Choosing a Tour Group - Africa

It's not easy.  I really shopped around looking for the safest company that offered the most fun, interesting tours. But I really wanted opinions on the tour groups before making my decision.

What groups did I find?
- Overlanding Africa
- Intrepid Travel
- Gap Adventures
- Dragoman

Which to choose?  I searched all over the web.  Lots of forums discussed the pluses and minuses of both; maybe I was skewed by a couple too many websites, but at the end, Intrepid held an edge over Gap Adventures for me.  Dragoman has a good rep, but I couldn't find quite as much about it.  Overlanding Africa also didn't have as much info other than the website, but the few reviews I did find were good.

I did find 2 articles in particular that I liked and felt had some good info:
http://www.poweredbytofu.com/2009/05/11/gap-adventures-intrepid-travel-review/
http://theretomorrow.net/2009/07/09/who-to-overland-with-in-africa/

Overall the trip prices were pretty much similar and I ultimately felt that choosing the tour that fit my interests best was the way to go.  And luckily I checked the websites frequently and took some time deciding, because around Thanksgiving time I saw that Intrepid Travel had a discount deal going - 15-20% off the tours depending on the time of depart - Yippee!  I got a great deal on ultimately what ended up being 2 of 3 tours that I will do with Intrepid.  More on that later!

In case you're wondering what I chose, I thought this tour fit my interests best.

Can you tell/imagine how excited I am?????