Keith Grenville

Well-known retired actor, theatre director and currently lecturer in Egyptology has been leading tours to Egypt for almost 20 years. He is the Founding Chairman of The Egyptian Society of South Africa and now Patron of that society, a member of the pre-eminent London-based Egypt Exploration Society, and regularly lectures throughout South Africa and Egypt and has travelled extensively throughout Egypt for 25 years and through most of Europe and parts of the Middle East. He is the owner of Egypt Today CC, now in its 7th year, and regularly escorts tours to various destinations.

About Egypt Today cc

Egypt Today, now in its 7th year, is an exclusive tour operator specializing in group, individual and incentive travel to Egypt and other destinations in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, developed from a background of more than 25 years travel in the Middle East and almost 20 years conducting tours in Egypt.

Since the company was formed in 2003 some regular tour destinations have been included - Russia, Morocco, Turkey, Jordan, Ethiopia, Israel, Italy, Namibia and Madagascar. Tours and extensions are available to other destinations – all at competitive prices.

Each project is created, arranged and processed according to the individual requirements of every client, whether it’s a group, incentive, business or an individual tour. General tours as well as historic, cultural, religious, desert safari and other specialised interest tours are arranged.

Service

Excellent and personalised service is our priority, and to maintain and increase our reputation we ensure we have access at all times to the best hotels, Nile cruisers, guides and services - everything that is best to make your travelling to Egypt and other destinations a resounding success and a memorable experience.

Arrangements in Egypt are handled by our skilled specialist agent, a front runner in the field of international travel with branches in all the main cities in Egypt, and a wide infrastructure to cater for all needs. We are also aided by top agents in other countries offering services and facilities compatible with our standards and our client’s expectations and needs.

We are also supported by national carriers South African Airways, EgyptAir, Turkish Airlines and British Airways with their high international standards of air travel to, from and within Egypt as well as national and regular airlines for other destinations.

We are proud to publish on this website a selection of the many testimonials we receive from our hundreds of clients. Many clients return to us and have travelled regularly with Egypt Today up to eight times and more.

What people say:


A recent tour group at the Step Pyramid

When I think of what was organised and laid on to make this a trip of a lifetime, there really was nothing forgotten or left to chance.
Pat & Janna Smith, Umhlanga Rocks, Kwa-Zulu Natal

We had the most wonderful holiday. The itinerary that you planned was absolutely spot on with all the major sights covered and the right amount of time in each place.  In the event we used the final Sunday in Cairo to go back to the Cairo museum as there is so much to observe there. Your choice of hotels was exceptional and the boat cruise with A & K was most memorable.  We will definitely recommend you to others and thank you very much for your assistance.

Gareth Penny, London

Our minds and cameras are still reeling from how much we covered and, hopefully, absorbed during this adventure.
Your organization and the Teams on the ground in Cairo, Luxor and Aswan were excellent. We were looked after from start to finish and can only imagine the mess we would have got into without their care and local knowledge.

Tony & Heather Devlin, Daar es Salaam


We want to thank you for the most magnificent tour, holiday, and visits to the 'Splendours of Egypt'. Every day was marvellous and filled with exciting new sights, knowledge and stories. The visits to the temples, tombs and interesting places were wonderful. It was really nice staying in the luxury of the super hotels and being treated so royally ... your input all the time was always spot on and we do commend you with your easy going friendly patience with us all. The whole trip surpassed our every expectation.
Evritt Murray, Graaff Reinet

I would like to tell you about the very good treatment and organisation we received here in Egypt by your travel agent Ahmed. He met us at the airport, rushed us through customs and immigration like VIPs and to the hotel. We travelled a lot in our life but such a handling we haven't experienced before. Also the organisation during the tour until now is excellent and very professional and I'm sure it will also be for the last 4 days. This also refers to Dr Ezz who makes a very good job and tries to explain the sites in a way that even non-experts, as we are, can follow him.
Jutta & Michael Doelves, Frankfurt, Germany

Alas, the holiday has come to an end and school and work start tomorrow, but Paul and I shall still live in the memories of Egypt.

Thank you so much for the most wonderful tour – I enjoyed every aspect of it and certainly shall never forget it. It was so much more than I expected, even just from the point of view of being in a group tour. I was apprehensive about being in a group, never having travelled in one before, but I found it to be a very positive experience.

Egypt was also so much more than I expected – in itself, as a country, it was mind-blowing. Every day I felt like I was being faced with new challenges and new sights, let alone seeing antiquities beyond my imagination. Thank you, though, for the tour being so well organized, as everything ran so smoothly that I was just able to enjoy myself without having to worry about the every day hassles of luggage or travel. I really felt well looked after and safe all the time and was able to enjoy being in the company of such friendly people.

Ezz and Ahmed were an absolute delight to work with and Ezz certainly made the ancient sights of Egypt come alive for me and Paul. It really was a great learning experience, as well as a holiday. My favourite experiences certainly include Karnak, Abu Simbel and then, of course, the Nile cruise.

I truly felt that I have only scratched the surface of ancient Egypt, however, and I still have names and dates scurrying around my brain as I look at my photographs. Certainly, another trip is well worth it and I shall work towards doing so. If I do so, I shall make sure it is with you and your company. In fact, my son Richard is hoping to come on the Bishops Egypt Tour in two years’ time when he is in Grade 6, so let’s hope it’s still going by then.

Paul joins me in sending our best wishes to you and a BIG THANKS!
Nella Freund, Cape Town

The tour was one of the most enjoyable, memorable and awesomely interesting and fascinating foreign tours we have been on for a long time.

The tour organization and quality of service provided was highly commendable and that of our tour leader Maged Emil exemplary. Maged was always pleasant and charming and he went out of his way to contact us at each of our destinations to ensure that all was well and to our satisfaction. We are pleased to say that everything always was and the days passed by flawlessly (obviously with a great deal of attention by him as well behind the scenes).

The guide we had for Cairo and surrounds, Ossama Sayed, was a very knowledgeable and interesting person who motivated and stimulated our interest at every site or scene we visited. His openness to discuss any aspect of life in Egypt and his patriotism was most refreshing and informative at all times. We were never bored for a moment nor were we ever flooded with an overburden of information.

The cruise down the Nile stopping off at the historical sites and temples, seeing the way of life, villages, farms, etc., was absolutely fascinating. It was also enjoyably relaxing and sociable being with and meeting such a cosmopolitan group of people.

. . . Hurghada was superb and the Sofitel Resort Hotel and amenities excellent. Our short stay there was the most enjoyable and laid-back break possible just after midway through our tour.

Sharm-el-Sheik/St. Catherine’s Monastery – Sinai/Cairo was magnificent. Stark scenery, the birth of religion sites, passing through a real oasis are indelibly imprinted in our minds never to be forgotten for their awesomely different beauty.
We enjoyed Alexandria as it had a special character of its own, a blend of old and new, Egyptian and European Mediterranean, to which we were quite drawn.
All in all it was a most memorable, fascinating, interesting, and thoroughly enjoyable tour as Egypt just has so much to offer.

Once again thank you for all your efforts . . . for the tour organization and rare quality of service we received. Such professional service is rare in this day and age and we would not fail to highly recommend Egypt, Egypt Today CC and your Egyptian agent to all.
Len & Yvonne Bebb, Fish Hoek, Cape Town

Just back from your Easter in Egypt after a fabulous time which we will heartily recommend to our friends.
The organisation of your Egyptian agent was superb, while always caring, and the tour guides - particularly Dr. Ezz - knowledgeable and friendly, always looking for ways to make us at ease.
The Nile cruise is a highlight - I had no idea there were so many large vessels plying this trade. We took the extra trip to Abu Simbel - what a sight to come upon at 6.30 AM!
All in all, a wonderful trip - thank you for accommodating us.
Dr. Julian Lloyd, Montagu

"My main purpose in writing to you is to express our heartfelt thanks for all your efforts in making our 16 days in Egypt what will certainly be one of the most memorable cameos of our lives ... I kept admiring the manner in which you were able to organise a group of 30 persons so successfully on such a comprehensive trip. . ... you succeeded in achieving everything you set out to provide us with - and more! It was the excellent itinerary which attracted me to the tour in the first instance,. I can assure you it fulfilled every expectation that I might have had and even more ... I wish you every success in continuing your endeavours to create more dreams for people in the future. Thank you so much for everything."
Dr. Azar Jammine, Johannesburg

We returned back on Friday from an incredible experience in Egypt.  Thank you very much for the professional service that we received from you and your company.  We are so impressed and will not hesitate to recommend Egypt Today.   We also received absolutely fantastic service from your agent in Egypt.  The representatives (Magdi - Cairo) and our guides (Sameh - Sharm el Sheikh, Sherien - Cairo and Mahmoud - Nile Cruise) were so professional, friendly and sincere.  Our experience because of them far exceeded our expectations. We also had wonderful accomodation and meals.  Once again thank you.  

Zeyn & Tasnim Osman, Mafikeng

I'm a traveller - not a tourist. Many years as a diplomat taught me not to visit foreign places but to live in them. I always stay in apartments - never in hotels and have found that preparing my own travel plan with the assistance of my trusted Lonely planet guides makes for wonderful holidays. A diplomatic visit to Egypt some 20 years ago left me with the desire to go back and the awareness that Egypt is too overwhelming to do on my own. Thus the decision to go as part of a group.    What was my expectation? I was "prepared" to put up with what I was sure would be "canned" tourism to not have to handle the logistics of getting tickets, taxis, accommodation, etc.  

Well I got so much more than I could ever have expected in your tour guide. To call him a "guide" does not begin to describe the dignity and knowledge with which he introduced us to Egypt. And your representative went the extra mile to make our holiday special. In our minds Egypt will forever be synonymous with Joseph and Ahmed who made us feel like honoured guests in their world.  

Thank you for making this possible and know that this won't be our last visit.

Mari Kleynhans, Walvis Bay, Namibia

We had a fantastic holiday. I am so glad that I chose your tour, as it was everything I wanted and even more.

From the moment we arrived at an extremely hot Abu Simbel, we were treated like royalty. I could not believe how we were fetched and carried the entire tour, in private vehicles, with our own private guide! Even
the hiccup of the lost luggage was taken care off by Essam in Aswan who did not rest until we had it.

Our stay in Abu Simbel was the highlight of the tour for me, and I am so glad that you were able to arrange it at the last moment. I would have missed out on a most astoundingly beautiful place and experience I will now have forever.

The hotel accommodation was superb, and only have praise for all. The Nile cruise was also really enjoyable and much better than expected. I did not expect such luxury ... the crew and staff on board were all very friendly and polite, we actually enjoyed tipping at the end.

I would like to commend most highly the tour guide we had while in Aswan and on the cruise. We were very sad to say goodbye to Mahmoud Ali Mohammed. He was so patient, knowledgeable and nothing was too much trouble for him. He had a great sense of humor and was an absolute pleasure to have around. I must say I was not envious of the other tour groups all shoving and pushing to get to hear what their guide was saying. Here my husband and I had the guide’s full attention, and we could question him at anytime or interrupt him at any time. His time was all ours. We were truly spoilt!

In hindsight, I suppose one could always say that one should rather have spent a little more time here and a little less there, but these are personal choices, and I think on the whole the tour was perfect.

I would recommend it to anyone wishing to see Egypt as I think we had a most wonderful holiday and have no regrets whatsoever. Egypt is an unbelievable country and an experience of a lifetime.

Thank you so much for making it what it was.

Renate & Marius Parodi, Veereniging


Thank you for what was an incredible, if not life-changing experience in Egypt - I am so thrilled that I was part of your group and that we were able one and all to have a fantastic time together.
Ralph Pond, Cape Town

I can’t remember ever going on a trip which was so comprehensive and well organised. AS a family we enjoyed it from beginning to end and although there were times we wanted the information to stop coming we ended up almost reading the inscriptions. Both our guides – Shereen and Mahmoud were very well educated and available at all times, especially Mahmoud being on the cruise with us. We had been told prior to going we would be disgusted with the smells and filth of both the airline and Egypt ( Cairo ) but this couldn’t have been further from the truth!!! So i intend setting a couple of people straight as misinformation like this can harm a reputation and business prospects.
I’m sure you have heard all this before so please accept that i thought it was a wonderful holiday, very good value for money and i would recommend it to all and sundry.
Anyway we brought back about 8 gigs of photos and an additional 2 bags of everything from perfumes, Galabayas, t-shirts, caps, jewellery, alabaster and papyrus scrolls so have more of Egypt in our home than the Egyptians.
Once again it really was great and please accept our thanks for all your input and organisation.

Michael Hay, St Francis Bay

P O Box 332, Constantia, 7848
131 Boundary Road, Diep River 7800
Cape Town, South Africa
Tel/Fax +27 (0)21 712 9471
Mobile: +27 (0)83 441 0003
email: keithg@egypttoday.co.za