An unanticipated but exciting opportunity to tour southern Africa in April 2026 - advice and input requested

[ShelleyB]

Wow that sounds amazing @BriarFlyer, and I feel like I might be a dog person too!

How did you organise this? Did you just make direct contact with the various lodges and book yourselves in? And how did you organise transport between the lodge locations? How does one find a reliable private driver?

Sorry to jump in ahead of @BriarFlyer, but for us finding private drivers was as simple as contacting the lodge for recommendations. And WhatsApp is widely used for communication. For shorter journeys, the usual RideShare apps (Uber, Bolt etc.) are available and you can check ratings. Suspect many of the Rideshare drivers would do longer trips too.

 

[BriarFlyer]

@ShellyB, that's exactly what I was going to say. Our drivers were organised by the lodges -- they knew the locals and had that all lined up and priced ahead of time so we could budget that in. At Vic Falls the hotels we stayed at also found us drivers. I think we got the card of our first driver, who we liked, and called on him several times. It was never a problem to find a ride and the drivers were a delight.

 

[ShelleyB]

Our experience in Tanzania and Zanzibar was the same. All the drivers we used (some recommended, some we just chose) were reliable and safe. We also kept cards and used same drivers where possible. On long journeys we also found them excellent to chat to and get insight into local life.

 

[RooFlyer]

You've probably seen it @Seat0B but here are my Namibia tips

Thread 'Namibia'

Aug 26, 2024

Just finished a 10 day tour in Namibia and offer these observations/tips. @kpc and @bPeteb also recently visited and may wish to offer theirs.

In no particular order:

* Windhoek is a pretty modern city; not a lot to do here, but a few things in the city centre

* Maerua Mall SE of the city centre is the best place for shopping. Taxi fare was A$1.20 to get there from the city! Taxis are numbered on the side, fixed prices for the several I took to/from city. No Uber here.

* Namibia in general is safe, usual precautions an avoidances . Its also very tidy. I saw...

• RooFlyer
• Replies: 4
• Forum: Destination Guides, Tips & Questions

• 
• 

 

[Seat0B]

You've probably seen it @Seat0B but here are my Namibia tips

Thread 'Namibia'

Aug 26, 2024

Just finished a 10 day tour in Namibia and offer these observations/tips. @kpc and @bPeteb also recently visited and may wish to offer theirs.

In no particular order:

* Windhoek is a pretty modern city; not a lot to do here, but a few things in the city centre

* Maerua Mall SE of the city centre is the best place for shopping. Taxi fare was A$1.20 to get there from the city! Taxis are numbered on the side, fixed prices for the several I took to/from city. No Uber here.

* Namibia in general is safe, usual precautions an avoidances . Its also very tidy. I saw...

• RooFlyer
• Replies: 4
• Forum: Destination Guides, Tips & Questions

• 
• 

Yes thank you @RooFlyer, and I will be re-reading your TR (and others) now I have planning to do.

 

[BriarFlyer]

Have fun with the planning @Seat0B. And what a splendid reason to be visiting Southern Africa.

 

[Seat0B]

Have fun with the planning @Seat0B. And what a splendid reason to be visiting Southern Africa.

Yes we are very pleased to welcome her into our family. She’s a delight and together they make a great team.

 

[bPeteb]

Everything comes down to budget and time. Sure it would have been nice to stay in some of the amazing lodges mentioned but our budget just didn't, and won't ever, go there. As kpc has mentioned, our tour and theirs was with Kiboko. We booked through World Adventures. It would be the equivalent of an Intrepid comfort I guess. We had zero complaints with any of the accommodation although some on our tour group did not feel the same. Don't go with five star expectations on 3-4 star budget.

Our group size was 16 max and there were 16 of us. In preference I'd want to bring that back to no more than 12.

Currently the tour we did called African Wildlife Explorer is in the low $7000s (AUD) for 20 days.

My review on the World Expeditions website - We loved our Vic Falls to Cape Town adventure. It was all so easy from the moment we started working with Pam right through to the final pickup at our hotel in Cape Town to take us to the airport. All of the information provided prior to the trip was thorough and accurate. At 61 it was odd to feel young on a trip. It appears as though Kiboko non-camping trips all have a very high average age. Something for people to be aware of when booking although that had no impact on our experience, or the trip in general.

The unsealed roads are BAD. Some truly terrible, so be prepared. Many of the tour vehicles don't have aircon. Ours didn't but for us it wasn't a problem. There was a LOT of driving as well. This is also something to consider. Two smaller trips with smaller drives between parks is something to consider.

Although it would have been great to finish with wildlife overload at Chobe instead of wildlife underload at Kalagardi, we're glad we started with our wonderful stay in Livingstone at the Radisson and did the rhino walk, and finished in CPT. Airlink flies direct into Livingstone from JNB.

In exactly five weeks we'll be in the First lounge in Sydney, ready to return to Africa. This time it's a mid-budget private safari with a newish company called Tapestry of Africa. We're traveling from Nairobi to Mombasa over 20 days. Just over USD7000ish pp. Much shorter drives between the national parks on this trip.

 

[Seat0B]

Everything comes down to budget and time. Sure it would have been nice to stay in some of the amazing lodges mentioned but our budget just didn't, and won't ever, go there. As kpc has mentioned, our tour and theirs was with Kiboko. We booked through World Adventures. It would be the equivalent of an Intrepid comfort I guess. We had zero complaints with any of the accommodation although some on our tour group did not feel the same. Don't go with five star expectations on 3-4 star budget.

Our group size was 16 max and there were 16 of us. In preference I'd want to bring that back to no more than 12.

Currently the tour we did called African Wildlife Explorer is in the low $7000s (AUD) for 20 days.

My review on the World Expeditions website - We loved our Vic Falls to Cape Town adventure. It was all so easy from the moment we started working with Pam right through to the final pickup at our hotel in Cape Town to take us to the airport. All of the information provided prior to the trip was thorough and accurate. At 61 it was odd to feel young on a trip. It appears as though Kiboko non-camping trips all have a very high average age. Something for people to be aware of when booking although that had no impact on our experience, or the trip in general.

The unsealed roads are BAD. Some truly terrible, so be prepared. Many of the tour vehicles don't have aircon. Ours didn't but for us it wasn't a problem. There was a LOT of driving as well. This is also something to consider. Two smaller trips with smaller drives between parks is something to consider.

Although it would have been great to finish with wildlife overload at Chobe instead of wildlife underload at Kalagardi, we're glad we started with our wonderful stay in Livingstone at the Radisson and did the rhino walk, and finished in CPT. Airlink flies direct into Livingstone from JNB.

In exactly five weeks we'll be in the First lounge in Sydney, ready to return to Africa. This time it's a mid-budget private safari with a newish company called Tapestry of Africa. We're traveling from Nairobi to Mombasa over 20 days. Just over USD7000ish pp. Much shorter drives between the national parks on this trip.

Thanks so much for all this information @bPeteb. I will go visit web sites for both Tapestry of Africa and World Adventures.

I note your comments about road quality, which were similar to @RooFlyer’s, and are a little bit of a concern. I’m also a bit concerned about hot temperatures and no aircon in vehicles - that’s made very clear on my “starter” Intrepid research that comfort level trips are not airconditioned. I am a cool climate person for sure - hence my previous lack of interest in this area. As I understand it, April is still pretty hot in Botswana and we aren’t flexible about the time of travel due to the wedding .

Looking forward to your TR.

 

[bashworth]

One of the problems I am having with planning South Africa travels at the moment is the non availability of Classic Rewards Flights Sydney to Johannesburg direct.

Even with Gold Status and trying at 10.00am on the day the flights become available the best I can do is Classic Plus at a huge number of points.

The only Classic Rewards flights Sydney to Johannesburg that I see are on Emirates planes via Dubai but that means another 10 or more hours on the journey!

 

[Seat0B]

One of the problems I am having with planning South Africa travels at the moment is the non availability of Classic Rewards Flights Sydney to Johannesburg direct.

Even with Gold Status and trying at 10.00am on the day the flights become available the best I can do is Classic Plus at a huge number of points.

The only Classic Rewards flights Sydney to Johannesburg that I see are on Emirates planes via Dubai but that means another 10 or more hours on the journey!

Yes I suspect that we will be paying for this trip - we lack flexibility due to the wedding. And how bizarre it would be for us to have to hub through Dubai (where Seat Son and DIL live) to get to the wedding . Once I sort my dates a bit more, I will try my luck asking for release of seats as a WP, but we are expecting to shell out.

 

[bPeteb]

Yes I suspect that we will be paying for this trip - we lack flexibility due to the wedding. And how bizarre it would be for us to have to hub through Dubai (where Seat Son and DIL live) to get to the wedding . Once I sort my dates a bit more, I will try my luck asking for release of seats as a WP, but we are expecting to shell out.

We traveled in August with no heat issues. April I'd imagine will be quite different. I tried without success to get Y+ released for bAlt so we are revenue in both directions. We're not even going to bother with trying for an upgrade to J on the way home. Well, not yet.

 

[Seat0B]

This time it's a mid-budget private safari with a newish company called Tapestry of Africa.

The reviews for Tapestry of Africa are stellar. Looks like you two will have a marvellous experience.

 

[Fruitloop50]

Like ShelleyB we emailed several local tour companys in each country giving them an outline of what we wanted to do and how much we wanted to spend.

For us one of the non-negotiables was to use open sided vehicles on game drives rather than the vehicles with closed sides but a pop up roof where you have to stand up to view the wildlife.

All the organised tours we looked at used closed sided vehicles because those with open sides aren't allowed to drive on public roads. A lot of the safari lodges we looked at also didn't have open sided vehicles as an option to use for game drives.

Our safaris were in Kenya and Tanzania rather than southern Africa so I don't know if things are different there.

We also opted for private game drives because our preference is for separate morning and afternoon game drives rather than all day drives, and this way we could return to the lodge whenever we wanted and go out whenever it suited us.

 

[Seat0B]

Thanks for your input @Fruitloop50

 

[RooFlyer]

All the organised tours we looked at used closed sided vehicles because those with open sides aren't allowed to drive on public roads.

They can in Namibia. We got collected from our lodge about 10 km from Etosha National Park and drove us to the park. It was actually absolutely freezing being exposed in the early morning cold air. But we had rugs and pulled our hats down tight and got there.

 

[bPeteb]

They can in Namibia. We got collected from our lodge about 10 km from Etosha National Park and drove us to the park. It was actually absolutely freezing being exposed in the early morning cold air. But we had rugs and pulled our hats down tight and got there.

Yes, that was a little chilly. Same from Kasane in Botswana to Chobe. From the pictures that we've seen the vehicle for our private tour will be as described by Fruitloop50. I'm not sure if once we're in the parks we might change to lodge vehicles. We'll find out soon.

 

[Seat0B]

OK, things have been moving along, thanks to all the kind help and advice. I'm giving the rough outline of what we have planned, and some bits are even booked! And naturally, I have more questions for the hive mind.

• We will leave home mid March 2026 and fly in to Johannesburg.
• Next we will spend 3-4 days with the family at Pilanesberg National Park, staying at Nkala Lodge in the Black Rhino reserve. Our group is big enough that we will have exclusive use of the lodge, and 2 ranger guided game drives per day. Our soon to be South African family members have said that they prefer Pilanesberg over Kruger. And it will be self-catering. So we are really looking forward to getting an insight into how South Africans take a safari, rather than how tourists do it. It's about 2.5-3.5 hrs drive from Johannesburg and we will be doing a family convoy to get there and back
• Then we will all fly JNB-CPT for the week before the wedding. As parents of the groom, we expect to have some duties on "emergency management", but probably not as many as the parents of the bride! So we are expecting to be able to spend some of this time looking around.
• Friday 27 March, we will all convoy from Cape Town to Talbagh to the Montpellier Wine Estate for the wedding.
• Saturday 28 March - The Big Day
• Sunday 29 March - The Recovery Day
• Monday 30 March - we all convoy back to Cape Town and spend a couple of last days with the newly married and both sides of the family before everyone heads back to work (those from the UAE (Seat Son, Seat DIL and her parents) do not get Easter, which is a pity)
• Wednesday 1 April to Monday 13 April, we (Mr Seat 0A and me, plus Seat Friend) start our private safari, arranged by Bench Africa, flying from Cape Town to Windhoek (Namibia). We overnight in Windhoek and then:
• 2 nights in Sossusvlei at Dead Valley Lodge (tented chalet)
• 2 nights in Swakopmund at The Delight Swakopmund Gondwana Collection
• 2 nights in Twyfelfontein at Camp Kipwe
• 2 nights in Ongava Private Game Reserve Etosha National Park at Ongava Tented Camp
• 1 night at Windhoek
• Saturday 11 April - fly from Windhoek to Victoria Falls and then spend 2 nights there at Batonka Guest Lodge
• Monday 13 April fly JNB- xSYD-CBR

We have a lot of activities included in our Bench Africa Safari - many game drives, a visit to the Africat Day centre (research and rehab for big cats esp leopard), a Vic Falls walk, the walking/climbing dunes of Namibia, visiting the petroglyphs of Twyfelfontein. There are also opportunities for additional paid activities such as scenic flights, hot air balloons and quad biking which all sound pretty cool. We have a dedicated driver/guide for the whole journey, and a private vehicle (7 seat 4x4, with aircon) and as it is only us, the ability to alter the itinerary a bit, shorten or extend various activities, stop for meals/coffee/comfort whenever we want, just as long as we reach the relevant accommodation at a reasonable time.

The private safari, the accommodation in Cape Town at Latitude Aparthotel and the Montpellier Estate are all booked. As I mentioned elsewhere on AFF, I am holding off booking the flights just in case there is a sale or a DSC offer that would be attractive. If nothing happens by November, I will book flights at that point.

So I want to give a big thank you to all those who offered advice and suggestions. It really helped me. And especially thanks to @ShelleyB and @sanne for putting the possibility of a private safari into my consciousness. I honestly would not have thought of this as I just assumed our group would be too small and the costs too high, but this is not the case! For those who are curious, the cost for the safari is around $13,000 per person, with a further approx $1100 in internal air fares. This compares very favourably to taking organised tours with much bigger groups. It could be cheaper if we opted for a lower standard of accommodation. So far, Bench Africa have been a delight to deal with. Our consultant Maria has been prompt, professional, and flexible as things changed a bit when 2 people (family members) dropped out and decided to go to Europe instead! She really listened to what we want to see and do, and how we want to travel and came up with this very suitable safari for us. So thanks for the referral there @sanne.

Of course, I have more questions now, so I will make a separate post about that soon and hope to throw myself on the collected wisdom of the tribe!

 

[bPeteb]

Wow!! Sounds amazing

We stayed at The Delight. Very quirky. Loved our loft room.

At Sossusvlei make sure you get to the top of Big Daddy, so you can tell me what it was like

 

[JohnM]

I have only just stumbled across this thread, so a bit late to add advice, but I can add some history and confirm a good experience using Bench.

I have previously used Bench for a couple of mainly aerial safaris in 2013 (Aerial safari in Kenya and gorilla trek in Rwanda)
and 2014 (JohnM's E Africa aerial safari).

I was happy with Bench and Maria was my consultant back then. She is also my consultant for a Bench epic I've lined up for six of us in August next year, repeating some of what I previously did for the benefit of Partner JohnM, who has not been to Africa, and brother & SIL and friends:

Just for the record here's the plan:

Starting in Nairobi and covering Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Zimbabwe, from where we'll peel off independently to finish in Cape Town.

Gorilla Trekking – The Bishop’s House | Bench Africa

The Bishop’s House is located in in Musanze, the gateway to the Volcanoes National Park which is home to the Mountain Gorilla and the Golden Monkey.

www.benchafrica.com

Tanzania Highlights – Superior | Bench Africa

A safari with lots of contrast from the game enriched plains of the famous Serengeti to the salt pans of Lake Manyara, also visiting the Ngorongoro Crater along the way.

www.benchafrica.com

Out of Africa Flying Safari - Scenic Air Safaris (booked through Bench). Can't wait to get into that bird again .

Giraffe Manor | Bench Africa

Giraffe Manor in Nairobi, Kenya is an elegant, privately owned and personally hosted, small and exclusive hotel, famous for its resident herd of giraffe.

www.benchafrica.com

Chobe Princesses | Bench Africa

Group Size: Based on minimum of 2 passengers Departs: Mondays and Wednesdays .................................................. There are three 18-metre Chobe Princesses: one 5-suite vessel and two 4-suite vessels. Beautifully decorated in contemporary style, these suites make the most of their...

www.benchafrica.com

Old Drift Lodge | Bench Africa

Upstream from the iconic Victoria Falls, a mere 7 km away, lies Old Drift Lodge, overlooking the pristine Zambezi National Park, on the banks of the Zambezi.

www.benchafrica.com

Elephant Camp | Bench Africa

Elephant Camp is secluded on a private concession with the magnificent spray of Victoria Falls in the distance, only 10 minutes from town.

www.benchafrica.com

Getting into Giraffe Manor, a key destination, certainly during the August-September migration season requires booking a loooong way ahead. I booked in December and then had to hunt to find gaps for three rooms. Everything else was booked around having secured Giraffe Manor, a special treat for PJM.

I've also used Exodus: Meandering in Madagascar & a little more ambling in Africa…via the Hunter Valley

South Africa (Kruger National Park and and Namibia (Let's mix it up and fill in some experience gaps: RTW 2015) I just did independently by renting cars, because it's easy.