Small group tours

WJ

Could someone tell me difference between the "Small Group Departures" and the others? Small are up to 24 people but cannot find limit on others.

AlanS

The sizes of standard tours vary. Obviously, first it depends on how many register. but in general a normal size tour is 40-44 people- and never exceeds the number of seats available on a typical US or European bus. Also, in some cases, where no Small Group Departure is offered, the tour size may only be 30 (Kenya & Tanzania) or as small as 20 (Botswana, South Africa, Zambia), and even then, fewer people may actually show up.

As far as benefits and desirability of one over the other. Many are obvious, others not, and the value depends on the the individual you ask. They include: extra room on the bus (both use same size buses), smaller, boutique hotels, less administrative time- handing out keys, tickets, quicker/shorter pit stops, easier to get to know your fellow travelers, etc., etc. This topic has been heavily discussed on the forums- do a search to see what other people have said.

We typically choose small group departures whenever offered. We'll be leaving on our fifth small group trip in two months. We consider the one trip where small group departures were offered but we chose a regular group to have been less enjoyable.