Wildlife Odyssey (Victoria Falls, Chobe, Kruger, Capetown) in July 2025
Has anyone been on this tour lately? I've read the wonderful trip description posted by MotherOfPoodles from October 24 (thanks for the great info!). Wondering if anyone has been on this trip more recently, or if you're planning on going this summer.
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I got back May 13, 2025. It was fabulous! Very fast paced so we were pretty tired when we got back. Food was excellent, the game lodges 5 star, and the game drives never ceased to amaze. I got the most incredible pictures. Will be framing some to display in my house. We saw elephants galore, numerous lions (up close) including two rare white lions, zebras, giraffes, a leopard, water buffalo, mongoose, kudu, Impala, wildebeest, baboons, and much more.
It was warm during the day at the beginning, but got cooler as the trip progressed. The morning game drives in Ngala were quite cold, so if you're going this summer it will be chilly.
This trip does not disappoint. I have recommended it to so many people since we got back. You'll love it!
Quick question about the visa, I know you need it for Zimbabwe, and if traveling into South Africa you need 2 back to back blank pages for stamping. We are traveling to South Africa as a connection(leaving airport to hotel then back to airport) to fly to Victoria Falls. Since we will be entering and departing from South Africa twice, will we need 4 sets of back to back blank pages? Hope this makes sense. What are your thoughts? Thanks in advance.
I took the Zambia, Botswana, South Africa trip last September. I flew into Jo'burg and overnighted at the hotel there before going on to Zambia. Then it was back to SA for the last part of the tour. I'm trying to decode the stamps in my passport without much success. Best I can tell, I have one page with four quarter-sized stamps from SA.
This is what was in my Tauck Travel Docs last September and nearly caused me to get a new passport:
New rules at South Africa's airports require travelers that are transiting through or visiting
South Africa, to have four consecutive blank visa pages in your passport which lie side-by-side
when the passport is open (i.e. a left and a right-hand page).
No one on my trip had an issues with a lack of available pages.
The Zimbabwe visa is a sticker that does take an entire page.
I will be going on the Wildlife Odyssey: South Africa the December! I am curious as to how much money I should bring, and, how much tip to the tour guide/s?? Thank you
Your Tauck travel papers will tell you how much to tip the TD, as far as bringing money there are ATM's at the banks and at the airport when you arrive, credit cards are accepted so I wouldn't worry about taking money.
Poverty in that part of Africa is pervasive and pretty bad. I tried to be generous in tipping when I was there.
Actually, Botswana is a prosperous country
We just returned from this trip. It was incredible. The recommended tip for you tour director will be in your final documents. I’m guessing it will be the same as ours which was $15 per day, per person. Our TD sent us an email prior to the trip with lots of information that specially included that we could use Venmo or Zelle if we preferred. Venmo doesn’t work in South Africa and she was fine with people taking care of it when they got home. Using a VPN worked for us while we were there.
In terms of the rangers and spotters (and everyone else from wait staff to house keeping to porters), Your TD will tip them all the recommended amounts. That is included in the journey cost. I think our entire group tipped something on top of this but that is your individual choice. I think our TD told us that for every 12 people that visits South Africa, a job is created. We are so used to tipping in the US that it seems natural and you can argue that the $5s, $10s or $20s you might pass out are doing even more good there.
US dollars are the currency in Zimbabwe and are readily accepted in Botswana. If you are transiting through South Africa on your way to Victoria Falls, try to remember to pick up some Rand in Cape Town or Johannesburg. It is more difficult for them to exchange dollars as they need a passport and if they don’t have one, someone else is going to take a cut. That being said, when we asked about exchanging dollars for Rand at Ngala because we didn’t have enough for our ranger and spotter, they immediately said it’s okay to give your guides dollars so that’s what we all did.