South Africa with toddler (20 months)- Kruger in Nov?

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goatia
goatia

Greetings!

My partner and I are headed to S.A. for two weeks, flying in/out of Joburg. We've done plenty of traveling pre-babe and wanted to get in a good adventure prior to the full fare ticket. Our hope is to get to Kruger National Park and either Swaziland or Lesotho.

Any one on here know folks who have traveled to S.A. with a toddler? I think we are cutting it very close to full on Malaria season (we arrive mid-November) which may make a visit to Kruger tricky, perhaps a no-go. Any one have experience with giving their toddler malarone?

We have not worked out how to address the car seat... I imagine the only time we will have a rental car is while we are in Kruger. I'm having a difficult time picturing the logistics of international travel with a small person. I'd love some words from folks who have traveled with a similarly-aged kiddo, what does it really look and feel like on the ground.

Have any of you been able to gate check a kid-carrier backpack?

Thank you kindly!

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calpurnia
calpurnia

We took our 13 month old for South Africa & Swaziland for 6 weeks. Flew into Cape Town to visit family/friends there, & then flew up to Durban & drove from there to Swaziland over about 10 days. Stayed with friends in Swaziland, flew out of Jo'burg. It was a great trip. Went to a safari camp in Swaziland which might be something to consider if you are concerned about malaria. The good thing about Swazi is that it's so small the bus journeys are reasonable with a small child on your lap - particularly if you time it for naptime - your concerns about risk/safety may of course vary.

When you say gate check a kid carrier backpack, do you mean check it in just as you are boarding the aeroplane? I haven't heard of doing that. We took a Macpac kid backpack that has storage capacity underneath & checked it in as luggage, taking our Ergo on to the plane with us.

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finlandusaaustralia
finlandusaaustralia

I took my 5 year old to South Africa, Botswana and Zambia in January 2010. We went to Kruger and stayed in a private safari lodge. I highly recommend it. With a toddler you might need to rent a car from Jburg and self-drive around Kruger because the safari organisers may not allow such young children on board. We went on an organised families only bus tour around SA so this was not a problem for us. He did get a bit bored after 5 safaris on the whole trip.

When my son was 3 we went to India and he took pediatric Malarone without any problems. He took it again at age 5 in South Africa.

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