As we all know safaris are not an inexpensive way of enjoying a holiday or vacation. So I thought it might be helpful to discuss some ways to save money when planning your safari to get the best value. An ill-planned itinerary often results in a more expensive safari due to hidden costs that add to the price but don’t add much to your enjoyment. Here are eight tips to help you to save money.

1) Travel out of Peak Season
Make good use of the varying seasons if you are flexible as to when you can travel. You can save a lot of money if you travel in what is perceived to be ‘Low season’ and yet in many cases the area is as attractive as in High Season.

A classic example is a safari in South Africa. The best game-viewing period is May to August/September. This is the dry season. There is less surface water around and the vegetation is sparser so the animals need to come to the rivers to drink and are more visible. This happily co-incides with South Africa’s traditional low season from May to August (as many Europeans come for winter sun holidays) so many of the game lodges find themselves a little emptier and so offer low season special rates or longer stay rates such as ‘stay four nights for the price of three’.

Another example is in the Okavango Delta. The delta floodwaters start coming in from late May/early June and are at the best between July and October. Prices increase dramatically at the beginning of July in consequence. However in a normal year, (as floodwaters vary from year to year), many lodges have good floodwaters (and therefore a convergence of game) from mid June onwards so late June is an excellent time to save money without compromising on your safari enjoyment.

The peak seasons vary by country but our consultants can advise you on the ‘best’ low season months.

Remember to let our consultants know if you are interested in staying at lodges which have good off season specials, as we know which lodges offer the greatest differential between High and Low Season.

2) Get a group together and just stay one place for a week
Another tip is to take one safari lodge exclusively for a week with a group of friends or family. This can be terrific value for money and we could suggest a couple of different options in the Eastern Cape or the Welgevonden, both malaria-free.

3) Keep a watch on your travelling
If you visit many different parts of Southern Africa, this not only results in high flight costs but also extra transfers to and from the airport, often extra stopover nights sometimes at airport hotels or in cities which hold little interest for you. Our travel consultants constantly weigh up the uniqueness of a specific area with the associated costs of getting there. Often we can suggest an equally attractive area that does not require an extra flight or en route stopover.

4) How you choose to travel around
This is a big one! The cost of your holiday or vacation will vary extensively depending on how you travel around the country. On safari we use either road transfers or light aircraft transfers. The latter are obviously more expensive but they are quicker and sometimes unavoidable due to the terrain.

However the real price saving occurs if you are opting for some general touring as well as a safari, as many of our clients do. For general touring in South Africa, for example, there are various ways of traveling around – using a rental car, taking road transfers and day excursions, taking an escorted tour or taking a private driver/guide. Assuming the accommodation you chose was exactly the same, a self-drive holiday will be the least expensive, followed by mixing transfers & scheduled tours, followed by a private tour for a small party of 4 to 6 followed by a private tour for just 2 people.

Self-drive holidays are the most cost-effective, and often you can stretch your money by opting for self-drive so that you can still stay in the best hotels.

Our next post will give the last four tips. Please let us know your money-saving tips as well….

I recently had the good fortune to visit Singita Lebombo and Singita Sweni lodges, both in the Kruger National Park of South Africa.  The Singita Kruger lodges make an excellent combination with the Singita Sabi Sands lodges of Ebony and Boulders, or indeed with any lodge in the private game reserve of Sabi Sands or Timbavati, as the terrain and therefore the game-viewing is quite different. The game-viewing was good at Singita despite the summer rains during our stay. Here you see larger herds of animals – big herds of zebra, wildebeest, nyala, kudu, and there are two large resident prides of lion on the concession so chances of seeing lion are high. The one animal that you may not see easily is the leopard which typically hides away in the rocks, unlike in the Sabi Sands.

Singita Lebombo and Singita Sweni lie in the foothills of the Lebombo mountains which form the eastern edge of the Kruger National Park. Unlike some other Kruger concession lodges, Singita Kruger, (as the two lodges are collectively known), sticks to game drives on its own concession, thus maintaining the aura of exclusivity. It is a huge concession of 15,000ha so you probably won’t even see another game vehicle on your drives. The rangers are allowed to go off road for sightings but this must be carefully documented which I think is appropriate and ecologically sensitive.

Singita Kruger also tries to differentiate itself from the Sabi Sands by being a little more flexible in their game activities (which reinforces the argument for combining the two areas).  They do not stick so rigidly to the “two game drives with short bush walk after breakfast formula”. They try to incorporate bush walks into their drives and guests can opt to go on a longer morning bush walk instead. Archery is another activity guests can enjoy and they’ve just introduced guided mountain biking in the concession. At the lodge itself, you can spend time at the Trading Post which is a collection of open spaces/rooms selling beautiful African crafts, jewellery and curios. The spa and gym is in the same area so it naturally fits together to enjoy a treatment followed by a little retail therapy… Lebombo has its own wine cellar and wine-tasting is offered on request by their resident Sommelier.

Now to the lodges…

Singita Lebombo is on a ridge with panoramic views of the surrounding bush, whereas Sweni lies below it nestled in the bushveld alongside the river.

We stayed at Singita Sweni, and though this probably swayed us, it was interesting most of us preferred Sweni to Lebombo – albeit marginally. I loved the intimacy of the smaller lodge (with only six suites), the setting right on the river, the stylish airy interiors both of the public areas and the rooms.

The six suites fan out on either side of the main lodge and are simply glorious. They are modern in style but in an approachable way. The rooms are completely made of glass but bamboo rods form a shaded back- and side- drop to the rooms and also give you the necessary privacy when showering etc. The colours are neutral with soft greens, beiges and browns but it has a light airy feel. There’s a spacious bedroom and a deck with a comfortable day bed for those afternoon siestas. The bathroom is open plan with sunken bath, indoor shower and outdoor shower. Sweni also has a second toilet which is useful for the early morning rush to get out on game drive and a second indoor shower (which I thought was a bit of an overkill.) 

I have to confess that I wasn’t convinced I’d like Singita Lebombo having seen the glossy pictures. I thought it might be too divorced from its bush surroundings and too avant-garde. However this was not the case. The very openness of the lodge design means that you are always aware of the surrounding bush and feel part of it. Yes, the design and décor is very contemporary and wouldn’t look out of place in New York or London, but it doesn’t jar either. Nearly everyone who opts to stay here knows that it is one of the ‘new design’ game lodges.

The public areas are less intimate and more glamourous than at Sweni with lots of use of white furnishings, signature pieces of modern furniture and spectacular glass chandeliers. You have an overwhelming sense of space here.

The rooms at Sweni and Lebombo are basically the same design but with the use of the signature white décor more evident at Lebombo,  the glass chandeliers and also no second indoor shower at Lebombo. Most of the suites have a panoramic, rather than the more intimate riverine view at Sweni, but this is not guaranteed.

This is the last in a series of posts about bush and beach combinations. In the last post I talked about Thonga Beach Lodge in Coastal Maputaland. But I also enjoyed the other lodge in the area, Kosi Forest Lodge and would strongly recommend combining the two of them to get a varied beach and wetland experience.

Northern Maputaland is one of my favourite places in South Africa, (after the Cedarberg of course). It is lush, green, unspoilt and authentic with friendly people. In contrast to the beach setting of Thonga, Kosi Forest Lodge has an appealing setting amid the mangroves, swamp figs and ferns of the Kosi lake system in the Kosi Bay Nature Reserve.

Given its lakeside setting, Kosi Forest Lodge offers completely different activities to Thonga Beach Lodge so that you can easily opt to combine the two lodges. Kosi offers guests the unique opportunity of exploring a pristine wetland environment by guided canoes, by boat and on foot. Its activities are split between enjoying guided canoeing on the tranquil lakes, nature and birding walks in the ancient raffia forest, boat cruises through the  lake system and nearby beach activities such as snorkelling, swimming at the secluded Bhanga Nek beach. However the focus is not on the beach. For that you must go to Thonga Beach Lodge.

Kosi is the more modest of the two lodges and so probably should be visited first if you stay at both lodges. It offers eight comfortable thatch and canvas rooms on raised wooden decks, hidden in the sand forest. Given the lack of electricity in the rooms (at the moment), it will not suit everyone but again, I found this lodge full of charm and the food was excellent.

There is electricity in the main lodge area and a new generator means that they are about to install some electric lighting in the rooms as well. (At the moment, there’s only paraffin lights.) They will light the bathroom area which is a little dark at the moment, and hopefully provide reading lights. The bathrooms have an indoor toilet and basin and an outdoor shower and sunken bath, lit with lanterns so very atmospheric at night.

Overall there have been a number of improvements since I last visited Kosi Forest Lodge. The deck has been extended and a second deck created a little away from the main camp area with a central fireplace, ideal for pre- or post dinner drinks. They’ve also created a lapa area under the forest canopy where dinners are usually served - a romantic intimate setting. They continue with their tradition of bringing in local singers from the nearby village to entertain the guests (usually every other night) and they were very good indeed.

We enjoyed the canoeing excursion on the first afternoon which incorporates a walk in the forest. Guests can leave the canoeing up to the guides, or opt to get active themselves.

The next in my series of articles on my recent fly-in safari enjoying bush and beach options.

Thonga Beach is one of my favourite beach lodges. Surprisingly there are relatively few great beach lodges in South Africa that can rival the beach lodges of Mozambique. Thonga Beach Lodge happens to be one of them. The only drawcard (usually) to the lodge is the relatively difficult access to the lodge. As befitting its pristine beach setting, it is a long way from anywhere. You can get to a nearby collection point by rental car but it helps if you have are staying elsewhere in northern KwaZulu Natal as the distances are great. Alternatively you can fly in by private plane but until now this has tended to become rather pricey.

However the new nine day fly-in safari offers an attractive option.   You stay first at a private game lodge in the Kruger National Park and then you fly direct to Thonga Beach Lodge with no hassle of large airports, scheduled departure times, checking in luggage. 

Thonga Beach Lodge lies the shores of the secluded Mabibi bay in Coastal Maputaland. The lodge lies in the heart of the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, an internationally recognized World Heritage Site, and there are no other developments within a 50km section of its pristine beach. Mabibi Beach is a magical place of tranquil swimming bays, sandy beaches, snorkelling reefs, coastal forest and shimmering lakes. The lodge, nestling high in the canopy of the dune forest, offers panoramic ocean views. It has a spacious airy beach feel with a stylish outdoor eating area, a secluded upstairs seating  area with a dvd player for children, a open air bar and wooden walkways leading to the rooms. 12 eco-friendly suites are decorated in a chic ‘Robinson Crusoe’ style, five with sea views and seven with forest views. (Distance to the beach varies between 30 and 120 metres only.) The thatched en-suite rooms have been carefully constructed in the coastal dune forest to ensure minimum impact on the environment whilst still ensuring maximum comfort.

Activities at Thonga Beach Lodge include snorkelling from the beach, swimming, bird-watching and sundowner cruises or guided canoe trips on Lake Sibaya (included in the rate) and various additional activities such as scuba diving and diving courses, an Ocean experience looking for whales and dolphins and cultural village visits. Turtle tracking is a highlight for summer visitors from November to February.

I would strongly recommend Thonga Beach Lodge as an alternative to the Mozambiquan lodges if you are short of time. It is quite staggering that on this pristine stretch of 200km of beach, there are only two lodges; Rocktail Bay and Thonga. I was very interested to see what the weather conditions were like in the middle of winter as this is virtually the only area in SA that we recommend for a beach experience in winter. I was thus relieved to find that the daytime temperatures were comfortably above 25°C and it didn’t get cold at night. We ate outside in the evening (when a fleece was needed later on) but they also have those outdoor gas heaters in case it gets chilly. The water was very swimmable at 23°C.

The lodge has a great beach feel to it. The lodges are hidden away in thick coastal vegetation with the tops of their roofs showing.  Interestingly they are much closer together than I would have expected (so as to minimize the disturbance to the pristine vegetation) but the vegetation makes most of them very private. The décor is sort of coastal minimalism!  The rooms are all identical, the only difference being the sea view or not.
The lodge is run on a relaxed resort basis. There is a board at the bar indicating activities on offer and you sign up for whatever takes your fancy. Non-motorised activities are included in the rates with motorized activities (eg scuba diving and turtle tracking by vehicle), being extra.

We enjoyed the Ocean Experience in the morning which involved at exciting boat launch in the surf followed by a whale-watching cruise to a snorkeling site. The visibility in the water was excellent at approx 10metres with lots of varied fish. Wetsuits were on offer though I didn’t take one and was fine. Though the water was moving (this is not the Dead Sea), it wasn’t dramatic and you could generally just float and watch. Excellent trip!

In my last post, I was enthusing about a nine day fly-in safari which I just sampled in South Africa. It combines bush and beach lodges in an immensely relaxing way, flying from one lodge direct to another by small private plane.

We began the ‘bush’ part of our bush and beach fly-in safari with Rhino Post Safari Lodge and Rhino Post Plains Camp. Here you combine open vehicle game drives into the Kruger with a full-fledged walking safari. Have a look at our Bush and Beach Fly-in Safari with Isibindi to have a better sense of how it all works together.

Rhino Post Safari Lodge is a 16-bed lodge within a 12,000 hectare private concession in the Kruger National Park. The nature of a wilderness area is that there are no permanent structures, so Rhino Post Safari Lodge was built using natural materials of stone, wood, thatch and canvas to create an authentic bush ambience. Approximately 10km north-east of Skukuza, the concession shares a 15km boundary with Mala Mala in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve, with game moving freely between the two reserves. Rhino Post focuses solely on game drives whilst its sister lodge, Plains Camp, and the sleep-out camp, focus on walking safaris. Usually clients stay at Safari Lodge before continuing to Plains Camp for walking safaris.

Rhino Post Plains Camp is the only private camp specializing in walking safaris in the Kruger. The concession comprises of environmentally sensitive areas previously unexplored, with huge diversity of both fauna and flora – an ideal setting for wilderness walking safaris. I really liked Plains Camp and would recommend this camp highly. Built in authentic pioneer tradition, Plains Camp has the feel of a 19th century naturalist’s bush camp. Mahogany furniture with brass hinges and leather straps, copper taps in the bathroom and various surveying tools and Africana memorablia complete the Out of Africa ambience. There’s an open sided mess tent with comfy chairs and books, a separate dining tent, open to one side, a small plunge pool for cooling off and four very comfortable en suite tents. After an early morning wake-up and an invigorating cup of fresh coffee in the lounge, you set off on foot. A walking safari affords the ultimate, close-to-the-wild experience, and a chance to focus on the smaller bush inhabitants including birds, insects and butterflies. 

The guiding is excellent. Fritz was our guide and he had a very pleasant manner – quiet, calm and confident. We were exceptionally lucky on our evening walk, encountering a huge herd of about 300 buffalo, and then later on enjoying drinks near a waterhole when a herd of elephant arrived to drink. However, as is usual on a walking safari, we mainly focused on the smaller aspects of the bush: why animals behave as they do, what trees are used for what purpose, which dung belonged to which animal and why, as well as bird-watching aplenty.
The heat of the day was spent at the camp, enjoying their small Africana book collection, our comfortable beds and the plunge pool overlooking the plains. Afternoon walks and sundowners completed a fulfilling bush experience before dinner back at the camp.

The Sleep-Out
You can also elect to sleep one night at The Sleep-Out. You walk from Plains Camp in the afternoon and arrive at the platforms in the early evening carrying a lightweight rucksack containing a change of clothes, a pillowcase, a sheet inner for the sleeping bag and refreshments. Four platforms (with additional guide’s platform) are raised 4 metres above the ground (safe from leopard). Each has a toilet and shower (on a level below the top platform). There is a tent with a mattress, sleeping bag with fresh sheet liner. Sundowners are enjoyed on the dining platform that overlooks a waterhole. The rumble of the elephant passing by or the roar of the lion at the waterhole are the only noises that might disturb guests in this peaceful wilderness. The following morning, you have a light snack before walking back to Plains Camp for a hearty brunch.

Though it is an adventurous option, you are with other people and it is fully guided. The only limitation would be your own attitude and tricky negotiation of the stairs if you need to go to the loo in the middle of the night!

The Cederberg Heritage Route, marketed by Cedarberg African Travel, is the collective name for three new community-based walking trails of three to six days. The Heritage Route is a not-for-profit association set up to market the trails and is supported by Cedarberg African Travel who arrange the walking trails, Cape Nature Conservation, the Moravian Mission villages and the Living Landscape Project which focuses on rock art walks in the region. The revenue from these walking trails is directly helping the local community.

The majestic and rugged Cederberg Mountains are easily accessible, only two hours drive north from Cape Town. The Cederberg is a gigantic mass of sandstone, richly coloured by iron oxides and eroded into a variety of strange shapes. This 100km long mountain range rises above the vineyards and citrus groves of the Olifants River valley. The Cederberg is famous for these unique rock formations as well as for fine examples of San (Bushmen) rock paintings and spectacular wild flowers in spring (August to early September). Most of the Cederberg is a designated Wilderness area and thus remains one of the most undisturbed areas of South Africa.

Historically this wilderness status meant that walkers had to choose between taking day walks into the mountains, which restricts you to more accessible shorter walks, or taking a pack and camping out in the forestry huts which are the only form of habitation in the area.  However the hiking trails of the Cederberg Heritage Route now make this beautiful area accessible to walkers via the use of charming community guest cottages in the Moravian Mission villages of Heuningvlei, Brugkraal and Wupperthal on the eastern side of the Wilderness area and guesthouses in or near Clanwilliam on the western side. Thus walkers can explore some of the classic walks of the northern Cederberg; Heuningvlei, Krakadouw peak and Boontjieskloof in comfort and safety.

The trails are fully inclusive: guests stay at comfortable community guesthouses in the picturesque Moravian mission villages with all meals provided; they are guided by local community guides and they only need to carry a day pack as their overnight luggage taken to their next night’s stay.

• The 3 night Klein Krakadouw Trail is ideal for people wishing to enjoy a long weekend in the mountains and combines the Krakadouw Pass trail with interesting rock art sites.
• The 4 night Groot Krakadouw Trail has a greater focus on walking, with 3½ days spent hiking into the heart of the Wilderness Area.
• The 5 night Wupperthal Trail offers an optional hike up Krakadouw peak, the highest mountain in the northern Cederberg, as well as the Sevilla Rock Art trail and walking all the way to Wupperthal, the picturesque mission village founded in the early 19th century.

This is a subject I’ve been meaning to address for a few months, ever since my last solo research trip with all three of my kids. I got chatting with another Mother who had encountered huge pressures when trying to identify suitable places to take the family on safari when travelling without the company another adult. We’ve now done a lot of thinking about the unique needs of Single Parent Families on Safari…

Most affordable - Ker & Downey ‘Family months’ in Botswana
Veteran safari operator Ker & Downey has several camps which are ideal for families. When parents are travelling solo with kids, the most suitable is the more affordable Okuti, in the renowned Moremi Game Reserve. Here, the activities (game drives in 4×4 open sided vehicles and motorboating) are safe for children age seven and above and there are two family units, so there is a chance that there may be other families with whom to share the bush experience.

During the “family months” of March to June and November, three nights fly-in safari ex Maun costs US$4102 (£2051), based on one adult and two children age 16 years and under, sharing a triple, inclusive of meals and snacks, beverages, game drives and boating and air transfers from Maun.

Larger families, especially with over 16s or in peak season, would be better suited to the Young Explorers programme, in which each family has sole use of a private camp. From July to October the cost of three nights ex Maun is from US$1838 to $2930 (£919 to £1465) per person, adult or child, depending on the size of the party.

Money no object - Kwando Safaris
Kwando Safaris has dedicated programmes, not only for children age 8 to 12 but also a scaled down version of Ranger Training for teenagers. Each family has a dedicated specialist professional guide and exclusive use of a vehicle but the parent can enjoy some private or adult time between game activities, as staff are allocated to handle the children while in camp to allow adults to get a break from full-on parenting as well. This programme is available year around. This programme is available year around at Kwando Safaris Kwara Camp, Lagoon Camp and Lebala Camp.

In the Shoulder Season from 01 April to 31 May and 01 November to 30 Nov, three nights fly-in safari to Kwando Kwara ex Maun costs US$6990 (£3495), based on one adult and two children age 16 years and under, sharing a triple, inclusive of meals and snacks, beverages, game drives and boating, specialist family guide, private vehicle and air transfers from Maun.

Best for youngsters - CCAfrica Nxabega and Sandibe
The sister lodges Nxabega and Sandibe are both suitable for single-parent families with children as young as six years. They can offer shortened game drives, child-minders can be booked for the evenings and videos, colouring books, and games are available.

Three nights fly-in safari ex Maun, based on one adult and two children age 6 to 11 years, sharing a triple, inclusive of meals and snacks, beverages, game drives and air transfers from Maun.
From March to May and November costs US$4225 (£2212)
From June to October costs US$5895 (£2947)