Tribes Travel

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Tribes Travel, 12 The Business Centre, Earl Soham, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP13 7SA, UK

Tribes Travel

The art of travelling with respect

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    Review

     

    1. Mr K London
    2. 22/02/2009
    3. 2
    4. South Africa

    5. Overall level of satisfaction

      • Excellent

      Excellent

    7. The holiday exceeded our expectations. Great itinerary with fantastic choice of locations and accommodation. Accommodation far exceeded our expectations and in fact the standard of everything was tremendous. This 'taster' will make us want to try other places in Africa.

    8. Tribes service

      • Excellent

      Excellent

    10. Faultless. The little booklet which we received as our welcome pack from your rep (African Insight) at the airport, when we arrived, was very informative. All arrangements went to plan. This is the second time that we've used Tribes and again we have been very impressed. We are recommending you to all our friends.

    11. Expectations

      • Excellent

      Excellent

    13. We were very impressed by South Africa and the locations that you chose for us. We had expected that accomodation would be a bit more basic than Europe and facilities a bit restrictive. Nothing could be further from reality. The guesthouses were absolutely superb, very chic with better facilities than all 3* and most 4 * hotels in Britain. Breakfasts cooked to order, very friendly people and personal touches that you never see in hotels. I will recommend friends to stay in guesthouses if they visit SA.
      It was much hotter than we expected and the Africans admitted that it was abnormally hot for that time of year.
      We were very impressed by the South African focus on conservation. Everywhere we went, there were notices advising respect for the environment, animals, birds, marine life etc.

    14. Guides

      • Good

      Good

    16. We did not really have guides, but we were picked up on 5 occasions and each was very helpful and friendly.
      1) Arrival at Cape Town, African Insight rep was a few minutes late because the plane arrived 50 minutes early and we were through immigration and luggage retrieval in about 20 minutes. We only had to wait 5 minutes and he was most appologetic.
      2) Port Elizabeth to Amakhala; Calabash Tours rep, Nelson told us about the townships and his family on our 70Km drive to the reserve.
      3) Amakhala to Port Elizabeth: Nelson again collected us to take us to the airport. He also made a little detour at our request to show us the main points of interest in PE - a mini tour in fact. Very good.
      4) Cape Town airport to Liberty Lodge. Cape Capers rep was on time and again very friendly.
      5) Liberty Lodge to Cape Ttown airport. A different Cape Capers rep picked us up at the time appointed. Unfortunately the car ran out of petrol or broke down some 3 miles from the airport. He managed to flag down a traffic cop who took us to the airport. We felt very sorry for the rep, who had been very chatty and was clearly upset at this incident.
      Our Game reserve driver / guide at Amakhala was Sarah (from Essex); She made the drives very intersting with her knowledge of the animals and the conservation issues. We only ever had one other couple with us in the jeep so we felt that it was a very personalised service. The guides took turns staying with the guests (5 couples in total) for dinner which was also good entertainment.

    17. Social & Environmental Responsibility

      • Good

      Good

    19. The holiday made us more aware of social problems that SA is coming to grips with. We enjoyed very much staying with Hazel in Oodtshoorn who gave us a great insight into the struggle to run a B & B in a white domonated environment.
      There was alot of information on notice boards about biodiversity and conservation measures. I had not realised that SA has about 80% of the worlds plant biodiversity.
      The beaches are beautiful and relatively deserted - I hope they can keep them like that.

    20. Other comments

    21. Just to say - fantastic. The best holiday ever!

    1. Accommodation

    1. Auberge Rozendal

    2. Auberge Rozendal
      • Excellent

      Excellent

    4. Superb little chalets on a working farm but very peaceful apart from noise from ibis, owls etc. Great pool. Beautiful scents from the garden.

    1. Fifth Avenue Beach House

    2. Fifth Avenue Beach House
      • Good

      Good

    4. This is more like an American appartment accommodation, one might find in Florida with the big self catering suite and lovely pool with garden. Alot of business people were staying so it shows that they appreciate that quality rather than run-of-the-mill hotels.

    1. Hazel's Homestays

    2. Hazel's Homestay in Oudtshoorn, South Africa
      • Good

      Good

    4. We had been worried that this would be basic but it was just as good as everywhere else. The owner Hazel was very interesting to talk to about her struggle and her success in building her business

    1. Liberty Lodge

    2. Liberty Lodge
      • Good

      Good

    4. Previously owned by the 2 men who now have African Villa. The Liberty Lodge is just as stylish but is now run by an English lady, Ruth Parsons. She was very helpful and friendly, sitting with the guests at breakfast and giving helpful tips about visits, etc.

    1. Tranquility Lodge

    2. Tranquility Lodge
      • Excellent

      Excellent

    4. What a superb design of building in wood and bamboo. We had the chef just cooking for ourselves for dinner on the 4th March. Another interesting character. The lodge is amongst trees and the variety of birds coming to the feeder was fascinating.

    1. Whalesong Lodge

    2. Whalesong Lodge, Hermanus area accommodation
      • Excellent

      Excellent

    4. Very stylish and the best view in the world over the Walker Bay Marine proteccted area. Stanley & Lainy Carpenter who own the guesthouse were very friendly and helpful.

    1. Woodbury Lodge

    2. Woodbury Lodge, Amakhala Game Reserve
      • Excellent

      Excellent

    4. Again we expected somewhat basic accomodation but it was fantastic with all the usual facilities but overlooking vaste plains full of animals. I wish we didn't have to leave.

    1. Experiences

    1. Meeting South Africans

    2. South African cultures & people
      • Had a whale of a time!

      Had a whale of a time!

    4. The holiday made us more aware of social problems (overcoming apartheid) that SA is coming to grips with. We got a better understanding from the black africans that we talked to, about their struggle to get decent jobs and the inequality that still is somewhat present.

    1. Self-driving in South Africa

      • Had a whale of a time!

      Had a whale of a time!

    4. Some people that I knew, had said that driving in South Africa was not safe. We never felt threatened although we did not drive after dark. The roads are superb: wide carriageways, smooth as glass (no potholes) and hardly any traffic. We even travelled on gravel track which surprisingly was very smooth (the car got a bit dusty though!)
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