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“There is always something new out of Africa” [Pliny the Elder]

At Satpack Travel we offer a radically different approach to supporting travelers to South Africa.

We believe in five simple principles. They are based on how we like to travel. It’s about not just following the herd. It’s about enhancing the experience of travelling, what is learned on the way, giving you peace of mind and allowing you to have an authentic experience. It’s about using the latest technology and a personal touch to ensure that you are the master, rather than the victim, of your itinerary.

The process of planning your holiday should be as enjoyable as the holiday itself.

We believe a travel agency should be responsible for your entire holiday experience, from the moment you start thinking about where to go to getting you the deals the locals get, from preparing a personalised itinerary including pre-loading all your routes on a GPS device to ensuring your safety and enjoyment on-the-ground.

Before you travel we provide opinionated advice and recommendations based on what you tell us you want. Unlike other travel agencies, we don’t provide generic information about only those hotels and destinations that pay the highest commission. Satpack Travel will recommend boutique hotels and guesthouses that they have probably never heard of and tell you the truth about the places that they are recommending. See our Top Fives to see what we mean.

Concerns about crime shouldn’t prevent you having an adventurous holiday or blowing your budget. There’s more to South Africa than Cape Town and Kruger National Park.

The biggest concern of tourists visiting South Africa is their personal security. But with a little common sense and local advice (for example our safety advice and driving tips) you can avoid the trap most tourists fall into of only staying at the most expensive hotels, in the most-visited places and bypassing the real South Africa. By getting off-the-beaten-track you can stay in luxury for less, have the beach to yourself or visit the game reserves that other international tourists have never even heard of.  We will help you to be as adventurous as you want to be.

Technology can help, but only if used with a personal touch.

The internet, satellite navigation, mobile phones and email are great but can create almost as many problems for travelers as they solve. For example..

1. How do you find the right information online when there’s so much rubbish out there and everyone is trying to sell you their particular brand of rubbish?
2. GPS devices are fantastic but you have to know where you're trying to get to and then take your chances that the route it recommends isn’t one through a dodgy part of town and happens to take in the most scenic route.

We exploit new technology that is very easy-to-use to enhance your holiday experience. We provide you with a world first in terms of services on-the-ground, a nifty handset that is:

1. A GPS (Global Positioning System, or satellite navigation) with the latest Garmin / Garmap Southern Africa maps with 300,000KM of road data and more than 100,000 searchable addresses, restaurants, hotels, petrol stations, shopping malls, parking, sports stadia, ATMs, hospitals, police stations and lots more.
2. Multi-lingual spoken instructions as well as on-screen maps.
3. Large touch-screens for easy reading and navigation.
4. A local SIM card for cheap phone calls and internet / email access so you can stay in touch for less - you should be able to securely access your personal internet email account from the device. The GPS application does not use any airtime.
5. Lots of useful travel applications such as city weather forecasts, travel guides, facebook and twitter.
6. A car kit with windscreen attachment and chargers.

But what's really clever about our devices is not just what they can do, but also how we use them:

1. Your safe and scenic routes, recommended attractions and your destinations are preloaded in the GPS so you can travel with peace of mind (this is available with 'Full Service' only). We will load routes that send you from A to B via C if this avoids 'dangerous' areas or takes you on a more scenic route or past a recommended attraction or lunch venue.
2. The device has its own email address and our phone contact details loaded into it so we can stay in touch with you whilst you are on the road to provide advice or assistance. The emergency services are also on speed dial.
3. We track the device's location remotely, so we know where you are in the event of an emergency or to provide local recommendations.
4. We provide our own simple instructions on how to use it and get on the road quickly.
5. We load up the phone with R200 of airtime so you can use it immediately and it's very easy to top this up (if required - R200 is enough for most of our clients) at any garage as well as many shops and ATMs.
6. Optional device insurance against theft, damage or loss, for extra peace of mind.

You can’t beat honest, local advice. Get the ‘inside-track’.

We have extensive experience of travelling all over South Africa. You are allocated a dedicated and opinionated local expert from the time you start planning your trip until you leave South Africa. At Satpack Travel we call them our “Fundis”. It is their job to help make your holiday as effortless and enjoyable as possible. Whether that is recommending a boutique hotel, planning your safe and scenic routes, booking a restaurant or sending you information on local points of interest.

We only recommend the places we have been to. If you need to find somewhere we haven’t been to, we will do our research and present some alternatives, but will never put our name to something we’re not proud to recommend.

All we ask of you is to tell us how we’re doing and give us feedback on your experiences.

Come. Explore with Us.