Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I noted ARUSHA. Looks like a good base to try to organize things? I mean, to get into the parks with a guide, etc.
It does seem there are national parks throughout South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya. But, maybe ARUSHA should be the place that I should focus on that, as opposed to the other countries south of Tanzania. Does that sound about right?
If you get to South Africa, I highly recommend Kruger National Park. It's ginormous, and I saw more kinds of wildlife there than I did in Kenya or Zambia. Also, Addo Elephant Park in South Africa is small, but fantastic for elephant viewing.
If you get to South Africa, I highly recommend Kruger National Park. It's ginormous, and I saw more kinds of wildlife there than I did in Kenya or Zambia. Also, Addo Elephant Park in South Africa is small, but fantastic for elephant viewing.
Kruger National Park in South Africa. I'll take a note of that one as well. Thanks.
...Wildlife viewing trips are extremely expensive. In Arusha you can book a day trip to a wildlife park with good looks at most of the big animals, for about $400. Multi-day safaris to game parks run at least $500 a day...
Not sure if this guy is smoking something or goes on some sort of Royal safari trips or prices have gone up 600% since I was there in 2004.
I did a 7 day safari to Masai Mara out of Nairobi in 2004. It was about 550 bucks for the whole seven days. I can't even imagine what you would get for 500 bucks a day. By the way unless you really like animals 7 days is wayyyyy to long for a safari. I think about 4 days would have been good. You see the same animals over and over again and while it is quite amazing watching them at first, 7 days is long.
And the park you go to depends on the time of year. For example for Masai Mara in Kenya and Serengeti in Tanzania the animals migrate back and forth at different times of the year. On that trip I spent 9 months traveling by land from Kenya down to South Africa with a random mistake of a side trip to Djibouti (by plane on that part). So I was in Kenya and then going to Tanzania so I could have done Masai Mara or Serengeti but for the time of year Masai Mara had more animals.
My sister and I did a tip in 1999 that was South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. Out of all my trips that was the best by far. We did a safari in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe and we did it on our own in our sub compact rental car. We were kind of naive and it out and walked around but the whole experience was awesome. I truly loved Zimbabwe and the people and it is so sad what Mugabe has done do that beautiful place. Anyway I am not recommending doing a safari that way but I did like it better. We stayed at a guest hues right outside the park and drive in each day. We didn't camp inside.
It sounds like you will be traveling for a while and have some time so yeah getting around and going from country to country is completely doable. Someone posted Malawi was kind of hard to get around. I spent 3 months in Malawi and I didn't find that at all. I did find that northern Mozambique was kind of a pain. But it is all doable and yeah you will meet people so when it is time to hit the road there will always be other travelers which makes everything just a little bit easier.
I did a 7 day safari to Masai Mara out of Nairobi in 2004. It was about 550 bucks for the whole seven days. I can't even imagine what you would get for 500 bucks a day.
Wildlife park entrance fees at the gate are around $100 a day, per person, and have been since at least 2004. Which by itself would be more than $550 for seven days, not even counting the outfitting.
Masai Mara's daily fees are now $70/80 (at least $500 a week), which is relatively low compared to other game parks.
For $500 a day, you would get the park entrance fee, a high-class, comfortable hotel, personally guided tour all day in a Land Rover (usually 4 people), all meals, and transport from Nairobi. $500 would not be unusual. Even budget-priced birdwatching tours in Mexico are priced at around $300 per day, including only a medium-range local hotel/meals and a tour guide in a crowded van.
Wildlife park entrance fees at the gate are around $100 a day, per person, and have been since at least 2004. Which by itself would be more than $550 for seven days, not even counting the outfitting.
Masai Mara's daily fees are now $70/80 (at least $500 a week), which is relatively low compared to other game parks.
For $500 a day, you would get the park entrance fee, a high-class, comfortable hotel, personally guided tour all day in a Land Rover (usually 4 people), all meals, and transport from Nairobi. $500 would not be unusual. Even budget-priced birdwatching tours in Mexico are priced at around $300 per day, including only a medium-range local hotel/meals and a tour guide in a crowded van.
I am not lying about what I paid. it was 550 not including tip. That was 8.5 years ago though and with driving time from Nairobi we were probably in the park for 6 days if they count 24 hour periods.
I looked up what the rates were in 2004 and on links to random bulletin boards people posted in 2005 they paid 30 USD for entrance and I went in 2004.
And the link you posted as non resident student adult as 40 bucks to enter right now. I had studied in Paris immediately before traveling. It was all part of my 18 month round the world. So I probably had a student ID from the Sorbonne and back then if regular admission was 25 or 30 then students were probably about 15. Anyway in 2004 it was 550 for a 7 day safari in Masi Mara.
And I am a budget traveler. Never would I pay 500 a day for those sorts of things. We were horrified by the people that fly right into the park and never see the real Africa. I know what the high end safaris entail and maybe in my 60s and 70' I'll be looking for something like that.
To the OP I would definitely suggest not booking it in advance as you would pay a lot more money. In Nairobi you have tons and tons of people selling safaris walking up and down the street. You can check our what more then one company has to offer and Lonely Planet tells you which are the better companies to go with.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
