General Information
As long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to travel to Africa. I watched Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Animal Kingdom and visited a number of zoos all over the country and dreamed about seeing the giraffes and elephants in their natural habitat. My parents, who had traveled all over the world, still had Africa on their bucket list. Unfortunately, as they aged, distant trips were not within their physical capabilities.
One day, while walking around the Lincoln Park Zoo with a friend, she said she had always wanted to travel to Africa but didn’t know anyone who shared her interest so that made the trip a “single supplement” issue, which can be very costly. I told her that I had always wanted to go, but my husband was not into taking such a long flight or being some place that might be potentially really hot, or maybe even third world or unsafe.
Planning Process
So the planning began for Connie and I to travel to Africa together in a reasonably priced way. I spent a good amount of time researching “package deals” with a variety of companies. We both were interested in seeing a lot of animals and taking a lot of photographs. The decision was made to travel on a group tour with Go Ahead Tours (http://goaheadtours.com) in March, 2009. They offered, what we felt, was a reasonably priced tour of Kenya with an extension to Tanzania. What might you ask is a reasonably priced tour? The 17 day trip (including the 2 days of travel each way), with almost all meals included, and including air fare from Lansing was approximately $5,600. Now in addition to the trip cost, there were added costs such as travel insurance, visas and inoculations. But more specifics on that later.
Our goal was to travel with a company who would make all the arrangements, since we felt it would be a “trip of a lifetime”, never returning, and we wanted it to be the best that it could be – at a reasonable cost.
So now some particulars. Traveling with a group can be great, particularly when you are going into the ‘land of the unknown’. Heck, we were so afraid of what the food might be like, that we carried a jar of peanut butter, bags of nuts, chocolate (a must have for me), Crystal Light to add to the water, granola bars, you name it. We could have opened our own mini grocery store. When we departed for the journey home, most of that food was given to our drivers and tour director (well, with the exception of the chocolate as I consumed quite a bit of it). With a group, you have company to share your adventures of the day (as we were in 3 different vehicles traveling close, but often seeing different animals) at mealtimes. On this particular trip, they did not rotate us between vehicles, which I feel is a mistake. We would have liked to have gotten to know others in the group more. Additionally, rotation would have been nice because in our vehicle, we had some personality conflicts, which can be common and can make or break a trip. We had two sisters in our vehicle that didn’t necessarily get along, and a married couple where the husband claimed “we don’t have to stop and look at any more elephants as I have my 10 shots”. Now for those of us that are photographers, that didn’t set too well. I will say that when traveling with a group, you must realize that everyone does not share the same interests at the same intensity that you may. The good news was that the maximum number of clients in the vehicle was six so everyone had a window view.
Economically, traveling with a group makes a lot of sense. If you travel solo, or perhaps with just one other person, your trip cost may climb considerably. Ultimately, you need to decide what is more important to you. Overall, despite the issues in our vehicle, I still really enjoyed that trip. It was a good way to get exposure to traveling in Africa. You get a real feel for the country but also have people with you to share that “land of the unknown”.
The trip to Kenya and Tanzania in March, 2009, was supposed to be the “trip of a lifetime”. That trip turned out to be the Tip of the Africa Iceberg. For me, what I saw and experienced, just made me want more and more. I returned again in January, 2010, but this time solo (I traveled there solo, but did have the same guide for the entire trip). That entire trip (18 nights/19 days) was spent in Kenya. In May, 2012, I went back again for another Trip of a Lifetime (13 nights/14 days) this time spending the majority of time in Tanzania. Then in March, 2014, I returned for 3 weeks for a combined Kenya and Tanzania adventure (with 1 other person). Back again solo in October 2014 for 2 weeks to Kenya and again in October 2015 (2 weeks) for another solo trip and in March 2017 for 2 weeks and March 2018 (2 weeks) again solo and in February 2020 for 2 weeks and January 2021 for 2 weeks (solo and solo). You can probably see a pattern here.
In addition to the cost of just getting there (whether with a group or solo) and the cost of airfare (which may be included in the group tour cost), there are other expenses to consider.
Travel Insurance
I’ve traveled before without purchasing travel insurance. However, traveling with a group and going as far away as Africa was a trip that made me reconsider. Not knowing a lot about travel insurance, when I signed up with Go Ahead Tours, I just purchased the insurance through them. Travel insurance is typically based on not only the dollar value of the trip, but what you intend to cover (i.e. travel interruption, missing luggage, can’t go at all, etc.). The policy itself can be very confusing as to what it is really covering, so read it carefully. Insurance for this trip was $369.
When I traveled to Kenya, Africa in January, 2010, I decided not to purchase any travel insurance. My feeling was that since I was traveling solo, there was no company to go bankrupt, no other passengers who could cause a travel delay, my medical insurance would cover any issues for me (although I’d have to upfront the costs and be reimbursed) and if my flight were delayed or luggage lost, I’d just deal with it. It worked out fine although about two weeks after I got home, there was a major flooding of one of the areas I had traveled in. All the tourists had to be airlifted to safety. It made me wonder what would have happened had I been there at that time without insurance.
Before traveling back to Kenya and Tanzania in May, 2012 (again solo), I did some research about travel insurance. I read through a lot of opinions on a great site http://tripAdvisor.com. A woman I met through Trip Advisor, who also specializes in travel to Africa, recommended I rethink the no insurance idea, and at the minimum get medical evacuation insurance. Her point, and wisely put, even if you have a relatively simple injury, such as tripping on an uneven sidewalk at a lodge and breaking your leg, after getting back to a hospital in Nairobi for treatment, you may get into a situation where you need to fly home and need an extra seat to stretch out your leg in a cast. Or even worse, something more major happens where you need to be flown home on a commercial flight laying flat over 3 seats. This evacuation insurance would pay for the additional seats needed. I’m not certain if regular medical insurance would handle this. And worst case scenario, you are critically injured or die and someone from home needs to fly to Africa to collect you and take you home. Again, depending on the policy, this would be covered. Ultimately, for this 2012 trip, I went through a very good website, http://insuremytrip.com. They offer all types of travel insurance through a variety of companies. I was able to purchase Travel Guard MedEvac Per Trip Plan for coverage up to $50,000 for a total of $48.00. I left home with a more secure feeling and my husband was less stressed (always a good thing).
I would be remiss in talking about travel insurance for Africa safaris if I did not mention Flying Doctors. They are a wonderful organization (http://www.flydoc.org) which offers travel insurance services which takes you from the bush back to a major hospital in Nairobi if necessary. The cost for having this insurance is approximately $25 per 3 week trip. Their planes can get into remote areas and they have doctors who can treat you until you arrive at a hospital. The other nice part about their organization is that they provide medical services for the local population, which this $25 goes to support. So assuming you don’t need them for a medical situation, you are helping out a worthy cause. If you go, be sure to ask your Tour Operator if Flying Doctors is included in your trip cost. Many of them do include it.
Medical Costs
Before you go, there will be certain inoculations that you will need and others are recommended by the CDC (Center for Disease Control). In case you are planning to travel again, some inoculations last a life time, some shorter. Many people meet with their family physician and discuss what is needed. Since I live near Michigan State University, I elected to make an appointment with their Travel Clinic because they specialize in international travel. They do have a consultation fee. Recommended inoculations for Kenya and Tanzania included Hepatitis A (series of 2 shots), Hepatitis B (series of 3 shots), oral Typhoid medication, yellow fever vaccination, tetanus shot (I was already current on that) and malaria meds (either doxycycline or malarone). They also wrote me a prescription for Cipro (for traveler’s diarrhea). The total cost including consultation, injections and pills was $500. Please be sure to plan ahead because some of the series shots need to be started 6 months before traveling. According to the information I was given, hepatitis injections are good for life, tetanus and yellow fever injections are good for 10 years, and oral typhoid is good for 5 years. Malaria pills are taken for the duration of the trip (as well as shortly before and some time afterwards depending on your drug of choice).
Visas
The travel company suggested getting our visas in advance rather than on arrival. One was needed for Kenya and another for Tanzania. They included paperwork for a “Service that will help you with this”. ZVS was the suggested company. By using this company, I ended up paying $273 for what I could have obtained at the Nairobi airport and the Namanga, Tanzania border crossing for a total of $125. BIG LESSON LEARNED. Not only are you paying them for the visas, but also their service of handling it for you, as well as shipping costs for your returned passport. You also need to include passport photos (another $12 cost) which if you get your visa at the borders, you do not need. In addition, you also pay postage to ship your passport and paperwork to them overnight (another $12 at the time). But what I disliked the most, you have to send in your original passport, which going through the mail, you run the risk of losing it. IMPORTANT – It used to be you could buy your Kenya Visa on arrival into the airport. Now, effective January 1, 2021, all visas must be done in advance, by eVisa only. I use http://evisa.go.ke/evisa.html You create an account, fill in all the information. Be prepared when doing your eVisa, to have your passport handy, as well as a scan of your passport, a scan of your individual passport photo (sometimes they ask for a scan of another current photo that is NOT your passport photo), a scan of your itinerary of where you are staying and dates of travel (your tour operator can provide this), and once I was asked for a scan of my air travel itinerary. What they request can change so I’m just prepared with it all. They will request a credit card to charge and for me, it was $50 USD plus a small service charge of about $1.50. During the process of the electronic filing, I made sure I had a screen capture showing they had received my payment just in case there was a glitch. A few people have mentioned not seeing an eVisa to download and just showed a paper which shows they had paid for one. My eVisa process for my trip in 2021 took less than 24 hours. In order to print your eVisa (they do not send an email saying it has been processed), you must log into your account and then look for it to download. I can’t speak for the current situation going into Tanzania as I have not done that since 2014.
Tips
There is a wide variety of thoughts here depending on who you speak with. The recommended minimum amount when I traveled on the first group tour was $5 per day for the driver and $10 per day for the Tour Director. Our baggage handling by the porters at the various locations was included (but when it’s not, giving them $1-$2 is greatly appreciated). Dining room tips were also included (but again, if we were really happy with the service, leaving $1 at the table was appreciated). Tips for the group tour were approximately $250. Since I primarily travel solo, and with the advice of others via Trip Advisor, guide tips seem to be in the $15-$20/day per VEHICLE (not per person). I use this as a starting point. I can say though, with the outstanding guiding I’ve had and since they are private safaris (not with a large group) I have increased this amount. On group tours, game drives are usually 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. On a private safari, you pretty much set your times to be out. My preference is to be out at 6:15/6:30am and return for late breakfast (around 9/9:15am). Then in the afternoon, I like to go out around 3:30/4pm and stay out until 6:30pm. The lighting at this time works best for me and photography. Not only is my guide looking for wildlife, but often helping me haul my equipment and sometimes joining me for a meal (or 2 or 3). So that to me is worthy of a higher tip. When at the lodges/tented camps, I’m always looking to see if there is a central tip box. That’s really nice because then you don’t have to have small bills for the waiter, room person, etc. You just leave 1 tip in the box which is distributed among all the staff, including cooks, room attendants, waiters, etc. Porters and guides are tipped separately. But it is rare in the places I’ve stayed to find a central tip box.
Miscellaneous Extras
Drinks (beer, wine, liquor) are typically extra. A bottle of soft drink is usually $1.50-$2 and a bottle of beer $3.00. Wine seems to run a lot more. Usually the tents and lodges will provide a bottle of water per person per day in the room. If you request a bottle of water with your meal, you’ll pay $1-$3 depending on the size of the bottle. Laundry service is available at many camps and lodges and prices vary a lot but actually can be quite reasonable ($2 for a pair of pants and t shirt, cleaned and pressed).
