Has anyone been on an african safari?

I highly recommend South African and Tanzania. South Africa will likely be more expensive. In Tanzania I suggest looking at packages in the Ngorongoro Crater.

I suggest the inside of edmorel's pants.

I've been, but can't really recomend where I have been - I did it as an add on to working and business trips. there have to be better places. Kenya is actually very easy to get around and very easy to see some cool stuff. I would highly recomend a safari

glad to se that you are getting around a lot lately. good for you.

You won't see much more than a pygmy snake in there.

Is this going to be a hunting or non-hunting safari? These days I think $5000 could get you into a bare-bones 5-day plains-game hunt in Namibia, Zambia, or RSA. Non-hunting you that money would go quite a bit further. I'd personally avoid RSA- it's nearly impossible to find a non-canned hunt there these days. Zimbabwe is not a good choice currently, for obvious reasons.

If this is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime type trip, you need to make it Tanzania. Ive been around Africa, and Tanzania is the wild place you dream about or read in Hemmingway. Late August in the Selous or Masailand you will likely see 500-1000 strong herd of Buffalo- quite a sight. They grow some big cats there too (one of which is now a my rug^^) The entire place just an order of magnitude more remote and unspoiled than the rest of southern Africa. You couldn't hunt Tanzania for $5000, but you could probably spend time there.

I would strongly recommend hooking up with your local safari club before deciding anything. You'll meet old-timers and professional hunters who have made dozens of trips to Africa in their lives. Their knowledge could save you a lot of grief, and believe me there is a lot of potential for grief in Africa. Don't travel there with some mickey-mouse outfit.

I also recommend the forums at www.accuratereloading.com. It's the biggest online community of big-game hunters, but there is a wealth of knowledge there for non-hunters too.

I went on a safari in Kenya 10 years ago with a friend and my parents. We had a great time. We went with Kuoni out of London. The cost of our Safari, which included round trip travel from London, domestic (Kenya) travel, lodges and meals, was less than the cost of round trip airfare alone from California to Nairobi. I understand it costs more these days. I found out about the trip from a coworker of mine. She has been back recently and added Tanzania to the itinerary; she likes Kenya better.

I've been to safaris in South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and (I think) Botswana or Angola.

Kruger's the best, but that might have changed. Wouldn't go to Kenya right now the way things are going.

Careful:

http://www.awayawhile.com/index.php?offset=0#44

I'll +1 on the Tanzania. My mother went a few years back with a group on helping teach some of the kids how to speak English, and on that 10 week trip they got to spend 1 week just doing fun, safari-like stuff compared to working. She loved every minute of it.

My mother is heading there in a few weeks for the migration of the wildebeast. You would have to put me in a clear plastic bubble to get me to go to Africa, even on the most luxurious safari.

If you go to Tanzania (which I highly recommend), I'd suggest to stay away from the most visited areas in the North and go for the similarly fantastic but far less touristy areas of the South (Selous is beautiful for a lush landscape, Ruaha fantastic for a more arrid environment). These are places where you will be able to spend days of safaris drives without ever seeing another rover or other tourists.

The crater has an amazing concentration of wildlife but is a bit of a zoo, with rovers roaming around and follwing each other... feels more like Disneyland at times than a wilderness experience IMO