I am traveling with my Aunt and deciding between 1.Botswana, South Africa and Zambia, 2. Kenya and Tanzania: A Classic Safari or 3. South Africa: An Elegant Adventure. I am mainly interested in animals but love culture, good food and great resorts too. What would you poick?
Comments
If you want some culture, then Elegant South Africa is for you with fewer safari days but excellent resorts when you do. But to be honest, each of the tours are very different so I would advise doing all of them!
Thanks British, I saw some of your excellent responses in years past. Which one would you start with?
For the animals, I would recommend K&T: the classic. It is all about game drives, and it has a couple great hotels in addition to more basic camp accommodations. the camps are pretty nice. B, Z, and SA is also a great trip but the last half of it is basically touring. If you want touring and animals, that is probably the one you want.
If I had my time again I’d start with Botswana, Zambia and South Africa.
AnneC23 Hi
The question should be...
I am traveling with my aunt and would like to know... "which tour should I start with" ?
Because once you go to Africa on a Safari, you'll want to go over and over again. 3 under my belt and 1 more next 2024.
Africa it's Amazing and very addicting, you'll be going more than once.
For animals K&T it's incredible!
For a complete experience animal + culture, the Beautiful Okagando Delta + xtra activities and great hotels/camps Botswana, Zambia and Cape Town.
For a luxury Safary resort stay ... The Elegant South Africa... but not really a true Safari experience.
Either way you'll love it.
Agree with mil…..Africa is totally addicting. We have been on 3 different safari trips, not with Tauck. All independent travel. IMO South Africa is the best for big cats and getting very close to all the animals. Plus beautiful resorts. We enjoyed Tanzania for the herds of animals in migration, but could not go “ off road” in most areas like we did in SA.
I guess all the terms we are using here are difficult to understand until you have been on several different safaris, but I agree with everything Mil and Marla are saying. Six safaris under our belt and one more already booked and hoping to finalize another soon. If I could, I’d go every year but still want to see more other countries and there is only so much time and money! If only air fair hadn’t gone up so much! I don’t think any of us foresaw the huge increases.
Thank you sooo much! This is really helpful
You're so right about the air fares British, I've been surprised even shocked sometimes at the prices.
With respect to airfares - It's like 70 is the new 50, well for business airfares $4K - $6K is the new $2K - $4K.
We were on the Classic Safari in October 2022. My main objective was to see the animals and this tour did not disappoint! It was an active itinerary with lots of game drives. I had a fantastic time and am so happy that we took this tour.
Jo_the1, Hi.
Glad to hear you enjoy the Safari and had a great time. Africa is Amazing.
Happy for you.
Have a lovely day.
For those who enjoy travel to Africa, what about it draws you back?
Mike, are you asking about back to the same tour or back to the continent of Africa? There are forum people that have done the same Africa tour multiple times, others have done different parts of Africa multiple times, and there are others that have done both of those.
Let's isolate down to the southern half of Africa and tours that are primarly intended for viewing of animals.
Mike, I just sent you a PM.
Africa is magical. You will become addicted. It is the cradle of civilization.
I've been to both Northern Africa and Southern Africa. What I was asking is why other people are drawn back. Specifics, not generalizations. Is it seeing animals? Or something else?
I ask because people seem to rave about tours to Africa. I'm really interested in "why". What, specifically, is it that draws you back?
[Some people say the Tigris Euphrates valley is the cradle of civilization. I don't feel drawn to it, and I expect quite a few soldiers don't either
]
A simple search of this forum will reveal a plethora of very informative and insightful commentaries from the three experts (in my opinion)...British, mil and Sealord. From reading about their experiences it is evident why they return so frequently. I envy their spirit of adventure.
In my opinion, the animals in the wild are wonderful to see. That being said; I think the sunsets in the big sky, the native people living so simply, the lack of wires, cars, highways, department stores, etc. And the people seem happy and content and enjoy togetherness and family. Experiencing a life long gone in the USA.
I, of course, have read the posting in this subforum. I did not come away with an understanding of why people are drawn to Africa. If I had, I would not have asked the question. If you are drawn to Africa, please tell me why. I'm interested.
I'm interested is specific reasons, not generalizations. Debi Horan gave some good comments. I'd like to hear others.
🤪
British , I see... Yuks!!!
Mike H. HI.
I'm more than Happy to help with any questions, shoot me a PM at your convenience. Yes, Africa it's addicting... I have 2 more already booked.
Have a lovely day.
I've been to southern Africa and did the safaris. I saw the land, the people and the animals. I did not feel the need to see it again.
However, several people on this subforum seem to be drawn back multiple times. I'm interested in what draws them back. From the few responses I received, it seems that it may be seeing the animals again and again.
@mil Mike H. HI.
I'm more than Happy to help with any questions, shoot me a PM at your convenience. Yes, Africa it's addicting... I have 2 more already booked.
Have a lovely day.
The question is why is Africa addicting to you? Why do you go multiple times? What do you see or do that draws you back?
Mike, my first safari trip was in South Africa and Kenya. I felt an unexplained connection to the wild and had the strongest sense and pull that I had been here before, but this was my first trip. I am extremely grateful to be able to sit and watch different animals in their natural habitat go about their lives. My first reaction was “ We have been dropped into a National Geographic series! “ To be in close proximity to a family of elephants teaching a two month old how to throw dust over themselves, or to see wild dog puppies wait for the pack leader to come and regurgitate their latest kill to feed them. To be face to face and look directly into the eyes of a leopard from 15 feet away. I was hooked. We went to Tanzania on our second safari and experienced the vast herds in the migration, and fell in love with baby hyenas romping around the termite mound.
Our last trip was nine years ago….back to South Africa and also Botswana. I had an 500 lb. buffalo hunting male Lion lay down in the shadow of our Jeep, to be joined by his equally large sized female. I could have put my hand down on their heads! The adrenaline rush. Every safari drive is unique and filled with anticipation of what we might witness, feeling like “ a fly on the wall”.
And lastly, something I cannot explain….the deep, almost magnetic feeling that I was home, really home. If I could go back to the southern part of Africa in my dying days, that would, for me, be nirvana.
Mike, I hope this explains why I'm so in Love with the African countries I have visited.
Africa it's beautiful, the people are lovely and super friendly, they have no malice, they are pure.
As you are there, you are connected to nature, you feel alive, and you get a different view on life and what's important.... You get disconnected of the material things and become more spiritual... No this is not a commercial, it's what I feel.
This past trip something happened to me, as we landed in Cape town and as I thought about it, I realize the meaning of the welcoming sign at the Cap T. airport. and it all came together. I got the answer
Africa it's our home. where we all come from... where at least 1 gene does come from..:)
We are coming back to the Mother Land. - THAT'S THE MAGIC., that's the answer... because more than addicting, it is Magical.
Then the animals... they bring the child innocent happiness that we all had on our first trip to the zoo, but now as an adult you get to enjoy even further by seeing them out in the wild and free.
It's Amazing!
I'm afraid you have rose colored glasses on. Take Johannesburg. You'll notice that all of the homes have high walls around them, with spikes in the top of the wall, or electric wires. The reason is the crime rate. The hotel we stayed in would not let guests walk outside the hotel compound - it was almost a certainty you'd get mugged. If you needed to go somewhere, maybe to a store, they'd take you in a vehicle and stay with you. It's been that way for years. I met a man who lived in Johannesburg back in the '80s and he said it was like that back then.
Add to that the corruption, especially in government.
Housing for the poor is almost unbelievable. Areas the size of a small city made up of shacks put together by the people living in them. No running water, electricity, or sewerage. Dirt floors. Disease must be a problem. You can understand why the crime rate is so high. People with nothing have nothing to lose.
What is presented to you on a tour is carefully curated, and you are transported in safety, away from the reality of life in many parts of Africa.
At least tourism is protecting many of the animals. They realize that they need the animals for the tourist dollars. So traveling for a safari does do good for the animals and provides a few jobs.
Ok, I will write something, or rather, I don’t need to because Mil says it for me, plus, as I have always said, it’s not just about the animals for me. My favorite country there for landscape is Namibia, you won’t see many animals there compared to other parts of Southern Africa or East Africa, you won’t see many people. It’s one of the least populated countries for its size, but the landscape is fantastic. My second favorite for beautiful scenery is Rwanda, the parts I saw were lush and green undulating hills, gorgeous. Then for me, like Mil, it’s the people and then the animals.
My husband and I grew up watching David Attenborough on black and white TV. Back then, the thought of ever being able to go to Africa was just a dream that would probably never ever come true. In 1981 we went out to buy a small color TV, we wanted to see Attenborough’s Life On Earth in color. Yes we love wildlife and nature too. I love working the land in my garden, one of my happiest places.
Mike, perhaps now you can explain to me why you think all of the US is somehow any different for violence and depravity than mainly the Johannesburg area and that none of the people in power in the US are not corrupt. Even a Supreme Court judge now has questionable actions.
Being poor does not make people violent, many countries have the same housing conditions that you describe. People are happy, probably happier than you, they have their families around and lots of love and pride. They just get on with life and don’t have the luxury of time to think about barbed wire walls in Johannesburg. When we went to Namibia, we went to one of the unofficial settlements, we were randomly invited into one of the homes of a large family, made up of cardboard boxes and the like. It was amazing how ingenious it was and how clean considering what we saw outside. We were not in a ‘carefully curated’ tour, our TD was a local.
If you had traveled to parts of the US that I have, you would see the same awful housing. We live in a very rich country, many more are just like Africa.