Four steps, about three weeks, and one conversation that does most of the work.
Nobody books a fortnight in an unfamiliar country off a web page. This is exactly what happens between your enquiry and your arrival, so there is nothing to guess at.
The usual reason people hesitate over a trip like this is not the cost. It is not knowing what they are buying, or who is actually responsible for it once they are eight thousand miles from home. This page answers both.
The four steps
Step 1 · About three minutes
You enquire
Six short questions: roughly where, roughly when, how many of you and what ages, a budget band, and how to reach you. Nothing is committed to and no figure you give is treated as fixed. You get a reply within one working day from Sam or Angie, written about your trip rather than about our company.
Step 2 · Forty-five minutes, on a call
We talk properly
A video call at a time that works in your time zone. This is the part that does the heavy lifting. We ask about pace, about how your children travel, about what went wrong on the last big trip, about which things you would genuinely rather skip. If what you are describing does not fit the days you have, we will say so on this call rather than sell you a rushed itinerary.
Step 3 · Seven to ten days
We design it
You get a written itinerary: day by day, properties named, routes and flight times shown, everything included set out in full, and the total cost as one figure. We expect you to change it. Two rounds of revisions are normal and the first version is not meant to be the last. Nothing is booked and nothing is payable until you say yes to a version.
Step 4 · Seven to fourteen days
You travel
We book the lot: hotels, internal flights, park fees, activities, restaurant tables, child seats. Your guide meets you at arrivals and stays with the trip from there. The itinerary then flexes daily around the weather and around how much anyone actually feels like doing, which is the whole advantage of having built it yourself rather than bought it off a shelf.
What stands behind it
Licensed and accredited
Cape Compass is a registered South African inbound tour operator. Our guides are registered with CATHSSETA and hold provincial guiding licences, our vehicles hold NPTR operating licences, and we are SATSA members. Every number is published on the About page rather than turned into a badge.
Insured properly
We carry public liability and passenger liability insurance. Every third-party operator we book, whether boat, helicopter or lodge, holds their own licences and cover, which we check rather than assume. We ask every guest to carry travel insurance including medical cover and repatriation.
Nothing payable before you commit
Nothing is payable until you have approved a written itinerary with a single total on it. Payment terms, the deposit and the cancellation schedule are all set out before you pay anything.
Questions we are asked most
- How far ahead should we enquire?
- Six months is comfortable, three is workable. For the fortnight around Christmas, or a specific Sabi Sand lodge in the dry season, closer to nine. We have built good trips in six weeks and we have also had to tell people the properties they wanted were long gone.
- Do you charge a planning fee?
- No. The consultation and the itinerary design are free, and there is no charge until you approve a trip and pay a deposit.
- Can we change the itinerary once we are there?
- Daily, and you should. Weather moves things constantly here and your guide will suggest reordering days as a matter of course. Anything involving a hotel or a flight has to work around what is booked, but within a day we are flexible by design.
- Are your prices per person or per party?
- We quote one total for the whole party, covering everything in the itinerary, so you can compare it against what the same trip would cost you to arrange yourself. We publish no figures on this website because there is no such thing as a standard trip.
- What if we want to spend part of the trip on our own?
- Entirely normal, and we build days like that into most itineraries. Your guide is available and the vehicle is outside; you are under no obligation to use either. A day with nothing on it does more for a two-week trip than any activity we could put in its place.
- Do you take single travellers or larger groups?
- Both. Most of our trips are two to six people and we have run multi-generational parties of nine. Above about ten we would use two vehicles and two guides, and we would say so in the quote.
Start with the enquiry form
Six questions, three minutes, and a real reply within one working day. Nothing committed to and nothing payable.
We reply to every enquiry within one working day.