Comments on: GAP Adventures & Intrepid Travel Review

By: Sande

Sande — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 04:52:39 +0000

I did “Peru Encompassed” with GECKOS Adventures. They were AMAZING. Elvis Vargas and Belji were the two most awesome guides ever! If you want adventure, to feel like you’re going to crash on a flight over the Nazca lines, screaming downhill in sand dune buggies, eating “mystery food”, history, tradition, death-defying bus rides over canyons and welcome hospitality at a homestay on Lake Titicaca, this is who you should go through.
Our group of 16 were varied between ages 23 and 72 with only 2 of us under the age of 30 (I was 28 at the time).
I’m off to Japan in March with INTREPID. Really looking forward to it.

I can’t stress enough: BOOK YOUR OWN FLIGHTS.
I work in logistics so it makes sense for me to book the flights I want with the providers I want and only use the travel companies for the tours/accommodation/transfers. I have had no problems yet. I have a friend who had a bad experience with a budget South American Airline so I prefer to stick to known “OneWorld” partners…

I had no problem with my transfer in Lima. The dude was very professional and friendly; he found me wandering around completely lost outside the terminal LOL

GECKOS is a British company so it might end up being a bit more expensive and having different requirements to the Aussie-owned INTREPID…
I haven’t used GAP but a friend of mine did and she had no complaints.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 01:05:19 +0000

If you are considering using the services of GECKO Trail Adventures:

Here is my experience, so traveler beware.

They insist that you pay in advance by credit card and they issue a voucher. For example travel is $40 per person from San Jose to Puerto Viejo.

My flight was delayed and I called to move the shared shuttle to the next day and they refused to honor the voucher. They claim when you call them that its because they have independent contractors providing the shuttle service, but I think that’s a poor excuse.

This company works with Banana Azul in Puerto Viejo. I strongly recommend avoiding them. Of course the best way to not get ripped off is to not pay companies in advance, but to pay cash for services rendered. This was a special circumstance, my brother’s honeymoon, so I wanted to make it hassle free for him and pay everything in advance. I have learned my lesson with Gecko. I hope you will choose not to use them and go with a more reputable provider.

Good luck!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 01:21:16 +0000

My husband and I are planning a trip to Kenya and Tanzania for February 2012. We are deliberating between GAP or Intrepid. Can anyone share feedback about their experience using either of these tour companies? We are also open to other tour companies. I tried looking up Nomad Adventures, which someone suggested above but their itinerary didn’t seem as extensive as Gap or Intrepid.
Thank you kindly.

By: Wazalendo

Wazalendo — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:09:59 +0000

I have been a frequent traveller on GAP and Intrepids. One thing I did not like about GAP on the AAfrican route is the heavy presence of Western Tour Guides at the expense of Local read African Guides. I would be very comfortable doing trips with the indegenous people to learn their history and cultures afterall this is what is considered Sustainable tourism which benefits locals! The rest is just exotic version that has impoverished the host communities leaving them worse than they found them! The Southern African leg was more of an Afrikaan experience. Undeniably this is part of the South African History but this leaves out a huge swath of land namely Zambia, Namibia ,Botswana etc… Gap should make their African Trips be uniquely African

By: ZB

ZB — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:21:16 +0000

I have experiences both tour groups. Years ago I booked a GAP tour of South America due to time constraints. It was a horrible experience. The arrival transfer in Rio did not show up. I made my way to the originating hotel and they claimed that I was not on the itinerary so I would have to re-book. In fact I had booked four months earlier. I had to fight for a spot despite having my confirmation in hand. There was a lot of unnecessary phone calls and hassle on my end as the tour guide had no idea how to handle it. It ended up that seventeen people had to be in the group due to an I.T. error. The group almost consistently comprised of young drinkers and the tour was compromised to accommodate them (majority rules) so most places of cultural interest were disregarded. One tour member was abusive to all of the tour participants and when brought to the tour guides attention (who was the brunt of most of the harrassment) said that we would just have to put up with it. The tour guide hated Chile so all we heard was his whining through that part of the tour. Once the tour was over GAP was virtually unresponsive to my complaints.

Years later I decided to give Intrepid a go. It was wonderful (Rajhastan Adventure). I could not recommend them enough. It was the complete opposite to my GAP experience and I have done two more tours since then with Intrepid. Time restraints sometime make independent travel (which is my preference) problematic but Intrepid has made travelling with a group a great experience.

By: diana

diana — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 22:40:27 +0000

has anyone travelled with Geckos? how were they? I am having a hard time finding reviews of them. what is the general age range they attract? I was looking at an Ecuador trip.

to continue with this thread, I have taken 3 GAP trips. (I am now 40, nyc, traveled extensively). these are the only times I have ever done group travel. The Egypt trip was amazing..best guide, I went with a friend, and we had a great group. I did Turkey…great iteniery…an older group (3 of us under 40). The guide I did actually complain about afterwards. He was nice and tried hard, but it was his first time doing a GAP trip, gave us very little free time and his ENglish was not very good. He was very knowledgable though. I did a short Croatia trip. was overall good..but the group was less compatible, (some older couples who kept to themselves), the guide was great, but something was missing from that trip I think.
Like many have said, I think a lot has to do with the guide and mix of people, and just some luck. I did talk to a few people on these trips who took other GAP trips..some were so-so reviewed (Central america-had young american guides who didnt speak Spanish), and a couple positive reviews from Africa. I think it has a lot to do who the subcontact the tour to, and also, if it a more in-demand trip which they do frequently and have the kinks worked out well.

By: TK

TK — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 01:04:32 +0000

Hi Tofu, thanks for posting your review of these two businesses, we’re looking to book a trip to Central America and needed some indication of quality/affordability of each. Better get crackin on your list!

Cheers,
TK

By: Lisa Blewitt

Lisa Blewitt — Wed, 18 May 2011 20:13:29 +0000

I see several people saying they are going to India and I really want to hear/read how their experience was with Intrepid vs. Gap. I am planning to go winter 2012 and need to decide between these two companies. I would be traveling solo, age 37, and have done quite of bit of traveling previously with Contiki (pre age 35). How was India with Gap or Intrepid? Which tour(s) did you do? Thanks!

By: Richard Friedman

Richard Friedman — Wed, 11 May 2011 01:52:35 +0000

Hi,
I looked at this site a few months ago because I had booked a trip in Africa with GAP. Honestly, it made me very concerned that I may have made a big mistake. Well it turned out to be the best trip I have ever taken in my life. It was 40 days of pure pleasure.
Your comments are absolutely correct, the trip really depends on the quality of the guides. We had the very best: Retief, Vernon and GP. They made the trip. They were outstanding. I also was very impressed that GAP delivered exactly what they promised and that the quality was excellent. I really felt that I got tremendous value for my money. There is no way I could have ever done this trip on my own. Africa is incredible and the GAP trip Capetown to Nairobi is superb.
I was so impressed that I have booked two more trips with GAP, one in Nepal and one in India the Fall.
One last comment. The people on my trip were from a dozen different countries, ranged in age from 18 to 77 (most 25-35) and had diverse backgrounds. Most of the travelers were singles. Just a few couples. The people make a big difference and GAP seems to attract a good group. Everyone had fun.

By: Stacy

Stacy — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 18:59:22 +0000

Looking at Kenya/Tanzania for August. I’d do Intrepid but 2 of the 3 week in Tanzania are Dragoman which I’ve heard not so great things about. I’m also a little worried about “participatory camping” and wondering if by the time I buy everything I need I could just upgrade to a lodge for marginally more.

I had a good time on Intrepid for India/Nepal and Vietnam/Cambodia. I did GAP for Argentina/Uruguay/Brazil and it was good. I did get really annoyed at GAP for refusing to be reasonable (and keeping a lot of my $ when I got sick for Central Amer. trip and had to cancel. I liked our S. America guide but got annoyed that she sneaked her boyfriend on to the tour and cut off our time at the fall (probably to spend time with him), discouraged the bird park (which is amazing) and at one point put us 4 in a room. At age 34 I feel like the GAP groups are too young for me – we had a lot of college age kids. Intrepid seems to have more of an age range.