The six questions to ask before you decide where to go on safari

There are a number of questions which you ought to think about first, which is able to assist you get a transparent thought of what you hope to derive out of your journey. The continent is huge, and the vary of experiences and alternatives is limitless, so understanding your hopes will assist immensely together with your planning. Start with these six questions to assist you plot your journey.

At the very least it’ll give you a head begin on your analysis and let you give your tour operator a extra targeted and acceptable transient, permitting them to use their appreciable expertise to your profit.

 

1. How lengthy do I need to go for?

The reply to this query has a right away affect on the selection of your eventual vacation spot. Because Africa is so immense, the size of your journey will both restrict or prolong the vary of actions and sights out there to you.

For occasion, a brief journey will imply that you’ll have to focus on a vacation spot that has a excessive density of points of interest and good transportation hyperlinks. With extra time, you’ll have the opportunity to think about a mix of locations additional aside, or benefit from the alternative to transfer at a slower tempo. This may imply altering your mode of transport, whether or not that’s by taking public transport or travelling between websites in a personal 4WD or air constitution.

 

2. When do I need to go?

For journey in Europe, the reply to this query determines merely what garments you’ll pack. In Africa, it impacts what you are ready to see and do – and in lots of instances, if you may even make it there.

Wildlife populations migrate, congregate and mate in accordance to the seasons. Parks can burst with animals at sure instances of the 12 months and be eerily quiet at others. Some reserves could also be inaccessible through the rains. The good factor is that there’s all the time nice wildlife someplace; you simply want to match the precise area to your journey dates.

If coping with journey brokers or tour operators, all the time be clear on what’s extra vital: the vacation spot or the wildlife. If it’s the latter, you shouldn’t begin off with “I’d like to go on safari in Kenya this March.” Rather, you’d be higher off saying: “I’d like to go on safari this March; where is wildlife best during that period?”

Having stated that, there could also be trigger to see a park or reserve within the ‘off-season’, when a special expertise is on provide, equivalent to the plush inexperienced season in Zambia. You want to guarantee you are properly knowledgeable and know what to anticipate.

Even if wildlife isn’t your precedence, all the time enquire in regards to the seasonal climate patterns of a vacation spot before reserving. Being within the Sahara through the Harmattan winds or within the Ethiopian lowlands through the wet season might be a recipe for disappointment.

 

3. Who am I travelling with?

Are you intending to journey alone, together with your accomplice, your youngsters or a bunch of pals? Some areas provide nice worth lodging for bigger teams and households, just like the Kenyan coast where you can hire total seashore homes. Others have extra luxurious and romantic choices for {couples} on honeymoon. If you’re travelling with somebody who has mobility points, equivalent to being in a wheelchair, there are many choices however you’ll want to think about the supply out there on the services that can host you.

The personalities and health ranges of your group may assist pin down sure facets of your vacation. If one in all you can be terrified by the considered sleeping in a tent inside a wildlife reserve, with nothing however canvas separating you from lions, you might want to go for sturdy-walled lodge lodging as an alternative. If your stairs at house depart you in need of breath, climbing Kilimanjaro or trekking to see gorillas could also be out of the query (or a motivation for you to elevate your health ranges first!).

Who you journey with may have an effect on how you get round. If your companions are aged or have mobility points you might have extra snug floor transportation, or you could also be higher off taking inner flights (one thing not out there in every single place).

Travelling with youngsters is a viable possibility in Africa and truly limits your selection of vacation spot lower than you may consider. Yes, some safari lodges received’t take youngsters, however there are oodles of others, and nationwide parks, that welcome them with open arms – some even have particular youngsters’s programmes. Seek them out. If you’re ever turned away by one operator, simply ask one other and you will quickly discover pleasure.

There are additionally some wonderful wildlife areas to go to which are malaria free; others are protected to go to if you observe well being recommendation out of your journey clinic.

 

4. Do I need to journey independently or on an organised tour?

Travelling independently provides you super flexibility, although it additionally means doing every thing your self. If you’re out to see the tradition of West Africa, this may increasingly contain many hours driving native bush taxis (a rewarding, albeit gradual, expertise). For a self-drive tenting safari, you may rent a 4WD and head into Namibia’s Etosha National Park, or check your mettle within the coronary heart of the Kalahari. Some areas, particularly southern Africa, are higher suited to self-drive holidays, so in case your aim is to get behind the wheel you ought to have the opportunity to hone in on your vacation spot pretty shortly.

Organised excursions and safaris put management within the arms of skilled skilled planners and operators, so – assuming you have briefed them properly – there ought to be much less probability of your expectations not being met. You can sit again, calm down and never have to fear about all of the logistics concerned. Cultural excursions with skilled guides are undoubtedly additionally extra rewarding and academic than they might be with a guidebook alone.

 

5. What is my funds?

The dimension of your funds received’t actually preclude you from visiting most areas – it’ll merely change how you expertise them. Your funds will decide the vary of lodging and transportation you are open to, and – relying how you allocate it – what mixture of actions you can enable your self.

If you’re ready to use public transport and keep in fundamental lodging, a backpacker’s funds can take you most locations. However, there are some prices you will not be going to have the opportunity to keep away from, equivalent to park charges. In some nations, you might discover this restricts your time in some parks.

Be conscious that cash buys you greater than only a smooth mattress on safari: it might additionally land you a top-notch information and a snug open-topped 4WD as an alternative of a transformed minibus. Quality wildlife guides not solely improve your possibilities of seeing vary of wildlife, their information enormously enhances your enjoyment of the encounters, usually offering stimulating insights into species you had beforehand recognized little about.

We consider a top quality information is among the most vital investments you will make, and would counsel you compromise on different facets of the journey in case your funds is restrictive.

For these on a bigger funds, personal reserves can provide a extra unique expertise. Often flanking nationwide parks and reserves, they possess wealthy populations of wildlife and may present a level of consolation and luxurious that may be extraordinary.

A good suggestion if you’re on a medium funds and wish premium wildlife experiences is to combine and match, spending top-end cash on an organised safari in the course of your journey, whereas travelling independently before and after it.

 

6. What do I need to see and do?

It’s seemingly you’ll have a way of why you need to go to Africa; in all probability your motivation will focus on a mix of six classes: wildlife, tradition, historical past, landscapes, actions and seashores.

One might dominate – you could also be purely in a traditional safari, for instance – or you’ll need to give equal precedence to a mix of things (wildlife and seashores, for instance). You’ll want to choose a vacation spot which may provide every of those parts, inside the framework set out by your solutions to questions 1-5 above.

Be conscious that this listing is much from exhaustive; it’s not possible to cowl that type of floor in a single article. Our aim is merely to level you in the precise course, whether or not planning your journey your self or as a place to begin to your discussions together with your tour operator.

Safari njema!