Looking for a trip in late December. 5 of us - 3 sons ages 18-23 (one on break fr Peace Corps in Senegal) . Never experienced safari before. Would like to plan 7-10 days, then a couple of days relaxing in a beach setting. Thinking of Tanznia, mostly due to time of year - doesn't look ideal in some other areas. Unsure of budget, really just starting. No looking for high-end, probably something midrange. Any suggestions?

This recomendation is based on your son being in Senegal. Since he is in Senegal, I highly recommend you consider South Africa instead. The reason being that there is a daily flight on South African Airways from Washington Dulles (IAD) to Johannesburg that stops in Senegal. You could meet your son when the flight stops to refuel and he could join you the whole way from there.

From that point, you could all land in Johannesburg and start your safari. I have been on safari in South Africa many times and during almost every month of the year. Each time period is different and has advantages and dissadvantages. Since you are looking for mid-range, then this recomendation for South Africa becomes even stronger. In South Africa, you can have a world class safari using rental cars to get around. This will save your family a ton of money letting you focus more financial resources on the safari.

Here is a ten day recomemended itinerary:
Day 1 Arrive JNB. Continue on to Durban on SAA. Overnight in Durban on the beach on the Marine Parade. The boys can try some surfing or body boarding.
Day 2 Rent a car and drive to Phinda game reserve (have it delivered to hotel). I was at Phinda last week and drove from Durban. It is four hours. Spend three days on safari at the #3 safari lodge in the world (according to Conde Nast in 2008). Phinda has the best cheetah and rhino population in southern Africa.
Day 3 & 4 Safari
Day 5 Drive to Rocktail Bay beach lodge (1.5 hours). I was also here last week. Along with Thonga, this is the only place in South Africa where the giant sea turtles ARE PROTECTED to come ashore and lay their eggs. You can witness this in December as this is the month they lay the eggs (along with November). Drawback - Rocktail will be hot. Thonga has AC but costs a lot more. Rocktail would be great for families. Spent two nights.
Day 6 Rocktail
Day 7 Drive to Swawaziland enroute to the Kruger National Park Area (about four hours). Overnight at one of many hotels in the country.
Day 8 Continue on to the Sabi Sands (about five more hours). The Sabi Sands is the collective name for the area containing the original South African private game reserves that directly border the Kruger National Park. I was also in the Sabi Sands last December (2008) and saw the big five every day. I was also there in March 2008 and saw the big five every day. You can easily self drive to the best lodges.
Day 9 Spend the day on safari at MalaMala, Lion Sands, or Kirkmans Kamp.
Day 10 Safari.
Day 11 Drive to Johennesburg (six hours) and fly home. Alternately drop your car at Nelspruit (2 hrs - MQP) and fly home.

I recommend you use an SAA consolidator to book your flights or book the whole tour with a tour operator that has an air contract with SAA. They can ensure your son will be on your flight.

Enjoy!

Craig Beal

Thanks Safari_Craig,
The coordination of this all is part of the problem. My 2nd son will be arriving from Thailand where he is spending fall semester abroad. He plans to travel back to Senegal with his older brother after our vacation for a visit to his site.

So we have 3 traveling RT from Boston, 1 RT from Dakar, and 1 pretty much doing an around-the-world trip over 6 mos. No clear-cut plan.

It is pretty easy to get from Thailand (BKK) to Johannesburg on Emirate via Dubai. Your family would actually all arrive and depart within two hours from each other. BKK-DBX-JNB round trip is only about a $1100 ticket on Emirates. Your son in Thailand would be best to fly JNB-Dakar on South African round trip from Johannesburg and then fly back home from Johannesburg. This would not be that difficult to coordinate. You could all "muster" at the hotel in Johannesburg!

Craig Beal

<i>"No looking for high-end, probably something midrange. Any suggestions? "</i>
i think Sabi Sands and Mala-Mala are not 'midrange'

Hey Aby - thanks for the comment. Just do realize that Sabi Sands is not a game reserve. It is an area containing multiple privately owned game reserves. The price range of the lodges in this area for PERMANENT camps (not tents on the ground) is approximately $200 per person per night at Elephant Plains (ZAR 1,800) up to Singita which is $1,000 per person per night.

Do you have any good mid-rang suggestions for this nice family trip?

Craig Beal

Safari_Craig:

"In South Africa, you can have a world class safari using rental cars to get around."
So do you mean that we would drive from site to site and use a guide for the actual safari once there? The companies I've looked at to date are all-inclusive...could you explain what you mean here? Would I look to each individual lodge to arrange the safari?

Also, I'm talking about Christmas week in late Decemeber; which I know is a busy time, but would one location (Tanz v. So Africa) tend to be more so than the other? Looking at charts of best time of year for various species, it just seems that Tanzania is one of the only places with consistently strong rankings at the time of year.

Hi There.

Let me add a little bit more info. I have been to just about every "top ranked" safari lodge in South Africa. This is a bit subjective and using this term often invites critics on the forums. So be it...

For the purpose of this forum, I will use the November 2008 issue of Conde Nast as the definition of "top ranked". Phinda is ranked #3 in the world and #1 in South Africa. I just drove there two weeks ago. Singita (Sabi Sands) is ranked #5 in the world and #2 in South Africa. I drove there in December 2008. MalaMala is ranked #13 in the world and #4 in South Africa. Lion Sands is ranked #19 in the world and #5 in South Africa. I have driven to all of these places and in the case of MalaMala and Lion Sands, I have driven to them multiple times.

Almost every safari lodge in South Africa is accessible by car, charter, or commercial flight+road transfer. Once you arrive at the actual lodge, the experience is no different no matter how you got there. They take your car from you and you don't see it until check-out.

The guides at almost every safari lodge are employed by the lodge itself. For insurance reasons, quality control reasons, and various other reasons, only guides employed and trained at the specific lodge can drive safari vehicles and guests at each individual lodge. So, no matter how you get there, you end up with the same guides.

Also, most safari lodges are all inclusive. The price you pay on the web sites of most of the top 50 safari lodges in Africa includes two game drives with a lodge employed guide per day plus all other expenses except tips and somtimes alcohol. There could be a few exceptions but this is, by far, the norm.

There are very few private guides in the safari business that can actually drive on the property of the safari lodges in South Africa when they are not employees. If you go on a safari with a brochure based tour operator their "escort" usually accompanies you to the lodge and has nothing to do with your game viewing experience. You can imagine how this effects your costs to take a paid escort with you everywhere you go.

You will find the human density to be much higher in Tanzania. Especially in the parks on the roads. Cape Town is very busy over Christmas but the safari lodges are not any busier than any other time when they are sold out.

To qualify South Afirca game viewing in December: I was in South Africa at the following lodges last December: Singita, Londolozi, Djuma, Ngala, Lion Sands, MalaMala, Pafuri, Mashatu, Nitani, Satara rest camp, Orpen rest camp, Skekuza rest camp. At each lodge (except the rest camps) we saw awesome game. We saw the big five each and every day at Singita, Lion Sands, and MalaMala.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions.

Craig

My delay in response is due only to our hectic schedule at the moment, but thank you for your obviously informed insight. My son tells me that So Africa is known to have a much better road system than in his area, so it sounds like driving our own car could be a consideration.

Also, thanks for the flights issues. I've been trying to complile a best option, based on our starting and ending points, and think I'm finding that JNB may be the better flight option.

Then, I look at Europe or Greece and I see that we can all travel there for less. Throwing it out there: any other destination you'd recommend for us all to converge upon?

i would not visit greece in december. if you are looking for great places to go in december, india and egypt would be other places on the top of my list in high season. the travel season in india is oct-mar (generally). your son in thailand could easily get there. i have been to india three times and it is fantastic. of course, africa trumps all and i would recommend going with the plan presented above. the roads in south africa are MUCH better than the roads in minnesota.

craig beal

FWIW, I disagree with the Conde Nast rankings.

Again FWIW, as perhaps for some orientation, here is little map showing the edge of Kruger and the Sabi Sand Reserve. Also the Timbavati Reserve which has some good camps. http://tinyurl.com/phlubo

regards - tom