African Trails - review
Category: African Trails | March 24, 2008 By AshleyWell, I have just joined this site, and noticed that there did not seem to be much information available on African Trails, which is a shame… and I’ll tell you why….
I travelled with African Trails in the Summer of 2007. Leaving from Nairobi, we travelled to Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania (and across to Zanzibar), to Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and we finished in South Africa. I believe this trip is advertised as the “Africa in Depth” one! What a fantastic experience.
That was my second trip to Africa. Our driver was Gavin (hope I am allowed to mention to names on here, apologies if I am not). Gav definitely ‘made’ this trip to be honest. Has to be one of the funniest people I have ever met. His knowledge of the countries far exceeded the knowledge of other drivers, from other tour operators (from what I myself experienced, and was told from other passengers from other companies). When I say this, I do not mean that he was a boring tour guide, constantly feeding us information we didnt want to hear. He is very passionate about Africa, and his interests and to be honest, this rubbed off on the whole group, and everyone had an amazing time.
The trucks are designed particularly well in comparison, I feel. The seats are comfortable, with underneath storage for luggage, and also the floor lifts up for storage also. The sides of the truck can be rolled up providing complete ventilation - which is needed!!!! The top rolls back also providing an all-round view.
Compared to other trucks and passengers we met along the way, I very much enjoyed the whole set up that African Trails have. Since there is only one crew member, everyone has to pull together and cook the food, clean etc, and to be honest although a lot of people may be put off an overlanding trip - possibly feeling that you may be restricted in what you can do - this is not the case. Due to not having to pay for everything in advance, you can choose what you want to do when you arrive at your destination. Although I was unsure of the mounting cost of this at first, it is a much better idea and provides passengers with?flexibility and independance! This is exactly what I was looking for from an overlanding trip!
Africa is Africa. Things do not run smoothly, and I knew this, although there were others on the trip who were not prepared for the camping every night, or for the unexpected twist of events that often occurred if there was a particularly bad storm, if we were held up at immigration etc etc. To me, it all added to the fun!
The only quibble I had about African Trails was that on their website they mention that you can take the Local Payment in Pounds… well we are from Scotland, and took the LP in ?’s and had a huge hassle on the first day when Gav collected all the payments, only to tell us he would need it in British Pounds. Scottish Pounds ARE British Pounds and have the exact same value…. but we had to spend the rest of the morning trying to convert said Scottish Pounds, and lost a couple of hundred in the process. Was very angry about this!!! Been meaning to email African Trails since we returned, but had actually forgot all about it until I was typing this review. So when they say you can take Pounds, DO NOT take Scottish - ridiculous really!
I think its fantastic though that that was the only negative thing I can find to say about the running of the trip! I would definitely go with African Trails again, but would make sure I would be on Gavin’s truck!!
Had a blast! Definitely reccommend African Trails to those who arent lazy and are willing to pitch in and set up their own tents, prepare and cook meals as a team, and have the flexibility to chose what trips they want to do whilst in country!
Hope thats helped some people.
Ashley Rogers
(anyone has any other questions, please feel free to email ashleysfrogers [ @ ] googlemail.com)?
Thank you Ashley for your comments about African trails. I’m trying to decide which overland to choose and I’m between African trails and Oasis. Your comment helped me a lot. I will send you an e-mail soon with further questions.
THANK YOU
just wondering what sort of age the people are on african tours trips? im contemplating going this summer!
The cheaper the package then generally the younger the crowd. But you can get quite a varied group of ages and backgrounds.
I took an African Trails trip from Nairobi to Victoria Falls about nine years ago and to this day it remains one of the highlights of my life. I chose African Trails at that time because it was the most affordable I could find, but when I was on the road and meeting travelers on overland trips with other companies I realized that they were doing the same route as us and staying at the same campsites for about double to triple the price! Basically I was having just as great an experience and my wallet was happier.
Being from New York City, I was very, very nervous about spending so much time in the great outdoors and camping for a month, but rather than getting sick of sleeping outside, the experience gave me a deep love for nature. I really fell in love with Africa. And because I was in my early 20s, and a blonde female traveling solo, I found that it was the most comfortable way for me to travel. I always felt safe, yet it felt more independent than a tour, as I could pick and choose extra activities I wanted to do. And we interacted with the locals and villagers a lot, so I didn’t feel like I was sheltered from the cultural experience of being in Africa.
There are some folks that take overland tours to have a two month drunken road trip, but I found a lot of people on my truck were really cool and interested in experiencing African culture. And we had a nice group that really looked out for each other. (One pair that met on that trip got married a few years ago!) In addition to feeling safe, I found that overlanding worked out cheaper than if I had tried to do it alone — and I met some really cool people enroute.
Definitely consider African Trails!
Thanks for your post (and comment Jaime). I am planning on doing an overland trip from Nairobi to Cape Town in October this year, so this has definitely helped my decision on what company to use.
STRANGE as we had the complete opposite trip as mentioned ??
filthy truck BAD driver (newbie 4 months on the job)
for us never african trails again
A mixed bag. The concept is great and it is a very affordable way to discover the continent BUT it all boils down to the driver/guide. We unfortunately had a guide who was entirely a truck driver - Australian with little knowedlge or even interest in Africa itself… and that took a lot away from the experience. Check in advance who is the driver and ask for his experience… a local African driver would be ideal
I have done two Overland Africa trips. One with Overland Club (formerly Africa Overland) and one with African Trails.
Both were excellent trips with good drivers and guides.
The most recent one was from November 08 to February 09. Our driver and guide were very knowledgeable about Africa and did everything they could to make our trip a good one. Our group varied in age from 22 to 59. There were 22 of us and we had a great adventure.
I stayed on from Spain to Nigeria and visited Gibraltar, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. Here is a link to my travel blog that shows the route and has pics as well. http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/arlash/13/tpod.html
Mark our driver and Amy the acting guide, did an excellent job. I recommend AF Trails and Overland Club.
Allen
It’s nice to see your trip went well. Our experience with African Trails was quite different. Your driver sounds like he was much more professional than ours. Ours habitually drank and let things go completely haywire on the truck. The home office was useless when we complained. Frankly, I’m surprised we haven’t read a news story about one of their trucks crashing or being detained by police.