Africa travel recommendations?

[wildrice]

My H and I would like Africa to be our next continent to target for travel - preferably sometime this year! We have discussed going to Morocco or maybe South Africa, but would like to also consider other places!. If you have traveled throughout Africa, what other countries to you suggest as a first trip to the continent? Some parameters to know:

- We'll be traveling from the DC area and will have around 10 days, including travel.
- Budget of somewhere between 4-6k, excluding flights (we'll use points)
- We are not fancy hotel people so apartment rentals, boutique hotels, or other more basic accommodations can help us stay in budget
- We love learning about the local culture, history, experiencing local food, general sightseeing, nature. We are not in shape for major hiking, but small (1-3 hour) hikes are great. 
- While I'd love to do a safari someday, that's not a top priority and is probably out of budget anyway. 
- We only speak English and a little bit of Spanish, so we probably should focus on places where you can get by ok without knowing the local language

Thank you for any insights!

[icedcoffee]

Rwanda is so beautiful. If you go there have dinner at Heaven. It’s seriously one of the most beautiful places I have been. Also if you go the Kigali genocide museum is a must. It was beautiful and well done.

I’ve also been to Kenya and Tunisia and it’s great too, but something about the people and beauty of Rwanda.

[Deleted]

I went to South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. I stayed in Johannasburg and the apartid muesum was very interesting. I also visited the cradle of life along with the accompanying muesum. I did this specific G adventures tour as well: www.gadventures.com/trips/tour-southern-africa/6992/ It is mainly tent sleeping but not a lot of hikes. I did it in my mid twenties but we had inviduals in their 30s and 40s in our group as well.
I would have liked to gone to Cape Town. If I had unlimited time and resources I would have also hit up Rwanda for the Mountain Gorillas. In northern Africa, I would like to see Morocco and Eygpt.

[moreace01]

I've only been to South Africa - flew into Cape Town and was there, wine country (Stellenbosch), and went up the coast (Plettenburg, Addo Elephant Reserve). I have my full itinerary somewhere if you are interested.

I was mostly there for hiking/running - so was in national parks and whatnot most of the time. It was breathtakingly beautiful and I'd go back in a heartbeat. My trip might not be totally what you are looking for as it was very active, but I just take any chance to recommend that area for the natural beauty.

[mrsslocombe]

I did a similar trip as @lemonlover,

Flew into Johannesburg, did the apartheid museum and then a 3-day safari in Kreuger. Then flew to Victoria Falls and went to Zambia and Botswana from there. Then flew to Cape Town. And then Cape Town back to NYC.

Cape Town was my least favorite part of the trip TBH.

Kreuger is relatively easy to do your own safari-you can just rent a car and drive through on your own (the camps do book up well in advance though, so you need to book where you are staying months ahead of time). There's a lot of paved roads and it's well marked and managed. Most people that we saw were doing their own tour vs an organized safari. We did a safari through wild-wings-safaris.com/

[wanderingback]

I think with 10 days and your interests Morocco or South Africa would be good fits. I’d save east Africa if/when you want to go on a safari and West Africa if you want a more city type vacation. Those are just generalizations of course, but that’s what I’d do.

With 10 days in South Africa you could do a good mix of city and history in Joburg and then more nature and beauty in the Cape Town region. If you had more time I’d suggest adding on Namibia.

Do not go to Cape Town between June-August as it’s cold and rainy and so windy! It’s windy year round but at least it’s warm October - April!

[definitelyO]

We did East Africa and a week long safari - not sure if that fits what you're looking for. It was stunningly beautiful and we did it on more budget friendly accommodations - but did have a guide with us.

[sproctopus]

Malawi! Chinteche Inn (Nkhata Bay/North), Monkey Bay (south), Zomba Plateau (Sunbird Ku Chawe is where we stayed). Honestly, so many great places along Lake Malawi North to South. We didn't do a safari because it scared me to drive with automatic weapons. But I did go horseback riding in Kande and you go through the bush as well as bareback into the lake.

Tanzania is high on our list next, as is Seychelles. I've spent limited time in SA, but of the countries I've been to, it's the most westernized and Africa is unreal beautiful. It's indescrible and I'd think I'd regret not seeing more rural areas.

Oh-- I will also say, 10 days is tiiiight for East Africa, IMO. 4 of those days are going to be travel days. We took direct flights from NY when SAA had their flights and it was 19 hrs direct flight time to Johannesburg.

There's so much to take in and see. We go for 2 weeks at a time because of the travel. Not impossible, but tight.

[mrsslocombe]

Jan 8, 2024 11:51:30 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

I think with 10 days and your interests Morocco or South Africa would be good fits. I’d save east Africa if/when you want to go on a safari and West Africa if you want a more city type vacation. Those are just generalizations of course, but that’s what I’d do.

With 10 days in South Africa you could do a good mix of city and history in Joburg and then more nature and beauty in the Cape Town region. If you had more time I’d suggest adding on Namibia.

Do not go to Cape Town between June-August as it’s cold and rainy and so windy! It’s windy year round but at least it’s warm October - April!

Yeah I was not prepared for how cold it would be in July-it was in the 30s at night, most of the restaurants are outside, and the second the sun goes down the temp drops very rapidly. If you are going during our summer you will need a warm jacket.

[basilosaurus]

I've been to Malawi and Morocco. While Malawi was pretty great I absolutely fell in love with Morocco. I'm still in touch with some people there.

I already knew I loved the food. For the first time in my life I did a small group tour, actually 2 back to back to see more of the country (this would be longer than your 10 days) plus I added days before and after.

While some aspects of the group tour I didn't like, for instance "on your own for x meal" meant pay on your own often, not choose on your own, and there were a few long stops at purchase points, but that seemed more due to the interest of a few, I'm so glad I did it that way. They had a massive snowstorm in the high atlas, most in about 20 years, and detouring on my own would have been nearly impossible. As it was, the guides were pushing buses, cars, shuttles, everything to get us on the 8 hour detour. The guides were an amazing source of information, and the fellow travelers were fantastic.

I cannot praise enough.

[mich1]

We went to South Africa several years ago. The flights were the most expensive parts of it. Car rentals, guest houses and meals were a fraction of what they are in the US.

We ‘won’ a safari (turns out it was a marketing ploy for the lodge, where they offer these packages to various charitable organizations) but it was very enjoyable. We had several days in Johannesburg, drove to the safari in Zulu Natal, drove to Durban for a few days, dumped the car there and flew to Cape Town. We were a week in Cape Town (got married), went on wine tours and flew to the Maldives where we spent another week, then spent several days in Dubai. Safari aside, everything else was about $5000.

We flew from Seattle, which made flights very long, but we spent a month there. For 10 days, I’d probably look to Northern Africa.

[acuore]

Ethiopia. I spend 10 days there in 2019 and it is *amazing*. Nature, hiking, bird watching, monkey colonies in the Simien mountain, cliff churches in Tigray, the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, medieval compounds. We were in the north, but I have been told the south has the plains and lots of cultural interest as well. (We got an individual guide and driver for the whole time, and it made everything really seamless. I’m a pretty adventurous traveller, but it’s not a trip I would have attempted without a local guide.) 

[sonrisa]

We did a week long trip in March around Morocco by train focusing on marakesh. Fez and Meknes. We stayed in Riads in the Medina of each city. I highly recommend using train travel in Morocco. It was more like European train travel than US trains. Fez was by far our favorite city. Marakesh had a lot of tourists and felt exhausting. We had been told it was modern but we got hassled (and pawed at) there in a way we weren’t in other parts of the country. Our trip would have been better skipping it. Meknes was interesting as a college town but had less going on. For a short Morocco trip like you are planing I’d just do fez (take the train right from the airport).

we spent 3 weeks in July in Southern Africa we drove around Namibia with. Stop in Botswana and a quick trip up to Zimbabwe for Victoria Falls. We planned that on the recommendation of my brother who had done a semester abroad in South Africa. Namibia combines amazing, diverse scenery with fantastic animals and you get to meet some great people. Having English be ann official language was very convenient. We mostly staying at the government run hotels within the game parks. The apricot dunes of Namib desert (soussvelei) the Etosha pan for Savannah animals, Botswana and the Caprivi strip for elephants, hippos and other water centered animals. You can rent a pop up camper van and stay in the parks which often have a watering hole that animals go to a dawn and dusk. It was an amazing trip. The best of our marriage. For a shorter trip, I’d do soussevlei, the Etosha pan and one other park. For a shorter trip, we’d have skipped Swakopmund which was a charming ‘German holiday beach town’ with pastel buildings. And there probably isn’t time for Botswana.

[basilosaurus]

Jan 8, 2024 13:32:36 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

We did a trip around Morocco by train focusing on marakesh. Fez and Meknes. We stayed in Riads in the Medina of each city. I highly recommend using train travel in Morocco. It was more like European train travel than US trains. Fez was by far our favorite city. Marakesh had a lot of tourists and felt exhausting. We had been told it was modern but we got hassled (and pawed at) there in a way we weren’t in other parts of the country. Our trip would have been better skipping it. Meknes was interesting as a college town but had less going on.

In Southern Africa we drove around Namibia with. Stop in Botswana and a quick trip up to Zimbabwe for Victoria Falls. We planned that on the recommendation of my brother who had done a semester abroad in South Africa. Namibia combines amazing, diverse scenery with fantastic animals. We mostly staying at the government run hotels within the game parks. The apricot dunes of Namib desert (soussvelei) the Etosha pan for Savannah animals, Botswana and the caprovi strip for elephants, hippos and other water centered animals. You can rent a pop up camper van and stay in the arks which often have a watering hole that animals go to a dawn and dusk. It was an amazing trip.

it's interesting how experiences can vary (not a criticism!). I'd have skipped fes and loved the extra week I spent in Marrakech. Maybe it's because I did not stay directly in the medina and was lucky enough to meet a great cab driver early on as well as an extremely helpful homestay owner (who just messaged yesterday about joy at finding Corona lol)

I agree the trains between the bigger cities are great. But there is so much unreachable by train.

I truly think nearly every suggestion everywhere is going to have something great about it and some annoyances. Such is travel.

[Vespasia]

wanderingback and mrsslocombe it's funny you say that about the weather. I was actually going to suggest South Africa around that time because we had great weather for most of our trip in late June / early July. Plus it allowed us to find a great deal on safari.

wildrice I'm pretty sure MH and I have already told you about our trip to SA at length but happy to do so again! We did 5 nights Cape Town, 3 nights safari near Port Elizabeth, and 3 or 4 nights in Franschhoek for wine. It was really prefect and we only had grey, drizzly weather in Franschhoek. It was really chilly on the early morning on our game drives but nothing a few layers couldn't fix.

I might be going back next February for work and I'm both excited and annoyed that it will be peak season!

[sonrisa]

Jan 8, 2024 13:42:05 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Jan 8, 2024 13:32:36 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

We did a trip around Morocco by train focusing on marakesh. Fez and Meknes. We stayed in Riads in the Medina of each city. I highly recommend using train travel in Morocco. It was more like European train travel than US trains. Fez was by far our favorite city. Marakesh had a lot of tourists and felt exhausting. We had been told it was modern but we got hassled (and pawed at) there in a way we weren’t in other parts of the country. Our trip would have been better skipping it. Meknes was interesting as a college town but had less going on.

In Southern Africa we drove around Namibia with. Stop in Botswana and a quick trip up to Zimbabwe for Victoria Falls. We planned that on the recommendation of my brother who had done a semester abroad in South Africa. Namibia combines amazing, diverse scenery with fantastic animals. We mostly staying at the government run hotels within the game parks. The apricot dunes of Namib desert (soussvelei) the Etosha pan for Savannah animals, Botswana and the caprovi strip for elephants, hippos and other water centered animals. You can rent a pop up camper van and stay in the arks which often have a watering hole that animals go to a dawn and dusk. It was an amazing trip.

it's interesting how experiences can vary (not a criticism!). I'd have skipped fes and loved the extra week I spent in Marrakech. Maybe it's because I did not stay directly in the medina and was lucky enough to meet a great cab driver early on as well as an extremely helpful homestay owner (who just messaged yesterday about joy at finding Corona lol)

I agree the trains between the bigger cities are great. But there is so much unreachable by train.

I truly think nearly every suggestion everywhere is going to have something great about it and some annoyances. Such is travel.

i an ‘explore on your own’ type. And Marakesh was very much a Medina that wanted you to pay a guide. (Things like the very detailed map we got there put all the landmarks a little off from their actual location so you’d have to pay someone to redirect you. The actual twisting streets weren’t a problem.). And a lot of teenage boys surrounding us and touching us for no reason or physically blocking our way on streets. If you go, make sure every inch that isn’t your face and hands are covered. A T-shirt or exposed hair were definitely perceived as an invitation to touch. Nothing like that happened in Casablanca, Fez, or Meknes or the trains.

[maudefindlay]

I haven't been, but it's on my list. FIL and his gf just booked a trip over the weekend. They are going late July/early August. I'll share where they are going if it helps. They will be 75 (fil) and 78 (gf), definitely adventure goals.

They fly in to Johannesburg, then visit national parks and Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Zambia. Their first few nights are in mobile tented camps and then staying at Chobe Savannah Lodge, Llala Lodge, and Mfuwe Lodge.

[basilosaurus]

Jan 8, 2024 13:51:57 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

Jan 8, 2024 13:42:05 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

it's interesting how experiences can vary (not a criticism!). I'd have skipped fes and loved the extra week I spent in Marrakech. Maybe it's because I did not stay directly in the medina and was lucky enough to meet a great cab driver early on as well as an extremely helpful homestay owner (who just messaged yesterday about joy at finding Corona lol)

I agree the trains between the bigger cities are great. But there is so much unreachable by train.

I truly think nearly every suggestion everywhere is going to have something great about it and some annoyances. Such is travel.

i an ‘explore on your own’ type. And Marakesh was very much a Medina that wanted you to pay a guide. (Things like the very detailed map we got there put all the landmarks a little off from their actual location so you’d have to pay someone to redirect you. The actual twisting streets weren’t a problem.). And a lot of teenage boys surrounding us and touching us for no reason or physically blocking our way on streets. If you go, make sure every inch that isn’t your face and hands are covered. A T-shirt or exposed hair were definitely perceived as an invitation to touch. Nothing like that happened in Casablanca, Fez, or Meknes or the trains.

interesting. I can't account for the difference. Season? Solo traveler vs couple?

The only boys begging for change to lead me were in fes which I didn't need since my Google maps worked great. And the only time I was ever touched was when a woman accidentally stepped on the back of my flip flop and quickly wrapped her arms around me to prevent a face plant, although this did happen in the medina in Marrakech (and I definitely thanked her! Meanwhile she was so apologetic lol). It was cool enough to be covered, but having spent the last few years in hot conservative countries (both Muslim and Buddhist) I'm pretty much mostly covered anyway. I probably put zero thought into it. I know I had a silk scarf but I don't cover hair.

I'm not discounting your experiences. It's just that so many factors big or small can influence impressions, and I find these differences the reason I scour travel boards when I have time to plan, and sometimes my experience is difference from consensus. I'd go back to Marrakech in a heartbeat but could do without fes or Casablanca, although I don't regret seeing them once. :shrug:

The important part is the food is fantastic everywhere! And the scenery can't be beat.

Op, as for language, I only know a smattering of Arabic and only slightly more french with wretched pronunciation, and it wasn't a problem.

[underwaterrhymes]

I second Rwanda! One of the most incredible places I have ever been. I definitely recommend the genocide museum in Kigali, but if you’re able, you should visit a place like the Nyamata or Ntarama genocide memorial. We also did a gorilla trek that was incredible.

[mich1]

Since you are going on miles, it might make more sense to see which flights you have access to and work backwards from there. I haven’t flown on miles in ages, but I couldn’t always go where I wanted.

[jett]

In addition to seeing where your airline miles will take you, consider the shortest flight possible (Africa is huge, and you only have 7-8 days at best so maximising your time is key), and decide what you really want to see and do (cities, animals, beaches, mountains, cultural experiences). Armed with that information, I’d then suggest coming back here for more targeted advice.

Also consider any vaccination requirements.

I’ll echo others’ recommendations of Rwanda and Namibia. Namibia may be my favourite place on earth.

[fryjack2]

We were in Morocco last February and LOVED it. I speak Arabic and my kids take classes and can speak conversationally and loved being able to use their Arabic. I speak a little French, but Arabic was much more helpful there.

We did Marrakech, Essaouira, and the high Atlas Mountains. Everywhere was amazing. Accommodations were “cheap” compared to other counties. Food was so good, but you will eat a lot of tagine.

We did not have anyone touching us like sonrisa mentions happening to her. I wore t-shirts and dresses that were at my knee or lower. Tank tops would have stood out (we did see foreigners in them because they stood out).

We are headed to Cape Town, safari, and the wine lands in a couple months. It’s definitely a much more expensive trip than Morocco was. But we aren’t budget traveling so didn’t look to plan that kind of trip. Keep in mind the price of flights while in SA. Those get expensive and travel time. We cut Botswana, which I really wanted to go to, because we couldn’t fit it into two weeks without a lot of time dedicated to traveling.

Happy to send recs of where we stayed in Morocco and restaurants and what tour company we used (they were great). We didnt do group tours, just private ones of where and when we wanted to.

[wildrice]

Jan 8, 2024 20:47:54 GMT -5 mich1 said:

Since you are going on miles, it might make more sense to see which flights you have access to and work backwards from there. I haven’t flown on miles in ages, but I couldn’t always go where I wanted.

We have a Chase card that basically works like cash, so that leaves things wide open! If the flight costs more than the points we have, we will just pay the difference. I am hoping that's not more than a few hundred dollars though!

[wildrice]

Jan 8, 2024 23:39:48 GMT -5 jett said:

In addition to seeing where your airline miles will take you, consider the shortest flight possible (Africa is huge, and you only have 7-8 days at best so maximising your time is key), and decide what you really want to see and do (cities, animals, beaches, mountains, cultural experiences). Armed with that information, I’d then suggest coming back here for more targeted advice.

Also consider any vaccination requirements.

I’ll echo others’ recommendations of Rwanda and Namibia. Namibia may be my favourite place on earth.

Right now I am really just looking for suggestions of interesting places - aside from not wanting a beach vacation, we are open to anything! I just don't know enough about all of the different options to even begin to narrow it down - as you say, Africa is huge and there are many countries I know very little about.

This thread has been very helpful with that so far!

[fryjack2]

Sorry, coming back to this because I want to say that I think Sonrisa’s experience is an outlier in case it’s deterring anyone from potentially going.

Many many Moroccan women don’t wear a headscarf. Especially those younger than 30ish. You don’t have to cover every inch of your body except face and hands.

In two weeks of being there, we never once felt unsafe even walking around the Medina in Marrakech at night in a dress.

No one ever cornered us, tried to touch us, or harassed us. Other than one shop owner who wanted me to buy from
His shop and I didn’t so he followed me to ask me how much I bought my item for from a different vendor. But that’s not abnormal
For any country with markets.

[wildrice]

fryjack2, I would love to hear your trip details! If we don't pick Morocco for this trip we will definitely go in the future, so i can always tuck it away! It sounds amazing and I can't see us skipping Marakkesh regardless. People can have weird experiences anywhere but that doesn't deter me personally (though knowing what to look out for is never a bad idea either)

[AAM2012]

Jan 8, 2024 11:38:57 GMT -5 moreace01 said:

I've only been to South Africa - flew into Cape Town and was there, wine country (Stellenbosch), and went up the coast (Plettenburg, Addo Elephant Reserve). I have my full itinerary somewhere if you are interested.

I was mostly there for hiking/running - so was in national parks and whatnot most of the time. It was breathtakingly beautiful and I'd go back in a heartbeat. My trip might not be totally what you are looking for as it was very active, but I just take any chance to recommend that area for the natural beauty.

Can you send me your itinerary please and any other recommendations!

[orangello]

Jan 9, 2024 10:31:19 GMT -5 wildrice said:

Jan 8, 2024 20:47:54 GMT -5 mich1 said:

Since you are going on miles, it might make more sense to see which flights you have access to and work backwards from there. I haven’t flown on miles in ages, but I couldn’t always go where I wanted.

We have a Chase card that basically works like cash, so that leaves things wide open! If the flight costs more than the points we have, we will just pay the difference. I am hoping that's not more than a few hundred dollars though!

If you have the time and energy, booking through the Chase portal is the worst. They can upcharge flights, you don’t get the same benefits if you have to change/cancel, etc. I’d recommend googling how to transfer to partner airlines - that’s typically how people get the best redemption. There are lots of articles about this on The Points Guy. Either way, have a fabulous trip - this is a bucket list for me!

[wanderlustmom]

We went to South Africa last July and loved every minute of it. We flew into Johannesburg, took a week safari in Kruger and spent a week in Cape Town. It wasn't cold except for our early morning safaris.  I heard the winter is great for for safaris because you see more animals.