September is turning out to be a little tricky in Kruger and Botswana - Mombo for one is completely sold out for September, 2005.

Would March/April be a good second option? The downsides I see are: game viewing, bugs, malaria. The upsides are: baby animals, pretty green colors.

FYI - we are now leaning towards a Singita, Jao and Mombo combination. I don't believe high-low season rates apply.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. And in case I haven't mentioned it before - this is absolutely the most complicated trip I have ever tried to plan!!!!!

Ericka
My (sometimes rather poor) memory tells me that Liz visited Botswana in Mar/April this year and felt it was not an ideal time because the lush growth of flora made it hard to spot hiding animals. I hope I'm remembering that right.
I've only been in June (which I love) so can't comment from personal experience.

Ericka - and don't forget about Savuti, Duba Plains and DumaTau as possibles. And Mombo was lovely last week - fabulous. Management told me it is always sold out, which causes a problem when it comes time to do repairs and upgrades - never a free moment.

What I'm looking for is the time that is not too hot, not too cold, and doesn't have much rain. It seems like March/April and August/September fall into that category.

Thoughts?

Kavey's right. I went to Botswana in April this year. Grass over your head and you couldn't see any animals. Too much 'green season'. I haven't been in June, but Kavey swears by it and hasn't experienced the bugs, grass, etc., so she is probably right. I don't care for the really cold mornings, but in 1999 my husband and I went to Botswana in September and froze every morning and at night. Its supposed to be warmer then but I guess 1999 was a freak year or something.
I think the bugs were the worst though. I was covered with bites on the April trip, and I wouldn't ever recommend anyone to do that. Its cheaper for a reason. I really think September is the best of when I've been to Botswana. We saw tons of things then. It was very exciting to us. I can't speak for Kruger as I've not been in South Africa. Oh, we didn't see any baby animals either in April. The animals had all headed north due to the rain and floods. We went to Selinda, adjacent to Duma Tau and it wasn't any better. All we saw was the tall dry grass and some skinny lions who couldn't hunt because of the grass.
Sorry to be so negative as I know some folks really talk up the green season, but unless they've experienced the mozzies and tall grass everywhere, they should try it first in my honest opinion. Good luck. You'll love Botswana. At least we did. Liz

Liz,

This is exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks for the candor. If we are going to spend all this money, we want the conditions to be just right.

Ericka

FYI: We went to Singita and Botswana in the last week of March this year and experienced NO bugs. Although it was our first safari and I have nothing to compare it to, we saw lots of animals. Everything we ewanted to see. The grass and water were plentiful, yes, but it was also gorgeous. We probably didn't see as much as we would have during the dry season, but it was a wonderful experience. It's strange how Liz had such a bug problem just a month later, but we honestly didn't get any bites at all.

dlm-
Whats even stranger to me is that we were told by folks who live there that we should be glad we came in April, because a month earlier the mozzies were so thick that it was just a constant buzz around in the air. Go figure. Liz