armaan112

Hello all,

I am looking to travel to Africa this coming February. I am a solo traveler and was thinking of joining a small group tour instead of traveling alone. Mainly to meet people, and stick with them through out the travel rather than meeting new people in each city/place and then parting ways.

I have been looking for group tours and tumbled upon the very popular G Adventures and Explore, the adventure travel experts. It would be great if you could share your experience with either company. I am a little nervous about the yolo/basic/standard style travel, so I was leaning more towards the comfort style. I noticed that Explore is more expensive than G Adventures (both comfort style) and just makes me wonder if one has better accommodation/location that they travel to.

Any other group travel company suggestions are welcome

Also, currently, I am thinking of going to South Africa, is this a good first place to travel in Africa? I am mainly looking to experience great wildlife and culture.

Thank you all

sunbum1944

I just am back from Kenya/Tanzania with Overseas Adventure Travel as a solo traveller. I enjoyed very much, everything went as planned and with this group, you do not have to pay a single supplement and can have your own room.

They also give some of their proceeds back to the community which I liked

RobMD

I've travelled with G Adventures. They are good at what they do but depends on what you want. Their yolo tours are really for younger people aged 18-20s. They advertise it as 18-39 but they attract much younger people. I enjoyed it but in my experience they wanted to party every night and the itinerary was standard. Not very active. Comfort tours attract a much older traveller - 60s plus and again no hiking activities.

I recently came across a group tour company called The Flash Pack and went to Burma with them. https://www.theflashpack.co.uk

They have maximum 10-12 people on the tour which I prefer. They do comfort tours but attract people aged 30-40. Most were travelling alone and there was one couple. Really well organised, local guides and everyone was on the same wavelength. There were 7 ladies to 3 men so it was nice to have a bit of male company! The itineraries are a bit different too, going to places that have just opened up to tourists and I liked that they had a mix of activities, bit of cycling, hiking and the like. It was quite fast paced but that's the way I prefer to travel.

Hope that helps.

jenmakin

Hello,

I have travelled with Explore numerous of times. I highly recommend them. The cover a lot more ground than GAdventures.

Sometimes, they're a bit more expensive than the other groups but your money is well spent. The additional optionals usually raise the price of the tour but you do not have to participate. I always go because it's an opporunity to mingle with your fellow travellers.

You don't have to pay a single supplement for your hotel room - you're matched with someone of the same sex.

Small groups. There's no more than 20 people. It's a mixture of ages - I've been on tours with a large range of ages. Individuals in their 20s rarely join the tours.

thursdaysd

This thread was started in December, I doubt the OP is still interested.

However, since it's been restarted, I would add http://www.intrepidtravel.com/ to the mix, I haven't traveled with them lately, but they used to have very good itineraries. Again, this is no single supplement/share with fellow traveler outfit.

I went to Jordan with Explore and was dissatisfied. The ground agent was rude, the group was larger than I expected and ferried around in a big bus (Intrepid usually uses local transport, or a minivan for "omfort" tours), and the local guide was lousy.

I have a friend who likes OAT, but my one tour with them was a total disaster. And I thought they specialized in older travelers.