OK-- just when I had pretty much settled on OAT for my first safari, I have discovered African Adventure Travel. Any thought? Experiences?

OK--I guess I mean African Adventure Company.

I took my first trip with Africa Adventure. The person we worked was Sara who is no longer with them. She was wonderful and very attentive. She was just as excited about our trip as we were! The trip was awesome and they took good care of us. We even got a welcome home letter waiting for us after the trip which was nice and very personal touch.
The second trip we were passed to Allison, one of the owners. Not so happy with her. It took a long time for her to answer e mails etc. She kept steering us to more expensive places. Our goal was keep it basic, keep it cheap-just give us lots of animals.
If you go on one of their pre packaged trips you'll have a wonderful time. They'll take good care of you!

This year we are using Eyes On Africa - they are in Chicago and they've been great. Marguerite has done all she can to find us places to fit our budget.

I talked with them but did not use them. Because we were interested in Namibia, I was passed to Allison. She was to get back with me and did -- a month later after I had booked with Rhino Africa! I was not impressed with her.

It really depends on what you want. Have never heard of OAT or AAT - but have crossed Africa North to South and East to West under my own steam with occasional help from organised tours. May I suggest you widen your net?

check out Guerba, Exodus, Explore Worldwide, Geckos, Intrepid, Peregrine. Google them if you are not set on an American-based company.

But then maybe it must be an American based company for you. Wouldn't surprise me.

But yes, check em out, because folk from the more outward looking countries have been doing this for years, and years, and years.

Would be brilliant if you cared to join them.

I went to Thailand with OAT and really enjoyed the small (16) group. I recently met a man who did their Ulitmate Africa and loved it.

Hi jozo,
I used them for my first trip which was flawless. The internal service however was sketchy. Like lillipets, I found Allison (owner) to be disrespectful and not helpful.

Getting a quote for my second customized trip with them was like pulling teeth - one tooth at a time and slowly.
It took forever and ultimately they changed my requested itinerary. Off my list for good.
My thought is that they're too big of an operation for personalized service.

Jozo, which OAT trip did you have in mind? For your first African trip, their Safari Serengeti in Tanzania is a great trip. Their Boston office is a pain to deal with, but their in-country providers have all been great on the trips I've done (Tanzania, Egypt, Costa Rica.) OAT gets such a great deal on airfare, that their prices are hard to beat. However, I've noticed that they have cut activities from their trips, I suppose to keep the prices as low as possible.

Jozo - Our family of five has a trip booked through AAC this summer. While I can't comment on the trip itself yet, I can tell you that we have been more than pleased with the service we've gotten from them in planning and arranging. Our TA is Elena. She is from SA and has always been extremely responsive. (A phone call works more quickly than e-mail, but I've never had a problem with responsiveness.)

Like Lillipets said, she and others I've talked to there are as excited as we are about our trip! In short Elena worked with us to get us exactly what we wanted while working within our budget. We regrettably had to cancel our trip last summer, and they re-booked for us and applied all monies to this summer. (Ironically the only money we lost for canceling was our trip insurance, which we got separately.) Almost all reports I've read on them are very positive about the trips themselves. I'll report more when we return!

We did a three week trip with them last summer. (Namibia, Botswana and Zimb) We did a customized trip. I thought they were very helpful and got us in to the camps that we wanted to stay at. I was very specific about what I wanted to do and didn't have any problems.
Kim