The Africa Adventure Company

Mark Nolting & the AAC team planned the PERFECT trip. They listened to what was important to me & absolutely delivered. Fifteen days in heavenly surroundings, marvelous guides, terrific accommodations … Can’t thank them enough. Very satisfied traveler; literally a ‘happy camper’. (Actually ‘glamper’ — too luxurious to be considered tents!!!)

On paper, The Africa Adventure Company seems like the perfect fit for someone planning a trip to Africa. Pretty brochures and pamphlets. Seemingly knowledgable staff. Yet based on my experience, their actual execution in travel planning for Africa leaves a lot to be desired.
During my first experience dealing with them, though they came off as aloof and inflexible during the planning, the itinerary they came up with was fine. However, the guide they had arranged for my group during the majority of the trip was truly awful, and when I told them afterward, they could care less.
I vowed to never use them again, but as fate would have it, while planning another trip to the region, the company we were working with fell through so I reluctantly decided to give Africa Adventure Company another change.
My subsequent experiences with them were even worse. The staff remained aloof as ever, but we found their operations more disorganize. For example, they repeatedly had us send and re-​send documents they kept on losing them, without much concern for our inconvenience. Worst of all, though, was the truly abysmal job with our trip itinerary. They effectively ignored almost all of the guidance we gave them on what we wanted for the trip, resulting in a lot of on-​the-​ground reshuffling of the trip to fix Africa Adventure Company’s mistakes.
And after the trip, we never heard from them asking how the trip was or how they did. Certainly, one cannot expect a trip to be perfect, but they really blew it, and did not seem to care all that much.
I don’t say any of this happily. Traveling to Africa is an amazing experience, and there are not that many options for trip planning to the region. I wish they were good.
Who you pick for a travel agency is entirely up to you. I know that for myself, when I go on another trip to Africa, I will look elsewhere, no matter how pretty their brochures are nor how much they seem like a good potential option.

In Sept 2010, my wife and I traveled to Tanzania and Kenya for two weeks. It was dry season and was spectacular. I can think of no complaints, period. We are flexible travelers, and were almost embarrassed by the relatively luxurious treatment we received. The food was excellent. The employees we met were unfailingly helpful and gracious. The lodgings were very interesting, and varied by area, campsite, and lodge. The arrangements were flawless. But, we pre-​plan quite a bit.
Our guide in Tanzania, Hillary, has become a life-​long friend. I must admit being unable to be objective in my praise.
Advice: Don’t budget scrimp. Go the private safari route. It is absolutely the way to go, as your experience will be exponentially better. Allow yourself to be relatively pampered but, be appreciative (it was real hard for us at first to accept so much assistance). Tip (you are supporting the eco-​economy, which keeps this eco-​system sustained). Many park rangers were poachers in their previous lives. Your $$ supports their decision.
Take lots of memory for your cameras. Lots. Take extra battery packs. Invest in good cameras (one for each member) with ‘super zoom’ lenses. Put UV filters on your lenses (keeps colors from being so washed out in the afternoons/​keeps dust out) Most cameras can also take HD video. Take lots of videos (the sound will trigger many memories). Travel LIGHT/​in-​country flights may have luggage weight limits. Take lots of Baggies (you will use them for lots of stuff) Drink only from unopened containers. Use headwear (you are right on the equator). I could go on forever…
AAC does a excellent job of preparing you. It was wonderful.