First Timer Questions: K&T Classic or SA Elegant Adventure? Safety???
Decisions, decisions … it’s always tough to decide which wonderful Tauck tour to take next. We’ve never been to Africa and we’ve narrowed down our choices to the K&T Classic and SA Adventure. Both have great itineraries, one focused on safari, and one giving history, culture and safari. However … reading State Dept advisories is a bit scary. S. Africa and Tanzania are level 4 (do not travel) for COVID, crime and terrorism and Kenya is level 3 (reconsider travel). I have lots of confidence traveling with Tauck and their ability to keep us safe. Seems terrorism is everywhere so we aren’t going to hide in our home. But maybe it’s dumb to tempt fate in Africa? We’re vaccinated and take precautions against COVID so again, we aren’t locked in our home. I’m looking for opinions on pros and cons of these 2 tours and comments on how safe you felt traveling to these countries.
Comments
Marie, which tour do you mean by SA Adventure, wanted to be sure before I explain the differences. If you mean Elegant SA, then I can help.
I don’t know if you have been reading the State department info for years, or just recently because of Covid, but I have and many many countries have high crime and terrorism warnings. South Africa is very dangerous, I’ve been there about four times. The first time we went with Tauck, my husband’s colleague who is from SA begged him not to go without wearing a bullet proof vest. We went. Think about it, Tauck is not going to take customers to countries knowing their is a high chance of them dying of crime or terrorism, because that means they lose the customer for future tours. They also don’t want to put their wonderful Tour Directors in danger. Of course, you have to be sensible and not go wondering off at night, wear expensive jewelry or flash around a full wallet of cash. There have been terrorist attacks in Kenya and Tanzania, we were in our Arusha hotel a few years ago when there was a terrorist attack in the town.
Tauck have lost one customer during a terrorism attack that was in the Mumbai India one years ago.
Right now, we live here in a very dangerous country with very radically thinking peoples. We probably carry more guns than just about any other countries in the world, have more mass shootings than any other country, we probably have more people who text and drive, we have millions of people who have chosen not to get the Covid vaccine. I feel threatened every time I leave the house.
But seriously, look at the State department info for all country and you will be amazed how many we are advised not to visit, and not because of Covid.
Anyway, I’ve taken both tours. Even without the obvious split of the cultural part, the Safari themselves are very different. You will see different animals, example, in SA you will see wild dogs amd of course different antelopes, maybe more elephants. Rules during Safari are different, in K and T, you can stand up on the seats and pop your head thru the roof. In South Africa, you must remain seated. The Safari vehicles are also different. You won’t see the wonderful baobab trees in South Africa, you won’t meet the Massai, I could go on…
Yes, British, I know what you mean and I completely agree with everything you said and I appreciate your thoughts. And yes, I meant SA: An Elegant Adventure.
If you want to see animals, K&T is pure safari. The ‘Elegant Adventure’, and ‘Z,B, and SA’ are part touring and part safari. We are going to do K&T for the third time next year. Our first two trips had a similar itinerary but they were totally different. The animals and the climate are not ‘scripted’. Safety? Africa is not ‘safe’. That is why we started traveling with Tauck. I trust them to make it as safe as possible.