Can anyone recommend a travel agent for South Africa

[N860CR]

On my last few SA safari trips I have booked directly with &Beyond (the camp operator), however I have since been told that this was fairly stupid of me as the private travel agents get discounts of about 15% on the standard rates.

I'm looking to do a few Africa trips over the next year so would really like to establish a relationship with an SA based travel agent.

Can anyone here recommend somebody who they've had experiences with?

 

[Danger]

Expect a PM in a couple of minutes.

 

[Milboo]

I used Jacada in the UK and had an awesome experience as it is bespoke tours. While they are head quartered in UK, they have a Cape Town based team who are awesome. Byron and Tess are outstanding and pretty sure both (but definitely Byron) are locals.

They will ill be doing the trip back I'm hoping to do next year.

Their website is great to explore too.

Obviously they are at the more luxury end of the market but work to your budget.

 

[Shan Man]

where are you looking to go? I know a great company that Operates in Botswana (Chobe + Okavango)

 

[N860CR]

This trip will just be SA and Namibia (did both chobe and Okavango last time). I'll update early in the week with some progress.

 

[JohnM]

My immediate response is: why use a travel agent at all for those two countries?

What are you wanting to do?

 

[Bindibuys]

Just checking that you have seen this request JohnM.
You will be my go-too person when the time come to travel to SA

 

[N860CR]

3 nights at a sabi sands lodge, 3 in the Kruger and 3 at sossusvlei. Light aircraft flights to and from JNB and to and from WDH. I'll organise the commercial stuff, but I use an agent for the lodges and light plane flights. I've found the local agents get rates far better than the lodges and charter companies give to the public.

 

[JohnM]

3 nights at a sabi sands lodge, 3 in the Kruger and 3 at sossusvlei. Light aircraft flights to and from JNB and to and from WDH. I'll organise the commercial stuff, but I use an agent for the lodges and light plane flights. I've found the local agents get rates far better than the lodges and charter companies give to the public.

Quick trip!

SA National Parks has a very good website for booking accommodation and getting the entry pass for Kruger - which is best travelled independently by car IMO.

Namibia is extremely easy to get around by car but distances are great, so time is needed. I recommend the balloon flight at Sossusvlei. Might be a good idea to book that in advance to ensure a spot (Namib Balloons.)

 

[bluesideup]

PM me and I can put you in contact with an excellent agent in Cape Town

 

[wandering_fred]

PM me and I can put you in contact with an excellent agent in Cape Town

Your agent will have a lot of business if able to plate tickets on 001 stock. (See the RTW discussions about AA in the OneWorld section of FT)

Happy wandering

Fred

 

[Freq Flier 2013]

On th topic of travel agents.... Does anyone have a travel agent or a city specific tour guide for southern Spain?
- mainly Barcelona / Madrid / Seville / Granada ..

 

[Jmrocky]

3 days is a fair amount of time around Sossusvlei / Sesriem. Recommend the balloon flight, Deadvlei and the hike up Dune 45. If you land in Solitaire, don't miss the servo and the apfel strudel. It might be a fair distance from where you're staying, but if possible Swakopmund is worth a look. There aren't many Konditorei's in that half of the world.

There's a local guide who owns a farm in the area around Solitaire, no idea of his name, answers only to Bosmann (Bushman in Afrikaans). He's a great bloke, no kidding he hasn't worn shoes in 15 years and yet he'll take you out in the middle of the day, walking through 50C sand to show you a scorpion hiding in the heat. He used to run tours into Sossusvlei until the Namibian government took over.

For me Namibia is my favourite southern Africa country. Very laid back people who are very friendly, difficult to see wildlife but the vistas are worth it.

 

[TraceyK90]

We are also Namibia fans, agree with Moose's bakery! I can give you the name of a lodge to avoid in the area...had an open sewerage trench when we were there!!