lily15

I'd like to go to Africa with my 2 teenagers, 15 yr old girl and 17 yr old boy. I am 42 yr old mother...possibly may take my 70 yr old mother. I want luxury but doesn't have to be the ultimate. Mostly I don't want to hear complaining from my kids. There are so many tours to choose from, it is overwhelming. I hear August and September are best times to go?? I can take 2 weeks or so. I have lots of air miles. Need suggestions for my first time trip. We are all active...we want very good food, comfortable lodging, great guide, exciting experiences, and flying between camps...all with a within reason price for Africa. I don't know where to start...hope you all can help

cary999

Kids - Put a gag in their mouths.
regards - tom
ps - oh, but you've tried that already I'd guess

mkhonzo

Lily...
in your instance I would sincerely suggest that you get hold of a tour operator and discuss the myriad options offered by an African safari.

Judging from your wish list, it is all entirely possible, however the level of luxury and the country that you choose will dictate what you will spend.

For a 14 day safari, that is all safari and includes the ingredients you have mentioned. I would suggest Kenya and that you look to do a winged safari with Cheli and Peacock. That you should budget on $6000 a head excluding your international tickets.

Should the budget for this trip be a little higher than you anticipated, then look to a copmpany like Liberty Africa safaris and ask them for a winged safari using the Sarova hotels/circuit. Some lements will be by road and certainly the quality and exclusivity of the trip will be compromised, however not unbearable. A trip of that nature could be around $3500 a person.

HLester3

Hi. Your kids are old enough that it seems they would be more involved with the trip if they helped put it together. You could do that with a private safari travel planner or like I did just reading other peoples post and googling all of the different lodges mentioned or looking at people pictures. By the time I booked our safari, I pretty much had an idea about which camps I wanted to stay in. Then we arranged where we were going to be by their availability. If you are open to any time of year, there is no reason not to go to the Mara during the migration.
I stayed at two of the Cheli & Peackok camps just because I liked the look of them, and we were very happy with them. Since you have teenagers, I think Elephant Pepper Camp in the Mara may be to their liking. They just changed camp managers and have 3 young people running everything. So your kids may enjoy sitting around the camp fire talking with them verses some of the other camps we stayed at where the camp managers were a little more formal. Here is the link to all of the Cheli & Peackok camps:
http://www.chelipeacock.com/camps/e-pepper.htm
CC Africa also has very nice lodges and a nice website to look at them:
http://www.ccafrica.com/

I personally like creating our own safari instead of going on a group safari. That way you are in control of all of the lodges where you go, and how long you want to stay in each place.

Here were the lodges I stayed at with my family. Our kids were 5 years old last year when we went:

Sabuk Lodge
Mnemba Island - Zanzibar
Emerson & Greene - Stones Town Zanzibar
Shompole
Elephant Pepper Camp
Giraffe Manor

Good Luck, Heather

sandi

If you're looking at August or September, there's limited space already at some properties in Kenya. Even the C&P properties during the month of August. September maybe better, depending on dates of your travel.

While C&P properties (though they can book a number of others they don't directly rep) tend to be at the higher end, all will depend on your budget and for how long.

Camps tend to be more expensive than lodges, but you should try to include a few nights under canvas for a truer African experience.

You should speak with someone as soon as.

blackwell

me and my wife have been to south africa three times this past time we took my mother she is 75.shes ready to go backus to .have allways planed averything my self. whin i looket into first going to the mara and n crator. from where we live we would kill 3 days getting there and three days getting back.not counting if you go to a lot of places. to much dead time .rather be at my destimation having fun . we can leave our house and be in capetown in 24 hours .direct flight from atlana. stay two or three days in kapetown thin early flight to joh then an hour flight to malamala game lodge

wavejourney

CC Africa has beautiful lodges, welcomes kids and families, offers great game drives with excellent guides, impeccable service and too much delicious food.
They can organize a trip for the whole family, arrange for you to visit as many of their lodges in different parks as you desire and are very reasonably priced for the exceptional product that they offer.
Check out their website and email them for more info: www.ccafrica.com
You will be very pleased with what they offer and their reservation service is excellent.
Cheers!
Viv
www.wavejourney.com

Momliz

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