Now thinking about South Africa - have questions
 

We have started moving our June/July/Aug 2008 safari thoughts away from Kenya and towards South Africa. We've got 2 younger school age children. Here are the things that are important to us (in no particular order):

a) At least one (ideally more) tented camp
b) At least one place without fences, lots of wildlife noises at night
c) Places where you can see wildlife from the camp/lodge (e.g. active waterhole)
d) Bush walks (adults only) and night drives
e) Fun, unique activities for the kids
f) We'd like to spend close to 2 weeks in Africa

Important points: we want the kids to go on the game drives, eat dinner in the boma, etc.

We like variety so I want to spread our itinerary across different areas. Based on my initial research, I am confident we can afford 3-4 nights each in some mix of the following:

- Timbavati (Gomo Gomo for the tents)
- Pafuri (great sounding kids program)
- Mashatu
- Sabi Sands (Elephant Plains or Nkorho)

Now, on to the questions:

1) It looks like I can get to HDS or KMIA. We cannot have an open jaw due to a European stopover. Would HDS make more sense?

2) Is it reasonable to pick up a car at HDS or KMIA and drive between these places? What order would you do them? How long would the drives be?

3) Am I missing a great location / park that offers a great kids program or something different (ecosystem, activity, etc.) It would need to be within reasonable driving distance of these places and would need to be in roughly the same price range.

4) We are a little concerned about the food at Pafuri and Mashatu being too fru fru?

Thanks in advance for all thoughts, input, experiences, etc.

how old are your kids - their age will be a big factor since many lodges, at least in Botswana, don't accept kids under 12. And if they do, they require that you be on a private vehicle. I am looking at Kwando safaris since they are supposed to have great kids programs.
http://www.kwando.co.za/
and for more info on kwando and more:
http://www.5riverssafari.com/
can't speak for Zim, Zam, and SA policies

Kids are 5 and 9. We are focused on SA (except for Mashatu which we know takes kids of our ages). Botswana will be trip #2 when both kids are over 8. :)

Of course, we always dreamed of including a lodge like Londolozi or Mala Mala on our first trip to Africa, but when the time came, we simply could not afford it--not by a long shot. So we went to Gomo Gomo in Timbavati, the most affordable game lodge we could find that was on a game reserve adjacent to Kruger. Gomo Gomo was far from luxury in terms of lodgings or food, but the game sightings were fantastic. Also, we loved our tented cabin overlooking the river, with its huge veranda. We loved hearing the sounds of the animals at night, even when the baboons screeching shocked us out of our cozy slumber. The food was plentiful and tasty (though not haute cuisine)and served around the boma at night. The wine was reasonably priced. Our fellow lodge guests, mostly from the UK and South Africa, were terrific company--most of them were return visitors, and that should tell you a lot about Gomo Gomo. We only spent two nights, wish we had spent many more--things couldn't have gone any better. We would definitely go back, if we could.
The drive to Gomo Gomo from KMIA was easy and interesting, took about three hours (slower going through Timbavati as some of it traverses dirt road). We did it in a Toyota Corolla. As we had just finished traveling for 48 hours straight from the US, we decided to overnight in a beautiful b & b in White River before leaving for Gomo Gomo.
I don't recall that there were special activities for the kids at Gomo Gomo. I am sure they will be amazed by the early morning and late afternoon game drives (please make sure they follow all instructions, especially that one about not sticking your arms out of the game drive vehicle). There are midday ranger-led bush walks, as well.
With all these activities, plus meals, the days are pretty busy. I don't think they will be bored.
TripAdvisor.com has some good reports on Gomo Gomo. And great photos, too.
After Gomo Gomo we went to Kruger for four days, and then down to Addo Elephant Park and Mountain Zebra Park before Cape Town--loads of animal sightings. South Africa is beautiful.

Food at Mashatu like Mala Mala is definitely not fru fru.

Still looking for input on questions 1-3. :)


Diamantina - thanks for the great info on Gomo Gomo! Addo sounds also sounds great, but it is probably too far away for us this trip.

napamatt - thanks for the ok on food. We saw some pictures of their food and my family started freaking out. We need the food to be simple w/o the sauces, funky sides, etc. Basic meat and potato. :)

English is not my first language and I'm always trying to learn - can someone please explain the meaning of "fru fru"...?

In a word, fancy. Now that I think about it, it is probably spelled "frou frou."

I stayed at UMLANI in the Timbavati district for two weeks. No fences and right accross the way from a water hole. Fantastic to say the least.

Frou-frou is overly fussy, fancy, unnecessarily tarted up.

I strongly recommend the Sabi Sands. We recently stayed at Elephant Plains with our kids. Timbavati was also very nice but the game viewing was not in the same league as the Sabi Sands. Also, do not miss Cape Town for a pre or post safari experience.
Click my screen name for my trip report.

You will definitely enjoy South Africa.

addisonr & Celia -- thank you!

AKR1 - I loved your trip report when I read it this weekend. In fact, it lead me to both Elephant Plains and Timbavati. We think we want to start with Gomo Gomo (for the rustic tents) and end with EP at Sabi Sands for the best gameviewing. The real question is what reserves to hit in between.

No one has any thoughts/ideas for questions 1-3?

Keep in mind that Mashatu has both the Main Camp and the Tented Camp. We stayed at and really liked the Tented Camp, but we also went by the Main Camp to see it (and the gift shop). Tented Camp had dinners in the small boma, and the food was fine but definitely not frou frou; however, the Main Camp is much fancier, and so the food might be also.

I don't know much about driving between camps because we were flying (mostly in Botswana), but I think it is a pretty long way to Mashatu from most areas, but maybe not too bad in combination with Sabi Sands, Timbavati, and Pafuri en route. It may be a fairly long way back at the end (or at the beginning if you visit the camps north-to-south), but not too bad to HDS or KMIA. One website even says it's only about a five hour drive all the way from Johannesburg to Mashatu, so that's not terrible, particularly if it's at the beginning when everything is new and exciting.

What airlines serve HDS and KMIA, and from where?

I haven't been to Sabi Sands, but it usually gets wonderful reviews, so it might be better to start at Mashatu and work your way south, ending up with your finale at Sabi Sands.

What lucky kids, and lucky parents, too. You should have a great trip, but don't wait too much longer to get things squared away.

hguy - thanks for the info. Unfortunately, Wilderness won't let our kids stay at the Tent Camp in Mashuta. It's one of the reasons we may scrap that location all together.

I would love to book my trip now, but I can't seem to get any of the recommended trip planners referenced on this board (US and SA based) to return my emails or phone calls. I've had to email each of them every few days to see if they are working on it, ignoring me, etc. It's really frustrating...