South African Safari

[Merzen15]

We are planning to go on a fantastic holiday next year before our then 4 1\2 yr old goes to school. So far our favourite seems to be a safari and beach stay in South Africa. Has anybody been on a safari with such a young child and if so any recommendations?

You need to check things out quite carefully as many safari parks will not take under 6s on safari drives. Are you planning on going to Kruger Park or staying in the Eastern Cape? In the Eastern Cape is a place called Riverbend which is very child friendly and does family safaris. There are others but i haven't stayed at them.

A lot of safari operators won't take under 12s.

We're just back yesterday from a wonderful holiday in SA.

We stayed in Cape Town, which is a lovely city, but the beach is poor. A couple of miles down the coast is Camps Bay, which is a beautiful resort with bars, shops and a lovely beach with a large tidal pool. BUT, the sea is freezing all year round (Atlantic). The slightly warmer sea round the coast is generally unsuitable for swimming because of the sharks.

We did a safari on a game reserve about 2 1/2 hours out of Cape Town called Aguilla. It had gorgeous 'hunting lodge' bungalows to stay in, a really nice pool, restaurant, shop and bar etc. There were quite a few children staying there (under5's I would say) who were enjoying the pool and the animals which came in close to the bungalows. We did a game drive of around 3 hours and I also did a horseback safari of a couple of hours. We saw elephants, lions (very, very close up), rhino, hippo, springbok, wildebeest, zebra etc. Although there were no children on our jeep, there were on others.

Another place you might like to see is Boulders Bay - there are hundreds of penguins on the beach, and you can get up close to them on boardwalks, we really enjoyed that.

Any questions I can help with, do ask.

Ulusaba in Sabi Sands will take children. They have to be 6, I think before they can go on the safari itself but some of the lodges have creches. And it's amazing!!

Depending on your budget, there are child-friendly places in Madikwe, which is a 4/5 hour drive from Johannesburg and malaria free. Places like Jaci's organise special safari experiences for younger children and look after them while you go on the game drive proper. At your child's age I would suggest sticking to the Cape, going to one of the game parks suggested up thread for a couple of days, or those nearer Port Elizabeth (not sure what age for Addo, Shamwari, etc),