Experiences with African safari vacations?

In My Humble Opinion
1

As each of my kids turns 16, the two of us go on some kind of trip together, mainly chosen by the kid (in theory I have a veto, but it hasn’t come up so far). My daughter said she wants to go see animals, and we were looking at a trip out to Glacier National Park, when my wife threw in ‘why not an African safari’?

Several hours of research later, I’ve concluded 1) there are far more options than I would have guessed, with wild variations in cost, and 2) some may be less fun for a teen, some more [for an example of the former, I read reviews for one where the tourists loved the fact that every evening ended with them sitting outside in chairs guzzling wine].

Any thoughts from those on you that have been on them? I’m interested in not going too extravagantly, cost-wise (I saw some as low as $200/pp per night, some as high as $1200), though it’s not clear from those ranges whether I’m buying comfort or experience. In any case, what I’d really like is to see some animals every day, relax in the evening, and I’m not tied to a particular country (yet).

Thanks.

2

In the year 2001 I did a 14-day safari in Botswana, which was amazing.

It actually started in Mafikeng (South Africa) - a private King Air (turbine twin aircraft) picked us up and hauled us to Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) for 2 nights. We then visited 4 different remote camps in Botswana, moving between them by private plane (IIRC, a Cessna 207 or 210).

Each day we’d wake early for a morning safari tour in a Toyota Land Cruiser, driven by a native guy who was astonishingly knowledgeable about wildlife, including every possible detail of the enormous variety of birds. We’d do another tour every evening. I think we saw just about every animal we could hope for, and an improbable collection of birds.

The accommodations were luxury tents (room size, with a rigid frame, air conditioning and private bath). Meals were excellent, with wine included.

This would have been a reasonably good buy at $1000/day. But we’d booked it through South Africa, at a time when the Rand was impressively weak against the US dollar. So the actual cost for two weeks was under $2000 - absurdly cheap. I don’t expect to do a better trip in my lifetime.
Some advice if you do this:
Everyone needs a really good set of binoculars and some experience with them.
You should absolutely get into birdwatching: African birds are amazing, and it would be a major mistake not to enjoy them - like going to the Louvre and ignoring the paintings.

3

We went on a family trip to Kenya when I was 15, my brother was 17 (actually, he turned 18 while we were there).

It was memorable, for sure, but I’m pretty damn sure you don’t want to do what we did.

(spoiled because it was bleedin’ ridiculous, and in no way helpful).

My parents are violently allergic to organised tours, I tend a bit that way myself, but this one was a doozy. It included (accidentally) camping in the Maasai Mara, just the 4 of us, in a ‘camp site’ by one of the lodges. This camp site consisted of a ring of stones with the remains of a fire, plus a big water tank with a tap. When we turned the tap on, a whole 5" long dead dragonfly fell out.

Midway through the night a large bull elephant wandered into the camp. It woke my parents, whose tent was next to the car, and proceeded to spend the next three hours wandering between the tents- literally around 1’ from my head at one point, occasionally pulling down branches (at this point I muzzily half woke, wondered why my parents were getting firewood so late, and fell back asleep. Elephants can be seriously quiet, Disney notwithstanding). My parents decided startling it was more dangerous than letting it go about its apparently peaceful business, so they hid in the car until it finally wandered off, at which point we both got yoinked out of bed and we had a record speedy camp strike.

On the plus side, having been rudely awaken at dawn already in the park, we beat all the tour buses to the best wildlife spots.

We also showed up late one evening in a town only to discover that the one hotel didn’t take cards, the bank was shut for a local holiday for 3 days, and we hadn’t enough money. We wound up going home with some random self-declared bishop of his own church, who offered us a place to sleep in his kids bedroom. It was a little awkward, especially as we’re all atheist and he was a hellfire preacher, and was hosting another American one.

He proceeded to regularly hit my parents up for mission donations for at least the next decade.

We also spent one night in a brothel.

The (aged, second hand) guidebook said it was a hotel. It may have been once, but our room was the only one going by the night by that point. The were all very friendly and couldn’t have been more helpful, but it was even more awkward than the ‘bishop’, and somewhat noisy.

It did leave me knowing how many prostitutes it takes to change a lightbulb, because the one in our room was out. 3, if you’re wondering.

I swear I have at least 3 months worth of memories from that two week trip.

We did see lots of animals, though I never did see that elephant, and none of us got dedded, so that was good.

It was still less stupid than my parents first safari to Africa. At least we didn’t deliberately enter any active war zones…

4

A great budget option is self-drive and self-catering inside Kruger National Park. It’s basic accommodation, but some of the best wildlife viewing in the world. You can move between different locations, easy to find reviews of the different spots and to book online. The most critical thing is to go at the optimum time of year for wildlife viewing, end of dry season when there’s less vegetation and the animals congregate at water sources. September is probably the best month. Check the dates of S.A. school holidays and avoid.

If you can afford it you could combine it with doing a couple of nights at one of the luxury places around Kruger that cost multiple thousands per night. The land is contiguous with Kruger and the animals are the same, but they have trackers and know exactly where the to go. Ultimately you can see all the same animals self-drive around Kruger at a tenth the price, but you may have to be more patient and it’s more of a lottery.

5

We walked into the AAA in town, explained what we wanted (elephants, and to never be left standing in an airport wondering where we were supposed to go), and they fixed us up. The tour company they used was Africa Answers. We ended up going to Amboseli, the Ngorongoro Crater, and the Serengeti, something like 10 days all told. We had a great time, and only once did we find ourselves standing in an airport wondering what we had to do next; fortunately a Samaritan took us in hand. Every other time someone was there to meet us, holding a placard with our name on it.

We spent most of our safari time bouncing along the worst dirt roads in the world in a Toyota Land Cruiser; the guides we had were very good at finding animals for us to look at. Elephants are silent, except for the ripping noise of them pulling up great handfuls of grass to eat, and wildebeest are utterly charming, bouncy and full of life, making the most charming grunting-hooting sounds.

We tipped like crazy; fortunately US bux appear to be acceptable tipping fodder everywhere.

6

Been to the Kenya/Tanzania region and to South Africa, both on guided tours. If you’ve never been to Africa, definitely do a guided tour, it is not a place for first-timers.

Which would I recommend? South Africa probably is easier, the roads are much better (at least outside the parks) and the animals pretty plentiful. You can also add Zambia/Victoria Falls to the trip without too much difficulty.

On the other hand, if you want to see the ‘vast herds’ of Wildebeest and Zebras, you need to go to Tanzania or Kenya (be sure to check the migration for the time you are going). You’ll also see Kilamajaro (if the clouds let you) and Nongorogoro Crater and Ouduvai Gorge.

Don’t think you can go wrong with either trip, S. Africa will be a little more ‘developed’, while Kenya/Tanzania will give you larger herds of animals.

IMHO as always…YMMV.

7

If you want to go from 1st world comfortable to animals and back again then come to South Africa, specifically Kruger Park.

But if you do come to South Africa and want to avoid tourist trap prices (ahem Kruger park and surrounds) head for Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park in KwaZulu-Natal. And when your bored of the animals you can head to Durban for a beach holiday. But obligatory plug for the province I was born in aside, go to Kruger.

8

I second this - you could also stay at the small town in the St Lucia Wetland park - just be wary of hippos grazing out of the water at night when staggering back to your hotel from the few excellent restaurants (or the one night club)

9

Are things a lot more expensive now at the public accommodation inside the park? They were pretty reasonable when I was there, but it was a long time ago. I did a quick and check and (for example) Olifants bungalows seem to be in the region of $100. It’s pretty basic, but relative the the satellite luxury lodges it seems fair.

https://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/tourism/availability.php

11

I’ll second this. It was fantastic. I found myself with a four day weekend on a work-related trip, so swapped my rental Mercedes for a manager’s Ford Ranger (a “bucky”) and company gas card, and spent it on a solo trip just driving from site to site within Kruger. I’m not exaggerating at all when I say that it was amazing.

Online you can reserve little cabins inside the fortified compounds. Make sure to arrive before the gates close for the night! You can sign up for organized night rides, so you have a chance to see things at night (otherwise, to see things at night, you’re on your own, and can’t get into any of the camps). Stores at each site sell everything you need for a braai (cookout), and have plenty of good beer.

Speaking of beer, I got the Ranger stuck in some sand. It didn’t have four wheel drive, but some other lockup feature I didn’t know about at the time. Another car came by, and we shouted that I needed some help, so eventually the rangers came by to help pull me out. They refused any sort of tip, but finally and reluctantly accepted my offer of some still reasonably-cold beer!

Oh, for the most part, you can get by in a standard car, too, and the truck probably wouldn’t have gotten stuck if I’d not stop to take some pictures.

I really hope to take the family on an adventure here if South Africa remains safe, once my daughter is old enough.

12

So first, thanks everyone for the great suggestions, I knew the Dope would come through.

All of this (other than getting trapped in what sounds like a mudhole) is interesting to us, we’re going to dig into it further. Thank you again!

13

I realize the spelling is off, but to my American ears your nick reminds me of Messerschmitt which always makes me think of the African campaign and this guy. So the title/nick combo made me ROFL. :smiley:

14

I was thinking of planning a trip back to Kruger myself, either this coming Sept or in 2020, and it’s a very long time since I went so a lot of the logistical issues may be somewhat different. Perhaps we could use this thread to share any useful tips we come up with. The national parks booking site is here:

https://www.sanparks.org/

I combined a week in national park accommodation in Kruger with a couple of nights at Londolozi, which I think was then about $600 per night, and is now… more. Absolutely beautiful, but their prices are insane. When I looked into this a bit last month, I found that “andBeyond Ngala” is a luxury place with slightly less insane prices, and seems to get good reviews. I can’t give you a first hand recommendation though, what you’ll find online is all I know too. (I’ll slip you $50 if you’ll let me sleep on your couch at Londolozi)

Car rental was easy if a little expensive through some of the usual big firms, I got thorough advice on what areas to never drive to or through, and following that advice I never saw any crime or felt at risk. Especially if taking your family, look into that carefully. For obvious reasons I think they are pretty good about keeping tourist areas safe. Taking a puddle jumper from Jo’burg to a small airport near Kruger to avoid a long drive is an option.

15

Well, I’m glad these are all sight-seeing type safaris, unlike my a-hole neighbor’s safari. About 8 years ago, our neighbor a retired guy, went on a safari. That year’s Christmas card featured a picture of him with a dead water buffalo! :mad: My husband went to his house one day to borrow a tool or something and was invited into the house. My husband came home and told me that the water buffalo’s head was now on the wall along with a warthog head and a zebra skin! :frowning: