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Safari Recommendations / Information
in Travel
We are looking at doing an African safari in 2013. Any recommendations on reliable travel agents for this and an idea of the cost - as well as if you did Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, etc. Also, if you did one, how long was your safari? I am planning out my budget as well as as looking at itineraries, so any information would be helpful.
Re: Safari Recommendations / Information
We used Kent Redding at Adventures in Africa. (based out of Colorado - but he lived in Africa for years and goes back very frequently)
http://www.adventuresinafrica.com/
we were there for 2 weeks and spend the majority of the time in Tanzania (Serengeti, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro crater, Tarangire Nat. Park. Olduvai Gorge) with 3 days on Zanzibar.
We did a combo of tent camping in the serengeti (LOVED IT) and lodges and tented camps elsewhere. we did a bit more on the budget vs. luxury side - but the company offers a range for every budget.
I think they have sample itineraries on their site.
Lyra did a safari- here is a link to a recent post from her that has her blog link inside
http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/61216439.aspx
We organized it all on our own. I talked to several agents who were of no help (they said I would need to change my dates by months to save any money on the flights; I checked more dates and saved $500 per person flying back on New Years eve. they also said they had no Cape Town hotels to recommend under $100 per night; we found a lovely guesthouse for $80 a night). We ended up going with Kapama Buffalo Lodge for about $500 per night for the safari part of the trips. It was awesome.
All in, we paid about $8000. $2000 for 3 nights safari plus transport, $2000 for our flights there (Chicago to Joburg with 2 days in Madrid on the way), plus $1000 in in-country flights, $500 shark drive, $100 horseback riding, $250 day of wine tasting with driver, $500 car rental, $500 hotel in Cape Town, $300 hotels in Knysna, and $150 hostel on the Wild Coast and then about $700 in spending money. We were there 15 days.
We went through Julian Harris at Premier Tours. One of the reasons we chose Premier is because they offer consolidated airfare, so we saved quite a bit on flights. Julian was also really awesome about giving us recs for places to stay, and set us up with an amazing custom itinerary without totally breaking the bank.
We were in Africa for 16 days - 2 days in Jo'burg; 3 days in Vic Falls, Zimbabwe; 1 day in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania; 1 day in Lake Manyara; 2 days at Ngorongoro Crater; 3 days in Serengeti and 4 days in Zanzibar. Both days in Jo'burg and the day in Dar were in transit. There aren't many flights throughout Africa, so a lot of times you'll lose full days in transit going from one place to another. We spent a lot of time in transit, but really wanted to see Vic Falls.
As far as cost, we stayed pretty middle-of-the-road in regards to budget vs. luxury and spent somewhere ~$20k. The first trip we were quoted was over $45k! We chose some really nice luxury tented camps and had our own private Land Rover/driver, so you could definitely do it cheaper if you chose less luxurious places or joined pre-set trips. Tanzania is definitely more expensive of the three places you've listed, but the Serengeti and Zanzibar were well worth it, IMO.
When looking at costs, be sure to also take into account the $100pp visa cost, plus you will be required to get a yellow fever vaccine, which isn't covered by most insurance policies, and malaria prophylaxis which can get pretty expensive depending on which brand you choose. I don't believe any of these three are required for S. Africa.
We went on our honeymoon and did about 2 weeks in South Africa and Botswana. In terms of itinerary, I think it was 3 days in Cape Town, 4 days on safari in Sabi Sands, and 4 days on safari in Okavango Delta in Botswana, with 1 travel day in between. That's probably a few more days on safari than we needed, but we were fine to just relax at the hotels on some days instead of heading out.
We used Go 2 Africa as an agent - I think Mia was our agent, and she was awesome. She made sure that every little detail was arranged, which was exactly the type of experience we were looking for for our honeymoon.
Cecilia arrived 12 October 2012
Ive done safari in southern africa (krueger, and botswana), and justt recently in Kenya (masai mara). We did everything on our own, and saved alot more money than going with Premier tours. When we priced the safari part of the trip for Krueger-we realized the only thing they saved us moeny on were the park fees. (they waived a day). We did Botswana with Premier-and I was disappointed. Not with service with Premier-they were wonderful. But we tend to like to smaller independent places rather than 200 people lodges they placed us in.
I personally enjoyed South Africa more, but we saw the all of the big 5 in 2 days in the mara. We did Masai mara in 4 days, and I thought it was plenty of time. We included a hot air ballon ride-so the cost went up a bit. If you have the patience to plan it for yourself, I would recommend it. We really enjoyed the camps in Krueger and the mara. If you want a list of the camps we looked at for the South Africa and Kenya-pm me.
Just to clarify, Premier will put you in any lodge/type of lodging you would like. You just have to tell them that when you book. We were in very small (8-10 room) lodges everywhere we stayed. We just made sure to tell them up front this is what we wanted. A lot of tour operators will book you in the bigger places if you don't tell them not to b/c those larger places are a lot more affordable than the smaller places in most instances.