South Africa

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Anyone have a tour to South Africa to recommend that is long on culture/interacting with people and short on safaris?

Last Nov. I toured South Africa with Grand Circle Travel. We had two days for game viewing in Kruger National Park and after that the only other game trips were optional. There is much great scenery there to be seen. In Swaziland we visited a tribe on a nature reserve. At that place we had lunch prepared by the village ladies who also cook for the orphans who attend school there. We broke into small groups and visited a home in the village. In Zululand we stayed in rondevals (really neat and modernized), had a tour of the complex, and were entertained. It is basically a tourist thing but the Zulu did live there. The complex was built for a movie set and then taken over by this group. In Capetown we had dinner at the home of a local couple which I also enjoyed.

The basic trip was 20 days for $3700 + $250 more from Detroit. I did the extension to Victoria Falls (not much water) for 5 days for $895 more. Most meals were included. I took the extension because I collect countries and could get 3 more - Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana.

I made a DVD of this trip and would be glad to send it free of charge if you are interested. I only did one optional trip and that was on the extension. You can contact me thru the message board or send a private message.

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Moderator note: light editing.

Thanks. We've been following OAT, the sister company, which has apparently cancelled the trip we wanted. I'm hesitant to take Grand Circle largely due to group size and, to a lesser extent, age.