Bianca & Craig your expert safari planner/guides
Southern African Tours
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2008)
- Member Of:
- SATSA, CTT & intrasure
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $79 to $129 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
MY
Email Steve Morton | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A Taste of South Africa
My wife, adult daughter and I have just completed a private 5 day garden tour with Craig. We only had limited time to see and do as much as we could in South Africa and Craig achieved this for us. While the tour was structured we had the flexibility to add and subtract to better tailor our trip to cater for our personal interests and tastes day to day, making the whole experience so fantastic. Some of the things we saw and did would not have been achieveable on a larger bus tour and we would probably have missed if we had taken a self drive option. Craig is passionate about his country in all respects, has great knowledge of its history, flora and fauna and wants to share his enthusiasm with you. A very likeable and responsible guide that really made our trip something special. Best memories....Storm River, Catching a wave at Natures Way, geology throughout the trip, exploring little towns and Victoria beach near George. I would definitely use Craig's services again.
Email Jeff | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Cape to Addo national Park with the owner and guide. Highly recommended.
My wife and I went on a private tour with Craig, the owner and guide of his tour company, what a wonderful,intelligent and highly knowledgeable chap, we could discuss any subject whether it be the ecologically sensitive Knysna lagoon, the price of property or the political situation.
Accommodation was in ''charming'' friendly establishments, including a private ''lodge'' in the Addo National Park. I highly recommend this tour for it's huge diversity, value for money and Craig's personal touch. Bravo Craig I know Southern Africa tours will grow from strength to strength.
US
Email Jeff | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Extremely trustworthy, comprehensive experience
On site tour guides drove our family all throughout the country and were very reliable and helpful in negotiating the details of our experiences. Separate from the guide, the company also set up a Whatsapp discussion group with the owner and office staff in case we had any further questions or problems that they could Manage in real time. The only real problem we had was one of the hotels had our family booked in the wrong room type despite the company confirming previously but with a whatsapp message and our local guide intervening, it was fixed immediately. overall I would recommend them as a very reliable domestic based company in SA for a privately guided group trip (which will save an enormous amount of $ over the US & UK based companies).
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SG
Email Yen | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
11 Days Victoria Falls, Cape Town, Chobe, Kruger National Parks, Blyde River Canyon
We have a fabulous holiday. Thanks to Southern African tours for being flexible and plan the full itinerary to fit in our short
schedule. It was very well planned and varied, covering coastal city with vineyard visit in Cape town for city and scenic visit; to
awesome private game drive Safari near Kruger and a different experience on river safari in Zimbabwe and Botswana.
Sheilagh and team at Southern African is very responsive and accommodating on the numerous changes and requests. They are
very professional and quick in getting on text and call with us in Singapore. Overall I would recommend Southern African Tours
to friends doing Safari trip.
Email Leanne | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very enhoyable and met our expectations.
Southern African Tours were able to design a tour of South Africa and Victoria Falls to meet our desired destinations. Communication was straight forward and our questions were always answered. Craig and/or Shelaigh always attended to any issues during the planning stage. Our safari experience in Kruger National Park was very well organised by Outlook tours. The staff of Outlook Safaris in PretoriusKop Rest Camp, Kruger National Park were A+ in all areas and our activities were outstanding.Wild Horizons organised a wonderful itinerary in Victoria Falls the visit to Chobe National Park was excellent.
Our favourite places in and around Cape Town were Cape of Good Hope, the Peninsula, the seal colony, penguin colony at Boulders, the vineyards and Kirstenbosch gardens. Gerry our tour guide in Cape Town was a wealth of information and a true gentleman.
GH
Email Curtiss D. | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Appears not to be a trustworthy tour operator
I booked a ZAR 144k tour with this agency and unfortunately had to cancel due visas issues beyond our control . I paid a deposit of ZAR 78k and the operator advised that they could only refund ZAR 50k , deducting various penalties and their own admin fees. This was happening in summer 2023. I even agreed that they repay in installment of ZAR 10k as they were raising some cash flow issues. For the last 6 months they haven’t paid anything !! They always come with an excuse as to why they have not paid me yet….This has become a nightmare!
I would caution anyone to deal with this agency as I believe they are simply not trustworthy
Reply from Southern African Tours
Posted on May 12, 20249th June – We received a email from Curtiss stating the trip cannot happen as his wife’s Visa was denied – This was 15 days prior to tour starting and the client had received vouchers as we made an acceptation to assist with the Visa even though we had only received 50% of the tour payment price and we had flight tickets organised.
22nd May - Curtiss asked for his tour to be brought forward to 24th June – The whole trip then needed to be rebooked.
Original Tour was supposed to start on 4th July.
Bianca went well out of her way, changing bookings at the last moment, sending receipts for her wife's visa, basically being there at all hours for every wish and whim required by Curtiss. Many, many hours of work was put into it.
The bottom line is we cannot retrieve the deposit paid to our suppliers at the very last moment. I told Curtiss earlier on, well prior to his arrival date that he should take out a travel insurance which would have covered his deposit in many unfortunate eventualities.
Its sad that such an ethical and hardworking tour operator deserves to get a bad review for a situation where our terms and conditions are quite clear. We had also promised to pay him a compensation in instalment's as and when funds where available.