Part 1 – Sabi Sands Reserve, South Africa

What better way to introduce you to our new website than to explore the beautiful continent of Africa?! Kristen here! I am going to walk you through the first part of our itinerary as a family of two, as well as different tips and tricks that made two weeks of traveling between four countries in Africa possible. Did I mention we only brought two carry-on backpacks with us on the journey?

When I started my travels outside of the United States when I was 21 years old, I made a travel-related bucket list. Topping that list? An African safari. After many months of research and persuasion, I finally convinced Austen to journey to Africa. He agreed with the stipulation that South Africa was apart of the itinerary.

During my research, Tanzania topped the list for African safaris. However, most of the itineraries I put together that encompassed both Tanzania and South Africa topped $15k-$20k which was well above our budget. Therefore, the entire trip was planned around South Africa. 13 days, 4 countries, excursions, and incredible lodging totaled $7765.54 USD for the entire trip.

As I mentioned before, we each traveled between 4 different countries in a span of 13 days with only 1 backpack each. How did we do that? See below for our must haves for traveling “light”:

• Osprey Packs Porter 46 Travel Backpack
• Acrodo Space Saver Travel Bags for Clothes – 10-pack for Compression Packing
• Travelon Anti-Theft Classic Messenger Bag
• Anker Astro E1 5200mAh Candy bar-Sized Ultra Compact Portable Charger (External Battery Power Bank)
• Ceptics South Africa, Namibia Travel Adapter Plug with Dual Usa Input
• Outlander Ultra Lightweight Packable Water Resistant Travel Hiking Backpack
• LifeStraw Go Water Filter Bottle

Also, before you start your very own journey to South Africa, be sure to check out the vaccines and medications recommended for your area of travel via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Below are the links to the specific areas we traveled to during this particular trip:

• Health Information for Travelers to South Africa
• Health Information for Travelers to Zambia
• Health Information for Travelers to Zimbabwe
• Health Information for Travelers to Botswana

We also found this link extremely helpful before our trip: https://www.passporthealthusa.com/destination-advice/south-africa/

Our adventure to southern Africa started in early April of 2018. We flew via Delta Air Lines; departed at 3:30 PM, had a short layover in Atlanta, and then completed our first leg of the journey at 5:35 PM in Johannesburg, South Africa the following day. We stayed at the Southern Sun O.R. Tambo International Airport Hotel which provided a free airport shuttle (short drive from the airport) and free breakfast.

The next morning, we took the free shuttle back to the airport and took a short CemAir flight to Hoedspruit, Limpopo HDS. Call us crazy but we (and by “we”, I mean “I”) decided to rent a car for this portion of the trip because it was about $150-200 USD cheaper than the alternative. I booked AVIS – Hoedspruit Eastgate Airport, HDS and we were extremely pleased with our car. HOWEVER, if you do not feel comfortable navigating unpaved roads and driving on the opposite side of the road, I would highly recommend finding a shuttle company that will drive you to your destination. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of our 2-2.5 hour journey to the lodge we were staying at in Sabi Sands Reserve but there were potholes every 10 feet, cows and people in the road, and very indiscernible speed bumps. I drove. Austen was nauseous and kissing the ground when we finally got to our lodge. Here’s the map we followed if you decide you really like adventure: http://arathusa.co.za/pdf/Road-map.pdf

We stayed at the Arathusa Safari Lodge in Sabi Sands Reserve for 3.5 days and not only did this place and the safaris check off one of my top bucket list items, it surpassed anything I could have ever dreamed of. The rates at the lodge are fully inclusive of accommodations which include all meals/local drinks, 2 safaris per day, and 1 bush walk.

Since this was the leg of the trip I really wanted to focus on, I decided to book one of the “bush suites”. Each of these suites was a short walk into the bush and included a living room, bathtub, indoor and outdoor shower, and its very own private plunge pool. To top it off, we would receive our very own guide to walk us to our suite at night since we were literally in the African bush with lions, elephants, and leopards…to name a few. (Picture of one of our friends we met on the walk to our suite below.)

As mentioned, 2 safaris were included in our stay per day. We were fortunate to participate in all 7 safaris and 1 of the bush walks while we were in Sabi Sands Reserve. During the safaris, the wonderful Sabastion was our driver and Rifos was our tracker. We cannot begin to tell you how amazing they made our safari experience. To just give you a little taste, we saw the following animals in Sabi Sands alone:

If we could do this leg of the trip over again, we wouldn’t change a thing. Everything from the food to the accommodations to the hospitality to the safaris were top notch. Getting to experience these animals up close and personal seemed like something out of a dream. If you are wondering if going on a safari trip is worth it, don’t question it and book the trip. Don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any questions or comments about booking a safari trip in Sabi Sands Reserve!

Be sure to check out the second leg of our trip by going to Kristen’s Bucket List Trip Pt. 2 – See an African Penguin.