African Overland Tours Reviews

4.8 Rating 250 Reviews
96 %
of reviewers recommend African Overland Tours
4.8
Based on 250 reviews
Customer Service
Communication Channels
Email, Telephone
Queries Resolved In
6 - 12 Hours
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About African Overland Tours:

We believe travelling the road in Africa changes you, Forever!
We want others to experience this.

Our team of passionate planners (ex guides and travellers) help you find the perfect trip for your adventure. The tours will leave you with unforgettable experiences that will stay with you for a lifetime.

We offer over 300 Budget Safari types, from Accommodated Tours, Camping Safaris, Small Group Safaris , Budget Tented and Lodge Safaris and longer African Overland Tours at the most competitive pricing with unbiased, honest help all backed up with financial protection guarantee.

Our local knowledge and experience is invaluable as we have travelled and guided extensively on the routes in Africa (not many people can say that).

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African Overland Tours 5 star review on 23rd December 2022
Mohammad
African Overland Tours 4 star review on 21st December 2022
Roger W
African Overland Tours 4 star review on 21st December 2022
Roger W
African Overland Tours 4 star review on 21st December 2022
Roger W
African Overland Tours 4 star review on 21st December 2022
Roger W
African Overland Tours 4 star review on 21st December 2022
Roger W
African Overland Tours 4 star review on 21st December 2022
Roger W
22
Anonymous
Anonymous  // 01/01/2019
4.5 Star Review of Africa Overland Tours - Africa Travel Co (Leah, Noah, Gita) - Nairobi to Cape Town (42 days) - July 2019 - BEST VALUE ON THE MARKET for budget Camping trips Note: if you don’t have time to read this in detail you can just jump to my “quick recommendations” at the end of my write up. About me: travelled the world and worked 7 years conducting all aspects of group travel arrangements to South East Asia for school groups. First time ever personally being a participant on a group trip and not as a leader. I thought I would do as I normally do and just do a bit of research, find out the must-see activities I wanted to tick off and book my flight, then see where my path takes me. But for some reason I decided to ask Africa Overland Tours (www.africanoverlandtours.com) a question through their web portal and wow was their response prompt. Before I go into my experience with them though let me explain for those of you that don’t know the difference between what a tour company is and what a booking agent is and why both a necessary. The tour company owns the vehicle, employs the crew, sets the route/activities/itinerary and deals with the day to day on ground operations. These companies for individual group travel tours in Africa include: 1. Acacia Africa 2. Nomads 3. Drifters 4. G-Adventures 5. Intrepid 6. Dragoman And of course, Africa Travel Co who I experienced 42 days with. I’ll go into detail about my experience with them below. Basically, all these companies follow the same routes, have basically the same tent and upgrade options and do the same activities. Do check the included and the optional activities though before confirming your trip that can affect the costing. The booking agents help you find the best trip for you and have different price schedules for the different markets around the world that they sell to I.E if your reading this in Europe or China you might find the cost of your trip is different to that of someone in Canada or Australia. Some of these companies are: 1. Moja 2. Detour 3. Africa Budget Safaris 4. On The Go Tours 5. Africa Create 6. Escape 4 Africa (That I found the best deal with) On top of that these companies have shell companies /brands that they use to sell through. I bought through www.africanoverlandtours.com that’s owned by Escape 4 Africa I think? The reason they have these is because they want the flexibility to promote their products to different markets at different prices to maximise their profits, which is understandable. If you find the right deal through these, you won’t be able to go to the tour company and expect they will beat it. There is strategy behind having the companies and the agents. I did a bit of research into the different routes not all the agents say they are booking you onto a Africa Travel Co tour but Africaoverlandtours were up front and for the days I had planned the companies that were most suited to my time free and experiences I wanted to have were G-Adventures, Nomads, Acacia, Intrepid, Drifters and Africa Travel Co. I saw one Drifters vehicle and no Dragoman so I will not comment further on them. Let’s look into some differences between their set ups. If you are camping, I would only be considering two companies G-Adventures (premium option) & Africa Travel Co (budget option). There is one true premium camping option on the market and that is G-Adventures. And you will pay a premium price for this adventure. The differences between them and the budget option was not enough to convince me though. They all have the same tents, routes and similar stops. The other kind of premium camping trip is Intrepid, but do not consider if your looking at paying the same as G-Adventures. G-Adventures are newer to the market and want to build their brand and reputation here. They operate in a type of luxury coach that would not look out of place in Europe. The rest all operate out of a converted truck (which personally I liked because of the table we could play cards around). Their food budget is great ($18 usd per day), includes nibbles, sundowners (wines & beers), money handed out sometimes in cafes instead of eating beside the truck I.e Outjo’s Café in Namibia. They don’t end up spending their budget and all food is purchased using their cards given. Which in the travel industry means no blank receipts can be written out for items never really bought. This auditing is very important especially for companies like ATC, Nomads and Acacia that don’t have the bigger food budgets. At the moment the wifi is hit and miss on G-Adventures though, they will be upgrading in January 2020 so that should not be such a problem if your reading this now. What I Cannot believe is that Nomads are offering trips at the same price as G-Adventures, their food budget is less than ATC’s I was informed by a G-Adventures guide, which is roughly $7 USD a day. Saying that, that budget is fine for a budget camping trip, especially because ATC travel with 3 crew including a chef! Nomads though only travel with two crew like intrepid and G-Adventures (guide & driver). At the end of the day this is what got me over the line in deciding to go with ATC. What you get for $7 USD a day is basic drinks throughout the day I.E tea, coffee, milo. Breakfasts include: sausage, eggs, french toast, bake beans, cereals, which is more than sufficient! Speaking with another ATC truck in Tanzania though I believe their chef was a bit more creative with his food. Lunches were sandwich’s every day, with the cheapest of white bread, which got to me and a few others on the trip. We ended up buying our own bread. I mean a good German brotchen role in Namibia only costed 0.11 cents (usd). Dinners were really tasty and included a soup most nights, we only had 3 steaks throughout the 57 days though which I can kind of understand due to budgeting restraints. But overall, I would not say the full $7 was spent on us each day. In summary the food was sufficient for the price of the trip. I will though send a follow up email to their operations team regarding creating some minimum dish requirements on certain dishes (fish at least once, especially in Namibia where it’s super cheap) and asking questions as to their auditing processes. It is because of this I deducted half a star. In terms of clientele we were lucky no matter who you travel with it will be a mixed bunch. We travelled from Nairobi to Zanzibar with 17 (50 plus except the three of a)from there to Vic falls with 11 and from there to ape town with 21 (mainly 22-35 with 3 others being 50 plus) So we never had a full, full truck. I was told by African Overland Tours that ATC trucks guarantee that they run no matter what the number of participants, so you can be lucky, and this could happen. The Intrepid and G-Adventures were full when I saw them, but they have 4-8 less seats. Another thing to consider is that ATC are doing many Chinese charters. I have heard stories of sometimes there being a mix of western and Chinese and that is not great for group dynamic, they do try and filter the groups though. G-Adventures and their fancy coaches will no doubt target that market eventually. Another thing to consider and very important to the trip is the quality of guide. G-Adventures and Intrepid is where most of the guides who are the best and worked already a while for the other companies (Acacia, ATC, Nomads, Absolute) will end up. So, you will have the best chance of travel with a great guide if you travel these companies. Reason being are that their benefits are awesome, and pay is substantially better than that the other companies. I spoke to one guide that when he was recruited to G-Adventure he was up against 500+ applicants. You need experience to work for them! Saying this you can be lucky, we definitely were having Leah as our guide. BEST guide in Africa!!! She I would hope would one day consider jumping across companies, being only 3 years new to the industry she still has a bit to learn about the destinations she is travelling to, as it was her first-time past Vic Falls. Fantastic recruiting by ATC and if that is the quality of all your new guides, that is a big thumbs up from me, made for an amazing adventure. There were a few people that came with us from Nairobi with us and after Vic Falls took a different truck with a new guide through to Johannesburg. He had been with ATC 10+ years and after having Leah for 21 days were less impressed from the conversations I had with them. At the end of the day it is luck of the draw. Finally, there was a change in our itinerary mid adventure (taking out our second visit to Chobe National Park) that myself and the others that were affected were less than impressed by. This was initiated by ATC and the communication follow of information internally within the organisation was not great. I will say though that when I pushed, their operations team resolved the issues and we were more than happy with the outcome. Thank you for this! QUICK RECOMMENDATIONS (for camping not accommodated overland tours): 1. Firstly, DO IT, with whichever company you choose, just do it. It is just an awesome experience and is for all ages. 2. If your looking at any particular itinerary through a website contact www.africanoverlandtours.com and at least ask them the question as to what they can do price wise. Their service when we had an issue arise on tour was second to none. 3. ATC being African based and one of the longest running overland companies were awesome and based off my experience I would say at least consider them as your value option! 4. Word of warning: Don’t go with NOMADS. They cost more than ATC and are not worth the extra money in my opinion. They have a very bad reputation when it comes to paying their staff and suppliers (camps). Got some inside word on them a few times during the journey from camps and ex guides. 5. If you have just finished school and are 18-22 and you want to pay extra just to be with some people your age, go with Acacia. But really, having a mixed group of people that we had (20-68) was awesome. If you’re in this age range of 18-22, your probably budget conscious, so save the dollars and just go ATC. 6. If you want to pay extra few thousand for the premium option and travel in a European styled coach instead of a truck. I would recommend G-Adventures over Intrepid at this price bracket. 7. You always hear about Kenya/Tanzania. But the VIC Falls to Cape Town route (21 days) was my personal favourite of the journey. The Delta, Chobe, Etosha, Fish River Canyon, Cape Town and just Namibia in general blew me away! 8. Have an awesome trip, just say yes and get out there and do it. Africa is an amazing continent and these overland companies really have nailed the East/Southern Africa route.
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Posted 4 years ago
A great value price wise and company makes a serious effort to provide great communication and customer service. Sometimes tour operators that are booked by African Overland such as Nomad tours will have glitches which cannot be predicted. Accommodated tours may be subpar. We were grateful to receive a small refund resulting from this. Thank you.
African Overland Tours 4 star review on 6th April 2020
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Posted 3 years ago
Amazing customer service from Tammy who has been through the covid journey with me after my original tour was postponed back in April 2020. Have finally rebooked for next month and am soo excited. Cant thank tammy enough for her quick responses to all my questions along the way and fab tips!
African Overland Tours 5 star review on 13th July 2022
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Posted 1 year ago
Hi Avi Thank you for being brave and flexible throughout the Covid period and thank you for being a post-Covid pioneer traveler! We are so excited to have our travellers back on the road and experiencing Africa again, you're going to have a phenomenal time and we so look forward to hearing all about it. I've attached a picture of our awesome adventure Tammy who knows these tours inside out as she used to guide them. Thank you for sending kudos her and our way, it is hugely appreciated. Warmest Regards, Andrew, Tammy, Jess and The African Overland Tours Team.
Posted 1 year ago
Very cool
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Posted 4 years ago
The contact with Chemone was really perfect,she made a Great effort...but,I did'nt do the Trip yet,so I can not say anything about my trip
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Posted 4 years ago
Thanks so much Hedwig! Thanks for trusting Chemone to help :) Thanks so much again Kindest regards Andrew (founder of AOT)
Posted 4 years ago
Le service client est super, j'étais en contact avec George, il répond très rapidement à toutes mes questions et il est très gentil. Je me réjouis de commencer ce voyage :)
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Posted 4 years ago
Merci beaucoup Bastien. Nous apprécions vraiment vos commentaires! Andrew (founder of AOT)
Posted 4 years ago
Very good organised tour: the crew stick to the plan. Crew gave us much content about what we saw and what we did. Crew coocked very wel. Crew was respectfull. Crew was amazing anyway.
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Posted 1 year ago
Hi Stijn, We're so happy to hear that you had such a wonderful time on tour in Mozambique and Kruger! Thank you for taking the time to review your tour and to pass on such awesome feedback about your guides. We will be sure to pass your feedback on to the guides. Have a wonderful time back home and start dreaming of your next trip to Africa!
Posted 1 year ago
I recently returned from the East Africa Migration tour and it was an absolutely amazing experience. It was beyond anything I had imagined. The booking process was quite easy and Chemone was wonderful in answering my million questions about the trip and putting me at ease as it was my first time doing an African safari. The guides in Kenya (Francis) and Tanzania (Elisha) were both amazing. They are both excellent drivers and all of us felt very safe and assured on the very bumpy roads. Elisha was also very organized and efficient in getting us going as quickly as possible on the game drives every day. Overall, it was fantastic and smooth experience and can't wait to explore more African countries in the future.
African Overland Tours 5 star review on 24th August 2022 African Overland Tours 5 star review on 24th August 2022 African Overland Tours 5 star review on 24th August 2022 African Overland Tours 5 star review on 24th August 2022 African Overland Tours 5 star review on 24th August 2022 African Overland Tours 5 star review on 24th August 2022 African Overland Tours 5 star review on 24th August 2022 African Overland Tours 5 star review on 24th August 2022 African Overland Tours 5 star review on 24th August 2022 African Overland Tours 5 star review on 24th August 2022
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Posted 1 year ago
Oh my gosh that is truly amazing to hear! Your photo's were incredible. We are over the moon you had an amazing experience and can't wait to help. Thank you Thank you Thank you! Andrew Founder of AOT
Posted 1 year ago
pleasant operator consultant
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Posted 1 year ago
I was booking my trip through Minette who is an incredible travel agent, they went above and beyond my expectations. They replied to messages straight away, gave all the information i needed and passionate about my trip. I felt very safe in what i was booking and couldn't wish for a better agent.
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Posted 1 year ago
Hi Kristi, Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback! It really makes us smile to know that we're offering a service that goes beyond expectations. It's also so awesome that you mentioned Minette as she is our newest team member and is already living and breathing everything overland! Thanks again Kristi, Warmest regards from Andrew and the African Overland Team
Posted 1 year ago
I was one of the first travelers to South Africa after the Covid Crisis began in April 2022. Tamlyn found me a tour that was running and fitted my interests. Glad things are back to normal in the country. It was an amazing experience being there!
African Overland Tours 5 star review on 25th May 2022
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Posted 1 year ago
Wow David, what a beautiful photo! Thanks so much for the review and trusting us to help plan your trip to South Africa (especially as you were one of the first post covid travellers). We deeply appreciate you :) Massive Thanks Andrew (Founder of AOT)
Posted 1 year ago
Huntley was very helpful with finding us a tour which fit our other travel plans. He responded quickly to questions and gave me additional information regarding pre- and post- tour accommodations and things to do in Cape Town. I would definitely recommend using African Overland Tours.
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Posted 4 years ago
Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful! I'm so pleased you had a great experience. Thanks so much, Karen for kindest words and recommendation. Kind regards Andrew (Founder of AOT)
Posted 4 years ago
Huntley was fast, funny and efficient. Excellent service!
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Posted 4 years ago
Awesome! So pleased! Thanks for letting us know. Kindest regards Andrew (Founder of AOT)
Posted 4 years ago
Chemone was a dream to work with. She all but held our hands through it all. Due to unexpected last minute illness, my husband and I had to cancel the trip but our friends went anyway. She make all the necessary changes, got us and unexpected partial refund and helped with the claim for trip insurance. Our friend came home with the dream trip of a lifetime experience. The whole experience for us began and ended with the professional help of this lovely lady. If we do get to go again I will work with no one else!!
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Posted 4 years ago
Thanks so much, Sue for the kindest words. We truly are appreciative! We look forward to helping you too. Kindest regards Andrew (Founder of AOT)
Posted 4 years ago
Good staff
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Posted 4 years ago
Thanks so much, Paolo, I will let Tammy know! Kindest regards Andrew (Founder of AOT)
Posted 4 years ago
Our tour consultant is Huntley Kronje.He is highly knowledgable and help you to make your arrangements that suits you accordingly.It is the second time that we are using African Overland Tours after 2 years ago we travelled with them to South Africa.
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Posted 4 years ago
Very good and quick service from Tammy. Hope, the trip will be great!
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Posted 4 years ago
Brilliant to hear! Tammy is a gem :) Thanks for letting us help. Thanks so much again Kindest regards Andrew (founder of AOT)
Posted 4 years ago
For anyone interested in travelling to Africa, I would highly recommend contacting Huntley Kronje at African Overland Tours. Huntley is extremely knowledgeable on all things Africa and has helped us with all arrangement and has been super helpful answering all of my questions no matter how odd or strange. He made our first trip to Africa and amazing success in 2015 and we’re planning a return visit in 2020.
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Posted 4 years ago
Hi Jerry, Thank you so very much for the kindest of words. I know Huntley feels a deep appreciation for the trust you have put in him for all these years. We are so grateful that you allow us to help with your journey's! Look forward to many more adventures. Kindest regards Andrew (founder of AOT)
Posted 4 years ago
Excellent help Nicky is a world treasure Thanks for all your patience
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Posted 4 years ago
Thanks so much Olive for the kind words! We deeply appreciate Nicky too :) Kindest regards Andrew (Founder of AOT)
Posted 4 years ago
I have used African Overland Tours for all my trips to Africa. They have always provided excellent service and recommendations. They search out the best value trips. I would totally recommend them, especially Huntley who I always deal with.
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Posted 4 years ago
Thank you so much Maureen, we deeply appreciate YOU too! Kindest regards Andrew (founder of AOT)
Posted 4 years ago
African Overland Tours is rated 4.8 based on 250 reviews