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 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.
Email MCB | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Cape Town to Vic Falls (Accommodated)
My partner and I did the 20 day Cape Town to Vic Falls trip and were very happy with the overall experience. We made enquiries with a number of companies, but Gelle at go2africa was by far the most helpful and responsive. In addition, after we booked she answered a myriad of our random questions with speed and expert advice.
The trip itself was wonderful, our group only consisted of 8 people so we had lots of space in the truck and our tour leader (Shadwell) and cooks (Saima and Norman) were really kind, informative and professional. The range of accommodation was dependent on the varying places we visited, however, it was always very clean and well maintained.
The highlights of the trip for us were Okavango Delta, Chobe national park, Dune 45, Deadvlei, desert walk, night game viewing at Etosha national park and Fish River Canyon.
We would strongly recommend anyone to do this tour, as it is an amazing experience.
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20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
November Cape Town and Safari Vacation
First, we want to thank Go2Africa for their outstanding service and commitment to ensure that their clients receive unforgettable vacations. The four of us were especially impressed with Go2Africa’s stress-free service that occurred throughout the initial enquiry, recommendations, payment process, and prompt communication. We couldn’t have asked for a better organization to assist with our travels.
Secondly, we want to thank Ramona for her patience and extraordinary effort in ensuring that the four of us would have a vacation that we will always cherish. After enquiring about Go2Africa’s services, we received a quick response from Ramona explaining that she would be our travel expert to assist in planning our vacation. It is clear that Ramona cares about her clients and invests the time to ensure that their wishes are fulfilled. Ramona took into account all of our considerations and worked with the budget that the four of us were willing to commit to. We are confident in saying that Ramona planned an amazing Cape Town and Safari vacation. We are still amazed at the amount of things we were able to do in just 8 full days of vacation to include Table Mountain, Cape Point Tour, Stellenbosch Wine Tour, and 6 guided safari’s in the Sabi Sands. Ramona’s recommended accommodations in Cape Town and Sabi Sands were outstanding and more luxurious than we originally imagined. Ramona’s guidance in preparing us for the trip (to include vaccinations, what to pack, and many other things to consider while traveling) was extremely helpful. In addition, Ramona’s detailed itinerary made this vacation as stress-free as possible allowing us to enjoy what Cape Town and the Sabi Sands has to offer. Thank you again Ramona for an amazing journey!
There are a few recommendations that we would ask Ramona or Go2Africa to consider. First, the four of us were really disappointed that we were not able to participate in our scheduled cage shark diving excursion during our last day in Cape Town due to inclement weather. Had we known that cancellations often occur for this reason, we would have booked the cage shark diving on the first day of our trip so that we could reschedule in time before we left. Also, we were told we would get refunded for not being able to attend, and it’s taken 3 months to receive reimbursement. Secondly, although the list of recommendations for restaurants in Cape Town was sufficient, we found the list to be a little outdated. We recommend updating the list to include new and popular restaurants in addition to recommendations on when to request reservations. The four of us attempted to dine at the highly acclaimed “Test Kitchen” (not on the list) but when making reservations 3 weeks before, found out that we had to make reservations six months in advance. Lastly, although we were very happy with our guided tours, all the tours were booked through a company called “Ilios”. When our cage shark diving excursion was canceled we decided to go on another wine tour but this time through a different company than Ilios. We would have to say that we enjoyed the alternate company’s wine tour better as we were able to tour more vineyards, and in our opinion, more reputable wineries. We recommend that Go2Africa provide a recommended list of other companies they work with for clients to choose regarding their excursions on vacation.
Even though there were some setbacks along the way, Ramona and Go2Africa were very reliable and helpful in assisting us throughout the whole process from beginning to end. I cannot emphasize enough that this trip was one of the best trips the four of us have ever had the privilege to take. We hope to go back to Africa in the future, and we will most definitely be contacting Ramona and Go2Africa again for their exceptional service.
PH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very good service and hassle-free trip
I booked my east african safari trip with Maureen of go2africa. She was the nicest and friendliest of all tour agents i have conversed with online that's why i chose this company. She is very quick to reply via email and all my queries were attended to.
We had a great time in kenya and tanzania!! Trip of a lifetime for me and my husband by far. All arrangements were seamless.
Minor glitches : zanzibar pickup was kind of late and we were worried for a little time that we might not be picked up. We had nairobi layover for 2 days and we feel we could have seen more of the city to maximize stay.
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Email Beth and Jack | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Another fascinating trip to Africa
We spent 3 nights at Savuti camp in Botswana. We had wonderful food, a great guide , Lucky, and saw a leopard within 5 minutes of arriving at Savuti Camp Airstrip.Kang, Kelly and all the staff were friendly and helpful. The rooms were spacious and clean. Our front porch looked out over water and grassy fields where we could watch elephants graze. We even had two occasions where peaceful elephants grazed through the camp!
Banoka Bush Camp was my least favorite camp. Mama Bea was wonderful and welcoming but the cabins were less comfortable and our guide not as easy to work with. Our last camp was Marataba Safari Lodge in South Africa. The four hour car ride gave our grandsons a chance to see city and country roads with the ease of a professional driver. Marataba was everything you would want on a safari trip. Beautiful, expansive views and comfortable common spaces. Our tent, really a suite, was a cool refuge after being out looking for animals. We saw plenty of animals and our guide, Wikus, was so knowledgeable about animal behavior. The food was superior and the staff always accomodating. We would return to Marataba without question.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fast and efficient organisation
Fast and efficient service and proposals
Pleasant and wellcoming agent
Disappointed by Sun City : in winter too cold for water activities + no dinner facilities at Cabanas Hotel
Good advice for the safari lodge Black Rhino : pond in front of the lodge, animals come to drink + very warm wellcoming staff + a very interesting guide - a very special experience.
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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.