Safari tips and questions

[zippitydoda]

My OH would love to do a safari, I'm not so sure, I don't like bugs and think there would be loads. I have some questions and looking for some tips if anybody has any.

Do you get lots of bugs?

Are they suitable for people with slight mobility problems?

Is January to March a good time to go?

For a decent level of luxury is £3,000 enough for around 10 days?

Are any jabs needed?

Any tips?

Thanks in advance.

Lots of variations in safaris. I went on one in South Africa as part of a bigger package deal and was shocked to find that many Safari holidays involve visiting a privately run fenced area into which the animals have been imported. It’s basically like a very large Longleat! I was rather naïve beforehand and assumed it was going to be visiting a national park where the animals happened to live. You can drive through some areas and there are multiple safari places with fences and signs outside.

Now, the National Park variety do exist (in fact that’s where I was supposed to be going on the package but the tour operator changed it last minute) but in hindsight there are pros and cons. Some safari areas are malarial areas so extra medication needed, more likely in the National Park type areas. In a fenced area you stand more chance of seeing the animals (they are very large areas, the one I stayed at was made up of several farms bought up and merged).

Do you get lots of bugs?
I don't remember a lot of bugs. You need your yellow fever vaccine beforehand (certain amount of days beforehand as a minimum so check that). We also took malaria tablets throughout and sprayed DEET. But don't remember much bugs and we were along a river. I don't think I was actually bitten either.

Are they suitable for people with slight mobility problems?
I would say it depends on if you suffer from pain. You will be out in a jeep for a good few hours and the movement of it over bumpy terrain will toss you around slightly. As for getting around physically we had a grassy walk from reception to our tent. If you stayed in a hotel type accommodation it would be more accessible.

Is January to March a good time to go?
I'm not sure, it depends what you want to see. Different seasons have different things to see. One season has all the animal births and one has migration period. We went in December at the tail-end of migration.

For a decent level of luxury is £3,000 enough for around 10 days?
Ours cost about £4K for about 4 days for 2 people. Safari is expensive but it completely depends on where you stay. We stayed in the Masai Mara which is where all the documentaries are filmed, our accommodation would probably be classed as luxury.

Are any jabs needed?
Yellow fever

Any tips?
Pack long sleeved and long legged clothing. Pack DEET.

Off the back of PP comment I will add that my safari wasn't fenced off we were literally a tent in the middle of the plains where animals could freely roam and a lot did come and rub themselves against our tent at night. We had guards with rifles escort us around the camp at night as hippos would walk through the camp.

Hi, I went to the Masai Mara a few years ago. Stayed for 3 days in a tented camp, not too many insects and we had a can of ‘doom’ for any that appeared. It was fabulous, not fenced in per previous post so you can’t be guaranteed to see any animals although we had a knowledgeable guide and saw lots and had a great experience. It was expensive though and one disadvantage of not being fenced In Is that the animals can sometimes wander through the camp, and we did have to hide once when the elephants came to have a look….. our camp hosts were fab though and neither animals nor us were in danger.

I don’t remember any bugs really apart from a big dung beetle who was fascinating

We had "game drives" in Botswana & stayed in a very civilised lodge - I will never sleep in a tent . There were both land & river excursions.
Botswana allows its game to roam freely, although that meant we were the wrong time of year to see lions.
There were mozzies around, but we weren't bitten as we wore DEET bands, & all beds had mozzie nets.
Can't remember the price, but it was certainly less than £3k pp.

Answers will vary according to the area you plan to visit. We had a yellow fever jab, hepatitis jab and malaria pills for Kenya. Don't recall any nasty insects but we did sleep in hotels and a posh tent set up. Long sleeves and trousers/boots if humid or after dusk. Upset stomachs were common and lots of early morning starts. We were fully mobile but as long as you can get into a 4wd and put up with long drives over rough roads it should be ok. 10 days is a long trip though. We were about six days on safari with a couple of hotel days either end.

@zippitydoda
We have been on a lot of safari type holidays. I’m sorry but your budget simply is not enough for a proper safari. As you will have read, in South Africa, there are many safari experiences, in other words “rewilded farms”. They have boundaries. As indeed do some reserves in Botswana. Lions don’t move from reserve to reserve. They are either resident or not. Therefore a budget of £3000 pp simply isn’t enough.

Some of the best experiences are luxury camping. They are permanent tents and some are in beautiful locations. Absolutely wonderful. However your budget won’t stretch to this. Your best bet might be a rewilded farm in SA or cheap and cheerful in Kenya. You would be doing road transfers so your health issues will prevent that I think. So SA is really your only option. To get a realistic opinion of lodges and costs, look at Expert Africa. They have a wealth of info. You might get to Cape Town and drive the Garden Route and end up at Addo or similar.

January-March is high season in SA. Safaris not really available in Zambia at that time and Botswana too. Kenya ok. Zimbabwe is possible.

Bugs? There are malaria free areas. Other areas will require malaria prevention. Otherwise not many obvious bugs. Check health requirements via somewhere like MASTA or Travel Health Pro. Malaria tabs will
eat into your budget.

Look very closely at weather patterns as they vary from country to country. Costs do too. Luxury on a safari isn’t possible on your budget if you want a personal authentic experience. You need a company like Expert Africa or Wildlife Worldwide with very extensive knowledge of safaris. If you just want a holiday in Africa, anyone will do.

We went on safari to Kruger national park in SA as part of a longer trip combined with Cape Town. I found five nights more than enough. You are taken out twice a day and there's not a great deal to do in between. We had an amazing time but I think 10 days would have been too long for me personally.

With 10 days you need at least 2 parks covering different terrain and animals. So add in a city such as Cape Town and then maybe add in Hluhluwe Imfolizi to Kruger or go into the Drakensburg mountains or the wine region. 5 days in one park is maybe too long if you are not very keen.

We went in September to South Africa and stayed for 5 days in a private reserve. It was not remotely like longleat .The reserve was the size of a small European country so there were days when you saw lots and others not so much.
I found 5 days a little too long TBH 3/4 would have been plenty. I hate getting up early!!!
The accommodations were luxurious and you could watch giraffes zebras elephants at the watering hole while you were eating breakfast .

I thought climbing in and out of the safari jeep might have been a bit difficult for some people but we managed fine. I think they would help you in any case everyone was extremely accommodating.

We arranged it ourselves and went for around 4K per couple. This included a trip to Johannesburg internal flights to the reserve. Internal flights to Cape Town , whale watching in Herman's ; was amazing.

A stay in the wine region and a few nights in Cape Town.

It was a wonderful starter safari and I think we will definitely go again to a different country - I think it may turn out to be very addictive

Good luck with your planning- happy to give further details if you would like.

Sorry meant to say it was borderline malaria season so we took antimalarials.
There was no issue at all with bugs

Yes I agree 10 days is too long to just do safari. We are going to SA at the end of March, we will visit relatives in Durban, then 3 nights in Hluhluwe imfolozi , then onto Cape Town. The game park isn’t horrendously expensive but it does depend which accommodation you choose.