This should really be 4.5/5.

This is a long review as I like to provide AS much detail as possible for this particular tour. I did the 22DCW12A (DELTA & CHOBE WATERWAYS 2022 11 NIGHTS / 12 DAYS) from Pretoria. I will preface by saying that this review of 4.5 stars would have been closer to a 4 star because circumstances made it better than what we would have received and you will see below. We chose Accommodated so not camping for us :)

Value (5/5): Let’s get to the chase. I did not have a ton of knowledge on value in terms of Acacia vs other tour operators but I will say overall this was worth the money spent. We spent a few days before and after in Cape Town so we flew to Johannesburg on our own to get to Pretoria. Overall I will say the expenses outlined in the dossier was higher than we expected to spend so that was a welcome surprise. So I have no issues overall with the Value. For more spending we mainly only bought water (cheap), inches required (cheap as well) and money for tips. Generally we felt that tipping was a good thing to do as you see how much people make and how hard they work. It was not a lot overall and well worth it. In Zimbabwe you can use USD. In Botwana you should convert (your tour guide will help you) a little into BWP currency. We only converted $50USD and it lasted us. However, we did use credit card whenever we can and about 99% of all places that we went accepted credit cards with no additional fee. This was a huge convenience for us as we did not have to deal with small change and bills at all. Get yourself a zero foreign exchange fee card and you are good to go!

Tour Guide (Simon) 5+++++: If you are lucky enough to get Simon you are in for a treat. He was amazing! Knowledgeable, friendly, patient, flexible, caring and helpful. He was probably one of if not THE best tour guide I ever had in all of my travels. Lots of good conversations, answered all of our questions and gave lots of good local tips and tricks. We got to know him VERY WELL and it made our experience wonderful. 5+++ stars if I could

Accommodation (3.5/5): This is where it gets dicey. On average almost al locations were find. Some were very nice, some were not good. My suggestion for Acacia is to try to make as many locations similar, so perhaps spend less in other locations and more in others where possible. For example the 2 worst locations by far were: Destiny Inn Lodge and There River Safaris. Destiny had NO insulation or heat and the door barely closed properly so we were freezing even with base layers and fleece etc. Suggestion is during winter months pick a location with more warmth. There River Safaris was the worst; not kept well and bugs bugs bugs everywhere. Ants everywhere and was not very comfortable. Flies were everywhere in the restaurant and the staff did not seem to care that it was all over the food and nothing was done to alleviate anything. Gweta Lodge was also OK but no fan and poor showers. Small things in some locations were not great but most were fine or good. Travellers Guest House and Shearwater Guest Village was amazing. Delta Rain’s Camp was very very good too. Even though we were not a fan of Stevensford Game Reserve’s room, the staff there made us feel like royalty so they really tried their best. Most places tried their best to make our stay as welcome and comfortable as possible.

Comfort (4/5): This is where is also can change. The bus was comfortable and even though the dossier said otherwise, we had A/C (although Simon did say it COULD break in summer months). But this is where my personal experience impacts my rating. This is a small group of 12 and under people. We were a tour of 2! No one else joined. So we basically had a private tour; which impacted a lot of the tour. In terms of comfort it was huge. We don’t like being in the sun so we had freedom to move around in the bus to where the sun can’t hit us and take up many seats with our stuff. We were also stuck at the border for 4hrs during a protest one day and having the ability to move around the bus made it bearable. So in reality this is a 4/5 stars but for our experience it was more of a 4.5 or 5. This bus could use curtains though! There was a cooler in the bus which was plenty for us 2 but for 12 it could be tight to keep some food and drinks cold enough. Once thing I learned was that the heat (even though we traveled in winter season) was still very hot for us. Think 38C in the Delta. It was cooler most days which we like; around 12-15C in the mornings/evenings.

Food (4.5/5): Food was adequate and fine. The dossier could use some updating as NO MEALS were prepared by the group in Accommodated version. All meals were provided by the lodges or purchased on the road. The good: food is CHEAP not he road. We don’t eats a lot but I’d say you can feed 2 people for under $10 USD on most days; sometimes even less. Some days a little more if you wanted KFC or some fancier food like Nando’s. Otherwise supermarket hot take out was good, local and super cheap. Dinners at lodges or that were included were pretty good overall. Some days better than others but about half of those meals had options and some meals were set. Breakfast was my main issue and this is a travel/tourism thing and not Acacia. It is the SAME everywhere. I could not go another day with the same eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, yogurt, fruit and granola breakfast. It is standard and decent but i just couldn’t handle 12+ days. In addition we had our own days before and after and this totalled 3 weeks of the same breakfast everywhere we stayed on our own too. We were never hungry and didn’t even buy many snacks. Water was super cheap so I’d just buy it there in large jugs and refill your bottle. Many excursions and lodges provided water bottles too.

Excursions (included) (4.5/5): Overall there weren’t any excursions included that I did not enjoy. Maybe some of the village tours were OK but it was still informative. Since we were only 2 in our group, almost all excursions were also private and just us 2. So that may have impacted our experience. Game drives were always and all were good: Matobo National Park(please upgrade to the full day option as it was only $20USD per person for about 4-5 extra hours!). We had Andy and we was phenomenal and personable and made a Game Drive (that we didn’t see too much) so much better. We really went into the bush to track a rhino and it was exhilarating. Choke National Park was a wild life dream. Closest to elephants we ever got and the beautiful giraffes too. Rhino Sanctuary was incredible with the black and white rhinos and baby rhinos too. Makoros were really fun and the Delta was beautiful. Weather was unbearably hot though but they did their best to keep up comfortable and the guides were super accommodating for us to decide when to do the nature walk when it was less sunny and provided us with umbrellas to shield from the sun etc. Vic Falls dinner cruise was amazing (minus dessert) and Choke Cruise was OK (we had an odd day where all animals were nowhere to be seen). But that is Africa and you have to go into it with an open mind that you may not see what you really wanted to.

Excursions (not-included) (5/5): We only did the Matobo extension for $20USD per person and it was 100% worth it. We also did Whitewater Rafting in Vic Falls $130USD per person and value-wise it was worth it. 3+hrs on the water and it was a full half-day from 8am-2:30pm. My only issue was safety. This had level 5 rapid and not a single raft did NOT flip in the water. In the rapids this is quiet scary and even worse was most had injuries. We had someone with a broken foot, burns and I myself had every knuckle cut up and bleeding. The worst part was the hike up the gorge, over 700ft steep and unsafe rocks/steps. No railing. After 3hrs and tired and carrying gear up, it was quite dangerous. We did not opt into any other excursions as (Baobao forest did not have value we were told) and many needed 3 people minimum and our group of 2 was not gonna cut it. We also did not do anything in Main on our free time because my husband fell ill and Simon thought it was Malaria and he drove us (small tour group was an advantage) into town and we saw a doctor, took blood tests and came back negative but got medicine and he slowly recovered. Side track: medical attention in our case was done well here. First time visiting a foreign doctor and total cost was about $100USD. Consultation was most expensive than the tests and medication lol.

Booking/Information Experience (5/5): We booked with Detour Africa and then made separate payment with Acacia. All information shared with both companies were accurate and answered in a timely manner. I had zero issues with them and I would recommend them if you have a tour that required booking assistance. My only suggestion is to update the dossier to reflect new information such as expenses and some info like A/C and meals and wifi access. Technically what happened was a positive so the dossier makes you prepare more than you need to. For example every location had wifi (some better than others, some only in common areas) and were all free. Only Delta camp had nothing cause you are out in the bush (duh).

Schedule (4.5/5): For a private tour this was amazing as we did good time in most locations. Stops were adequate and enough. But with anything the more people you add; it can spiral quickly to longer delays and wait times so keep that in mind that the more people you have the higher chances things can go wrong. All borders were good for the most part. Zimbabwe entrance was a mess as their process was awful but we had no real issues at all. Some days the drives on the bus were really long but for 2 people with unlimited seats it was totally fine with me. Being able to sleep (snore) and go anywhere made it good. Most days are early wake up (7am breakfast) and dinner were around (6:30-7:30pm) and free afterwards. Lunch was anytime in between based on location of stop.

Things to bring: Less items for us that may not be obvious were binoculars, bucket hat, balaclava, power banks to charge phone/camera batteries, sandals, South African adaptor (3 circles in a triangle shape as they ere everywhere but nowhere in my research showed it was required and many lodges had it).

Overall: I would recommend Acacia for anyone wanting to travel to where they serve. We’ve done quite a few tours in different countries: Vietnam, Cambodia, Antarctica, Turkey, Indonesia and this was one of the best ones we experienced. Again keep in mind this was basically a private tour so your experience will differ a bit once you factor in more travellers in your group.

TLDR; this is a tremendous experience for the adventurous traveler; if you have an open mindset about meeting new people, enjoy hiking and the outdoors, and don't mind an occasionally rough ride, this is an incredible trip and well worth your time.

Having never traveled outside the US, I wanted to go big on my first solo trip with the 62-day excursion from Pretoria to Nairobi. Since it was such an extensive trip, I was looking for the most value for my time, based on price, activities, and safety. I backpack often, so beyond basic comfort was not a priority for me, which turned out to be a good mindset to adopt since we camped nearly the entire trip, & rode in a truck with no AC (Namibia gets hot!). Tip - be ready to retrieve the rain fly for your tent during unexpected 3 AM rain showers! However, nearly all of the sites we stayed at had the option to upgrade from camping to comfortable indoor accommodations, which was a nice option to take advantage of occasionally. Once we reached our site for the night, we began our daily rotating duties, which included helping to cook, clean the truck, and do dishes, which I think added to the experience and helped bond our fellow tourists.

Traveling solo, I felt safe at all times with our guides, drivers, and locations. My trip was split between two guides, Crispen, then Pete, and they were great company that looked out for us and kept us safe and informed about everything around us. Our guides were familiar with the paths and knew everyone at our destinations. Nothing surprised them. Our drivers were impressive as well, with Harmony and Francis keeping us safe on the often-tumultuous African roads. Navigating both urban and off-road environments in our trucks was no easy task, and Francis even proved his mechanic skills during the occasional break-down.

The variety of locations we stayed at were simply incredible. From Cape Town to the deserts of Namibia, the Okavango Delta to Zanzibar Island, the mixture of urban and remote landscapes couldn't have been better. We saw every animal you can imagine.

On a trip like this, an open mindset is key. Traveling for two months with strangers can go any number of ways, but due to this trip, I now have lifelong friends scattered across the globe that I can't wait to visit. This wasn't just a vacation, it was a lasting, eye-opening experience that I believe everyone should try if possible. I can't recommend this trip enough. I wish I could go back to January and do it all over again.

we met a special group of people and the experience was great overall. the driving was long but worth it. encountering the gorillas was amazing, and also seeing so many other animals.