A guest on a recent 2003 trip (Itinerary 4 on the sample itineraries) recently wrote to us to thank us... we include the full text of his letter below (thanks James!).

With several years of West African travel under my belt I thought I knew what to expect. But southern Africa is a whole other world (or better several other worlds) to what I had experienced so far.

The sheer variety in culture, landscape and climate was blissfully overwhelming. One evening I was wrapping up warm, huddling round the braai waiting for hot boerewors and watching a storm rolling in, and a few days later I was sweating it out halfway up some of the world's most spectacular dunes then cooling off in what has to be one of the most remote swimming pools, feeling delightfully out-of-place surrounded as I was by endless miles of desert.

Your staff really made this trip. I was used to "independent" travel and all that comes with it - cheap hotels, hitching lifts and asking around for the cheapest local food while dodging bacteria. Don't get me wrong, I loved it - I loved the freedom. I vowed never to go on a package holiday as long as I lived.

But this experience wasn't a package holiday as I imagined. I wasn't surrounded by too loud and too rich tourists, or hemmed in by strict schedules and "back on the bus by 7pm"-type ultimata. I was with a few close friends, on OUR itinerary, with the freedom to change on a whim or stay an extra day when WE wanted. We designed the trip, we OWNED the trip. But we still got our food cooked for us if we wanted, we never had to argue with a booking clerk or queue for a hire car. We never had to sterilise water or sit on backpacks hoping for a bush taxi.

Your TravelAfrica staff were there to be as hands-off or hands-on as WE wanted, able to provide local information and insight on OUR terms, without a microphone and force-fed monologue in sight. They became just a couple more friends on our trip.

I will recommend TravelAfrica to my friends. Thank you for a memorable experience.