South Africa Highlights & Safari Reviews

5 Rating 173 Reviews

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smarTours is a leading provider of direct-to-consumer, affordable travel experiences to exotic global destinations. The Company offers travelers curated, pre-packaged itineraries to over 50 destinations across the globe. By offering tours directly to consumers, the Company provides premium-quality experiences at value prices, and as a result, has cultivated a highly passionate and loyal community of repeat travelers. More than 200,000 travelers have taken a smarTours trip since the founding of the Company in 1996. smarTours is… the smarter way to see the world.

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New York
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“The tour director was knowledgeable and interesting and the safaris and animals were fascinating. We stayed in two amazing hotels in Cape Town and Kruger Park. The guide offered optional tours which were definitely worth it, and reasonably priced. The guide managed a large group well, and my only complaint is beware the early wakeups. Meals were also excellent and the guide gave us much needed advice at each stop. The scenery was magnificent. A trip of a lifetime.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Excellent guide with a wealth of information. First rate hotels. And, the animals cooperated!”

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Posted 9 years ago

“This trip was amazing. No other way to describe it. The 15-hour flight was completely worth it! Although it is definitely not a relaxing trip, it was beyond anything I had expected! I would recommend doing all of the optional tours (Cultural Heritage Tour, Winelands Tour, Chobe National Park Tour, & Robbens Island Tour- although ours was cancelled due to bad weather). The only complaint is that we stayed in Cape Town a bit too long and the night in Swaziland, I think, was unnecessary. I would say MORE SAFARIS! When in Kruger, ask your guide about the night safari! Food was delicious and super cheap! Another tip- bring a journal to write down names of animals! & bring lots of camera memory cards! :)”

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Posted 9 years ago

“This tour was fantastic! We explored a huge array of urban and nature landscapes, ate amazing food and saw incredible animals throughout the tour. Ron is an extremely well-spoken and knowledgeable tour director, and we came away from this tour both exhilarated at what we saw, and our eyes were also opened to the story of South Africa. The best parts of the tour, in our opinion, were: * The cultural tour in Cape Town, including meeting people in a township. * Safari drives in Kruger * The Walking with Lions tour near Pretoria (this could really be a non-optional tour...it was incredible to interact so closely with lions of different ages!) Our only constructive feedback is: * Provide better up-front information about the optional tours that will be offered. Very thorough information was provided during the tour, but it would great to have this information in advance so tour guests know the up-front total cost. * Provide at least 1-2 more opportunities throughout the tour for down-time. This is a high-intensity tour, which is great, since there is so much to see and learn! However, having 1-2 additional quiet afternoons with no optional tours would be great...a little extra sleep would make subsequent tours all the more pleasurable. This was the tour of a lifetime, and I will heartily recommend it to friends!”

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Posted 9 years ago

“We are so happy we found SmarTours several years ago and delighted to travel to South Africa with their guide, Jeremy. With SmarTours we have been on several trips to places that were stunningly beautiful (Thailand) or offered an extraordinary cultural education (China), but this trip had it all. Jeremy was incredible and really helped us understand the cultural and political history of this wonderful country. Then there were the game drives….simply amazing. We saw the Big Five and felt we were in the middle of a National Geographic special every day. Each successive day outdid the previous extraordinary one. The accommodation were excellent – especially when were on game drives, the food was terrific, and the people of Africa couldn’t have been friendlier and welcoming. This was our best trip and can’t wait to come back to Africa….Morocco? Kenya? Maybe both!”

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Posted 9 years ago

“OK - First off, my expectations were not good. I did not look at reviews until after the trip was booked and many of them were pretty bad. I'm here to tell you - the trip was excellent. I don't know if they have just tried harder after receiving bad reviews or what. I would recommend this trip to everyone and I intend to tell everyone just how good it was. Our guide, most of the time, was Dez Monde and from the first he said we would be treated like royalty....and we were. The Cape Sun Hotel was great and buffet food was marvelous. Staff was great. I needed batteries for my camera and my husband went to find them at about 7p in the evening ( they don't have any kind of shops in the hotel). The porter would not let him go out by himself. He walked with him to a store about 2 and a half blocks from the hotel. They don't even let you press the elevator button....there is someone assigned just to press the button. Cape Sun is one of the grand old hotels that is huge and beautiful and the are many people stationed in the lobby...just to help or answer questions. The second hotel we stayed at was the Protea Winkler - not far from Kruger National Park. It was OK. It's set in beautiful surroundings and staff is attentive but rooms were not up to the standard as the Cape Sun in Cape Town. Food was poor...except for the salads they prepared. I would say this hotel is more rustic. Found tiny lizard that had crawled under our door and a couple of bugs in the room...but after all we were in Africa. Bathroom was great and very clean. Carpet was in need of cleaning. Would I recommend this hotel...yes, with some qualifications. It may not make everyone happy.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Went with a group of friends on the South Africa Tour in November 2014. This was my second trip with Smartours and I would do it again, The organization does great planning and accommodates folks well. Our tour guide Jeremy was the best as he was knowledgeable and really was sensitive to the needs of his visitors. LOVED IT IMMENSELY!!!! I always recommend Smartours they are great!”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Amazing visit to South Africa in 2012. Want to go back. Would recommend Smart Tour devise a wine farms tour.”

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Posted 9 years ago