Freindly Reservations and Great Service Guaranteed
African Coast Travel & Tours
- Located In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2004)
- Member Of:
- ZTA, SOAZ, ATSA & SATSA
- Tour Types:
- Small & medium group tours (Mid-range & luxury)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $290 to $1,200 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Helen | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unsafe, unprofessional and extremely expensive - do not use!
We paid almost as much for an overnight trip to Hwange as we did for a 10 day trip with Nomad and got little for it, as it was little more than 29 hours all up. You would be better to hire a car and drive to the park, as it is quite safe, and use the safari options at any of the lodges in and around the park.
Our issues started from at pick up. Mr Moyo emailed he would pick us up, then sent a young driver who was lovely, but no tour guide, and he did not seem to know what was happening or when (but was keen to find out how to get a girlfriend - and visa - in Australia)!
On arrival, our safari truck was broken down and the contracted provider was clearly struggling. A replacement was found after an hour, but both vehicles had clearly been in significant accidents / rollovers. We cancelled the safari the following morning trip as my partner (a mechanic who owned a garage for 15 years) said the vehicle was too unsafe. Pic avail.
The guide was also lovely as was the lunch, but he was an inexperienced driver and needed more training in guiding. Unlike our highly professional Nomad tour guides and day trip guides, we generally stopped where the guide could see the game but our view was obscured by bush! Each time we had to ask for him to move the vehicle, which resulted in a lot of revving and an overshoot back and forth. By the time we could see, the game had often left! We were also rushing to a schedule, and not following the game. On three occasions we left a spot with game and went to another empty waterhole and waited.
To top it off, we also found that dinner had not been specified, and had to get the hotel to call to get this sorted. All up, it was a truly disappointing and very expensive experience. Given the professionalism of all of the other operators we dealt with in a month in Africa, this was definitely an outlier. Go somewhere else.
Reply from African Coast Travel & Tours
Posted on Oct 29, 2018Dear Helen
Thank you very much for your review and yes i really appreciate it, please note that i have taken note of your disappointment, you experienced, my humblest apology, as we value every review we receive and we take it serious as in your case i was seriously concerned and did my investigations, i then discovered that for sure the guide whom you went with was a new guide, and though he was newly engaged with us he was engaged without my knowledge with the operations manager on the ground in Hwange as he was also given the opportunity also, and i am really sorry for this happening, he was trying him but unfortunately he did not deliver, so we have made him become a supply driver only on Camps instead of going into the park with guests, and i hope this will not happen again, starting from now on wards we then come up with a new system of having specific guides, not any guide who will take our clients into the park, as happened in your case.
coming to the vehicles our vehicles are open 4 x 4 game drive vehicles and non have rolled over as they operate in the park and there is no one time when you can drive more than 120km in the park with these vehicles, also adding on to that these are 2016 Vehicles and brought in as new and still under 100 000km warranty, they receive full service, i understand that vehicles can have a breakdown anytime and we have a back up vehicle always at standby to cater for such unforeseen circumstances,
Coming onto our transfer driver his duty is to make sure you arrive on time and safe, i also investigated and asked why was he keen on advising to get a Visa or girl friend he said it was a joke with you, but i then advised him to avoid talking nonsense as much as possible,
but above all on be half of the management team, my Humblest apologies to you of these sad developments, we are hopping that we will make sure that we are on top of the situation especially when selecting guides as much as possible, i failed to go with you as i was in Namibia with other guests, and that's why there was that sudden change, and i know you would wanted to go with me but unfortunately it was impossible to be everywhere, i hope you understand my position.
i would love to host you again in the near future and i will say try us again we have learnt our lessons, and we will make sure and promise better and great Game drives again in Southern Africa
Yours Faithfully
Joseph Moyo
Operations manager
SG
Email Max | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Poorly organised, poor communications which only improve near the end of tour.
Bad start to tour. Pickup came about 30mins late for pickup from CPT airport. No assurance about daily tour itinerary and dinner reservations. I had to asked every tour leaders lookalike at the door of my hotel to find my allocated tour. Went for prepaid dinner but restaurant rejected us for no reservation or info on our dinner after travelling a great distance to the restaurant in a foreign land. Everyday, we had to be on our toes to find our allocated tours searching the hall of the hotel and every hotels we stayed we had to make sure all meal and tour reservations were in order without knowing the time and location of meetup! I had to called the outsourced travel agency after I finally figured out who they were myself from the reception to arrange myself the time and place. At times, even this travel agent was unsure of my paid itineraries which further added on to our already messy and poorly arranged tour. Tour only improved at JNB with a dedicated tour leader in charge of us with clearer instructions. Overall, really bad start with so much fear and uncertainty that really ruin our holiday.
Reply from African Coast Travel & Tours
Posted on Dec 9, 2017Dear Max
Thank you for your review and highlighting your comments for your South African tour, and we really appreciate your review and we will try our level best to have a private guide in Cape town, as the usual company we engaged let us down, though we had our hands on in Johannesburg hence the change in service delivery there after, we will definitely change our Cape town ways of operation and in future we will be hands on to avoid a similar situation, and we really appreciate your reviews and we apologies for the hick cups caused for your holiday.
Yours faithfully
Joseph Moyo
Operation manager.
CN
Email Vivian Shuai | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Cold experience but special
My husband and I were travelling for our honeymoon and we booked the one day private tour in Cape Town. It was a rainy and windy day so the temperature in Cape town was quite low. Despite the cold weather, we enjoyed our time with the African penguins in Boulder's Bay. The scene at the Cape Point was extremely breath taking and became one of the most memorable moments of our trip in Cape Town. The driver was friendly and professional. We are satisfied.
JP
Email Shinji | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
World's most beautiful desert adventure
Thanks to the very quick reply and smooth communication with the guide, I was able to complete every arrangement of my private tour in just two days. From the time of pick up until drop off at the airport, his time management was perfect. His humour and hospitality have made it a very relaxing and enjoyable my first Namibian trip. Not only the beautiful desert, but camping in the wilderness and the beautiful starry sky have become my special memories. Thanks a lot!
US
Email Lenny Y. | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Custom tailored private tour in South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia.
The private tour was set up to fit our schedule and interests. It included some of the best national parks in each country, Victoria Falls, Namibian desert. Joseph is a hard working knowledgeable guide who will make your journey a memorable experience. Thank you.
CA
Email Allan | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Everything was fine except for return transport
Transport to the lodge was fine and my experience at the lodge was excellent in terms of accommodation, service, food, amenities, and game drives. Transport back from Hwange to Livingstone was a nightmare of poor communication and waiting though. Ended up being forced to wait in a small village for hours without being told what was going on, and being very late on arrival in Livingstone, risking losing my accommodation for the night.
Reply from African Coast Travel & Tours
Posted on Dec 9, 2017Dear Allan
Thank you for your review and these reviews always helps us to improve our services and its good to understand and know if you enjoyed our services or not, and in your case it is unfortunate that what we had arranged changed from the usual tour arrangement, our 2 days 1 night Hwange overnight safari tour starts with a full day and the next morning an early morning game drive then break for branch by 13:30 you then go back into the park for your last afternoon game drive which ends at 16:00hrs which was your pick up time, but unfortunately you then decided to cancel the last game drive and that's then resulted in you staying at the lodge until the arranged pick up time of 16:00hrs, i feel that the guide were also trying to while up time by taking you on a village tour as you had changed your plans and there was no immediate transport to take you back to Victoria falls, but above all we are very sorry for the inconvenience caused and we have since changed our transfers, that all our transfer vehicles which goes by the guests will not return back to Victoria falls but shall remain at the point of stay until the guests finish their stay to avoid the same situation happening again,
Yours faithfully
Joseph Moyo
Operations Manager
Email A & M | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Pleasantly suprised
We booked a 3 day overland tour from Windhoek to Sossusvlei not quite knowing what to expect. The driver met us at the airport on time, dropped us off at the hotel and picked us up the following day from where we travelled to the supermarket to pick up provisions. The 4x4 was robust and air conditioned and our driver was very well-versed on a number of subjects. Camping on top of the vehicle was an experience and we switched to the tent the day after, but the sites were much better equipped than expected. Great evenings cooking food as the sun set - a great way to start our southern Africa tour
US
One Day trip Vic Falls - Hwange National Park
We were picked up at our hotel promptly and started the drive. Joseph was informative on our drive to the park. Just before the park we stopped at a lodge where we met our safari guide and his vehicle. The vehicle was not in great condition but the sitting area for us was fine. Joseph accompanied us throughout the game drive in the park. Our safari guide/driver was very informative and tried to spot as many animals as possible. Unfortunately our vehicle had a mechanical problem and we had to retrace our steps within the park to wait for a replacement to arrive. The guide did extend our time in the park to compensate but we did drive back to the same area. I do not know what area we missed driving to because of this problem. We did get to see lots of wildlife. At the conclusion of the game drive Joseph drove us back to our hotel.
The price of this trip particular trip seemed rather high. In Vic Falls I did see one day Hwange trips being offered at a considerably lower price but since our trip had been booked and paid for in advance I did not inquire as to what the others offered.
BG
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect Christmas day at Victoria falls
I would like to express our satisfaction of the beautiful Christmas Day spent at Victoria Waterfall. The organization made by your agency and particularly you was correct and reflected our requests.
We were just a bit dissapointed from the accomodation and I would recommend you not to offer it to other customers.
I recommend ACTT to any would be travellers especially for S. African destinations...
Prompt in responding to travel queries, highly efficient and very informative