Trip Report: African Animal Adventures
South Africa & Namibia April 28 – May 14
The call of Africa. Ah yes. Like all of you, I have seen photos and movies depicting Africa for as long as I can remember. I mean just say Tarzan and an instant image of Africa pops up for those of us old enough to remember. I have also read the histories, the novels and hundreds and hundreds of National Geographic magazine articles over the years. The animals, the jungles, the savannahs, the deserts all seemed so far away and yet so familiar. I wanted to go. Africa. I felt it in Morocco, when we touched the edge of the Sahara. It gets under your skin. And it touches something primordial in us. The hot African sun.
This trip has been a long time in the planning. I did a lot of basic research 7 years ago when I first thought that it might be interesting as a destination. I looked at the typical safari options available for Africa. You go to Kenya for the Rift Valley and the sensa tional great migration, Tanzania seems ideal for the smaller and more personal experience. And of course Rwanda for the gorillas. I looked at it all and the romance of it was kindled. But as readers of my other trip reports might know by now. the tour group thing just wasn't for me. So I dismissed the idea for a while until i heard about Kruger Park in South Africa. Fodor's forum - my usual Europe info go to - has a weak Africa section but it did lead me to the SanPark forum with lots of info about Kruger. Hosted by the park system of South Africa, the forum was a goldmine of info about how to see wild Africa in a different way. Kruger allows a one on one experience without the guides, the porters and the 'get on the bus' routine. The more I read, the more I liked the idea. You see, you can self drive in Kruger. Yeah, that's right . . . rent any vehicle, bring a camera and drive yourself around amongst the wild animals in this massive park. Sounds kind of cool, right?
And once I was set on South African I started filling in the rest of the blanks. South Africa is obviously not just one big game viewing destination but it offers a host of other places to see and things to do. My long-time employer and his wife had done a trip there in recent years and I will admit I stole many ideas from them. She kindly shared their itinerary and encouraged me to go. When I saw their itinerary included a trip to Namibia, I was intrigued and the Namib desert became a permanent fixture in my itinerary plans. The mountains of the cape appealed as well offered great wines with a stunning backdrop and the finest dining in SA, so Stellenbosch and Francshhoek were added. And penguins. Are you kidding me? Who doesn't want to see penguins?
From a practical side, it required a lot of logistical planning. I never use an agent so I had to weave the flights, the rental cars and the hotels into an acceptable, doable and safe package that would work for us. I started planning thi s before we even took our last vacation. Trip Advisor reviews & the forums were the best overall resource.
The final itinerary:
Fly Canada to Amsterdam – 2 nightsFly AMS to FRA - connect to overnight flight to JNB - connect to Cape TownRental car to Franschhoek – 2 nightsDrive to Stellenbosch - 2 nightsFly Cape Town to Windhoek, NamibiaRental truck to lodge near Solitaire - 3 nightsDrive back to Windhoek - 1 nightFly SA to JNB - connect to short SA flight to Skukuza in Kruger ParkSkukuza Rest Camp - 2 nightsLower Sabie Rest Camp - 2 nightsHamilton's Tented Camp (Mluwati Concession) - 2 nightsFly from Skukuza SA to JNB – Johannesburg - 1 nightFly JNB to Cape Town - I nightFly CPT to IST – connect to Toronto
Yeah, that's a whole lotta flyin' goin' on but the distances were too vast to consider driving. And I didn't want to drop any of our destinations, so fly we did. Every flight worked and every destination lived up to expectations. Read on, and don't wo rry . . . I'll get to the penguins and much, much more . . .
It's a long report & best seen with pictures. Go to:
http://imcarthur.weebly.com/south-africa--namibia.html
Ian
Source: Trip Report: South Africa & Namibia April 28 – May 14
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