So...
Never fear
For Selina is here.....
Here's my opinion on it:
Since I was tiny I've wanted to backpack Africa, but as a young (19 years old) female, I don't think it would have been the most appropriate thing to do, despite great transport companies in South Africa etc such as Baz Bus making it a lot easier these days. I looked at many different tour companies such as Intrepid, G Adventures and Gecko Adventures, all in all they're very similar, all providing the same sort of camping overland experience and many camp sites being the same. I decided to choose to travel with G Adventures, although they are sometimes slightly more expensive than their competitors I felt they provided more information about their trips (it seems little but when you're handing over money that you've spent hundreds of weekends working your butt off, you're reluctant to hand the money over), they have 'YOLO' tours aimed at 18-39 year olds, no single supplements (HURRAH!) and finally, the majority of the meals were included.
It should be noted that I LOVE the planning aspect of travelling (so much that I want a career in it)
and didn't choose tour travel so they'd do the hard work for me
When you arrive at the starting point, it's usually a twin room in a hotel/lodge- you can have your own room but for a surcharge. They room you up with someone of the same gender and usually near your age, most people were a bit apprehensive of this after having a long flight BUT I loved it! My roomate and I felt as though we were having a sleepover when we were 11 again! It's also nice because you have someone to go to the welcome meeting with and the very first day on the bus. It's the little things in life after all....nobody wants to be the person sitting alone.
Throughout the week everyone mucks in, whether it's emptying the tents and mattresses out of the truck, cooking or doing the dishes, it sounds stupid but you really do get a sense of teamwork from it, even in the first day, which enables you to get to know your fellow travellers. In the middle of my trip we had an one night, two day excursion to the Okavango Delta, if I was to book this an excursion from a hostel I really don't think this would have been as amazing and life forgetting, simply on the basis I was stuck on the this island in the middle of nowhere with people I knew so their was no awkwardness (especially with the bush 'toilet'), and noone was offended with my over-competitiveness playing uno because they'd been used to it the last three nights.
Personally I feel one of the best bits of overlanding is you dont have to worry about transport, especially in Africa where public transport is either non-existent, unsafe or an expensive tourist based bus...this is where tour travel wins! Your guides know exactly where they're going and when they're going, making you arrive in your destinations at the perfect time, everything is ran to precision YET it's unregimented.
Another important point to note issssss....the guides! I don't know if I was lucky or all guides are like this but I couldn't praise mine enough. Their passion and knowledge was second to none, they were easy going and just great to be around. You didn't feel like you were unwelcome and they became friends by the end of the trip. I even got taught how to cook an upside down cake in tin foil on a braai...life skills!
So overall....my experience with tour travel was amazing! I couldn't recommend G Adventures more!
But, I'd only do tour travel for places where I wouldnt feel safe or it was difficult to do so
I hope this helps with the great debate!
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