Cathy - This is our number one tour. Liked pretty much everything about it. The highlights are numerous, but I'll mention a couple (that don't include the unbelievable wildlife and scenery): visiting a schoolroom while staying at the Ngorongora crater, eating amazing Baked Alaska at the Mt Kenya Safari Club, the sunrises and sunsets (Amboselli and Masai Mara), ...
We travelled LAX to Amsterdam to Arusha and then Narobi to Amsterdam to LAX on KLM. For this trip we flew Premium Economy (I forget its actual name) because the best business class tickets we could find were over $6K per person. The layovers weren't bad. The worst would be getting across the Amsterdam airport from our LAX inbound flight to our Arusha outbound flight within the 2+ hour layover. We had to do some brisk walking (the airport is huge).
Not sure about the required nature (it's been a while), but we did get inoculated.
Here are a couple of pictures (non-animal) of things I described.
We have taken this tour twice, once about 2007, the other last year.
You might not want to go in the Fall, as if I remembered correctly, that is one of the two rainy seasons.
You need visas for both countries
You should already have hash all the shots you need from your last Africa tour
Clothing, I know you criticized my suggestions about clothing for the other tour, so I won’t mention that again.
It doesn’t get as cold here as it does in Southern Africa
If you want to visit a school, be sure to pick a date when the kids are in school
You will love visiting the Masai People
Look out for Geranuk in Kenya, they are quite rare to see these days, we did see some last visit, I love them. You won’t see wild dogs, you might not see leopard or cheetahs
Our second K and T, we did not like the Four Seasons, a big disappointment, you could be anywhere really, not Africa and the dining area is almost dark. I know you like fancy hotels, you may find some accommodation below your standard on this tour, especially the first hotel in Arusha, but we love it there.
We have been to Tanzania three times. Twice we flew KLM, once was economy.
Third time Qatar air, business, best flights we have ever taken.
Avoid traveling via Nairobi.
The visas, for us, were obtained prior to the tour (this was 2015).
Although British didn't like the Four Seasons, we enjoyed it. The rooms have balconies that face right out onto the Serengeti. British's point about you could be anywhere, is part of what made it special. Right in the middle of the Serengeti pops up this luxury resort. The tented resorts that you stay at are very nice as well, but we're not the type that feel that you have to live like bush people in order to enjoy Africa.
You will see so many zebras, wildebeests, lions, hippopotamus, elephants, ...
Once you get to Kenya you will even see a bunch of rhinos. Some are even curious.
Here are a couple Gerenuk Wallers gazelles:
Here is a pregnant cheetah:
Here is a leopard (which was the most elusive to see during our tour):
Hopefully when you go you get to witness the Crossing of the Mara (part of the Great Migration). We were lucky (we went in August - but still probably just luck). Here are a couple of pictures. One shows that not all of the animals make it across. We had to park the safari vehicle near the crossing point for several hours to witness everything. The animals crossing would scout out the area prior to crossing. They actually made a couple of aborted attempts (charged down to the river, but stopped short of crossing) before they actually did a crossing. For whatever reason, we actually saw animals crossing in both directions at different times (within the same few hours).
Cathy - The safari vehicles seat six people guests a driver and perhaps a tour director. You can sit or stand. I chose to stand almost the entire time even when driving for better viewing. That is dusty at times and required a bandana to protect against the dust. We actually used 'buffs' from the show Survivor. They worked great. There were 4 vehicles used for the entire tour, since the tour only had 24 people. The vehicles are in constant communication with each other so if one vehicle spot something amazing the others can come a running.
Our tour director's first name was Seth, but I forget his last name. He was very good.
We had to obtain our own visas. We went through Visa Central (the firm recommended by Tauck).
You will be blown away by the amount and variety of animals. Multiple types of lots of animals. In addition to the thousands of animals that are basically posing for you we were able to see the following:
1) bloodied lions (apparently after being in battle)
2) lions stalking and attacking a wildebeest
3) rhinos doing battle (this was at a distance, but it still stirred up a large dust cloud)
4) elephants charging (almost out of a Tarzan movie, where one trumpeted and then dozens came running from all over the place)
5) crocodiles with wildebeest in its jaws
These things remind you that you aren't in a zoo, even though for the most part the animals seem to care less that you are there.
Cathy - Here is our Tour Director, Seth, and the ballon pilot. They were describing to us, on the patio of the tented resort in the Masai Mara, what to expect for the next morning's balloon ride. By the way, the balloon ride and breakfast following was amazing.
Like I said previously, I liked almost everything about this tour. It is our number one favorite tour of the nine Tauck tours we've taken.
Cathy - I have not been on any other Africa tours. The Tauck tours that I have taken in order are:
Treasures of the Aegean (2011)
Peru & Galapagos (2013)
Spain & Portugal (2014)
Kenya & Tanzania (2015)
Venice & Dalmatian Coast (2016)
Vietnam, Cambodia & Thailand (2017)
Berlin, Danube, & Krakow (2018)
Portrait of India (2018)
Israel & Jordan (2019)
Cancelled in 2020 - Iceland: Land of Fire and Ice
Will be cancelled in 2020 - Egypt: Jewels of the Nile
As far as Africa goes we have only done K&T it 2015 and B,SA,Z in 2019. Other than Egypt which is still Africa, if we go back again it will be to either of the two we have already taken, or, depending on health and pocket book, K&T + R, but that is a lot of money for 15 - 30 minutes with my friends the Silver Backs. We have three in the queue, if and when they ever go. XMAS Mkts 2020, #12 (2021 backup), Egypt & Jordan, #13, Jan 2021 (no backup yet), Treasures of the Aegean, #14 , May 2021 (no backup)
Cathy, our previous tour directors for Africa have been, Rachel, twice...not sure she is still doing Africa, Chris Mancini who you have had, you could get him for K and T, Susan, probably still around and most recently Anna .... more in a private message to you. Seth is supposed to be the best of the best, I believe Sealord had him for his first K and T Tour.
You will enjoy being able to stand up in the vehicles for the K and T tour, which are much lower than the Southern Africa vehicles. Be careful. On most of our tours, the driver would caution you he was about to move and even encourage you to sit while the vehicle was in motion because of the bumps and sudden changes in direction. On our most recent tour, we soon learned that one driver did not. He suddenly moved very fast and turned, I was still standing on the seat, I was thrown back hard against the open car Top, right in the middle of my back, it took the wind from me and I was in pain for a couple of hours. You really have to learn to steady and brace yourself when the vehicle is still while taking photographs because you are on a springy car seat.
We only have two more tours booked with Tauck, Israel and Jordan in April and Scandinavia by land in July, I’m not convinced they will go. We have a tour with another company in September 2021. We don’t want to book any more tours with Tauck because we don’t want to lose any more money with them since the Dreamsaver money from insurance cannot be carried any further than 2021. As soon as tours are definitely back on, we will start booking. We realize the most desirable tours for us might be booked up, but there are plenty of places we would love to go and we have already been to our Dream places. It will take careful planning both for time of year and for getting visas, you have to be really careful your passport is not out for a visa when you are supposed to be traveling somewhere else. We got our visas from Visa central, though I believe Tauck used another company before them, so it could have been the equivalent company.
For those of you who like animals I have a story. Yesterday a hawk with prey in it’s mouth flew into my patio door where I was sitting, backed off and flew into the house. I had a hawk with around a three foot wingspan flying around our living room (vaulted ceiling). I tried to bag it with a grocery bag, but the bag was way too small. My wife brought a plastic garbage can bag and rolled it open. I cornered the hawk next to a stairway ‘fence’ and used a spatula to ‘help’ it into the bag. Then I dropped it out of the upturned bag from a second story window, and it flew away before the ground arrived. Amazingly, no damage to hawk or captor. Falconers wear big leather gloves, I had just bare hands. My wife says it was a ‘good omen’.
MCD ... you probably have the right answer, but we were on autopilot. That bird could have done some serious damage to the house or to me. The artwork survived, and I avoided the emergency room, so it was a good day. I did do some post event research. Birds don’t get rabies. I was just curious. The bird did not lay a talon on me.
Thanks for starting this thread, Cathy. We took our first Tauck trip to B,Z,SA in June 2019 and just fell in love with Africa and Tauck. We are looking at booking K&T for August 2022. Is it too early to book? There are no prices yet.
Thank you for sharing all the information and photos. This is so helpful and gets me excited at the thought of traveling again.
For those of you that have done both trips (B,Z,SA and K&T), what are the differences that stand out?
Luv2Travel02
1:00PM
Thanks for starting this thread, Cathy. We took our first Tauck trip to B,Z,SA in June 2019 and just fell in love with Africa and Tauck. We are looking at booking K&T for August 2022. Is it too early to book? There are no prices yet. . . .
The dates are posted, so you can book now. Remember folks who were cancelled from 2020 are rebooking, and who knows what will happen in 2021 so go for it, especially if you have a preferred date!! Once prices are published, you will have two weeks to cancel with no penalty, but with things the way they are right now, maybe even longer.
When did you go in June? We were on the 25 May - 5 June 2019 Botswana departure.
Botswana- slightly more varieties of animals and wider range of sizes, Meerkats, Pigmy Mongoose, Bat eared Fox, wild dogs up to Elephants and Giraffe, etc. in Botswana. Higher numbers and larger gatherings of animals, except for maybe elephants and Hippos, on K&T. On K&T, except in the Masai Mara, you stay in hotels. On Botswana, except for Livingstone and Cape Town, you stay in "tents" (glamping). In Botswana there was more variation in terrain, more savanah, etc. along the Zambezi, Khwai River Camp and Eagle Island camp and in the Okavango Delta, then you are in part of the Kalahari dessert near the Makgadikgadi Pan salt flats. On K&T- the Masai Mara in Kenya is just the northern section of the Serengeti in Tanzania so have nearly identical landscape. Both are truly fantastic and I give them both a 10, maybe a 10.25 for Botswana.
We were on the June 29, 2019 B,Z, SA trip. We had Anna as our TD and only 13 in our tour group. We were a small group but all got along so well! We loved seeing the different terrain so that is good to know that the K&T trip is not so we won't have unrealistic expectations. The tents were so luxurious that it didn't feel like camping except for maybe the Kalahari. We are excited to explore this part of Africa!
We also had Seth as our Tour Director in July 2018 (two of our traveling companions were Sealord and his spouse). Seth was outstanding and we are so glad we had him as our TD. The trip of course was beyond belief. Of our 5 Tauck trips K&T remains our number one.
For K&T if you want some diversified terrain then you might want to plan a pre-tour climb of Mt. Kiliminjaro (Mt. Kiliminjaro National Park is only 54 miles from Arusha, the tour's starting point). It looms over the tour when the tour reaches Amboselli.
In addition, Mt. Kenya looms in the distance when you're at the Mt. Kenya Safari Club. Below are a couple of early morning views of Mt. Kenya from the Safari Club.
Those are great photos! Thanks for sharing, Alan and Sam. Mount Kiliminjaro sounds like a great idea for a pre-day.
We are getting close to booking. Do any of you use a travel agent? I did not for our B,Z, SA tour and am not sure if there are any benefits in doing so. We met other travelers on our Tauck tour that were disappointed that their travel agent did not tell them about the KAZA visa when they found out we were able to go to Zimbabwe. Thanks to the Tauck forum we knew to get one!
Luv2Travel02 - Going to Mt. Kiliminjaro National Park can be a pre-day activity, but it takes more than a day to actually climb Mt. Kiliminjaro. You probably knew that, but I didn't want to mislead anyone.
All of the visa requirements for tours are called out on the Tauck website (see below for an example where you could find the information). If you exclusively rely on a travel agent then you might not be aware of the information available on the Tauck website.
We have never used Travel agents, always Tauck directly. Time and time again, those who use the travel agents often are never told what turn out to be really important things they needed to know about the tour before they got there. Tauck Bridges tour offers a hike on the lower trails of Kilimanjaro instead of doing the Arusha National Park. Cathy and Luv2, you could try googling the trail or even maybe calling Tauck to ask about it. As you have already been ot Africa, you might find the Arusha National Park a bit tame compared to what you have seen before. We enjoyed it when we went, but it was a first experience. When we hopefully take the Bridges tour we will choose Kilimanjaro trail option.
We have never used a TA for a Tauck trip; never saw the need, but others here swear by them. I think it comes down to whether you have a TA you trust, will keep you informed (one of the big TA failings reported here (Remember Tauck sends EVERYTHING to and communicates with the TA, not you), and will do a great job, or whether you also enjoy doing the research and planning yourself. We are in the latter group. That being said, when we took the family to Disney World for a few days followed by a Disney cruise last summer, I used a TA (a Disney expert) and would probably do so again because there are so many details about Disney. Even so, I still had to do a lot of research on my own so I knew what to ask the TA. There were times we had to prod and question the TA about details. There just aren't nearly that many details with a Tauck tour unless you plan to do a number of pre-tour, on-tour, and post tour activities. We did a lot stuff pre-tour and on-tour during Classic Italy several years ago, but I planned and booked it all. I even used a spreadsheet to keep track of details, expenses and especially time, to ensure we could do what we planned during our free time, especially in Florence,. We packed a lot into that trip!
Thank you, all, for the information. I am definitley a planner and like control of my planning (I guess I am a bit of a control freak), so I think you have convinced me to book Tauck on my own. Unless I can get a discount through a TA, I don't think it will be worth it for me. I like reading the forums and doing research on destinations myself. I convinced more than half of our group in Cape Town to go see the penguins instead of the boat ride to see the seals in South Africa. Anna, our TD, arranged the transportation and a step on guide for us to see the penguins and none were disppointed. My personal research has defintiely paid off in more than one occastion. I have recently retired so I will have more time to plan and research trips. The planning helps in buidling the excitement for the trip! Sometimes the anticipation is just as fun as the trip itself!
Hi Cathy, I know you like your agent. Will she be the one who gets the call if one of your tours get cancelled, or does Tauck call you directly to fully explain the options because it’s quite complicated to decide?
I think some agents do give a discount.
The best ‘discount‘ we used to get With Tauck was when you could get up to $1000 off a tour with American Express points, we did that many times but it’s been stopped for several years now. You could get a $500 certificate or a $1000 one. That was quite a lot when the tours were cheaper than they are now.
We've only once used a TA (and never for Tauck) but have a friend we met on one of our river cruises that does. When the 6 of us were looking for a reasonably priced hotel in Amsterdam in June, she found us a very nice alternative to the one Tauck uses. It was centrally located a block from the main station, cost about a third of the Tauck hotel, and was very nice. If you have a good TA that takes care of you, it can save some frustration.
We have always used Tauck to book our tours, their staff has been very helpful. However we have often booked our airplanes separately as w can usually get better deals and better connections.
Comments
Cathy - This is our number one tour. Liked pretty much everything about it. The highlights are numerous, but I'll mention a couple (that don't include the unbelievable wildlife and scenery): visiting a schoolroom while staying at the Ngorongora crater, eating amazing Baked Alaska at the Mt Kenya Safari Club, the sunrises and sunsets (Amboselli and Masai Mara), ...
We travelled LAX to Amsterdam to Arusha and then Narobi to Amsterdam to LAX on KLM. For this trip we flew Premium Economy (I forget its actual name) because the best business class tickets we could find were over $6K per person. The layovers weren't bad. The worst would be getting across the Amsterdam airport from our LAX inbound flight to our Arusha outbound flight within the 2+ hour layover. We had to do some brisk walking (the airport is huge).
Not sure about the required nature (it's been a while), but we did get inoculated.
Here are a couple of pictures (non-animal) of things I described.
We have taken this tour twice, once about 2007, the other last year.
You might not want to go in the Fall, as if I remembered correctly, that is one of the two rainy seasons.
You need visas for both countries
You should already have hash all the shots you need from your last Africa tour
Clothing, I know you criticized my suggestions about clothing for the other tour, so I won’t mention that again.
It doesn’t get as cold here as it does in Southern Africa
If you want to visit a school, be sure to pick a date when the kids are in school
You will love visiting the Masai People
Look out for Geranuk in Kenya, they are quite rare to see these days, we did see some last visit, I love them. You won’t see wild dogs, you might not see leopard or cheetahs
Our second K and T, we did not like the Four Seasons, a big disappointment, you could be anywhere really, not Africa and the dining area is almost dark. I know you like fancy hotels, you may find some accommodation below your standard on this tour, especially the first hotel in Arusha, but we love it there.
We have been to Tanzania three times. Twice we flew KLM, once was economy.
Third time Qatar air, business, best flights we have ever taken.
Avoid traveling via Nairobi.
The visas, for us, were obtained prior to the tour (this was 2015).
Although British didn't like the Four Seasons, we enjoyed it. The rooms have balconies that face right out onto the Serengeti. British's point about you could be anywhere, is part of what made it special. Right in the middle of the Serengeti pops up this luxury resort. The tented resorts that you stay at are very nice as well, but we're not the type that feel that you have to live like bush people in order to enjoy Africa.
You will see so many zebras, wildebeests, lions, hippopotamus, elephants, ...
Once you get to Kenya you will even see a bunch of rhinos. Some are even curious.
Here are a couple Gerenuk Wallers gazelles:
Here is a pregnant cheetah:
Here is a leopard (which was the most elusive to see during our tour):
Hopefully when you go you get to witness the Crossing of the Mara (part of the Great Migration). We were lucky (we went in August - but still probably just luck). Here are a couple of pictures. One shows that not all of the animals make it across. We had to park the safari vehicle near the crossing point for several hours to witness everything. The animals crossing would scout out the area prior to crossing. They actually made a couple of aborted attempts (charged down to the river, but stopped short of crossing) before they actually did a crossing. For whatever reason, we actually saw animals crossing in both directions at different times (within the same few hours).
Here are some of the places you stay at during this tour (at least in 2015):
Arusha accommodations, on the shore of Lake Delta.
A sunrise from the hotel room in Ngorongoro Crater
Grounds of the hotel in Amboselli
Mt Kenya Safari Club - Grounds include a 9 hole golf course, a shrubbery maze, horseback riding, ...
Tented room in the Masai Mara (which included a canopied bed and marble countertops in the bathroom)
View from the tented room. At times there were several hippos in the river.
Cathy - The safari vehicles seat six people guests a driver and perhaps a tour director. You can sit or stand. I chose to stand almost the entire time even when driving for better viewing. That is dusty at times and required a bandana to protect against the dust. We actually used 'buffs' from the show Survivor. They worked great. There were 4 vehicles used for the entire tour, since the tour only had 24 people. The vehicles are in constant communication with each other so if one vehicle spot something amazing the others can come a running.
Our tour director's first name was Seth, but I forget his last name. He was very good.
We had to obtain our own visas. We went through Visa Central (the firm recommended by Tauck).
You will be blown away by the amount and variety of animals. Multiple types of lots of animals. In addition to the thousands of animals that are basically posing for you we were able to see the following:
1) bloodied lions (apparently after being in battle)
2) lions stalking and attacking a wildebeest
3) rhinos doing battle (this was at a distance, but it still stirred up a large dust cloud)
4) elephants charging (almost out of a Tarzan movie, where one trumpeted and then dozens came running from all over the place)
5) crocodiles with wildebeest in its jaws
These things remind you that you aren't in a zoo, even though for the most part the animals seem to care less that you are there.
Cathy - Here is our Tour Director, Seth, and the ballon pilot. They were describing to us, on the patio of the tented resort in the Masai Mara, what to expect for the next morning's balloon ride. By the way, the balloon ride and breakfast following was amazing.
Like I said previously, I liked almost everything about this tour. It is our number one favorite tour of the nine Tauck tours we've taken.
We had the "legendary" Seth, in 2015 too!
Cathy - I have not been on any other Africa tours. The Tauck tours that I have taken in order are:
Treasures of the Aegean (2011)
Peru & Galapagos (2013)
Spain & Portugal (2014)
Kenya & Tanzania (2015)
Venice & Dalmatian Coast (2016)
Vietnam, Cambodia & Thailand (2017)
Berlin, Danube, & Krakow (2018)
Portrait of India (2018)
Israel & Jordan (2019)
Cancelled in 2020 - Iceland: Land of Fire and Ice
Will be cancelled in 2020 - Egypt: Jewels of the Nile
As far as Africa goes we have only done K&T it 2015 and B,SA,Z in 2019. Other than Egypt which is still Africa, if we go back again it will be to either of the two we have already taken, or, depending on health and pocket book, K&T + R, but that is a lot of money for 15 - 30 minutes with my friends the Silver Backs. We have three in the queue, if and when they ever go. XMAS Mkts 2020, #12 (2021 backup), Egypt & Jordan, #13, Jan 2021 (no backup yet), Treasures of the Aegean, #14 , May 2021 (no backup)
Cathy, our previous tour directors for Africa have been, Rachel, twice...not sure she is still doing Africa, Chris Mancini who you have had, you could get him for K and T, Susan, probably still around and most recently Anna .... more in a private message to you. Seth is supposed to be the best of the best, I believe Sealord had him for his first K and T Tour.
You will enjoy being able to stand up in the vehicles for the K and T tour, which are much lower than the Southern Africa vehicles. Be careful. On most of our tours, the driver would caution you he was about to move and even encourage you to sit while the vehicle was in motion because of the bumps and sudden changes in direction. On our most recent tour, we soon learned that one driver did not. He suddenly moved very fast and turned, I was still standing on the seat, I was thrown back hard against the open car Top, right in the middle of my back, it took the wind from me and I was in pain for a couple of hours. You really have to learn to steady and brace yourself when the vehicle is still while taking photographs because you are on a springy car seat.
We only have two more tours booked with Tauck, Israel and Jordan in April and Scandinavia by land in July, I’m not convinced they will go. We have a tour with another company in September 2021. We don’t want to book any more tours with Tauck because we don’t want to lose any more money with them since the Dreamsaver money from insurance cannot be carried any further than 2021. As soon as tours are definitely back on, we will start booking. We realize the most desirable tours for us might be booked up, but there are plenty of places we would love to go and we have already been to our Dream places. It will take careful planning both for time of year and for getting visas, you have to be really careful your passport is not out for a visa when you are supposed to be traveling somewhere else. We got our visas from Visa central, though I believe Tauck used another company before them, so it could have been the equivalent company.
If we return to Africa, it will probably be a third ‘K&T’. It is just a spectacular trip. We did have Seth and he was quite good at changing tires.
For those of you who like animals I have a story. Yesterday a hawk with prey in it’s mouth flew into my patio door where I was sitting, backed off and flew into the house. I had a hawk with around a three foot wingspan flying around our living room (vaulted ceiling). I tried to bag it with a grocery bag, but the bag was way too small. My wife brought a plastic garbage can bag and rolled it open. I cornered the hawk next to a stairway ‘fence’ and used a spatula to ‘help’ it into the bag. Then I dropped it out of the upturned bag from a second story window, and it flew away before the ground arrived. Amazingly, no damage to hawk or captor. Falconers wear big leather gloves, I had just bare hands. My wife says it was a ‘good omen’.
Sealord -- I would have moved into a hotel until animal control got rid of it!
MCD ... you probably have the right answer, but we were on autopilot. That bird could have done some serious damage to the house or to me. The artwork survived, and I avoided the emergency room, so it was a good day. I did do some post event research. Birds don’t get rabies. I was just curious. The bird did not lay a talon on me.
Thanks for starting this thread, Cathy. We took our first Tauck trip to B,Z,SA in June 2019 and just fell in love with Africa and Tauck. We are looking at booking K&T for August 2022. Is it too early to book? There are no prices yet.
Thank you for sharing all the information and photos. This is so helpful and gets me excited at the thought of traveling again.
For those of you that have done both trips (B,Z,SA and K&T), what are the differences that stand out?
The dates are posted, so you can book now. Remember folks who were cancelled from 2020 are rebooking, and who knows what will happen in 2021 so go for it, especially if you have a preferred date!! Once prices are published, you will have two weeks to cancel with no penalty, but with things the way they are right now, maybe even longer.
When did you go in June? We were on the 25 May - 5 June 2019 Botswana departure.
Botswana- slightly more varieties of animals and wider range of sizes, Meerkats, Pigmy Mongoose, Bat eared Fox, wild dogs up to Elephants and Giraffe, etc. in Botswana. Higher numbers and larger gatherings of animals, except for maybe elephants and Hippos, on K&T. On K&T, except in the Masai Mara, you stay in hotels. On Botswana, except for Livingstone and Cape Town, you stay in "tents" (glamping). In Botswana there was more variation in terrain, more savanah, etc. along the Zambezi, Khwai River Camp and Eagle Island camp and in the Okavango Delta, then you are in part of the Kalahari dessert near the Makgadikgadi Pan salt flats. On K&T- the Masai Mara in Kenya is just the northern section of the Serengeti in Tanzania so have nearly identical landscape. Both are truly fantastic and I give them both a 10, maybe a 10.25 for Botswana.
We were on the June 29, 2019 B,Z, SA trip. We had Anna as our TD and only 13 in our tour group. We were a small group but all got along so well! We loved seeing the different terrain so that is good to know that the K&T trip is not so we won't have unrealistic expectations. The tents were so luxurious that it didn't feel like camping except for maybe the Kalahari. We are excited to explore this part of Africa!
We also had Seth as our Tour Director in July 2018 (two of our traveling companions were Sealord and his spouse). Seth was outstanding and we are so glad we had him as our TD. The trip of course was beyond belief. Of our 5 Tauck trips K&T remains our number one.
For K&T if you want some diversified terrain then you might want to plan a pre-tour climb of Mt. Kiliminjaro (Mt. Kiliminjaro National Park is only 54 miles from Arusha, the tour's starting point). It looms over the tour when the tour reaches Amboselli.
In addition, Mt. Kenya looms in the distance when you're at the Mt. Kenya Safari Club. Below are a couple of early morning views of Mt. Kenya from the Safari Club.
And with a telephoto lens and the right lighting you can see the last remaining, but small, glacier on the mountain-
Those are great photos! Thanks for sharing, Alan and Sam. Mount Kiliminjaro sounds like a great idea for a pre-day.
We are getting close to booking. Do any of you use a travel agent? I did not for our B,Z, SA tour and am not sure if there are any benefits in doing so. We met other travelers on our Tauck tour that were disappointed that their travel agent did not tell them about the KAZA visa when they found out we were able to go to Zimbabwe. Thanks to the Tauck forum we knew to get one!
Luv2Travel02 - Going to Mt. Kiliminjaro National Park can be a pre-day activity, but it takes more than a day to actually climb Mt. Kiliminjaro. You probably knew that, but I didn't want to mislead anyone.
All of the visa requirements for tours are called out on the Tauck website (see below for an example where you could find the information). If you exclusively rely on a travel agent then you might not be aware of the information available on the Tauck website.
We have never used Travel agents, always Tauck directly. Time and time again, those who use the travel agents often are never told what turn out to be really important things they needed to know about the tour before they got there. Tauck Bridges tour offers a hike on the lower trails of Kilimanjaro instead of doing the Arusha National Park. Cathy and Luv2, you could try googling the trail or even maybe calling Tauck to ask about it. As you have already been ot Africa, you might find the Arusha National Park a bit tame compared to what you have seen before. We enjoyed it when we went, but it was a first experience. When we hopefully take the Bridges tour we will choose Kilimanjaro trail option.
We have never used a TA for a Tauck trip; never saw the need, but others here swear by them. I think it comes down to whether you have a TA you trust, will keep you informed (one of the big TA failings reported here (Remember Tauck sends EVERYTHING to and communicates with the TA, not you), and will do a great job, or whether you also enjoy doing the research and planning yourself. We are in the latter group. That being said, when we took the family to Disney World for a few days followed by a Disney cruise last summer, I used a TA (a Disney expert) and would probably do so again because there are so many details about Disney. Even so, I still had to do a lot of research on my own so I knew what to ask the TA. There were times we had to prod and question the TA about details. There just aren't nearly that many details with a Tauck tour unless you plan to do a number of pre-tour, on-tour, and post tour activities. We did a lot stuff pre-tour and on-tour during Classic Italy several years ago, but I planned and booked it all. I even used a spreadsheet to keep track of details, expenses and especially time, to ensure we could do what we planned during our free time, especially in Florence,. We packed a lot into that trip!
Thank you, all, for the information. I am definitley a planner and like control of my planning (I guess I am a bit of a control freak), so I think you have convinced me to book Tauck on my own. Unless I can get a discount through a TA, I don't think it will be worth it for me. I like reading the forums and doing research on destinations myself. I convinced more than half of our group in Cape Town to go see the penguins instead of the boat ride to see the seals in South Africa. Anna, our TD, arranged the transportation and a step on guide for us to see the penguins and none were disppointed. My personal research has defintiely paid off in more than one occastion. I have recently retired so I will have more time to plan and research trips. The planning helps in buidling the excitement for the trip! Sometimes the anticipation is just as fun as the trip itself!
As I understand it, in order to give a discount on a Tauck trip, a TA has to violate Tauck policy and pass along part of their commission.
Hi Cathy, I know you like your agent. Will she be the one who gets the call if one of your tours get cancelled, or does Tauck call you directly to fully explain the options because it’s quite complicated to decide?
I think some agents do give a discount.
The best ‘discount‘ we used to get With Tauck was when you could get up to $1000 off a tour with American Express points, we did that many times but it’s been stopped for several years now. You could get a $500 certificate or a $1000 one. That was quite a lot when the tours were cheaper than they are now.
We've only once used a TA (and never for Tauck) but have a friend we met on one of our river cruises that does. When the 6 of us were looking for a reasonably priced hotel in Amsterdam in June, she found us a very nice alternative to the one Tauck uses. It was centrally located a block from the main station, cost about a third of the Tauck hotel, and was very nice. If you have a good TA that takes care of you, it can save some frustration.
We have always used Tauck to book our tours, their staff has been very helpful. However we have often booked our airplanes separately as w can usually get better deals and better connections.