jr

all,<BR><BR>i am planning a 2 week trip to southern africa in mid 2004. i have a whole slew of questions on weather, places to stay, itineraries, etc. any/all advice would be much appreciated. i am thinking about splitting the time between one of the kruger private reserves, capetown, mauritius/seychells, and botswana (maybe). <BR><BR>-if i do like 5 nights at singita or londolozi (is the right amount?), should i also do 3-4 nights in botswana?<BR>-where are the best places to stay in bostwana? i have heard chief's camp and little mambo are pretty awesome<BR>-how is weather in capetown in june/july? have heard mixed things on weather<BR>-how is mauritius? don't want to spend more than 2-3 days on the beach but seems like a cool place. <BR><BR>i guess am currently thinking like 2-3 nights in capetown, 4-5 nights at singita/londolozi, 3 nights in botswana, 3 nights in mauritius, fly back home out of j'berg, timing like late june. maybe put mauritius in middle and not at the very end. do people think this is reasonable?<BR><BR> any/all advice is much appreciated. <BR><BR>thanks<BR><BR>josh

jr

also, any suggestions on travel agents that specialize in this sort of thing would be appreciated. i have heard a&amp;k will do a trip for you. . .any other good options? thanks<BR><BR>jr

Patricia

I'd definitely recommend more than 2-3 nights in Capetown. We spent 3 nights there and were kicking ourselves for not doing 5 nights.

Michael

I have been to all of the places you've mentioned, save Mauritius, and I think Botswana, at least as far as gameviewing, will be the highlight and merits more than 3 nights (perhaps four nights divided among two different lodges in the Okavango, one with some water-based activities). Check out Wilderness Safaris, my favorite operator in Botswana, and get a great review from all on this forum.<BR><BR>Singita and Londolozi will be substantially similar (two heads of the same coin), and you'll see the same terrain and animals, and your routine at both will be the same. I'd advise visiting only one of them, and spending the extra days in Botswana.<BR><BR>Unlike the above poster, I think 2 to 3 days is fine for Cape Town. There's a lot to do, but you can see the city in a few days.<BR><BR>Haven't been to Mauritius so I can't comment, but you might also consider one of the high end lodges in Mozambique -- a shorter flight from JNB and much less visited. Or then again, Mauritius might be great. I usually don't travel to spend time on a beach since we have great beaches in the US and I usually want something different, so if I was going, instead of beach, I'd visit something unique to Africa, like Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, which is close to the Okavango Delta. You could also visit Chobe National Park from Vic Falls -- Chobe in July is tremendous (I saw a herd of over 1,000 buffalo and several 100+ groups of elephants). I stayed at Chobe Game Lodge, which is not as highend as Singita or Wilderness camps, but its OK, and was good enough for Liz Taylor and Richard Burton's last honeymoon.

Lisa waverley

And Bill Clinton. (stayed at Chobe Lodge).<BR><BR>Just to muddy the waters further, I am another who thinks 3 days is not long enough in Cape Town.Actually, I think 6 dyas is not long enough, but that is another whole post. <BR><BR>I agree with Michael that perhaps, you would be better served by leaving out Mauritius and going with something that is uniquely African. Every time you fly somewhere different , you lose a day with travelling and settling in.<BR><BR>2 weeks is not long. I would choose 3-4 nights at either Singita or Londolozi (or any of the other camps in that area). Leave out Mauritius and split the extra days between Cape Town and Botswana or Namibia.<BR>When you are at the safari camps, you will have time during the day to relax and spend time at the pool.<BR>

jr

thanks all for the advice so far--at this point i am leaning to nixing mauritius/seychelles in favor of vic falls or a 3rd safari destination. where would people go other than sabi sands and okavango delta?<BR><BR>jr