We’re considering going on an African safari this coming December as our vacation. Are there any Dopers out there who have specific experience or recommendations?
I have one coworker who went on one in South Africa (MakaLali Game Reserve, I believe) and cannot say enough good things about the trip.
I understand that there are good safaris in Kenya too. Other countries? Where is it safe to visit, and/or what countries should I avoid? I expect it to be expensive, but does anyone know how much money we might be talking?
One problem with planning this is that a Google search of tours/guides returns far too many options. I’d like to have some other specific advice if possible. So I turn to the most experienced and knowledgeable group of people I know – you.
Definitely check out this company. My wife did a week-long excursion (from Johannesburg to Durbin) in South Africa two years ago, and they made all the arrangements. It was absolutely fantastic. We went through Kruger and stayed at Phinda and Sabi Sabi (among other places; a different lodge or reserve each night). We also drove through Swaziland. This is very similar to our itinerary, but ours was a couple days longer.
The service and accomodations were exemplary and, at the time, S.A. was the only country that was still pricing safaris in the local currency (the Rand) so the costs were only a fraction of what they were in places like Kenya (which were pricing in the US$). I don’t know if that’s still true or not. The communication and arrangements were first-rate, the guide was excellent and engaging, and the amount we saw was astounding (although we were there in July, which is a better time of year for viewing animals). Have a great trip and feel free to follow-up with any questions (though I know there are a few S.A. Dopers, IIRC, who’ll definitely be helpful).
Also, the State Dept. has a pretty good website that gives you the latest in terms of which countries are/n’t safe for American travellers (though I don’t think you have anything to worry about with S.A.).
Thanks for your response ArchiveGuy. I appreciate it. I value your direct personal experience.
[sub]This post will also serve as a polite bump to my OP, just in case there are others who have thoughts but haven’t seen this since it left the front page.[/sub]
It depends on how adventurous and how much an “independent traveller” you are. Also budget of course - you can spend a lot of money over here if you wish to. Much of it for Five Star comforts…
My personal best buy would be self drive in Namibia. The Etosha Pan is very user friendly, and self drive up from Windhoek is an easy drive on a metal road all the way. There are other Parks worth seeing but Etosha is the star for mixed game, floodlit waterholes, lots of elephant. Best time to go - between now and Sept/Oct after which it can get very hot for most tourist. Can be low on big cat is the only drawback, and when they are out hunting around the waterholes at night of course then you see no other game - all have run away!
For a littel more adventure - and as you have the 4WD - is to head up to the NW and check out very hold rock art, great countryside and comfortable lodges, up to Puros where the locals run a really excellent foot sarafi to see animals in the real wild including the unique Desert Elephant. Last time I was there we drove up to the Angolan border and along to Etosha that route then back to Windhoek. Great trip.
Meanwhile you cannot go wrong in South Africa - more comfort and a more “controlled” environment. You know what might suit you best - for a first timer they will give you a good experience. The Kruger is hard to beat and you can combine with driving down on the coast if you want to mix up your adventures. The dollar/rand exchange rate is however against you at the moment (same applies to Namibia though, which is linked to the rand).
Lastly, although I have not been, the Serengeti in Tanzania is supposed to be one of the great experiences left in Africa during the migration season. It is however very very expensive.
We are going to Tanzania this fall. Primary reason for choosing Tanzania was the opportunity to climb Kiliminjaro (which we wanted to do before the glaciers completely dissapear within the next 10 years). After the climb, we’ll be on safari for 9 days and then on Zanzibar for 4 days.
Tanzania is home to some of the African sights you’ve probaby heard about in the the nature shows: Serengeti, Ngorongoro crater, Olduvai gorge (where the Leakey’s discovered some of the olderst human remains).
We thought about doing a self drive, but most of the national parks require hiring a guide anyway. After a pretty long search for the proper trade offs of knowlege/ comforts/affordability, we ended up going with a Denver based travel company that took care of all the arrangements (www.adventuresinafrica.com). To make sure we weren’t getting ripped off, I priced out parts of the trip if we were to arrange it on our own. In almost all cases the deal that the travel company offered was lower than obtaining the same rooms/ service independently. The travel company also has access to consolidator seats on the airlines. This alone saved a few thousand dollars on airfare vs. what was showing up on Expedia/ Orbitz, etc. Total cost for the 3 week trip is approx $5k pp in land costs and about $1650 for airfare from Chicago. A good chunk of the land costs is due to the Kiliminjaro climb. I think you can get a weeklong safari for about $1500-1700.
As far as other destinations, my folks recently went to South Africa and Botswana and had a fantastic time. They particularly enjoyed Botswana and the Okavango delta. There are also fewer restrictions in Botswana (the 4wd’s are not required to have hard tops on them and there are areas where you can get out and walk - unlike tanzania where the vehicles all have roofs and the guides will lose their licenses if they allow you to step out of the vehicle).
December is considered the rainy season in some parts of Africa (Tanzania, for one). You may want to pick your destination based on what area will have the best weather at that time.
notquitekarpov, I’m adventurous but not enough to drive around Africa on my own. From descriptions so far it seems that South Africa might be my best bet. As you indicate, it might be quite hot in December, but it’s really our only choice.
pipper, the prices you indicate are actually less than I expected. Thanks for the link. I’ll have to add Botswana to the list of places to consider. Good luck with Kiliminjaro, and then on The Road to Zanzibar.
I did Botswana two years ago through Ker&Downey. They did a great job of planning and I enjoyed the trip more than anything in my life. But I was not thrilled withtheir camps. My two favorites were Selinda and Muchenje neither of which were K&D camps.
All the places I stayed were clean, had running water and flush toilets/bathrooms/showers ensuite. They all also had great food and wine with dinner every night. These things are important to me.
I went in October. Hot, dry, sunny. For 15 days I did not see a single cloud in the sky. The grass was burnt and it made game viewing very easy.
When I go back, I will do the two camps listed above, Cape Town to hit some wineries and a South African Game Reserve to be named later.
Enjoy! Take tons of pictures and let us know how it goes.
And, btw, I am female, I travelled by myself and didn’t need any shoes but my Birki’s. I bought good boots for the trip that I didn’t pack (I had a 12 lb luggage weight limit because of the light aircraft travel between camps.)
I talked to several people who climbed Kilimanjaro and they were pretty underwhelmed. Even if you don’t succumb to elevation sickness and have horrible headaches and nausea that force you to quit half way up, you’ll spend 5 days staring at the ground 2 steps ahead of you, struggling to breath as your guides constantly shout at you to “slow down!” And when you get to the top, you’ll get to see…clouds. It sounds much more exciting and adventurous than it really is.
I did a camping safari in the Serengeti and loved it. It was $90 a day and you get to sleep in a tent in the Serengeti - it’s an amazing experience to be in the pitch dark, listening to the lions grunt to each other over the plains. Are they a mile away or 50 feet away? Hard to tell. Then you look at the nylon tent and try to forget the stories you read about the man-eating lions of Tsavo, who snatched dozens of coolies from their tents by their heads! Our guide slept with a gun in case elephants started to trample through and he woke us with his terrified screaming one night. A bush pig tore into his tent, looking for food. Good times.
Arrangements couldn’t have been easier, I arrived in Arusha, went to a Lonely Planet recommendation and was sleeping in a national park that night.
Unfortunately, most safaris now are “lodge” safaris, which are more expensive and much more luxurious. You’ll basically be sleeping in a hotel in the Serengeti, which to me, largely detracts from the charm. And yeah, the Serengeti is the stuff of legends and National Geographic specials. At the end of my 5 day safari, I was literally bored with seeing *yet another * lion.
That was not at all the case when I went (spring of 2000). The climb was incredibly fun, although the next to last day was pretty grueling. Our guides were friendly, talkative, and eager to teach me as many Swahili words as I could remember. The summit itself was amazing. Yes, there were clouds, but we were looking down on them and watching the rising sun just peak over them. The photograph of this scene is still the desktop wallpaper on my computer. All in all, I’d recommend it to anyone who’s considering it.
And the tent safari is much closer to my experience. After climbing Kilimanjaro,we went on a five day/four night Safari that took us to Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro crater, and the Serengeti. The price was (I believe) $70 US per person per day, which covered everything. We found our guides in Moshi, not Arusha, but the Lonely Planet recommendations never let us down.
It seems weird to say you could be bored on a safari, but there’s really not much to do but sit in the truck and look out the windows. I’ve often wondered if this lack of activity is mitigated by some of the more expensive, amenity-oriented safaris. I am happy we stayed in tents, and I’d do it again in a second if I had the chance, but I’ve always been curious about the alternative.
Yeah, the tent experience must be done at some point. Also try to get to travel in vehicles as open as you can find as with as small a party as possible - cuts down noise, and changing places (to give someone else a turn) and allows you more control of when to stay and watch and when to move on. Very important to get the experience you want which means remaining in control.
Which is why I prefer self drive.
Meanwhile the stories above remind me of once in Puros I remember a whole herd of elephant coming through our camp site at night - Jane fled to the vehicle in fear of getting trampled and had a sleepless night.
I rolled over and went back to sleep…
And then I get it in the head in the morning. Women, eh? :rolleyes:
We used Geckos to tour Egypt, and I have no problem recommending them. I’m sure they’re just as good for other parts of Africa. They use local people for guides. Our guide was so lovely, he went far out of his way to be accommodating.
Actually, we were lucky, we went in July 2003, and because of SARS and the war, numbers were down on tours and as a result ours was almost a personal tour for our family; there was one other single lady in our group.
Note: I have Mozilla, and I had to open the Geckos site in IE.
Well, cynically the same could be said about a lot of mountains that we’ve climbed (stare at rocks, trudge, trudge, huff, puff, stare at rocks, trudge, trudge, slight slip, Holee-sheet adrenaline release, trudge, trudge, stare out from summit, trudge, trudge, stare at rocks from different angle, get in car, walk around office stiff and sore for next 3 days), but for whatever reason we love doing it.
As far as Kili goes, there’s a lot of different routes, with some being quite scenic and others being more akin to a highyway in which to shuffle people up and down the mountain as quickly as possible. Perhaps the folks you taked to were on one of the less scenic routes or just had a bad day. At least I hope so, since I’m spending a week and a lot of $ to haul my butt up and down that mountain!
Would that contain African Buffalo meat? Or some other of the Big 5?
Thanks to all of the others who have responded to my OP. I appreciate the information. I haven’t yet had a chance to do any research on all the various companies and locations mentioned, but I fully intend to do so soon. December isn’t that far off. I’d better get crackin’!
