The Go2Africa team, based in Cape Town.
Go2Africa
- Located In:
- Size:
- 100-250 employees (Founded in 1998)
- Member Of:
- ATTA, SATSA & CTT
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $120 to $2,000 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Poor Value for Total Cost of Trip
I would reccomend staying clear of Go2Africa. The trips are overpriced and the customer service leaves alot to be desired. When they asked us for feedback after our trip we expressed our unhappiness and the customer service team wouldn't provide us with the link to post our review.
Very Poor Service For Amount Paid
The below is my opinion based on my experience with Go2Africa.
Go2Africa was reasonably good at selling the trip to us - good communication and pitching of experiences. That said, I agree with reviewer Anna who mentioned that they withhold information unless you ask them specifically (and in writing) - items such as the specific location of a lodge, whether you need vaccinations, where your pickup will be from (inside airport or after baggage claim).
Once they took our money is where we felt they really fell short of what we feel we paid for. In my opinion, this was made even worse by a lack of care when we reached out to them - both during the trip and afterwards.
A number of issues were encountered, including:
- Hotels forgot to put enough towels for all of our party - we emailed Go2Africa the first time this happened but it kept happening
- We'd booked and paid for a private vehicle for certain safaris but a lodge we stayed at did not know this - we had to awkwardly "fight for it" after our arrival - we feel Go2Africa should have been "on top" of what we had paid for and ensured this didn't happen
- One of our airport pickups was late, and we were left waiting for 15+ minutes outside of the airport
- One of our lodges was over 50 minutes away from the "prime" safari grounds - this was something they never told us when we were booking
- We were told that Go2Africa is a co-owner, co-investor and/or shareholder in another tour operator, called Asilia, they used this provider for parts of our trip (many Asilia cars advertise Go2Africa on their signage). The Asilia representative in one city offered to us, free of charge, a city tour at our next destination. When we arrived in this next city the Asilia team on site had no idea of this offer and, after loading our luggage into their car started awkwardly asking us for money for the tour. This made us very uncomfortable and when we later commented to Go2Africa, all they said was that they would "investigate" - our experience and time was still spoiled
- Go2Africa claimed to have reserved a restaurant for us but when we arrived we found out that the restaurant was closed on the day they said they'd confirmed the reservation for - this cost us valuable time on our tour (they later said their subcontractor should have reconfirmed this when we pushed them for accountability on it)
- They refused to provide any compensation for the issues we encountered and instead were, in my opinion, very defensive about everything that happened (they chose to blame their subcontractors rather than own the issues we encountered)
I personally would not use Go2Africa again, I feel that we paid for a premium experience and service, only to be treated quite poorly once we had paid them. Having awkward moments in foreign countries with tour operators was frustrating.... When paying for a trip, I believe you're paying for an experience. You have limited time during your travel and want to make the most of it. Go2Africa was very unsympathetic to this. I recommend looking at other options before considering Go2Africa.
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Email Rachel R. | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful and beyond helpful!
We used Go2Africa to plan our safari. As first-time travelers to Africa from the US, we had a ton of questions. Bianca was amazing and there for us every step of the way. She found a lodge with openings on short notice after we had to reschedule our South Africa trip to Kenya. The lodge we stayed at was incredible and we ended up adding an extra night while we were there. Bianca helped coordinate our stay for an extra night and that meant the world to us! We are already working with Bianca to plan our next trip and highly recommend using Go2Africa.
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Email Denise | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Visit to South Africa October 2014 - Wonderful Trip
We enjoyed our trip immensely. But we made clear that we didn't know the areas we were going to and I think our travel agent could have helped us out a bit.
ILIOS is the group that was used for our guide and transfers. They were all knowledgeable, punctual, thoughtful and professional.
Cape Town was beautiful. The hotel was very nice, big rooms and what a VIEW! Staff were friendly and helpful. The breakfast was delicious, fresh fruit every morning just got our taste buds popping. But as much as we enjoyed the hotel since there was not restaurant or bar at the hotel, I think for us, 2 women traveling alone, we would have enjoyed a place closer to restaurants. Maybe on the coast by the V&A wharf, not sure how much those places cost but would be something if I go back I would look into. We were there 3 days but personally, I think Cape Town could easily have been done in 2 days.
I can't say enough about the Safari and Lion Sand's River Lodge. Staff unbelievable, the rooms were huge, food amazing and again what a view, giraffe outside our deck on the first day! We saw all the Big 5. We had early wakeup call off by 6 am each day, we stopped in the morning for a coffee break. Each place our guide picked for a break had a great view, sometimes at the river and others in open plain One morning we had surprise full breakfast by the river! After breakfast we would go out again until about 11 am. We could relax have lunch, watch the wildlife off our deck which was right by a river. The afternoon around 4 we would go back out again, we loved the tracking and off roading. We would stop about 7 pm for a happy hour, Gin and Tonics, wonderful snacks and to watch the sun set. Back later that night for a lovely dinner. I must give a big shout out to Eddie, our tracker, and Landon, our guide, they went above and beyond for us during our stay. Our we absolutely had all our needs and expectations met at Lion Sand’s River Lodge.
Then the last 3 days and this is where we felt our travel agent failed us. We went to a very nice hotel because there was problem with us getting a flight out. The hotel was beautiful, there was a restaurant at this hotel but the food was so-so and again this was out in the middle of nowhere. It was too cold to swim and there was nothing for us to do. But luckily we were there only one night.
The next two nights was off to Zambia and Islands of Siankaba, we were so excited about going to Victoria Falls. Our hotel, Islands of Siankaba, was wonderful, we were on an island on the river! So we were ok with the isolation at this location. Staff was so friendly, food great so fresh. Several things to do on the island and in the evening we would go out on the river in a pontoon boat and have drinks, appetizers and watch a group of hippos and the sunset. Thank goodness we had this wonderful place because the Victoria Falls was such a disappointment! We were there in the dry season and there is really NO Victoria Falls on the Zambia, no one told us this. There was the opportunity to go to the Zimbabwe side which seemed to have some falls, an extra excursion we would have gladly paid for if we had known but we didn't know! We were leaving the next day so we couldn’t book it.
So maybe we can't blame our travel agent, maybe we should have done our own research but is that not why you hire a travel agent? Since you have never been in the area and don't know anyone that has been in the area before, is that not why you hire a travel agent? Lesson learned . . .
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Email Anna | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Pros and Cons
Go2Africa rep who arranged our trip listened well to our specific needs/desires. We already had several camps in Botswana in mind, and he helped us locate two more, one each in S. Africa and Zimbabwe, both of which fitted well.
Once the initial arrangements for dates and locations were made, we were handed off to another company rep to arrange all of the details. This person was not as helpful as the first. It took us asking many, many questions to obtain the information that we needed. First, much of the information could easily have been posted to their web site, like we saw with other companies' web pages. G2A seems to hold back information and not make it easily available unless you ask. For instance, we were aware from our own research that we would need some vaccinations and some of them needed to start six months prior to travel, yet G2A provided no suggestions or guidance about this until mere weeks prior to our departure. Completely useless info when it was finally provided.
Second, being a "bespoke" trip planning travel agency, it was disturbing that when we did receive information, it was often very generic and didn't apply to us at all. But we still had to sort through the information and try to discern if we needed to do something, for example.
Finally, we were never invited to review our trip with a staff member, once we returned, so that we could provide feedback on what worked and what did not. We thought that was very odd. We did have some travel issues and would like to have reported them to G2A so that they might be able to talk with their various contractors and avoid similar issues for other G2A clients. But apparently they do not care to know what we liked or where there were problems.
We enjoyed most of our three weeks-plus trip, and appreciated some of the lodgings and guides suggested to us. It's surprising that G2A doesn't want to know the problems nor the good things.
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Email Ruby | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent service, outstanding attention to detail
This trip was the 3rd one I'd taken through this company. Anja was able to put together a flawless package for me. Prior to going to Rwanda the airline had a problem that delayed me one day from leaving. Anja was able to handle this problem and the trip came off without further difficulty. I plan to use this company again next year. At no time was I left wondering what would happen next. Everyone I have come into contact with has been outstanding.
Email Lorraine Mills | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The only way to Go2Africa
Lauren from Go2Africa has done it again for my recent trip to Joburg and Botswana April/May 2016. She organised 2 fly in safari's at Moremi Camp and Savute Safari Park which were 5 star all the way. Mentioning I loved photography Lauren booked us the Pangolin Wildlife Photographic Course in Kasane for 5 days and 4 nights. This was brilliant and our tutor Janelle made this course so interesting both on the Chobe River and in the Chobe National Park. I highly recommend all these safaris to one and all a must to be added to anyone's bucket list.
Email Marissa Padilla | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Anja Naude and Go2Africa made our safari trip a reality and a wonderful and memorable experience
We are just back from an incredible 10-days in South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. We wanted to thank Anja Naude and Go2Africa for making this dream safari a reality. The trip was a year in planning and from the first contact, which was a general inquiry on a trip to Kruger, to its conclusion, it was a delight to work on the details with Anja. After looking at the itineraries on offer, we decided on creating our own. Anja listened and gave us realistic options. We appreciated having access to her knowledge, expertise and connections. Any and all communications and questions had a reply from her within 24 hours. We were able to book our lodge early enough to avail of the 2014 rates. The payment system made was efficient and trouble-free. All the choices -- from flights, accommodations and activities -- were superb with the group loathe to leave each stop as they could not believe it could get better.
The Residence Lodge was the perfect welcome stop for the long trip to Johannesburg. It quickly got us into vacation mode. Leadwood Lodge was over-the-top. We will review this separately but let me say that this probably should be the last stop on the itinerary as anything after it will suffer in comparison. The kids were "homesick" the first day of our next stop and they didn't mean the USA. They wanted to go home to Martha, Chris, Justin, John, Isaac and Patricia at Leadwood Lodge. The activities in Livingstone and Victoria Falls (segway, quad biking, zipline, Angel Pool and Vic Falls, cruising) were the perfect complement to our safari adventures.
All the flights -- international from the UK and USA and all regional flights -- worked very well. We were very glad we opted for the air transfers to and from the lodge as it maximized our time there. The air transfer to Ulusaba got us there before lunch and we went on our first drive that evening. Booking the flight from Ulusaba to Mpumalanga allowed us to fit in a morning game drive -- a fitting farewell to the safari leg of our trip.
The connections and transfer arrangements to and from the airports were punctual, reliable and worked flawlessly, i.e., Ilios in Johannesburg, the staff at Leadwood and Wild Horizons for our Livingstone leg. These were very welcome after a long trip into unfamiliar territory. Knowing our transfers were reliably sorted allowed us to focus on the trip activities. We appreciated the assistance at the Zambia/Zimbabwe border. It made our activities in the Zim side so much more enjoyable.
I wanted to thank Anja especially for the special touches and surprises that made my sister's 50th birthday so special for her and for us. I joined in on the delight at the special surprise cake and champagne celebration under the Merula tree at Leadwood. Our last activity was the Ultimate River Cruise on the Zambezi. They sang Happy Birthday once we boarded the African Queen and led us to the Captain's table. This was truly special and a perfect ending to our dream trip.
Anja and Go2Africa made our safari trip a reality and a wonderful and memorable experience. We are going back and we will do so with Anja and Go2Africa as our indispensable partners. Thank you once again from Marissa, Ellen, Beci, Mark, James & Sabrina.
CA
Email Sylvia | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Better then I could have hoped for
I had planned to go to Africa for years. I saved up, researched everything I wanted to do, and convinced a friend to go with me. When I started to try and do the actual planning I emailed about 15 different companies to ask questions. With Go2Africa, right from my first inquiry, I was continually responded to within 24 hours by Ramona. Go2Africa was the only company that would set up a trip to my exact wants. They did not require me to follow a plan that they already had set out. It was, to me, as if Ramona's only job was to make everything that I wanted to do possible! I appreciated having her feedback and opinions while trying to sort out our trip. As we settled on our safari plans, we asked Ramona some questions about one of our other destinations in Africa, and she was able to help us make arrangements for our non-safari time as well. Before departing, Ramona sent us our detailed itinerary with all of our vouchers for our activities. I don't think it would be possible to say that things could have run any smoother then they did. All of our activities, accommodations, transfers were all organized. We were able to do everything, and see everything that we hoped to see. The places we stayed were well beyond what we hoped. The food was amazing, and the entire time seemed like a fairy tale. We got into the habit of "high-fiving" in Ramona's name after each activity or upon arrival at each new location. Both my friend and I have traveled extensively, and we both agreed that never have we had such a flawless vacation. In one of our stops in Botswana, we met a woman from Germany, who had also used Go2Africa for her trip. We spent a meal comparing our experiences with different operators for the same company, and agreed that we had the same service. Our trips were completely different, intersecting at only this one camp in the Okavanga Delta, but our appreciation for Go2Africa was the same. If you are planning a trip of a life time to Africa, I would recommend Go2Africa, and Ramona in a heartbeat.
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Email Ruby | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Absolutely flawless
I have used the company four different times in travels to Africa. I find them to be readily able to be flexible, depending on one's budget. Even if traveling alone, Go2Africa has no problem planning. You simply tell them what your goals are regarding an individual trip and they immediately plan, along the way sharing possible itineraries until you have the perfect plan.
I had no problems with the four trips I've taken. Even when KLM canceled a flight on one trip, setting me back one day, my agent was able to plan around this. I highly recommend them.