Safari planning

[redboxerclub]

Planning a safari holiday ina few year and would like so advice for those in the know. We do travel widely and will get flights seperately to an African hub as we get these on Avios. Must be in school holidays as I am teacher and it will just be me and DH

We would like a safari plus another location we love to snorkel so that would be a bonus. Or we would do Kilimanjaro we are fit but need to train hills and strength for it. 10-14 nights.

How long are typical trips? What type of accommodation and board is best? Where is best to go. In terms of animals i love giraffes and birds. I love geology and geography.

ideally all in for 6K plus flights. But we can flex on that to 10k (we never spend more than 6K)

I’m no expert as have only done one safari, as our final holiday with kids whilst they would still travel with us.

We went with Somak, African based, and did one of their 8 day Kenya tours (cheetah tour?) which involved the Samburu game reserve, lake Naivasha (flamingos, hippos and rhino) a stop at a lodge in the mountains overlooking an elephant watering hole, 2 nights in the Masai Mara in luxury tents, and then moved for a few days on the beach at Mombasa, but they offered Zanzibar, Mauritius etc. It was absolutely amazing and we saw all the big 5 and a lot more. Def lots of giraffes.

however we also have a relative that travels to Tanzania a lot and just uses local based companies for off day safaris and gets great value that way.

I would love to go again, but don’t think we could recreate the wonder of seeing it all for the first time. I certainly couldn’t face any animals in a zoo type place for many years afterwards having seen them in their natural habitat.

Wow you have me sold. That literally sounds magical.

For the safari how do you move about? I didn’t realise you stayed in more than one place but now the whole safari travelling thing lightbulb has just dropped. Which is best - tents or lodges?

What about food is it full board?

We just got back from Kenya. It was amazing. Here are some of the giraffes in the 21 giraffe journey we saw. Highly recommend Safari Consultants. https://safari-consultants.com/. We stayed at Kicheche camps in the Naboisho and Ol Pejeta conservancies.

I’d speak to a specialist company and talk about what you want. I like a wild experience and would rather see less in a more natural manner, free roaming and unfenced.

Tanzania met that brief for us. We wish we had climbed Killy, I think you should do that! 😁

I'd make sure you arrive at camp before the evening safari and leave after the morning one to make the most of seeing animals, otherwise you're paying for something you don't get

The one I’ve got my eye on is a women’s cooperative in Botswana, you do game drives and canoe safari on the delta, billeting with local people. My thought was to then fly onto Victoria falls then Mozambique. I was planning on 2-3 weeks initially but we are now considering shipping the motorcycle to Windhoek then riding across via these places, trying to work out permits, carnets etc for a vehicle isn’t straightforward though. Can’t do it until I retire anyway

We only had one short week so went with a company in South Africa who picked us up from the airport, drove us to Kruger Park and we stayed in a lodge with full board. This was quite usual from what I saw, it was either a full board lodge / tent experience, or people doing self-drives and staying in hotels or places they were renting themselves.

It was amazing. We had 2 full days in Kruger (long, 7am-7pm days) and the remainder was spent driving in Greater Kruger. Saw lots of giraffes and zebras, lions, rhinos, hippos, so many beautiful birds (Google lilac-crested roller, or don’t if you don’t like spoilers), cheetahs. So many elephants. There was one that kept coming to the lodge to say hello at dinner time. Didn’t spot the leopard in the wild, so I now have to go back.

We also visited a rehabilitation facility for injured animals, did a BBQ in the bush, saw some nature sights on the way back.

It was the cheapest safari I could find so I was expecting to be a little disappointed, but the quality was really decent. Home cooked food, a pool in the resort (didn’t use as it was their winter) and lovely guides. Longer drives than the luxury resorts around, which works well if you’re happy to rough it a little more, but might be very tiring if you just want a relaxing luxurious holiday. Eg we’d do coffee at 5:30am for a 6am game drive start, back at 9:30am with a 30-min break for a drink and a few biscuits. 5 star lodge next to ours went out at 6:30 and was back at 8, had multiple thermos and a variety of breakfasts on offer, champagne at sunset, individual (very thick) blankets. We had to layer up in July, totally worth it!

Lots of people we met there combined it with a second location, Victoria Falls, photography safari, a few days at the beach or somewhere with more luxury…

It was £1k per person for the 6 days. You can add a second higher-end week easily with your budget.

We were full board as no where to get food when in the reserves. I loved the “tents” but they had a wooden deck floor and fully functional bathroom. Just had to lock the zips down to keep the monkeys out! Just paid for drinks as we went. All the accommodation was great though, but as our usual holidays were camping in France we are easily impressed.

We paid extra to have our own private vehicle and driver the whole time, so no sharing with randomers. Also meant we could decide more ourselves on options available.

It was quite a few years ago though, so no recent up to date experiences to comment on.

We paid way more than 10k for 2 adults when we went 11 years ago, so you might need to rethink your budget!
South Africa is great for first- timers, and August school hols are perfect, as it's their winter, so you have a better chance of seeing the animals.
The lodges will cover all food and accommodation - there is nowhere else to go! - and also offer free laundry, so you can pack light. You usually have 2 game drives per day - first at approx 5am, then back for breakfast, downtime at the lodge, afternoon tea then another drive approx 4pm, back for dinner, then early to bed.
You will see much more if you go with a specialist company, as their drivers and spotters are vastly experienced. Also pick a company that has a maximum of 6 guests per jeep - also aids viewing.
Look at Aardvark Safaris online - they are absolutely excellent.

First time we went, we stayed at:

Flight to Harare for Zimbabwe:

somewhere near Great Zimbabwe (an archaeological ruin)
Hwange safari lodge - great for elephants especially
Victoria Falls - breathtaking
Chobe Safari Lodge - also great for elephants
Okavango - a tented camp, stunning place
Flight from Maun to somewhere (maybe Harare) with a connecting flight to London

We saw all the Big Five and much more!

Second time we went:

Flight to Lusaka for Zambia:

Nsefu camp - South Luangwa and a bush camp for walking safaris
Kafue

Flight to Nairobi for camping in Tanzania:

Arusha
A camp site near the Ngorongoro Crater absolutely stunning
Serengeti
Olduvai Gorge
Then back to Nairobi for flight home

South Luangwa was fantastic especially the walking safaris!

IMO, some of the most beautiful places in the world! Chobe Safari Lodge and the Okavango tend to be expensive!

We used Beyond the Plains Safaris for our Kenya trip and had a fantastic experience. They tailored everything around what we wanted, with excellent accommodation, a great guide and a really well-paced itinerary.
For what you’re looking for, I’d definitely consider Kenya + the coast. You can combine fantastic wildlife and birding with a few relaxing days of snorkelling without rushing. We found it offered great value too.

I would look at Namibia. Its tends to be much cheaper than Botswana and the Geology is far more diverse than the other countries. We came back from a 3 week self-drive tour last week...it's incredibly safe and easy to drive as there's only 3 millions in the entire country. Flights would be about £1k per person (London to Frankfurt or Zurich, then onto Windhoek. You could pick up a car and book lodges or booking.com or even book a car with a roof tent. I've been to Kenya and Tanzania and the landscapes of Namibia blew them out of the water. Largest dunes in the world, salt pans, canyons, skeleton coast and the scrubland in the north.