Kent's Family Goes on Safari

“What’s the right age to take kids on safari?” people ask me.

“Any age,” is always my answer. You can take children of just about any age—from infants to teens—on safari, and if you design it right, they’ll have fun and you’ll have fun. When I lived in Tanzania, I organized or guided families with kids from age 3 months up to 21. (Frankly, I thought the couple who brought the 3-month-old were insane, but that’s before we had kids of our own).

Not too many years after that, Kelly and I took our older son, Grady, for a month to Tanzania, Botswana, South Africa and Kenya. He was 7 months old at the time and could not walk or even crawl—in some ways he was like an extra piece of luggage. People thought we were insane too, but it went very well. We enjoyed lots of together time. When we would take off in one of our small plane flights, we’d give him a bottle and he’d doze off—he never cried. We even camped in the Serengeti with him—we’d just put his jammies on and roll him up to the campfire in his stroller, give him a bottle, wheel him around a bit, and cover him with a mosquito net. Sure, we had to lug around a bunch of baby formula and baby food, had to get his bottles boiled every night, had to take turns staying back from the game drives, and make a few other sacrifices, but in the end we all agreed it was worth it.

For our next big safari in 2006, we left the boys—Grady then age 3 and Tate age 1—back at home with relatives. Our families were very kind to watch them and it went as well as possible for them. But it was stressful for Kelly and I. We felt very guilty and agreed not to do that again until they were much older. But the call of Africa is so strong personally, and for work, we need to return regularly. For the past couple years, Kelly and I have been traveling separately to Africa, which has its own pros and cons. We have been hesitant to take the boys due to the long plane flights and their high energy level and need for a LOT of activity. Like most parents, we also have safety concerns. More about that later…

Fast forward to early 2009. We’re trying to plan our annual family vacation and we’re thinking: Argentina. We hit a few snags and then we say, what the heck, let’s just bite the bullet and go to Tanzania. Since I need to do some work in Rwanda and on Kilimanjaro first, I need to leave 10 days earlier. Even the most heartless person would not ask Kelly to fly all that way on her own with our two boys—especially the younger one! Enter Grandma Bev. Since she’s been to Tanzania with us before and loves Africa too, she’s the perfect addition to our multi-generational safari. Now we are 5.

Having planned many family safaris, I thought this would be a slam dunk. In reality, it’s been a bit more challenging than I expected: It’s hard to balance my own desires with what’s best for the family. One example: Kelly and I love to do private bush camping, but it’s really not the best solution for those with small kids like ours. It’s too limiting because the boys won’t be able to run around or burn off steam at a pool. Another example: I want to check out a really swanky safari lodge in the Serengeti, but they don’t take kids! Then, of course there’s the money. Multiply every cost by 4x or 5x and it really starts adding up! So, we have made compromises.

Even with these compromises, we’ve got a fantastic trip planned. After trekking gorillas in Rwanda and going up Kilimanjaro, I will fly to Nairobi to meet the family. We start in Nairobi with an overnight at the Nairobi Serena Hotel. Then, we’ll drive down to Arusha and spend two days visiting friends and doing a bit of business. (Normally, we’d fly down to Arusha, but we can save about $700 by driving). We’ll spend two days at Tarangire Safari Lodge in Tarangire National Park, and also visit a village and school we support through Mwangaza Inc. to deliver some picture and donations from Africa Adventure Consultants and our boy’s classes at Lincoln Elementary School. Following that, we’ll spend 2 nights at swanky Ngorongoro Crater Lodge and then fly to my favorite park in the world, Serengeti National Park. Here, we’ll spend two nights at Klein’s Camp and then two more at Nduara Loliondo, both just outside the park’s border, so we can enjoy both park-based game drives and walks and night drives outside the park on “private” land. From there, we’ll fly to exotic Zanzibar and enjoy one night at the Zanzibar Serena Inn and other two nights at the beach. Then, we’ll fly back to Nairobi for the LONG flight home.

The flight is long, and in our case, especially long because we will need to make an extra stop on the way back because we are using frequent flyer miles for the seats. While inconvenient in some ways, doing this will save us tens of thousands of dollars as we were able to get business class.

This leads me to some tips and suggestions for family travel to Africa:

Flights: If you plan to use frequent flyer miles for your ticket, talk with a travel professional first to get routing options, book early, and call often if need be. Seats open up all the time so don’t be shy about calling back and being a “pain.” If you are purchasing tickets, work with an agent and check against online options. Think long term: Is it worth it to have a 12-hour layover in a crummy airport to save $50. NO! Should you consider over-nighting in Europe on the way over to reduce jet-lag and see a new city: YES! Pack light and take everything carry-on if you can.
Safety: If you watch the news and they have something on Africa, it’s usually bad. But in reality, much of Africa is safe, friendly, beautiful and hospitable for visitors and families. Especially when traveling with kids, read up on your destination first. Talk to people who know the destination and people who have traveled there to get a more accurate picture of the situation. Before you go, get all the recommended inoculations (www.cdc.gov) and take a small first aid kit with antibiotics, anti-diarrhea meds, pain meds, anti-malaria and more. Be aware of political elections and other events in your destination country. Buy travel insurance!

Accommodations: This is one of the most important decisions you’ll make for your safari. While I love to camp in small tents and we do that in the mountains of Colorado with our kids, we won’t be doing that on this safari—there are just too many animals around and not enough space for the boys to safely play. So, we’re going to stay in some “brick-and-mortar” lodges and chalets and will limited our tented experiences to permanent and semi-permanent camps with larger tents with en suite bathrooms, and a little more room for the kids to burn off some energy. Note: There are a number of family friendly units/rooms at many camps and lodges these days. Pools are great on safari, so we’ve also planned our trip to stay at a place with a pool every other stop.

Itineraries: For family safaris, be especially aware of the pace of the trip. Don’t try to cover too much ground in too short of a time. Many safaris are heavy on game drives. For families, make sure you incorporate a variety of activities such as cultural visits and hikes or walks where possible. It’s also nice to have some unstructured free-time for reading, writing in your travel journal and just relaxing.

We’re now finalizing our itinerary and working out a few last-minute details. Next, we’ll start packing…Stay tuned for the next installment of Kent's Family Goes on Safari!