invisible

Hello everybody,

Spent couple of days at a private game (Karongwe) reserve where I and my wife been invited on a wedding. The program included driving safaris as well. After these safaris and checking with locals I want to share my thoughts based on information/observations. Comments/corrections are welcome, obviously.

If you do safari in South Africa, you basically have three options - from cheaper to more expensive:

- Stay at public park (Kruger) or nearby it and do self driving
- Stay at public park (Kruger) or nearby and sign-up on organized safari tours with driver/guide and tracker
- Stay at private all inclusive game reserves where safaris is part of the package


Each of above options have their pros and cons:

First option, with self drive:
Pros: Cheapest option overall, offers most flexibility - you are in charge designing your routes, time to spend, etc.
Cons: You really need to check what accommodation at the park/nearby will look like and what it offers, because number of such accommodations are nothing but glorified tents WITHOUT air conditioning. Secondly, because you do self drive, you won't have a guide/tracker who knows where what type of animals are - you can spend whole week driving around and never spot these 'Big Five', if you are after them. Finally, roads in the parts require nothing less than 4x4 and you need to know how to drive such vehicle.

Second option, with safari tours:
Pros: Contrary to the first option, you will have guide/tracker so your chances to see more and different type of animals are better.
Cons: All constraints of the lodging of the first option applies. You also have less flexibility with time/schedule - most safaris start very early in the morning (5AM) and they take 2-3 hours, while costing US $50-$100 (depending on schedule, length, amenities/vehicles/group size, etc). They also are quite tiring - if you do one safari in early morning and one - on afternoon, you can do such maximum on two days, after that you will be completely wasted, trust me on this.

Third option, with private game reserve:
Pros: All inclusive! Your job is to enjoy and have good time.
Cons: VERY expensive. Starts from several hundred USD per person per night and US $1000 per person per night is not something unheard of. Surprisingly, all warnings regarding accommodation applies as well - some private game reserve accommodations DO NOT have air conditioning! We managed to get in one such place and temp inside was +39 during the day and +30 during the night - we had to wet our bath towels and use them as blankets instead to somehow deal with the heat. Also warning about tiring driving/safari and animal spotting applies - we saw just one elephant and couple of rhinos (200 m away) after two safaris each lasting 3h.

So if you want to see all animals and have time constraints, instead of doing 'real' safari probably better idea would be to go to one of 'animal parks' where all those animals are around when you do self-driving. However, if you insist to see wild animals in their natural environment, then make sure that you have at least a week and good amount of money to spend on this.

floridagal23

I will throw in a fourth category. Private all inclusive lodges that are not on private concessions which do not allow for off roading.

while some drives are more exciting than others, we have always seen plenty. Did you have a guide and tracker working to get you sightings?

invisible

So there is not safari/driving then?

Yes we did. We did see plenty of other animals - giraffes, three types of antelopes, zebras, warthogs, hippos, eagles and other birds. But we've been there for wedding not for safari with time constraints.

floridagal23

All of the lodges include safaris and driving. I would differentiate between lodges that are on private concessions (where you can drive anywhere, not on roads or paths, at any time, and even stop the vehicle and get out, which can allow you much closer access to animals) and other lodges that are private lodges but drive on main park paths and thus cannot really go off road, and you can be limited by park entry/exit times. Does that make sense? These are more expensive than public stays but less expensive than the private concession Lodges.

glad you had a great trip!

TominLazybrook

Last year I did the Self drive to the SAN Parks at Kruger (Olifants and Berg-en-Dal). It worked out fine. Rooms were very basic, but had two decent beds, a small WC, and air conditioning. It was cheap too. We did a couple of bush tours through the parks. We saw all the big 5 and much more, in 3 days. The biggest pains was the drive from JNB (horrendous traffic plus bad drivers plus torrential rain) and the very long drive from the gate to Olifants.....and the non-user friendly SANParks reservation process.

That being said, if I had to do it all over, I would have just spent more time at Chobe in Botswana and skipped Kruger altogether. Kruger was good, but Chobe was really really cool.

HGOLI

One can check the type of accommodation available on the SANparks website, I have just self booked 3 nights in a 'bungalow' that does have air conditioning, and shower/WC. Am doing 6 days in total, including one night at a small lodge in Malelane just outside the KNP gate, and then staying with a friend in Marloth Park.

I am doing self drive and am alone (hubby working) however I have also booked a night drive, and a walk (approx 4-5 hours), in the bush with rangers, which am really looking forward to, having a chance to explore the small bits and bobs one wouldn't normally see whilst in the car.

Personally I get much more satisfaction exploring the area myself, and with a bit of reading, patience, and checking the boards, one can probably see most animals.

Fortunatley, I am driving up from Swaziland, (I am staying there for 10 days) so only have a short drive from the border up to Malelane. Personally I do not feel comfortable driving as a lone female in SA, so would not drive from OR Tambo to KNP alone.

allset2travel

Very interesting read. Thanks to OP for starting this thread.

Love to read more about DIY.

invisible

Here is the question - how much time would it take to see both Chobe and Victoria Falls and what month would be best for it?

Problem is that I would like to combine Chobe/VF with Garden Route in South Africa. Guides say best for animal viewing time is from May till October, but this is 'winter' and not the best time to travel Garden Route, I assume.

Any comments?

ranles

invisible

We are doing Kruger (Monwana Game Lodge), Chobe (Chobe River Front), Vic. Falls, and Hwange (Sable Sands)...with some days in Johannesburg in May. We will be in just over 2 weeks. TA south African Airways Vacations. No nothing about the Garden Route. This will be a once only Africa trip, so we want to see a lot!

HGOLI

Reading your post gave me a bit of a giggle. "SANparks". We live in Escondido, CA. We have done, at the SAN (Diego Safari) Park, a tour on the back of a truck for 2 hours. The cost of the tour was $125 pp. We put our hands in the mouth of a rhino and fed it apples. We also had the option to feed giraffes. We also saw hundreds of animals there including many endangered, and even extinct in the wild. We had a driver and a guide. Nola, the last of the Northern White Rhino (except for a couple in Kenya under lock and key and with armed guards) was sill alive and viewable then. It is about $40 to get into the park. While we were there we saw lions, gorilla, cheetahs, condors, lemurs (lots cheaper that going to Madagascar)! We drove from home to get there. It cost about $3.00 RT in gas. You also get to view animals from many other continents and countries. Even so, we are really looking forward to our African adventure listed above!

invisible

So you used agent who planed everything correct? May I ask how much it came per person per day on average?

ranles

Yes, we (2) used 2 TA's. We did the research on where we wanted to go. How long we wanted to stay and how much a day we wanted to pay. One TA could never get it down to the amount we picked. The other had no trouble. Picking camps, often only 6-10 guests is too hard. When to do air, and when to do ground transport too confusing in this vast area, with little prior knowledge. Cape Town vs. Johannesburg. Animals versus luxury food and spas. We had definite ideas.

We did our air with points, outside Africa. Inside we take 4 flights $750 pp. 12 days about $5000pp (3 lodges, 4 nts hotel). We have 3 days all on our own at the end also. Lodges, inclusive. Tips will be material. Visa change. A couple fees for entry. Hotels all extra, after rent. No alcohol included. Insurance material extra. Travel doctor appt., shots, and malaria tablets extra, and costly. Other travel meds, clothes, etc. add up quickly. Transport to LAX from SAN area, overnight hotel, etc. also material. All TA associated costs booked non refundable. Maybe forgetting something, but I have to go now. Hope this helps. PM me if you wish.

invisible

Clear. It is 4 times the budget I have.

Based on what I see/read, in Africa it is either you do everything on your own and keep costs down, or it will be 2x-3x and more expensive.

konagirl2

I prefer the advice: if you have time constraints, moderate your expectations! And if you want to see predators, get up at dawn.

My two-pence. We have done self-drive (Kruger & Moremi/Savuti Botswana) and 2 days in a lodge in the Greater Kruger. I planned like crazy, I knew where to look for lions, leopards, wild dogs, rhino and that we needed to be out at dawn and dusk. We travel in the day, when you might not see anything at all for 4 hours (or that's how it seems). But we found leopard and lions and lots of other wildlife and I love the ability when self driving to just sit with them, watching them. Even just sat at a watering hole with a few impala. I understand not everyone is that enthused by wildlife to just sit and watch it. During our lodge stay we struggled to see anything for the first 2 drives. And then we witnessed a lion pride chase and kill a buffalo - which is pretty rare to see. But the highlight of that stay was the tracker, picking out chameleon and snakes in trees that we just wouldn't have seen.

Start with Johan's excellent 'tips and tricks' sticky guide in this forum and if you fancy self-driving, the SANparks forum is very active / full of tips for the Kruger and for 4x4 elsewhere I found 4x4community.co.za really friendly and full of info.

If by Chobe you mean the riverfront, then you can fly to Kasane from JNB and have 2-3 days in Chobe and day trips to Vic Falls. So logistically that isn't difficult. If you want to overland to other parts of Botswana, that needs much more time and more planning (guided camping / lodges or self-drive). I agree the best time for northern Botswana is the dry season but note Sept-Nov get very hot, which it seems you didn't enjoy in Kruger. I think August/September is a great time in the Western Cape because the whales are visiting. De Hoop was a highlight of a November visit but I think numbers of highest around August. It depends what you are visiting the 'garden route' for. Note I am from the UK so my definition of 'hot' and 'cold' might not be the same as yours!

Jeannietx

We were in Kruger Park Oct/Nov 2016. It was pretty warm but not but not unbearable.

johan rebel

Indeed. I never use air conditioning, nor ceiling fans. They are noisy contraptions that prevent me from hearing what's going on outside.

I'll also take a tent any day. Much closer to nature, which I've always though was what safaris were all about.

Absolutely not. With the exception of a few dedicated 4x4 trails, all roads in all South African National Parks are suitable for ordinary sedans. After heavy rain gravel roads may be closed for a few days, though. In certain parks with sandy roads, e.g. Kgalagadi, a vehicle with high clearance is preferable, but even there a sedan will do fine.

No offense, but I'd much rather trust myself on this. After thousands of game drives I figure I have a pretty good idea of what I'm talking about.

Much will depend on your level of fitness or interest. Sitting in a vehicle whilst somebody else drives you around and points everything out to you is hardly physically or mentally taxing, and the vagaries of the weather can easily be dealt with by dressing appropriately.

Driving yourself is a bit more taxing, what with keeping the vehicle on the road and spotting animals at the same time, but even that is not very tiring, and can be kept up for hours on end once you get the hang of it.

Or else just go to the Johannesburg Zoo. Not only can you see the Big Five, they have polar bears too!

"Animal parks" replete with African mammals can be found all over the world, no point in wasting money on tickets to Africa if you want to visit one.

Johan