African Safaris

Of all the wonderful things Kathy and I have been blessed to experience in the world, safaris have definitely ranked in our top five. We have visited 18 different countries and experienced 9 amazing safaris. Truly, these have been a highlight of our travels and I believe they could be a wonderful experience for you as well.

In this post, I’ll be sharing our favorite safaris and highlighting the most important details of each one. I hope it inspires you to research various safaris the world has to offer and begin planning one of the greatest adventures you’ll ever have.

THE MARA SAFARI AND WHAT WE LIKE BEST

One of the best safaris we’ve been on is in the Maasai Mara. Located in the heart of the National Reserve in Kenya, the variety of game in this region is spectacular. The drivers are allowed to drive off-road and track/follow the animals. Many reserves require the driver to stay on the roads at all times, which makes viewing game more difficult, but the Mara Safari takes us deeper into the wild where we’ve seen some of the most incredible sights. Here’s what we like best:

1. We’ve stayed at two different camps in the Mara – Explorer and Intrepids. Both are nice, but Explorer is a cut above.
2. They have the best jeeps of any camp we’ve been to or seen on safari. With open windows and no roof, it makes it easy to stand up to get a better view. The roll cage is completely padded and very comfortable to lean against, sit on, etc. For 8 people, you will need two vehicles, and I would definitely request that both of them are the open-air, padded roll-bar Jeeps. Many camps offer Jeeps with windows and a pop-up roof, however, we do not like the closed-in feeling of the windows.
3. The food at Mara is good and the tents are comfortable.
4. The camp is well located and has a great balance of terrain, plains, bush, rivers, etc.
5. We’ve been successful during almost every trip seeing at least 25 species, plus the big 5.
6. The Intrepids camp is completely fenced, while the Explorer camp is much smaller and open. When it’s time for dinner at Explorer, you must radio for the Maasai warrior to come and escort you because of the wild animals.
7. The Mara is an easy, half-hour flight from Nairobi and lands on a dirt runway only 5 minutes from the camp. In contrast, we’ve been to safaris where we’ve had to drive 2 hours from the airport.
8. If you stay at Explorer, I suggest claiming the tent that is out on the point – a truly magical experience!

KRUGER PARK, A 5-STAR EXPERIENCE 

Another amazing safari is located at the world-renowned Sabi Sand Game Reserve in South Africa. We had the pleasure of staying at the Leopard Hills Lodge which had a host of amenities that truly were 5-star. Here are a few highlights:

1. There are 8 rooms at this lodge with comfortable beds, safes, bath robes, and other useful amenities.
2. The hotel staff provides extra gifts for guests including bath salts, African poems, and plenty of snacks and drinks in the room.
3. The sights and sounds from each of the rooms is incredible. There are small private pools and patios to lounge comfortably while listening to wildlife in the surrounding bush.
4. The lodge has a spacious lounge equipped with books, magazines, and animal guides for guests to enjoy.
5. There are plenty of nearby activities such as helicopter rides through the third-deepest canyon in the world – the Blyde River Canyon.
6. They offer unique opportunities to have close encounters with game, including the big 5

OUR ABSOLUTE FAVORITE SAFARI IS LONDOLOZI 

Located in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve in South Africa, this safari is our absolute favorite.  Here are the things we like most:

1. This camp is made up of 4 different camps. We stayed in the smallest of the 4 called Varty.  In this camp, you’re not staying in tents, but instead, individual homes that are very nice. I believe this camp only has 4 units, which would be perfect for a small group.
2. The main common area is outstanding, and the way they present their meals is fabulous. One night, we enjoyed a vintage outdoor dinner with pearls hanging on candelabras and the meal was delicious. Groups have the entire common area to themselves.
3. The food and wine are topnotch.
4. We had one meal outside under the stars where they had 400 candles and lanterns lighting up the area.
5. The Jeeps at Londolozi are standard with no tops, so you have great visibility.
6. Our favorite animal is the leopard, and Londolozi is known for its leopards. We had at least one leopard sighting each day. On other safaris, we’ve caught glimpses of leopards, but at Londolozi, we spent an hour each day with this magnificent animal.
7. They are really into photography at Londolozi, and have an outstanding printer where you can touch up some of your key photos. They can even print them on canvas and store them in tubes for your travel home.
8. One of the main benefits of being part of a larger camp like Londolozi, is that all the guides/Jeeps communicate by radio with each other. When someone spots an exciting or rare animal like the rhino, they radio the other guides and share the location. This significantly increases the odds of seeing rare game.
9. Just like at the Mara, at Londolozi, the Jeeps drive off road into the bush – and I mean into the bush! You’ll be amazed at where these Jeeps take you.

WHEN TO GO ON AN AFRICAN SAFARI

There’s much to consider when planning a safari, and there are certain months that are better than others. Here are some observations based on our experiences:

1. Avoid the hotter months. Being on safari in an open-air vehicle, you don’t want to be in the hot sun. The hottest months typically are February and March, as well as September and October.
2. Rainfall is also a consideration. The wettest months are March, April, May, November, and December.
3. Humidity is never your friend, and unfortunately, Africa is generally more humid than you’re used to. However, the high humidity months are April, May, June, November, and December.
4. The experts say the best time to go to the Mara is January, February, July, August, September, and October. They say the best time for South Africa is May, June, July, August, September, and October.
5. Depending on how important it is for you to see the wildebeest migration, that can be a consideration. We did not see the migration until our sixth safari. It is a sight to behold, but does require a fair amount of time watching and waiting for the wildebeest to cross the river. We went on a safari in Tanzania that specifically focused on the migration, and it was excellent. Migration is typically good in June and July when traveling north to the Mara, and November and December when traveling south to the Serengeti.
6. Most mammals typically deliver their young in November and December. Therefore, January through May you’ll likely see lots of babies, which is a fun experience for everyone.

GENERAL SUGGESTIONS REGARDING SAFARI

1. The first safari of the day generally heads out around 6 am. You come back for breakfast, then go out again for a late morning excursion. We always request a boxed breakfast the night before so we can stay out the entire time. This simple request gives you more time on safari, which allows you to travel further away from camp, plus there’s the bonus of an enjoyable breakfast in an exciting location. The boxed breakfast won’t be fancy, but the view will be outstanding. If you’re in the Mara, ask to have breakfast on the banks of the river and keep an eye out for crocodiles. We’ve had the pleasure of seeing some amazing crocodile action!
2. There will always be a few hours of downtime in the early afternoon followed by the opportunity for a late afternoon or early evening safari. In my opinion, evening safaris are great, especially if you can convince your driver to stay out after dark. In Londolozi, we were not only blessed to stay out after dark, but our guide had a bright spotlight to search for game.
3. It’s usually cold in the morning and then warms up during the day, so plan to dress in layers. Sometimes it rains, but most Jeeps have rain jackets included. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to pack a rain jacket if you have a favorite.
4. Most safaris offer a bush lunch or dinner. Ask ahead of time and be sure to book it; it’s always a treat.
5. There is nothing better than taking lots of photos on safari. I invested in a 100–400-millimeter Canon professional zoom that takes fabulous pictures. We generally have one camera with a zoom and a second camera that can take wide-angle shots. Two cameras are good for marriage!
6. Bring a pair of great binoculars as there will be some fabulous sights you’ll want to see up close.
7. It’s also nice to have a journal to keep track of everything you see.
8. You’ll be surprised how close wild animals will get to your Jeep. We’ve had leopards, cheetahs, and lions literally walk right by the vehicle. Although the Jeep is open-air, and you think the animal could jump right in, they never do.  (I’m not offering any guarantee here – just our experience). It will, however, take your breath away. If you end up in two different Jeeps, remember to take photographs of each other when there’s an animal nearby. Sometimes you can be so excited, you forget to take a photo. Some of our best photos are pictures of us in the Jeep with a wild animal right next to us!
9. Some of the tents have outdoor bathtubs, which is a nice treat. However, do watch out for nosy neighbors.

A STOP WE RECOMMEND

If you end up heading towards South Africa, we highly recommend a stopover at the Victoria Falls. It is spectacular! Here are a few highlights:

1. Stay at the Royal Livingstone Hotel if possible. It’s an older, well-maintained classic hotel right on the river. You can walk from the hotel to the falls.  Don’t be surprised if you wake up to zebras in your front yard! The restaurant is nice, grounds are excellent, and the bar is a classic.
2. We took a helicopter ride over the falls, which was spectacular. Our particular helicopter had no doors, but we did get a five-harness seat belt. The view of the falls from the air is breath taking!
3. We also went to a lion reserve that offers a Lion Interactive/Safari Walk. This reserve cares for lion cubs by raising them to two years of age and then letting them go in the wild. The benefit of this is that the cubs grow to be very comfortable with humans, and therefore, you literally get to pet full-size lions! We have great photographs of my wife and I sitting on the ground petting lions like they were kitty cats. It wasn’t expensive, and the entrance fee was a donation to the reserve. Well worth it!
4. We ate at the old classic hotel called the Victoria Falls Hotel, (The Livingstone Room), which was a short drive away. As an added bonus, the view from the rear of the hotel is excellent.
5. For thrill seekers, you can bungee jump off the Victoria Bridge. A friend of mine did it, however, even with my adventurous spirit, I passed. Honestly, I’m not comfortable with the quality control standards in Africa. (I’m happy to say, my friend survived!)

THE AREA OF CAPE TOWN

If you do end up in South Africa, consider flying home out of Cape Town and take some extra time to visit the area. We stayed in the old classic Mount Nelson Hotel. It was pleasant, had a daily high tea, and really good food. There are a few modern hotels down in the harbor area that are also very nice. A few fun things to do are:

1. Hike to the top of Table Mountain and take a cable car ride down
2. Drive down to the Cape of Good Hope and hike out to the lighthouse on the tip.
3. Take a trip to the wine region – Stellenbosch, which we didn’t get a chance to do, but have heard great things about.

As you can tell, we are very enthusiastic about Africa and safaris. We would also encourage you, if possible, to tie in a day or two of mission’s/faith adventure exposure, and perhaps, participate in a serving opportunity. We have found it always adds to the richness of our trips.

I hope our experience in Africa and the highlights of our safaris have inspired you to investigate this continent further. I have no doubt you’ll have an amazing time on your African safari!

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Here is the information for the travel agent I used on our first two African safaris.

Loise Ngugi Sauer,
Chief Executive Officer, Star Travel & Tours Inc.
Florida: 1031 Ives Dairy Road, Ste 228, Miami FL 33179    
TEL: 305-914-3767
Georgia: 2100 Grand Gleaton Pass, Conyers, GA 30013    
TEL: 404-806-0417
TOLL FREE (USA): 1-877-SAFARI-3
CELL: 305-439-0390
KENYA: The Stanley, Standard Street, Nairobi, KENYA TEL: +254-20-2226996 OR 2220165     FAX: +254-20-2214371

Web: www.startraveltour.com     

As a side note: Mariners Church (the church we attend) has used this travel agent extensively., For many years now however, I’ve chosen to manage all the travel arrangements directly and not gone through a travel agent. Doing this has also allowed me to negotiate on a discount.

OUR INDIA BENGAL TIGER SAFARI

Paul Jr. and I were fortunate enough to go on 2 different Bengal Tiger Safaris in India. The two different safari camps we experienced were Kanha and Bandhavgarh.

At both camps, we saw the most amazing animals. It was an exhilarating experience viewing them in their natural habitat, and yes, a little scary at the same time.

At Bandhavgarh, we were fortunate enough to arrange a safari on elephant back. We couldn’t guarantee this prior to our trip, and it had to be negotiated once we arrived at the camp. In the past, this safari was readily available, however, it is more hit and miss these days. In my opinion, it is absolutely worth pursuing! Besides the sheer thrill of riding an elephant through the jungle, the real advantage is it allows you to actually follow a tiger closely, allowing for a more memorable encounter. We were able to track 2 tigers and spend close to an hour with them. It was spectacular and exhilarating!

HERE ARE SOME OF OUR TOP TIPS FOR INDIA TIGER SAFARIS

1. Resorts – We very much enjoyed the Taj Safari Resorts. They had very nice rooms and were well located. The food was good, and the staff friendly. We also experienced excellent game drive guides.
2. Game Parks – We highly recommend Bandhavgarh Game Park for the following reasons:
   • The rules are not as strict as in Kanha, you can drive at a reasonable speed and cover much more ground. Also, the park guides are more reasonable.
   • You can stay longer periods of time to view tigers, whereas in Kanha, there is a 20-minute restriction.
   • Elephant safaris are an option, although difficult to secure.
   • There seems to be more tigers in this park.
3. Standard Park Permit– The standard park permit entitles you to be in the park from 6 am to 11am, and from 3 pm to 6 pm, which is the time everyone is in the park. In each zone, they typically allow 20 jeeps. Zones are quite large, however, when a tiger is spotted, and jeeps start to gather, we had as many as 15 jeeps at one tiger spotting. It is worth getting up a little early and getting to the park entrance 15-30 minutes ahead of time, so you are one of the first jeeps in.
4. Full Day Park Permit – It is expensive, but we found it was worth it. A standard park fee will run you $300-$400 and gives you either morning or afternoon access. The full-day park fee is approximately $700 more and allows you to be there from sunrise to sunset. Here are the benefits:
   1. You get to enter the park 15 minutes before everyone else at 5:45 am. This gives you a tremendous head start into the park and the first one to drive on the roads looking for tiger paw marks, which is how you track the tigers. If there was a sighting the day before, your guide will know where, and you can be the first in the area looking for the tiger.
   2. Once you have entered the park, it will often take you 30 minutes just to get to the area to view tigers. Thus, if you begin around 6:30 am on the normal path, you must be out of the park by 11:00 am, which means at 10:15 am you start your exit. The full day permit allows you to stay in the park for the entire day. You have the entire park to yourself from about 10:15 am until the jeeps return around 3:30 pm. On both days we did a full day permit. We found tigers during this time and were the only jeep sitting and watching the tiger’s behavior. When you’re the only one there, the tigers are calm and stay much longer, not retreating into the forest. On both days, we spent such considerable time with the tigers, we felt ready to leave the park at 3:30 pm when the other jeeps arrived.
   3. In order to have the option for an elephant safari, you must have purchased a full day safari.
   4. Be sure and ask the resort to pack you a brunch picnic basket so you will have plenty of food and water to make it through the full day. You don’t want to be stuck without food and have to drive out of the park losing valuable alone time with the tigers.
5. Elephant Safari – We highly recommend an elephant safari. In order to do so, you must sign up for a full day park permit that I described above. Once you purchase your full day safari you can make a request for a 3-hour elephant safari by paying the $450 fee for the elephant. You won’t know if you are granted an elephant until the night before, and if you don’t get your elephant, the money will be refunded to you. Elephants are no longer used for sightseeing and are generally only available for park officials. However, if the park official has reserved the elephant for the next day, the park will allow you something called a photographer pass to use the elephant. (A photographer’s pass is the price of a full day pass.)
   We were lucky enough to get elephants for 2 days, which was absolutely spectacular. Tiger safaris in India require that your jeep stay on the roads and not go into the forest, which given the vegetation and terrain, would be difficult to do anyway. However, once you are on an elephant, it literally tracks anywhere through the forest which allows you to go searching for the tigers. Once you find them, you can remain with the tigers and follow them through the bush getting the most amazing photographs.
   Riding the elephant is enjoyable, reasonably comfortable -and a little scary! Although it’s said the tigers are as afraid of you as you are of them, you do feel a little bit like an appetizer sitting on the back of the elephant! You have to look out for giant cobwebs and spiders the size of your fist, but the elephant guide does a good job clearing the way.
6. India Travel Agent – Although I plan and book all the details of most of my trips directly, I decided to use travel agent for India and I am glad we did. They were extremely valuable and knowledgeable, helping us plan out all the details and laying out all the options. Once we were on the ground, there were a few things we wanted to change, and they were very helpful in working through all the details and changes to key things in our itinerary. You clearly pay a premium using a travel agent, but we found it to be worthwhile.
   
   Travel Agent: Sharad Vats, Nature Safari India Pvt Ltd: sharad@naturesafariindia.com
   106-107, A-3, Sector-11, Rohini, New Delhi-110085
   Cell: 00919811200094
   Website: www.naturesafariindia.com
7. Hotels – Fortunately, everything in India offers great value compared to the prices we are accustomed to in America. We stayed at some of the best hotels for what you would normally pay for a nice hotel in the US. In Delhi, the Leela Palace is spectacular. In Mumbai, the Taj Mahal offers a great experience. If you want some adventure in Old Delhi, we stayed at Haveli Dharampura hotel which was a great location in the heart of the old city and is a reasonably nice hotel.

ACTION STEP

After everything I’ve shared, I encourage you to research one of the safaris mentioned in this post and pray about which one might be best for your next travel adventure!

Do you have an experience related to what you have read? Please share it with us in the comments section and help others learn too.