African Safari Advice?

Hi all,

Anyone have any advice/itineraries in regards to Safari in Africa? We were initially thinking of doing Tanzania but apparently May is a horrible time so we’re thinking of doing Southern Africa

Any suggestions of Safari/lodges/private guides would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

edited: for changes in planning.

Went it these guys 14 years ago. They were super good.

If I go again I will book with them.

Can’t help b/c I went to Masai Mara in Kenya for a safari… Are you going to see Migration in the Seregetti?

Anyhow, Zanzibar is pretty neat… head into the town if you wanna feel what an Asian flea market feels like with African people.

Otherwise, the water was very warm (can dive without wetsuit), and the fruit is excellent.
We only had 3 days in Zanzibar at the end of our safari and Uganda gorilla trekking, but it was still well worth it.

I don’t think we are there for the migration, about a month off.

Clearly not an animal expert here…BUT I believe they are constantly ‘migrating’… they go up the Serengeti, into Masai Mara through a number of months I believe.
So if you look up the timing, you might be able to see it depending on which PART of the plains you are in. Again, I’m sure you probably already looked into this, but just thought I’d mention.

Oh and if this is a honeymoon, be prepared to get dirty… like… dust… every… where…

Charlie,

One firm and one firm only would I recommend for anything safari related in africa. Abercrombie & Kent. Expensive, but undoubtedly worth every penny. Here’s their web page on Tanzania:

Dan

A & K are always excellent for any Tour. Meant to add them in my post as a rec.

95% of the tours in Tanzania are high capacity vans full of people. They cover lots of ground, really watch little, and have to stay on the roads. The best outfitters will have true 4WD (Land Cruisers typically) with winches which you should expect to use when off the beaten track. Similarly we did a tented safari which was great. Most of the Van tours stay in Hotels which is not nearly as much fun or personalized. All just my opinion.

I’m sure you’ll have a great time.

If you’re going all the way to Tanzania, I HIGHLY recommend climbing Kilimanjaro.

woo wee, aint no lie… expensive. Well we only have one honeymoon . Shot them an email. Have a few emails out to recommended groups but would love more suggestions!

I’ve used Wilderness Safaris in SA for trips to SA, Namibia, Zambia and Botswana–they run trips to Tanzania, too, the last time I looked. A really first class outfit. If you like, you can deal with them through Fish Eagle Safaris, a Houston, TX operation run by Bert DuPlessis, a very congenial and knowledgeable expat South African. Even if WS no longer does Tanzania, I’d check out what Fish Eagle has to offer in Tanzania–Bert really knows his stuff. My favorite memories of Tanzania were Ngorngoro Crater, the Serengeti, natch, and Tarangire NP. The Selous is supposed to be a cool area, as well.

If it’s doable, consider spending a few days at the end in the Seychelles. Quite a glorious place–especially for a honeymoon.

Just curious Charlie. have you considered a private tour?
Not sure if Tanzania is a lot different than Kenya… but we had a 3 person private tour… wasn’t that much more than a publicly advertised tour…

A&K is great. no doubt… but you don’t need to use them to get a quality operator. If you’re loaded then why not!

yeah i’ve inquired on a private tour with one provider and they book all the hotels as well. I just don’t know where to look, there are so many online!

I wonder if it’s more prudent to book lodge to lodge? I just don’t know how to even begin planning this, I’m very used to micromanaging my trips where I plan everything to the last detail. THis seems contrary to what I’ve been seeing for Tanzania where you give a group/guide money and they plan everything.

That’s the point of A&K - they know where you should stay, what are the really good tours (ie definitely not buses!) etc etc. If you’ve been many times, know guides, know where you want to go etc etc then there’s no point paying A&K to do that. For a first timer, especially on a honeymoon, pay the price and sleep easy. Here’s some examples from my personal experience on trip to SA they did for us where we wanted to do the garden route from Cape Town to PE and then fly up somewhere for a safari where they arranged everything for us without us having to do any more than give them dates and rough budget:

1. Arrive at hotel in CT early morning and shown really nice room but told this was our “day room” and we’d be moved into our room for the rest of the stay whilst we were at the pool that day. Left us slightly nervous… Came back from the pool mid-afternoon and were shown up to our main room. OMFG absolutely unbelieveable -automatic upgrade as we were with A&K to a suite overlooking Camps Bay with a terrace that would easily handle 50 people. Nicest hotel room I’ve ever seen, let alone stayed in.

2. Called local rep office friday at 6pm to see if we could get a heli tour the next morning around the Cape. Went out to dinner having left vmail thinking no chance on a friday night! Arrived back at hotel at 11pm to find message with details for heli tour booked for 8.30am next day, car organised there and back etc etc…

3. Massive rain flooding hit Kruger and Mozambique and guests from safari where we were staying for 2nd week were airlifted out! A&K called to tell us this and that they’d rebooked us elsewhere at an even nicer place - turned out to be amazing and we didn’t even have to call them/do anything.

4. got to one hotel on garden route part of trip which was an eco-safari place in tropical rainforest near Knysna. Amazing place but just not what I wanted. Called A&K and within 15 minutes they had rebooked us into lovely hotel on the beach at Plet with no charge incurred.

Dan

Thanks Dan. More than a handful of people have recommended A&K to us.

It seems the time we want to go is not a good time for Tanzania (May) as A&K and other private outfits said we should push the time to June… which is not something we want. So we’ll start looking at Southern Africa.

Talk to Bert–he’s really good. Can’t say a word against A&K, however–very top end.

If you’re considering South Africa, we went to a couple private game reserves next to Kruger. One was Lion Sands. The other name escapes me. Very comfortable, good food, friendly staff. The private reserves are not crowded, the guides know their stuff, and your chances of seeing most of the animals are excellent.

We did it as part of trip for a friend’s 40th birthday bash in 2004. She is South African and used a local travel agency to coordinate everything. We worked with them to tack on the safari. Probably saved big $. If your interested, PM me and I’ll ask who she’d recommend now.

[quote=“Patrick Friel”]If you’re considering South Africa, we went to a couple private game reserves next to Kruger. One was Lion Sands. The other name escapes me. Very comfortable, good food, friendly staff. The private reserves are not crowded, the guides know their stuff, and your chances of seeing most of the animals are excellent.

We did it as part of trip for a friend’s 40th birthday bash in 2004. She is South African and used a local travel agency to coordinate everything. We worked with them to tack on the safari. Probably saved big $. If your interested, PM me and I’ll ask who she’d recommend now.[/quote]


Please post it here as I am also interested.

OK. I’ll ask.

Thanks Patrick!

+1. We did our primary safari down in the Port Elizabeth area but the private reserves are really good at making sure you see everything, providing meals and lodging if desired, etc… Lot’s of specialty preserves you can visit on a day basis in the area as well such as the Elephant Sanctuary, Cheetah Sanctuary, etc…

Always me mindful of your surroundings, especially going in and out of Kruger National Park. Generally not a problem but there are a fair number of criminals that like to hit people up going in and out of the park since it is such a high tourist traffic area.