East vs. South Africa – Where Should You Go on Safari?
East vs. South Africa – Where Should You Go on Safari?
Where should you go on safari? East Africa or South Africa?
Are you planning to go on safari but not sure where to go? If you don’t have much experience traveling on the continent, you’re likely faced with the difficult decision of choosing between eastern African and and southern Africa. Which area is better? What are the differences?…
source
Reviews
0 %
can you help book a safari trip in august fro Uk
what are best safaris in august to visit please
This is a good informative video. There is however a perspective that is touched upon here, that I need to elaborate upon.
As for what else there is to do, we can compare lists all day. But the bottom line is, in practice, nobody combines the beaches of Zanzibar, a Kilimanjaro experience, the Serengeti and a a visit to the shores of the great lakes in one visit. The infrastructure means it is just not realistic to do more than two of these things, unless you have a lot of money and time.
This is where Southern Africa is radically different. Combining the Kruger with the panorama route, Cape Town, and the winelands, and/or the Garden Route, or even Vic Falls is easily done, and regularly done. Proper commercial flight connections, roads, car rental options abound. Supermarkets where you can buy everything you can buy at home (but often ridicilously cheaper) are in every town.
Just the Kruger, Panorama Route and Cape Town & surrounding winelands already give you a sophisticated world city, culture, food, wine, waterfalls, (different) mountains, some of the most spectacular coastal scenery in addition to a world class game park in one trip. All bookings easy to book and modify yourself, all prices originally based in local currency. Countries like South Africa and Namibia, unlike Tanzania and Kenya, have most of their tourists as domestic tourists, who know when things are not authentic, and who don’t want to pay an arm and a leg.
You don’t even need a travel agent, you can book the flights online, compare fares from more than one airline. It is as easy as travelling in North America.
Which brings me to the next thing, and that goes back to the game reserves themselves. This video, like many such comparisons on the internet, focuses on comparing guided safari vehicle travel. The Kruger itself actually has little of that, so what vlogs and blogs really describe is the private reserves adjacent to the Kruger, the other reserves in the so called greater Kruger where colonial style pampering is the aim. That is more like East Africa and the obvious to compare, but it is not what the Kruger proper really is about. What the Kruger shines in, what made it famous, is the self drive heaven that it is. And how incredibly accessible and easy it is, how vast and varied the Kruger is, how the infrastructure allows ordinary people to arrive with 20kg baggage and proceed to rent a car, buy their supplies as they travel, and make their own calls where to explore, and how long to linger. Kindle your own fire at night, and reminisce about the days surprises. (There are restaurants in all the big camps too). And you can still do the odd sunset drive to get a guide’s perspective if you want, and get to see animals that are more difficult to spot on day time self drives. I actually recommend that.
But there is a thrill of inter active travel and self discovery of sightings, that I never got on the many work trips in Africa at establishments where all viewing is from the back of a safari vehicle. And the unpredictability means every Kruger experience is different. That is why most visitors are return travellers, it takes several trips to experience the charm of each region in the park. And that is not to mention the other wildlife destinations further from the big cities, like Etosha or the Kgalakgadi which are actually even bigger than the Kruger, and vastly different more open landscapes.
The same goes for the coastline. In East Africa it most probably means self contained often all all inclusive resorts, in a place like Zanzibar or Mombassa. Tropical paradise, cocktail a few steps from your room, with the odd excursion who picks you up at your hotel. I like that don’t get me wrong. But in South Africa the variety is greater, it means surfing towns, like Jeffereys Bay, or scenic coastal drives like Chapman’s Peak, or long walks on deserted beaches like Kosi Bay with no curio trader in sight, or riviera style sophisticated trendy coastal city neighbourhoods like Camps Bay in Cape Town, or wildlife at the sea like St Lucia, or fishing hamlets forgotten by time like the West Coast.
An East African safari is an iconic bucket list experience, with the vast herds and far vistas. If you want to imagine be on the set in Lion King or Out of Africa, you’ll get more of that in East Africa. But authentic depends on what you mean. It is South Africa where you don’t pay in US Dollars, where things you eat and drink are produced in country, where the mere sight of you does mean locals see yiu as a cash machine, where you brush shoulders with local tourists and locals who are not tourist establishment staff.
East Africa is memorable but expensive, the cheaper options are still quite expensive for what you get. Self drive is possible, but complicated. You can combine that with Zanzibar, but the trip adds up in expenses and risks of difficulties.
Many Southern vs East Africa vlogs sort of conclude that it comes down to which habitat you prefer, supposedly South Africa being all woodland, East Africa being all grassland. (most of South Africa is treeless steppes or grassland, and that is even more true if we add other Southern African countries like Botswana and Namibia). What it really comes down to is what type of traveller you are and what you are looking for in a holiday.
South Luangwa in Zambia is equally good.
Great video!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I was never ever out off Cape town
East Africa is rich in natural medicine
Thank you for the information on safari
Wow I like animals
I’ve done many safaris to both east and southern Africa and would definitely recommend for anyone new to Safari to go to Kenya and see that’s the best place to start. The Mara is probably the very best place to go for your first Safari.
doesn’t matter as long as you fly to maximize the global warming you cause. jk. but seriously flying causes more global warming than almost anything else. it would be nice if we were at least trying to survive the climate crisis. ☮️ ❤🌍🌏🌎
The opposite of local guide is foreign guide,
thank you for your video. Quick question, what is better, book safari tours in advance from my hometown or take a flight, arrive there and book something on site? Thanks for your reply in advance!
In East Africa (Kenya & Tanzania, ie., Serengeti, Maasai Mara, Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire, and Amboselli) I saw endless giant elephants – and whole herds of them! (Tens of thousands of other large animals (Widebeast, Zebra, Antelope etc) are all around! So many lions! In East Africa you can "do it all" in one trip as my family and I did — and we landed in and visited the city of Nairobi Kenya near the Maasai Mara and Serengeti, where we began our trip. There are also endless beautiful Lodges in east Africa as well where the Masia People often perform wonderful traditional dances! (not just tents 😮). I saw both White and Black Rhinos in East Africa… I could go on, I definitely recommend East Africa! It has it all! Great video!
Such a useful video, thank you 🙂
It's an intentional effort by the government to keep the roads as natural as the scenery for the benefit of the animals. Hot tarmac roads would be a very bad idea for the wild animals in the midday sun. This may result in animals trying to avoid tarmac crossings.
Price please?
Its not a biased report. Its just not being to the secluded placed kept secret in East Africa. Especially in Kenya. The places which arent advertised but are fully booked the entire lifetime
How much risk of maleria infection & how is easy it is to travel to both from abroad?
East Africa Kenya and Tanzania is way better. More animals in Masaai Mara and Serengetti than all of South Africa. Open grassland savannah in Serengetti and Masaai Mara and the highest mountain Kilimanjaro
Very informative and clear for me to decide, which one I should pick 😊
Jeff – Love your videos. I am curious if mid-July is a good time in eastern serengeti for a couple of nights? Ty
Thank you for the insight. This was the kind of information I was looking for. Planning on going on my first safari summer of 2024. I’m totally clueless and appreciate the video.
2 points, the Cape of Good Hope is not the southernmost point in Africa, it's Agulhas and you CAN most certainly self-drive in the parks in Kenya and Tanzania, we were stuck in Kenya for 7 months during COVID and drove the Maasai Mara, Tsavo and Amboseli parks and towed our camping trailer. We even wild camped, unfenced in the Mara so it is possible.
These videos are fabulous! Thank you so much!
Safari is swahili which is spoken in East Africa so how does it make sense for you to say that South Africa is better yet we are the one's who invented it. You're not God to determine which country is better 🚮😂😂😂 so sit down! why should a foreigner compare african countries?
East Africa takes the crown, with Kenya leading the pack!!
Wow, so much info-now I'll have to figure it out, watch again
! Thanks