Reviews of Touch Africa Tours

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Reviews of Touch Africa Tours — SafariFind | SafariFind

Largely a transfer service that is not equipped for multi-day itineraries

I booked Touch Africa for a 7-night safari based on a smattering of positive reviews and a desire to support a smaller, locally owned business. This ultimately turned out to be a mistake, as the company does not yet seem equipped to handle complex or multi-day itineraries. It’s worth noting that this was not my first safari, nor my first time in Africa. Pros: • Communication leading up to the safari was good, and they were always responsive — though it did seem like multiple people were sharing a single WhatsApp account. • Last, the individual that everyone seems to interact with, was very friendly and knowledgeable about Zimbabwe and the Victoria Falls area. • We were paired with a game drive operator in Chobe named Rocky, who was outstanding. Cons: • They operate mostly as a glorified transfer service. Last showed up to transport us between lodging points, and that was largely it. The transport itself was an unmarked, fairly old and worn-out minivan with only one working passenger door, which could only be opened from the outside. We also had to ask for seat covers to be removed so we could use seatbelts, after a few fairly harrowing drives. • Despite clearly expressing that our primary goals were wildlife/big game viewing and staying in a tented camp, our Chobe lodging — Tlou Lodge — was located directly behind a strip mall. We later learned that Touch Africa cannot access lodging that requires a 4x4. I ultimately paid out of pocket for alternative accommodations (Elephant Valley Lodge — outstanding) and arranged directly with our game drive operator, Rocky, to handle pickup and drop-off. • The itinerary listed the transfer from Chobe to Nata as “approximately 2 hours.” In reality, this is a 315 km / 195-mile drive that took over 4 hours in the aforementioned minivan. • Nata was described in the itinerary as being “home to vast salt pans and unique desert wildlife.” However, we quickly discovered that not only is there little to no wildlife in the region at this time of year, but the salt pans themselves had been flooded for nearly a year. This is without even getting into Nata Lodge itself, which had its own lengthy list of issues. • Despite being on time or early for every other engagement, Last was late for our airport transfer. As a result, we ended up using the lodge’s transfer service, who — thankfully — drove like a bat out of hell and allowed us to just barely make our check-in window. TL;DR (short version): There were numerous negative experiences (I distilled it down to the major ones) on our trip that could have been avoided with basic due diligence and clearer communication. It became increasingly clear — and was later admitted — that larger, multi-stop itineraries are new territory for Touch Africa, and unfortunately we were the ones impacted by that learning curve. We paid approximately $6,000 for what amounted to a $2,500–$3,000 experience (after researching typical room, transfer, and activity rates). The best parts of our trip — aside from our Chobe game driver — were the result of last-minute changes I personally made that were not part of the original itinerary provided by Touch Africa. I am not typically someone who leaves negative reviews, and I have tremendous empathy for smaller companies. I fully understand when issues are genuinely out of a provider’s control (weather, road conditions, lodging quirks, etc.). However, it was abundantly clear, time and again, that Touch Africa was out of their depth in planning and executing an itinerary of this scope. Finally - I gave Touch Africa 2 months to provide a fully agreed upon, relatively small, partial refund (Hence the delay in this review), They eventually stopped responding and I never received a single payment.

Garrett

Generally good, but a couple of major misfires undermined my trust in them

We booked a mid-to-premium priced 9-day safari with Touch Africa and they selected and handled all lodging arrangements. The Ilala in Vic Falls was gorgeous (though we did specifically request and pay for that upgrade). Tlou Lodge was modest and comfortable. Planet Baobab had a few issues that disappointed us, but no showstoppers. But Mochaba Crossing was a DISASTER. There were rodent droppings on the bedsheets and in the room; the shower was barely a trickle; paint was peeling on the shower walls; numerous large spiderwebs were everywhere; the room floor was dirty; lunch and dinner each consisted of a single, non-vegetarian option, despite weeks of advance notice that one of us was vegetarian. Perhaps Touch Africa didn’t do enough due diligence choosing this place? When we notified them, they offered to move us to the Maun Lodge, whose online reviews were positive so we agreed. That should have been the end of the issue - a misstep that was quickly fixed. But when we returned from the day’s activities, the Mochaba manager, Alec, told us that we’d instead be transferred to Mochaba’s “sister hotel” nearby, the Parkview, rather than the Maun Lodge. This was bait and switch: the same websites that confirmed our negative experience at Mochaba had similarly negative things to say about Parkview. This was the moment we lost trust and confidence in Touch Africa: they reneged on what they had promised us without notifying us, instead making an arrangement that saved face with their vendor and simplified their accounting. We held our ground and insisted on the original offer of the Maun Lodge, having to become uncomfortably assertive to do so. When we did arrive there, we had to wait over 30 minutes during check-in while Alec was on the phone (with Touch Africa? we don’t know) before we could get into our room. (The lodge staff felt bad and let us use the pool in the meantime.) Mr. Mashanga (our guide/handler at Touch Africa) was otherwise very good, all the guides were excellent, and once we did get into the Maun Lodge, it was lovely. But it should not have taken frustration and energy just to get what we had paid for in the first place. When one books a multi-day tour in an unfamiliar place, one places a great deal of trust in the tour operator. Missteps are definitely forgivable, but the disingenuous handling of the Mochaba misstep was not. We hope this information helps Touch Africa do better for future clients.

Armando

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