Safari

[trtog7]

Looking at doing a cruise in South Africa.

One thing I am concerned about is doing a Safari. Most of them appear to start later in the morning. Was always told that  the animals are more seeable  during dawn and sunset.

Can anyone who has done one of these cruises give me some information, please.

 

[Jamietravelstheworld]

7 hours ago, trtog7 said:

Looking at doing a cruise in South Africa.

One thing I am concerned about is doing a Safari. Most of them appear to start later in the morning. Was always told that  the animals are more seeable  during dawn and sunset.

Can anyone who has done one of these cruises give me some information, please.

 

I have done many safaris, both as part of cruises and as land safaris. You will likely see many animals on cruise safaris, but the cat family animals are the ones that are harder to find midday. However, I have seen lions on cruise safaris, it's just not as common, and not as many. 

[John Bull]

We've done a few safaris, both static (stay at a safari lodge or campsite) and roving (overniting in different places).

We've not done one as part of a cruise, but several parks that we've visited for a single day on a roving safari have involved travel that morning, and are much the same experience as I'd imagine a port-of-call safari to be.  

 

If you are overniting at a safari camp or lodge, a safari drive at the crack of dawn is normal. But it's not the only safari drive of the day, there'll be others in the pm and/or at dusk and sometimes a night drive.

 

But if a safari is part of a cruise itinerary, certainly on a one-day port-of-call, then logistics mean that the safari will start late in the day - ship's arrival time, availability of immigration staff etc at daft o'clock in the morning, and time to travel from the port.

 

Yes, dawn (especially) & dusk are the best time to see the wildlife, especially the big cats as posted by @Jamietravelstheworld

But at other times of the day there's no problem seeing most of the animals - elephants, giraffes, buffalo, wildebeests, hippos, warthogs, a variety of antelopes, the occasional rhino, etc. etc. etc.

And experienced guides will know where to find some big cats, esp. lions, having a lazy day - tho' in the middle of the day they're more like lazy pussy-cats than fearsome predators 😄

 

For the full safari experience you need to tag one on before or after your cruise - and have deep pockets.

But you'll certainly get a flavour with a 4 - 5 hour (plus travel) safari mid-cruise.

 

JB 🙂