First Safari - Can’t Wait to Go Back!
 

Hi jamikins (and bikerscott). What fabulous photos! I'm starting to plan my own trip (likely just to SA) next Aug or Sept. Mala Mala was one place I was looking at. How far ahead did you have to book there?

Jamikins you pics are amazing.
I am looking to do Africa (from Australia).
Did you do this on a tour, or did organize everything yourself.

I just checked Mala Mala again and the single room is already booked up for most of my preferred dates and I can't pull the trigger til early December :( But that was only one of about 6 places on my short list.

Was in London for a week in July (absolutely fabulous trip including the Dior at the V&A and a jaunt up to Oxfordshire to meet up with flanner/Mrs flanner) and will be back 29 Nov through 5 Dec. Are you guys in town then? Posted this last week https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...y-dec-1672550/

Trip Report First Safari-Can
 

Eager to hear a LOT more. Like who did you book with. How many game preserves did you visit & where. We have been to Kenya & Tanzania 6 yrs ago to see the Great Migration, but now want to go approximately Sept 20 and hoping to go to Cape Town, see Table Mtn, wineries, & penguins. Safari is important. (your photos are amazing!) but any tips you can give would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you in advance,
Jean i.e. pumpkin :-)

Trip Report First Safari-Can't
 

Eager to hear a LOT more. Like who did you book with. How many game preserves did you visit & where. We have been to Kenya & Tanzania 6 yrs ago to see the Great Migration, but now want to go approximately Sept 20 and hoping to go to Cape Town, see Table Mtn, wineries, & penguins. Safari is important. (your photos are amazing!) but any tips you can give would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you in advance,
Jean i.e. pumpkin :-)

You picked some stellar places for your first trip! Mashatu was one of the first places I visted in 2003. And I went to MalaMala several times, too. The last time I went to both was in 2008. A long time ago!

You have such great photos - thanks for posting! And I totally get planning your next trip before your first one even ends.

janisj, I took advantage of the MM "single room" as well.

Just home from Zimbabwe (4 camps) and CT. Would highly recommend Hwange, Mana Pools and other camps (we spent 4 nights at Singita Pamushana) One of best trips of my life. Read the trio of Peter Godwin books if you think about going. As usual, my safari person from CapeTown, Liesl Matthews, did a spectacular job of planning.

ekscrunchy and shouldbewriting your trips sound amazing. I cannot wait to get back!!

Fantastic, fantastic photos jamikins! And you’ve definitely inspired me to think more serious about a safari trip! Really wonderful! And you are both glowing in the photos, too!

Beautiful photos!

Can't decide if I like the leopard hugging the tree or the Nyala with the oxpeckers better, and I'm barely a little way thru them.

And THAT people, is why you want a camera with some reach (zoom)!

Thanks so much! It was our first time taking animal photos, so very happy they turned out!

already planning the next safari...considering south Tanzania...

Love all of your pictures!!!

I’ve read so many of your TR’s on the Europe site. Your photos are always a huge part of your story.

We are headed to SA at the end of April. Cape Town, several safaris in Kruger Park, Victoria Falls, and Johannesburg. Since this is our first African adventure I was highly interested in your description.
We are with a small tour group (10 people) and most of our time is scheduled but we do have a few dinners and lunches on our own.

I’m a bit concerned about the food, been warned against fruit, veggies, salad, and dairy. I think this might be my doctor’s over cautiousness. It looks like you ate a lot of different foods from your gorgeous photos.
Any tips on that subject?

Also, did you obtain SA rand bills before and bring them along or did you rely on ATM’s?

Looking forward to a new adventure.

Hi TPAYT - lovely to hear from you!

I would not worry at all about food, in particular in cities. We had some lovely meals at some fabulous restaurants and had no issues at all.

On safari there are a number of options usually to choose from so if you don't want to risk raw foods for example, just have cooked food. A lot of it is served family or buffet style in our experience and you help yourself.

We just used the airport ATM to get cash in J'Burg when we landed and had no issues. We brought USD for tips in Botswana (I think we tipped in rand for our SA safari section).

I hope this helps and that you have a lovely time! We have already planned our next trip - Zimbabwe in 2021!

Just happened upon this post. Stunning photos as usual. I've missed your trip reports.

So glad to see this thread topped up. I scrolled thru all these stunning photos with my morning coffee.
A bit sad for me but also in anticipation of what’s to come.

We were scheduled to go to Africa April 22, 2020. Obviously that was cancelled due to the virus.
Our trip is rescheduled for April 21, 2021. Hopefully that will be possible but who knows.

Thank you both for your kind words. What a crazy year. I want my life back!!!!!! I hope the 2021 trip goes ahead....we have a trip to Zimbabwe booked for Sept 2021 so fingers crossed!!!!

Excellent pictures, jamikins I missed them when you first posted. You have a few rarer animals mixed in there & that is always nice to see.

Good luck with your future trip!

PS once you have done a few trips to numerous lodges, give some thought to a trip to Kruger Park & a self-driving safari. It is a totally different experience - which we personally preferred. ;)

Thanks Ian! Will probably be a while before I could convince hubby to self-drive hahaha!

Jamikiins, how great that you are headed for Zimbabwe!! Our last safari was to there (and CapeTown and JBurg). It was one of my best safari trips. And great value as well.

Which camps are you booked at? We had four..two in Hwange, one in Mana Pools and one in Malilangwe.

Make room in your bags for some terrific crafts if that is your thing.

Your photos are amazing Jamikins! Looks like you had an incredible safari. That hide at Mashatu makes for the most epic elephant photos. I am sure your Zimbabwe safari next year will be as incredible.

Amazing pictures! We loved Cape Town and the Kruger, and hopefully if COVID begins to wain, we'd like to go back to Africa next year. I wanted to ask your opinion on the amount of wildlife between Botswana and South Africa. Would you say they were similar or did one have more species? Thanks!

Hi TravelingLocals - we had such an amazing time! Glad you enjoyed the photos!

I would say that we were lucky in that the two areas we went had fantastic animal sightings. They did have slightly different mixes but lots in common. I think if you wanted variety you may want to do the Delta in Botswana as one option compared to other areas as it has water and the areas we went were quite dry.

Hope this helps!
Jamie

Thanks Jamie. Glad to hear. We were eyeing the Okvango delta in Botswana and hopefully if travel is allowed next year, we'll get to see it.

these photos make me sad during the pandemic, I'd really love to go somewhere if I had an opportunity:(

Welcome to Fodors. See 'Fodors Travel Talk Forums', 'Destinations', 'Africa & the Middle East' at the top of tis thread?' Click on the 'Destinations' link and you will see a long list of forums, one of which is 'Europe'.