Frequently Asked Questions

Here, Travel Africa answers those questions you’ve always wanted to ask and probably some you haven’t even thought of. Of course, if we don’t answer your questions here, please contact us and we will gladly respond to any of your queries.

As with the rest of the world COVID has had a massive impact on travel in Africa. Many countries closed their international borders although some are now open to international travellers. These change on a regular basis. Local communities and tour operators are patiently waiting for travel to be safe again and once it is they very much look forward to welcoming back visitors to their fabulous destinations.

Yes, Chris and Sandie, the owners of Travel Africa, have been to southern Africa numerous times. When you deal with us you can rest assured that you are speaking with people who have 'been there, done that' and have the in-depth knowledge and expertise you want from your travel agent. We endeavour to visit the region at least once a year, including taking our 3 children on fabulous family holidays whenever we can. We are in love with the region and pride ourselves on our intimate knowledge of most of southern Africa's spectacular destinations. Of course, we haven't yet visited every place and certainly haven't stayed in all the accommodation but for those places we haven't yet been to we call on our close and trusted partners on-the-ground for their knowledge and advice to ensure we book you the best accommodation in the best locations.

Yes, absolutely! Travel Africa is fully accredited through ATAS - AFTA's Travel Accreditation Scheme (ATAS).

ATAS is administered by the Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) and is the country's only accreditation scheme for travel agents.

ATAS vets travel agents against strict criteria to ensure they meet certain standards, are reliable, well trained and professional businesses. Before becoming accredited, our ATAS agents need to meet high standards of business discipline, training, compliance with Australian Consumer Law and compliance with a strict code of conduct – ensuring your peace of mind when booking travel.

This is a question people often ask us when considering a holiday in Africa. What about the animals? What about personal safety in South Africa?

We totally understand these concerns and Chris and Sandie are here to help set your mind at rest. Contact us so we can reassure you that the holidays we design are done so with your safety as our utmost concern. We work with you to ensure you understand the travel options you have and what they involve. We then create a holiday for you with all the information needed to ensure you know exactly what to do and where to go, and giving you complete peace of mind for your travels.

Chris and Sandie have travelled extensively throughout Southern Africa (over 15 trips) – individually before we met, as a couple after we met (in Kwa Zulu-Natal in South Africa in 1996) and with our three fabulous kids (now all under 14) – and in all our experiences we have never had any safety concerns. Thankfully, the worst that has ever happened to us was the theft of our washing up cloth and liquid in Chobe (and that quite possibly could have been the local vervet monkeys!). For us travelling in southern Africa is certainly as safe and anywhere else we’ve travelled.

So see our Travel Safety with Wildlife page and Personal Safety in Southern Africa page for more information about having a safe holiday in Africa.

The further in advance you plan and book your holiday to southern Africa the better. This is because many of the best accommodations can fill up quickly, sometimes a year in advance. This is especially the case for safari game lodges, which have limited spaces to ensure guests have a personal and intimate experience. This is also the case for national park rest camps during South African school holiday periods and the European summer holidays - these places are favourites for locals during all school holidays and families from Europe during July-August. We therefore recommend booking well in advance to avoid missing out on your preferred accommodation.

Travel Africa we will work closely with you to design the perfect itinerary based on your needs and budget. We have had so many incredible experiences travelling throughout Africa and would love to share our knowledge and passion with you. If you live in or near Sydney we are happy to meet with you in person or we can work with you via email, over the phone or via Skype to tailor-make your perfect holiday.

We will discuss what you want to do and get out of your holiday and what your budget range is. We will then put together an itinerary and quote for you.The quote includes all commissions and booking fees. We will then adjust the itinerary and quote based on your feedback and once you are happy with it we will book your holiday for you. Prior to travel we will give you not only a detailed itinerary and all your travel documentation, but in-depth information sheets ensuring you know exactly what to do and where to go, and giving you complete peace of mind for your travels.

Based on over 20 years of travel in Africa we have put together a range of itineraries to give you inspiration – so you can see what is on offer, the lengths of various trips and the sort of budgets involved. But do Contact Us so we can work closely with you to customise your itinerary and give you a quote.

No. We should be able to beat or match almost any price you can get organising and booking your holiday yourself. This is because the rates we get working directly with our partners and operators in southern Africa is cheaper than their online rates. We can also get access to value add ons and additional inclusions. We also give you peace of mind with 24 hour back up and the sort of personalised service that no internet browser can match.

Qantas has direct flights from Sydney. South Africa Airways (SAA) has direct flights from Perth.

Flights from the east coast of Australia to Johannesburg generally take between 13 - 15 hours, depending which city you're leaving from. Flights from Perth to Johannesburg or Cape Town take about 10 to 12 hours. Return flights are a couple of hours faster as the winds help to push you home!

You can also fly via the Gulf with Etihad Airways and Emirates, and via Asia with Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific.

This is a hard question to answer as it very much depends on you and what you want out of your safari experience. If you're not that into animals, birds or the environment and you just want to see the Big 5 (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino) then 2-3 nights at a private safari lodge should meet your requirements. If, however, you love animals, birds and the environment and are happy to see the same type of animals doing different things in different habitats then you could easily spend 5 -10 days or more doing safaris. Indeed, we often spend 3 weeks a time in just one national park. This is where our more affordable safari options really come in handy - enabling you to spend even longer with the amazing wildlife of southern Africa.

Travel Africa is a unique business as we are a travel agent and travel wholesaler rolled into one. In Australia you generally get either a travel agent (who may or may not have been to the places you want to go, who then deals with a travel wholsesaler in Australia - again who may or may not have been to southern Africa - who then deals with operators in southern Africa) or a travel wholesaler who forms the bridge between the travel agents and the travel operators on-the-ground. We draw on our expert knowledge and experience and work directly with our trusted partners on-the-ground in southern Africa - this ensures you get both expertise and great value for money (as cut out layers of commission) .

We've taken most of the photographs used on this website ourself. Yes, especially all the animal and bird photographs were taken by us our trust worthy DSLR Canon camera (with either a 300ml or 500 ml lens). Taking photographs of the amazing things we see is part of the joy of travel for us and we've loved putting our website together so we can share those photographs with you. See more on our Inspiration gallery and contact us to arrange a holiday where you too can take such fabulous shots