OTG tour reviews - Egypt & Momo
My husband, daughter, son & myself went to Egypt for the King Rameses with cruise tour (28/9/2019 - 10/10/2019). We covered so much in these 13 days.
This is the second time that my husband & I visited Egypt (previously done Sunchaser tour in Feb 2018) with our previous knowledgeable Egyptologist Alam Mido.
My husband & I was disappointed at first when OTG & our previous tour guide Alam could not guarantee that we will have Alam again as tour leader. OTG & Alam assured us that we will have a very knowledgeable Egyptologist & that we will be in their very capable hands. After seeing & meeting our new tour guide/leader Mohamed Saiid (aka Momo) we all knew we are in good hands.
Momo is a very knowledgeable, experienced Egyptologist which is passionate about Ancient Egypt & Egypt's history, their people & culture.
Momo's explanation of Egypt's history kept our attention continously (I could not even fall asleep or I forgot to take photos 😢, so intense was my listening skills when Momo was talking🎤).
Momo made the tour members a family in such a short period of time, even that we were from different nationalities & total strangers. By bonding us as a family resulted in: - it kept our group together; we stayed friends even after our tour ended.
Momo gave clear instructions to everyone including that we all need to be punctual which made our tour run smoothly and enjoyable. The tour was very organised and perfect! Our tour group had everyday so much fun; we miss this now.
All of the sights in Egypt including Cairo, The Pyramids of Giza, Aswan, Luxor, Valley of the Kings, Karnak Temple, Sakkara, Kom Ombo, Hurghada are all well looked after; truly inspiring pieces of history. We had the option to visit Abu Simble but we decline the opportunity. We stayed in Hurghada because I needed the rest before commencing with our next OTG tour to Sri-Lanka.
Egypt, its people, food & sights are amazing!
Even that the tours are budget tours, the hotels are beautiful 4* & 5* hotels with delicious breakfasts including a variety of different breads daily. Breads are given with all meals. I had to decline the bread on many occasions😢 because I had previously gained weight; I promised myself not to gain weight this time😂😂
All of the accommodation we used was clean and very comfortable. The transportation was excellent with comfy seats, air conditioning and on-board wifi.
We were met at the airport on arrival by OTG Rep Ahmed Katona (aka Tonga). Ahmed Zidan (aka Zidan) had the privilege of seeing us off at the airport for our departure.
With both tours to Egypt my expections were totally met about safety, we were completely save. OTG & Egyption government main priority to their tourists are their safety, they made sure that we were looked after & kept save. There was no reason to feel unsave at anytime.
Additional excursion are avaliable.
Tour guides on the various additional excursions.
Zidan was our tour guide for the optional excursion Nile River Dinner with traditional Egyption Belly Dancing, Egyptian tanoura (men spinning their bodies in repetitive circles) distinguished by the use of a multicolored skirt. He was also the person who took us to the airport & made sure our departure ran smoothly.
Ahmed Esmat (aka Medo) was our tour guide for an optional excursion - Backstreets of Cairo. We could not visited the Tahir square on that specific day due to safety reasons. Medo adjusted our tour with a visit to a local restaurant to experience their local beverage; Hibiscus tea and for smoking some shisha (a water-pipe for smoking flavoured tobacco, which passes the smoke through water). We had then time to explore Egypyt on foot, it gave us the opportunity to shop for souvenirs before we headed to the Cave Church of St. Simon.
Sherif Fawsy, although we had Sherif as one of our additional tour guides in Feb.2018, he recognize me & my husband in one of the hotels. We also had the opportunity to introduce my daughter & son to him. Sherif always greeted us friendly, asked how we are when our different tour groups met at the same time at the various destinations. It was amazing to see him again.
Although additional excursion are available which does not form part of the OTG tours but it is worth doing while visiting Egypt.
The experience of sailing down the Nile on a felucca at sunset was awesome. Even that the weather were not on our side with wind blowing, we will have good memories of our expience on rowing the felucca back to the hotel.
Seeing the Red Seas amazing coral reefs, various marine life & my son snorkelling in the Red Sea was simply awesome.
Momo is such an amazing tour guide leader with the following exceptional qualities: -
Qualified Egyptologist
Knowledgeable in various fields, current history, ancient history, sport, various culture & religions, etc.
Friendly
Passionate about Egypt & Egyptian history - Momo's eyes sparkle with pride when he explains to us the Egyption history, people & cultures. He drawn pictures on the ground on more than one occasion that we can understand what he is explaining to us. I loved this & his history lessons was therefore very enjoyable.
Ambassador for OTG & Egypt, he loves the work he is doing. You can see this in Momo's body language when he is on or off the job.
Empathetic - when Momo heard it was our (my husband & I) second visit to Egypt & both tour was with OTG, he was immediately worried why we returned & what went wrong with the first tour. We explained that we visited Egypt in Feb 2018; 7 months after I had a hip operation. I could not do all the activities then & promised to return. All went well after that but fate was not on my side. I broke my ACL (cross ligaments) totally off & torn my cartilage in my knee +-2 months before the tour commenced. Momo made sure that everything was going okey with me even when I had family support. There was adequate time for me to reach the sightseeing. Momo always asked me during & after the visit that there was anything that I need assistance with.
Given assistance - I can't thank Momo enough for lending a helping hand when I needed to climb steps, walking over rough terrain or to be my personal photographer when I needed family or group photos. I will treasure these moments for ever.
Going behond the extra mile -
Momo assisted us in Luxor with arranging transport, as translator & guide when we visited a different perfumery one evening in our spare time to see if we can find a specific perfume.
When Momo heard that we was hoping to meet again our previous tour guide Alam at some stage during the tour & when I said disappointly 'Oh Nooo! ' when he told us that it would not happen because the two tours are on opposite sides of Egypt. We would therefore not be able to see Alam before our departure date. When Momo and Alam call each other, Momo brought his phone to me & my husband so that we could speak to Alam. This made our day even more special. This will be one of our sweetest memories of this tour. Momo you are a star & please remember that we will be treasuring this gusture forever in our hearts!
Momo made sure that the group's tick boxes were ticked; from where to find lunch, dinner, additional excursions, souvenirs such jewellery, music, t-shirts, Egyptian linen, perfume or anything which they would have asked for if he was able to do.
This King Rameses tour would not have been a success if it wasn't for Momo ***** service delivery.
Momo THANK YOU on behalf of my husband Johan; daughter Lilian; son Dean & myself for an amazing memorable tour. This was one special family holiday for us. You received 5 ***** + from all of us.
Although Medo, Tonga, Zidan or Sherif wasn't the main tour guide/leader for us, it is amazing that OTG have such dedicate tour guides and leaders. Each of them are dedicated ambassadors for OTG & Egypt.
My husband & I have done 5 tours with OTG, we did & will again gladly recommend Egypt; OTG, their Tour Guides & Reps! We will also go back to Egypt, hopefully in the near future.
Gloudina, Johan, Lilian and Dean Myburgh
South Africa
Oct 2019”