Hello,
I'm traveling to South Africa for a trip through my graduate program for 10 days in January. I must be in Cape Town by the evening of Jan. 3rd but I was hoping to head down to the country shortly after x-mas and explore some other parts of the country. I have never traveled to Africa and would love to do a safari. I have hear that Kruger National Park is beautiful - can anyone recommend a reasonably priced tour? I'm all up for camping every night and low budget meals!
I've also been told by some folks that safari trips during South Africa's summer sometimes aren't so great since you can't always seem the animals through all the foliage. They have recommended checking out Botswana - so I'm looking for potential ideas for a week trip in Botswana as well.
Thanks!
Cheers,
Cat :)
Personally I reckon the best way to see Kruger is hire a car and drive through the park. I am not too sure about safari tours, phone the Parks Board, they should be able to help.
The best game reserves are: Kruger, Hluhluwe, Phinda, Umfolozi, Mkuze. Most of the game parks don't expect the animals to just rock up. If you want to just spend a few days and see everything then go to a private game park like Phinda or Mala Mala. Prepare to fork out tho.
Same goes for Botswana, seeing all the game at a private reserve comes at a price. In Kruger you would be unlucky not to see Hippo, Croc, Buffalo, Lion, Giraffe, various buck, Elephant, Rhino. However you would be extremely lucky to see leopard, cheetah, wild dog, roan antelope, sable.
Personally I think camping at Kruger and seeing hyenas trip past the fence while braainng some impala steaks with a couple cold beers is the way to go. Sometimes you can drive for hours and see nothing. But you never know....
It will be the same season in Botswana! There will be high herbs too... Botswana offers a different environment, but as for seeing game, you're good to go with SA
Botswana in January is high rainy season. Much of it will be impassable, and unthinkable for the uninitiated. The only other option is to stay at the private lodges but then expect to pay $800.00+ per night. The Kruger is very easy to manage as a self-drive option, because you don't have the shut-down when it rains as you do in Bots, and you can also camp with ease. You can't talk about budget and places like Phinda or Mala Mala in the same sentence. These are very high end spots, even with $$$ to spend. I'm at with braai with Daager!!
Hello
I did a 4 day safari earlier this year. The accommodation was in Tree Huts and was +-R3500. You spend 2 days in the park and on the 1st day we saw the Big 5, although fleetingly of the leopard cub. Another highlight was an almost lion kill.
I booked through www.travelinafrica.co.za</a><BR><BR>There was a short night drive on the 1 st day after arriving from JHB and the last day was back to JHB via the Blyde River Canyon.
Lunches were not included and I would not recommend some of the park food (Satara Camp). You can not go wrong with a toasted
sandwich or snacks from the shop.
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