In asking for holiday tips? (Africa with a 4 year old.)

[shesalady]

Dh wants to (finally) go on honeymoon.

I'd love to go somewhere in Africa. We were thinking of Botswana. Anybody been?

We have 4.5 year old ds. I'm British and Dh and ds are American if that makes a difference. (ie I'd probably not go to Egypt for safety reasons even though I've been there a lot.)

I wouldn’t do safari with a child that young.

That's what Dh wanted to do and I was apprehensive. Why do you say that?

Part of me wants to wait until he's a little older. The car seat thing may be a pain.

Most safaris will not take children until
Much older. They are long hot patient affairs- not suitable for four year olds.
On that basis, go when DS is either left at home with others or much older. Don’t go to a country which has magical
Access to a safari you can’t enjoy, you’ll resent it. Go somewhere else now where you can enjoy most of what that country offers.

They don’t understand that wild animals can be dangerous, and sometimes you need to be absolutely quiet. There’s often lots of boring time where you don’t see anything. And excitement when you do (but risk of startling animals/pissing off others if on a group tour). We’re planning on self drive safari when DD is around 10. (Have always self driven but you need your wits about you.)

Also access to toilets etc on long drives in the bush.

I live in Cape Town. We recently spent a week at a game lodge with DS who was then 2y 5mo. It was v hot and occasionally he wasn't in humour for both daily game drives (guide and open topped vehicle with other guests so we were v careful not to let him so much as murmur!) but overall it was v successful and he loved it. Pick a lodge with air con obviously. And a pool. Look at staying out of malaria-endemic areas as medicating under 8s can be tricky (they cannot take doxycycline for one thing). Spend plenty of time looking at wildlife books before you book to make sure that your kid is actually interested (ours is obsessed but then so are we).

We had an amazing safari holiday when my kids were teenagers. Personally I’d wait till then and do something much more kid friendly while they are young.

Thanks for the advice! I'll put it off a while!

Africa isn't just safaris. Try kwazulu natal for endless beaches warm weather and day trips to game farms.

I looked into a safari in Botswana for this year with my older teenage/adult DC and decided it wasn't for me. As already said it the long days in uncomfortable vehicles, camping out , the food and the vaccinations needed.

There is no way I would take a 4 year old.

I am sure there is somewhere else in the World more suitable

We took our 4yo on a safari in South Africa and he loved it. He behaved very well on the drives and coped perfectly well with the early starts! We chose our lodge carefully to ensure it was suitable for children and would recommend it (if you were going to SA!).

We went to S.Africa with 3 under 5 (youngest was 6 months), was one of our best and easiest holidays! We had a house in Cape Town (Constantia) for about 4 days, then we went to a private country park place near Paarl for our friends' wedding,then east to Addo to see elephants and Warthogs... then back to Cape Town. Zebras in the wild down at the CofGH, and penguins at the beach.

We took our baby car seat and hired the other 2 (our friends had a business doing this then, not now!). Car hire was very expensive though.

We'd like to go back as only the oldest remembers it, and would love to go to Namibia too.