Final Up to date on Sep 20, 2024
An African safari is among the most unimaginable journeys of a lifetime and essentially the most memorable expertise with little youngsters. When the youngsters are younger their reactions to seeing animals within the wild are so valuable, and it’s nice to see it by means of their eyes.
Many lodges welcome infants, toddlers, and little youngsters with open arms and it’s not tough to do safari with youngsters in any respect. As each my husband and I’ve been to many African international locations earlier than youngsters and carried out just a few safaris, I opted for a multi-country expertise to diversify the expertise to fulfill youngsters’ consideration span.
Our Africa journey stays a favourite reminiscence for each my youngsters, regardless of them visiting nearly 40 international locations on 6 continents.
Right here’s our actual itinerary that begins in Victoria Falls, explores Zambia and Zimbabwe, and northern Botswana, and ends in Johannesburg in South Africa. You’ll be able to stick to at least one space or nation, however I really feel like what we did was an ideal combine of varied experiences and simple logistically.
Few Sensible Ideas for African Safari
I’ve a complete separate submit about logistics and suggestions on what age is finest to take your youngsters on a safari, however you would possibly marvel how one can pack for this journey because it’s visiting completely different international locations.
You don’t want plenty of issues and each single lodge we stayed at was providing laundry service that wasn’t pricy in any respect. We had 3 carry-on suitcases, two of which had been MiaMilly ride-on ones so the youngsters had been comfy on the airport (and even crossed the border using on it!).
This itinerary includes a rental automobile and pre-arranged shuttles. You’ll be able to completely skip a rental automobile, however I believed it gave us extra flexibility. I’ll clarify it after I get to that a part of this journey.
Day 1: Arrival in Zimbabwe
You probably have the choice to reach straight at Victoria Falls, then it’s the preparable possibility. Our greatest possibility was to fly out and in of Johannesburg, as there’s a direct flight from Atlanta. We booked a separate connecting flight from Johannesburg out and in of Victoria Falls for the primary a part of the journey.
We needed to spend the evening on the airport, which was a lot wanted truthfully after a 16-hour flight arriving within the night. There are just a few good lodges only a quick shuttle away from the airport and it gave us an opportunity to bathe, sleep in a standard mattress, and proceed our journey within the morning.
Days 2-7: Zambia
Resort: Avani Victoria Falls Resort in Livingstone
We spent 4 nights at Avani Victoria Falls Resort in Livingstone on the Zambian web site. As all of our actions had been on a Zambian web site, this made issues simpler and cheaper when it comes to visas. That approach we didn’t must KAZA visa, only a double entry visa to Zimbabwe since Zambia doesn’t require visas for US residents and EU residents.
NOTE: Technically, we may have averted the double entry Zimbabwean visa and flown out of Kasane Airport in Botswana, however sadly their flights aren’t each day and it didn’t match our itinerary. The flights out of Kasane had been additionally barely costlier, so it was extra handy to get again to Victoria Falls Airport in Zimbabwe.
We didn’t pre-book any actions and determined what we wished to do upon arrival by means of Avani. You completely don’t need to e-book all the pieces beforehand, there have been loads of spots accessible.
Our youngsters loved the lodge so much, as a result of the animals had been strolling in all places so even hanging out on the property was an attraction. The zebras had been coming to the pool continuously, which was insanely cool.
We did a sport drive with the youngsters, we booked a dinner on the conjoined Royal Livingstone Resort when an elephant determined to accompany us nearly to the desk. One other evening we had a Boma dinner on the property, which is understood within the space and the youngsters danced and acquired their faces painted.
You’ll be able to stroll to the falls by means of the lodge’s entrance, so we did some climbing with the youngsters.
As the youngsters weren’t sufficiently old for some actions and loved the on-site youngsters membership, my husband and I had been in a position to go to Satan’s Pool whereas they had been cared for and performed.
Days 8-11: Botswana
Resort: Chobe Marina Lodge
You’ll be able to completely take a day journey to Chobe Nationwide Park in Botswana, however I personally thought {that a} 3-hour drive each methods, a sport drive, and a river cruise in someday was simply an excessive amount of for the little youngsters as it will have been a 14-hour lengthy day. For this reason I booked a lodge straight in Botswana for two nights, which was excellent.
We booked a shuttle from Avani to our subsequent lodge: Chobe Marina Lodge in Kasane. We left round 11 am and arrived at our lodge straight at lunch.
The border crossing between Zambia and Botswana was fast, however keep in mind that you should carry youngsters’ start certificates with you – in any other case, they gained’t allow you to in!
The lodge was all-inclusive when it comes to meals and included one free exercise a day. The day we arrived we opted for a day cruise that lasted till sundown.
The following morning we did an early morning sport drive and relaxed on the pool within the afternoon by the pool and watched the monkeys and warthogs.
Days 9-10: South Africa
Resort: We Stayed at Shangri-La Resort, but in addition advocate Fort de Wildt
We booked one other shuttle from the lodge in Botswana to Victoria Falls Airport in Zimbabwe. We had sufficient time to discover the city of Victoria Falls as our flight acquired delayed. Upon arrival in Johannesburg round 4 pm we rented a automobile and began driving north to our subsequent lodge.
You don’t need to lease a automobile, and the lodge can prepare a shuttle from the airport, however as we arrived late we would wish to spend the evening on the airport once more, which didn’t appear interesting. As an alternative, we drove at our personal tempo and spent the evening on the stunning family-run lodge about 45 minutes from the Welgevonden Recreation Reserve gate the place we may arrive on time at 11 am.
Driving in South Africa may be very simple and protected except you drive at evening. You’ll be able to depart the rental automobile on the protected and guarded location on the most important gate, so that you don’t have to fret about it getting stolen or damaged into.
Days 11-14: South Africa
Resort: Mhondoro Safari Lodge
Our last cease was Mhondoro Safari Lodge, which was an absolute spotlight. It’s most likely one of the best luxurious lodge we’ve ever stayed at with the youngsters, because it catered completely to adults and youngsters on the identical time. My youngsters wish to transfer in completely, so I’m positive we might be returning there quickly.
The property is totally stunning and has restricted villas. The spotlight is after all a most important pool the place, for those who’re fortunate, you’ll spot elephants coming to drink. Every single day we debated whether or not to have one other sport drive or keep in and wait to see what animals can come go to us by the pool.
We had our ranger who was partaking and understanding of the youngsters’ wants and the little ones had been desirous to do a 5 am drive for the entire 3 hours – that’s how good it was. We might have breakfast afterward and ship the youngsters to somewhat on-site preschool the place they may socialize with native youngsters whereas we had time to chill out for a bit.
After lunch, the ranger would supply an exercise for the youngsters, similar to cookie making or fishing, and we’d both keep by the pool or have one other sport drive till dinner (I’d say we alternated the times). The property additionally supplied a Boma dinner for everybody, which was somewhat bit late for the youngsters, however we set them up with some chairs to sleep on after they ate.