I'm very confused. My husband, with a slight diability, and I are planning a safari in October 2008. If you read the Tauck Tours write-ups and the Abercrombie & Kent brochures you'll find that they will provide "the safest" vacation. The prices, however, are enough to avoid going at all.

There must be a good, safe, tour where we will see the big 5 and the rest of East Africa without blowing the kids' inheritance or being eaten alive by a long lost relative of Simba.

I don't want to see Africa from an air conditioned vehicle. I want to see Africa, up close and personal. Can someone recommend a tour or two for me to investigate?

No, big dollars don't translate to more safety. If you're looking for a reasonably priced group tour, you might try Overseas Adventure Travel at www.oattravel.com. Their Tanzania trip, Safari Serengeti, has 6 departures listed for October 2008 and are about $5000, including air from the USA. They use Kibo Guides for this trip, which is a good safari outfitter. They spell out how fit you need to be to do the trip. Mainly, you need to be able to get into the 4WD vehicles and take the bumpy roads. You'll also be walking to your rooms and tents, but won't have to carry your bags.

I am a big believer in private safaris but I think you might be interested in the ease and overall security of an OAT safari. We hae used them for trips to other parts of the world and they are secure and well organized and much better priced than Tauk or A & K. As far as security goes, I witnessed an A & K guide risk all of his clients safety while guides from 1/2 dozen other companies showed good judgement with endangering their clients. In other words, cost in no guarantee. Perhaps their wine was better
Chuck

"without endangering" sorry.
Will they ever improve this forum so that we can edit typos??

Please check out the New East Africa Trip Report Index on this forum. LyndaS has been very kind and written summaries of posters' reports, with links to the reports themselves and photos when applicable.

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34860283

By the way, I have been on two private safaris in East Africa and have felt extremely safe, gratified, joyful, thankful, and exhilarated.

What do you believe is unsafe about a safari. If people are advertising on this basis then they are a disgrace.
Nowhere in the world is entirely safe but I am sure nobody would place you in danger unless that is what you request.

Having seen the back of the house at many lodges and seen the ranger training programs at a few of the companies, I would have to disagree and say that there is a difference. I am not saying that every high end place is safer than every cheaper place, but I would bet that statistics would bear me out. It isn't the danger of animals but the other dangers where the $$ make the difference. Some of the high end chains have people dedicated to doing inspections and repair of lodge/camp infrastructure and vehicles. A lower end camp may let the tires go a little further before they replace them or not repair a railing until it breaks. Staff training will also be better. I am not saying that the $$$ places will catch everything but they are more likely to. The difference wasn't enough to stop me from visiting places that weren't $$$. Look at this way, would you expect a ride at the local carnival to be as safe as one at Disney?

But in this case, Tauck & A&K use the same lodges and camps used by other operators in East Africa, so the local carnival vs Disney analogy is a bit off IMO. The only difference may be with their vehicles in cases where A&K and Tauck are using their own vehicles rather than lodge/camp ones. Or in Tauck's case, vehicles of whichever ground operator they use as I don't think they operate their own safaris.

I wasn't addressing the specifics of Tauck & A&K, just disagreeing with the Shaytray who said "No, big dollars don't translate to more safety."

Believe Shay Tay's remarks re "big bucks = safety" was more in line with Patty's comments that opertors as Tauck and A&K use many of the very same lodges (or camps) as other non-name operators who charge less.

Safari is a rather seditary holiday - game drives mostly in a vehicle. Sure, walks are available and other activities if one chooses, but the extent of physicality would be as Sharon indicates... getting into/out of vehicles and having a good bottom to tolerate some lousy roads. Add to that the possibility of inter- and intra-country flights, these are small planes, so being able to navigate in relatively small space.

On a private safari, vs Tauck and A&K which what you see in their brochures are group trips, you can set your itinerary, how long at particular parks, type of accommodations (with or without stairs or hills), etc. to meet your particular needs.

OAT, while group tours, are good value for $$$ spent, and the majority of their participants are those 50+, many more in their 60s. And, it's small groups, with 16/people max (for Africa, they often have less).

Considering that at the most expensive camp in Botswana my wife and I on our first safari ever were left alone regularly at tea and sundowner stops while our guide wandered off for 'secret' 20 minute smoke breaks and than while at the same camp we had our vehicle break down 15 feet from a pride of lions I'm going to say no Big $ does not necessarily equate to safety since the most I ever spent landed us in our most dangerous situations -- note it was perfectly fine being broken down by lions but most would qualify it as a dangerous situation and we had a vehicle mate at the time that was quite nervous about it.

marsham - what aspect of the trip strikes you as unsafe? And, you don't say what your husband's disability is, but I can see that you would be concerned.

That said, whether or not a trip is safe or not has never concerned me. I don't believe you are in any danger inside a vehicle, and if that vehicle breaks down it would be more tedious than unsafe, I would think. They can radio and get someone to come get you. There has been some concern over folks' safety in cities (Capetown has come up on this forum), and of course driving on the left on an unfamiliar road can be very dangerous for those of us used to driving on the right, but I think safaris are on the whole pretty safe.

Tuckeg, Kibo Guides, used by OAT, have excellent vehicles in great shape, stay in nice lodges and camps such as Ngorongoro Farmhouse, and have some of the best guides in Tanzania... that's "Disney" in my book! (I oughta know; I used to work for the Mouse! )

Marsham could do a private safari, but if they are more comfortable in a group, OAT would be a good choice. Because of their air deals, they are hard to beat.

To repeat, I am not talking about specific companies, I am sure OTA is fine. I am only saying that in my opinion based on my experience there is a general correlation between overall safety (which involves much more than animal encounters)and cost and the broad answer to the question posed in the thread title is yes.