Amawaterways Africa

[Wuzzle10]

Has anyone been with AMA to Africa? We are meant to be going in June but there European river voyages haven’t started yet and my final balance is due soon so a bit nervous of paying if it’s not going to go, any advice/tips welcome

[Host Jazzbeau]

We did AMA's Discover Africa cruise in 2018 – loved it!  Lots of details in my blog.

 

The Africa cruises are not on the AMA-owned fleet; they charter the Zambezi Queen, which is the nicest of the boats sailing on the Chobe River.  We flew into Cape Town two days early [a good thing too, because a delayed flight ended up costing us the first of those days!].  AMA treated us very well in Cape Town, then handled all the flights to the ship in Namibia, put us up in the best hotel in Victoria Falls, and brought us back to the J'burg airport where we stayed one further night on our own.  Most of our fellow-passengers had booked one of AMA's longer versions, mostly the Kruger post-cruise.

 

Seasons are reversed there, so June is winter.  We went in May and had nice weather and warm temps in the daytime.  Here are the notes I had made about weather patterns while researching this trip:

 

Cape Town, South Africa

winter = May-Aug

summer = Oct-Mar (very windy)

best = Apr

 

Chobe, Botswana

dry = Apr-Sep [but cold at night]

wet = Oct=Apr [Oct-Nov = hot]

 

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

dry & cool = May-Aug

low water = Sep-Nov [Falls less dramatic

high water = Apr-June [“you will be drenched by the spray”]

 

Johannesburg, South Africa

winter = Apr-Sep [but not too cold]

summer = Sep-Apr [but not too hot]

 

Feel free to ask more questions!  It was a great trip, and one of the few I would do again.

[Wuzzle10]

Thank you so much for your reply, very interesting and informative , we are doing the Tanzania extension as well

[tabber]

We were booked for Golden Trails of East Africa in October 2021.  Due to pandemic issues in Tanzania last summer, AMA did not want to take guests to that country and cancelled Golden Trails.  We had the option of switching to any of the other trips.  We chose Stars of South Africa and had an amazing, wonderful trip.  Even with all the covid protocols, which were annoying but understandable, we were so glad we went.  We chose the Rwanda extension to hike to the Silverback gorillas at the end of the trip.  Our time in Southern Africa with AMA is a treasured memory.  I hope you have a wonderful time!  If you have any questions, I will try to answer them.

 

Theresa

[tabber]

Sorry, I tried to edit but it didn’t work.  We actually went in September and arrived back home in October!

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

All of our trip was super-memorable, but the two highlights were optional tours, both in Victoria Falls:  (1) the helicopter ride over the falls is the only way to appreciate their immensity; and (2) the 'walk with the lions' [sadly, this is no longer available but see my blog for details, pictures and movies]

[Canal archive]

I’ve never done an arranged South African trip but have put together one taken from ideas picked up from friends.

Cape Town and all it’s accessible  delights then Blue Train, ‘wonderful’ to Joburg then fly to the Masie Mara stay at ‘Harry’s Camp’. I’d do it again in a flash. Although it was some years ago now wonderful memories like opening the top half (stable door type) of your door and realising your going to have to wait to go to dinner as an Hyena is wondering past.

 

On one of the evening safaris realising that most male Lions are cross eyed.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Canal archive

[tango223]

We along with a number of our friends (12 total) took the Stars of S. Africa trip with AMA.  We all loved loved loved the trip.  We loved the various components of the trip including the Zambizi Queen. The safaris in Kruger at Tinswalo was amazing.  We did see the big 5 !!   We also a 3 night stopover in Dubui on the way to Capetown too.  We went in Aug.

[Host Jazzbeau]

On 2/14/2022 at 5:20 AM, Canal archive said:

On one of the evening safaris realising that most male Lions are cross eyed.

I never noticed that.  The only animal I knew of like this was 'Gladly, the cross-eyed bear' 😅

[Canal archive]

I’m sure it’s something to do with how the light catches them but the evening safaris are especially wonderful, like sitting in the vehicle in complete darkness in the middle of Africa hearing what sounds like the sea then switching a light on and realising your surrounded by a herd a of buffalo walking through the very long grass, magical! But it’s not river cruising!

Edited February 18, 2022 by Canal archive

[Wuzzle10]

I have a safari booked with Tanzania included and flying back from Kenya to UK, does anyone know how all the testing for COVID will be managed with multiple countries in Africa!

my final payment is nearly due and wondering if it is worth committing such a large sum of money , 

 

[tabber]

AMA did a great job coordinating the necessary covid tests last September.  Any time we went into or out of a country, there was the usual passport control stop and also a separate covid paperwork check.  It added extra time spent at border crossings, but didn’t take away from us having an amazing trip.