Taking parents on a once in a lifetime africa trip. please help
Jul 19th, 2006, 10:26 AM
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Taking parents on a once in a lifetime africa trip. please help
Hello people,
I have been lurking on these boards for so long now. Joyously devouring your trip reports and dreaming about my time in africa. Finally I have decided the time has come. I am in the initial stages of planning for next year's africa trip. Me and my wife are in our mid twenties, in California. My parents and sister are in India. I am planning that we all meet up in Africa. I am treating them to this special trip.
Except my mom, all of us are really passionate about wildlife and safari. My mom is a "city" person. I am hoping to covert her to one of us, by the end of this trip
.
Now the constraints.
a. I have a maximum of 20k USD for the trip for all five of us excluding intl flights to joburg. A total of 14 nights in africa.
b. My sister is not too comfortable sleeping alone in her tent and hence I need a camp which will let her sleep with my parents. I am willing to pay the single supplement if necessary.
c.Victoria Falls and Capetown is a must since they might not be coming to africa anytime soon.
As far as safari is concerned, I want them to experience the delta once in their lifetime. So I want to choose atleast one camp in the Delta region. I would really like to stay atleast 4 nights in a camp in the Delta. I am willing to travel anytime next year to make use of low season pricing, if i can. As of now am looking at,
4 nights in Capetown
3 nights in Sabi sands. Elephant plains/Chitwa Chitwa
2 nights in Vic falls
4 nights in Delta. Chief's camp.
1 night Joburg for seamless connections.
Where I am looking for help?
1.Can someone suggest a time of the year when we can have good value.
2.How would you make this plan better?
I really hope to give them wonderful memories through this trip. Thanks a ton to all you Fodorites (rocco, jasher, kavey, hari, napamatt, et all). This forum rocks.
Aravind
I have been lurking on these boards for so long now. Joyously devouring your trip reports and dreaming about my time in africa. Finally I have decided the time has come. I am in the initial stages of planning for next year's africa trip. Me and my wife are in our mid twenties, in California. My parents and sister are in India. I am planning that we all meet up in Africa. I am treating them to this special trip.
Except my mom, all of us are really passionate about wildlife and safari. My mom is a "city" person. I am hoping to covert her to one of us, by the end of this trip
.Now the constraints.
a. I have a maximum of 20k USD for the trip for all five of us excluding intl flights to joburg. A total of 14 nights in africa.
b. My sister is not too comfortable sleeping alone in her tent and hence I need a camp which will let her sleep with my parents. I am willing to pay the single supplement if necessary.
c.Victoria Falls and Capetown is a must since they might not be coming to africa anytime soon.
As far as safari is concerned, I want them to experience the delta once in their lifetime. So I want to choose atleast one camp in the Delta region. I would really like to stay atleast 4 nights in a camp in the Delta. I am willing to travel anytime next year to make use of low season pricing, if i can. As of now am looking at,
4 nights in Capetown
3 nights in Sabi sands. Elephant plains/Chitwa Chitwa
2 nights in Vic falls
4 nights in Delta. Chief's camp.
1 night Joburg for seamless connections.
Where I am looking for help?
1.Can someone suggest a time of the year when we can have good value.
2.How would you make this plan better?
I really hope to give them wonderful memories through this trip. Thanks a ton to all you Fodorites (rocco, jasher, kavey, hari, napamatt, et all). This forum rocks.
Aravind
Jul 19th, 2006, 11:14 AM
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Aravind,
Unfortunately I will not be able to help you much on logistics of South Africa.
but I do know about taking my parents on a once in a lifetime trip to Africa. I took my parents to Kenya & Tanzania in Ocotober 2005 OK, I did have them pay for their trip
My Mom is definitely not as much a nature person as my Dad. My Mom was pretty uncomfortable Day 1 in the Masai Mara when I cheetah came within a few feet of our vehicle. By the end of the trip she was "one of us". A pride of lions walked by our jeep and she was fine.
It is very important to keep Mom happy. An unhappy Mom will torpedo the whole thing. Remind her how safe it is overall. The predators don't want to eat people! Does she like shopping for trinkets? Be sure to stop. I imagine SA has much better roads than Kenya and Tanzania.
Keep plenty of water in the car, maybe even a few snacks.
Have a great time!
Unfortunately I will not be able to help you much on logistics of South Africa.
but I do know about taking my parents on a once in a lifetime trip to Africa. I took my parents to Kenya & Tanzania in Ocotober 2005 OK, I did have them pay for their trip
My Mom is definitely not as much a nature person as my Dad. My Mom was pretty uncomfortable Day 1 in the Masai Mara when I cheetah came within a few feet of our vehicle. By the end of the trip she was "one of us". A pride of lions walked by our jeep and she was fine.
It is very important to keep Mom happy. An unhappy Mom will torpedo the whole thing. Remind her how safe it is overall. The predators don't want to eat people! Does she like shopping for trinkets? Be sure to stop. I imagine SA has much better roads than Kenya and Tanzania.
Keep plenty of water in the car, maybe even a few snacks.
Have a great time!
Jul 19th, 2006, 06:42 PM
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Aravind -- I think you are definitely on the right track! Nice planning so far.
Elephant Plains and Chitwa Chitwa are excellent choices for value -- we stayed at Chitwa Chitwa but its neighbor gets great reviews as well and I don't think you can go wrong with either.
Your Mom is a city person -- well I think she will love Cape Town. It is fantastic, and the rest of you should love it as well. Have you thought about where you will stay there? We stayed two nights at the Holiday Inn waterfront (excellent value for money and very nice) and 4 nights at the Twelve Apostles -- pricey but worth it and was good value at the rate on luxurylink.com at the time although I understand it's more now.
I think you have set a reasonable budget -- not easy, but doable.
Very smart to plan to overnight in JNB for connections.
Chief's Camp will be the priciest part of this trip I would think -- if you have to cut costs then consider substituting one of the Kwando camps instead of Chief's maybe (I am not a Botswana expert though; we are taking our first trip to Bots in Jan. and yes, after much research, staying in Kwando camps).
On our previous trip to SA we found excellent value in November. This year we will travel in late Dec.-early Jan. to SA and Bots. Bots is expensive all the time it seems, except in the wet ("green" season which is why we have planned this trip for late Dec.-early Jan.
Don't know if you have considered Kruger but that is an excellent option as well if you need to cut costs.
Good luck!
Elephant Plains and Chitwa Chitwa are excellent choices for value -- we stayed at Chitwa Chitwa but its neighbor gets great reviews as well and I don't think you can go wrong with either.
Your Mom is a city person -- well I think she will love Cape Town. It is fantastic, and the rest of you should love it as well. Have you thought about where you will stay there? We stayed two nights at the Holiday Inn waterfront (excellent value for money and very nice) and 4 nights at the Twelve Apostles -- pricey but worth it and was good value at the rate on luxurylink.com at the time although I understand it's more now.
I think you have set a reasonable budget -- not easy, but doable.
Very smart to plan to overnight in JNB for connections.
Chief's Camp will be the priciest part of this trip I would think -- if you have to cut costs then consider substituting one of the Kwando camps instead of Chief's maybe (I am not a Botswana expert though; we are taking our first trip to Bots in Jan. and yes, after much research, staying in Kwando camps).
On our previous trip to SA we found excellent value in November. This year we will travel in late Dec.-early Jan. to SA and Bots. Bots is expensive all the time it seems, except in the wet ("green"
season which is why we have planned this trip for late Dec.-early Jan.Don't know if you have considered Kruger but that is an excellent option as well if you need to cut costs.
Good luck!
Jul 19th, 2006, 08:25 PM
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Wayne,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Yep, she loves to shop like most women do. That is why I hope to start with capetown, let her have her share of fun, give her a sample of safari at sabi sands, then onto victoria falls and then onto the real thing in bots. Hopefully I will be as successful as you in "converting" her
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Yep, she loves to shop like most women do. That is why I hope to start with capetown, let her have her share of fun, give her a sample of safari at sabi sands, then onto victoria falls and then onto the real thing in bots. Hopefully I will be as successful as you in "converting" her
Jul 19th, 2006, 09:12 PM
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Lisa,
Thanks for your encouraging words. Capetown is going to be a first stop and hopefully my mom will have a lot of fun there. As far as accomodation there in concerned, I am looking at any nice self catering apartment. I would like to hold back on accommodation in the city as much as possible and splurge on activities instead. I know Twelve Apostles is a great option at luxury link, but I will save it for another time.
Botswana is more complicated because I know we can only get one camp for the budget. I chose Chief's even though it was a tad expensive because it is comparitively bigger and my Mom might feel 'safer'. Another complication with Kwando props is that the green season begins in Dec, which conflicts with our annual sojourn to India. Summer 07 works best for us, but for Bot we might have to settle for Nov 07. I also chose Moremi because of the abundant game and also that you get an authentic Delta experience. So I guess I need to keep looking to find that "one camp" which fits all the requirements. If I do go with Chiefs though, we can try to economize as much as possible in CT and Vic falls and see if we can swing it.
I am so excited for you about your impending Bots trip. Hope you really have a great time. I will be awaiting a loong trip report and some great pics.
Cheers
Aravind
Thanks for your encouraging words. Capetown is going to be a first stop and hopefully my mom will have a lot of fun there. As far as accomodation there in concerned, I am looking at any nice self catering apartment. I would like to hold back on accommodation in the city as much as possible and splurge on activities instead. I know Twelve Apostles is a great option at luxury link, but I will save it for another time.
Botswana is more complicated because I know we can only get one camp for the budget. I chose Chief's even though it was a tad expensive because it is comparitively bigger and my Mom might feel 'safer'. Another complication with Kwando props is that the green season begins in Dec, which conflicts with our annual sojourn to India. Summer 07 works best for us, but for Bot we might have to settle for Nov 07. I also chose Moremi because of the abundant game and also that you get an authentic Delta experience. So I guess I need to keep looking to find that "one camp" which fits all the requirements. If I do go with Chiefs though, we can try to economize as much as possible in CT and Vic falls and see if we can swing it.
I am so excited for you about your impending Bots trip. Hope you really have a great time
. I will be awaiting a loong trip report and some great pics.Cheers
Aravind
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