Southern Africa Overland Journeys Trips

There were 12 of us on this journey. All were experienced travellers: curious, well-informed, energetic, good-humoured and punctual. Many of them kept detailed photo records and journal accounts of what they were seeing. We came from very different backgrounds, but all managed to get on well together which greatly enhanced the trip. We appreciated each other. Our Tour Director, Begaim, was managing her first Explore journey, and gained in assurance with every day that passed as she settled into her job; she ended up being very popular and highly valued. One of our local guides, Bekhruz, also stood out for his knowledge and his skill in communicating it. He asked us to submit questions that he could discuss during long bus journeys; these were penetrating and challenging but he handled them all with aplomb. The organization of this complex journey was a logistical tour de force. It used buses, an aeroplane and cars to cover terrain that was often very rough — many roads were not made up and were full of ruts or potholes. Towards the end, Explore provided FIVE vehicles with FIVE different drivers to get us across the desert: very good drivers they were too. Hotels were mostly of very good quality. The final one was decorated in white and gold which was the pervasive colour scheme of Ashgabat: positively luxurious and certainly beautiful. One hotel did not have enough furniture to satisfy this particular traveller (the present reviewer) who would have liked a table in her room. However, all were clean and safe. We stayed in 2 yurts: one was very comfortable with toilets and washroom beside each installation and a well-equipped central module where food was served and songs were sung. The other, near Darvaza, the “gate to hell”, was much simpler, with two shared toilets quite far away from the yurts. These were difficult to visit at night. Some of our group were “under-whelmed” with Darvaza where the fire is slowly abating, but remains a tourist magnet. The journey was on the whole well-structured. Explore supported us in procuring visas for Turkmenistan though the local guide there made a mistake in charging the same amount of entrance money for EU and UK passport holders. The UK is charged more! This matter was rectified. An irritant was that Mastercard was often declined and sometimes this was in places where there were no exchange offices. People borrowed money from each other. Explore may wish to suggest in future that VISA cards might be more widely accepted as a supplement to Mastercards. I have already said that the roads were very rough. The journey to the seven lakes followed a bone-shaking trip the previous day with yet more bone-shaking to get to lakes 6 and 7. More of the same. The village of Erbent turned out to be almost totally devoid of interest, except for a statue. Some changes could be envisaged here. Explore is becoming ever more inventive in finding interesting things for us to do. We saw how eagles were trained, how felt was made and embroidered & how yurts were assembled. We saw how “the best paper in the world” was made at Konigil, Samarkand, how the horses performed (including Przewalski’s which have a museum dedicated to them); how men kidnapped women on horseback in order to avoid paying the bride price; how a small band of musicians could make music from almost any domestic implement. I was even asked to dance with one of the troupe. We saw some of the best architecture in the world. One of my favourites was a building that I had seen during my first visit to Uzbekistan: the Ismail Samani Mausoleum which was completed in AD 905. I was able to compare it with a little picture that I have cherished ever since my first visit. This was a powerful journey that gave us indelible impressions. We all appreciated it greatly.

Rifa our leader was great over Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan. The over all trip gave a great insight to Central Asia. A number of the countries it would be great to explore them further. As they had so much to offer.

Lots of new experiences and extremely memorable, especially for someone who has not backpacked before. Although quite fast-paced at parts and has parts that felt they couldn’t go fast enough (6 hour bus journeys), I started to get used to the lifestyle and would definitely do it again, probably for longer, in future. Less stressful than solo travel and good friendships formed with other group members, and increases confidence for travelling.

It is a must do for anyone who is looking to travel a few countries at an efficient pace. You meet so many cool people and get to build a very close bond with each of them.

The 27-day trip was very exciting, adventurous and you could make new acquaintances. You became part of a family during the trip. Grade 10. Our CEO Kosal was like a family man to us and looked after us well on the whole journey from Hanoi to Bangkok, grade 10. The journey on the three night trains was an adventure, not for me as the hygiene standards are not as high as in Western Europe, grade 5. Travelling by bus from place to place was great, we often had the same bus driver, they were very helpful, grade 8. The accommodation (double rooms booked to share) was OK and mediocre, the double rooms were better than the multi-bed rooms, but were only mediocre, especially in big cities, grade 6. The included excursions were top notch and also showed the regional life of the population, I especially loved the G-moments (NGOs supported by G-Adventures) grade 9. Optional excursions, sometimes too expensive for what they were, especially North Vietnam, grade 7. When booking on the G-Advetuers platform, It was tedious, they had a glitch with the booking platform, and it cost me a lot of nerves and patience until everything was back to normal. All in all, I was very satisfied.

Fantastic experience, I loved the whole trip overall. Beautiful sites, lots of great activities. Our CEO, Minty, was wonderful throughout and I would love to go on anouther tour with her.