Safari and beach honeymoon

adonis10

Recently married and we are really keen on a safari type honeymoon but it is something completely new so we are trying to find as much information and advice as possible! We have had a quote of 7.6k for a 10 day holiday to Kenya and Zanzibar (off the top of my head 6 days safari and 4 days beach) from 10 Feb 2020. It looks fantastic but is an awful lot of money so I need to get some advice and opinions.


Ideally it needs to be in school holidays (wife is a teaching assistant) but there is the possibility to flex this a week either way providing she requests the time off far enough in advance.


Any tips on Kenya and Zanzibar? Any tips on other holidays of this kind?


Sorry if this post is rather vague but this is seriously unchartered territory so complete novices.

Alan_Bowen

Have a look at Somak Holidays, they have lots of these holidays and their website has lots of suggestions for first time Safari takers. The price depends entirely on the time of the year you are travelling and obviously school holidays are never cheap

prenton01

Hi there

We done this a few years back and booked everything separate.

We booked flights to Cape Town and stayed a week in Cape Town Camps Bay where the beaches are fantastic https://insideguide.co.za/cape-town/best-beaches/

We then caught a flight to Port Elizabeth using SA equivalent of RyanAir https://www.kulula.com/ for about £50 each return and stayed in Lemon Tree Lane b&B fantastic place http://www.lemontreelane.co.za/

For Safari we went to Schotia for safari, they picked us up from the B&B and dropped us back off https://www.schotiasafaris.co.za/

Here are some photos from our safari https://www.facebook.com/tony.lowe.1297/media_set?set=a.116229232812&type=3

MysteryMe

You might want to reduce the number of Safari days and increase beach / sightseeing days.

You usually do 2/3 safari drives a day dawn/dusk and sometimes night so 6 days is a lot of Safari drives to go on.

Also check the weather for time of travel, you do not want to travel in the wet season or if the animals have migrated somewhere else.

ibizafan_2

We went to Selous Gamepark in Tanzania followed by a few days in Zanzibar through Travelsphere in February. We loved every minute of it, saw all the animals we wanted to, and stayed in Sable Mountain Lodge which is also available through “A tent with a view”. Zanzibar is amazing and Travelsphere had a good balance of days in each place.

Ballard

I did the northern circuit of Tanzania followed by a week in Zanzibar and loved it. We booked everything independently which didn’t work out massively expensive but this would have been at least a dozen years ago so the price comparison would be meaningless, particularly as the safari element was priced in USD and I got 2.08 to the pound for that transaction.

adonis10

Ballard wrote: »

I did the northern circuit of Tanzania followed by a week in Zanzibar and loved it. We booked everything independently which didn’t work out massively expensive but this would have been at least a dozen years ago so the price comparison would be meaningless, particularly as the safari element was priced in USD and I got 2.08 to the pound for that transaction.

Who did you book the various aspects with?


I always tend to book holidays separately (flights via skyscanner, hotels with booking.com etc.) but with something so different and unknown there are a couple of aspects I am unsure of, namely the internal flights, safari drives and transfers. I can quite easily book the flights, lodges and beach resort hotel but it is the other aspects I am more concerned about. Any tips appreciated.

adonis10

ibizafan wrote: »

We went to Selous Gamepark in Tanzania followed by a few days in Zanzibar through Travelsphere in February. We loved every minute of it, saw all the animals we wanted to, and stayed in Sable Mountain Lodge which is also available through “A tent with a view”. Zanzibar is amazing and Travelsphere had a good balance of days in each place.

Sounds good. Which hotel in Zanzibar? Did you go in school holidays? If so, what sort of price did you pay and for how long?

adonis10

MysteryMe wrote: »

You might want to reduce the number of Safari days and increase beach / sightseeing days.

You usually do 2/3 safari drives a day dawn/dusk and sometimes night so 6 days is a lot of Safari drives to go on.

Also check the weather for time of travel, you do not want to travel in the wet season or if the animals have migrated somewhere else.

Good plan, we are now looking at a max of 4 days safari and 6 beach.


We have boiled it down to two possible periods; February half term or July/Aug summer holidays. My wife is an HLTA in a school so we have no choice. So far we have had 4-5 quotes from various companies and the ballpark is £7.5k Feb and £10k July/Aug which made me fall off my seat.


We are opting for Kenya and Zanzibar and so trying to find the best we can (we want a bit of luxury in the second place given that it is our honeymoon and we never splash out on fancy hotels) but the prices are just scary.


Any tips to get a more reasonable price would be appreciated.

Archergirl

Personally I would rethink, we are retired and reasonably well off but we wouldn't spend that huge amount of money for a 10 day holiday. Is there not something more reasonably priced that would suit?

adonis10

Archergirl wrote: »

Personally I would rethink, we are retired and reasonably well off but we wouldn't spend that huge amount of money for a 10 day holiday. Is there not something more reasonably priced that would suit?

Well yes there are lots of things that will suit but if we fancy a safari we have little choice.


I agree, it is an obscene amount of money and I'm not comfortable with it so do need to really think it through.


Don't forget we are bound by school holidays so think whatever price you would pay for a holiday and add anywhere between 25 and 40% for the same thing.