Safari

[Alixw]

Has anyone been on a safari in africa before? I'm looking on the web at different holidays, but there are so many places to go on safri that i wouldnt know which is best?!

[jno]

yes, there's a wide range, so first decide what you want to do. If money is important, Kenya is probably a good place - lots of accommodation (campsites to luxury hotels), big game parks, good infrastructure; though this also means you'll bump into a lot of other people also barrelling around the game reserves in minivans. Also good if you want to tag a few days on the beach onto the end. Tanzania is similar, more expensive, fewer people, less well set up, greater sense of adventure. These two countries have nice scenery - open grassland where it's often easy to see animals. Further south - South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe - is bushier and harder to spot game, though just as rewarding. Botswana is upmarket and expensive (they don't need safaris, they have diamond mines). Namibia has unique scenery: deserts with elephants, campsites with waterholes lit up all night so you can sit up and watch animals drink.

Choose your time of year - best is at the end of the dry season; bush is sparse and animals come out to drink at water holes.

[hannahjo]

I went to Tanzania a couple of years ago and whilst I can�t compare it to any other safari destination (as it�s the only place I�ve been) it was amazing. We went to Lake Manyara, The Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crator (if you camp here over night, then waking up to the sunrise will take your breath away!!). after a 4 day safari we got a bus down to Dar Es Salaam, and a boat across to Zanzibar. I�ve never seen such clear water in my life! Here you can see more wildlife � vervet monkeys in the forest, snorkelling and you can go out on a boat to look for wild dolphins, when you�ve found them everyone jumps in the water and swims with them � one of the most amazing experiences of my life! And great too because as they are wild, they will simply swim off if they don�t want to be around humans. They only bad thing I have to say about Tanzania is that some of the people seemed to see us as walking wallets. I know we are more privileged than many people out there but they seemed to have a completely unrealistic view of how wealthy we were (or weren�t rather!) and simply couldn�t understand when we said we couldn�t afford stuff, or why we didn�t think that someone simply picking our bag off the floor and putty it on a trolley didn�t deserve a $10 tip! But don�t let this put you off considering Tanzania � it�s a beautiful country!

[Peghead]

I went to Kruger National Park in South Africa and also to Hwange in Zimbabwe, but it sounds very similar to jno and hannahjo's holidays. They were both amazing places to visit, but the one thing I would advise is to go on an organised drive in a jeep, especially if they do a night drive, as you see so much more than driving yourself. We did a night drive in Kruger and it was fantastic. The driver turned the lights off and drove really carefully for about 30 metres (I assume he had some sort of night vision camera) and when he turned the head lights back on there was a lioness with her 5 cubs right in front of the jeep. On another day out with the guide we were lucky enough to see a black rhino and its 3 month old baby. An amazing experience, definitely something I would do again and recommend to anyone. Also, make sure you invest in a decent camera with a good zoom - some of the waterholes are quite far from the view points.

You'll have a fantastic time where ever you decide to go!