2019 Tauck Africa Botswana Zambia South Africa Sept 4-Sept 19

We booked this trip through CruiseOne in Otober 2017. Cost of the tour $29,178. We booked our air in October 2018 for premium economy on American and British air at a cost of $3908.46.

Because we are a Tauck repeat customer, we were given a free night pre tour at the royal Livingstone in Zambia.

We began our journey at 10 am Wednesday September 4. We drove to the airport and checked in. Our bags were not overweight, we were able to check the bags all the way through and we went to the admiral’s club. We were able to watch the last flight of an MD80 take off for retirement.
We boarded the flight for Chicago. The flight leaving Chicago was our first time on a 787. It left two hours late. We arrived in London and sat in the admiral’s club for the next 10 hours. We took a shower to freshen up a bit. The showers were very nice. We boarded the flight for Johannesburg south Africa on British Airways. To date…this 11-hour flight was our longest and by the time we got to Africa we were exhausted. We arrived in Johannesburg and walked around looking at different shops. We decide to use our priority pass card and went to a quaint little lounge… Mashonzha lounge upstairs. I had water and steve had coffee. It was very nice. We were leaving out of gate B19. We were taken to the plane by a bus. We boarded the next flight for Livingstone. The flight took 1 hour 25 minutes. We got off the plane and went into immigration. There were 3 different lines and of course the line for the KAZA visa was HUGE. We waited well over an hour…we finally got our visa, paid $100 cash and went outside to find the TAUCK representative. He was there but informed us the other TAUCK customers had already left and he would call another van to come and get us. We waited about 15 minutes. The van arrived loaded our things and we started the drive to the royal Livingstone. We were terribly disappointed that we were not transported to the resort by boat. It was one of the things we had looked so forward too. We did get to see the city of Livingstone and we passed a herd of elephants standing beneath shade trees.

We arrived at the resort, were given fresh cool towels and a lovely drink. We checked in and were taken to room 5058. The room is nice…we have a king bed, a lovely bathroom with a tub and shower and a balcony. The view is pretty good... the river is a bit obstructed but nice none the less. I unpacked and separated the items that go into the duffel bags. We got cleaned up and were going to walk around taking photos… and as we came down the stairs, we were greeted by a small herd of zebras…one was a baby. That certainly brought a smile to our tired faces.

We then went to the Kubu bar overlooking the Zambezi river. We had some wonderful South African wine, watched the hippos’ surface, had a gorgeous sunset, ate crocodile spring rolls, and watched the mist of Victoria falls. We took a few photos, came back to the room and crashed…. tired but happy.

Saturday sept 7, We had booked an animal encounter online prior to our trip. At 6:30 we were picked up and taken to the Mukuni big 5. We checked in and paid…. $540 for the three encounters and $65 for the video. We first went to visit the Cheetahs. There were two…Lily and MacGyver. They had on harnesses and were very well behaved. We pet them and then got to walk with them. Next we went to ride the elephants. We rode Bonny then afterwards we fed the elephants. Then we went to visit the lions…there were 4 of them 3 girls and a boy named Eric. We pet them and then we walked with them. We bought the video and the trainers were very good to take our photos with our camera.

We came back to the royal Livingstone and then walked to Zimbabwe. A young man named John, offered his services as a guide and we took him up on it. Somehow, we felt safer with him in charge. We went through immigration then crossed the bridge. We saw all kinds of baboons. We paid John $5. We came back to the royal Livingstone shared a cheeseburger for lunch. At 3:00, we met our fellow Tauck travelers. Chris Mancini, our guide gave us instructions. Then we rode a bus to the 1920’s train and rode the train back to Zimbabwe and to Victoria falls. Unfortunately, it has been a very dry year and the falls were almost dry. We got back on board the train and had a 5-course dinner. We got back to the hotel about 9:30. We had a very full but fun day.

Sunday September 8, we had breakfast at 6:30 then we boarded a bus to go on a tour of Victoria Falls. Along the way we saw mongoose, baboons, monkeys, zebra and giraffes. The Falls were very disappointing. The lack of rain and the use of the falls for electricity left them a trickle. We boarded the bus to go on a walking safari in the rhino sanctuary. We saw 10 Rhino including a baby. Then we went on a driving safari. We saw impalas, kudu, waterbucks, wildebeest, giraffes, zebra, and warthogs. We drove to the David Livingston resort where we boarded the lady Livingston boat and we had a lunch cruise on the Zambezi river. We saw elephants, hippos, warthogs and crocodiles. We came back to the Livingstone resort and had dinner at 6:30. It was another busy yet wonderful day. Every trip we take…I have a cry day…days of complete and utter astonishment and joy that I am here. Today was that day…but I have a feeling there will be more days like today.

Monday sept 9, we got up this morning and had breakfast then boarded the bus for the border to Botswana. We took a ferry across the Zambezi river, then got onto buses that took us to a motorboat on the Chobe river. They also served lunch. This cruise was even better than the one the day before. Then we took the bus to the Kasane airport. We were greeted by Giraffes as we drove into the Belmond Khwai River lodge. We checked in and were assigned room 14. Our room is magnificent…the view is incredible. Our driver Mr. T took us on a game drive, and we saw hyenas, elephants, giraffes, zebra…so many! and then we had dinner back at the lodge.

Tuesday sept 10, We got up this morning at 5:30 to go on a safari at 6:30. Today we saw wild dogs and lions and a leopard. There are so many amazing animals! We stopped for a coffee break in the bush next to hippos! We went back to the lodge for lunch and went on an afternoon safari. We stopped for sundowners, then we had dinner at a BOMA.

Wednesday September 11, we got up at 5:30 and went on a 6:30 safari. We saw 5 hyenas with babies and 2 leopards. We then had lunch. We flew to our next camp…Belmond eagle island lodge. We were assigned room 4. The room is simply amazing. As we were sitting on the deck looking at the view, an elephant decided to eat the palm tree next to the deck. I could have touched him!!! We went on a mokoro ride on the little pond. We had sundowners then dinner and retired to our rooms…. another day of amazing sights.

Thursday September 12, today we had breakfast then went on safari. We saw a male and female lion together, a herd of elephants with 4 babies, a mom and baby giraffe, wild dogs with puppies…so many amazing creatures. I lost my safari book and was heartbroken. I told our driver Kenny that I thought I lost it by the herd of elephants. We took a helicopter ride over the Kalahari and saw herds of hippos and elephants and giraffes. Later we took a walking safari with Kenny...who found my book and returned it to me. I cried. We had sundowners and watched a beautiful sunset. We watched a movie about the Kalahari, had dinner and went to bed.

Friday September 13, today we had breakfast then went to Kenny’s village. We got to meet his wife and his youngest daughter Sandra. I bought some carved animals from the vendors. Then we flew to our next camp …Camp Kalahari in the Makgadikgadi pans. We were assigned tent 10. We went for a walk with the zu/hoasi bushman. We had sundowners then dinner.

Saturday Sept 14, we got up at 5:30 and went to visit the meerkats. I was disappointed that none of them sat on anyone’s head. We left the meerkats and did a driving safari. We came back to camp for lunch and took a nap. About 4:00, we left to go ride the ATV’s. We had sundowners and dinner on the pans. Steve and I chose to stay and spend the night in the pans under the stars.

Sunday sept 15, we had breakfast then flew 40 minutes to Maun. We then flew 3 hours to Cape Town South Africa. We checked into the one and only hotel. We have room 312. We were so tired, we ordered room service then went to bed.

Monday Sept 16, we had breakfast at Rueben’s and then did a city tour. We went to the District Six museum and the city gardens. Then we drove to the Bo-Kaap neighborhood to see the brightly colored houses. Then we had lunch on the waterfront at Ginjas. We bought some souvenirs. We went to a braai at the home of Brett Nussy then returned to the one and only and went to bed.

Tuesday sept 17, we had breakfast at Rueben’s then we boarded the bus for a trip to Cape of good hope, the most southwestern point of the African Continent. We rode a funicular to the lighthouse. We walked back down and did some shopping. We had lunch at two oceans restaurant. We went on the shark explorer boat and saw penguins, seals and whales. We came back to the one and only and had our farewell cocktail hour at Nobu then had our farewell dinner at Reubens. We retired for the evening and packed for the trip home.

Wednesday sept 18 we had breakfast at Reubens, then went to the aquarium next door to the one and only. We also rode the Cape wheel and had a drink at Perrymans. We had lunch on the one and only patio…. fish and chips and wine. I did some shopping at the airport…but did not find what I was looking for. I wished I had purchased those things in cape town. There is an out of Africa store at the airport, but it has limited items.
We flew from 11 hours from Cape town to London with no issues. Then we flew 6 hours from London to Chicago then 1 hour from Chicago to STL. Rachel picked us up at the airport and brought us home.

This was indeed a trip of a lifetime. We saw everything I had hoped to see. We do not travel to make new friends…we travel to experience other cultures…to learn about others and to broaden our horizons. I never expected to fall in love with the African people….to see their passion for their animals, their families, their country. This trip was made more special by our tour director Chris Mancini…who loves what he does, by our guide Kenny at eagle island….to meet his family and see his home, and to experience the knowledge of Livius at camp Kalahari. Many people made this trip special…but these three men will forever be in my heart. We had so many favorite moments, the animal encounters at the Makuni Big 5 was certainly a highlight, the meals we shared with each other….the first night at the Livingstone, the room service dinner, lunch on the waterfront at Ginja and our last lunch at the one and only patio were all very special moments, and of course seeing the animals up close in their natural environments. This trip was simply amazing.

Thanks for the report, Cathy. An African safari is truly a spectacular experience. I am so glad that we got to experience it. Thanks for taking us along on yours! I would love to see some pictures when you get the chance.

I Cannot seem to get the photos to post

Cathy--there is a FAQ about how to create a photo gallery. If you need to, just send pictures to me email @ chill@info-res.com

Great trip report! I am particularly interested because we will be on a Tauck trip starting in Cape Town, going to two different wildlife parks, Johannesburg and then to Victoria Falls, then back to Johannesburg and home. We will be starting our trek on 10/23 and returning on 11/6. I would be particularly be interested in the Tauck experience. As you have stated, you are return customers. We have been told that Tauck makes all of the transfers seamless and the accommodations are first class. I trust that this was your experience.

Sorry to hear that Victoria falls was a disappointment, due to lack of rainfall. I have read that certain times of the year can be less dramatic. we are scheduled to stay at the Victoria falls Hotel, while there and go on a dinner cruise to view the falls at sunset.

What can you say about attire during your trip? I have read that the Victoria Falls Hotel, just recently removed the sport jacket requirement for dining. Keeping in mind, the 44 lbs limit on luggage and the nature of the trip, I was thinking a more casual approach to the trip. What are your observations?

Finally, I have purchased a voltage converter and an assortment of plug adapters. The adapter recommended for SA is a two pronged plug with two rod-like prongs. However there are two that meet that criteria. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you for a wonderful report. The true worth of forums like this relies upon reports like yours. Forwarding information to future travelers, based on actual experience, is priceless.

I am familiar with the trip you are taking.

First...one of the things i learned on this trip is that while people offer great advice...you must also remember to be true to yourself. An example of this is....I like to wear dresses and flip flops. I took no dresses and a few pair of flip flops...but thinking i would not need them...I sent them to storage while we were on the safari part of our trip. Which means i had to wear my safari shoes ALL the time. I so longed for my flip flops to wear to dinners. I would have changed into a simple dress and flip flops for dinner had i had them. But I LISTENED to the advice of others thinking they knew more than i did....and for THEM...their advice worked...but it was not always the right advice for me. So what i am trying to say is this...pack for your comfort. Honestly...the safari garb we purchased and wore was truly not even necessary. We could have worn t shirts and jeans. I did not wear my safari hat one single time...I hate hats...but thought it was necessary....so I bought us both one. I did not wear mine and after a few days...Steve opted for a ball cap. So there you go.The animals don't care what you are wearing. Most of the time, you are in a safari vehicle...that has a covered top.

We did find that our group did indeed dress "smart casual" for dinners while NOT on the safari part of our tour. I wore harem pants and dressy flip flops and Steve wore dress slacks and collared shirts and dress shoes. Everyone else...all 20 people....followed suit. I cannot predict how your group will dress...so my advice to you is to dress for your comfort.

One of the things i found confusing was the 44 pound rule. First...the only time our luggage was weighed was at the beginning of our trip in STL and We had two suitcases...one weighed 48 pounds and one weighed 46 pounds...we flew premium economy and were allowed 50 pounds for each bag... and the bags were again weighed in Maun before the flight to Cape town. We had to transfer all of our things from the duffel bag back into the suitcases. It was never weighed for any of the small plane flights. Also...the rule is PER PERSON. Which means for us we were allowed 88 pounds. We had a duffel bag each, a backpack each, and a camera bag each on the small planes. The 44 pounds applied to the DUFFEL bags not our carry ons. Another thing i found confusing was the "liquid rules". I thought that we could only carry travel sized liquids that apply to carry ons on flights. NOT TRUE. You could put full sized liquids in your duffel bags. The duffel bags were stored in the bottom of the small planes. The carry ons were place in an area in the back of the planes. No one checked how much any of them weighed or what you were carrying. As a matter of fact...we did not even have a ticket on some of the flights.

Tauck did everything right on this trip. We did not have any hiccups. I do want to clarify one thing...Tauck does not describe itself as a luxury travel company...because one persons definition of luxury may not be another's. There is no doubt that they use high end accommodations. We were not disappointed in any of the places we stayed.

We did not take a voltage converter and it was not necessary any place we stayed. We did use an adapter everywhere we went. I used the hair dryers provided and left mine at home....but we did take our laptop and we used the adapter for it. We also had to charge our camera batteries with the adapter. I took a multi plug to plug into the adapter so we could plug in more than one thing at a time. The one and only hotel in cape town actually had 110 voltage.

A recommendation....i took my cell phone...but i put it in airplane mode for the entire trip...and only used it when internet was available. I could get e mails and use messenger and look at travel talk and facebook and the tauck forum.I never took the phone off of airplane mode until i got back to the states. So I will have no charges.

If you have any other questions...please ask.

Cathy--interesting. Our safari trip was with Wilderness Safaris and it was in 2005, so a few years ago, but they definitely DID weigh bags, INCLUDING camera equipment and everything and it had to be under a certain limit, which is certainly less than what you posted, can't remember the exact amount. Our transfers were mostly on Cessnas, so that could well be the difference. They also weighed US. We wore safari colored clothes and tennis shoes throughout our time in Botswana, as did everyone else. We also needed hats, as the Wilderness vehicles did not have tops on them. Regardless, it is an amazing trip!

Thanks for the pictures! We didn't get to where the meercats are. They are really cute. For whatever reason, I really LOVED the warthogs! They were my favorite animal, AFTER the cheetah.

The official Beer of Botswana:)

I can only comment on the TAUCK trip which i just came back from. We saw several other tour company vehicles while on safari. ALL of them had tiered seating, ALL of them had canvass tops.

ALL of our transfers were on Cessna's...NONE of them weighed ANY of our bags. When we filled out the paperwork, They asked for OUR weights...but they never weighed us. I cannot address any other tour company rules or regulations. I can only discuss what happened on OUR tour.

While on this trip...we had 12 flights.... Four from STL to Livingstone, one from Kasane to Khwai, one from Khwai to Eagle Island, one from Eagle Island to Kalahari, one from Kalahari to Maun, One from Maun to Cape town, and three from Cape town to STL and our bags were weighed in STL and in Maun and in Cape town....and those were international flights on jets.

I also love the warthogs....but i think part of that is because i love Pumbaa from the lion king...lol

Huh. OK thanks. Our trucks had tiered seating, but no tops. Perhaps Wilderness has changed their vehicles, I don't know, and they may have changed their weight restrictions. They weighed us and our bags once, at the beginning, but not after that. Did you have private transfers on planes? Most of the time there was another couple with us on our transfers on planes.

We had 20 people in our group. ALL of our transfers between the camps were for our group only. We had no one else on the planes and we usually had 2 12 seater planes except for the last flight...we had 2 9 seaters and one 6 seater. Steve and I and another lady were on the 6 seater the rest of the group was on the 2 9 seaters.

Like I said before...we only had a ticket for the first one...from Kasane to Khwai. We did not have tickets for the others.

We also did a helicopter ride at Eagle island...and we were divided into groups by our weights we gave them in the beginning.

Oh, yours was a group trip. Ours was an individual trip just for the two of us. Our transfers were on at a max, 5 seater planes. If there were two couples plus the pilot, we could have easily been overweight for the Cessna.

It was a tauck tour. They took care of all details, of all bookings, of all flights and arrangements and activities. The only thing we had to do was book our air from STL to Livingstone and from Cape town to STL...and they would have taken care of that had we asked them to.

We had Bert from Wilderness Safaris book all our stuff. I think we booked our air to South Africa ourselves, but we did not book anything else.

But yours was still a private tour and ours was a group tour. I am not aware that tauck books private tours. They do book smaller groups...on some of their tours. The groups can include up to 20 people. I knew when i booked ours 2 years ago that it was full shortly after i booked.

OK no problem

Nice picture. Nice CAT.

Question, if one is allergic to everyday cats at home, will you be allergic to a lion or tiger?

I have no idea...but i don't think we were close enough to smell the dander that causes most allergies.

I will tell you that cheetahs purr...and as long as they are purring you are in no danger. When they stop purring...something is amiss. It was simply amazing. They are ok with touching their tales and heads...but the lions are not.

At the animal encounters...we were given rules...what was allowed...what was not allowed...what to do how to do it.


Walking with the lions was AMAZING

Lions are amazing creatures, for sure. Lions were always one of the highlights of our drives.

We were able to interact with 4 lions at the mukini encounter...3 girls 1 boy all siblings, 14 months old.
We saw 3 female lions at Khwai and a male and female lion at eagle island. I was amazed how close we could get to them in the safari vehicle.

I was constantly amazed when we went on game drives, how close we were able to get to lions, so long as we stayed in the vehicle. We went on one game drive at Mombo where we saw one pride of lions that consisted I think of around 20 different individuals, including about 10 cubs. According to our drivers, we were able to get close to lions because they were not afraid of us, but did not view us as prey, because they viewed us as part of the vehicle, so long as we were inside the vehicle. It was exhilarating and also somewhat terrifying, all at the same time!

that was the same explanation we got. In addition, the vehicles always stayed in front of the animals and never surrounded them so they could escape if they felt threatened.

We followed a female leopard for a long way as she was walking back to her kill she had hung in a tree. It was amazing. We did not see her kill the antelope but we did see it in the tree.

Ooh, gross!!

it is gross...but it is the circle of life

Yes, agreed.

Cathy,

Thanks for you info regarding our concerns. You have been very helpful. We are about 25 days out at this point. My wife called Tauck about some of her concerns and they were very helpful. We are already looking at a Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand trip for Jan 21. We will post a report upon our return.

We are going to Antarctica dec 2020 with Tauck.

Nice pictures, looks like you saw everything.

Im thinking you guys need a pet lion, they look so nice.

We were talking about this yesterday...the animals we saw the most of were of course antelopes of every kind, followed by elephants and hippos. We only saw 5 lions in the wild and 2 leopards and 2 jackals. We saw lots of wild dogs and hyenas and zebras and giraffes and birds....lots and lots of birds. But there were plenty of animals, reptiles and birds we did not see that were listed in my book to check off.

I think the thing that still amazes me is ...when i look out my backdoor, I see birds and squirrels and deer and turkeys and fox and raccoons and oppossums etc. But when I looked out my backdoor in Botswana, I saw hippos and elephants and crocodiles and baboons and antelope and giraffes and zebras. How did that happen?

The climate and topography is really not that different than the USA. So isn't it just amazing? and in February we are going to new Zealand and Australia and they have unique animals only found there.

I love animals...they are so fascinating

How about illness and the need for all the shots.

We went to Thailand, Cambodia and took a whole bunch of stuff but not sure we were really exposed to much other than denvue fever for which there is no good shot. But we had no effects from hep a/b and typhoid so better safe than sorry.

We were never asked for our yellow card shot record. Did we really need the shots? Probably not, but we were not willing to take the risk. We stopped taking the malaria medication about halfway through the trip. It was extremely dusty from lack of rain and we saw no mosquitoes. We have been home 2 weeks and have been fine. I usually get an upper respiratory infection after a trip ( I think from the planes)....knock on wood...I am fine. I figure...we have the shots now for the future trips...so it is all good.