Hi all,

I just joined BootsnAll, over the last few months I've been working on planning a Kili climb in March. It's great to have a source like this, as I've learned a lot from reading other people's experiences.
I've already booked and paid the deposit for my climb (Lemosho 8 day), but before paying for all of it I wanted to make sure that I'm using a reputable travel agent. (I probably should have done this before paying the deposit, but everything so far seems normal.) I booked through "Destination Africa Tours" (DAT) after looking at many companies and reading over their policies it seemed like a good one with reasonable prices. Their web site is www.climbingkilimanjaro.com. However, after a google search, I have not found much in the way of comments by people that have traveled with them.
Has anyone on this list traveled with Destination Africa Tours? Or do you know of anyone that has traveled with them?

Thanks for you help,
Carl

I haven't heard of this company. On the same note though - we are thinking of booking w/ Mauly Tours. Anyone heard of them?

I asked DAT for some references, and everyone that I contacted said their experience with DAT was great. DAT has booked us with Team Kilimanjaro, which sounds like a good guide company. I'm planning to post back to this thread after my climb with my impressions of the company.

-Carl

Hi,

So I just got back from Kili, summited on March 15th. Since I started this thread I thought I would post back with my impressions of DAT and Team Kilimanjaro.

DAT - Trudie Roos was our travel agent with DAT. She was great, very helpful, took care of many of our travel arrangements. It was a little dificult to arrange the trip though because of the time difference (DAT is based in South Africa). So responses to any email questions would take atleast a day. However, even with that inconvenience I would still recommend DAT to anyone traveling to Africa.

Team Kilimanjaro - Deo was our guide for Team Kilimanjaro. I can't say enough good things about our guide and the entire crew that went with us on our climb. The whole trip organization far exceded our expectations, everything about TK was first class. I think they are a fairly new company, so you may not see too much on them in guide books. I would strongly encourage anyone interested in climbing Kili to check out Team Kilimanjaro before deciding on a tour operator.

-Carl

We booked with Trudie also, to climb Kili and do a 5 day safari. It took her so long to answer our e-mail (AFTER she got our deposit) that the safari we wanted was full, and we have to pay extra to upgrade to a safari that still had space. It takes her weeks to return our e-mails. Hopefully all will turn out well. DAT may be OK, but Trudie sure is slow. We'll write after our trip (Feb 9-24)