Bo2642

There've been so many glowing reports regarding 2Afrika offerings. I would appreciate it if someone out there would give me some input regarding the safari vehicles that they use? How big? How many persons in each? Window seats for all? Pop-tops? In other words, do their vehicles allow for good and comfortable viewing for all passengers?

rsnyder

Message: Bo2642, I posted report earlier as to June safari with 2Afrika. Their vans are the "standard" type used by several companies in East Afrika. Besides the driver seat there is another one up front that I have seen used only by person during long road trips but never for game drives. In the back are 4 single seats and one longer one across the back that could hold 3 people I suppose. The maximum we ever had in our two trips in Tanzania was 6 and we still had plenty of elbow room. Everyone had a window seat. With everyone standing it was still okay for taking photos after a short "breaking in" period so people could get used to things. I got other's heads in couple of photos but such was intentional as I wanted to show reaction to game situations. For the shorter person in our group it was okay to even stand on the rear seat w/o shoes. Adding to our picture taking opportunity was the fact that the 2Afrika driver positioned van in excellent position for all to see. I would also add that nature of the group certainly influenced comfort. During both our trips we had members who were less inclined to always be standing or who were not taking photos and such certainly made it easier for the rest. Yes, the van has a pop-top. I was also appreciative of the driver having the windows clean at the start of each day. Several times during our 2004 trip just we three had the van to ourselves. As you may note in my report the same vans in Kenya have an extra single seat across the front and this really seemed crowded. I offer these comments with the understanding we have experienced only the pop-up vans for day drives and had the same veteran driver, Godfrey, both times. A less capable or less interested driver could make the safari less enjoyable.Dick

jeorgiagirl

Bo2642-

Which 2Afrika trip are you thinking about? We had no problems seeing game from the Chobe Safari Lodge vehicles in Botswana. They used open sided Land Cruisers which, for the most part, had single seats on the side with a bench for 3 (or possibly 4) in the back. It didn't really matter how many other people there were. Even when every seat was taken we never felt our view was obstructed or picture taking limited. If you are thinking about this trip in particular we could give you an Ofoto link to our album which has a few pictures of the vehicles (and boats) used.

twoaussies

I would appreciate your website. We hope to be in Southern Africa in May/June of next year, and are debating which safaris to go on.

jeorgiagirl

Twoaussies,

No problem. Here is the Ofoto link. Let me know if it does not work:

http://www.amazon.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=...1&y=vpfz84

Our trip was in late April 2004. I noticed 2Afrika's package has changed a little in price and itinerary but we originally had 6 nights at Chobe Safari Lodge which we changed to 5 nights plus 1 in Zimbabwe. (We wanted to do a night game drive). During those 5 nights in Chobe we consider ourselves pretty lucky to have seen lions as well as a leopard on two separate occasions. However, don't expect wild dogs or an exotic camp site.

Regardless, we were very happy with our trip. Despite travelling all the way around the world (from Los Angeles) for a seven day excursion, 2Afrika was perfect for us in terms of price and our work schedule.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

nkh

Hi Bo2642

We went to Tanzania and to Kenya with 2afrika last year. If you look at our website www3.sympatico.ca/thaynes and click on Tanzania you get to some of our photos which we posted (still havent done Kenya....!). Down near the bottom there are actually some pictures of the pop-top van we travelled in to give you an idea (the ones with the yellow circle crest, not the land rover in the bkgd).

The Tanzania vans were the same as those sescribed by Dick (rsnyder) so I wont bother describing again. We had 7 people in our Tanzania tour, and due to the 6 person max group size (dictated by number of window seats) our group had 2 vans - so no "cheating" on squeezing more people in. With 4 people we had lots of room for ourselves, cameras and miscellaneous other stuff we were carting around. We found that we didnt even need to bother switching places when sitting since there was ample space and viewing for everyone to see everything.

Again same experience and reactions as Dick in Kenya with the extra front seat However still 6 window seats and still max. 6 in the vehicle. The extra seat limits movement a bit more than the Tanzania setup, but you do get used to it!

The only thing I would add to Dick's excellent comments is that I (being 5'7 compared to my husband's 6'0) ended up using the SLR camera for most of our photography requiring a beanbag on the roof of the van. Standing up I could very comfortably cross my arms at mid-chest height on the roof, so looking through the camera with it balanced on the beanbag was fine for me. My husband, however, found it a bit awkward - so if you are tall and want to use something to balance your camera, you may want to take a small monopod or mini-tripod etc. instead of the beanbag, unless you dont mind crouching a bit.

Bo2642

Thanks so much to all of you. We're down to making a decision between the Grand Combo and the Wangiko. Both include Tanzania and Kenya.