Obviously this is an individual decision and depends on your personal viewpoint but I'm just looking for any ideas from those who may have gone on one to see if there's a consensus opinion on how long is long enough. Connie and I are looking at maybe going on a South Africa trip this summer…the one we're looking at is a 10 day trip…but with typical travel arrangements the first day is "meet your trip people" on day 1 and "depart' on day 10 so it's really more like 8 days.
This particular trip gives us 2 day in Capetown then we move over to Johannesburg and head out the next morning for Kruger NP…there's your typical afternoon game drive on that day then 2 additional days in the park and neighboring preserve with 2 drives per day (3 hours each). The next day is one final drive before driving back to Johannesburg in the afternoon then a flight up to Zambia to see Victoria Falls before heading home.
This gives us a total of 6 3 hour drives out in the savannah looking for the big 5, taking photos and the like. I'm more interested in the safari than Connie is…and this seems like a somewhat limited amount of time "on safari" for a 10 day trip which will be about 10K for the two of us with air fare and everything else.
While I personally would like to spend 2 weeks out in the savannah for photos…that isn't realistic for Connie. So my question is…has anybody done this and if so is this enough time for a decent amount of wildlife viewing. Again, I know there's really no right answer for this question so I'm more looking for a discussion amongst those who've done it in hopes that it will help crystalize my thinking a bit.
I think that Howard and Linda had more time for wildlife viewing on their trip a couple years back…guess I ought to go and review their old posts as well for some more ideas.
Thanks.
-- Edited by Neil and Connie on Sunday 5th of January 2014 06:33:28 PM
cherylbrv said
06:03 PM Jan 6, 2014
Didn't Howard and Linda do a safari in Africa a few years back?
Lucky Mike said
06:35 PM Jan 6, 2014
you do know Africa is like the ocean......................there are things over there that place you at the bottom of the food chain!!!!!!!
Neil and Connie said
04:19 PM Jan 14, 2014
Howard and Linda went for a month with 3 weeks on safari. We were looking at a 11 day package through G Adventures but it only has 2 1/2 days on safari so we're checking with a travel agent friend of Connie's to see what she can do. We don't mind spending the money but the G Adventures seemed overpriced and over rated as an 11 day tour with less than 3 days in safari mode.
Depending on what Connie's friend offers us we may just end up going to Ireland instead for a couple of weeks…nothing there that can eat us which is a great advantage and we can rent a car and travel at our own pace if we do that. I'm not real super interested in your typical tour group type arrangement…but it may be that there isn't really any better way to go to Africa for a safari. I'm certainly not going to rent a 4WD vehicle and randomly drive about the bush…way too many things that either have sharp teeth or horns or large feet for stomping on us.
Obviously this is an individual decision and depends on your personal viewpoint but I'm just looking for any ideas from those who may have gone on one to see if there's a consensus opinion on how long is long enough. Connie and I are looking at maybe going on a South Africa trip this summer…the one we're looking at is a 10 day trip…but with typical travel arrangements the first day is "meet your trip people" on day 1 and "depart' on day 10 so it's really more like 8 days.
This particular trip gives us 2 day in Capetown then we move over to Johannesburg and head out the next morning for Kruger NP…there's your typical afternoon game drive on that day then 2 additional days in the park and neighboring preserve with 2 drives per day (3 hours each). The next day is one final drive before driving back to Johannesburg in the afternoon then a flight up to Zambia to see Victoria Falls before heading home.
This gives us a total of 6 3 hour drives out in the savannah looking for the big 5, taking photos and the like. I'm more interested in the safari than Connie is…and this seems like a somewhat limited amount of time "on safari" for a 10 day trip which will be about 10K for the two of us with air fare and everything else.
While I personally would like to spend 2 weeks out in the savannah for photos…that isn't realistic for Connie. So my question is…has anybody done this and if so is this enough time for a decent amount of wildlife viewing. Again, I know there's really no right answer for this question so I'm more looking for a discussion amongst those who've done it in hopes that it will help crystalize my thinking a bit.
I think that Howard and Linda had more time for wildlife viewing on their trip a couple years back…guess I ought to go and review their old posts as well for some more ideas.
Thanks.
-- Edited by Neil and Connie on Sunday 5th of January 2014 06:33:28 PM
you do know Africa is like the ocean......................there are things over there that place you at the bottom of the food chain!!!!!!!
Howard and Linda went for a month with 3 weeks on safari. We were looking at a 11 day package through G Adventures but it only has 2 1/2 days on safari so we're checking with a travel agent friend of Connie's to see what she can do. We don't mind spending the money but the G Adventures seemed overpriced and over rated as an 11 day tour with less than 3 days in safari mode.
Depending on what Connie's friend offers us we may just end up going to Ireland instead for a couple of weeks…nothing there that can eat us which is a great advantage and we can rent a car and travel at our own pace if we do that. I'm not real super interested in your typical tour group type arrangement…but it may be that there isn't really any better way to go to Africa for a safari. I'm certainly not going to rent a 4WD vehicle and randomly drive about the bush…way too many things that either have sharp teeth or horns or large feet for stomping on us.