South Africa Tour

[xsbeech]

Hello all. Looking for a little guidance. My husband and I are researching trips to S. Africa and have been recommended to travel with Nomad Tours (we are going to do Cape Town, Vic Falls, Kruger and Swaziland Johannesburg & Durban). Have you had any experience, or heard anything about this tour company??

Also, my crazy husband would like to do some great white cage diving in Cape Town. Is this the best place to do it? Or is there a better location? Also, who would you recommend to go with?

Thanks in advance for your help. I find planning this trip a bit overwhelming, as I have never been to that part of Africa before.

Cheers!
Xiomara

 

[SteveDiver]

Try www.friendlyplanet.com I use them quite often and they are great. If you cannot afford to pay for the entire trip at once you can make payments and pay off the balance 60 days prior to leaving. I always book the tours because of the cheap airfare (group rates) and the rooms are included... Most of the time I do not stay with the tour group (not required) and go on my own.

 

[caymaniac]

I've been to all the places that you have mentioned except Vic. Falls. I set up my own reservations on the net. I got a consolidated rate from the airlines with S. African Air out of Miami. We flew directly to Cape Town. While in Jo-burg, do be careful as alot of the hotels are brothels. Also be careful in Swaziland, I had my credit card# stolen from a popular hotel-Sun something. Also, friends had received their credit card back from a purchase and did not look at the card that they were given back....it was not theirs which they observed (it was a stolen one)when trying to use their card after leaving the country.
On a better note, Krugar is awesome, we spent two weeks there. We entered at the Orpen gate and we saw 4 of the "Big Five" in the next few hours and headed to stay at Satara. The next week we stayed at Bergendahl. We saw the alot of things that we never even knew exsisted. Being in the S.Africa gameparks are like diving only above the water. We also spent a week in the Natal Reserve and dove at Sodwanna.
I hope you have an enjoyable trip, we will never forget it and are planning to go back in the future.

 

[AndyT]

Hi

Can't help with the Safari stuff , but Cape Town is the place to come to for GW diving - and it's perfectly safe too !!

Safe Diving

Andrew

 

[Bubble Junky]

It's the best place for the Great Whites - Gaansbai (not sure about the spelling on that one), is where the boats head out from, to Dyer Island !! It's just as impressive from the boat as from the cage !!

 

[eanxgirl]

I just got back from SA and the GW cage dives from Gansbaai were certainly a highlight. I went with Marine Dynamics and they ran an outstanding operation. PM me if you want more details. I had a fantastic trip and can't wait to go back.

 

[clarissa1]

Hi There

Nomad is a very well-known overalnding company based in Cape Town. However I do know one of the guys that used to work for Nomad and he has actually started his own overlanding company now as well. Most of the trips are about 9 weeks in total and starts in Cape Town and goes all the way to Nairobi. Not sure if this is too long a trip? He also has one shorter trip. If you would like more details you are welcome to email me at holidayhomes@telkomsa.net
I might be able to get you a special rate from him. You can also check out www.thebigpurpletruck.com for more info.