[AndyD]

We are hoping to do a trip to South Africa next year and would be looking to do a fully organised and guided tour.
There are many companies in the UK and South Africa which run these trips.
Would be grateful if anyone who has been on one of these tours could help with recommendations.

Thanks

[baillieswells]

Originally Posted by AndyD

We are hoping to do a trip to South Africa next year and would be looking to do a fully organised and guided tour.
There are many companies in the UK and South Africa which run these trips.
Would be grateful if anyone who has been on one of these tours could help with recommendations.

Thanks

Last October my wife and I went on a three week holiday organised by Explore (www.explore.co.uk) to South Africa. This was actually two tours combined, Zululand & Kruger Wildlife plus Cape Escape.Not specifically birding, but many birds together with wild animals and plants. Excellent accommodation and superb guides. I can thoroughly recommend this company. The only drawback was that the flights were by South African Airways, the most uncomfortable long haul flights I have ever been on.

[AndyD]

Originally Posted by baillieswells

Last October my wife and I went on a three week holiday organised by Explore (www.explore.co.uk) to South Africa. This was actually two tours combined, Zululand & Kruger Wildlife plus Cape Escape.Not specifically birding, but many birds together with wild animals and plants. Excellent accommodation and superb guides. I can thoroughly recommend this company. The only drawback was that the flights were by South African Airways, the most uncomfortable long haul flights I have ever been on.

Thanks for the info. Quite interested in your flight comments. I read a trip report on the web from a Dutch family (I think) who rated South African Airways very highly and said it was the best long-haul airline that they had flown with.

[TonyC]

I'd highly recommend Geoff Crane - Cranes travels based in Hout bay just south of Cape Town. He doesn't have a web page but you can email him birdtour(AT)hbic.co.za. We met him at the bird fair in Rutland a couple of years ago, and last year he organised a trip for us - Kruger, Limpopo & Cape Town. He sorted out all the car hire, park permits and accomodation and provided lots of useful birding information. He'll be at Rutland this summer.

There's a trip report on my web page www.tonycoatsworth.co.uk
I also highly recommend Anne Albatross for a pelagic trip out of Simonstown if you are down that way.

[Capercaillie71]

Originally Posted by AndyD

I read a trip report on the web from a Dutch family (I think) who rated South African Airways very highly and said it was the best long-haul airline that they had flown with.

That might not be saying much if they are used to KLM. I once flew from Cape Town to Amsterdam with KLM and they forgot to put half of the meals onto the plane.

[Jos Stratford]

Originally Posted by AndyD

Quite interested in your flight comments. I read a trip report on the web from a Dutch family (I think) who rated South African Airways very highly and said it was the best long-haul airline that they had flown with.

I've flown South African several times, found them perfectly good. Wasn't sure of the details, but they also once transferred me, at no charge, to one of their flights, when Virgin Airways (I think) messed up my booking flight with them.

[Kiki]

Can I ask why you are going on an organised trip and not doing this yourself? We went to South Africa last November. We had 8 nights in Kruger and 6 at The Cape (trip report here ).
This trip was booked over the internet (there are some logistics on a seperate page) and we had a fantastic time. SA is a beautiful country with a good transport network and even without guides, we managed a quite impressive trip list.

[AndyD]

Originally Posted by Kiki

Can I ask why you are going on an organised trip and not doing this yourself? We went to South Africa last November. We had 8 nights in Kruger and 6 at The Cape (trip report here ).
This trip was booked over the internet (there are some logistics on a seperate page) and we had a fantastic time. SA is a beautiful country with a good transport network and even without guides, we managed a quite impressive trip list.

Hi Keren
I had already read your excellent trip report a little while ago.
The reason we have chosen to use guides, is that we simply thought that using local guides would give us the best opportunity of seeing the most birds and mammals. Neither of us has been to any part of Africa before and a guide of course would be able to assist with the ID of many kinds of birds that we have never seen before.
The downside of course is that the cost of doing it this way is very very much higher than a DIY trip.