A world in one country!

South Africa is our biggest single long haul destination. It is the most sports-hospitable nation in the world, until you get on the pitch to play that is - they don't like coming second!   Today, particularly with one man's unbelievable influence, South Africa is thriving.

Improving the country is a major part of our business. We encourage all our customers to become involved in a township development programme. One of our schools bought a South African school an entire computer set up, the first it had ever had; another donated ZAR 110,000 towards a new school minibus.  As a company, we help to educate 40 children who would otherwise not have been able to go to the school of their choice. We pay 50% of their fees. Another of our schools raised £35,000 for LEAP ~ Langa Education Advancement Programme (a private school for black children from Langa township) ~ absolutely fantastic!  (See our Home page ~ Helping Others.)

South Africa is a stunning country of magnificent landscapes, from desert dunes to rolling farmlands, savannah bush, subtropical hardwood forests and superb white sand coast. Its game viewing equals the best in Africa. From Kruger in Mpumalanga to the Zululand area of KwaZulu-Natal, and a host of small parks and reserves in the Northern Provinces and Eastern Cape, the game is an African paradise.

The country has at least 1,000 bird species, and over 23,000 plant and flower species, and has a fascinating human and cultural history, stretching back to the aboriginal San (Bushmen) and Khoikhoi, through the black African peoples to the latest arrivals, the Afrikaans and British.

It has not had an easy history - tribal wars raged long before the punishing and bitter conflicts between black and white, from the Zulu Wars to the Boer War and the segregation of apartheid society. Archbishop Desmond Tutu named the newly integrated South Africa 'The Rainbow Nation'. It is a fitting name for a country with 11 official languages, and people of all colours, race and creed, living in a vividly coloured and sculpted landscape.

With staggeringly beautiful rural areas such as the Cape Winelands, the towering dunes of the Wild Coast, the magnificent game parks of Kruger and Zululand, and the Kalahari and Karoo deserts, barren for much of the year but a carpet of flowers in spring, the possibilities for tourists are endless.

Alternatively, visit sophisticated cities such as Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town, or charming historic towns like Stellenbosch or Pietermaritzburg. Even once infamous townships such as Soweto are now growing into vibrant cities in their own right.

• British Airways ~ BA operate two daily flights to Johannesburg and one daily flight to Cape Town outside the winter period, when they put on an additional flight to Cape Town. They offer very attractive connecting flights and fares through their provincial network. They are most proficient at transferring passengers from terminal to terminal. As BA's focus is more on business travel, they have less capacity for groups. We are a BA Preferred Partner.
• South African Airways ~ They also operate two daily flights to Jo'burg and one to Cape Town with the largest domestic schedule of any airline in South Africa. They are our preferred flight operators which gives us significant advantages above all our competitors, for example, during the 2005 cabin crew strike, we were the only sports travel company whose customers all travelled.  They use bmi for their connecting flights into London Heathrow Terminal 1. Luggage is checked through from the provincial airport.
• Virgin Atlantic ~ Edwin had the pleasure of being Sir Richard Branson's guest on his inaugural flight into Jo'burg. They have a daily flight into Jo'burg but do not operate as full a schedule out of Cape Town as we need for our customers.

We use quite a few where there is a definite price and convenience benefit for our customers who want to fly from their local airport. We have used KLM via Amsterdam, Emirates via Dubai, and Air France via Paris, but our preference would be Air Namibia via Windhoek, Namibia.

As public transportation is primarily limited to the indigenous population, we provide you with a de-luxe coach for all of your internal travel. Invariably, you will have a coach for practically every day you are in this country. We became the first UK sports tour operator to guarantee coaches with seat belts in the Western Cape when our contractor there agreed to our request. All other companies comply with the local regulations.

Fixtures are the main component of your tour, and our people in South Africa reflect how much importance we place on them.

As you would expect from a company who has been operating to South Africa since 1978, we have very considerable experience in every sport. In 1991, we became involved in the first SA school tour to leave that country for the UK since tours were banned. The tour manager was Paul Dobson, a Latin master who spent 29 years at the Diocesan College in Cape Town where he coached both cricket and rugby. He was one of Danny Craven's best friends travelling down to Stellenbosch to see him every week.

Paul was Chairman of the Western Province Referee's Association as well as being SA's best known rugby writer and a very experienced overseas schools sports tour manager. SARFU (South African Rugby Football Union) honoured him when they chose him to act as their Media Manager on an overseas tour to South America. He is also a regular summariser for SA television and radio. A very well connected man.

Ewa Gnodde was born in the UK and gives us that unique benefit of knowing and understanding both the UK and South African set ups. Her two girls have added a further plus for us as they both enjoyed sport at their school, Westerford, where Ewa was a constant regular on the touchline! She has been with us for 6 years and is one of the reasons why our tours to South Africa are so successful.

Andre Jacobs is acknowledged as one of South Africa's leading school rugby coaches. He runs the rugby at Bishops in Cape Town. His connections throughout South Africa ensure that we are the best positioned sports travel operator in that country.

Testimonials:  "The welcome at Riebeek West School was superb, with the whole school welcoming us."  Tour Manager

"Ewa was particularly helpful with an injured player in securing an upgrade on the plane home".  Tour Manager

"The cricket side at Langa were very strong, but it was well worth playing because of the experience."  Tour Manager

Billeting is extremely popular in South Africa as it is a wonderful way for tourists to establish long-lasting friendships with their hosts. It is also an excellent way to share and swap information about your home country and your host country.

As we were the first company back into South Africa in 1992, we have built up the very best range of contacts in that country. Nobody knows as many people as we do. We have set down our policy regarding billeting in our Safety Management System document which is provided to every one of our customers. Invariably, we use schools who have previously hosted and from whom we have received very favourable tour managers' reports.

School hostels are sometimes used especially by schools that are either boarding or in the country. This is a very traditional form of hospitality within the South African school network and is very acceptable to the local schools. Visiting schools who may be used to a higher standard of boarding house will need to adjust.

Hotels. Due to the number of tours visiting South Africa, the local schools have reduced the number of nights they can billet to two. This has meant that the number of nights schools require accommodation has increased. Our minimum standard is normally the Holiday Inn Garden Court chain which is the equivalent of a British or Irish 3.5* accommodation. We concentrate on quality located in central positions rather than using cheaper accommodation in outlying areas. You will normally also stay in some 4* hotels.

Testimonials:  "Paarl Gimnasium and Fish Hoek Middle School were both excellent host schools to use and were very well organised.  The children loved the hostings there.  Paarl were very welcoming to a touring side." Tour Manager.