Anybody else booked on Wildlife Odyssey: South Africa, Botswana & Zimbabwe 7/11-7/22/24?
Had to reschedule or trip from 2023 and we are going this year. Looking forward to an amazing adventure!! We are coming from Los Angeles and stopping over in Dubai on the way over.
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how was your venture? Any advice to offer for clothing, comforts, tipping? Thank you.
Loved this trip! I have no idea why there are so few posts about it compared to the other southern Africa tours. We took this trip in June.
&Beyond Ngala Safari Lodge was our favorite safari lodge where we were able to go off road so we had closer encounters with the animals and unlike Chobe, there were only a few vehicles in the reserve. In my opinion Chobe had far too many vehicles covering the same area of the national park near the river. Five favorite encounters during our six game drives in Ngala's Reserve that come to mind were seeing several white rhinos, viewing a pride of 28 lions with cubs of all ages eating a Cape Buffalo the pride had killed, a leopard patiently waiting to eat some of an impala she had killed that two hyenas took from her before she could get it up a tree, watching a lion family of five, especially the three young cubs for quite a while as the only vehicle around and seeing a pangolin.
Clothing: It's best to dress in neutral safari colors and layers. They don't want anyone to wear white on safari. When we went in June, it was cold before sunrise and it quickly cooled off after sunset. I wore a black windproof/waterproof outer shell jacket with a liner and had a light pair of gloves, a hat, and a buff for dust on safari and the buff really came in handy when they sprayed inside the planes. Chobe had blankets and Ngala had blankets and hot water bottles in the vehicles. While in Cape Town and for our stays in Doha and Johannesburg before the Tauck tour began, I wore clothes I would wear in any city and to dinner in nicer hotels.
Tips: All tips were covered by Tauck, except for the TD. She asked for payment in US cash or electronically by Venmo or Zelle. Your TD may differ. She sent us an email before the trip with details about clothing, laundry, tipping, weather, plastic bags, etc., which was greatly appreciated.
Luggage: The one checked bag is a rolling duffel, 30 x 15 x 14 with a 44 lb limit. I used packing cubes to keep everything organized. For our trip we were allowed to bring a personal bag and a small carry-on. A rolling carryon was fine as long as it was small and not normal carryon size. Think rolling underseat bag or rolling backpack.
Cameras: We used our iPhones for landscapes and 100-400mm lenses on our primary cameras. A hassle to carry, but the photos we took are worth the hassle and will look great on our walls.
Flights: Of our three flights on the tour, only one of our flights was on a small plane and they used two Pilatus PC-12s for 12 people. Loved landing at Ngala's private airstrip and not having to deal with an airport.
Visa: For Zimbabwe a double visa is necessary. For our trip we needed a single and a double visa, because we flew into Zimbabwe and then crossed the border and stayed in Zambia a few days before the tour began to go on safari in Zambia, including a walking tour with 2 guides to see the guarded rhinos in the rhino sanctuary and to view Victoria Falls multiple times from the Zambia side.
Comfort: To me comfortable shoes and clothes are a must for any trip, but my main comfort items are my iPad and AirPods. I wear scleral lenses so on safari my comfort items are eye drops, a buff, wrap-around sunglasses and lip balm. Lighting is not the best in the safari lodges, so if we go on another safari, I will add a head lamp to my list of items to take.
This is one of the few Africa tours we have not taken with Tauck. It was booked but we found it too difficult to get there because of Covid testing not being available at Johannesburg which was required at the time. Since then, we have been back to Botswana, Chobe and Vic Falls with another company. Away from the river at Chobe, the ‘roads’ were very narrow, it was crowded with vehicles and the bush was too thick in areas to see any animals which were few and far between anyway. There was a leopard siting and it was the worst I have ever seen with so many vehicles trying to see it. Compared to our brief visit on the Chobe river on Tauck’s other tour, and last year on our most recent time there, the inland part of it was disappointing.
We have been to all these areas several times now. I have never been given the impression that you cannot wear white, though I don’t myself. Most animals are colorblind anyway. Over the years since I started going to Africa, I’ve noticed that people wear anything they like, things I would not wear because I love to wear my easy care and pack ‘Safari stuff’
We have only ever been contacted by a TD once before a tour in twenty years. We have never been told by a TD how to pay them! Tauck specifies paying in dollars or local currency. Maybe this is changing. Has anyone else paid a TD by electronic methods?
I understand that Tauck has a lot more new TD’s, a recent very experienced TD told me one of the newer guides told him he was ‘old school’ I’m not sure what exactly he meant, but he was one of our favorites who we have now had twice.
As far as posts for the trip, it’s still a relatively new one.
Great trip report, SAdivr.
Regarding wearing white on safari trips: on our recent Botswana tour, prior to our walking safari at Eagle Island, the local guide did scrutinize the group’s attire. One guy was wearing a white polo shirt and was instructed to put on his grey jacket over the shirt.
Lotusgirl. Thanks. It wasn't meant to be a trip report. Just trying to answer the questions and add a few more comments, since there is so little info out there on this trip.
British, This TD is not new and has over 20 years with Tauck. She's just more progressive and definitely not old school. I think sending an email to everyone is a great idea to introduce themselves before the tour and better define some things like tipping, luggage, communication, etc in greater detail. She also set up WhatsAPP groups to send us our daily schedule and for all of us to communicate with each other during our trip, the same she does for all her trips; one WhatsAPP group for text and one for pictures. It was a great idea and worked very well, along with paying her tip electronically.
She does sound progressive. I ask again, has anyone else ever seen an instance of aTD being tipped electronically!
Again, in over thirty tours with Tauck, I’ve only come across a TD contacting us once before the tour. Tipping and luggage info is all in the final documents.
British, Why are you having such a hard time with the TD suggesting an electronic payment for their tip? It was a great idea, so we didn't have to carry so much cash around with us on the trip and neither would they after the trip. Out of our five Tauck trips since 2018, she is the first to suggest an electronic payment, but she was not the first to send us an email before the trip.
Hi, I’n not having a hard time about tipping electronically. I’ve just never heard of it happening. I still believe some people do not tip at all. I’ve had people ask me when to tip the TD after the final farewell dinner when they are not likely to see the TD again too. It does seem as if more people are being contacted before tours but it hasn’t happened in my long experience, except once. Some tour directors don’t even given you their cell phone number. For example, there was little cell phone service on our last tour.
Maybe some TDs don't, but I have contact info on all five of ours. We didn't need cell service, just an internet connection.
It’s Permethrin day!!!!! Just some comic relief for safari lovers.😃