Going on an African Safari will change your life! I would encourage anyone who wants to go and has the opportunity to go - YOU GO! Quickly you envision the lions and elephants...but before you get ahead of yourself there is a bit of legwork to do for this adventure.
First, planning it will consume your life for a minimum of six months. (If you are an over analyzing, Type A, control freak you may want to block out a year for this step).
There is a list of decisions to make and none of them are really simple.
What country to tour?
We were between Botswana and Tanzania. Ultimately getting to go to the Serengeti is what helped our decision of Tanzania.
What tour company to use?
We spent weeks on this - Easy Travel was Ranked #1 on Trip Advisor, they were priced right and they were quick to answer all our questions so we chose them.
Private Tour?
For us this was a must. We wanted the freedom to move around the vehicle and have control of our stops. If I want to watch the elephants for 40 minutes, it was okay to watch them for 40 minutes. We were about 11 hours a day in our vehicle - the thought of being with several strangers for that long per day for that many days does not interest us. We laughed and joked and made voices for all the animals - not sure we would have done that with others with us.
How much are you willing to "rough it"?
There are three levels to chose from. I can only speak of our level, "Comfort" which was way more comforting than we really needed - but maybe that is why we were so happy. You come into camp just before a late dinner and are up and gone with the sunrise. Our beds were comfortable, our food and drink were above expectations, there was Wi-Fi and recharging stations and we had hot showers each night. If your budget needs to be slashed, I think this is a good place to do it.
What month to go?
We chose August. It just worked for us.
Do you want to travel before or after the safari considering you are already on the other side of the world?
We were actually headed to Zambia - our safari to Tanzania was a side trip. But yes, you have flown all the way over there - maybe another African country would be nice - maybe take a two day layover during your connecting flight home and enjoy another city of the world. Nice excuse to see Amsterdam, London, Johannasburg or Dubai!
So now what? Well, book your flights, wire your money, schedule your immunizations and decide if there is anything you will need that you don't already have. We did need to wire money to our tour company to reserve the safari. The credit card fee was ridiculous and we were not happy about wiring a lot of money - but this is where being rated #1 came in handy. If they just took your money the reviews would be all over them. We did get our immunizations and our Malarone (luckily, neither of us suffered any side effects from this). Although we are experienced travelers, Africa is a big trip and in my opinion warranted a few new purchases… so we bought a couple big travel backpacks and some packing cubes, a 150-600 mm Canon lens to capture close up photographs, binoculars and some green and khaki clothing. This will all be used on other trips right? (well except the binoculars which were stolen from the checked backpack during our flight home.)
Once you make all your decisions and book everything the tough part is over and the anticipation can begin. Learn a bit about the animals you will see and the parks you will visit ahead of time. Read blog posts, like this one, so you know what to expect.
Our safari was amazing. We didn't have any travel issues, we had an absolutely superb guide (which basically will make or break your safari - but I am pretty sure they are all great), we had wonderful weather and made some memories that will last a lifetime. That was five months ago and not a day goes by that I don't have a memory of it.
I will be posting again very soon about the safari itself. Hopefully, sharing some of our experiences will help if are planning a safari. If you aren't, stop back anyway, you can just enjoy the safari experience through us!! I have some nice photos and stories to share.
Blessings V
January 31, 2018