South Africa in safari mode: February/March 2026 (page 9 of 9)

Thanks Sylvie for this feedback. It’s always nice to hear 🙂

Regarding the welcome, it's the worst we've had since I've been traveling—maybe Budapest was worse

What a change! 🤪

Etosha is the epitome of nonchalance. The pay will be the same anyway...😏

Yes Agnès, I’d read some shocking articles about a country that lived through apartheid. Over there, just like here, the lessons of history have been completely forgotten! And then stoking hatred between the poor and the ultra-poor—that’s a playbook used in so many countries in 2026 (including ours) 🤦

Could we have a little travel journal for Sumatra? 🙂

I don’t think it’ll interest many people, Pascale 😄

Stirring up hatred—whether toward the poor or the rich—is never a good idea. (Woman/man; white/Black; young/old, the variations are endless.)

Hi Pascale, thanks for this travel journal about a South African destination I haven’t explored yet.

We’ve been lucky enough to visit Botswana and Tanzania in recent years (and Namibia a bit longer ago), and we’ve had incredible sightings—both in terms of landscapes (Okavango, Serengeti) and wildlife. But South Africa keeps coming back to mind, even if some encounters with Afrikaners during our travels have left us a bit puzzled.

Keep up the great work, and thanks for taking the time to sort through photos and write this up. I know firsthand how much of a time investment it is, but the sharing and positive feedback make it all worthwhile! !

Could we have a little travel journal for Sumatra ??? 🙂

I don’t think many people would be interested, Pascale 😅

You’re wrong, Christelle! I’m sure of it 😉

Thanks so much, Fabienne! 🙂 I wouldn’t know what to say about the Afrikaners. I was a bit nervous about how they’d behave before the trip, given what people shared in their travel journals. But we barely crossed paths with any during our trip, and we didn’t see anything that shocked us.

Financial summary of the trip:

2,575 € each all-inclusive for a 13-day trip. Private reserves really drove up the final cost (310 € per person for Shindzela and 204 € per person for Mkhaya). Without private reserves, we’d have been under 2,000 €. Flight Paris/Johannesburg: 589 € per person (including 120 € for checked baggage) Domestic flights (2): 56 € + 74 € per person Car rental: 298 € + 191.52 € (tolls, drop-off fees, and border crossing to Eswatini) Gas: 180 € total Budget around 25 € for a guided safari in Kruger. 3 nights in Kruger: 190 € total, so 95 € per person Night drive in St. Lucia: 73 € per person

Here are a few price examples. Happy travels to all future adventurers! And thanks to everyone for following our first journey through Southern Africa

I sent you a private message, Pascale 😊

Hello Holi,

10 days 100 species 1,000 animals Safari goal? Nailed it, Luckygirl!

I wouldn’t know what to say about the Afrikaners.

Your restraint does you credit. 🙂

Thanks Jean-Luc! 🙂

We had an amazing haul of wildlife encounters in South Africa this year 😎

Hi there,

First off, thanks for taking the time to put together a travel journal.

Thanks for sharing your honest opinion.

The staff at Kruger and the Sanparks are far from being the friendliest employees... That’s just how it is. I’ve even had times when, despite busting out my best Zulu charm, I came up empty-handed.

Those lesions do look like tick bites. In the Isimangaliso area and Swaziland, there’s a type of tick that... bites and runs... without staying attached to the skin. Then comes fatigue and maybe a fever, and only afterward does the "crater" form at the bite site.

It’s not Lyme disease—it’s tick fever.

I caught it once, and my wife did too...

Treatment with cyclines for 15 days, and things get back to normal pretty quickly. No long-term effects. The fact that a ranger happened to mention it to me immediately clicked in my head. French doctors aren’t familiar with it... even though there are roughly 200–300 imported cases in France each year! Now, my medical kit always includes cyclines!

It can definitely be exhausting as a trip... especially over a short period of time.

Thanks again, and... see you on the next trip to SA! !

Good evening,

I just wanted to take a moment to sincerely thank you, Michel, as well as Attila, Bruno, and everyone else I may have forgotten, for all your advice in preparing our first road trip, originally planned for July 2020, which came in handy for this one.

Forums and travel journals are so valuable when you're organizing your own adventures—thank you! 🙂

Just to confirm, everything’s fine health-wise, and I no longer have a blister on my forehead