Overall, the South Africa tour was INCREDIBLE and our tour guide, JEREMY POOLE was organic, knowledgeable, incisive, passionate, and patient. Highlights included the natural beauty of South Africa, interacting with the cheetahs in Hsuhsului Preserve, seeing the BIG FIVE in one afternoon, and all things Mandela—from visiting his home in Soweto to going to the apartheid museum, and then, on an optional trip to Pretoria, seeing the courthouse he was held in and the cell where he wrote the Freedom Charter on the wall. Negatives were as follows: 1–the small van we were in for most of the tour. We were told that we would have a BUS that had bathroom facilities on it. However, because there were only 12 on this tour, I guess that SmarTours decided to economize and we had a van that could seat 15 people, albeit uncomfortably. Two seats were situated over the wheel well, which made it difficult for anyone to sit there. Additionally, the seats were uncomfortably narrow, and the seatbelts dug into the bones of my rear. Two people on this trip suffered from Crohn’s disrase and one had an episode on the bus. It took a while to find a restroom for him, and while he remained good natured, if the bus had the promised facilities, he would not have had to go through this public embarrassment. For the last two days of the trip, in Johannesburg, we had the promised bus and then on the optional tour—with only seven of us—we had a van which had much wider comfortable seats (and a narrower aisle—which was a much better use of space.) 2–while the hotel in Cape Town was lovely and modern, it was in a HORRIBLE section of town. I was traveling with another woman, and when the hotel manager asked us our evening plans—which would have involved walking two blocks—he advised against it, and offered us a ride in the hotel limo—suggesting that we call him when we finished dinner so he could send a car to bring us home. The amount of homeless and drug addicts around the hotel was appalling. Needless to say, my friend and I opted for a restaurant across the street from the hotel—where Mr Poole wound up dining as well. The presence of so many security guards and warnings sent out red flags. Yet despite the precautions, an unbalanced homeless woman somehow got into the grounds and into the pool where she yelled for hours. Once I determined she was not being attacked, I went to bed, but several others on the tour were kept awake until the fire department took her away in an ambulance around midnight. 3- Swaziland. Why did we go there??! And the hotel was HIDEOUS. Mildew, tipped carpeting, stains on just about everything...disgusting in every way. I don’t know who awards stats but this one shouldn’t have any.