I am just starting to plan a 3 wk. trip to S. Africa for next summer. I have always done all our travel planning, ie. flights, hotels, activities etc. on previous trips to Europe, Australia and beyond and have managed to enjoy great family vacations as a result. Is this something that can be done for Africa as well? Must I go with a travel agency, or is it possible to book safaris, camps etc. on my own? Will I end up paying more on my own, or will I pay more through an agent?

I have always consulted with a travel company in the beginning stages of planning these trips, and have always been laughed at when I tell them what our budget is. Then, as it turns out, I have been able to pull off all these trips within my said budget after all. Just makes me wonder....

We would like to see Cape Town...seems easy enough to do. Botswana, Victoria Falls and Kruger. Are interested more in the wildlife than a bunch of buildings. Any suggestions out there?

i did it all for our trip last october....i had some help from one agency for our stay at elephant plains and i used the official site for my kruger stay, but for capetown and along the garden route i did it all myself....click on my name and look for my trip report

I book everything myself and still do when it makes any sense. However, for wildlife-focused trips, unless you are self-driving it is probably better not to book it all yourself. By all means use mulitple operators, but doing it yourself can sometimes have little advantage and you just miss out on pre-arranged transfers, a little extra advice and someone to do whatever can be done if things aren't working out for whatever reason.

Traveling around Africa is not as easy as in say Europe. But, I agree about Cape Town, flying in and getting to a hotel should be like any other city. However, other places like safari camps are not so easy. They may not be on scheduled airline routes and require a private charter flight. Or even if they are, it is not easy to find such information. You won't find those flights on "Travelocity" . So you will need to contact the safari camps for options for getting to them. And it varies widely, getting to Kruger is easy drive yourself. But getting to Mombo Camp Botswana requires you to fly into their private airstrip.

Working with an agent probably will not cost you any more than doing it yourself. Even though I have been to safari camps, mostly in South Africa, six years running, I still use an agent. I would save nothing by not using him and a couple of times he has helped me while on safari.

It really depends a lot on where you want to go as to how reasonable it is to do it yourself, especially your first time there. Get Fodors book on safari planning.

regards - tom
ps - I'm with you, not interested in "a bunch of buildings", I go to Africa for safari!!!

I booked everything in South Africa myself last year. You can book accommodation (and activities) in all South African parks through the internet, and of course you can do the same with private reserves. You MAY get lower rates through an agent when it comes to private reserves, but not when it comes to staying inside national parks.

I also booked myself cars, accommodation in Hoedspruit, activities and visits in private reserves/centers etc. Sometimes I had to make a couple of long distance calls but overall it was easy. It will be extremely difficult to achieve the same customization and flexibility through an agent without paying a considerable premium.

I've been living in S. Africa for the last year and we've done trips ourselves. In my opinion you do NOT need to hire operators, etc as long as you are going to rent a car. That is a necessity if you are not planning on hiring someone for transportation.

Micmic is correct that you COULD get cheaper prices at private reserves if you use someone but you can get the cheapest price by visiting reserves in South Africa's winter (generally May-Sept/Oct).

The places you are looking to go have a high number of visitors every year so it's easier to do self planning/booking as opposed to going to lesser visited areas.

In regards to Kruger you can pay to stay IN the park at one of the camps where you go on safari in a group vehicle. You could also stay in accommodation outside the park (think 10-20 minute drive) where it's usually much less expensive but there are nice places to stay.

You can definitely self book everything for the places you want to go.

Thanks to all for the help....many great tips I will follow up on.

In doing more research it does seem that Botswana is one of the most expensive to visit, and since my husband wants to see Victoria Falls, we are thinking about Zimbabwe instead. We would travel between mid-June & mid-Aug 2011 (about 3 wks. total somewhere in this time frame). Does anyone have any experience in booking safaris, camps there? Cape Town and Kruger really do seem possible to do on our own.

Hi Gabriella, you are right, Botswana is one of the more expensive safari destinations in Africa, all the lodges there charge in USD. But, well worth the cost as the game viewing is fantastic. Victoria Falls from the Zimbabwe side is great, cheaper than the Zambian side and better view of the falls. Lots of great lodges and hotels to choose from. I would recommend the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge.
I agree with Tom, working through an agent will not cost you more than booking everything on your own. There are benefits both ways. The benefit of booking it all yourself is mostly the fun of planning it all. And it certainly can be done, if you prefer it that way. The benefit of using a tour operator is getting expert advice and local knowledge, how different camps compare in different seasons, knowing what is realistic in terms of time and distances, etc. You also have some recourse if you have a complaint or something happens along the way. And you may end up spending less than booking it all direct.
A good tour operator will co-plan the trip with you anyway - listen to your ideas, offer suggestions and be prepared to make changes to the itinerary to suit your needs and budget.
Using a travel agent at home may cost a bit more - many high street travel agents add booking fees on top. Also, some of them may not have the same local knowledge and experience as a reputable operator based in Africa. Choose carefully and ask for references of past clients.

gabriella,

i have been following this thread with interest but generally steer clear of "should i use an agent threads" as they can go sour quickly.

if you are going to get value from working with a middleman you need to find an expert and not just any agent. almost all travel agencies that i am aware of are members of buying consoritums. these consoritums then recommend preferred tour operators to their members and encourage them to book their clients travel through the specificed tour operator depending on destination. the tour operators servicing consoritums are generally the same (A&K, Micato, Africa Travel Inc., Swain Tours, etc.). The major consortiums are Virtuoso, Signature, Ensemble, Vacations.com, AAA, Carlson Wagonlit, Nexion, etc.

It is important to know who is working behind the scenes to plan your safari. that person should have a name and a resume so i recommend you find out from your agent who they are as this trip is going to cost you more than a new car. if you can't find out, then i recommend you work directly with an expert specializing in botswana or zimbabwe.

i saw your other thread and nikki glover at eyes on africa would be a good choice for botswana. i am not sure of her experience in zimbabwe so you may want to ask and you may even want to consider someone different for that country.

if you are interested in zimbabwe, then here are some recomendatiions for the best of the best consultants:

- alison nolting is the co-owner of the africa adventure company in florida. she is from zimbabwe and from what i have heard from lodge operators and staff in zimbabwe their company is one of the biggest suppliers of customers to zimbabwe in the USA. she is an absolute expert and has been to every corner of the country multiple times. i know her through the industry and can highly recommend her. http://www.africa-adventure.com/ her husband is the author of africa's top wildlife countries in its 8th edition. like me, he is from Minnesota! her husband is also one of the five conde nast travel magazines africa "experts" listed each year in the august edition.

- andre steynberg is another expert. he used to work for the africa adventure company and is also from zimbabwe. andre is still liscensed to guide in zimbabwe which has some of the highest guiding qulaification standards in africa. andre is the in-house zimbabwe expert at a larger and more budget focued tour operation called Lion World. don't be dissuaded from all the bargains and deals on their web site as they are a really good company for high end travel to zimbabwe. i was at the annual south africa tourism award ceremony in new york back in april and lion world received the award that was for sending the highest number of people to south africa in 2009 for a company based in north america. even with a big company like this i would NEVER recommend calling and just booking with the person who answers the phone. you need to ask by name for the expert. andre does not work at the toronto headquarters and can be reached direct at his office in Florida or the 800# operator can connect you. 954.581.7258, [email protected], www.lionworldtravel.com
http://www.lionworldtravel.com

these names should suffice for now. personally i recommend you visit ruckomechi and either davidson's camp or little makalolo. with an 11 year old there is a family room you can use at both these properties. when makalolo plains opens again next year (it is closed off for use by OAT in 2010) it will also have a family room. i was at Hwange (Makalolo Plains, Little Mak, Linkwasha, and Davidsons) for three days in May and it is FANASTIC. Matt from our MN office was in Mana Pools at Ruckomechi for about four weeks in May and June this year and LOVED it. He did the Mana Canoe trails as well.

BTW - Zimbabwe is totall safe. I am taking my teenage daughters and wife next July to Hwange and Mana Pools National Parks.

craig beal

one more name...

consider african portfolio and specifically diane ebzery. she is also a zimbabwe expert. before zimbabwe fell out of favor, african portfolio sent so many americans to zimbabwe that she had an office in harare. http://www.onsafari.com/our_consultants.php

so, in summary, feel free to walk into a travel agentss office but i highly encourage you to direct the agent to work with one of these people. all three companies work with travel agents or directly with clients. all three companies buy at the lowest and best price so their price difference will only be according to the margin the put on top of their price to earn a profit and operate their business. i don't believe any safari lodge in zimbabwe at the four star and above level takes difrect bookings except MAYBE Singita so you will need to use an agent.

good luck.

craig beal

Some good advice by Craig. Minor thing to add, Craig mentioned consortiums and I think it is wise to find someone who is independent and can give unbiased advice, regardless of which lodge chain they have the best rates with. For example, to keep the best rates with Wilderness Safaris or whatever chain, operators that book them have to sell significant volumes and often only recommend lodges in their preferred group or chain, in order to keep their volumes high. Likewise, an AndBeyond consultant will only recommend AndBeyond lodges, etc. Ask them which lodge chains they work with, and are they affiliated or obliged to sell only certain lodges from a specific chain or consortium.
One important thing to highlight from Craig's post is the value of first hand expertise, don't assume because someone sells African safaris that they know the destinations they are selling. Find out where and how often they have been to Africa, in particular the destinations you are interested in.
Another important thing is level of service, responsiveness and attention to detail, not only at the enquiry stage but also after you have paid. You want an agent who will look out for your interests and works hard to make sure your safari is absolutely perfect and runs like clockwork. These types of things you can only check by reading reviews or asking for contactable references of previous clients.

Finally, if you are the kind of person who enjoys researching, planning and booking your own trip, by all means, do so. Use the Fodors community, along with guidebooks, maps and whatever else you can find on google and plan your own itinerary! If you would rather work through an agent, you can simply phone Craig or one of the other experts he mentioned and let him take care of it all for you.

Gabriella: I had rarely used a travel agent before I took my first trip to southern Africa in 2007, and had never used one to book accommodations or plan an entire trip.

I got a recommendation from a friend here in New York who had taken a SA trip arranged by a local CapeTown agency, Southern Destinations. I decided to let them do the planning for me and I was pleased beyond description. I would highly recommend giving them a call--they have an 800 number and are very responsive to e-mail; the agent I used was Liesl Matthews, one of the principals.

It was very good to have a local agent on hand for the inevitable mess-up, as when the Blue Train ran hours late and we had to disembark early to make our flights to Sabi Sands.

http://www.southerndestinations.com/

You can read my (sadly, unfinished) trip report; we visited SA, Zambia, and Botswana on a 3- week-long visit than ranks among my favorite adventures in a lifetime of travel: