South Africa Safari & Vacation with Teens: City, Beach, and Bush

Our family of 11 including 4 grandchildren, 10 years old and younger, had a fabulous time in South Africa.  We were in South Africa for 8 nights after our arrival.  During our time we spent three days exploring Cape Town and adjacent areas with an excellent tour guide.  He was able to engage the grandchildren, be patient with them but also ensured that the adults were exposed and engaged in Cape Town and area related opportunities.  We stayed in an apartment which worked well because of its proximity to entertainment, food and fun things to do.  The casual nature of the apartments fit our needs with the younger grandchildren and the rest of the family very well.  Before we even got to Cape Town, we were very satisfied with the arranged meeting of our flight in Johannesburg since their assistance to get us through customs, help rebook us, since our incoming flight was delayed and get on our belated way after over 24 hours of travel.  The pickup in Cape Town was well done and our guide within Cape Town was outstanding, as previously mentioned.

We then spent three days at Shamwari Game Reserve of safari which was also very well done.  Great food, great service and comfortable surroundings.  We saw lots of animals, everyone felt pampered and we had control of our schedule.

Finally, after returning to Cape Town we were driven tour accommodation which was a fantastic home and venue along the ocean in another reserve, this one a botanical reserve.    What a way to spend the last two days of our vacation as the only people staying at the beautifully outfitted home with a full staff that took pampering to a new level.  From the first fifteen minutes after arriving we knew we had made a good decision despite the long traveling day from Shamwari to Elizabethtown, flying to Capetown and the 4 hour drive to the Beach House.  We had a "Sundowner" on the beach which included drinks of choice, appetizers, boarding down sand dunes by kids and grandkids and a sunset that will be long remembered. 

Our extended family has taken vacations to Ireland, Italy, Canada, Mexico, various locations in the US  and this was agreed by all to be the most enjoyable, best planned and with the capable abilities of our safari tour operator the best executed of all of our vacations.

Absolutely awesome experience – better than we imagined! We spent time in Victoria Falls, Chobe National Park, the Okavango Delta and Cape Town. The service, guides, lodgings and experiences we had in each location were exceptional. This safari travel company and our travel planner made everything easy – we were greeted each step of the way, enabling us to enjoy our African adventure without the normal stress of traveling in another country. In Zimbabwe, we experienced majestic Victoria Falls both from the air and a guided tour through the park. We enjoyed a sunset dinner cruise on the Zambezi River. Our room at the Ilala Lodge was picture perfect and comfortable, plus we could see the mist rising from the falls. In Chobe National Park, we went on numerous game drives and boat tour with a dedicated guide. The Ngoma Safari Lodge was the most visually extravagant place we ever stayed.  The view walking into the lodge literally takes your breath away as you look down at the Chobe River with herds of zebras, giraffes and antelopes moving between a small watering hole close to Ngoma Lodge and the river. Combine that with great location to Chobe National Park, exceptional guides, thoughtful and well-trained staff, delicious dinners and wonderful rooms with incredible views and you have the perfect safari location. In the Okavango Delta we saw so much wildlife (inlcuding a numerous lions and African Wild dogs and their pups) and were again blessed with wonderful guides, great staff, and lovely rooms in an amazing location at Sable Alley in the Khwai Reserve. Cape Town gave us an opportunity to relax at the boutique hotel and enjoy winery tours and a peninsula tour, as well as amazing restaurants.

Originally, I tried to work out an itinerary myself using online review and travel books, but became concerned about arranging transportation and guides. Then I contacted several different travel agencies. This travel planner quickly responded. She made everything easy for us. She worked with us on locations, desired experiences, dates and cost. We really wanted to see Botswana’s Chobe National Park and the Okavango Delta. Two other companies were trying to steer us away those areas due to cost and availability, but our travel planner was able to make it happen for us. She took care of absolutely everything from lodging, car and in-Africa air travel, tours, guides, and even restaurant reservations for us in Cape Town. Amazing personalized service.

This company makes you feel very pampered and special. Our travel planner made time to meet us in Victoria Falls (her home base). In honor of our 30th wedding anniversary, the travel company surprised us with a complimentary dinner and bottle of wine at our Victoria Falls hotel, which had one of the best restaurants in Victoria Falls.

We contacted Zicasso not knowing what to expect.  We usually plan our own trips, but this was kind of a biggie to places we were not familiar with and I thought I would like someone else to do the legwork for a change.  We wanted to go to South Africa and Botswana and mostly just see animals in the wild at Kruger National Park, but, I also wanted to go to Cape Town because I had heard wonderful things about that city. 

We provided the information requested to Zicasso, and very shortly afterward we were contacted by three agencies.  We also contacted a couple of others on our own to see what they could offer.  The ones we contacted outside of Zicasso wanted to put us on tours with lots of other people with regimented itineraries... not what we were looking for at all.  Of the three agencies that contacted us through Zicasso, one was off the charts with pricing and we were able to eliminate that one fairly quickly.  The other two were both fabulous - the tours were just what we were looking for and the people we dealt with really went out of their way to mold the itineraries to what we wanted. 

It was a really tough decision between the two remaining agencies.  I think the deciding factor ended up being this travel agent had lived in South Africa and was a guide himself, and now lived in Florida (a few hours from where we live).  I'm sure the other trip would have been wonderful, but the one we chose was really terrific. 

Everything the agent planned worked like clockwork. We were met everywhere we went, driven where we needed to go, and treated very well at each stop.  The driver meetings and checkins and border crossings and internal flights were all on schedule.

We really liked Cape Town - wish we could have spent more time there.  The hop-on-hop-off busses went very well on the first day.  We spent quite a bit of time at the harbor - what a nice place.  Unfortunately the table mountain cable car was closed due to weather.  Can’t do anything about that.  We scheduled a private tour for the next day and and it went really well - we got to see some of the main points our agent mentioned.  We needed at least 2 or 3 more days there though - maybe a week - maybe 2…

All of the preserves we visited had their own charms and amenities.  I think we probably liked Pondoro the best - it just seemed to have everything.  I liked the guides and trackers at all three preserves - each handles the drives a little differently, and all were fun.  My wife really enjoyed the drives.  This was a dream trip for her.  Except for the flights to and from SA, this was a terrific trip.  (The flights were just too long, especially the trip home.  From the time we left the preserve until the time we got home, we were traveling 42 hours.  If we should ever consider doing this again, I think we’ll break up the flights and stay a couple of days somewhere in between, both coming and going.)

The only problem we had on the trip was the weather - nothing to be done about that.  It was pretty cool and a bit drizzly in Cape Town, but we dressed for it and were fine.  When we arrived at Mashatu Tented Camp, our third preserve, a cold front arrived with us.  It was very cold the evening we got there and our evening game drive about froze our butts off.  Showering under the stars was not an option.    We huddled under the blankets, which kept us quite warm, and slept until a cold early morning game drive called - put on a bunch of layers, and set off.  But it did warm up that day, and a shower was welcome around noon.  Every day was warmer at Mashatu and more pleasant after that, and our final night, we were finally able to shower under the stars comfortably.  

Monwana, our second preserve, was very pleasant as well. We liked it there and enjoyed looking at the pond where the animals came to drink.  One of my wifes favorite memories was watching about 35 elephants march down to the pond on a particularly hot day and splash around in the pond.  The staff, as with all three places, was very nice.

Our agent must have answered a hundred questions from me from the time I first inquired until final payment.  He was always quick to respond (even once when he was on vacation.  We are currently Facebook friends and share pictures.

My family and I spent two weeks in S. Africa July of 2017 and got most of the ideas on what to do and where to stay from our safari travel planner and this company.  It was the best vacation, by far, that any of us have ever been on.  Each day was filled with new adventures and new sights and we have a wonderful set of family memories that will last a lifetime.  3 days in Cape Town, Whale watching in Hermanus, then 3 days each at two private game preserves close to Kruger NP.  The accommodations were excellent and everything like transfers, etc went off without a hitch.  It was as close to a perfect trip logistically as I could imagine.  The one time there was a tiny miscommunication on the whale watching, I emailed our travel planner and she fixed it from afar within about 10 minutes.   We all want to go back and visit another part of Southern Africa and will not hesitate to use this travel planner again.