Kumuka Overland Tours

gaf1983

Has anyone ever done one of these? Half-tempted to go for one of the Africa Overland ones in the New Year. Good, bad are indifferent? Did you get sick of living in a bus/camping all the time? What happens if the other people on the tour are complete jerks, or is that unlikely to happen?

darrenh

i was going to use kumuka in south America but after googeling 'kumuka reviews' i changed my mind. heard they use poor trucks and have bad customer service. the brochure looks good but apparently thats all.

www.OverlandingCommunity.com is a good site and gives a list of all over landing companies.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sitesearch.do?x=25&y=1&query=kumuka&turnOffGoogleAds=false&submitStatus=searchFormSubmitted&mode=simple&sectionId=674

Andrew1975

I Have travelled with Kumuka twice to South America and Africa and must say that I have had fantastic experiences on both occasions.
The Kumuka trucks were of a good standard (despite what I read from darrenh's post) and well equipped with camping gear and supplies.
If you get a good bunch of people onborad you will have a blast and most of the people I travelled with (mainly Aussies and Kiwis) were sound.
The tours are 'rough and ready' so dont expect 5 star treatment - you have to pitch your own tents and help out with cooking and cleaning - but it's all part of the fun.
Having elephants wander past our campsite in Tanzania or camping out in the desert in Chile were experiences that I will never forget.
All in all I would give a Kumuka tour a go and see what you think - I loved it but I guess they are not for everyone.

Gaz

Why not do it yourself ? Its far cheaper and you get to go where you want when you want. Plus you have no idea what type of people you will be travelling with, might get a great bunch but its possible it could go the other way.

Africa overland by yourself is not as difficult as you would think, sure its a challange but thats half the fun ! What areas are you looking to visit ?

macca1983

Gaz wrote: »

Why not do it yourself ? Its far cheaper and you get to go where you want when you want. Plus you have no idea what type of people you will be travelling with, might get a great bunch but its possible it could go the other way.

Africa overland by yourself is not as difficult as you would think, sure its a challange but thats half the fun ! What areas are you looking to visit ?

Have you done overland via public transport in Africa?

Was contemplating doing it myself but i think it might be difficult due to being dangerous and i think an awful lot of planning would be needed. Would love to do Cape Town to Cairo or vice versa but i'd say you would need an organised tour to do it.

Gaz

Yeah, I went Cairo to Cape Town. Yes there is a fair bit of planning and a lot of visas to sort out enroute but so worth it. As for danger, its the same as anywhere else, just be sensible and you will be fine.
I went Egypt > Sudan > Ethiopia > Kenya > Tanzania > Malawi > Zambia > Namibia > South Africa fully overland and I cant recommend it enough.

youcancallmeal

Just finished a 56 day overland tour from Cape Town to Nairobi and it was amazing. Literally finished today and I'm exhausted. I did it with ATC(Africa Travel Co) and I would highly recommend them. From the research I did before I booked and seeing other overland trucks along the way I'm sure we got the one of the best deals available. I could give many reasons but for example one small thing is that we met a lot people who paid a lot more than we did and they didn't even have a cook as part of their crew.

As regards doing it yourself I would not recommend traveling independently from Vic Falls North, quite simply because I believe effort and hassle involved would make it impossible to enjoy yourself. Thats just me but if your a motivated person with a sense of adventure then it could be for you

If you've any questions about the overland tours let me know, I'm off to enjoy a Tusker now

sleepingghost

Hi,
I just completed a tour of Egypt with Kumuka.

I found traveling in the truck fine. The truck was basic enough. We didn't use the tents as we didn't really need them when camping.

Overall I really enjoyed myself. As the previous poster stated don't expect 5 star treatment. At the end of the day you get what you pay for. If you want to do an overland tour I would reccommend Kumuka.