HOW TO PLAN A TRIP TO AFRICA

AFRICA

Africa is an exotic continent with its density of free wild life, rich culture and awesome scenery.

It has always been a dream for us to visit the continent and savor some of its pleasures.

Our dream came true with a vacation, May 20-June 4, 2016!

Which country to choose?

We are huge fans of water falls and Mosi-oa-Tunya  (also known as Victoria falls) in Zimbabwe and Zambia has always been a must visit place.

We had had the privilege of visiting the mighty Iguaçu Falls in Brazil and Argentina in April 2012 and were blown away by the sheer beauty and might of the falls.

Eleanor Roosevelt’s comment that poor Niagara is a leaking faucet compared to the Iguaçu Falls is indeed true…

(I’ll get to documenting our Brazil/ Argentina trip a little while later; I'll write about our Niagara falls visit too later!)

We knew it’ll be a pleasure and privilege to enjoy Victoria falls… the smoke that thunders.

We also understood that the month of visit will have a bearing on our experience. We did not want to go in the drier months when the volume of water in the falls reduces. Yes, the heavy rain months have the issue of large volumes of water creating a huge spray obstructing viewing the main falls but we decided to go in the 1^st week of June.

Wow, what an experience we had viewing the cascades of water!

And wonder of wonders, elephants turned up for viewing on top of the Devil’s cataract and were also seen on our helicopter ride over the falls! What we had assumed were 5 rocks turned out to be 4 elephants and a rock on Devil’s cataract.

They are at 2.25min to 2.40 in this video!

https://picasaweb.google.com/108910506663540711253/6294685377235791985#6295770219143686338

Vic falls EVENING.

Now to get back to our planning…we had to plan our game drives and wild life viewing experience in Africa…

WILD LIFE NATIONAL PARKS:

There is no dearth of Wild life national parks in Africa.

Masai Mara (Kenya) and Serengeti (Tanzania)

Masai Mara in Kenya and Serengeti in Tanzania have been big draws for us after seeing numerous documentaries on the Great Migration. The mystic Kilimanjaro only adds to the attraction. We started reading up on the logistics of planning a trip there.

A couple of factors led to us dropping Kenya, Tanzania for now.

The month of May may not be the best to visit the Masai Mara in Kenya and Serengeti in Tanzania, we were looking for less heat. Also it seemed we have to do our trip as guided tour through agents. Not much scope for independent travel for a 1^st time visitor!

 Experienced travelers shake their head at trying to combine Victoria falls and other countries on the very 1^st visit… they sagely announce… “Where’s the hurry? Africa will keep calling to you once you’ve stepped foot there once. Reserve the falls for the next visit”

But no, we really, really wanted to combine Victoria falls in our 1^st visit.

BOTSWANA:

Botswana comes up a lot as the best choice when combined with Victoria falls, it seemed pretty expensive, again mainly with agents!

We wondered if there is an option for independent travel in these parts of the world for a 1^st time visitor…

Top self drive safari destinations:

The top self drive safari destinations are Kruger National Park, South Africa (KNP), Etosha, and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP). 

 Etosha National Park in northern Namibia is an awesome waterhole park. The name means Great White Place referring to the Etosha salt pan. It has all the mammals and is definitely an attractive safari destination. But the heat all through the year is scary... above 40 °C most of the months with a little dip in winter. Namibia is very much on our future agenda.

The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is vast wildlife preserve in the Kalahari Desert region of Botswana and South Africa, bordering Namibia to the west. It’s characterized by red dunes and dry rivers. . The Kgalagadi is huge and has awesome predator viewing but among big herbivores has only giraffe (no elephants, rhinos, buffalo); the drive is up and down the two valleys, not much variety.

Wildlife includes migrating herds of wildebeest and springbok, plus predators like raptors and black-maned Kalahari lions. Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is definitely on our wishlist for a future visit!

Kruger has the greatest diversity of animals and habitats.

Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park,  KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa  (north of Durban) is known for its rich wildlife and conservation efforts. Good self drive options; the area is 1000 sq km as opposed to 20000 sq km in Kruger.

Oh yes, South Africa looms up very attractive on the horizon!

SOUTH AFRICA:

 South Africa has plenty of scenic delights as the map shows.

With the 2 weeks at our disposal, we chose 3 bases in South Africa: Cape Town, Kruger and 2 days in the Mpumalanga area.

We tried to buy a multi-city option for flights: Houston to Cape Town; then Johannesburg to Houston for the return flight. This was available for USD 1008 in Dec 2015 but before we could lock it in, the option became costlier and hovered around 1400. The return ticket Houston-Johannesburg was USD 1008. We bought it in December and that was that!

So that was the Logistics made us choose Johannesburg to fly in and out. Ideally our multicity option should have been Houston to Cape Town; then Victoria Falls to Houston for the return flight. Though this will also be routed through Johannesburg, the headache of missing connections could have been avoided. But we could not do it at that early stage because the online visa system for Zimbabwe was going through some glitches and we were not too sure it'll work when we needed to use it!

Our main bases Cape Town, Kruger and Victoria falls are marked in this schematic. (We did not fly to Livingstone marked in this  map as we did not have a visa for Zambia). Just using this to show the orientation of our bases...

We chose to stay in Cape Town for 4 nights, followed by our 5 night Kruger stay and then a 2-day drive on the panoramic route with a stay in Graskop. We flew to Victoria falls town in Zimbabwe, after 2 nights there, flew back on the 3^rd day to catch our international flight back to Houston.

Kruger National Park:

Kruger National Park, in northeastern South Africa, is one of Africa’s largest game reserves.  It covers an area of 19,485 sq km (7,523 sq mi) and has high density of wild animals.  

The 1^st options that came up on research were the private reserves that quote a minimum of USD 350 per person per day for an all inclusive experience: game lodge, morning and evening guided drive, all meals, drinks. The price goes up as the swankiness of the lodge increases! We were not too keen as we are vegetarians and don’t imbibe alcohol!

Kruger offers camping sites, tents with shared ablutions for those with budget constraints.

For those of us who need our creature comfort, there are self service bungalows with beds, bath and kitchen facilities in many reserves.

We booked the perimeter bungalow in Berg-en-dal for 2 nights and 3 nights in Skukuza, 1^st in interior bungalow and the next 2 nights in riverside bungalow… all very nominally priced. There are restaurants, shops, gas stations, even ATMs in most camps.

All have safe, fenced picnic area for day visitors where we can take short food, toilet breaks between our game drives.

https://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/

gives all details. We booked online and availed the 5% discount. This is the official site. On google searches 

http://www.krugerpark.co.za/Maps_of_Kruger_Park-travel/knp-camp-gates-map.html

has a map of gates and camps. Be aware this is not the official site. Don't do your booking here. For booking use the link of sanparks. 

Camps and Gates of Kruger: To explain our logistics: We entered through Malelane gate in the extreme south, stayed at Berg-en-Dal for 2 nights. Moved to Skukuza for 3 nights and exited through the Paul Kruger gate

A private company Siyabona Africa always comes out on top in any Kruger related search on google above SAN parks own official website and could be very confusing for tourists. Siyabona Africa have official looking website names like the following:

www.krugerpark.co.za

www.safari.co.za

www.Southafrica.co.za 

www.botswana.co.za

www.kenyasafari.com

www.nature-reserve.co.za

www.mozambique.co.za

www.hotel.co.za

It’s good to check if the site if really the official site before booking on it, so that we get the benefit of the real prices and not the higher charges of a private site

With game drives in our self driven car rented at the airport, we had an awesome time!

We did book a bush walk 5am-8am and early morning game drive in open jeep with rangers… well we must confess we saw plenty more on our own in much close quarters!

Our choice of late May gave us pleasant temperatures, we loved it!

Wild Life Viewing:

Now comes the question… “Why go to a national park to view wild life? Can’t one just see an elephant or rhino from the safety of a barrier fence in a zoo?”

ANSWER: the sheer thrill of coming upon an animal in the parks beats any baby panda you’d have seen and enjoyed in a zoo! And it’s great to know wild life lives free as it ought to, with no man made constraints!

Next question: Is it safe? We read news stories of animal attack on unsuspecting tourists and see such terrible videos?

ANSWER: Follow The Rules… DON’T BE IN THE WAY OF ELEPHANTS, for instance.

We did see tourists flouting rules, you are supposed to have 30-40m  between an elephant… one elli who found a car in the way when she tried to cross the road turned to face the errant driver, stepped right at him and shook her head at them!

We are not sure if the driver realized he was in the line of the elli’s walk, he probably thought the elli should walk round the car. The video link Kruger 2 is posted in the Kruger post.

This elephant found this truck guy a little too close, stopped feeding, started walking toward him throwing mud on himself… we backed off speedily as the track is a little too narrow for surviving an oncoming elli.

Truck guy pulled to a side almost into bushes giving space for elli to walk and waited.

Elli kept coming…

We wondered if we should follow the guy’s lead and park by the side… but the track is too narrow for our comfort and the bushes too thorny!

We made a 3 point turn and left the scene watching the rear view mirror for updates! We saw truck guy reversing and elli continuing calm strides… then could not see the truck. Decided to turn back.

The elli had decided to continue with the feed and had turned back to his tree. The truck guy again stuck quite close as you can see!

After these few minutes of drama we quit the road, enough excitement for our very 1^st hour of game drive!

(Well actually, son wanted to stick on and watch further developments! Truck guy was his hero! I was uncomfortable with the situation…what if another elli or 2 decide to emerge behind the car… we’ll be truly trapped then! I ordered that we should leave the scene!)

Guess the truck guy would have had his fun observing the elli at close quarters for as much time as he wanted, engaging in silent drama with a very aware elephant!

(Again video link Kruger 1 is given in the Kruger post…http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2016/06/south-africa-trip-report-kruger.html)

What I mean to say is every one has their radar of safety and risk limits. Use your common sense, no need to push the boundaries. Revving the car engine can be interpreted as aggression by the animal.

Main issue here is we should not stress out or harass the animal. If an animal perceives us as threat he may act out. No need to provoke aggression. Unfortunately elephants have been put down for getting aggressive when clearly the tourist had broken the rules.  

Be safe than sorry! Remember it’s their territory and we are the visitors; they have right of way, ALWAYS!

Another important issue is the animal should be wary of too much proximity with humans. We feel we are having harmless fun getting close up with the animal but an animal allowing such proximity may fall prey to poachers.

Let’s do our bit to ensure these magnificent creatures continue to roam our planet.

Question 3: Do you need special tracking skills for self game drives? How do you ensure seeing wild life?

Well, just get up early, pack your food/water if need be and start your drive. Keep looking out your window and voila, you see a movement in the bushes and there is a herd of elephants! Many a time the animals are right on the road!

Three cheetahs were hardly 5 feet from our car!

They were staring at us curiously...Guess they were getting their daily quota of human life viewing!

This pack of hyenas were going at their kill before dawn…



Later saw one with its baby in its burrow right at road side…aww…such a privilege seeing a hyena as mom!



It’s the last frames in Kruger 4 video, the link for which is given in the Kruger post...http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2016/06/south-africa-trip-report-kruger.html

Six zebras executed a perfect zebra crossing barely a few feet away from us with this gal stopping right in the middle of the road and engaging in a staring contest with us!

Later there was a lot of friskiness between three of them,

Caught a bit on video

https://picasaweb.google.com/108910506663540711253/6294685377235791985#6296472080136335202

Kruger 3: zebra crossing

When this elephant herd of 30 or so individuals, babies and all, crossed the road just a few feet ahead of us, this lady stood right on the side lines looking at us, probably ensuring we were not trying any hanky panky! We had heard matriarchs guard the herd --  it was great to see it in action.

Rhinos both white and black crossed right in front of us with their babies!

There were plenty of giraffes just a few feet from us, bending their body in all contortions trying to eat their quota for the day! We got our quota of pics of headless giraffes and ones with heads too!

We saw the iconic elephants at waterhole scene, with a couple engaged in playful butting!

Anytime our car crept by the road and came upon a herd of ellis feeding at the side, they lifted the trunk at us … probably to smell us! It felt like a nice personal salute!

There were many many birds, so colorful, the sweet bird calls filled the air even when we could not see them, one blue eared starling entertained us with an elaborate song!

We enjoyed the tiny resourceful dung beetle, frisky impalas, elands, kudus, buffalos, vervet monkeys, baboons, hippos and the warthogs too!

Did I mention the elephants?

 Ok, before this sounds like a list, I’ll quit right here and continue with the Kruger report
http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2016/06/south-africa-trip-report-kruger.html)in its appropriate place with pics and videos.

I would like to include our impressions on self drive in South Africa here...

SELF DRIVE IN SOUTH AFRICA:

We rented a car from Cape Town airport at 9.30 am on 22nd May and used it for the stay there and returned it on 26th morning when we took the flight from Cape Town to Nelspruit.

Again rented a car on May 26th from Nelspruit airport, drove to Kruger, did our game drives, drove out to Graskop and drove on the panorama route before returning the car at the airport on 1st June for our flight to JNB.

We had booked hatchback automatic both times. We were upgraded both times. At Cape Town, we got a sedan, Honda Accord. At Nelspruit, it was a step higher, we got an Audi! Both awesome. We took full insurance of course

No waiting at all both the times... Sunday morning at Cape Town airport, no line at all. Locals say there is always a huge wait... we were lucky!

In Nelspruit our flight had been so delayed, I asked son to run to the rental counter when I waited for the checked bag on landing. This proved a good strategy as by the time other passengers approached the counter after collecting bags, he had finished his formalities.

This was so important as we had to reach Kruger before dark... they have strict closing times, but we made it. They would have allowed late entry if we had shown them we had valid reason as flight delay... but still it's tough and scary to drive in failing light through the forest to reach our accommodation... animals are all out and we definitely did not want to surprise them by appearing suddenly on a dark road in front of them!! We did have a couple of close calls later on this count, details later! 

.Son is used to left hand drive in the US. I was a little worried right hand drive in SA may pose challenges, but he managed quite well. He says, sitting behind the steering wheel on the other side of the car automatically helps in orientation!

He did have a little trouble judging distance to the left side of the car... later we read that car rentals report dents/damage on the left side of cars when drivers from other parts of the world hit the curb. So I guess this is something to pay attention to... 

 He has plenty of experience on windy narrow mountain roads and that came in very handy on the hilly terrains in and around Cape Town. We have lovely videos of such driving!

Remember, driver is always on the divider side, passenger on curb side rule!

We followed rules/speed limits, stopping fully at stop signs etc. We always pulled up and let vehicles pass us when they were too close behind us.

 We had no run in with authority. We had read that there may be corrupt officials demanding money on spot and had printed out the suggested official paper to hand out in case of such an occurrence ... thankfully there was no need for that

While driving the panorama route, an oncoming car flashed their lights at us. We knew it’s a warning of some sort, we slowed down thinking there may be a cop… there were domestic cattle on the road with 100km speed limit. Very nice of the driver to warn us!

Another thing to report was returning past curfew at Skukuza on our last day. We did try and plan to return by 5.30, but the roads keep stretching and the dwindling light makes any silhouette look like an animal, we had to drive slow! Son got a stern admonition from the security guy at the gate for turning at the gate at 5.51pm, instead of 5.30! No fines though!

http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2016/06/south-africa-trip-report-day-1-jnb-day.html

covers our flight, landing at Johannesburg, our 1st day in Cape Town visiting the Table Mountain and Two oceans aquarium.