35-50 years of age
Review about Botswana by JacoBrits
Botswana offers an extensive variety of game and bird species. The country’s habitat is however not very diverse. The bush experience is however maintained with rustic camping sites and well integrated lodges, etc.
65+ years of age
A world in one country - from berg to bush to beach to battlefields - with friendly people.
South Africa offers the international tourist a wide range of national parks and game reserves across it length and breadth for tourists to experience game viewing in which everything from the big five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo) not to mention hippo, crocodile, cheetah, zebra, wildebeest (gnu) and a vast array of different breeds of antelope, including springbok and impala may be seen. The parks are also present a paradise for serious bird watchers. Coupled with this, whales and dolphins may be seen respective either lazing not far beyond the breakers in the oceans or surfing in on the waves and cutting away just before they break on sandy shores of rocky coves. The National and Game Parks have very different characteristics depending where they are located in the country, ranging from semi desert in the Karroo, Mountain Zebra, Camdeboo and Gemsbok National Parks, to the grass and bushveld mosaic in the Kwazulu-Natal Parks of Hluhluwe-Mfolozi, Mkuze, Tembe and Pinda to the bushveld of the Kruger National Park with its flanking upmarket private parks of Sabi Sand, Londolozi, MalaMala, Thornybush, etc., to the grasslands set amongst the yellow sandstone crags of the Golden Gate National Park, to the grassland of the Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Trans-frontier Park straddling KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho and with its Yellowwood scarp forests on its steep south facing slope valleys.
The scenery of the country ranges from the pristine white sand beaches and knarred, twisted and buckled mountains of the Western Cape, dating from when the Falklands were torn from the African continent (then Gondwanaland), to the stark and serene beauty of the Karoo with it unique vegetation and iselbergs, to the majestic basalt topped mountains of the high Drakensberg (+- 3000 metres)with their deep valleys with crystal clear waters, to the subtropical forests of KwaZulu-Natal coastal belt, to the bushveld of Mpumalanga and Limpopo which stretches the length of the Kruger National Park – a reserve larger than many countries. And yet this is not even half of it!
The climate, in Northern hemisphere terms, is nearly always pleasant. A winter’s day is generally warmer than a summer’s day in Europe. Rainfall generally occurs in winter in southern Cape with the rest of the country experiencing the majority of its rainfall in summer, and then it is often short and sharp where after the sun comes out again. It is not for nothing that South Africans generally prefer a braai (barbeque) any day to a formal inside meal.
A variety of accommodation is available for tourist from the most luxurious (and expensive) to the good clean but reasonably priced; be this within the national parks, along the highways and byways, or in the international cities of Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.
Food to suit most, if not all tastes, is available throughout the country. To many locals eating out is a national pastime so finding a suitable restaurant should not be a problem! Many of the parks however require the tourist to bring in their own food as only limited food is available in the park. Best to check beforehand! With the odd exception, the local water may be drunk without any fear of after affects. Bottled water is however available for those who would rather not take the chance.
South Africa is served by an excellent infrastructural network with freeways or motorways in and beyond all the major cities; high class roads link them and offer the opportunity for those that would prefer to self drive with hire cars from Avis, Budget, Tempest and others. Major and International Airports serve the country and is by far the easiest and quickest way to travel around a country as large as South Africa. Apart from South African Airways and British Airways, there are budget airlines such as Kulula, Mango and One Time where a considerable saving may be made. While there are Greyhound and other bus services, this is perhaps the least favoured means of travel. There are however many tour bus company, both large and small, which the tourist may utilise if they are less adventurous and would prefer to leave their direction and choice of accommodation to others.
35-50 years of age
Into the Water
Our Safari was a self-drive expedition covering a total distance of 3200km. It commenced in Johannesburg, South Africa taking us past Modimolle, Vaalwater, Lephalale, Mahalapye, Palapye, Serowe, Orapa, Maun, Moremi, Savuti, Kasane, Victoria Falls, Nata, Francistown, Selebi-Phikwe, Zanzibar, Tolwe, Baltimore, Marken, Vaalwater, Modimole and back to Johannesburg.
Our approach to Moremi started in Maun which is a reasonably sized town with most of the amenities you could need. There are a number of supermarkets, restaurants, airport, etc. Moremi do not have any such facilities so one must stock up in Maun.
Making a late start from our accommodation in Maun we headed north to Moremi, Xakanaxa where we would be camping for two nights. The drive to the park, approximately 100km, was easy going on tar at first and then good gravel road for the last 45km to South gate.
Botswana citizens are generally very friendly and help full and we experienced this throughout our visit in the park and country. As a result check in procedures was uneventful, all arrangements had been completed in advance and park entrance fees paid in Maun (no payments are accepted at the gate).
From South gate, we headed north to Xakanaxa. The road heading directly to Xakanaxa was in a reasonable condition and we covered the 42km in about 1.5 hours which left us sufficient time for an afternoon nap before taking a late afternoon game drive.
While the game was more sparse than expected we were very fortunate with a sighting of a large leopard. We made most of the excellent bird watching opportunities and notched up a number of species.
The campsites were excellently placed for privacy and ablution facilities of good standard comparable to national parks in South Africa.
On the second day we took an early morning drive out to 3rd Bridge. Due to the high water levels the route along the water’s edge was closed but an alternative dry route was available. We were able to cross both 4th and 3rd bridge with some good sightings of antelope and bird species.
The afternoon we took a boat trip on the Okavango Delta. Departing at 15:00 we had excellent bird sightings. Game viewing was less successful due to the game being more widely dispersed as a result of the high water levels. The boat trip was however definitely worth the money, one of those must do things when visiting Moremi.
35-50 years of age
Review about Central Kalahari Game Reserve by JacoBrits
Limited variety of game and bird species. Habitat is not very diverse. Very rustic camping sites.
35-50 years of age
Review about Chobe National Park by JacoBrits
Excellent variety of game and bird species. Habitat is not very diverse. Very rustic camping sites.
35-50 years of age
Review about Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park by JacoBrits
Excellent variety of game and bird species. Habitat is not very diverse. Very rustic camping sites.
35-50 years of age
Review about Khutse Game Reserve by JacoBrits
Limited variety of game and bird species. Habitat is not very diverse. Very rustic camping sites.
65+ years of age
Review about Golden Gate Highlands National Park by John A Forbes
Fantastic scenery but generally not the place to seen game. Baboon, Zebra, Widebeest, Eland and others may be found.
65+ years of age
Review about Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve by John A Forbes
Excellent to see game. The park is renown for its Black and White rhino, the latter which were saved from near extinction in a capture programme pioneered in this park and many subsequently translocated to other parks. Regretfully rhino are once again under extreme pressure due to increasing demand in the East for rhino horn and many have as a result been brutely killed by poachers. Elephant, Lion, Hippo and Buffalo may amongst other be seen, and if really lucky Leopard. The Greater St Lucia Park is within a short distance where Hippo and Crocodile may be seen.
65+ years of age
Review about Spioenkop Game Reserve by John A Forbes
Not the best for game viewing by rhino may be seen. It surrounds the Spionkop Dam and accommodation is/was old construction contractor housing. It is overlooked by the Spioenkop mountain (Spy hill/mountian) where the British suffered major casualties during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. This is well worth a visit and where the old trenches may still be seen were the bodies lay deep.