Just Back....

It was a fabulous tour!

We had so many awesome experiences that I am still trying to process and remember through photos!

Here are some we posted (you don't need a facebook account to view)...

Zambia

Botswana

Comments

  • edited September 2018
    DawnC28 wrote:
    It was a fabulous tour!

    We had so many awesome experiences that I am still trying to process and remember through photos!

    Here are some we posted (you don't need a facebook account to view)...

    Zambia

    Botswana

    Great photos! Especially the lion mamma and cub and the meerkats, You sure saw a lot of leopards, too- about 5 times as many as we saw on K&T in 2015. I can't wait until next May!
  • Call me confused but...How do I view these photos? Intrigued!
  • edited September 2018
    cwf wrote:
    Call me confused but...How do I view these photos? Intrigued!

    Click on the links (the words "Zambia" and "Botswana") in Dawn's thread. They will take you to Facebook where the photo albums are located. There are only 3 photos in Zambia, most are in Botswana.

    The links are kinda stealthy in Dawn's post : ) so you can just click on those words (links) in my post : ).


    Dawn, unfortunately the Tauck software does not do a great job inserting links, so to make them look like a traditional link I add blue color and an underline to the word(s) within the full URL.
  • Told someone yesterday in my wife’s presence that we have done Africa three times, so we are probably done with that. She informed me that I was wrong. Looks like we are going back in 2021. We will see which trip we choose. I would not be surprised if we chose K&T again. Could not possibly be better than our trip in July, but it is all about the animals ... and the Mt. Kenya Safari Club is my favorite place on the planet. I know ... some people here did not like it. Different strokes for different folks. (;-).
  • Sealord, maybe when we have taken the Rwanda trip next year I can maybe help you decide if you could physically manage that trip. Meanwhile, we really look forward to our second K and T tour and hope to find we also love the Mount Kenya hotel
  • Beautiful photos Dawn!!! Thanks for sharing them!
  • edited October 2018
    Beautiful photos Dawn!!! Thanks for sharing them!

    Thank you! They are a mixture of mine and my husband's, Jim - he has a website if you want to see more (we went on the South Africa Elegant Adventure if February, so those pictures are there as well:

    Jim's photos (click on the link)
  • DawnC28 wrote:
    Thank you! They are a mixture of mine and my husband's, Jim - he has a website if you want to see more (we went on the South Africa Elegant Adventure if February, so those pictures are there as well:

    Jim's photos (click on the link)
  • Jim's photos are amazing!
  • I enjoyed the photos on the link so much...thank you
    I just cannot wait!!!
  • DawnC28 wrote:
    Thank you! They are a mixture of mine and my husband's, Jim - he has a website if you want to see more (we went on the South Africa Elegant Adventure if February, so those pictures are there as well:

    Jim's photos (click on the link)


    Dawn - We have been on K/T a Classic Safari. I'm looking at both Botswana and SA - an Elegant Adventure. I realize you've done the latter 2. Did you do K/T as well? I'm looking to understand how different Botswana and SA are vs K/T. Also - which did you prefer - Botswana or SA and why?
  • I’ve taken all four Tauck Africa tours. The East Africa experience is very different from the Southern Africa experiences. The animals you see are different too, such as no Gerenuk in SA, more likely to see Wild Dogs in South Africa etc The Elegant S Africa is half culture half Safari. Rules out on safari and the vehicles are different. K and T and Tanzania Zamzibar tours have much lower Landcruiser type vehicles, you can stand on the seats and the top pops up or comes off. In Botswana, South Africa and the other Z countries the vehicles are much higher and you literally have to clamber up the small steps on the side of the vwhcle and launch yourself in, its quite challenging if you are short, there is not always someone to help you and there is not always a platform, or step to help either. You cannot stand in a Southern Africa safari at all. The brush is very thick on the Elegant South Africa camps. So you have to spend a lot more time actively searching for animals and there can be times where you don’t see any for ages. But they can go off road there, so the vehicle goes through the brush, driving over trees that spring back up when you go over them.i enjoyed both Southern Africa tours, but Botswana is the favorite. My favorite African country so far is Tanzania, and of course we have been there twice. The Tanzania Zanzibar tour is great value for money if a budget is of concern to you too.
  • British wrote:
    I’ve taken all four Tauck Africa tours. The East Africa experience is very different from the Southern Africa experiences. The animals you see are different too, such as no Gerenuk in SA, more likely to see Wild Dogs in South Africa etc The Elegant S Africa is half culture half Safari. Rules out on safari and the vehicles are different. K and T and Tanzania Zamzibar tours have much lower Landcruiser type vehicles, you can stand on the seats and the top pops up or comes off. In Botswana, South Africa and the other Z countries the vehicles are much higher and you literally have to clamber up the small steps on the side of the vwhcle and launch yourself in, its quite challenging if you are short, there is not always someone to help you and there is not always a platform, or step to help either. You cannot stand in a Southern Africa safari at all. The brush is very thick on the Elegant South Africa camps. So you have to spend a lot more time actively searching for animals and there can be times where you don’t see any for ages. But they can go off road there, so the vehicle goes through the brush, driving over trees that spring back up when you go over them.i enjoyed both Southern Africa tours, but Botswana is the favorite. My favorite African country so far is Tanzania, and of course we have been there twice. The Tanzania Zanzibar tour is great value for money if a budget is of concern to you too.


    Thank you British. Definitely confirms my thought that Botswana would be more interesting to us because more animal focused than SA Elegant. Any other comments about this trip and comparisons to Tanzania? Did you feel you spent sufficient time looking at animals? How were the falls?
  • Hi CatLover8,

    I can't speak for other Africa tours since we've only taken the Botswana, Zambia and South Africa tour. I can tell you it was a highlight of my life.
    As far as spending time looking at animals, I think you will be very happy. We saw animals almost every day on that tour. I thought when we got to SA, it would be the end of it, but driving to the Cape we saw animals. And we took a boat to seal island and saw penguins, seals, dolphins and whales. It was incredible.
    As for the falls, we were there in September, so it was low. Still nice to see.
  • edited October 2018
    I’ve been to the Falls on two separate trips, Zimbabwe trip and Zambia. Zimbabwe time there was plenty of water and the wet mist drenched everything if I remember correctly. Zambia was in the dry season, not much water, but being interesting in geology it was great to see all the rocks that are usually covered by torrents of water. Of course there was still water but you did not get wet, could take pictures much more easily and it was not humid. If you can, take a helicopter ride over the Falls, there are three choices of length of ride, ours ended up being the long one because the couple we took the flight with who was at the tour desk when we arrived at the helicopter place had paid for the longer tour, so the person at the desk whispered to us that we would be getting the longer ride for free! It’s quite expensive but worth it.

    Time seeing animals? For us, Africa has a lot more going for it than just animals. Remember to look at the scenery, enjoy the different trees and plants, look how beautiful the sunsets are and try to interact with the local people as much as you can. Especially amazing is talking to the safari drivers who all have different personalities, knowledge and stories to tell, they are a very big part of the enjoyment of the tours for us. Ahhh Africa!
  • Ah yes. After our third Africa trip, I said I thought we were done. My wife told me that was not necessairly the case. If we live long enough, there is another Africa trip in our future. “Out of Africa”, and “Born Free” wrapped into one big ball. It is our favorite place on the planet. But, it is a long way from California. Our times in Africa are the happiest times of our life. Those of you who are reading this and have not ‘been’, you are in for a special adventure.
  • Crackeroo wrote:
    Hi CatLover8,

    I can't speak for other Africa tours since we've only taken the Botswana, Zambia and South Africa tour. I can tell you it was a highlight of my life.
    As far as spending time looking at animals, I think you will be very happy. We saw animals almost every day on that tour. I thought when we got to SA, it would be the end of it, but driving to the Cape we saw animals. And we took a boat to seal island and saw penguins, seals, dolphins and whales. It was incredible.
    As for the falls, we were there in September, so it was low. Still nice to see.

    Thank you Crackeroo. This does sound wonderful. Having been to Africa once, I know how wonderful all of it is. I wanted to go back immediately!
  • Sealord wrote:
    Ah yes. After our third Africa trip, I said I thought we were done. My wife told me that was not necessairly the case. If we live long enough, there is another Africa trip in our future. “Out of Africa”, and “Born Free” wrapped into one big ball. It is our favorite place on the planet. But, it is a long way from California. Our times in Africa are the happiest times of our life. Those of you who are reading this and have not ‘been’, you are in for a special adventure.

    Yes, Africa was fabulous and I really want to go back. How blessed you are to have gone 3 times and planning a 4th trip. How was the Botswana trip compared to Kenya/Tanzania Classic Safari? Is it different enough? In what ways? Is the scenery much different or the interactions with animals?
  • British wrote:
    I’ve been to the Falls on two separate trips, Zimbabwe trip and Zambia. Zimbabwe time there was plenty of water and the wet mist drenched everything if I remember correctly. Zambia was in the dry season, not much water, but being interesting in geology it was great to see all the rocks that are usually covered by torrents of water. Of course there was still water but you did not get wet, could take pictures much more easily and it was not humid. If you can, take a helicopter ride over the Falls, there are three choices of length of ride, ours ended up being the long one because the couple we took the flight with who was at the tour desk when we arrived at the helicopter place had paid for the longer tour, so the person at the desk whispered to us that we would be getting the longer ride for free! It’s quite expensive but worth it.

    Time seeing animals? For us, Africa has a lot more going for it than just animals. Remember to look at the scenery, enjoy the different trees and plants, look how beautiful the sunsets are and try to interact with the local people as much as you can. Especially amazing is talking to the safari drivers who all have different personalities, knowledge and stories to tell, they are a very big part of the enjoyment of the tours for us. Ahhh Africa!

    Yes, Africa has much to offer. Like you we really enjoyed talking with the safari drivers - they were so open. The scenery is gorgeous and the people are wonderful. But I also just enjoy watching (and photographing) animals in their natural habitat (I can't do zoos anymore!). Thanks for the tips on the falls and helicopter and time of year. Which months did you go there? I've read several people like going right after the rainy season, but you bring up some good points about the drier season.
  • edited October 2018
    Hi Catlover, you are popping up all over asking about various trips. It’s really hard to ‘recommend’ trips to anyone apart from perhaps close friends and family. Everyone is different, has likes and dislikes and different capabilities.some people hate museums, some people put staying in great hotels at the top of their list. We even find it weird when you tell someone where you are going and the first thing out of their mouth is talking about the restaurants there.
    I really would want to know so much about you before I might recommend what you like because of my perspective. I can gather already we are not the same. I would never have cats in my house, we don’t own any animals. Our lifestyle does not suit them and for me, I grew up with a mum who had all animals known to man in the house and a dad who tolerated it. I quite like some of the long bus rides, there is almost always great scenery. A particular favorite of mine is the bus journeys in India, they were fascinating watching life happen by the roadside. This summer I was with a big group of friends, we all had to travel from the middle of England to Scotland. Most slept a lot of the time, I remember thinking what great scenery they were missing. Africa, I think all the tours are worth going on, we will even schedule the Tauck Bridges tour eventually, that has been pushed back since we are now taking the new K and T and Rwanda tour next year. Patagonia, well we will find out soon, but it is supposed to have some of the most spectacular scenery anywhere. We are fully awhere of the amount of bus travel, but if you want to visit big countries, you anticipate lots of bus time or in country flights. We thought this might be a better tour for us than Antarctica, it’s not somewhere we may end up visiting even though many people say it is their favorite tour.
    Museums, I always take longer to get round one than Mr B, but he anticipates that and sits and relaxes while waiting for me. Big ship cruises, for us, yuck,but so many people love them. We like to plan like Alan S to a certain point, but could never pack in as much on a trip as he does, wish we could, but despite us both being retired we like to chill a bit on trips too. Well back to my latest project, I want it to be finished before our next tour in a couple of weeks.
    Catlover, just bite the bulletin and book your tours. We have 6 booked with Tauck at the moment. They fill up quickly.
  • I knew you would make me envious. I only have three booked right now, and one is in 2020. We normally do only one Tauck per year, but I’m beginning to make exceptions. None of us are getting any younger. (;-). I have two booked for 2019. All three are small ship tours. We don’t like packing, and we don’t like ‘travelling’ by bus. I know, the tours normally involve some bus travel, but not all day like some trips we’ve done.
  • Don’t be envious Sealord. I have never taken one single ocean cruise and haven’t you taken about 50?
    I have to confess we still haven’t made it to Alaska, that can wait until we are older, although Mr B passed through Anchorage for a work trip, I think I remember him standing next to a stuffed polar bear in a photo. Yes, so nice to know about his exotic stops while I was at home looking after our kids. Anyway, I can’t compete with your cute wife!
    We’ve decided to try to do the land tours while we can still cope with the packing and unpacking. We’ve more recently converted to packing cubes, I decided to try them after reading so many positive reports here. They make unpacking a breeze. Mr B loves them now.
    We missed getting to know people better on our small ship experience and particularly hardly getting to know the tour directors who for us are a big part of the attraction of Tauck. But of course we have the upcoming Panama Canal trip.
  • I agree that travel is a personal preference. We each have our bucket lists and goals. We each have our needs and expectations.

    Some trips can be expensive...and some don't need to be. Some trips can be covered by cruises...and some need to be done individually.

    We chose this particular trip because it met our needs and requirements and expectations and goals. We have not gone yet...but I will certainly let you know.

    For example...we wanted to take a european river cruise...but often...we choose a cruise becasue of the excursions and the itenerary. The tauck Amsterdan to Budapest cruise exceeded our expectations.

    This Botswana, South Africa, Zambia tour...fit the bill for us. I cannot imagine that we would in any way be disappointed.

    But I agree with others...only you know what you hope to do and see...and our expectaions may differ...and while i can tell you about my experience...I cannot possibly know what is very important to you.

    We have been looking at antartica experiences...and i found several wonderful cruises that sail past antartica...but do not stop. I would be ok with those...but my husband says...if i fly over a state does it mean i was there? I want to step on anartica. Makes perfectly good sense to me....stepping on antartica it is.
  • British wrote:
    Don’t be envious Sealord. I have never taken one single ocean cruise and haven’t you taken about 50?
    I have to confess we still haven’t made it to Alaska, that can wait until we are older, although Mr B passed through Anchorage for a work trip, I think I remember him standing next to a stuffed polar bear in a photo. Yes, so nice to know about his exotic stops while I was at home looking after our kids. Anyway, I can’t compete with your cute wife!
    We’ve decided to try to do the land tours while we can still cope with the packing and unpacking. We’ve more recently converted to packing cubes, I decided to try them after reading so many positive reports here. They make unpacking a breeze. Mr B loves them now.
    We missed getting to know people better on our small ship experience and particularly hardly getting to know the tour directors who for us are a big part of the attraction of Tauck. But of course we have the upcoming Panama Canal trip.

    Well, the 50 number would be an estimate and certainly would include the small boat trips. We have done seven trips on the Wind Surf alone, in addition to 3 other Windstar trips. We are Crown & Anchor Diamond, but stopped cruising with them (one short of 25 cruises) when they took away our benefits and gave them to the newly created Diamond Plus. I’m not in favor of ‘bait and switch’ so we have never cruised with them since. We have also done a number of Celebrity trips, three small boat, and have a number of trips on Princess. but we have pretty much given up big boat cruising. Royal Caribbean probably did us a favor, because their actions introduced us to small boats. That being said, “RCCL” will probably never see our shadow on their entrance again. We will probably take our grandkids to Alaska on Princess.
  • Sealord wrote:
    Well, the 50 number would be an estimate and certainly would include the small boat trips. We have done seven trips on the Wind Surf alone, in addition to 3 other Windstar trips. We are Crown & Anchor Diamond, but stopped cruising with them (one short of 25 cruises) when they took away our benefits and gave them to the newly created Diamond Plus. I’m not in favor of ‘bait and switch’ so we have never cruised with them since. We have also done a number of Celebrity trips, three small boat, and have a number of trips on Princess. but we have pretty much given up big boat cruising. Royal Caribbean probably did us a favor, because their actions introduced us to small boats. That being said, “RCCL” will probably never see our shadow on their entrance again. We will probably take our grandkids to Alaska on Princess.

    We have not done any small ship cruising because Mr. D has some motion problems. Too bad sine we would love to circumnavigate Iceland with Tauck. Neither have we done a giant ship cruise a la Royal Caribbean. We fell in love with Regent on our Baltic cruise. 750 passengers, all inclusive, and port intensive. Very luxurious way to travel for adults, mainly 50+ adults.
    However, we have gone to Alaska twice on Princess, once on Tauck Grand Alaska fot the two of us, and this past July with our two kids and three grandkids. It was perfect for a multi-generational trip. I think there were 2300 passengers and lots of activities going on all day and night as well as shore excursions. We also added a 5 day cruise tour on land, through Princess.

    We also adore the European river boat trips. Different ways of traveling for different reasons, but all worthwhile.
    Happy travels.
  • We have cruised 2 disney, Royal caribbean, princess, 2 norwegian and are booked on regent on the pink hibiscus and blue mountain cruise. We took Norwegian to Alaska...loved it. We also cruised Tauck amsterdam to budapest...magnificent.
  • CatLover8 wrote:
    Dawn - We have been on K/T a Classic Safari. I'm looking at both Botswana and SA - an Elegant Adventure. I realize you've done the latter 2. Did you do K/T as well? I'm looking to understand how different Botswana and SA are vs K/T. Also - which did you prefer - Botswana or SA and why?

    I haven't done K/T... and it is hard to say which one is better!

    Elegant is much more cultural (focusing on Apartheid etc., in Johannesburg and Cape Town, and only 6 days of safari), while Botswana was mostly safari (9 days plus a day in Zambia to walk with the rhinos, and a riverboat cruise just after we arrived in Botswana to watch the elephants) until we arrived in Capetown. The Cape Town tours were different on each tour, although you do the Cape Drive on both, which is beautiful.

    Kruger's animals are in much smaller groupings compared to the migrations we saw in Botswana. Not as many as you'd see in K/T, I am sure, but quite a bit larger than we were used to seeing!

    Don't forget that Botswana is flat grasses and small copse of trees, and the Okavanga Delta (waterways), where Kruger is more "jungle like" on the Tauck Safaris. But we saw the same types of animals in both areas. Hippos were much more prevalent in Botswana due to the Delta portion of the trip.

    We felt we got really close to lions and leopards on both trips, so no worries there! Still, we never saw a cheetah in the wild.

    When we went to Botswana the lion and hyena cubs were just starting to come out of the dens in late August, so that was super special, and something we did not see in Kruger in February!
  • K&T is all about the animals. Twelve days of safari with little touring. Z,B, and SA is six days of touring at Livingstone and South Africa, and six days of safari spending two nights at each of three camps. We enjoyed the touring from Cape Town to the Cape of Good Hope, but we did not need to do that twice. That’s why we chose to do K&T a second time, which as I said earlier was much better than our first trip. If the animals are your primary interest K&T is probably the one you want. Otherwise, there are several choices of trips that have both animals and touring.
  • Kenya was more about animals than Tanzania, but neither country offered many tourism features that were not related to the animals. Arusha had the Cultural Heritage Center (which was actually a shopping venue for upscale tastes) which my tour visited twice for varying durations (and food). There was more use of vehicles through Tanzania to Lake Manyara National Park [safari] then up the side of the Ngorongoro Crater [animals viewed from the vehicle]. There was more flying to destinations in Kenya; Africa is a huge place!

    After safaris in the Ngorongoro Crater, there were vehicle rides to Olduvai Gorge which is sort of a touring opportunity. Vehicle rides to the Serengeti National Park where the serious safari action occurs. (If you enjoyed the ride at Animal Kingdom theme park, you will adore the days of safari in the Serengeti as the animals seem to show up on cue -- even a family of cheetah.) Airplane back to Arusha for a thrilling crossing through customs into Kenya via a Tanzanian vehicle followed by a Kenyan vehicle (and new drivers). Maybe seeing Namanga counts as touring? It was certainly quaint. I saw a gerenuk on that leg of the drive. Safaris in Amboseli (and a really cute gift shop).

    There is a tour of a Masaai village when the trip is near Amboseli. Fly to Mount Kenya National Park and a very under-rated airport gift shop. There is an animal sanctuary attached to the Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club where club members can visit repeatedly and interact with animals. There is a safari through Ol Pejeta Conservancy which does allow for some walking around as one reaches the Sweetwaters Chimpanze Sanctuary. Does that count as touring?

    Fly to the Masaai Mara for serious safari activity. (Somehow the drivers are there at each airport!) The tent accommodations at Fairmont Mara Safari Club are what made us sign up for the Botswana tour as we adored living in tents. Then it all ends as the group flies to Nairobi -- which is not touring material. The hotel is nice enough, but one is aware of the big city danger outside. Besides, we were becoming tired after spending so much time in jeeps. We met with the local children twice as it was worked into the trips to visit schools and village. Not really touring material though. The animals are the big attraction for the Kenya/ Tanzania tour. Maybe the new tour with emphasis on wildebeest crossings in their great migration will offer some novelty. (We could see the plains filled with wildebeest munching grass as we were up the side of a mountain for our sun-downer. Some of the balloon rides might actually pass over the wildebeest herd.)
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