Ericka

A couple of thoughts:
- You don’t need to do a group tour. A good Africa specialty travel agent can set up luxury lodgings and plane transfers for you.
- Anti-malarials are necessary at most, but not all safari locations. If you tolerate medications well this should not be a problem. If you don’t want to take them, there are luxury options in those safe areas, too.
- Walking safaris are usually a one time option. Most everything is done from the vehicle. Though the walking options are pretty cool...looking at little critters, tracks etc.
- There are lodge accomodations and tents. Both very luxurious.
- For our first safari, we combined Singita Ebony (big five, luxury lodge) in South Africa with two Wilderness Safaris tented options in Botswana. Botswana was fabulous...easy to get to/from SA and completely wild which really made us feel like we were in Africa! It was a great combination. We saw lots of birds, frogs, etc. in the Okavango Delta of Botswana.
- It’s good to do a few places for diversity of game viewing. 2-4 nights each place is pretty typical.
- Most places have you sharing a vehicle and guide with other guests. You can pay for private, though that gets pretty expensive on top of an already very expensive trip. Our next safari will have a private guide, tracker and vehicle because the particular lodges offer that as standard (Morukuru and Tswalu).
- You might get a little sticker shock when you get your first quote, especially if you use true luxury lodgings. Remember, this is probably a once in a lifetime experience. And it’s totally all inclusive...great SA wines, wonderful food, laundry, two game drives daily, etc. It costs them a lot to get these luxuries out to the middle of nowhere!