Johannesburg Tours in October 2026

This was a fantastic tour encompassing lots of incredible landscapes, national parks, and wildlife. Although we were on the move a lot the holiday was incredibly relaxing and we learnt so much about the history, culture, and flora & fauna of the areas. We were lucky enough to see all of the big 5 across the holiday, with our time in St Lucia being a highlight. Our tour guide Werner was brilliant - he was incredibly knowledgeable, insightful, and made the whole trip very smooth and enjoyable.

This is a great trip if you are interested in seeing wildlife. A large part of the trip is spent on safari, whether it be in the Kruger Park or St Lucia. We were lucky enough to get several leopard sightings, and numerous close encounters with elephants. We saw plenty of hippos, zebra, giraffe and antelope, and large variety of birds. The trip covered a lot of ground, so there were inevitably some long bus journeys, but it was worth it. There was also some stunning mountain scenery too in the Drakensberg and Eswatini. The accommodation was on the whole good, mainly staying in simple eco lodges, which I felt was in keeping with the nature of the trip. It could get cold in the evening, depending on what time of year you are travelling, and the lighting was never good when it got dark. The accommodation at the Kruger, I felt could have been better, particularly at the Phabeni Sleepover, where I thought the barbecue they provided was expensive for what they offered, and the takeaway breakfast not great. Overall, I hugely enjoyed the trip. Good company, good guide. It was tiring with a lot of early morning starts, but worth it. In some places I felt it was a bit rushed – barely 30 minutes at the Talana Museum, and 30 minutes at Rourke’s Drift, so it was difficult to assimilate anything much. I would have been quite happy for the trip to be a day or 2 longer, even though it would be more expensive, so it wouldn’t feel quite so rushed.

A full on trip which maximised our time in South Africa. A really good balance of cultural insights, scenery and wildlife. This wouldn't have been possible without our super guide Christian. He knew how to keep us safe, was resolutely positive and energetic, and made the trip. There was a lot of driving which we knew about when we booked. If we had more annual leave available, we would have booked an extra night in Capetown at the end. This would have enabled us to book both a Robben Island excursion, and a Cape of Good Hope trip. We are very glad that we booked this trip.

We opted to do this over hiking Mt Kilimanjaro. So glad we did. I loved the variety of the wildlife and the hiking. The terrain was excellent with a good amount of challenge. Clifford our guide was fabulous. He pointed out the wildlife, gave us interesting information on all sorts of things and led our walks managing a range of abilities and speeds. We loved the trip and had an awesome time. Would highly recommend it to anyone.

The itinerary gave us an excellent run through of most of the fantastic sights in South Africa. The guide was informative and was a character. He was very informative and kept cool when dealing with any minor issues that cropped up throughout the holiday . The only minor issue I had was that the minibus used on the first 4 days of the holiday was too small for the number of people in the group. It was quite cramped. Other than that, I would thoroughly recommend this Explore trip to my friends,

Lovely trip, this is my second explore trip, the first was a very experienced guide in Costa Rica, Nathi was our guide for this one he said he was new to explore, what he lacked in explore experience he gained in his buzzing personality and local knowledge, he was a great kind and considerate guide nothing was too much trouble. He arranged things and recommend things sharing his knowledge freely. As he gets more experience he’ll be a great asset to Explore. You never know what people you’ll get on such a holiday and I’m always a bit apprehensive since I don’t suffer fools. Fortunately everyone seemed to bond by the end of the 2 weeks. Re the itinerary it was a good balance, maybe include the wine tasting as part of it instead of an option.