Guides & Their Toys
Go Touch Down Travel & Tours
- Offices In:
-
United States
Canada
Australia - Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 2010)
- Tour Types:
- Small & medium group tours (Mid-range & luxury)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $300 to $800 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
US
Email Bryan | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Dana was extremely busy. There were questions we had that we needed an appointment to have answered.
We were met at the airport by Joseph, who was very professional and friendly. Our accommodations at Seasons were nice and included a wonderful breakfast.
Humala lodge was a wonderful adventure with good food, excellent staff, and our game driver Tandy was excellent! The Boma Zulu dancers were really fun!
James transported us to Tshukudu via the Panorama route and was very helpful, answered questions and took care of transfers and accommodations questions for us for our Victoria Falls excursion.
Our Tshukudu cabin was nice, but there were ants everywhere. The food was excellent! Our game driver Tyler was excellent as well.
Our accommodations at Victoria Falls at the Ilala Lodge was magnificent! Beautiful room, excellent food and wonderful staff. Lucky picked us up at Victoria Falls airport and transported us to Victoria Falls and the Chobi river package. He was excellent and very helpful.
Our Victoria Falls accommodations only included breakfast. We were surprised that we had to pay for lunch and dinner!
US
Email VW | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Super accommodating and makes sure everyone is having a great time
Our experience with GoTouchDown has been great! We're the type of travellers who don't typically work with multi-day tour operators just because we prefer to explore on our own with a flexible schedule, but when we decided on South Africa as our "big trip", GoTouchDown definitely helped made it a huge success. We didn't know much about South Africa, but from reading online travel guides about the country, we knew we needed local experts to ensure we had a safe and memorable trip. The ground staff in the US were professional and had helped us a lot in providing the necessary documentations when we had to apply for visas to enter South Africa. Our local tour guide, Tabo, was with our small group of six 24/7...from Day 1 of when we started our trip in Johannesburg to Day 7 for when we depart from Hoedspruit back to Johannesburg, he made sure everything was good in our group, and tried to do as much as possible if we had any issues. He was super knowledgeable, friendly and professional, and a great personality that made the long drives a very enjoyable one! The rangers that we had at Songimvelo Game Reserve - Tandi, and at Tshukudu Game Reserve - Tyler, were both super knowledgeable and entertaining, and they were going the extra mile to make sure our group's wishes of seeing certain animals was fulfilled. Hands down, I would say the lodging at Humala was one of the most comfortable and luxurious "glamping" experience, and would definitely love to stay there again to unplug and be with nature.
Possibly because of all the things that happened in the last 2 years with the pandemic, the changes that was made to our initial booking (which was back in 2020) could have been communicated better and could have given the travellers more choice on what we wanted to do with the upgrade vs original itinerary. Sometimes the ground staff in the US was a bit hard to get to when we had questions in regards to visas and getting some help on documentations. I would say the tour may be a little bit expensive for travellers who don't want to splurge. Otherwise, if you want to know that you'll be well taken care of, don't want to worry about planning for the next day's activity and just have a great time, we would definitely recommend GoTouchDown.
US
Email GW | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent Time and Wonderful Tour But a Rocky Start
The vacation was wonderful and the staff in South Africa were helpful. However the staff in the United States was not helpful when I was on the ground in South Africa. They only communicated with one of the travelers (my friend) and did not send me my itinerary until I touched down. I reached out through email while on the long flight to send me my itinerary so that I knew who was meeting me at the airport. This caused problems with meeting the gotouchdown guide on the ground. They also didn't keep my contact information for communication so that the guide could call me in an emergency. I was only given the contact information of the South African contact from my friend who they did keep in contact with. Nonetheless when I was able to get in contact with the SA staff they were responsive and apologetic. However, I ended up spending money on a cab that wasn't needed. After the initial hick-up the trip went smoothly. The resorts were great and the experience on the safaris was life-changing. I would do it again as the resorts and value for the money was excellent. However, I would only work with the South African contacts as they were the best.
US
Email Craig | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great itinerary and guides, and but a couple things need to be tightened up.
Generally, for less than a two week trip, the itinerary was perfect to get a great flavor and feel for what South Africa has to offer. Essentially the first week is for a Safari out of Johannesburg with the second portion being a number of days in Cape Town. We cannot say enough great things about the guides and drivers at all locations. Top notch! They went above and beyond what could have been expected catering to our schedule and “off tour” trips and experiences.
The price was really a great value considering all that was included. You get to see and do so much. For a ten day tour, you come away feeling that you have accomplished a lot of what you need to say you have seen and gotten a feel for South Africa.
However, there are a couple things which need to be tightened up to make this a true five star experience. There is no way to say this that doesn’t sound like an entitled tourist, but here goes. The bar set up at Hamala Lodge has to be updated to service its guests. One example. on the first morning of our several day Safari tour based at the Humala River Lodge, one of our party ordered a Bloody Mary. The bartender, a great young gentleman named Blessing, could not have been more accommodating and was able to make several Bloody Marys. The other half of the group also staying in the Hamala River Lodge at the same time, heard our order and also ordered Bloody Marys. Turned out that the 6–7 Bloody Marys completely wiped out the bar’s ability to make Bloody Marys for the rest of our stay. It would appear to be a very easy fix to have either a greater supply of Bloody Mary mix available to the bar or have someone run out the approximately 45 minutes – one hour to the town right outside the reserve to resupply the bar with Bloody Mary mix. Again, not a big deal, but such an easy fix.
The seafood restaurant for lunch in Cape Town prior to the boat tour should be deleted from the itinerary. It’s a tourist trap with no real flavor or anything special to either Africa or Cape Town. A more traditional African restaurant would be a much better option.
More importantly, there was some transfer issues that, again, would appear to be easily addressed and corrected. On the first day on our arrival from the US following a 14 hour flight, 9 passengers were transported from the airport in an 8 passenger van to the Seasons Resort. The last thing I needed was to have to sit on an armrest of the van for about the hour transfer to the Resort following that long flight. Again, not. a deal breaker, but Go Touchdown knew how many would be on the transfer, and could easily have provided more suitable transportation.
Lastly, one of group was completely left off the flight to Cape Town. Fortunately, we caught the error and we’re able to have the fourth person in our group added to the flight. Inexplicably, that same person was given a different flight back from Cape Town to Johannesburg. We were unable to get them on our same flight. They had to take a much later flight which was delayed causing a big rush in Johannesburg to make the flight home. Lastly, and again, as all the flight arrangements had to be left to Go Touchdown, and particularly after leaving this person off the flight to Cape Town, not having them booked on the same flight as the rest of our party to Johannesburg is just inexcusable.
US
Email Jia & Jack | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Both JP and Bakkies are fantastic.
We went for two tours back to back with gotouchdown. JP was our guy in Cape Town tour. He took good care of us in any way he can. We stayed in Stillness for the entire week. The amenity was not the best in my opinion. However the staffs and chiefs were great. We had the best restaurant experiences in Cape Town. It seemed each was better than the last one. Hands down for the restaurant selections. Bakkies was our guide for Safari tour. We love him. We love the two nights stayed in Dunkle estate, such a beautiful piece of property. Humala and Seasons is so so. Unfortunately, the only time we have Wi-Fi in our room was in Dunkle. We saw many animals. Lion park was totally not worth it. We felt sad to see the condition the animals in. They are in big cages there. The safari in Pilanesberg is top notch.
US
Email Bill | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great trip to Africa
Go Touchdown has done a great job despite the pandemic. Our group of 9 bought the African Safari package 2 years ago and they help us reschedule our trip several times...outstanding!
The trip was a true bucket list experience and Go Touchdown provided us with great drivers, guides and places to stay. Everything was top notch and we highly recommend them for all travel experiences.
US
Email Dave | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Did not meet expectations
After a year delay due to the pandemic we finally made out trip to South Africa. I would first like to say that the Go Touch Down staff were friendly and accommodating. We started our tour at the Seasons Resort and Spa, we would not rate this as a five star resort there were many small maintenance issues that needed to be corrected, from loose door knob, no wash clothes for 4 days, towels not replaced, animal droppings on the miniature golf course playing area, bricks sticking up on with walking path. The restaurant on the property (only one) had a very limited menu offering and than a lot of the items were not available. The elephant sanctuary tour was fantastic, would highly recommend, also enjoyed the hot air balloon ride. The drive from Seasons to Dullstroom for the panoramic route was long however the sights were very beautiful. It started with a grab and go breakfast to enjoy while driving, ( a cheese sandwich, hard boiled egg and an apple) , not a usual American type of breakfast. Made three stops along the way. The Dunkeld Lodge was very nice, we had a late lunch in the 1883 dinning room, in the evening we had an outdoor fire with a dance performance and retreated into the bar area to enjoy the bbq that was prepared. Was a cool temperature for the time of the year but the fireplace in the room kept it warm and cozy. Next morning we left for Humala River Lodge, stopped in Dullstroom, would have enjoyed a longer stop in town, only had 30 minutes to walk around. than a long drive. Once we got to Humala we had to transfer from the van to the game jeep for a 45 minute ride from the entrance out to the lodge. The lodge was everything we expected it to be, little cold as it got down to 39 degrees one night, the game drives we great. The only negative might have been at there is no menu , you get what the cook prepares. For us luckily it was all good and we enjoyed everything but for some people it could be a problem .
Humala was what you expect Africa to be. We again had an outdoor bonfire and Swaziland dancers did a show. Since this is a game reserve the amount and type of animals are limited. Than a long drive back to Seasons Resort. with a stop at Lion and Safari Park. The animals here are in large fenced in areas that you are driven through, have a good variety of animals but it is a captive situation. Next day it was drive to Pilamesberg National Park. again we had grab and go breakfast to eat in the car (tuna sandwich which no one ate) at the park we choose the open jeep and had a very good guide. Highlight here was watching the parade of 17 elephants going to the water hole, the restaurant at the park was closed so we ended up at Blimpies a fast food hamburger restaurant. Next day it was off for the hot air balloon ride which had been delayed from day to until the next to last day. We originally received a very detailed itinerary for the trip, it was however in constant state of flux as tours changed, and due to the pandemic some tours were cancelled or only parts of them were available.
Overall for the cost you get a lot with the tour, meals, transportation in country, some tour guide local tours it is not a high end tour but it is a good tour, more detail to the property maintenance at Seasons and what US visitors are expecting could be improved. Expect to spend a lot of time driving 6 people plus the tour guide in a 2 row van.
US
Email Lou | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A dream vacation!
The communication from the time of booking until we returned was great. The accommodations, transportation and tour guide was outstanding! We had a fantastic time everyday and Humala was the best! The staff, food, luxury tents and safari drives was an experience we will never forget. The best part of this tour is that is limited to six people which makes it more personal. We had 4 other people that are now friends because we created great memories like having drinks at sundown watching Rhinos! The only negative thing to say is the at the Lion park and Pilanesberg we were not in groups of 6 but in buses with 20 plus other people and lost that personal touch we had the rest of the tour. It was crowded and it catered to people in front of the bus next to the driver, not everyone. We also wished we had more time in Pilanesberg, wished we got there earlier and stayed after lunch not just half a day. Other than those two things the vacation was a dream come true! The food was great and the wine even better (alcohol is not included but very affordable, something like 2 bucks a glass, same for beer bottles). We have so many great pictures of animals and the beautiful scenery of Africa. Thank you Touch Down for a great time! Improvement in Lion park and Pilanesberg vehicles to a group of 6 will make this a five star rating. I give it a 4 1/2 out of 5!
CA
Email Dan | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience
With the exception of some challenges with the Capetown guide on the last day of our visit to the city, every portion of our booking experience and the two week tour in South Africa exceeded our expectations.
CA
Email Y E | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Memories
Hello and thank you for this offer to give a review of my South Africa experience. For me, this was a trip of a life long desire, considering that I had been a part of the resistance of apartheid oppression, while attending university some 50 years ago. So I was happily blown away by the beauty of the country, the tours offered and my living accommodations, making allowances when necessary, as the tours mattered more than sleeping quarters. What has left an unforgettable impression and which I have retold excessively is the following incident. Five individuals (me included) arrived at XXX for the safari experience. The Five consisted of a White couple and 3 Black ladies. At dinner on the first night, the 3 Black ladies were seated at a table by themselves, while the other guests (all white and meeting for the first time ) were seated together. Not a good impression. This practice changed but only after the guests themselves (foreigners) reacted to the situation On leaving the safari, we were told that any gratuities should be given to the owner for distribution to staff.. Again this smacked of something distrustful to foreign eyes, I am happy with my memories and momentous of your beautiful country, but there is a nagging reminder that the arc of progress is slow.