Southern Africa Safari 2017 - D day plus 122 days

Southern Africa Safari 2017 Route Map

As a matter of interest we thought you may like to see our route through Southern Africa (South Africa, Botswana and Namibia) and above is a high level map of our proposed journey. The total distance is +/ 8000kms

I must confess that this was mapped as the fastest route on "Tracks for Africa" and we will be most unlikely to take the fastest route as we have a tendency to go off the beaten track and have now and again been accused of taking the scenic route or toughest route and most of the time I am guilty as charged.

 As the saying goes "It's about the journey not the destination that matters" and we are often asked "why do you do all that travelling why don't you rather go to one or two destinations and explore the surrounding areas and avoid the stress of long drives and border crossings"

It has been our experience that indeed it is the journey that is most enjoyable, seeing a lot more of the countries we travel through, meeting wonderful people, both local and travellers like us and as for the borders, build in a time factor, be patient and above all keep your cool and be polite and if one gets impatient let the other take over, believe me it works.
 

Southern Africa Safari 2017 - Planning Phase - D Day plus 124 Days

One of the time consuming tasks in the trip planning phase is finding the right accommodation on your planned route and not forgetting you have a budget, I have seen prices from R360 per person a night to R14500 per person a night, but I guess you get what you pay for, however I would question justifying the top end and its real value.

In a similar vein have you noticed that on checking out a place to stay and reading the travellers reviews, on Trip Advisor for example, the views expressed vary so widely you wonder if they are reviewing the same place, but perhaps it is about perception and expectation. To illustrate this here are the reviews of one establishment.

Staff not motivated, miserable and unhelpful - vs - Excellent service smiling and helpful staff
Food terrible and totally unacceptable - vs - Superb food
Good price, value for money - vs - Very expensive
Rooms clean and bright - vs - Rooms gloomy

These views expressed over two months January and February 2017, and it is the same place, that's people for you. Warning, in Botswana in particular they use the term "Lodge" which can also mess with your expectations.

Pleased to say we have all our bookings confirmed and when I told Denise (my better half) she said "What are we waiting for lets pack and go"

We have found someone who will baby sit "Snuggles" for the month of August, a couple of ladies who have a couple of African Grey parrots themselves and have been involved in bird rehabilitation so there is a few orphans of other bird species. Snuggles wont mind he speaks most bird languages and if he doesn't he picks it up very quickly.

So we have made good progress and can tick off a couple of key tasks.

We are spending 6 days in the Chobe and Caprivi area of Namibia and thought I would load some photo's of our last trip to Chobe.

The Green-Grey Greasy Limpopo River at Martins Drift

Elephant Sands north of Nata in Botswana

A rather large specimen of the Nile Crocodile

A beautiful Kudu in Chobe National Park

A rare sighting of a Sable Antelope in Chobe

Southern Africa Safari 2017 - Planning Phase - D Day plus 141 Days

We are in the planning phase of our Southern Africa Safari later this year, which will take in Wild Coast of South Africa, Southern Drakensberg, Botswana, Namibia and West Coast of South Africa from 1st August to 27th August a trip of +/- 7000kms.

We left planning later than we normally do and have had to re-route and re-plan where and when we stop over. Be advised if you plan to stay in lodges and hotels especially in the popular tourist spots like Chobe in Botswana for example, make sure you make reservations a minimum of one year ahead of time, when we did our Africa safari in 2013 we were doing the planning up to 2 years in advance, very necessary for places like the Masai Mara in Kenya and the Serengeti in Tanzania.

We are just waiting for 3 places to confirm our bookings and then we will be able to slow down the surfing on the internet, that will be a relief, although it certainly gets one in the mood, the problem is, it is still another 141 days before we depart, however, we know how fast time travels and there will still be a lot to do.

Stay with us and we will share the trials and tribulations in preparing for travel into Africa.