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.

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.

I just got back from a great trip sampling a new nine day fly-in safari which offers a classic bush and bush combination in South Africa. Of course we had to cram nine days into four so it was a whirlwind trip but it was great fun and I really recommend this tour for those of you who want to combine a safari with some beach time with the minimum of fuss.

The fly-in safari begins and ends in Johannesburg and you fly from one lodge to another in a small charter plane offering you the convenience of a private safari minimizing the transport arrangements to maximize your time at the lodges. In fact it takes away much of the hassle of getting from one lodge to another – the road transfer to the nearest airport, the extended check-in period at the airport, the fitting around the flight schedule whether it suits you or not, waiting for your luggage and finally getting to the next lodge often by a lengthy road transfer.

Indeed with a fly-in safari the transport part of the trip is part of the pleasure! You fly directly from one lodge to another often at lower altitudes so that you can really appreciate the countryside. We saw giraffes cantering below us as we came into land at Kruger National Park and - one of the highlights for me - a whale leaping out of the Indian Ocean as we flew down to Thonga Beach Lodge.

All of this usually comes at a hefty price if you have your own private fly-in safari but this fly-in safari has two set departure days so that flight capacity is well utilized and thus prices are surprisingly attractive for a tour of this quality.

Another appealing aspect about this fly-in safari is that you can combine two, three or four of lodges over the nine days so that you have a fair amount of flexibility as to how active you wish to be.

You can opt for 4 nights at one of the private concessions in the Kruger National Park followed by 4 nights on the beach at Thonga Beach Lodge.  You can combine two nights at Rhino Post Safari Lodge enjoying open vehicle game drives followed by two nights on a walking safari at Rhino Post Plains Camp and then follow that up with some time on the beach (4 nights at Thonga Beach Lodge).

Or if you are the sort of person who loves seeing as much as possible, you can even combine all four camps with two different camps in the Kruger National Park (Rhino Post Safari Lodge and Rhino Post Plains Camp) with two nights at Kosi Forest Lodge in the middle of the Kosi Coastal Reserve and then end with two nights at the beach at Thonga Beach Lodge.

In the next couple of posts I will describe some of the lodges in more detail but my personal recommendation is to combine three lodges in this nine day fly-in safari and then perhaps add on a few nights in Cape Town at the end. We’ve put this option on our website to give you a better sense of how it works – look at our Bush and Beach Fly-in Safari with Isibindi tour.

As a Family Safari specialist we’ve seen a growing interest in child-friendly safari options especially in the malaria-free areas of South Africa. Madikwe Reserve is a small and unique alliance between the local communities, private enterprise and the North West Parks Board. Bordering Botswana on the north with the Great Marico River, it is one of Cedarberg African Travel’s favourite malaria-free family safari options.

The overall game viewing is excellent and the reserve boasts the Big Five and over 230 recorded bird species. You can also expect to see its packs of wild dog which are regularly sighted as well as black and white rhino, extensive plains game, including sable, gemsbok, springbok and giraffe.

Two of our consultants, Mari and Wanda, recently visited a number of the Madikwe lodges and this is the first in a series of posts on Madikwe.

Jaci’s Lodges are one of our favourites and cater for children of all ages. The personal service is excellent.

Jaci’s Game Lodges consist of two separate game lodges, Jaci’s Safari Lodge and Jaci’s Tree Lodge on the eastern part of the magnificent Madikwe Game Reserve.Children can share in the suites with the parents or a family can bookthe exclusive Nare Suite- which has its own private guide and private landrover for a tailor-made safari experience for your family (but comes at a price!)Jaci’s Tree Lodge, is definitely our favourite lodge in the Madikwe Reserve and has huge tree suites where up to three extra children can easily share the room with the adults. Children are accommodated on stretcher beds (so we don’t recommend it for older children). You also need to be aware that the bathroom is open plan, with a screen which you can use to screen the bath (with an enclosed toilet) so this may not suit all families.

Children aged 10 and under, sharing with their parents in the same room, qualify for a special children’s rate. (They will allow older children as well to share but you need to be aware of the sleeping arrangements – see above). This special child rate includes child minders and the daily ‘jungle drive’ for younger children. Older children from 8 upwards are allowed on the adult drive and will have dinner in the dining room on their return from the evening drive.

The jungle drive takes place during the day, usually immediately after breakfast - this is anything from ½ to 1 hour depending on the interest levels of the children on the drive. Parents are welcome to come along but must not behave like adults! We find that Jaci’s is flexible about these age limits. If you have two older children who can come on the main game drive and a younger child of 6 or 7 (who’s fairly mature and able to cope with a 3 hour+ game drive), they will usually allow them to join their parents and older siblings rather than be the child left behind.

We really recommend the specialized childrens’ safaris which are an optional extra. These can be booked directly at the Lodges and are recommended for children aged 3 - 7 years old. The children’s safaris go out every morning and evening whilst their parents are on game drive.

Another very child friendly safari lodge is Tuningi Safari Lodge which is on the western side of Madikwe Game Reserve. The lodge area is fenced so it is very safe for families. We especially love the two bedroom suites that are perfect for families with older children or 3 children.

Tuningi Safari Lodge is an elegant game lodge on the western side of the malaria-free Madikwe Game Reserve. The décor is a mix of colonial and modern African influences. They also offer baby sitting and do a shorter drive for children under 6 after main morning drive. The rooms are large and can accommodate 2 smaller children (12 years and under) on camp beds (not proper beds).The family suites consist of 2 en-suite bedrooms, lounge in between, dining room and kitchen. Unfortunately there’s no child rate for the first two children in these rooms but a third child will have a reduced rate. Children of 6 years and up can go on game drive. One of these family suites is a little further away from the camp and can be booked, along with a separate suite, as Little Tuningi. If Little Tuningi is taken then you have a private ranger and landrover at your disposal. Little Tuningi works very well when we have grandparents, parents and grandchildren all travelling together.

We really liked the management couple as they seem geared towards families. The more mature guides also work well with families.

Thakadu River Camp – Great Value for money and perfect for the family seeking a less expensive option. The rooms are small but newly furnished and fresh in style.

Thakadu is a community-owned and community-driven project. The tented rooms are small but very nice with all the normal amenities and each has stunning views over the Marico River. The guides are all local and have the advantage of knowing the area very well as well as its unique history.There are 12-tented suites and Little Thakadu is an 8-bed satellite camp that can be rented exclusively. Some of Thakadu’s tents (Family Tents) allow two smaller children on a sleeper couch and are available at an excellent rate for families. The Main Lodge is completely open plan and use natural stone and included stunning fire-place and sitting areas for relaxing.

Morokuru is one of our personal favourites as well. It has a stunning open-plan design with large windows and a modern décor with clean lines and bright colours. Our clients feel really very special here. There are two houses and they are available only as a unit. You can take either house or both together. The Owners House has two bedrooms but generally they do not allow children in that house. Morukuru House is a 3 bedroom villa so perfect for larger families with children. Again sometimes a large family party takes the Owners House for the grandparents or adult children with the parents/grandchildren taking Morukuru House.