Planning a safari - thought process

[emilyinchile]

I know there are a lot of threads on different specific locations, but a) it's quiet lately and b) I'm interested in more of a general discussion.

If you've done or planned out a safari, how did you choose:
- country(ies)
- time of year
- style (self-drive, guided, tents, lodge, etc)

Those seem like the main factors that you have to narrow down to book things, and obviously those affect what kind of animals you see. I always had the plan that 2015 would be our safari year, which may not be the case anymore due to other plans, but I still have no clue how we'll eventually go about choosing among the tons of options since we are more interested in the overall concept than in going to a specific place to see a specific animal.

[GilliC]

For us, it wasn't really our decision. Our friends were going and invited us to come along.

Collectively, budget was the primary concern above all else, since neither of them earns much (she was already headed to SA for work, so her flight was covered). That pretty much drove the rest of the choices other than where in the park we wanted to overnight. We based that on location and my friend's desire to maximize our chance to see lions.

I had never even started to plan a safari, so I was shocked that you could do it so cheaply!

[kaylie]

We did South Africa and Zambia and stayed in lodges that did game drives 2x per day and chose that because it was our honeymoon and we didn't want to work all that hard. We stayed at Thornybush Reserve (Chapungu Tented Camp, specifically) in South Africa and it was amazing. We couldn't have asked for a better time. We also saw all of the big five within 3 days. 

We went in September because it's dry season and the trucks can go off road, which means you get much better views of the animals.

Rhino Safaris is a great company to use for planning. They work with all budgets/styles and everyone who has used them has been impressed with what they've been able to arrange. www.rhinoafrica.com

[chicago]

We chose South Africa for a few reasons - a) I wanted to go to Cape Town, b) I wanted a varied trip (city and safari), and c) I wanted to limit my vaccinations and didn't want anti-malarials because we would be ttc around that time. Time of year was easy - I work around the school calendar so the only way to get 2.5 weeks was to go during the summer. I knew we wanted a game reserve with no more than 6 to a vehicle. I didn't want to think about anything once we were there besides enjoying the trip.

We also used Rhino Africa. They were great. We did a combo trip of Cape Town, the Seychelles, and safari at Londolozi.

[sunshinedaydreams]

Countries: Totally agree with RnV's book suggestion. That was my starting point. I read the overviews of each country on there, and researched online a ton. We ultimately chose Tanzania because:

1 - Serengeti

2 - Ngorongoro Crater. I don't really think there is anywhere else like it on Earth. I'm also concerned that with all of the vehicles going in and out, along with poachers majorly threatening the rhino population, that this may not be an option in the future.  Some concerns have started to be raised already about the number of humans entering the crater impacting the animals.

3 - We wanted to go to Zanzibar and didn't want to pay $100 for an additional visa just to go to Zanzibar.

4 - We chose under the assumption that we'll return to Africa in the future to see other countries that were high on our list - like Botswana and Namibia.


Time of year: We chose September because it's our anniversary and we always travel then. It lined up with a good time of year to view the animals, though not with any of the large herd migrations, and we were okay with that. I forget what the months are, but some are much drier, which make it easier to see the animals. We went during that time, and we saw all of the Big 5 within 2 days.  Also Vic Falls were supposed to be at low flow and we wanted to do the Devil's Pool, but that didn't end up working out.


Style: We also chose this based on reading the book suggested above, tons of research online and requesting different itineraries and price packages from 2-3 different tour operators.

In a lot of cases, cost will probably be the biggest thing that will help you choose the style of the trip.  The first quote that we got included flights between every single place with no time on the ground (at the insistence of the tour operator we were working with at the time, not our choice), and the trip would have been over $50k!  Not exactly what we were looking for...

We ultimately did a private land tour with a single driver/guide from Simba Safaris and he was phenomenal. (They were arranged for us by Julian Harrison at Premier Tours. Also chosen from the recommended book.) Then we flew from the Serengeti to Zanzibar.  I will admit we went a bit over the top on this trip, but when you see some of the types of places you can stay and the way you can get around, it's hard to do otherwise.

One thing to keep in mind is that there aren't a ton of direct flights between places in Africa, so you may spend a lot of time on layovers just to get where you're going.

Our overall itinerary was:

- Fly into Jo'burg, SA and layover (1 night)
- Fly to Vic Falls, Zimbabwe (3 nights)
- Fly back to Jo'burg and layover (1 night)
- Fly to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and layover (1 night)
- Fly to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania and get picked up by our driver
- Lake Manyara (2 nights)
- Ngorongoro Crater (2 nights)
- Serengeti (3 nights)
- Fly to Zanzibar (4 nights)
- Fly back to Jo'burg and connect home


It's not technically safari, but Vic Falls was pretty awesome, too!  We took a sundowner boat trip one evening for sunset on the upper Zambezi and got up close and personal with crocodiles, hippos and elephants.  And the falls were amazing.  I would highly suggest a couple of days here if you can swing it.

[sunnysally]

Another vote for Rhino Africa! Our consultant was so responsive and helpful. We gave her an idea of what we wanted to do and a budget and she made an amazing itinerary for us.

South Africa is relatively inexpensive for safaris and has a wide variety of things to offer. We saw historical and cultural sites, went shark diving, visited the Winelands and had an amazing safari. We also wanted to see Victoria Falls and raft the Zambezi and because we were so close we added a few days at Chobe in Botswana. We did the sundowner boat trip, affectionately referred to as the "booze cruise," and had a great time. Based on our experiences in Chobe and SA, I would recommend a private reserve over a national park. At the private reserve, you can drive off road which is more exciting and allows you to see more animals. Also, there is more respect between the rangers so you don't end up with 35 cars at a lion sighting.

We didn't want to self drive because we wanted to focus on seeing the animals and we wanted to relax and didn't think self drive would allow us to do that. We took the trip partially to celebrate me turning 40, so we opted for a more luxurious trip.

We decided to go in September/October because it is the dry season and beginning of spring so the weather was more comfortable and it was easier to see the animals.

[gtkim]

I've always known that I wanted my first safari to be Kenya and Tanzania.  I'm not even sure why to be honest.  There are tons of other places in Africa I want to go but for my first trip I knew this is what I wanted.

We had this in our sights for ~3 years from now, but DH is going to Kenya for work so we will be going on safari in early June.  I might have chosen to go a bit later in the year if it had been planned without his work trip.

I didn't want to do a self-drive just based on the nature of the trip.  I only want to have to worry about enjoying every minute  We are most likely staying in moderate lodges with a couple of nights in tents, and that was mostly to keep the budget more reasonable.  We will be doing shared game drives at a more upscale lodge in Kenya, and then we have private drives throughout Tanzania.  

[lahoagie]

For our first safari we choose Namibia. We choose that because it has animals and beautiful scenery. We choose to self-drive because we love having the freedom to do what we want. We did do a couple guided drives too. It was a nice combination and we were able to see tons of animals. I actually really enjoy driving around and trying to find animals. For lodging we brought our tent and spent almost every night camped out. We also went to Rwanda on this trip for gorillas. We went in June because of our vacation schedule and weather.

Our second safari was in South Africa. We spent a little over three weeks there and did a drive at least once every day. The South African parks are great for self-driving. We did Kruger, Marakele, and Kgalagadi parks. We went in September because it is the end of the dry season, not too hot yet, and avoided the busy season.

[emilyinchile]

Thank you all for sharing your experiences! I will definitely check out the book and (eventually) some of the tour operators mentioned. Like I said, it looks like 2015 unfortunately may not be our safari year after all (damn people getting married in the US and taking my time/money), but at least I can start more seriously daydreaming.

I think I also need to get over the idea of this being a once in a lifetime thing. I mean, it might be because you never know, but I don't see why Africa/safari in particular should be more that way than any other trip. And that makes it feel a bit less stressful to try to pick the "best" one out of options that are all just different, not necessarily better or worse.

[definitelyO]

We had friends from the US who were living in Africa and getting ready to come back state-side in the next year. We had kept in touch via email and they said if we wanted to come we best do it now. So - we put everything in their hands and booked flights. They were living in Arusha at the time - so we stayed in Tanzania - did the Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti (tent camping), Lake Manyara, and one other place - then to the beach on Zanzibar.

it was my first international trip and we did it on the cheap. not dirt cheap - but no luxury lodges or hot air balloon rides. I thought it would be once in a lifetime - but our friends go back with their family every 2-3yrs and we've promised DS that we'd take him at some point.

[Deleted]

My situation was a little different since I was already living in S. Africa, but whenever I planned, it was more like I want to go to X country...and by the way lets go on a safari while we're there.

Since you said that you don't have any specific animals you want to see and are just going for the experience, then I'd just do some research on different countries and see which one intrigues you.

I mentioned it in someone else's thread, but I honestly can't imagine traveling just to do a safari for more than 4 or so days and not seeing anything else in the country. So I'd figure out which country or countries have a good combination of places you want to go.

For example, I don't think South Africa has the "best" safaris, but I think it's worth it to go because you'll get a good experience and can then go to Cape Town, which I think is a great city. 

Namibia is also great if you want to do a lot of self-driving and are in to road trips. You can see a lot of the country yourself, while also doing a safari. But again, I don't think Namibia has the best safaris, but the place I stayed had a camp by the watering hole which was really cool to relax by at night and see the animals come.

If I were going purely for the animals, I'd go to Kenya and look at going during the migration. My next opportunity to do a big trip, Kenya is on the top of my list. My friend who I did a safari with in SA and in Nambia has also done safari in Kenya and she said it's definitely a different experience in Kenya and she saw a lot more pure action there. 

[preppy]

I went on safari in college as part of a family vacation, so I didn't plan it. But we flew into Joburg and stayed in the Melville area for a few days and did some things in the city. Then we went to Botswana and went to Gaborone. From there we went to the Tuli game reserve and spent 5 nights at Tuli Lodge. We stayed in tented suites which were very nice and were like normal suites but with canvas tops. The bathrooms were open air, no roof. The food there was amazing. We went on two a day guided tours for I think 3 or 4 of the days and then one day we spend at the pool and did an evening guided tour one night.

It was a very cool experience and I would love to go back with DH.

[SJ]

DH had a job in Tanzania, so we coordinated with his work schedule. The first week he was working, then we took another week and did safari (in Tanzania) plus Zanzibar.

[emilyinchile]

Mar 21, 2015 13:17:22 GMT -5 @wandering said:

I mentioned it in someone else's thread, but I honestly can't imagine traveling just to do a safari for more than 4 or so days and not seeing anything else in the country. So I'd figure out which country or countries have a good combination of places you want to go.

For example, I don't think South Africa has the "best" safaris, but I think it's worth it to go because you'll get a good experience and can then go to Cape Town, which I think is a great city. 

Yes, definitely we would want to do more than just see some animals! I know some people who've flown between different countries for safari vs. beach, or like you said even with my limited knowledge South Africa would be a contender because of the option of city/safari/beach/wine tasting/etc.

[cheezer]

We went to South Africa a few years ago & chose South Africa because we could fly there for free on points & because there are a lot of other things besides safari there (Cape Town, Winelands, Garden Route).

We actually planned the whole thing ourselves and didn't have a problem. We used the book recommended, advice from this board & TripAdvisor.

We stayed in Sabi Sands at Elephant Plains which is one of the lowest level/affordable safari options if you want the luxury experience.

[klingklang77]

We chose Namibia. I wanted to do Kenya, but then I heard about how you had to take a small plane to fly in to the safari areas. DH basically said that he knew I wouldn't get on one of them. He was probably right...

So we did Namibia (self-driving). I like that we could do a safari and also see other landscapes as well. We are looking into doing something for our tenth anniversary-- maybe the northern part of Namibia (Caprivi Strip) and then Botswana.