From
Where I Sit - Venture Magazine Issue #2 Pages
2-3
When I used to don my rucksack and parade through some of earth's more adventurous bits, there was a simple three-word phrase that would always break my heart. Go on, have a guess. No, it wasn't "Oz, I'm pregnant" or "beer sold out", but rather "That costs extra".
You see, with a fixed budget, each utterance of those three vile words would lead me to a very painful decision... Would I ante up the cash and experience the experience, or hold onto my precious (and ever-dwindling!) money and travel just that bit longer?
Remembering how much I loathed those financial surprises while on the road continues to influence our philosophy at Kumuka. We want to give you, like-minded travellers and adventurers, more than just the biggest bang for your buck; we want to give you financial peace of mind.
For that reason, we've ensured that the costs of excursions and entrance fees to attractions, such as national parks, are included in the price we quote you for each and every Kumuka trip. Our literature even spells out exactly how many meals will be provided. This kind of transparency is something that few of our competitors offer.
With your wallet resting easy, and your mind free from doing the maths, there is nothing left for you to do but enjoy all that Kumuka has coming your way. We want to ensure that all your surprises are happy ones.
Oz Ozbuluter
Managing Director,
Kumuka Worldwide
What’s
in a price?
Throughout
Venture you’ll see sample tour prices. These are normally
the lead-in, or lowest, price for that destination, based
on the number of days indicated. You’ll find exactly
the same prices in our brochures for Africa & the Middle
East, Asia, Central and South America, Europe and Family
Adventure Tours.
BUT
WHAT DOES THE PRICE COVER?
Good question, and it's
one that some adventure tour operators would rather you
didn’t ask. If you check out various companies –
and we recommend you do – you’ll find that Kumuka
is not always the cheapest. For several good reasons.
- First, and most importantly, we include all the excursions and entrance fees for the national parks and other attractions that most people want to experience. The only money you’re likely to need is strictly for personal expenditure on drinks and gifts, and meals when Kumuka is not providing.
- Second, on overland truck tours we use our famous blue vehicles with comfortable, mostly front-facing coach seats, cabin/passenger compartment intercom, cool box, stereo and plenty of storage. These vehicles are converted to our own specifications, based on 24 years of experience and fine-tuning.
- Third, on escorted public transport tours we reserve seats for you, including overnight sleeper berths on trains, or light aircraft flights, so all you have to do is get yourself ready to go.
- Fourth, when preparing food en route, our meals are varied, nutritious and carefully prepared, and we’ll gladly cater for specific diets on request. Some tours have a cook as well as a driver and guide, and we specify that in the brochures.
- Finally, when we’re staying in a hotel, it’s a comfortable one, not a fleapit. So we’re never going to try to undercut our competitors. And judging by our mailbag, Kumuka travellers prefer it that way.
WHAT
IS THE “LOCAL PAYMENT” OR “TOUR FUND”?
The “local payment” is a top-up fee,
paid in cash to your tour leader, at the start of most overland
trips in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, and
used for services we provide that have to be paid by us
in cash, en route, such as certain accommodation charges,
meals and entrance fees. It enables tour leaders to be flexible
in where you all eat, for example. The “tour fund”
is a similar fee, but paid at the time of completing your
overall tour payment, and then made available to your tour
leader via local ATMs en route. Local payments and tour
funds are specified in our brochures.
WHEN
DO YOU STAY IN HOTELS AND WHEN DO YOU CAMP?
On
some trips, for example Africa overland tours, we camp exclusively,
and most of our Middle East and Latin America tours include
some camping. We use modern, two-person tents – easy
to put up and dismantle. If we’re not camping, we
occasionally stay in travellers’ hostels, where there’s
no hotel. In some countries we use homestays, which are
really popular. And sometimes we sleep on overnight transport.
DON’T
ALL YOUR TRIPS USE KUMUKA VEHICLES?
Not everywhere,
and on some tours we like to ring the changes. Our classic
overland truck is used in the Middle East and Africa, where
we also use local safari vehicles and private minibuses
in the national parks, and in South America, where we also
use local public transport. In Asia, most of our travel
is done by private transport, again escorted by a Kumuka
guide, while in Europe we travel in the comfort of modern,
air-conditioned Volvo coaches.
KUMUKA.COM
It would
be a surprise if Kumuka did not have a significant presence
on the web, but we believe you’ll find kumuka.com
is a real inspiration in selecting your trip, as well as
being a first-class source of information, up-to-the-minute
news and special offers.
My
Kumuka...
Registering at kumuka.com is as simple as any website, taking
no more than a minute. Sign up to our RSS (“really
simple syndication”) feed and we’ll automatically
send you news of all the latest deals, ensuring that you’ll
be first in line when it comes to great holiday deals. Once
you’ve done that, you can browse all over the site,
make bookings, review and update them, use our secure personal
details store for when you’re travelling, and of course
subscribe to Venture magazine. See p.29 for news of our
£10,000 travel offer for new Venture subscribers.
Real-time
reservations...
Kumuka is the only adventure tour operator in the UK to
offer the facility to book tours at any time, 24/7. You
can easily check and compare prices and departure dates,
special late and early offers, and of course see how close
the tour is to filling up. Kumuka makes no extra charge
for payment by credit card, and accepts bookings in various
currencies for your convenience.
Flip
brochures online...
Kumuka’s online presence has been greatly boosted
by the use of sophisticated online brochures that look and
“feel” just like the paper versions. Check out www.kumuka.com/BrochureRequest.aspx to view our latest collection of tour brochures. Although
the brochures weigh in at up to 80 pages, there’s
no need to download anything: the IntelliMag software kicks
in online and allows you to flip from page to page on screen
or visit the contents list and go straight to the tour that
interests you.
Use the search function to quickly find the tours that interest you, then print out the page for further reference, or click through for more details, including visa and health facts, packing suggestions and the full tour dossier. With online brochures, there’s so much more to help you choose and plan. Of course, if you want a printed brochure, just fill in the form and we’ll gladly post one to you.
Information
to get you going...
Kumuka.com offers a huge archive of constantly updated,
country-by-country travel information. Want to know about
mobiles in Namibia? The climate in Mongolia? Food in Honduras?
It’s all available on Kumuka’s World Travel
Guide. Two clicks and you’re there.
So, bookmark www.kumuka.com and let your adventures begin!
