Overall of On The Go Tours
I booked the 12 days Victoria falls to Joburg with 3 of my friends when we spotted the 2-for-1 tour special deal come up back in November. On the Go Tours happens to have a 2-for-1 tour sale a few times a year for a week or two (Mid- January, end of March/beginning of April & end of October/ beginning of November).
We booked through Flight Centre but found it difficult to communicate with our travel agent in regards to more information about our tour that our tour guide could answer. In order for us to fully book our trip, we had to go back and forth in terms of emailing to find out information such as the end destination in which we would finish in Johannesburg to book accommodations and timing of arrival to plan further travels.
Airport transfer from VGA to the first accommodation is provided with the tour cost. We stayed at Shearwater Explorer Village. It is here that you can get your bearings and meet your tour group before starting the tour. On the Go Tours is represented by ATC (African Tour Company) who locally run the tours. The Trip notes come in very handy. Our guide Will went over the excursions list and updated us with prices and what was and wasn’t included in the tour price. This timeframe in Vic Falls seemed to also be the only time you can freely explore markets for souvenirs that we found on our trip during the tour.
This is a budget tour where there are shared duties that rotate such as helping prep meals, washing dishes and sweeping the bus. There are also ice-purchasing responsibilities that rotate. Accommodations during the tour are tents (shared by 2 people) that are the responsibility of said pair and designated for the entire duration of the tour. It is a decent paced tour where you stay at each destination for at most 2 nights thus the tents must be put up and taken down almost everyday and packed back into the truck. All the accommodations are on camping sites with majority of them having wifi (not in Delta), swimming pools, shower and toilet facilities. A few even have volleyball courts (3 of them!) There is also a chance to upgrade into lodges (for a small price) if you want a break from setting up and sleeping in a tent.
The truck is large and can hold up to 30 people. The main seating area requires climbing a few steps (with help of a step ladder) to get on and off the truck. There is an 8 person seating area in the front sitting sideways with a table to play games. There is also a second area with a table (4 seater) and the rest are 2 seaters. The truck also has a communal cooler that people are able to keep their drinks cold. The truck does not have A/C but many windows and no wifi or toilets. The truck features 2 locked safety boxes and large luggage storage below amongst other compartments. During the evenings at each campsite, a charging station is created in the truck to recharge phones and cameras.
On this tour, we had Frans as our driver, Clive as our cook and Will da Beast as our guide. All the staff was very friendly and treated everyone with respect and courtesy never being impatient with any of the guests. They all had a fun humour about them too. Frans drove us safely to all our destinations on time and avoided as many potholes to make our ride smooth. Clive provided us with meals (Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner) however, some meals could have more thought put into them for the price we paid. Breakfast was always yogurt, cereal and burnt toast (majority of the time), options for fruit were scarce and lunch/packed lunches could have been better (rice, spam with peas and cheese and DIY sandwiches are lacklustre). Will was a fountain of knowledge answering all questions thrown his way and made the whole experience that much better.
I wish we had more days where our stops weren’t in malls but I completely understand that those stops were also time for the staff to go grocery shopping for us and for our safety sake. There were a few days (long drive days and early arrivals) where I wish we had options to leave the campsite to explore the local areas.
I found the only time we had to do souvenir shopping at markets was only at the beginning in Vic falls. I wish we had more opportunities to interact with locals or stop at locations that give back to the community for our pitstops. I would definitely recommend this tour to my friends. I hopefully will return to Africa one day.
