USA. Both companies are great options for booking your safari.

Part of your challenge to date is that you need to find an independent safari consultant to work with and that is the really hard part. Another name for a safari consultant would be an “agent”, “travel agent”, "safari specialist" or “tour operator”. They are all very similar but independence is key! If you get on a lodge chains web site they will likely refer you to an agent for the booking process that supports them and really knows their product. This person may not know about the many other options.

A few agents and expecially larger tour operators have subtle (i.e. undeclared) interests in the products they recommend or simply limited experience that only includes a set of products owed by one lodge chain or marketing group. They may not be able to truly look out for your interests in the process.

I am happy to tell you that both Sun Safaris and AAC are top notch independent safari operators and you will be in good hands if you contact them (but please not both). When an agent finds out the client is shopping around they get less motivated to assist and you need a rapid turn-around and good service on your plan given your timeline.

The best way to plan a safari when possible is to meet face-to-face. If you let me know where you are from I may be able to recommend an expert in your home city that is also independent. There are hundreds of ways to book a safari and lots of good agents out there. Most good safari specialists will have access to net rates at just about every lodge chain at the four star and above level so they can plan any safari you want that is also within their capabilities (knowledge base).

Craig Beal – owner – Travel Beyond

If you are in the NY metro area, I used Classic Africa and was happy with the service. Two trips without a hitch. We did all of our planning by e-mail and phone. We had lots if input, especially on the second trio and they were very accommodating of all of our requests. Both trips were SA and Botswana.
If you are using Wilderness Safaris camps, use their contact page and they will send you a TA they work with in your area.
Have fun planning!

Annelle - expect to have your post removed for soliciting.

Mandsj - Using the Wilderness contact page is a good idea if you know you want to visit a Wilderness Safari lodge. But like I said in the thread above, the agency they put you in touch with may not have much expertise beyond the Wilderness circuit of camps. For example, there are eight safari lodge "chains" in Botswana and Wilderness is one of them. IMO Wilderness is excellent so don't take this the wrong way.

Classic Africa is a very reputable operator but I believe they are in Hartford, CT not NYC.

Craig Beal - owner - Travel Beyond

We recently returned from a 3-wk trip to Botswana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe put together for us by Pam Buttner at Travel Beyond. She really made an effort to tailor the trip to our specs and was spot on with her advice. All the transfers were made like clockwork. She has personal knowledge of the area and the camps. Contact info is www.TravelBeyond.com (I see that the agency owner, Craig Beal, has also responded to your inquiry but my response is totally unrelated. He often replies to questions on the forum with helpful info but obviously cannot solicit business for his own agency. However, my experience with them was positive and I highly recommend them).

Safari_Craig

Do you do small tours to South Africa , or do you only plan tours for others.
Thank You

nankar123 - Thanks for the reply above. Pam is in Africa with a group of 120 lawyers right now - we were just texting each other! After that she is going to Namibia and Mozambique to check-out some new spots. If you get a chance can you email me so I can know who you are and let her know you posted this? My email address is in my profile.

JMVP - I appolgize but I am not quite sure what you are asking? I can't respond with any information on my company unless you ask a very specific question in a forum. You will note Annelle's post which was right above my earlier one has already been removed for "soliciting". Sorry I cannot be more immediately helpful.

Craig Beal - owner - Travel Beyond

The South African Tourism Board has a 'Find an Agent' feature such that you can locate agents who have completed their FUNDI training program (I haven't done that yet!). If you are looking for someone in your hometown, I'd honestly Google for your town and "Africa Travel" or African Tours, or African Safaris- but leaving out agent so that you don't get every agency possible.

Safari_Craig:

What I am asking is , do you personally take tours to South Africa.

I know you have a travel company and you are not advertising, it is me that is asking the question...so hopefully Fodors will not contrue this as , that you are advertising.

Many Travel Companies, besides providing help for individual travel.....also themselves do small group tour.

So do you take tours to South Africa several tims a year.

If you did , then Iwould like to be on one of these tours.

Thank You

Hi JMVP,

We do infrequently host tours as a company. The last four trips were two safaris to the Sabi Sands and Botswana in February 2010 and February 2011. I took 11 people to Zimbabwe for eight days this year in July and August. The trips all sold-out through private networking before we ever marketed to the public so they were not on our web site. My business partner and his wife hosted the two Botswana/Sabi Sands trips. My wife and I hosted the Zimbabwe trip this summer. One of our senior safari consultants, Matt Bracken, leads a Kilimanjaro Climb and Serengeti Safari every even year in January which also sell-out through private networking.

I am hosting a trip to Zimbabwe and South Africa next September and early October which I have not announced yet but is on hold. The trip is not mentioned on our web site. The trip goes to Victoria Falls, then Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe to Ruckomechi, then Cape Town then MalaMala in the Sands Sands. If you are interested you will need reach out to me directly for more info. Sorry to sound elusive but I have never had a discussion like this on the forums before and this in on the grey edge of their rules so I probably will not mention it again.

To be honest, the demand for hosted trips is very small and I would say 95% of the 1600 people we have sent to Africa this year traveled alone with just their spouse/partner/family.

Hoep this helps.

Craig Beal - owner - Travel Beyond

I also am book marking and saving this info.

Thank you very much Safari_Craig.

I will keep your trip in mind for next year.

I went to Zambia this past summer, and Expert Africa was excellent. They were very knowledgeable about the area, and worked very hard with me on various itineraries and in getting me the best deal. They were very responsive to my e-mails and patient in answering my questions.

They should be able to direct you to an agent with extensive experience in South Africa and Botswana. Their website is excellent, as well, in providing information about the camps and locations in Africa.

If you're wanting to arrange everything online, try Go2Africa.com. They've been in the industry since the late '90s and are extremely well-established, efficient, helpful. They will offer you a variety of options with regards to lodges, hotels operators and locations for the best safari experience. Just tell them what you're looking for and they'll tailor something to your needs. As an industry professional, I have worked with them in the past and can highly recommend them for anyone wanting to research or book a trip to Africa. I must add that I no longer have anything to do with them, in case this is interpreted as a plug from an insider....

I give a strong recommendation to the SA agency, SOUTHERN DESTINATIONS, which arranged a terrific SA, Botswana, Vic Falls trip for me in 2007. They have an 800 number so you can call free from North America.


http://www.southerndestinations.com/



I wrote a trip report that you can find by clicking on my name.

Craig - Classic Africa is in the NYC metro area. In CT, but not as far away as Hartford. I didn't say NYC. But in reality it doesn't matter - we've done all of our planning online and over the phone. They don't only work with WS. I was able to book other co's camps with them. Just setting the record straight.

HI Christabir,

Thanks for the update. I did not think I had implied that Classic Africa worked only with Wilderness Safaris. As far as I know they are experts and completely independent.

So I appologize if it seems that way in the wording of my post above on Oct 17, 8:23am. I said if you go on the Wilderness Web site you MAY end up with an agent that is only familiar with their camps. I did not mention Classic Africa.

This statement really applies to anyone getting on a lodge owner's site. If they don't handle the business themselves, the lodge owner will be very likely to only hand the details of the inquiry off to an agent that will book the client back into their lodge/chain.

Sounds like fun!

Craig Beal - owner - Travel Beyond

thanks so much to everyone for your replies and helpful info---so appreciated!!

we've had some family things come up which has put off our planning--not ideal given our short time frame! but we're hoping to still be able to make things work for december... we are checking out each of the companies mentioned above, so thanks for all of the recs!

safari_craig, we would love to take you up on your offer of letting us know if you know of any good independent agents in our area. we are in san francisco. by chance do you know anyone you can recommend?

thanks so much!

We are also in San Francisco and enjoyed a wonderful first time safari in September organized by Tanya Kotze of Africa Direct. All arrangements made by email; no hitches. She gave us excellent advice. Not sure what would be gained by using someone in SF rather than someone in SA. On another thread, a fodorite said Tanya was less expensive -- don't know about that but for what we got, we found it to be an excellent value. She has a good user friendly website.

ecoAfrica, located in Milnerton/South Africa (Cape Town), has been of enormous value for us. Our Kenyan holiday was far from easy for numerous agents (we had strict ideas about what we wanted and what we absolutely didn't want).

ecoAfrica had Elsabe Jooste to help us, and she did! She never gave up and made everything possible within our wishes and budget for the first two weeks. The third week we arranged a beach house ourselves. When we got into trouble in that third week of our holiday, ecoAfraca/Elsabe was of great support to help us solving our problems in a very flexible way!

Thanks http://www.ecoafrica.com !

Hi Mandsj,

I got your email and sent you a reply when I got back from Africa last night. Here is the information for the rest of the audience that may be reading this:

These are all competitors of my company in the Bay area that I know and am happy to endorse for a face to face safari planning meeting and booking. This list is in no particular order except for #5
- Mountain Travel Sobek – Ask for Laura Roundy. She is now heading up their Africa department. Their CEO can be reached at kevin@mtsobek.com. I know him personally as he came to visit my company in Minneapolis last month. http://www.mtsobek.com/
- Geographic Expeditions (ask for Starla Estrada or Kate Doty). Both are in Africa this week and I last saw them in Marrakech at a party on Friday night (three days ago) so I am not sure if they are back. http://www.geoex.com/about_us/staff.asp
- Bushtracks - owned by David & Caroline Tett. David's brother Chris owns a full tour operation business based in Vic Falls. David is also in Africa or London at WTM right now. http://www.bushtracks.com/
- Next Adventure & Safari. Owner Kili McGowan 738 Gilman Street, Berkeley CA 94710-1325 USA Tel: 510 526 7027

5. http://yoursafariexpert.com/ - owner, Christine Eichen. I don’t know much about them.

Hope this helps.

Craig Beal – owner – Travel Beyond

mandsj,

I have been touring South Africa independently since October 28th and have found it easy to arrange safari's and other activities. Still have a week or so left and have had no difficulty venturing out independently.

Depending on your travel comfort level this may be an option for you.

Flew SA to Livingstone, Zambia to see Victoria Falls. Walked across the border and had lunch in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Did a day trip to Chobe National Park, US$140 also from Livingstone!

Rented car at JNB... Had dinner (Cow head soup) with a local Zulu in Soweto. Spent night in Sun City. Did self drive safari there.. Saw Rhino's lions, hippos. Now in Cape Town. Flew Mango Airlines US$170 RT.

Just got back from Hermanus after driving along Whale Coast Route and hitting a few wineries.

While I may move to a different drum beat than others while traveling here, no matter how you visit South Africa, you are going to love it

I recently travelled to South Africa, Botswana and Zambia and wow, was amazing. I am ready to move there. I fell in love. I used the following travel company for Africa and the Galapagos. They are awesome.

WANT Expeditions: www.wantexpeditions.com

Enjoy!!

I was traveling with them 1 year ago and that was really nice experience with them. http://www.ganeandmarshall.com/ The most competitive thing which they have , are rates. They have multiple packages and you may find latest places to visit which are just discovered in Africa.

Hi,
More advice. We are going on our 2nd Africa safari in May. My experience suggests your choice is better predicated on the agent/representative rather than just the company.
Our first trip we were working with &Beyond and Wilderness Safaris. The Beyond agent proved less than helpful, Craig Beal, owner of Wilderness, picked up the ball and set an outstanding itinerary for us. We had such a great experience that we contacted only them this year. Unfortunately, the agent given to us made the experience very frustrating and I had to do much research myself. So, I thought I would try &Beyond once more. We were directed to an outstanding agent, Kirsten Arnold. She replied promptly to all questions,gave excellent advice and we booked with her. Initially, I thought she lived in the states, since her replies often matched our times. Not true, though, she just is really focused on service.
Craig knows of my decision and why we changed. I did recommend TravelBeyond to my son-in-law who booked with them and is very happy with his rep. Craig has an excellent company and is very knowledgeable, just not a good rep for us this time.
A bit of information, &Beyond is currently running a stay 4 nights and pay for 3 offer which we are taking advantage of. Best wishes for a journey I am sure will be amazing.

This thread was from a year ago, 2011 in the fall so I think the OP was planning a trip for Dec. 2011 - would be interested to hear how it went and who she used!

But since others have posted recently bumping it to the top, and since others might be reading it interested in the topic, I'll chime in to say that I used &Beyond for our trip to South Africa this past June 2012 and had a wonderful experience. The agent we used, Petro Kilpin, initially replied to my request for information about some &Beyond lodges and was so helpful that we ended up using her for booking our whole trip. She didn't only book us into &Beyond lodges, it was a combination. She happens to live in S. Africa and had formerly managed several &Beyond lodges there and in Tanzania before switching to being an agent. I liked the idea of having an agent based there in case any problems came up, it seemed she'd have an easier time addressing them being there. She was wonderfully responsive and we did everything over email but I am an anxious traveller with hundreds of questions, and we planned the trip over 9 months and I wouldn't be surprised if we exchanged a thousand emails! When we were there, she met up with my family and brought along her kids (who I'd heard about in our correspondence) and her Mom and it was lovely to meet her in person.

I liked her so much and really trust her advice, and therefore will probably use her again to arrange my next trip to Africa. I think feeling comfortable with the person and their style, as well as their knowledge of your destination(s), is very important.

Dellio... ummm, Craig Beal doesn't own Wilderness Safaris. He's the owner of Travel Beyond, which is what I assume you meant.

What an interesting thread. I started my company long before the internet and am amazed how times have changed. I even got myself into trouble on Fodors by trying to share the Leopards of Simbambili in 2004.

We just got back from Mala Mala Rattrays where we had a great time and you can view the video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SrfpmAU3Bw&list=UU6OlGcq8nkqnKohWdpO4vfQ&index=1&feature=plcp

Yours on Safari
Mark
Taga Safaris Africa