lsutclif

Thanks so much to all those on this forum for helping me to plan my recent trip to South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia. I truly feel it was the best planning resource available. Please check out my trip report at http://www.mytraveltoafrica.blogspot.com/

It details our trip to Capetown, Sabi Sand Safari, Victoria Falls, and Chobe Boat Safari.

PHayden

What a great trip report and I loved the photos too. Looks like you had a great trip. I can't wait til 2014 when we head to south Africa, Botswana and Tanzania.

demodiva71

Wow. I really enjoyed reading your trip report and looking at the amazing photos. Thank you for sharing. I'm headed on my first trip to SA in January and I am SO excited!

lsutclif

phayden and demodiva71 - I am jealous. I want to go back! Enjoy your 2014 trips. You will love them.

canadian_robin

Lovely photos! Looking forward to reading about your experience on the Ichobezi! CR

glenn_col

Loved your trip report and wildlife photo's.

We are off to Mala Mala, Zambia, Cape Town, Garden route and Mauritius in October and my husband would love to know which camera lens you found best for wildlife shots, particularly for our safari's out of Mala Mala.

Thank you for posting.

cjon

Thank you for the great report. You have given me a lot to consider in planning a trip. Did you book all of your hotels, flights and guides yourself?

lsutclif

glenn_col,
Enjoy your trip. The lens my husband used/liked the most for safari was the 70-200mm f/2.8 nikon zoom lens. Keep in mind you get really close to the animals so he found this lens was perfect.

lsutclif

Canadian_robin,
Not sure if you realized since the blog is a bit confusing but the Ichobezi experience is already posted in my trip report. Just look at the "days" on the side of the blog. We loved it. It gave us a really unique safari view.

lsutclif

Cjon -
I booked most of the flights myself. South African Air has a great website that lets you put all the connecting flight on one itinerary. So I booked NY-->Johannesburg-->Cape-->Johannesburg myself.

SabiSabi in the SabiSand private reserve had a special where they paid the air from Johannesburg to their private air strip so they took care of that. SabiSabi also booked the return taxi (we could have gone by air but it was way more expensive) from SabiSabi to Nelspruit.

and I then booked thru South African Airway

Nelspruit-->Livingstone

I used a travel agent for my trip from Livingstone to Zambia to Botswana to Namibia which was all land travel. This was the only section of the trip I used a travel agent. I only used the travel agent because the travel agent quoted me a better price than I could get thru the Ichobezi and Zambezi sun web site. The travel agent was Petra from African Travel Gateway (I put a link in my blog). I was a bit nervous going thru a travel agent as I tend to like a lot of control, but she did a great job.

I then booked the return home using South African Air

Livingstone-->Johannesburg-->NY myself.

I booked the CapeTown Bed and Breakfast directly thru the website.

I also booked directly with SabiSabi using their website (and they had an advertised 3 night special) We booked the SabiSabi photo tour directly thru their website.

I found the CapeTown photo tour using TripAdvisor.

I booked the Batoka air using their website but they said I did not have to pay upfront. When we arrived they only had half of the reservation, but it was not a big deal as I was able to book the other half on the spot.

The Hopon/hopoff bus tour and the Winery tour in Captown we bought when we got to Capetown.

I made reservation for all of the restaurants in Capetown a few weeks before the trip

Hope this help. It really is fun to plan if you don't rush. It is a bit overwhelming at first but a great satisfaction when it ends up being exactly what you want.

Lisathetraveller

Laura,
I really enjoyed your blog/report. We are going this Dec. After much thought we are staying on the Zimbabwe side of Vic Falls at Elephant Camp our only luxury type accommodation.

xyz99

Great TR and wonderful, wonderful pics! We'll do a similar trip in 2015, and if I had any doubts about Victoria Falls, I don't anymore

barefootbeach

THanks so much for posting and the amazing photos!