Cannot believe it has officially been 6 months that I have been home from Africa. Isn’t that always such a sad feeling? You plan this trip for months, and it is done and over with in the blink of an eye! Africa was such an amazing and humbling trip. As promised, I owe you guys a few main points of the trip!
First things first, if you have been here for a minute you have heard me say this many times… my uncles are travel PROS. My uncle was a London & New York based flight attendant for years and his husband is extremely well traveled through his work. Together they have traveled 50+ countries. They know currency, how to drive on the opposite side of the road, and just the many different ways of many countries. All in all, I *think* I could have handled this trip without their help, but overall was VERY grateful to have their knowledge. Africa is SUCH a trek from the states so you really want to plan to be there longer than a week. There were many internal/domestic flights on this trip and that is certainly the part that can get a little hairy if you are not well traveled. At the end of the day though… my motto is GO FOR IT. You only live once. You will find your way. Google translate. Google maps. TAKE the dang trip!
I started the trip in Dallas, TX and had to make my way to Newark NJ. From Newark it was about a 17 hour flight to Johannesburg. To be honest, that was the hardest part of the trip for me. It is strictly over water, the whole damn time. You take off out of NJ, and hit the Atlantic Ocean almost immediately.. you stay over water pretty much the whole 17 hours- once you get past that and land… the continent of Africa is beautiful!! Truly the nicest people and genuinely THE MOST affordable trip I have ever taken. The food, the activities, the drinks, the gifts and trinkets… prices were amazing!
Landed in Jo-burg at 6pm. We stayed at the airport hotel and the next morning got up for a late morning flight to a small airport in Maun, Botswana. After landing in Botswana, we were met on that runway to take ANOTHER flight further into the bush. It was about a 20 minute flight from there and we landed on a little dirt runway in the middle of nowhere to be met by our safari guide. It was then about a 10-15 minute drive to our first camp.
As I previously said, my uncles planned 95% of the trip, BUT we did use “Safari Specialist” to help coordinate camp stays. It’s really difficult to get in contact with the actual camps. They outsource communication through Safari Specialist to coordinate dates, guests, pricing, flights, etc. Another super important note I want to make is that our Safari was ALL INCLUSIVE. That means the flights out to and from the bush were as well! When you get your itinerary, that WILL include the price of your flight to get out to the camp which is pretty neat! As well as all of your food, drinks, and even laundry which is a plus! (:
We chose to stay at two camps throughout or stay. Machaba & Okuti. There are a few reasons for that. The safari camps we went to, held a VERY small amount of people… like 10 guests total. So, if you’re going with a group of people, you need to make sure they even have room for everyone. Safari Specialists handled this portion of the accommodation and is why we were booked at two different camps. Aside from that, each camp offered such a different experience. The first camp was much more rustic- tent camping, dirt walk ways, dinner out by the camp fire…. All that being said- it’s still like staying at the dang Four Seasons! I was BLOWN AWAY at how stunning they made the tents/dinner table. The second camp were full blown buildings with sort of ‘tiki hut’ closed bedrooms and hard wood walking paths throughout the camp. It was a very luxurious dining experience.
Both camps were in Botswana- and I LOVED Botswana. If I were to ever go back.. that is where I would go! Both camps were located along the Okavango Delta- which is a large water source in this particular area of Botswana. It really makes for a unique safari experience, because there are so many water ways and such a different landscape than the Savanna. Botswana has very strict rules as far as hunting goes and my understanding from our guide is that hunting these animals is illegal there. Therefore the animals were truly very calm and rarely skittish around humans.
Safari rides were about an 8-9 hour day but split into a morning ride and an afternoon ride. We started our morning at 5:30 AM with a knock at your door for breakfast. We would then have our morning ride, get back for lunch and a siesta. Then go back out for our afternoon ride between 3p-7p. It makes for a very long day, but you travel miles and miles and see some of the most beautiful scenery and wildlife there is.
Like I said above.. if you make your way all the way there- it’s important to make the most of it! So after leaving Botswana we made our way to Cape Town! Honestly, I can’t say much for Cape Town, because we happened to be there one of the worst weather weeks they have had in history! Lol! It DUMPED rain for the whole entire week…. So sadly, we did not see many “sight seeing” things! I will put a few bullet points below, but I truly don’t have much to say about Cape Town.
Cape Town:-Stayed in an airbnb in Bantry Bay for a few days- beautiful and great distance to shopping and food!
-Moved up the coast to a beautiful Bed and Breakfast in Kalk Bay right along the southern coast of Africa. Sonnekus House!
-Then onto Paarl, where we stayed at a beautiful vineyard called Adara. The vineyard side of South Africa is beautiful!!! Definitely worth a visit!
The world is BIG BEAUTIFUL place y’all! Don’t be afraid to explore it!
