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Best (and safest) place to travel in Africa with an 8 year old?
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Anonymous
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I'm a little crazy and like to plan and save for vacations a few years before they will actually happen. Does anyone have any recommendations for travel that is safe and provides a welath of safari and village explorations? Thanks so much! We will be using a tour service - so any recs on that wouls also be helpful.
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Anonymous
| Tanzania is a fantastic but often overlooked place. Great gameparks (look into Ngorogoro Crater), you can hit the beach in Dar Es Salaam - and it's much safer than Kenya. Abercrombie & Kent is a well known tour company -- pricey but very good. South Africa is also a fantastic place to visit. You can go to the game parks and then hit the beach at Durban or go south to Cape Town for wine tours (more for mommy than an 8 year old!). I don't think anyone knows what the political situation will be like in Kenya in a few years but as far back as 20 years ago it was not the safest place to go. I've heard great things about Zimbabwe but can't say much more than that. If I was to plan on going (and I hope to show my kids the sights some day when they're older) I'd go to Tanzania. I think it just has the "Africa" that you imagine vs. something that maybe has been commercialized. |
Anonymous
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The best scenes are Serengeti, Lake Malawi, and Victoria Falls. But South Africa would be my first pick.
Read up on your diseases. Drug resistant TB is all over (Southern Africa and Eastern Europe). |
Anonymous
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Botswana is the best place.. it is one of the safest countries in africa..
you will love it. the people are friendly and they have great sites.. try googling "Mowana lodge and Botswana" you can get to be in three countries on one visit.. Botswana/Zambia/Zimbabwe they share boarders and have great wildlife.. look it up and see if its something u would like to do |
Meconbear
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| I second Tanzania for the best natural experience. We disaggregated the trip that Abercrombie and Kent would have put together and dealt with some lodges directly and saved some money. CC Africa runs a fabulous lodge at the Ngorongoro Crater although we loved their lodge in the Serengeti even better (and that one has a pool). We felt that the trip was very safe (although a whole week of safaris got a little boring) and the service was impeccable. I haven't been, but everyone raves about Zanzibar and lots of people go to their beaches after going on safari. South Africa would probably be my best bet for the most western and amenity-filled vacation. Just note that both Tanzania and S. Africa are really LONG flights despite the fact that the time zones are the same as Europe. We flew 6 hours to Frankfort and had another 10 hour trip down to Tanzania. have fun, it was amazing. |
Anonymous
| Zambia is a great country, safe and often overlooked. Plus - you can visit Victoria Falls there. Near the falls is a game park. When I was in Zambia a few years ago, Zimbabwe wasn't so safe a place to go. |
Anonymous
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HA! I just got back from a month hoilday in S.Africa with my 2yr old. I have family in SA so I did not do any sort of guided tour, you can plan from a SA base location and save THOUSANDS. My base was Jo'burg and spent some time at the Cape as well.
I Kruger is a MUST do in SA, they have all the big 5 animals and you can do a self guided tour or use a outfit. I also went on a "safari" and can't remember the name of the place, it was WONDERFUL, we went out and watched lions hunt and feed. As far as planning years in advance, Africa can change in a second, there are no guarantees ANYWHERE in Africa. You have to be careful when visiting Africa. Look at Kenya, it erupted overnight. Also, someone suggested Zimbabwe nis not safe at all. Also a lot of the large game have been killed to feed the starving population. |
Anonymous
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Madagascar ! Great scenery, beaches and unforgettable fauna and flora.
However, some hotels may be for the more adventurous of us. |
Anonymous
| Botswana all the way! Chobe River (Kasane) or the Okavango Delta.. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
| Zimbabwe still isn't so safe. Zambia is very safe tho. |
Anonymous
yea, you pretty much have to live in a cave if you think Zimbabwe is a safe place to travel right now, it is horrid there now. It's a shame though, it really makes me sad. Zim was a jewel in Africa's crown, somewhere to be very proud of, but now its a shame. Even more shameful that South Africa will not take a stance. Oh well, as they say, Africa's problems can only be solved with an African solution. I guess an African solution is to sit back and watch the disaster unfold and the country unravel like so many others. Nothing new. |