Safari or Costa Rica

[SurreyisSunny]

I celebrate a very big birthday next year - 50 - yikes.

Im a single parent to a 6yo DS who will be 7 nearly 8 at the time. I’d like to take a big holiday to celebrate in August. Long haul. Ideally flying with BA as i have enough avios to fly business class. This is a one off holiday as i can’t usually afford this sort of thing. Before having my DS I enjoyed adventure group tours with companies like explore and intrepid.

I’d initially thought of a safari on a group tour but worry it maybe too exhausting for my DS. Long days and I wonder if once he’s seen a lion etc he’ll be like yep seen that… next! Also he maybe too young for walking safari tours as some specify age 10.

Another option is Costa Rica. It’s never been high on my list but looks like there’s some interesting stuff to see that would suit us both. No direct BA flights though.

Any thoughts on either or is there an option I haven’t considered.

My third safe option is Disney. We’ve been before and both love it but never with school holiday prices.

Almost 6 years, 8yrs and 11yr old loved Kenya. For the long game drive day, 6 year old did sleep for a while in the truck. Unforgettable for all of them though.
We've also been to Costa Rica but I wonder if better with older kids to enjoy zip lining etc? Although to get fair my lot would have done that at any age if heavy enough.
A family friendly group trip sounds amazing. Mine also loved the often-suggested Sri Lanka and Borneo.
Anything but Disney with this opportunity!

Not all game drives are long days, sometimes it's a.m. or p.m.
However, people do need to sit still & be quiet for possibly long periods of time.

We did both those last year, not with children though. Pretty sure BA flies to Costa Rica. I think 10 is a great age for a safari, it was the most wonderful experience, we flew business with our AVIOS to Johannesburg BA operate two flights a day there and they were pretty easy to get.We combined our safari with a stay next to Victoria falls in a hotel where giraffes , zebra and other animals wandered the grounds. Whilst there we visited a traditional village which was quite shocking really because I just hadn’t realised that people still live in such primitive conditions. Costa Rica was wonderful too but not in the same league. We hired a driver/guide and there was an awful lot of travelling which your 10 year old might find rather dull and because things were a distance we still had to get up pretty early.
My vote is for safari.

@Icanthinkformyselfthanks he’ll be 7 when we go. Yes seems to be good availability to Johannesburg flight wise. I just read some reviews that made me think he maybe a bit young. I’d prefer to do the safari option in all honesty

@House4DS yes I can imagine mine could fall asleep! He loves animals so I do think he’d find fascinating

Can I ask why Kenya and not another location?

Safari. Costa Rica was lovely but it’s difficult to spot the wildlife in the thick rainforest.

@SurreyisSunny , when we went on the Safari my husband and I were a bit regretful that we hadn’t taken our boys when they were young. There was an article in the Telegraph recently about how old children needed to be for safari. I’ll see if I can find it.

I think safari. Weather will be ideal in August whereas Costa Rica is wet that time of year (you might get lucky and just have short sharp showers… or you might not).

I also am not sure if 7 is old enough for many of the adventure activities like zipwires and rafting that are part of the draw of Costa Rica.

Malaysia / Borneo could be another option.

@SurreyisSunny
This is what it said about age.
“Safaris can get under children’s skin early and, while the conventional wisdom is that the earliest age for safari is around eight, Anita Powell of Lewa Wilderness begs to differ. “[My daughter] Ella was two when she first went. It sounds too young but it was amazing, and the older two who were five and seven loved every moment. Young children have to burn off energy, so you need to be out of the vehicle a lot. We’ve ridden horses among giraffes with their six-day-old babies and zebras with five-week-old foals – the horses graze with them all so the wild animals are used to them and took no notice of us at all.”
And while the animals will, of course, amaze and delight children, they’re not the only draw. “Kids are naturally curious about people and other cultures so they love learning from the guides. Sitting on top of a vehicle being driven by a Maasai warrior with an enormous headdress is not something you forget easily.”

Did Costa Rica with DS age 8, and both Kenya and South Africa with him age 9 (separate trips).

All three were fantastic and I’m not sure which he’s choose as his favourite. Possibly South Africa as it was the most varied as we combined Cape Town and safari. Cape Town is fantastic and he loved the beaches, the aquarium, penguins, hiking Lions Head and Table Mountain and staying in the winelands (because of the great swimming pool and food). The safari was great in Sabi Sands.

Kenya he loved too, safaris are always fantastic. We had a private vehicle which gave us lots of flexibility to set the pace around him.

Costa Rica was also a fantastic holiday. We rented a car and travelled around, mostly exploring the beaches. We had a great AirBnB for the first 5 nights as our base and it was beautiful. Then we travelled around staying in different places to get more of the jungle and volcano experience but the beach was his favourite.

Highly recommend any of the three.

@SurreyisSunny We chose Kenya simply as friends were there. Masai Mara was incredible. The safari company was very geared up for kids - guides has them changing punctured tyres (!), lighting fires, finding skulls and using bows and arrows. I'm sure all that would be replicated in many locations.

That’s super helpful, I’ll try and find the article. I wish I’d had the opportunity age 7 to do a safari. My DS is very lucky!

Your pre-child travel experience sounds much like mine, although travelled quite a bit independently too, both on my own and with my husband. Most of our travel with the kids has so far been in Europe and parts of Asia. I have my big birthday this year and we are booked on the Exodus family Namibia trip. First group travel trip with kids, although we have a week longer for summer this year than many schools and fear we might be the only family, as I booked a late summer trip. My kids will be slightly older at 11 and 14. My husband and I did Kenya and the gorillas with Exodus and Tanzania with Intrepid (back to back) prior to having kids. My older one is already worrying about being eaten by a lion and I am somewhat worried whether the younger one can sit still on safari, as they are very restless. The Namibia trip seems to be a mix of safari and non-safari which is why I went with that option. Costa Rica has also on my list since pre-kids days, but we haven't been yet. Whatever you choose it will be fabulous I am sure.

Safari is amazing!!!
Costa Rica is lovely but not in the same way, IMO. Though to be in somewhere like Tamarindo and sea turtles hatching on the coast, and spotting hummingbirds and howler monkeys in the trees around you is very lovely.

The big no here is Costa Rica in August. It rains non-stop and everything closes - we had access to one restaurant that was inconvenient and a drive away when I went there at that time of year. Absolutely the wrong time of year.

Sri Lanka. Car comes with a driver which is cheap. Wildlife, amazing food, beaches.We took our 2 at 5 and 7 and they loved it.

I’ve been looking at a trip with G adventures or one by explore. The G one is a bit less full on and starts in Cape Town where I’d love to go.

Have a fab trip!

Good tip re weather. August for safari seems to be a perfect time by comparison

Maybe chat with one of these family travel agencies like Stubborn Mule who are specialise in travelling long haul with children. Friends used Stubborn Mule several times now and are really really happy.

We have done both and I think either could work well with research. We had direct flights to Costa Rica and went in August and had about 27C every day with rain at about 4pm but seeing rain in the rainforest was great and kids loved it. We also could gear trip times around it. We used a guide and saw wildlife like sloths, monkeys, gecko, racoon family, toucan, snake coati, frogs easily. Mine loved the rainforest, wildlife, ziplining and going down a water slide through the jungle and seeing volcanoes. No issue with restaurants were we were, but we on Pacific coast. The beaches by us where a bit wild, monkeys running round and big waves so would need close supervision. I think with that age child its best to find places you can see wildlife quickly. Ziplining ideal age is teenage plus though we went when kids were 9 and 10 and they did it but was very high.

We have also been to Borneo but that is 2 flights - one to Kuala Lumpur then one to Sandakan. There is Sepilok which has an orangutan sanctuary and a sunbear sanctuary, easy to see both animals and rainforest discovery centre. Kinabatagan river is great for seeing wildlife really easily - we saw orangutans including at where we were staying (Last Frontier Boutique Resort), crocodiles, monkeys, probiscis monkeys with the giant noses, beautiful birds, pygmy elephants etc and those were hour long boat trips which works well for kids.

Also went to Australia largely up in Far North Queensland, about 25C and went on Great Barrier Reef snorkelling with turtles, saw tree kangaroos, wallabies, kangaroos, cassowary, platypus possum, bettong, pademelon, about 150 whales and dolphins in the wild and breakfast with a koala at one of the zoos which also had wombats. My kids enjoyed Australia the best but loved all 3. Australia needs longer. We also did Cape Town but just ourselves, loved penguins on the beach but personally would not take a child alone with me there due to safety though if you are careful it would be fine. We went in March. Going to Sri Lanka soon, need to research weather for that.

Safari gets my vote. I have been to South Africa and Kenya and, comparing the two, would now always choose Kenya. Saw far more animals and it had more of that “big sky” Africa feel than South Africa. We did two different locations in Kenya, one small conservancy in the North (Ol Pejeta) and one stay on the Masai Mara. They were very different and we saw different animals on each. We took flights to and from them to avoid several hours on the road and that was an adventure in itself (12 seater aircraft, and you could sometimes see animals from the plane). We took three children aged 3, 6 and 9 and they all loved it, we did do private game drives though so we weren’t stressing about them disturbing other people if they were a bit noisy/whingey. You also have the option of a stay on the Indian Ocean coast afterwards.

Someone mentioned Borneo which I loved, but have never been with children. I wonder if 7 might be a bit young. The days travelling can be long and it is incredibly hot and humid, plus the rainforest treks can be quite challenging, so for me, I would do that with older kids/teens.

Just to add, all our trips have been in August - Costa Rica is the green season but in 3 weeks there was only 1 day of rain during the day.

Our Costa Rica trip was also in August and the weather was great. A couple of afternoons with a short downpour and distant rumbles but mostly we had sunshine and blue sky.

Wow! What amazing holidays. Your DCs are super lucky.

I think I’m veering towards a safari. Borneo is somewhere that I’d love to go but think I may wait until he’s a couple years older.

Yes I think he maybe a bit young for Borneo.

I can’t find so many tours of Kenya. As if will be just my DS and I’d prefer to travel in a group tour. I’ll do some more research

We did a self drive camping safari in Zimbabwe when our boys were 6 and 9. Now in their 30s and well travelled they still both say it was the best holiday they've had.