East Cape Tours
- Located In:
-
United Kingdom
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 1998)
- Member Of:
- ATTA, SATOA, ATOL & SATSA
- Tour Types:
- Custom luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $28 to $111 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Les and Margaret | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Responsive , flexible, light-touch planning with perfect selection of countrywide hotels and lodges.
We had originally planned to self-book our month's tour of South Africa for 2019, but having made contact with Colin and his team at East Cape Tours, their professionalism and effort to tailor a perfect plan for us, won us over. Their light touch and total flexibility to meet our initially sketchy ideas enabled us to fit in all the places we wanted to cover, plus give us extra confidence in the quality of accommodation, as well as providing us with a one-stop-shop
Our personal travel consultant , Lynn Bowers, managed everything for us as we fine tuned the locations and local travel together. She was highly responsive , with comprehensive , clear and rapid communications , always backed up with East Cape Tours' really smart systems integration that delivered us plans, accommodation details and travel information by return e mail.
Flexible to the end, Lynn was able to manage changes without any fuss , and provided invaluable support when our inbound flight to Cape Town was delayed by a day - notifying the hotel and rearranging the car-hire.
The location and quality of the hotels and lodges was perfect for us and bookings were always faultless and comprehensive : the booking at Madikwe Safari Lodge , our final stop, was really special and proved to be a stunning finale to our trip. Part way through the trip at Port Elizabeth, Colin from East Cape took time out to meet us for dinner which was very kind. Thank you all at East Cape Tours
So if you have some vague future travel plans for South Africa , we heartily recommend you talk to East Cape Tours first.
Reply from East Cape Tours
Posted on Mar 26, 2019Good day Les and Margaret,
Thank you so much for your awesome review! We're so glad to hear that you enjoyed your holiday. We look forward to planning your next East Cape Tours getaway and connecting with you again in the future.
Email June Smith | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Last minute weekend tours
We were in J’Burg on business and had two weekends for Safari. Last minute booking so it needed to be very efficient. Cape Tours found us excellent residences with lovely rooms and good tours. Thank you!
Reply from East Cape Tours
Posted on Mar 26, 2019Good day June,
Thank you for your review! We're so glad to hear that we could help you. We look forward to helping you organise more custom-made holidays in the future!
Life changing AND life-affirming in every way possible
Thank you for the trip of a lifetime. Starting with Denise in Reservations, Patrick My ever-faithful driver, Addo elephant park the, De Drift Inn, and then the amazing Shamwari . I can’t speak highly enough....Simbu, Marley, my ever gracious hosts, James my dedicated and delightful Game driver and all of the staff to say it was exceptional is a massive understatement. And then on to 5th Ave., Beach’s house in PE with Chantelle, Ada, and Sandy. I made friendships that will last a lifetime I loved it so much I did not want to leave!! I plan to return and hopefully purchase a home there in the next two years. Thank you for the gracious, welcoming, delightful, trip of a lifetime. It was not only life affirming, is life-changing. I will be back as soon as possible....and hoping to buy. Home there in2 yours. Amazing country and amazing people. Thank you so very much for welcoming me to your country and guiding me through a a solo trip of a lifetime.
Reply from East Cape Tours
Posted on Jun 24, 2019Good day Katherine,
Thank you so much for the wonderful review! We are so glad you enjoyed your time in South Africa. We look forward to welcoming you back to our beautiful country!
Email Helen | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
ZIMBABWAE WHAT A WONDERFUL COUNTRY
After returning from our two week holiday to Zimbabwe I just wanted to again thank East Cape Tours namely Colin, Kia,and Tehillah for an amazing job in helping us create such a wonderful adventure.
From my first contact with Colin I was instantly impressed with his professionalism and the effort to guide me through our booking process. Colin emailed me through a few itineraries to look at which made it easy to map out our final destinations.
We had 3 nights at the Rhino Safari Camp, 3 nights on the Umbozha house boat sailing on the Lake, 3 nights at Sable Sands then onto Victoria Falls for our last 3 nights.
This trip has everything you would every want from a holiday. All our accommodation was excellent and the food was so impressive and plenty of it. Our game drives were made so much better as our guides were both intelligent and informative their calming nature make you feel extreme safe which is kind of important when those very large elephants stroll on by.
The highlights of the tour were of course the animals, but the people of Zimbabwe were warm and friendly and we learnt so much from them.
If you are looking for a company to create your next adventure I can’t rate East Cape highly enough.
IF YOU HAVEN’T CONSIDERED ZIMBABWE – GIVE IT A GO YOU WONT BE DISAPPOINTED
SE
Email Peter Anto | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A very good experience.
Communication were swift both by e-mail and phone, issues were quickly corrected. We were very happy with service on site, meals/beverages and the safaris, our expectations were exceeded. I can highly recommend East Cape Tours.
NL
Email Gabriel Martel | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Deliver to promise with great and inspiring offers and smooth communication!
Communication through e-mail was very accurate and fast. Friendly professional staff.
US
Email Paul | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great and professional
I only had 24 hrs to explore and this company made the most of my limited time. Great people and food and very nice lodging. I was a single traveler adding this on to a work trip and the employees and other guests were a good, fun group to be with.
Email Jenny | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A reliable company with conscientious staff who go that extra mile to be flexible.
The staff employed by East Cape (either directly or indirectly) proved to be very reliable, friendly and helpful. It was a pleasure to do business with them. East Cape Tours booked a safari; several transfers and restaurants in both the Eastern Cape and the Cape Town. All proved to be very successful. Shamwari safari at Lobengula lodge was also booked by East Cape Tours. The safari drives were conducted by a single driver/guide and varied from the regular early morning and early evening game drives to a complete day out. The driver/guide was informative, but in my opinion because of having to drive and spot animals at the same time, there is was something lacking in quality of the game drives. It felt at times just like a very bumpy car journey, without the joy of the animals. The accommodation at Lobengula is very good; large rooms with great facilities, however, the service is not of the same high quality. The stay was on an all inclusive basis, however, many of the items included on the menu as all inclusive were not available for the whole period of our stay. On check in it was advised the mini bar would be replenished daily; this was not the case. The service at breakfast was excruciatingly slow and then only partial orders would arrive. Having done many safaris in the past, this one, unfortunately ranked as below average.
CZ
Email Petra | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great service
In The East Cape Tours we were in touch with Nerine. She was always quick in responses and planned our tours in South Africa customized on our specific needs. We went with East Cape Tours to safari and vineyard tour. Everything went smoothly, all the guides and drivers were always on time as planned and we really enjoyed our stay. The Kariega Homestead was beautiful place with nice people around and amazing food. We can only recommend!
Email Patrick Goodwin | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Trip Ended Up a Massive Success Despite Covid Delaying It Nearly 3 Years
"After some initial issues around Covid rules the CEO, Colin made contact with us and very kindly allowed us to change our trip , as it turned out a number of times, due to the changing world that we were living in at the time. When we eventually went on our trip to Amakhala in March 2022 (nearly 3 years after our initial booking) the trip was a massive success. We stayed in Leeuwenbosch and loved it. All the staff and our guide were exceptional. Although the weather could have been kinder we saw everything that we wanted and our guide ,Ouboet could not have done any more and was always so cheerful and helpful. I would definitely recommend East Cape Tours and Cearl in particular who was incredibly understanding and patient with our regular changes (Thanks Cearl). It was also really nice to meet Colin in PE and chat properly.
Reply from East Cape Tours
Posted on Oct 29, 2020I am afraid this has been a very difficult time for everyone in the Travel Industry, ourselves included.
We have been forced to adhere strictly to our terms and conditions that were included on your invoice and confirmation.
Insurance: Please ensure you have adequate travel insurance for the duration of your trip East Cape Tours & Safaris South Africa will not be liable whatsoever for any loss/damage/personal health/ eventualities of war/civil action/act of terrorism/act of God, natural disasters or adverse weather conditions during or resulting from your holiday. We strongly advise passengers to take out insurance covering cancellation, medical expenses, loss of baggage, curtailment and default at the time of booking.
In addition to assisting clients with insurance claims, we have been working with the Department of Tourism and have agreed to postpone bookings without penalty or increased costs until the 15th December 2021 and even some cases to the end of 2022.
We have discussed this, and you will be back in touch in due course with new dates.