Safari: South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe
 

Background info.- We are planning a three week trip to South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. There are 4 of us going and we range in age from 59-76, all in relatively good health. We have been working with two companies to plan the trip, Kondo for the Zambia and Zimbabwe portion of the trip and Travel Cafe for South Africa. We have been happy with both companies and have settled on a basic plan. For the Safari’s we will use the Safari camp guides and the rest of the trip we will have a private guide. So we have flexibility in the activities, and less flexibility in where we are staying.

Goals and Priorities for the trip:

1- The main purpose is a safari trip. We want to see a variety of animals and birds, want to be in varied terrain (savanna, wetlands, delta etc) , want different kinds of safari experiences ( vehicle, boat, walking), and excellent guides

2- We would like a taste of authentic local culture

3- We want to see what is unique about the places we are visiting

4- We have one person who has celiac disease and need food places that can prepare strict glutton free meals

Questions

1- Does this itinerary meet our goals of varied animals, terrain, cultural exposure?

2- On Safari there are often activities during the day that you pay extra for. What activities would be worth it? Are there places you’d recommend a walking or boat excursion rather than the Safari drive?

3- Do these safari camps have good reputations and good guides?

4- We know we have limited time in Cape Town. Is the way we have arranged these two days the best way of seeing these things?

5- Are there things we are missing, with the understanding we can’t do everything



Itinerary ( by nights stayed at each place)

2-4 three nights in Cape Town , staying at Starry Starry night

Activities: day 3 Table Mountain, Cape Peninsula, Boulder Beach

Day 4 District 6 Museum and neighborhood walk, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and Mzansi Restaurant in Gugulethu for dinner

5-7 Three nights in Shindzela Tented Safari Camp in Timbavati Preserve

Activities – Safari activities

8- One night Oliver’s in White River

Activities- Oliver's drive via Blyde River Canyon and do a guided Panorama tour ( stopping at Gods' Window, Burke's Luck Potholes and Three Rondavets).

9-10 Two nights in Vic Falls, Palm River Hotel, Zimbabwe

Activities- view the falls, boat cruise, local markets

11-13 three nights Somalisa Expeditions Luxury Family Tent, Hwange NP

Activities: Safari activities

14-17 four nights Sihkuru Private Safari House, Lower Zambezi NP Zambia

Activities- In addition to the usual safari and boat rides, we will go to a local village and school, market and possible a clinic.

18- one night Kondo Village Camp, Lower Zambezr NP

Activities- local village, school

19-21 three nights Dogs Croccodile Nest House

Activities- Bush walk, village tour

On your other thread I mentioned that I stayed at SOMALISA in Zimbabwe and it's a great camp with very special elephant viewing.

If you are going to visit schools or local communities, you might want to bring small gifts for the adults and children: pens, colors markers, notebooks, etc. I bought a lot of inexpensive supplies on Amazon and filled up a suitcase with these. Adults are often grateful for hotel toiletry supplies like shampoos and bath gels.

You can use this guide to see if your camps participate; it's.a guide to what is most needed and where:

https://www.packforapurpose.org/dest.../south-africa/


Another things we do is to bring clothing that no longer fits, and give that away to hotel staff.
We've had some lovely experiences doing this and it leaves more space in your luggage for purchases.

Some thoughts:

For CPT, two full days is doable. Your split is strange, though. The Cape Peninsula drive should be a full day on its own. On the other day, do Table Mountain plus the other sites in the city plus the botanical gardens. Though, with the weather you need to time things right to make sure you get a good view on Table Mountain.

For VF, make sure you visit the falls from both sides (Zim & Zam). I'd prioritize anything related to the falls above "local markets"; I could be wrong, but not sure there's anything special about the local markets in VF and you'll see plenty of local markets in 3 weeks in the region.

Is this your first safari? Does everyone on this group LOVE animals? I love safari and photography and could do it for weeks without getting bored, but 80-90% of the people on safari are bored after 4-5 days and 2 camps. You're going to be spending a lot of money for a lot of safari nights. You should realize that you'll potentially be bored.

I haven't been to those particular camps and I can't comment specifically, but this is a lot of running around across multiple countries for safaris in different parks and it seems like overkill.

Also, why not the Okavango Delta? It's very expensive though.

I question who did the planning in the first place, and why there are two different agents involved for a single trip.
Who chose those particular camps?