Hello -

I am a 35 year old single female from NY. I have decided to take this year off from work to travel and spend time with family and friends. I have planned several trips for this year and will have friend joining me on some of them. However, some of the trips I will have to take on my own. So I was thinking of taking some trips with overlanding or other group tour companies. I would prefer a group tour that combines local accomodations with a small amount of camping (I've never camped a day in my life, but I'm willing to learn . I don't want to ride around in an air-conditioned tour bus or stay in luxury hotels.

I have found several companies that offer interesting itineraries and would like to know if my fellow fodorites have any recommndations. So far I am interested in GAP Adventures for South Africa (the reviews on Trip Advisor were not good), Tucan travel for Ecuador, and Dragoman for India and Nepal.

Any feedback or recommendations you have would be greatly appreciated!

You might want to look at Intrepid Travel, an Australian company with small-group tours that stay pretty "low to the ground" (local transport, small hotels, some camping, etc.). We went to northern India with them last year and had a wonderful time. They give you lots of freedom and independent time, but help you handle the trickier aspects of transportation and lodging and finding great local guides for things like hiking trips, cooking classes, and camel safaris. FYI: The average age in our group was late 30s-early 40s, and we had 10 people in our group. They do have some Africa trips, but I have not been on those.

What part of Africa do you want to visit? Most of the tour companies I have dealt with in Africa either deal with Southern Africa or Eastern Africa---rarely is there an overlap.

I used Tucan for a trip to peru in 2005 - fine, no complaints, really friendly and well informed guide and driver. It was a hotel tour rather than a camping style overland trip. I know that Tucan do two types of trips which basically cover the same routes and are very similar in price and use the same hotels - one type uses the bright yellow, typical overland truck, the other type uses public transport.

I used Dragoman last year for a trip through Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. Excellent company - I enjoyed this trip so much that I've already booked another with them for this summer for 5 weeks in Southern Africa. Dragoman in Africa is definitely a camping trip, rather basic with everyone mucking in but to me that's the appeal. I think they use more hotels than camping in Asia.

Thanks for the info. I'm glad to get a good review for Dragoman and Tucan. I totally forgot about Intrepid Travel, I'll check them out too.

In Africa I plan to visit South Africa and maybe Botswana and Mozambique.

Thanks again!

I went on a 3 week camping trip through Drifters, which I enjoyed thoroughly. The trip started in CT then went through Namibia, Botswana, then to Vic Falls and finally trekked down through Zim and finished off in Jo'burg. I thought the trip was well run and I highly recommend them.

The Dragoman trip I have booked for this year takes in SA, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia, ending up at Vic falls. Takes about 5 weeks.

Thanks for all the great info. Does anyone have any info about GAP Adventures?

Thanks!

Hi

I took a tour of the Galapagos with Adventure_Life. The price was right, the catamarran was FAST, so we got to various islands before the 100 passenger boats got there. The boat held a total of 16 passengers. The food was not the greatest, but the guide and the cost made up for it

I also just came back from a trip to Uganda. I went with Travelust, which is a Ugandan owned company. I did 2 gorilla treks, one in Uganda and one in Rwanda.

i would highly recommend both tour groups because they are well run, well organized and affordable.

Two years ago we did a Cape Town to Vic Falls camping trip with Outback Africa. 10 travelers and one guide/driver/cook in a stretch Land Rover. Excellent guide, great food, campgrounds were all interesting and unique. Age group on tour 30 to 60. My husband and I prefer independent travel but this was a very good experience with group travel. http://www.outbackafrica.com

I am 32 and live in Johannesburg in South Africa. I read your query and can highly recommend DRIFTERS if you want to travel low budget accross sunny Southern africa. They do trip to Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia and accross South Africa. I look forward to helping you as so many people from this website helped me when I booked my trip to Thailand. I think it is time to give back... Regards Jenny

Hi - Check out www.adventurecenter.com. Adventure Centers has trips from several different companies including but not limited to Geckos Adventures and Exodus. I used them for a biking trip to southern France and am going on a camping safari in southern Africa next month.