As part of our month long stay in South Africa we experienced five days on safari. Firstly at Kruger National Park and then at Thornybush Private Game Reserve.
Did we love safari? Yes. The kids really enjoyed the game drives, had fun at the lodges and learnt a lot about animals and conservation. We spent five days on safari which I think is the perfect amount of time with children. It gives you enough time to do plenty of game drives (ten in total) and see a wealth of animals but is not too long for the children to get dis-interested and tired. Being on safari is hard work for kids, getting up every day at 4.30/5am and not getting to bed until 9.30pm or later. The animals really interested our boys, but once you’ve seen something several times, they start to get a bit blasé, oh its another elephant! Having said that, we saw something amazing on virtually every game drive.
So where did we go?
KRUGER NATIONAL PARK (3 nights)
Our safari began in Kruger National Park, one of Africa’s largest game reserves. Kruger is a perfect place to start a safari as here you can find all the major African species. We stayed for three nights at Jock Safari Lodge, our favourite lodge, located in a spectacular location on a dry river bed in the heart of the National Park. Our accommodation was two spectacular connecting rooms with large terraces, outdoor showers and day beds overlooking the river bed. The food and service we received here was amazing and they were nicely child friendly too. The boys all received gifts on arrival – safari books and animal cuddly toys.
We did two game drives a day, early morning and late afternoon/evening. It was in Kruger that we saw the Big 5, the five most difficult animals to hunt on foot in Africa: lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo. The highlights being the prides of lion with cubs, the early morning off-road drive to spot a leopard and the many white rhino. Staying at Jock Safari Lodge meant we were able to go off-road on their land within Kruger. This meant we could drive closer to the animals, making the experience far more personal than viewing everything from park roads. Also we were able to get out before the park gates opened and stay out once the park had closed in the evening. This allowed us to often be the only vehicle viewing the animals.
Kruger was our favourite park because of the ease of seeing animals. It was also the first place we went on safari and everything is more special the first time around.
See also: Family Safari at Kruger National Park
THORNYBUSH PRIVATE GAME RESERVE (2 nights)
Our second safari experience was at Thornybush Private Game Reserve, where we stayed for two nights at Serondella Game Lodge. The lodge was comfortable and well run. Children were well catered for being given bags of goodies on arrival.
Again we did two game drives a day. The highlights being a close encounter with a leopard eating a warthog and a pride of lions feasting on a wildebeest. Generally, there were less animal sightings here although the park is all off-road so you are able to get close to the animals.
AN AFRICAN SAFARI WITH CHILDREN, IN SUMMARY
We had a great time whilst on safari in South Africa and would thoroughly recommend it to other families. The boys loved seeing all the animals in the wild and learnt a tremendous amount. A safari involves a lot of time in a safari vehicle. If your kids are fine in the car, you’ll have an easy time. Children need to be at an age where they are able to sit still for about three hours at a time to cope with the game drives. Our youngest was eight and was fine.
The five days worked our perfectly and was just the right amount of time to be on safari. I wouldn’t recommend doing much longer with children as it is tiring and they’ll get fed up seeing one lion after another! We all had the necessary vaccinations for this part of South Africa and took malarial medications without any trouble.
