I was surprised that we could ride the horses. They said when you’re on horseback you’re considered part of the animal and it’s safe.
I think for me it ranks as the most luxurious trip I’ve been on. Even in the tent camp we had hot showers and wonderful food and cocktails.
We went to South Africa earlier this year. Spent a few days at Kruger - some in the Kruger park itself and a couple in a private tented camp in the greater Kruger area.
We chose to drive ourselves in Kruger and that was one amazing time. Can’t describe the feeling of suddenly seeing an elephant walk towards you or a giraffe just give you a look and go back to chewing his leaves! It was a thrill each time we spotted something and we saw tons and tons of animals. We did do the early morning and late evening drives with the park rangers (you can’t self drive before sunrise or after sunset) and those were nice, but we preferred our self drive option.
Two days in the greater Kruger area - nice tented camp, great food and company. We went on 3 hour drives twice a day - but unfortunately, didn’t see as much. We did get really close to the animals we saw though - the guides know how close to get and when to back off. That was amazing and a little bit freaky as well.
The recommendation I had seen for Kruger was to do a couple of days of self drive and a couple of days at a tented camp and I think that recommendation was spot-on. Loved the whole experience - hoping to go back and do Masai Mara in Kenya sometime.
To be honest, I wouldn’t recommend self-driving, because you will always see more with an experienced guide. Our friend leads safaris as a side gig, and it was amazing what he could spot through the bush that we would totally miss.
Yes, I would say you’ll see greater numbers of animals in Kruger, but at a greater distance, too.
That wasn’t our experience at all. Like I said above, with the experienced guide and scout, we only saw a few animals, but maybe that was an issue with the camp we were with. On the other hand, we saw tons of animals on our self-drive and not at a distance - very much up close! A lot of them crossed the road right in front of us. We even saw lions mating on the side of the road.
OK, just telling you our experience. There are animals that are good at hiding that you just aren’t going to see.
I think the issue was the location you were in when you didn’t see many.
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We had a main guide who went with us from place to place. At each lodge we also have guides provided by the lodge. We saw lots of wildlife on each drive. I don’t think we would have seen as much on our own. My son is eagle eyed and he was a great spotter. We also learned a lot about the history of the country from our guide and also from the owners of several of the lodges.
We have a friend who used to be a hunting safari guide in Africa. He is the best storyteller.
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Yes, another advantage to having a guide is that they know a lot of the animals individually. There are groups of male lions known as coalitions that try to move in on each other’s territory. The guides can tell you so much! A lot of politics and maneuvering.
We saw one dominant coalition kill an African buffalo. Later we found out they had a Facebook page! They were Kings of the Hill for a long time, but they finally died.
Agree. We had a very experienced hired driver for our long day trip to the game park…but the first thing he did was pick up an experienced guide/ranger when we entered the park. This was pre-arranged.
We were not allowed out of the vehicle most of the time…but there was one area where the zebras and giraffes were in a sort of meadow…not close to us. And we all got out so we could take pictures. Really terrific!
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Not disputing anything that all of you are saying. The guide we had gave us a ton of info, on the animals, the habitats and like @MaineLonghorn said, they knew their animals. They were keeping track of a set of lions (brothers) including a very rare white lion born in the wild and we saw these lions on each of our drives. Amazingly close - in fact, on the last drive, when he pulled up in some grass and stopped, I was wondering why and completely stunned to see the lions sleeping a few feet away!
I don’t know if many other parks offer the self drive option. I was incredibly skeptical when I saw that we could do this ourselves in Kruger and a bit apprehensive too. H was pretty certain we were not going to see anything. But we were blown away by how many animals we saw and how close they were. A bit of a surreal experience to be driving along a paved road and suddenly see a herd of elephants on the side or zebra/giraffe. We saw them so often that H started to say he wasn’t going to stop of zebra or giraffe anymore!
Just curious - has anyone else here done the self drive option?
We self-drove in Kruger and also saw tons of animals! I can’t imagine seeing more with a guide and the thrill of coming across them on our own was amazing. The only thing I’d I’m sure we didn’t get as close as a guide might - at one point there were four lions lying in the road and I was like, okay, backing up now. I loved the freedom to drive ourselves and the thrill of discovery. I’m sure we missed a few but it seemed a small price to pay. I later went with a group to the Kalahari and didn’t see nearly as many but that was most likely due to the fact they’d had a big rain and the animals didn’t have to stay as close to the watering holes as usual.
I added a ton of birds to my life list due to our guides. Every one knew every bird we encountered. I had a field guide and I’d check off each one, and they were correct every time. One guide even spotted some turquoise tail feathers from a lilac breasted roller on the side of the road, stopped and picked them up, and gave them to me.
One also pointed out a gazelle carcass up in a tree that a leopard had taken up.
We also witnessed the birth of a baby gazelle right off the side of the road that we would have missed had our guide not pointed it out to us.
On our walking safari, we didn’t see many larger animals, but we learned all kinds of things about the ecological relationships of the plants and animals in the area.
I love having guides because they are full of knowledge, but I get that some might want to just soak in the scenery without a stranger in the vehicle.
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I have traveled the African continent extensively. We started with taking our children when they were 13 and 7 and just kept exploring ( along with other international travel with them - simply the best education ever). First trip in Africa was to Kenya and have been to 26 or so African countries since. North, South, East and West Africa - all amazing in their unique ways. As far as Safari goes - we have done many, all unique. I advise many friends and acquaintances when asked. In my experience, if I were to pick only one place to go on Safari , I would choose Zimbabwe or Zambia. Stay in small intimate tented camps and feel and breathe the nature. This is what Safari is about. In these 2 countries the guiding notoriously exceeds anywhere else in Southern Africa. You are alone in the bush without 10 other vehicles surrounding one lion. This is just a suggestion, if you really want that raw nature experience. Also, take time to walk around towns, villages. Make the effort- Talk to the people who live there. This will add so much to your experience. Don’t wait- go!
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Anyone here use Micato tours? Thoughts?
Is there a reason to use someone from the UK?
We were told they have more experience with African travel and more connections there.
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Our friend who lives in Capetown says that there are TONS of tourists who come there during their vacations. Perhaps that is why.
Any other strong recommendations for tour companies?
We went on a Tauck tour to Kenya and Tanzania. We were very happy with them, and plan to take other tours with them. We saw that Micato and Abercrombie and Kent stayed at the same lodgings as we did and all the drivers and guides would share sightings along the game drives. When asked what the difference was between the companies I was told the other ones gave out fancier luggage lol. In addition to bringing a sports bra I would recommend a blow up seat cushion. Really made a difference in comfort on those bumpy game drives.
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I’m going to contradict myself and recommend Kimkim travel. We used them for a trip to Costa Rica and they were fab to work with. They can customize your itinerary and will work with you until you are satisfied. They have local experts in each area they work in.
When we went on our tour in Manual Antonio every guide we passed told us we had the best bird guide in Costa Rica. He was absolutely awesome.
The whole tour was like clockwork; not a single glitch.
How big were the groups? I looked at Tauk, Micato and Abercrmbie&Kent. The latter 2 seem to cap the groups at 18 people. Tauk has groups of 30. That seems big.