Anyone do an African tour?

[BellBarbara]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Souschef I apologize if that seemed harsh- the part about the broken humerus puts an entirely different light on the subject. My late wife broke hers and had to have an open reduction with a steel plate and screws Good decision! Getting bounced around on dirt roads in a safari vehicle is not a risk you should take

yes its a horrible injury. no surgery for me....yet. i am still in the period when the fracture can slip. really hope it doesn't.

we have a 11 day cruise in 4 weeks - did not buy insurance. will probably be the last time we skip the insurance.

i feel super humbled by the injury. i think my days of unbridled activities will slow down. i fell quite a distance while climbing on some granite rocks.

[BellBarbara]

also not a political statement, but it is reasonable to feel some uncertainty in the market, health insurance, etc. would feel wrong to us to pretend that 2017 will be the same as the last years (since economic recovery).

[Bamaman]

My sister and brother in law went on a camera safari where every 2 or 4 people went from bush camp to bush camp flying their own Cessna 210 plane. They had about 10 planes flying in formation.

They stayed in some incredibly plush tents and cabins. They were quite disappointed to see Victoria Falls with little water--the dry season.

But it sounds like a trip of a lifetime.

[BellBarbara]

i would not do a self tour as this would fall mostly on me for research and execution. dh is a wonderful man, but anything he might organize would be iffy. this is fine if in the us, not so much in africa.

when we went to spain he wanted to book the trains. turned out he did not go to the official website but clicked on something else - took a lot of effort to get the money back. he is not much for details.

some of the tour operators mentioned here would just be too expensive for us. we did find reasonably priced tours with good reviews from national geographic and lonely planet. will do more research when the time is right.

[BellBarbara]

we budget 15K per year for insurance. last year for the first time i had to pay about 5K out of pocket just for hyperthyroidism. we have about 20k in hsa but trying not to use it until something catastrophic happens. we are most concerned with the pre-existing issue - we would prob have to go into assigned pool to get no exclusions. so our fall back plan is to go back to work if we can't get what we need. just one of us.

happy to pay for it, just want no exclusions.

[brett]

We spent 5 days in Kruger on tour. We stayed in park chalets. It was a wonderful five days. We saw so much wildlife and we had a first rate guide. Then three days in the Victoria Falls area.

We flew back to Port Elizabeth, rented a car for a few weeks and did our own thing. This part was very reasonable. We did small family B&B's all the way.
Roads were fine. Scenery was wonderful. We flew out from Cape Town.

We want to go back.

[Safari Lover]

Hello!

Starting stages of a trip planned to Africa in 2018. Will be my third. I don't care to go anywhere else. My next life I'll own a game reserve, cameras only.

Cape Town is tied with Rome as my favorite city.

[H2ODude]

DS was in Peace Corps in Mali and now has been doing engineering in Lesotho, Mali, SA, and last 4 years in Tanzania. So we've had a built in tour arranger since 2002. He lives in Morogoro TZ and just three weeks ago we toured Mikumi Park, saw higher concentration of animals than we did in Kruger, Chobe, or even Selous. We have good friends that want us to take them next time we go, and it's really tough trying to fit in what we felt were highlights, Africa is a big place after all!
-Capetown- Highly recommend, do the little Carous wine country while in area. Also drive down to Cape of Good Hope, amazing views.
-Selous Park in TZ; huge, many animals, and hardly see any other people which makes it really special. Did have to stay in fancy tents w chemical toilets, but food and accommodations great if you don't need mints on pillows
-Vic Falls - just because it's an amazing place. Stay at the colonial hotel, pricey but needs to be experienced. If limited in time for safaris, Chobe is not that far from Vic.
-if going through TZ make it to Zanzibar. Old Stone Town interesting, some nice beach resorts too. Think India Ocean there is as clear and blue as any we've seen.

When he was in PC we did three weeks in Mali in 2004, traveling as locals on buses with goats and chickens. Most amazing was a 3 day canoe ride down Niger River to Timbuktu, camping on banks. Unfortunately that area is pretty dangerous now if even accessible to westerners. DW was a real trooper; ate some pretty marginal foods but the experience was not one I'd want to have missed.

Depending on your level of road tolerance and interest in animals, I'd think twice about more than 3 days on a safari. Bouncing around in a hard suspensioned open top land cruiser on dusty (or really muddy depending on season) bumpy roads can get pretty tiring. And some of the parks can get really congested ... find a rhino and you get a traffic jam, and our course you don't get to get out of the vehicle.

[Throwdownmyaceinthehole]

I just came back from my third trip to South Africa, this time was 3 weeks in Kruger, the first 2 weeks with a friend, the 3rd week alone, my total cost was around $2500 including flights from Austin. I, a lady of a certain age, had no problem driving myself around or staying in the Kruger camps which cost 50-70 bucks per night. I saw everything, 30plus Lions, hundreds of elephants, zedbras, so many giraffes and did a 3 day hike into the bush. Can I go back?

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by H2ODude -if going through TZ make it to Zanzibar. Old Stone Town interesting, some nice beach resorts too.

This place, that we stayed in in 1988, met the criterion for 'interesting'

[BellBarbara]

Great news for us. My husband's friend, who lived in SA and ran safari tours for many years called us just to check up (he is living in Wales now)...and he asked if we would be interested in a trip/tour if he pulled one together. So we are all in for that. He is a great guy, super experienced, so no fears at all. His GF will come along as well.

Should be fun! This is the best of all worlds for us.

[Teacher Terry]

What great news Barbara!

[brett]

Go for it!

It was at the top of DW's list after I retired. I enjoyed it so much that it is very close to the top of my list for another trip. Plus more of Africa.

Absolutely one of our best trips. Not just the safari but also the two weeks of independent rental car travel in South Africa. It is an amazing country with an incredibly varied landscape and friendly people.

[Peter]

+1 on everything Brett said!