Travelling with Kudu Travel
Answers to frequently asked questions
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!
Information before you travel
Detailed itineraries, including advice on health,
passport and visa requirements and minimum and maximum numbers of
guests on tours, bird lists, orchid lists etc are available for each
trip - please ask for the ones that catch your attention and contact us
if you have any queries.
Once you confirm your booking on a tour you will
be sent further practical information - packing tips, advice on
acquiring local currency, responsible travel suggestions for each
destination - and a selected reading list so that you can prepare for
your holiday.
Camaraderie
Whether travelling alone or with friends, Kudu
guests often mention how particularly agreeable they find their
travelling companions. Eschewing the pullman coach model of tourism,
our groups are deliberately small, comprised of 6 to 16 guests.
On a typical trip they are predominantly from
Britain and Ireland, with the invariably stimulating addition of other
Europeans, North Americans, South Africans, New Zealanders 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.
Repeat guests
The numbers speak for themselves - almost 70% of
our guests book Kudu tours on a regular basis, many of them for two
trips annually. Over 70% of new guests come on trips as a direct result
of ‘word of mouth’ referral from previous guests. Our
‘frequent traveller’ reward programme, Kudu Carats, has
resulted in 2 free trips for many of our guests already and several are
already eyeing their third!
Walking
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 each trip itinerary, 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.
Accommodation
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 Ottoman mansion, a 17C chateau,
aristocratic estancias in South America, welcoming family-run
farmhouses, or a beautiful 18C villa set in a private park.
Food and wine
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
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!
So much is included
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.
Privacy policy
We adhere to the provisions of the Data
Protection Act 1998 and do not share, sell or distribute your Personal
Data with any third parties.
We may send you regular updates by email or by
post that we think will interest you.
Please contact us at any time if you wish to be
removed from our database.
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 their company.
We hold ATOL licence T7281 and would be happy to
book you on the flights recommended for your trip. Please call us for a
fare quote and remember that the cheapest seats fill very quickly - to
secure the best fares, book your tickets as early as possible.
If you are looking for connections from regional
airports or more complex flight itineraries, please contact Travellers
World, a travel agency in Salisbury (holder of ATOL licence 3764), on
(01722 411600) - ask for Jenny or Louise and mention Kudu Travel.
In addition to membership of the Association of
Independent Tour Operators (AITO), we are also
members of the Travel Trust Association, subject to ongoing stringent
reviews of our financial arrangements and business practice. 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.
The flights sold by Kudu Travel are ATOL
protected by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL licence number is
T7281.
Kudu carats
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 several free holidays!
Please note that we can only provide one free
place on each trip - we advise you to book early to avoid
disappointment.
