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From Times Online

July 8, 2008

Ask our expert: a four-week safari

Mary Wise wants to do a group safari trip in Africa with interesting people, wildlife and landscapes

Couple on safari in four wheel drive vehicle, South Africa

Chris McIntyre

I am a single female animal lover wanting to take a four-week trip to South Africa and Africa and try to squeeze in as many beautiful sights as possible in that time.

What tour group would you recommend? I would like to travel in a mixed adult group of 10 to 16. I've heard Peregrine & World Expeditions do this, but I’m really not sure where to begin. I live in Sydney, Australia, and was thinking of traveling to Africa in October or November 2008 - is this a good time to do a safari and all?

I don’t want to have to organise anything - just pay the money and pack my bag and let the tour group plan everything else. I hear Tanzania is beautiful.

Help! Where do I begin to plan a wonderful memorable holiday where I’ll meet interesting people, wildlife and landscapes. Mary Wise, Sydney, Australia

Times Online Africa expert Chris McIntyre responds: Four weeks is a good, long trip – although in some ways your trip is "caught between two stools", as it’s shorter than most proper overland trips, yet longer than most normal group trips.

Apart from Peregrine & World Expeditions, you might like to look at companies like Explore, who have a 29-day South West Africa Overland trip for £1,279 + US$400 local payment. Group size 12-16.

On a simpler level, Guerba offer over-and style trucks and "four day to four-week" trips (although their trips often exceed four weeks) See their East African Explorer for one idea for a 29-day trip from Jo’burg to Nairobi for £890 +US$960 local payment. The group size is 4-21.

It’s always very difficult to predict precise numbers on a trip before you travel, although some companies may tell you how many have booked the trip when you book. Both prices above are land-only, and exclude your international flights to Africa – and both really are towards the bottom of what you can expect to pay for a trip.

Also try Dragoman and Exodus for ideas, and cross-compare.

If your budget would stretch a little further, then you’ll find a large number of two-week-long trips around the subcontinent, often in smaller groups, which in many ways will be better that then the larger truck tours. You could "stitch together" two of these into a four-week trip to suit you – although you would then change companions half way through.

One way of doing this is to note that many trips start or end in Victoria Falls / Livingstone. So you might consider aiming visit this in the mid-point of your trip, but at the end of one two-week trip, and the start of another.

Happy travelling!

Chris McIntyre is managing director of Expert Africa

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