Earthstompers Adventures is an award-winning South African tour company, established in 2006. We specialise in tours and safaris of the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa. This includes Cape Town, the Cape Winelands, Garden Route, Addo Elephant National Park, Kruger National Park and Greater Kruger.
We offer both scheduled group Garden Route tours, departing every Monday from Cape Town, and tailor-made private tours. These are perfect for school or university groups, family vacations, honeymoons or small group travel.
Earthstompers is owned and operated by husband-and-wife team, Hendrik & Chrissy Human. We are proud to have been recognized as South Africa’s Tour Operator of the Year in 2019, by South African Tourism’s Lilizela Awards!
Our mission is to show travellers the outstanding beauty of South Africa, and offer life-enriching travel experiences. We aim to operate our business in a way that is beneficial to the people of South Africa. One of our biggest impacts is creating good jobs all across the Western and Eastern Cape provinces. We aim to support the conservation of natural habitats and wildlife by visiting many National Parks and Nature Reserves on our tours, and my minimizing our environmental footprint.
Where it all began…
Hendrik studied Tourism in Stellenbosch in 2001. He had an assignment to write a business plan for a tourism company. Being from Mossel Bay on the Garden Route, he decided to write a business plan for an adventure tour company offering trips along the Garden Route.
After his studies, a few years of freelance tour guiding and working as a lodge manager and game ranger, Hendrik decided to put that business plan to work. He founded Earthstompers Adventures in 2006. In those early days, it was just a 24-year-old Hendrik and his trusty blue Volkswagen bus!
We are proud that in 2020, the 6 Day Garden Route and Addo Adventure tour that Hendrik designed won TripAdvisor’s award for one of the top 10 multi day tours worldwide.
Chapter two
The second chapter in Earthstompers’ history began in 2012. Chrissy came from her home in Kansas City, United States as a tourist…fell in love…and decided to stay in South Africa. Chrissy quickly took over the business affairs of Earthstompers, including the financials, website, social media, and scheduling. Gone were the days of Hendrik’s hand-written calendars and boxes full of receipts!
These days, Hendrik & Chrissy operate Earthstompers together. Along with the best office support team & group of guides you will find on the Garden Route.
A letter from the Owners
Thank you for visiting our website and considering our family business, Earthstompers Adventures, for your travels to South Africa.
In a world of big data, chatbots, and customer relationship management software, we aim to offer you something different: a real and personal experience. Travels that will astound you at the natural beauty of South Africa; and the meaningful experience of meeting people from other places and cultures.
This business is a dream come true for us, and we put our experience and our hearts into it. We personally create all of our itineraries. Our goal is to offer trips that are safe, fun, fairly priced, professional, and authentic. We never take guests to a place where we have not been ourselves. We’ve personally done all the activities you will find on our itineraries, and we have personally visited any accommodation we book for guests.
Hendrik: I grew up on the Garden Route and I’ve guided hundreds of tours myself. Needless to say, I know the area very well. Our relationship with some accommodation suppliers have been going for over 15 years! We have more of a friendship than a business relationship.
We endeavor to provide a taste of excellent local food on tours, and make an effort to stop at small locally-owned businesses along the route, to support local economies and give our guests a real South African flavour. By doing this, we help you to “travel like a local”.
Stomping with purpose
All of that said, our business is about more than “just” a fun and enriching experience for our guests. In our operations, we aim to make a positive difference in South Africa. For the local economy, the people, and the natural environment. Earthstompers aims to be a great employer and create jobs from Cape Town all the way to the Eastern Cape. We aim to minimize the environmental impact of our tours. We include many Nature Reserves and National Parks on our tours, where your tour funds are being used towards the protection of the natural environment, fauna and flora. Your travels do make a difference.
We get a lot of job satisfaction by reading the lovely reviews from our guests! Please talk to us if you feel we can do better in any area. As owners, we personally review all feedback, good and bad, and use this to guide our future plans.
We wish you safe travels and hope that South Africa works its way into your heart!
Greetings from Cape Town
Hendrik & Chrissy Human