|
We are determined to ensure that you experience the luxury of genuinely memorable travel. On each and every trip our aim is to create a "charmed space" within which you can relax, absorb fresh insights, be stimulated and charmed by new encounters - and have fun! |
|
|
why
kudu Our company name
comes from the most elegant of antelopes, the Greater Kudu of Southern
Africa. Kudu are non-territorial, accommodating visitors to their area and
ranging widely themselves. Adventurous browsers, they consume many types of
foliage and alter their tastes to suit the locale. Kudu also blend well with
their environment – their soft stripes making them disappear in dappling of
light through the trees – and are able to live both in wilderness and
partially settled areas. They prefer to travel in groups of up to 12 members,
not in huge herds! |
|
|
The Damara dikdik is the
smallest antelope in Africa and has been chosen to complement the
“heavyweight” kudu programme with a series of new, adventurous, less
expensive and more energetic tours in remote parts of the world. |
|
walking
back to top
|
Walking
is the most natural way to travel, undoubtedly enhancing your understanding
of the country you are visiting. The trick is to strike the right balance -
sufficient exercise to feel pleasantly stretched and relaxed, while reserving
the energy to explore castles, museums, local markets - or an inviting bar on
the piazza - on reaching the day's goal. In
the detailed itineraries, we endeavour to describe the walking component of
trips as accurately as possible, specifying hours of walking and type of
terrain for each journey. We also recognise that unseasonably hot or chilly
weather makes additional physical demands – rest assured you may always opt
for a ride in our vehicle. Most importantly, we intend the walking to add a purely pleasurable dimension to your holiday. If you are in good health and take some sort of exercise fairly regularly, we are sure you will enjoy the walking on a Kudu tour and return home with that extra buzz from being a little fitter. |
camaraderie
back to top
|
Whether
travelling alone or with friends, Kudu guests often mention how particularly
agreeable they find their travelling companions. Our groups are deliberately
small, comprised of 8 to 14 guests. On a typical trip they are predominantly from Britain and Ireland, with the invariably stimulating addition of North Americans, South Africans and Australians. One key to their enjoyment of Kudu trips is that such carefully researched and focussed trips attract people who naturally get on well with each other through shared interests. Check our Making Choices section overleaf to find the trips featuring your particular interests. |
accommodation
back to top
|
We want you to experience the cultural or natural surroundings in style and comfort. Hotels are researched personally, with the emphasis on character, location and good service. You may find yourself in gracious country house hotels, Hemingway style tents deep in the African bush, a former customs house magazine or a tiny country railway station converted with classic simplicity, welcoming family-run pensions, or a beautiful 18th century villa set in a private park. |
food and wine
back to top
|
Memorable meals are one of the hallmarks of an excellent holiday. We ensure that you sample the best of regional cuisines in very good restaurants, from the Michelin starred to the village trattoria with unpretentious food fit for a king. Our tour managers are all "foodies", with a real enthusiasm for expanding your culinary horizons. In addition to greeting us with delicious picnics of fresh seasonal produce at lunchtime, they liase with chefs over dinner menus and organise tastings of local wines in atmospheric settings - mediaeval cellars in Hungary and the Czech Republic, Cape Dutch Manor houses in South Africa, charming enoteche in Italy. As Kudu guests often remark, we enjoy the conviviality of a "dinner party" ambience in the evening. |
meticulous
research
back to top
|
There is no substitute for this, and we just don't believe in cutting corners. All the hotels, restaurants, walks and picnic places have been selected, and double checked, with care and critical discrimination. Our guests notice and appreciate the difference! |
guides and tour
managers
back to top
|
Highly skilled guides who know how to impart enthusiasm and fascinating information in equal proportions are a vital component in your holiday enjoyment. You will be introduced to little-known features as well as the "must see" highlights of each destination, but also given time and a few useful pointers to make your own discoveries. We endeavour to design trips in a civilised way, allowing space for individual "standing and staring". We very much hope that you will enjoy the company. |
so much is
included
back to top
|
On Kudu trips you will only need money for postcards, presents to take home, the odd G&T or an irresistible ice cream. Festival and opera tickets, entrances, wine with lunch and dinner, access to specialist books carried by the guides, gratuities for porters and hotel and restaurant staff, boat rides, wine tastings etc are all included in the cost of your holiday. We are confident that, like previous very satisfied guests, you will discover that our tours give you very good value for money. |
flights
back to top
|
We do not arrange flights but would be happy to recommend a helpful travel agent. The recommended flights and designated meeting points and times are described in the trip pdfs. |
complete
financial security
back to top
|
We are full members of the Travel Trust
Association, following a stringent review of our financial arrangements and
business practice since establishing Kudu Travel as a limited company,
registered in England, in 1999. This professional organisation requires its
members to adhere to a strict Code of Conduct and continually monitors all
financial dealings to ensure 100% financial security for Kudu Travel guests. Financial protection for the consumer purchasing
travel packages has become an issue of real concern over the last few years,
and media attention has focused on the collapse of major high street travel
agencies, tour operators and airlines, leaving unprotected passengers
stranded abroad or out of pocket. Travellers are legitimately worried that
their holiday arrangements and monies are secure and we are therefore
especially pleased to be able to offer the highest level of protection
afforded under the UK & European Package Holiday Regulations. All monies received by us as cheques from you
when booking and paying the balance of your holiday are placed directly into
an independently administered Trust Account (held by the Travel Trust
Trustees Ltd. at the National Westminster's Jermyn Street branch in London),
and these monies can only be released to Kudu Travel Ltd. once you have
completed your holiday and returned home. For those guests who prefer to pay for their
holiday by Credit or Debit card, the Travel Trust Association ensures that
all electronic payments are automatically deposited only in Kudu Travel's
designated Trust Account, and such funds only released to Kudu Travel by the
Trustees once you have completed your holiday and returned home. Furthermore, as an additional safeguard, Kudu
Travel, via the Travel Trust Association, automatically issues you on booking
with a Stand Alone Safe Seat Plan insurance - an extra level of travel
insurance which guarantees that your booked holiday will continue as planned.
This "belt and braces" standard of protection is unique to the
Travel Trust Association.
Our Travel Trust membership number
|
responsible travel
back to top
|
The
privilege of travel has a counterpart in properly considering our impact on
the places and people visited. The key notes of our policy are : · actively seeking out
tourism initiatives which benefit the local people and wildlife · financially supporting
local economies and influencing sustainable development by patronising small
hotels (owner and preferably family run), and hiring local vehicles, drivers
and specialist guides where appropriate · keeping groups small and
concentrating on low impact travel modes – particularly walking · Making direct donations
to organisations supporting the environment and culture of our destination
countries and cities: such as World Monuments Fund’s restoration projects in
Venice and St. Petersburg; the Czech and Turkish Cyprus Ornithological
Societies’ habitat preservation campaigns; a school in the Cape Town township
of Khayelitsha; and Africat Foundation’s work to preserve endangered cheetahs
and leopards in Namibia. · reducing, reusing, and
recycling as much as possible both on trips and in the office If you would like to know more about any of these charities, environmental and not-for-profit organisations, we will be happy to send you contact details. |
kudu carats
back to top
|
We
appreciate your decision to trust us with your travel plans on a regular
basis - and wish to say thank you. You will receive 1 Carat for every £10 spent on a Kudu holiday. Once you have accumulated sufficient points for your chosen holiday, you can redeem them against a trip. Several of our guests have already claimed their free holiday! |
travel shop
back to top
|
In conjuction with
Homeway, a leading supplier of quality travel products, Kudu can now offer
all guests the perfect range of travel accessories, ranging from suntan
lotions to insect repellent, backpacks to universal sink plugs. Order online
and have your items delivered direct to your door, often the next day – it
couldn’t be easier! To view the full range or place an order click
here. |