Benefits of booking with us

Our tours are limited to your group, so they focus on your areas of interest and the itinerary and places are specially selected to enhance your experience.

•   The educational nature of our programmes gives your travels a purpose!
•   Tour itineraries are customised and designed in such a manner to suit the personal requirements of the guest, taking into consideration budget and the travelling needs of the touring institution.
•   AWOL Tours is fully insured with SATIB and is an accredited member of the South African Tourism Services Association (SATSA) which guarantees your deposits, as well as a member of Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa (FTTSA).
•   We provide FREE familiarisation trips to those organising group trips. Trip organisers are welcome to visit us and tour the country to assist in planning trips at cost rates which are fully refunded on the first group booking made by the touring institution.
•   The service is more personalised as we build up a continual working relationship with institutions over time and fulfil the exact travel requirements with those participating on annual programmes.  AWOL is thus able to build and maintain relationships with repeat customers.
•   Tourism specialists and professional educators with local knowledge and extensive experience in facilitating special interest trips in southern Africa design AWOL’s academic tours.  An enriching educational component is fundamental to all tour itineraries across various disciplines and levels.

•   We can advise and design assessment tools with our in-house team of professionals to cater for institutions who would like to include itineraries into curricula and to award students credits whilst on tour.
•   As AWOL is owner-operated, we have a vested interest to ensure the safety, enjoyment and travel experience of guests.  AWOL can provide a standard of service and management appropriate to the guest’s needs (from managing school groups to academically intense post graduates)
•   The safety of our guests is a priority. As the business is located in Southern Africa, the directors have personal knowledge of any political stability and dangerous areas and so are best able to advise travellers on which areas to avoid. All guides and operators are carefully selected to ensure they are qualified and have relevant experience to facilitate tours.
•   The itinerary is planned in such as way as to take advantage of the best weather conditions, to avoid the crowds during the busy seasons and personally select places to enhance the guest’s experience.
•  Community involvement is an integral part of AWOL’s vision and  participants can interact, participate and support community-based tourism initiatives with grass-roots projects while on tours through our partner agencies. One such example is the Bicycling Empowerment Network (BEN), a section 21 company promoting the use of bicycles in order to address low-cost mobility, poverty alleviation and access to opportunity, employment, skills and education. Through AWOL’s efforts the Bicycling Empowerment Network (BEN), is the winner of the First Choice Responsible Tourism Award at the 2006 World Travel Centre in London for the category “Best for Innovation and Technology”.
•   Guests who have previously participated on the AWOL tours have a base in Southern Africa and Australia, i.e. a home away from home. Should our clients wish to further their travels or to work as a volunteer in various programmes, through our network of affiliated organisations, AWOL can provide academic support, travel advice and assistance with accommodation arrangements to AWOL guests.
•   Travelling with AWOL will broaden horizons, increase self-confidence, encourage greater cultural sensitivity, promote empathy for conservation and ultimately enhance prospects from an international perspective.