Botswana or South Africa or just forget it?
 

Hello all,
I have followed most of the threads here with a great interest. I knew prime time Botswana/South Africa was beyond my budget at the moment. We both have unexpected holidays(company shutdown for the holiday) in Dec and I now have reservations (hold) for 8 nights in Africa from Dec 27 to Jan 4 (1800 pp).

I know its too small a time for a flight from California to Africa. But unfortunately this is all I can do. My budget would be around $5000 for the 2 of us for the whole trip, excluding international airfare. After looking up most of the trip reports, I realize its too tight of a budget, so I have basically 4 choices and was wondering what the rest of you would say.

1. Take 3-4n in Sabi Sands and 4n in Capetown. (Just a sampler). Availability is a concern. Already Elephant Plains has indicated non availability.

2. Use the great deals in Kwando for a 5n safari plus 2 n Victoria Falls. (Dont know about the availability yet).

3. Fly to Maun and do just the Mapula lodge (available) and CPT.

4. Dont bother.You are spending too much money for travel and too little time having fun. Try doing this when you have more money and time. :(.

Please indicate what you would advise.

Thanks for your help in advance.

I would say that if you really have 8 nights in Africa, it would be OK. If the time frame includes travel, then it would be questionable. ((*))

My 2 cents. I also live in California (beautiful sunny Orange county). I find the flight(s) to Africa, Johannesburg, very rigorous. Six hours in the air to JFK then at least another 14 hours to Africa. Plus the layover at JFK or where ever. I would not make these flights umless I could stay minimum two weeks in Africa (then add the travel time to this). (But if I lived in Europe, I'd be flying there at least twice a year).

regards - tom

I say go!!!! Yes it will be a long flight - but I would go in a heartbeat and enjoy the time you have!!!! You only live once and if that is your budget then that is your budget!! I seriously doubt you will ever REGRET going to Africa for only 8 days!! If anything it will make you save your pennies for the next trip!!! Just my 2cw.

I've made the trip from Texas with only 7 nights in Africa. It was worth it to me. Jet lag seems to only bother me when I get home so that meant 7 good days in Africa. Have you checked into mobile camping in Bots? I've done that twice and loved it and it's less money than some of the lodges. Although, I think that getting to Bots may use up one of your 8 nights. You would need to check the flight times arriving/departing JNB.

You should absolutely go!! The Botswana plan will probably exceed your budgetary limits, but a Sabi Sands itinerary should work nicely. I have traveled several times to southern Africa during that time of year, and have had good luck finding decent bargains at some very nice lodges. On one trip, I took a gamble and waited until the last minute to make my reservations and found fabulous rates through www.mtbeds.com
Best of luck!

I vote for #1 or #4. 4 nights in Sabi Sands & 4 nights in Cape Town would be fab if you can find availability (too bad EP is full).

The Kwando properties are wonderful but having been at that time of year we would not do it again as there are no fans in the rooms and it is unbelievably hot. (And we live in Washington DC so we are used to hot & humid.) Game viewing is fantastic but when it is so hot at night that you can't sleep and you're jetlagged it is not a good combo. Plus it takes extra time & money to get to & from Bots, so I would save it for another time.

I have done several 8 night trips (8 nights in country excluding air time) from the east coast of the U.S to Africa. I wish I could stay several weeks, but I have enjoyed these trips immensely and am about to do another one. Eight nights is my personal minimum. I would suggest minimizing the the number of camps and transfers. On my upcoming trip I am doing 8 nights in one camp.

Why have you chosen Botswana? As others have said, you can do Madikwe or Kruger and stay within your budget. Botswana is beautiful but not the best for Big Five game viewing.

I am also in Texas. Houston to be specific. We have direct flights to Amsterdam daily, so getting to Africa is fairly simple. I have done many 1 week trips, and it is well worth it. Ambien is my friend.

:-)

But seriously, if I had a more complicated flight arrangement, I think 10 days to 2 weeks would be more appropriate. Getting to Botswana takes an additional day, as a night in Johannesburg is required for most arriving flight times.

A tough one!
South Africa is a life-changing trip. You will fall in love with it from the moment you step off the plane. And you need a MINIMUM of two weeks or else you will leave completely heartbroken that you got such a tiny taste.

That said, if it is "now or never" by all means GO! If you don't think you'll have the means or inclination for a longer trip in a year or two, by all means GO!

My husband and I went on our honeymoon and the entire time we were there he was planning the next trip to Africa!

So perhaps your one-week whirlwind will be enough motivation to go back and enjoy South Africa in a more relaxed timeframe.

Best of luck, let us know what you decide!

You can have a brilliant Botswana safari within your parameters. I have done a similar length near that time of year and it was wonderful. You can be at Mapula in about 2 and half hours from the time you leave Joburg, contrasted with flying between Joburg/Cape Town/Sabi Sand you will actually probably save time going to Botswana and other than the first night it will all be on safari.

First night in Joburg to rest up and then by early afternoon the next day you will be on a very relaxing 7 night safari. The deals at that time are tremendous and the quality is still outstanding. Using the Kalahari Summer Special you could stay within budget visiting all Mapula or likely even with combining one other property within the special.

Hello all,
My sincere thanks to all of you for taking the time out to post and share your experiences. I am truly overwhelmed by the responses.

Based on all your responses.
1. I have increased the number of nights in Africa to 10. Now we should see if we can balance the budget :).
2. We might not be able to make it to Africa for a while in the future, so decided to make a run for any safari destination (east/south) which is available and fits in the budget.
3. I have contacted the standard Botswana agents to see if they can make the kwando 5 river special. In particular, the following agents:
Fish eagle, eyes on africa, timeless africa. Anyone else that I am missing? I will also follow up on PB's desert safari package link.
4. I have contacted the same set of people to see if they can swing a 4n Sabi + Capetown in case Bots doesnt work. Since I have more days, maybe a couple of self drive days in Kruger is also an option.
5. I have also shortlisted Tanzania. (Found a great deal ~1500pp from SFO). So will have about 5.5k as my budget for the safari part. Have contacted the following with dates.
Roys, naipenda, kibo, good earth and sunny.

Why Botswana?
Through these forums, I have lived through your Botswana vacations. I have felt that it offers game in a unique wilderness environment. Further there is no way that we will be able to afford Botswana anytime other than green season. So if we are going to only do Bots in green season why not hope for it now. PB's message has given a flicker to that hope. So we shall see if we can swing it.

Why Tanzania?
Primarily, because we have to go on safari this Dec and also because of the relatively cheaper airfare. Also, most of the safari is land based, so I am hoping that if Bots and South Africa, get too expensive or are unavailable, I will atleast have an option.

Thanks a lot everyone and please feel free to give your comments and suggestions. I will update the same thread with the prices and itinerary.

There is a spring in my step today and I think it is because I feel I am finally close :).

10 nights is much better than 8!

Tanzania is great, actually we loved Serengeti best out of all of our safaris, it is magical, but then so are SA and Botswana. You can fly into JRO and then from Arusha to Serengeti.

We did our first safari with Naipenda in Feb 08 and loved it. In fact we are returning in Feb 09 same company/same plan but with a few minor changes and a few more days. After doing a private safari I just couldn't get into the idea of Bots (at a much higher price) with set gamedrive times and fellow passangers. Tanzania was fantastic and I loved being in total control of when, where and for how long we were out. Flying KLM from San Francisco was no problem at all. Take a sleeping pill on your leg into Amsterdam and then watch movies or whatever into JRO. You arrive late but in time for a couple of beers and then a good nights sleep. Next day safari and no jet lag problems! Coming home is a little harder and you will have photos to process (7000 for me and 12 hours of video).

And Jo was great to work with in planning the safari and everything was perfect as planned.

You asked about agents and I liked Rhino Africa very much and their prices were less than some others.
www.rhinoafrica.com

We had stayed at Elephant Plains in the Sabi Sands and at another camp in Timbavati last year and loved it. The agent I finally used after some research was a small South Africa based operator called Wild Wings Safaris. http://www.wild-wings.co.za. The owners are Onne and Simon and for anyone on a budget, their service and price was excellent.

Aravind,

How about Mobile safaris in Botswana? you will be able to spend more days on safari to stretch the trip ...... don't limit yourself to lodge safaris. You can easily go into the Kalahari during the rainy months to make use of the good game viewing out there......

Google mobile operators like Masson safaris, John Chase safaris etc etc.,

Regards
Hari

It's a bit hard to understand why, if your budget is limited, you are concentrating on the two most expensive countries to visit. Or if it must be Botswana or SA why you can't drop your standards a bit for the accommo aspect. It would give you a lot more options.

After all, it's the animals you are going to see - and perhaps (it's what plucks at my heart strings), the culture and the people.

Tanzania is wonderful - Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Manyara maybe - perhaps a side trip to Zanzibar. Or how about Zambia? South Luangwa National Park is somewhere I have never been ... but it has a similar profile in land, flora and fauna to Mana Pools in Zimbabwe. And that's very special (tho perhaps not possible now).

http://www.luangwa.net/zambia_info/s...er/default.htm

Re Back2Sabi's comment that "S Africa is a life-changing trip" - ANYWHERE in Africa, pretty much, is a life-changing trip! So don't be downhearted if you can't make Plan A work; there are tons of other possibilities.

Best of luck. Glad you could get those extra 2 days.

Of course anywhere in Africa is a life-changing trip. But having only been to South Africa and Namibia, I don't feel qualified to stretch my statement into such a blanket which is why I was so specific!

Have you considered Namibia? There is excellent viewing in Etosha and it's cheaper than SA. Plus, you could get in a couple of days at Cape Town very easily or drive south to the dunes. There are several very affordable rest camps (And some very fancy ones too) in Namibia. Plus, it's very drivable and you can easily rent a car in Windhoek and drive yourself anywhere in the country without much worry. We went there in June and it was AMAZING. Would highly recommend!

I haven't been to Africa during December-January, so I'm not here to offer any specific advice other than to NOT "just forget it". Africa is magical.

There is hope... and then there is reality.


Thanks again guys for all the wonderful feedback. I have done my fair bit of research and speaking to agents and am back with some news.
Afterall- your words especially ring true.

1. For my budget of 5k total inside africa, we were not able to make Botswana. The connections were pretty expensive.

2. Even eastern africa was surprisingly pretty expensive for Dec. It cost a min of 6k (really cheap with 2n arusha), not including any incidentals, transfers etc.

3. The best I could do in South Africa was 3n sabi (simbambili) and 5n capetown. This also is just above the budget, but the cheapest of all the options.

So as Hari and a few others have pointed out, for our budget it boiled down to two things.

a. Just do self drive in Kruger.

b. Consider self-camping trips in other parts.

Considering the fact that we are not really active campers, even in the US, my wife did not feel comfortable doing an all camping tour.

Result: Unfortunately, we have decided that we will have to pick option 4 and wait till we save enough budget and vacation time to really make an african trip worthwhile. Even though it was pretty hard for me to take initially, I have also reconciled that spending 2k pp on international fare and just leaving 2.5k for africa part and having such a tight budget is probably not too much fun.

So for now, I postpone. But sometime pretty soon (hopefully), I will make a great trip and as always, you guys will be the first to know.

I really appreciate all the forthright and passionate feedback I have received.

Thanks
Aravind

In most South African Parks accomodation is in buildings, with all of the necessary equipment to self cater in the bigger parks lodges also have restaurants.

I went to Tanzania in March and found a great package with www.masaitravel.com. The Serengeti is a great first experience and is within your budget.

I am going to South Africa in September but will spend all the time on safari and am skipping Capetown because I really want to experience the wildlife.

I forgot to add on my last post the following

We recently spent 12 nights in Kruger at Bushcamps which are nicer than the Main Camps but do require reliance on self catering. This cost ZAR 12,000 or under $2,000 you would need to add the cost of hiring a vehicle and petrol. I am sure you could come in well within your budget if you took a shorter trip. Book eraly to avoid dissapointment this can be done online at the SANPARKS website.

Hello all,
After lots of dilly dallying and yes again- no again moments, we have decided to make the East Africa trip this Dec after all. We have increased our budget to 10k for the whole trip and the number of days to 14 (including airline travel).

After all your feedback, we have decided that to minimize transfers and maximize wildlife viewing, we should pick East Africa. Got a great deal on the international airfare and have about 3-3.3k per person for the Africa part.

I will open a thread for east africa specific information, but just wanted to thank you all again for the forthright feedback.
Thanks
Aravind

Hi Aravind,

You will have a fantastic time!!!

Cheers
Hari

That's great news Aravind, I'm glad you found something that works!