100 Nights in Africa: Budget Travel Tip 3

100 Nights in Africa
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Budget Tip 3:

Saving Money on Safari Drives in National Parks

Going into the National Parks as you travel through Africa can get quite expensive. One of the ways we have learned to get the best deal for the money is to go on two game drives in one twenty four hour period; one in the morning and an afternoon or night safari. These may be spread over two days as long as they are within twenty four hours.

Two of the parks we have visited (Chobe NP in Botswana, South Luangwa NP in Zambia) have the policy one entry fee for a 24 hour period which allows multiple entries. What that means is you can go all in one day or go on a night/afternoon safari one day and a day safari the next.

The reason for going on two consecutive drives in a 24 hour period ist that in some parks there is only one park entry fee charged per 24 hour periods. For each of the safari lodge organized game drives there is a separate game drive charge each time you go on a ride with a camp guide, but only one park fee.

These fees differ for those with their own vehicle, known as self-drive. At South Luangwa NP the fee is higher for self drives and there is a charge for the personal vehicle as well.


Another difference is that licensed guides in some parks are allowed to conduct night drives but self drive visitors must be out before dusk.

We had a discussion with another couple and we both agreed if was better to break up your time at a camp with some safaris and some days to just enjoy the nature and wildlife within the camp rather than constantly going on three or four hour long game drives.




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100 Days in Africa 2011: Budget Travel Tip #2

100 Nights in Africa 2011: Budget Travel Tip # 2:

Stay in locations where wildlife is easy to see in daily life.

Most trips in Africa are expensive, short, but very memorable. We decided years ago that we could not afford to go on standard safaris where all costs were managed by a company.

We learned to seek out camps where wildlife was around and so that we did not need to go on expensive game drives so often. Game drives guided by competent guides are indeed the best way to go. They can find animals when we could not, and they are a wealth of information on behavior of the animals.

Mfuwe, Zambia near South Luangwa National Park

An example of a place to stay where wildlife is around during the day and night is our personal favorite, Flatdogs Camp in Mfuwe, Zambia. There are also other camps along the river as you approach the national park, and the wildlife is very varied and often easy to observe.

Some days are better than others, of course. Yesterday was a

Banner Day for Wildlife viewing

We are traveling for three months and trying to stay in a budget of $100 a day including the cost of the airfare to get to Africa so we cannot go on safari every day we are here nor can we eat in the restaurant so we do our own wildlife viewing as we move about the camp.

Early morning on the bluff-.......................................... We are usually set up on the hippo trail overlooking the river and the area where the water has receded by 6:00 a.m., coffee in hand with our chairs and spotting scope and camera. We spend about an hour or so and then go fix breakfast.

This is not a complete list but a great deal of what we have seen while there:

wattled plover Egyptian geese gymogene sacred ibis

tawny eagle ground hornbill crowned crane pied wagtail

guinea fowl white faced duck crowned hornbill heron

pied kingfisher African spoonbill yellowbilled stork egret

saddlebilled stork bee-eater colony and others I cannot recall at this time

We have also seen elephant, giraffe, buffalo, and baboons in the park across the river.

The banner day..........................................................

One morning we got up and had a nice bird day out on the bluff. Scanning the far shore to see it anything appeared, into the view came six buffalo on the opposite shore. Watched them for awhile and then went to fix breakfast.

Could hear trumpeting near reception, went to look and saw one heading off away from the camp. As we went over to the self-catering kitchen, could see the trees moving and here come the elephants, seven of them, passing behind the kitchen! After breakfast, we walked over to check out the lagoon and there were two of the elephants in the lagoon area.

When we went to fix lunch, the monkeys were playing all about and one got into the hut next to the kitchen and managed to turn on the shower. Robert went to tell reception and when he walked over there, giraffes were out in front of reception.

Time for the afternoon walk.........................

We started our walk and went to check out the lagoon. There was a single buffalo in the edge of the lagoon. When we walked up, the buffalo heard us and looked up. What to do? Just watched him but were aware everyone says they are unpredictable. We could see a giraffe in the game area behind him.

As we continued on walking on the hippo trail by the river saw three elephants on the other side. Watched them for awhile and continued on. They stayed visible for a great deal of the rest of the afternoon.

As we rounded the chalets, went out to the hippo trail again and there were 3 giraffe eating away. Right before we had walked out there we encountered a snake, our second one for this trip. It was identified to us as a stripe bellied sand snake. (non poisonous)

We also observed a saddlebill stork being chased by some other bird. The stork must have been trying to get into the other birds nest.

Lions in Chobe National Park, Chobe Safari Lodge Game Drive 6 am

Puku on alert, where are those lions?




Ahh, here they come, how awesome!






And, wouldn't you know it, here come the dang game drive vehicles. The guides radio each other when they find something big like lions.


Early morning game drive with Chobe Safari Lodge


We had been invited to go on boat ride on the Chobe river Sunday afternoon. We needed to pay our
park entry fee and Finn had suggested it might be cheaper to go through the Lodge than pay 130 pula
each for the entry as individuals. We decided to do the early morning game drive with Chobe Safari
Lodge. Finn was correct---we paid only 70 pula for the entrance fee through the Lodge. Of course, we
had to pay for the game drive also.

Got up early and fixed our coffee, heated a roll and went up to reception to go on the drive. It was very
cold that morning and I had on t-shirt, shirt, sweater, long sleeve shirt, and windbreaker! I also was
wearing my winter hat. Fortunately, I had a blanket to cover my legs. It was especially cold as we drove
to the park.

There were only six of us in our vehicle which was nice. In the beginning we were not seeing much in the
way of game but were enjoying the rising of the sun over the river. You can see how much the water is still
up and the lushness of the place.

The guides do communicate with each other by radio and alert each other when they have something in
sight. Our guide had told us we might not see any "cats" because they are usually seen later in the day,
when suddenly we could see off in the distance what looked like animals jumping across the plains. It
was lions! They did not catch what they were after and stopped and come right at our safari vehicle. they
were very, very close!

We got to enjoy watching them along with several other vehicles that had come driving up. The two we were
watching were females and our driver said the males are staying with the young cubs. We then continued
on our drive. We saw a huge male kudu with four females. He was so kind as to pose for us until we had
all gotten our shots.






Finally we experienced the Kori Bustard, the largest flying bird in Africa actually flying, scared up by a lion!

We saw two different kinds of vultures, but did not see any evidence there had been a kill in the area. We also
saw our first jackals for this trip. As we were driving back from the park, there were three elephants in the
bushes by the road. All in all, a very nice game drive.

Pictures of Leopard on the Hunt! Awesome experience with Mike the Safari Man !

Leopard on the Hunt! Awesome experience with Mike the Safari Man !

We were about to find a place for a "sundowner" where you get out of the vehicle and watch the sunset. Yikes!

As we road along the dirt park road we spied a game viewing vehicle stopped on the side of the road. They had spotted a leopard that was almost impossble to see in the grass, even with great sunlight. Ibises were circling loudly near the ground making their strange calls, but we just could not make out the leopard! Finally it got up and began hunting. We pulled along side them and they silently mouthed, "Leopard."

Afternoon Game Drive with Mike, Part I

After we had done our very interesting drive through the wild game management area in the morning with Mike, we returned to the camp to prepare for our trip into the Park. One of the interesting sights we saw when were driving through there was a hippo with one of his teeth growing sideways out of his mouth. Poor thing. We also saw a woodland kingfisher that was very colorful right above some puka on the ground. We decided to fix ourselves sandwiches and would enjoy them within the park. I walked over to the self-catering kitchen with my head in the clouds and not paying attention to what was going on. I got within 15 feet of the door and looked up and there was Gilbert by the kitchen. He flared his ears and took a step toward me. I started and then, WHAT DO YOU DO? They tell you to freeze, remain calm, and slowly back away. I can tell you, the first thing you do is panic! I was first tempted to jump into the bush but then moved slowly away and when I got out of his sight, walked as fast as I could back to our tent. Robert said I was as white as a ghost!

Mike drove me back over to the camper kitchen and we fixed the sandwiches and were off to pay our fees at the park gate. When you enter the park you, the pass is good for 24 hours. Because we entered at 1:00 pm, the permit was good until 1:00 the next day. Since Mike has been to the park several times, he had a good idea of where we could go. His main focus was looking for lions but we enjoyed other animals and birds along the way. Since he is driving a Land Rover, he was enjoying taking off on some of the small tracks that quite often petered out and we had to turn around and go back. His comment as he turned off onto these roads, "This is not a problem for a Land Rover!"

We enjoyed the puka and impala that were out in great numbers. We stopped at one waterhole and saw black egret, open billed stork, and African spoonbill. At another lagoon type area, we saw hippos gliding through the water lilies. At one point we were amused when a gray heron landed on the back of one of the hippos and it appeared that he was surfing as he was standing still on the hippo back and being propelled through the water.










We saw some a magnificant kudu male with his fine horns and nice markings. We saw Swainsons's francolin running back and forth across the road. We saw a very large herd of buffalo on both sides of the road. We continued to drive and explore areas of the park we had not been in. We saw elephants and a family of giraffe, the baby running back and forth.

Flatdogs Camp, Battle of the Dragons (Monitor Lizards in Love)