Safari with a child?

[Anonymous]

Thoughts or experience on an African Safari with a 3 year old? Is it safe?

[Anonymous]

If it's safe for you, it's safe for them. I haven't been on a safari, per se, but I've taken my child to many developing countries since he was about a year old. Plan on bottled water, shelf-stable milk, and get drugs from your pedi for diarrhea.

[Anonymous]

Actually, many camps will not allow children for their own safety.

We went on safari (South Africa) a few years ago, pre-kids, and the camp we stayed at did not allow kids younger than 10. It's not a bottled-water thing, it's a lion and elephant thing.

You are not permitted to leave your hut/tent/room after dark without an armed ranger because there have been kills of tourists in the past. When you are in the LandRover, you may not dangle your arms down the side or a leopard could realize it's not a smelly truck, but a big vehicle full of tasty people and jump in.

Also - you are in the LandRover for a few hours in the am, and a few hours in the pm. You'll get out half way through for coffee or cocktails, but there's really NO running around in the bush. If you want to take a walk in the afternoon, you do it with an armed ranger.

If you could find a place to take a toddler, I still wouldn't do it. It's a great trip to look forward to when they get older, or to do with the kids at home.

There are other fabulous spots in Africa you could take kids on vacation, and if you have family in the area, you could do a drive through a park for a day with the kids. But I would never plan a big safari vacation with a toddler.

[Anonymous]

I agree, I would not take a young child. A few years ago a boy from Baltimore was killed by a pack of hyenas while on safari. There was disagreement as to whether he had wandered outside his tent at night or whether the hyenas have actually learned how to unzip the tents. Not worth the risk, IMO.

[Anonymous]

I lived in the bush for a few years and would not recommend taking a 3 year old. Lodges and camps are really not set up for younger kids and game drives are long and animals are not always as easy to find, or remotely as active, as discovery docs imply. So, not that much fun for the kid and definitely no fun for the adults!

[Anonymous]

I agree with PPs that 3 is too young. I've been on safari in Kenya, Botswana, and Zimbabwae and while my husband & I love an adventure, bringing our small child with us on safari would not be fun (for us or her). Plus, major safety concerns as others have mentioned.

[Anonymous]

to be very blunt, here is what you need to ask your self. Is it worth risking your child to see whatever it is that sent you to a Safari? If you can picture yourself next to the bedside of a very sick child, or worse, then go for it. I would never ever do it with my children. We have had many chances to live in Africa, and believe me, it is very profitable to live there for us, but we turned it down b/c of the disease/safety issues. Go to the zoo, or if you are itching to travel, go to the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

[Anonymous]

The safety issues aside, you spend a lot of time on tours. My DS is 3 but he does have a limited attention span. If the animals aren't close or just aren't around, you will wish you had left them at home. I believe Tauck Tours has family safari tours for older children.

[Anonymous]

We went to Tanzania on safari last year with a 9-year-old and a 13-year-old. It was fabulous, but ONLY because my daughters can sit in a car for LONG periods of time and be interested in what's going on outside the car. Even so, they occasionally read their books. I can't imagine bringing a 3-year-old. I would think that you'd have major problems, with the 3-year-old wanting to move around and being absolutely unable (for safety reasons) to leave the jeep.

[Anonymous]

I agree with PPs and feel that a safari is not for a toddler. We went to a safari in Tanzania and were recommended to take anti-malaria pills. I had major side symptoms from these and had to stop even if that meant that I was exposing myself. Also my husband left his leather sandals right outside our tent at the camp in Serengeti. In the morning we found a sandal that was all chewed up. Our guide told us that it was hyenas, and thus it is better not to leave the tent at night. There are no fences around the campsite to keep the animals out! Definitely not for kids.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I went to Kenya for a 10 day safari (pre-baby). It was fabulous. However, we spent hours in the van driving between camps on VERY bumpy roads and hours more on game drives. I think it would be great for an older child (maybe 8 and up). Also, (and I am pro-immunizations), you need a lot of shots, plus anti-malaria pills. I would not want to deal with a small child having a negative reaction to the malaria pills while in Africa. I was told that if my husband or I were to get sick while there, we would need to be flown out, most likely to Europe.

[Anonymous]

I think 3 is too young. We went on safari in South Africa and the game drives were all 3-4 hours. That being said, we stayed at Londolozi, which does have a children's camp. I would look it up on their website. We stayed at another camp there and it was wonderful

[Anonymous]

Three is too young, IMHO. We did a two week safari in Tanzania and Kenya. We did see one child on our trip - a British boy about 6 or 7. He was oddly good for that age.

We will go back with our kids, but not until they are old enough to stay still, follow instructions and tolerate the long stretches of driving. We think that is probably 8 and 11 (ours are 3 years apart).

The boy who was killed in his tent by hyenas was at a nearby camp just before we got there, and you better believe we zipped our tent every night. One of the camp directors told us that it was because they had left the tent flaps open for some air, but that could have just been spin they were using at the time.

[Anonymous]

I hope the dingo doesn't eat your baby!

[Anonymous]

A safari is boring for a child that young.
You spend a lot of time in the car driving around. And when you do see something, you might need to turn off the engine. I hear that the air conditioning sends out a noise that the elephants hear and this is dangerous as it can irritate the animal.
So you sit in a hot car with a kid who is bored