Which African countries would you visit?

elefante

elefante

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
hello Zoochatters. I'm looking into taking a trip to Africa in 2019. I'm undecided between Kenya (though I am leaning more heavily toward that one) or a Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia combo. I'll mention the types of animals that can be seen and see what your opinions are. The Kenya tour is $92 more so price isn't such a deal breaker.

The Kenya tour is a camping trip (which I'm a tad unsure about) it goes to Samburu, Amboseli, Lake Nakuru, and the Maasai Mara.

Samburu has Grevy's zebras, reticulated giraffes, gerenuks, and beisa oryx as well as the other ABC African species. Lake Nakuru has Rothschild's giraffes and lots of flamingos and hippos. I would be in the Maasai Mara during the wildebeest migration.

The other tour,is a visit to Victoria Falls and has river cruises on the Chobe River where there are large populations of elephants and hippos. In addition there are more wild dogs in the Okavango and the tour goes into the Kalahari so more desert type of wildlife could be seen. This one has accommodation in lodging.

Assuming I can actually afford to do this, I'm curious what your opinions are. Which would you do?
 
I've done the Kenya trip. The camping was the most glamorous travel with the best food I ever experienced. They have flush toilets set up in camp. That itinerary would expose you to the great ecosystems of East Africa. Samburu and the surrounding area is very special with the reticulated giraffes, gerenuks, and Grevy's zebras. Amboseli is a very important elephant research area. If the flamingos are out on Lake Nakuru in force it is one of the most spectacular sights I have ever witnessed - almost a million flamingos forming pink ribbons of life across the lake that you can see from miles away. I think Kenya makes a great starter Africa trip.

I am hoping to go to Botswana myself in the not-too-distant future to see the Okavongo and the Kalahari.
 
I would like to suggest another option...Ethiopia.

The highlands of the region are breathtaking! Along with many endemic wildlife such as the Ethiopian wolf and walia ibex. The region is one of the best birdwatching areas in Africa. The Omo valley has the typical safari experience with giraffes and buffalo. The rivers and lakes are home to crocodiles and hippos along with a large array of birds. The country is also very historically rich and has amazing food. This is coming from an Ethiopian though do I might be a little biased :p
 
It depends on what you want to see/do most. Kenya probably would give you a longer species list of both mammals and birds, but the Victoria Falls and the Okavango are some of the most breathtaking landscapes in Africa. Both are very well suited for a first Africa trip, something Ethiopia is not really....

Camping comes in many gradations and my first Africa trip was a camping trip from the Victoria Falls to Cape Town and that was perfectly fine, but not with tents like @DavidBrown mentioned, but actual tents that we had to set up ourselves every night.

Where would the Botswana/Zimbabwe/Namibia trip exactly go in Namibia, as it is important to know whether Etosha is on the list or not ;). FYI the flamingo have left Nakuru National Park the water levels have risen dramatically over the last year, so all Lesser flamingo are now in Lake Bogoria, there are still a few Greater flamingoes though.

Visiting the Masaai Mara when the wildebeests are there is definitely a big + as there will be so much large animals on such a small area, that it is impossible to top. Going to Chobe in the dry season (our summer) is however a guarantee to see more elephants than you can possibly handle (especially on the river cruise, which has the additional goodies of Lechwe loads of African skimmer and a chance for Puku). If you really have to see Cheetah and Leopard, the Kenya option is your best bet though.


The Kenyan option probably involves less driving, as distances are smaller, but the drives will mostly be through human dominated landscapes, whereas Botswana and Namibia are pretty much empty, so that makes an interesting experience.
 
I’ve never been massively tempted by Africa, but I would be interested to visit Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in South Africa.
 
In addition to all of the things already mentioned, it might be worth considering how busy with vehicles the Maasai Mara will be during Wildebeest migration.
 
lintworm said:
It depends on what you want to see/do most. Kenya probably would give you a longer species list of both mammals and birds, but the Victoria Falls and the Okavango are some of the most breathtaking landscapes in Africa. Both are very well suited for a first Africa trip, something Ethiopia is not really....

Camping comes in many gradations and my first Africa trip was a camping trip from the Victoria Falls to Cape Town and that was perfectly fine, but not with tents like @DavidBrown mentioned, but actual tents that we had to set up ourselves every night.

Where would the Botswana/Zimbabwe/Namibia trip exactly go in Namibia, as it is important to know whether Etosha is on the list or not ;). FYI the flamingo have left Nakuru National Park the water levels have risen dramatically over the last year, so all Lesser flamingo are now in Lake Bogoria, there are still a few Greater flamingoes though.

Visiting the Masaai Mara when the wildebeests are there is definitely a big + as there will be so much large animals on such a small area, that it is impossible to top. Going to Chobe in the dry season (our summer) is however a guarantee to see more elephants than you can possibly handle (especially on the river cruise, which has the additional goodies of Lechwe loads of African skimmer and a chance for Puku). If you really have to see Cheetah and Leopard, the Kenya option is your best bet though.


The Kenyan option probably involves less driving, as distances are smaller, but the drives will mostly be through human dominated landscapes, whereas Botswana and Namibia are pretty much empty, so that makes an interesting experience.
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Unfortunately Etosha is not on the list. The tour stops in Windhoek and I can't swing an extension to Etosha, which is disappointing to me to say the least. Etosha is high on my list of places to visit.
 
Read what quality of guides you get. You can get a naturalist guide who will show you small animals and birds and make things like night drives to see nocturnal mammals. Or you can have a standard tourist trip where the guide drives away from hunting lions because it is time for his lunch, overlooks a Puku as a Lechwe and calls snake-eagle an owl. Photographic tours are still another matter. People spend hours to get a perfect photo, and if you are not into it, you get mad with boredom.

Camping by itself is fine, they have usually very good campsites with hot water and so on.
 
My wife and I visited Victoria Falls and 3 private parks around Kruger last year. Sensational. The big five. Leopard cub. Hyaena babies. Hunting dog pack with babies. Honey badger. Best thing ever.

Namibia was on the list but there wasn't time. For Namibia I wanted to do Etosha and the coast.

We stayed in lodge accommodation
 
I have never been to the continent but follow the safari options via a subscription to Travel Africa (a truly fantastic magazine and in fact my only subscription). The Okavango Delta is considered by many to be THE premiere wildlife experience in all of Africa. Botswana has a policy of low impact, low density tourism which they fund by making it very pricey. Since the price is almost the same for both of your tours it seems to me Botswana/Zambia/Namibia is the no-brainer, undisputed choice. I mean you will have a good time either way but based on my research this should not even be a question. Zambia also appears to be a superior safari destination based on the articles I have seen. Victoria Falls is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Forget Kenya is my advice (but as I said I have not actually been there).
 
Thanks for all of the responses. I think I'm going to end up going with the Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia trip. It's cheaper and I'm a little nervous about camping in a rustic camp in Africa and also am unsure about doing it for nearly two weeks. Seeing as how elephants are my favorite animal I definitely would love the chance to see lots of them in the wild. My other reason for avoiding that was because the tour didn't stop in Etosha but as I research I think Namibia deserves a trip in and of itself. I think I'll wait until I can swing a trip to Kenya not in a primitive camp. So here's another question. I may have to fly into Johannesburg or Cape Town to keep costs down. Anyone been to either of those? Pros? Cons?
 
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lintworm said:
It depends on what you want to see/do most. Kenya probably would give you a longer species list of both mammals and birds, but the Victoria Falls and the Okavango are some of the most breathtaking landscapes in Africa. Both are very well suited for a first Africa trip, something Ethiopia is not really....

Camping comes in many gradations and my first Africa trip was a camping trip from the Victoria Falls to Cape Town and that was perfectly fine, but not with tents like @DavidBrown mentioned, but actual tents that we had to set up ourselves every night.

Where would the Botswana/Zimbabwe/Namibia trip exactly go in Namibia, as it is important to know whether Etosha is on the list or not ;). FYI the flamingo have left Nakuru National Park the water levels have risen dramatically over the last year, so all Lesser flamingo are now in Lake Bogoria, there are still a few Greater flamingoes though.

Visiting the Masaai Mara when the wildebeests are there is definitely a big + as there will be so much large animals on such a small area, that it is impossible to top. Going to Chobe in the dry season (our summer) is however a guarantee to see more elephants than you can possibly handle (especially on the river cruise, which has the additional goodies of Lechwe loads of African skimmer and a chance for Puku). If you really have to see Cheetah and Leopard, the Kenya option is your best bet though.


The Kenyan option probably involves less driving, as distances are smaller, but the drives will mostly be through human dominated landscapes, whereas Botswana and Namibia are pretty much empty, so that makes an interesting experience.
Click to expand...


What would make Ethiopia not a good first African trip?
 
TheEthiopianWolf03 said:
What would make Ethiopia not a good first African trip?
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No elephants, no - well - no most of any animal most tourists go to see. No solid tourist infrastructure. Plus the poster said at the very beginning they have two trips (and only two trips) they are deciding between. The question is not which country out of all countries in Africa should I go to? The question is which tour should I choose: the one to Kenya or the one to Botswana/Zambia/Namibia.
 
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