African Safari for family of 4 - suggestions

[Theflyingnun]

Hi we are hoping to do a safari next year for 2 adults 2 children we have a budget of about £5000-£6000 flying from London 7-14 days. Has anyone done it for this amount? Flexible about where to go. Would love any suggestions. Have been googling but choice is overwhelming me slightly. Thank you

How old will your children be? That will have an impact on where you can go as not everywhere will accept kids. Also what time of year are you thinking?

Children will be 12 and 10 thinking August or October? Googling this morning looks like it might be too expensive 🙁

The best places for a true safari I think are Kenya/Tanzania but I'm not sure this is ideal for the kids ages. Have you looked at South Africa and maybe Namibia. The exchange rate is really good in South Africa at the moment and you do a game reserve combined with maybe some activities in Namibia like the sand dunes.

Namibia is superb and very friendly

We went to Cape Town a while back, the safari by there Acquila was suitable for kids and also penguins on the beach, Table Mountain etc. You do need to be a bit careful to stay somewhere safe. Not sure of cost, looks like hotels / apartments in suitable areas are from £100 per night on Booking.com then its cost of flights, food and trips.

I think your budget might be quite tight for 4 if you.

We’re just back from safari in Kenya - did 6 nights across 2 locations and loved it. But it adds up when you include all your game drives as well as transfers (often light aircraft) and camp costs.

We met a lady in Kenya who was on her 18th Safari! She said that Kenya / Tanzania were her favourites as the Masai Mara / Serengeti gives you a more ‘real’ encounter and not just big reserves that are more like safari parks. She also liked Zambia a lot, and Namibia for something totally different.

You could look at overlanding / self drive to keep costs down?

To add - we combined our safari with beach time, I wouldn’t have come all that way just for 6 nights!

Not Africa but for that budget you could do AI in Costa Rica for a week at somewhere like RUI Guanacaste - roughly £4,500 in August. That includes flights, all food and drinks, entertainment programme, windsurfing, kayak, SUP etc. Onsite there were raccoons by steakhouse, a coati, geckos and a pelican when we were there. It's surrounded by jungle and about 50 metres away there's monkeys. There were trips out roughly £400 for 4 per trip to do 1. Rainforest and see wild sloths via Gecko Tours from beach, 2. Buena Vista ziplining through jungle by active volcano, water slide, horse ride and hot springs, we saw monkeys and toucans there via TUI. 3. Diamante is next door and has 1 mile 60mph zipline and animals and about 10 other trips. It's their winter but still hot and not too much rain. If you are prepared to self cater you can get things cheaper by DIY. It's a great place for that age kids. It's a bit of a trek for a week but quite amazing, that hotel is lovely food and rooms but lively. We went with TUI for 2 weeks. Just a different option if Africa is out of price range.

Thank you all for your advice - funnily enough Costa Rica was somewhere else I was thinking of. Lots to start researching.

Safari would be amazing however I think you would need to double your budget at least.

Borneo might be an option -it is a long way though - we took 3 flights. It is great for that age - I think our 2 week holiday for 3 of us came in at around your budget.

Hello Theflyingnun, Did you get the answers you were looking for? I agree with WhatYouGonnaDoKate that £6,000 is a bit on the light side for a safari and you'd probably need to go to around £7,500 - £8,500 to get something that's memorable.
Having said that, depending on time of year (school penalties for absence nothwithstanding) around £6,500 - £7,000 could get you a safari in Kenya but it would be limited to day safaris in different game reserves, which involves a lot of driving.
If you're really keen on a safari, I can see if I can find you something - you don't need to spend hours going round in circles on the web! I already do that! But I can't promise....

It’s definitely worth looking at Namibia as there is no malaria and I personally would not be happy giving my kids anti malarials.

Namibia is bloody stunning and felt a lot safer than many other African places I’ve been.

Another vote here for Namibia. It's friendly, safe and beautiful. Don't use an expensive UK company, the fantastic Namibian guys at The CardBoard Box in Windhoek are great value and know fabulous places at excellent value ( I'm not on commission I promise!)

We were in Kruger for 3 nights in April.

Stayed at a lodge about a 10 minute drive from the reserve and drove ourselves.

Wasn’t madly expensive.

We stayed here.

www.golfsafarisa.com/kruger-park-lodge/bookings/

If you're looking at south Africa then I would avoid the western cape for the game reserves (by all means go there before or after for the wine and cape town!) as they aren't very good when compared to otger reserves in the country and mainly cater to foreign tourists. I'd recommend either the eastern cape (addo elephant park or shamwari) or kwa-zulu natal (nambiti or phinda). All are malaria-free reserves. The kruger park is obviously the most well known reserve but it is in a malarial region. Most of the locals don't bother with anti-malarials in winter (August) but I'd personally rather go to one of the fantastic malaria-free reserves and not have the worry.

I went to the Nambiti Game Reserve in South Africa - flew into Johannesburg and then drove there. Stayed in the cheapest hotel on the park - Elephant Rock - it was heaven on earth! It looked out over a watering hole and throughout the day giraffe and warthogs would just turn up and take a drink. And it was so luxurious and private.
It had the big 5 plus loads of other amazing animals, 2 game drives a day - and is out of the malaria zone.
We stayed for four nights and spent three nights at Rourke's Drift (might give that a miss with children, though - though it was excellent.)

It was one of the best things I've ever done. All booked over the internet - no travel company needed.

Everyone seems to have forgotten the very low budget. These suggestions are just not really affordable for four people plus the costs of flights. Overland keeps costs down but for children it will be seriously hard work. I would save up and do it properly. Our DDs love safaris. We have done quite a few in South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana.

Our DDs have regularly taken malaria tabs. You just have to. South Africa has huge private reserves which are former farms stocked with game. They are really huge safari parks. Kruger is a true wildlife area as is the Imfolozi area. The Mara in Kenya or the Serengetti are great for first timers but the wildebeeste migration is August and prices will be high in Kenya with few wildebeeste in Tanzania. Namibia is two flights to get there and Zambia is expensive because lodges are small. It’s also a tip top destination along with Botswana. Neither are possible on a low budget though.

So perhaps Costa Rica would do but no lions, giraffes etc!