Africa is a bucket list trip for us.
Antarctica not as much.
Definitely personal preference. And very different experiences.
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Your luck! When we flew in early February, I saw a TSA agent confiscate a tube of sunscreen from a woman’s bag.
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I say…go on the African Safari trip. You won’t regret it!!
the ONLY thing confiscated from me when flying on February 1 was my sunscreen. You hit it lucky.
I’m getting ready to load my suitcase, etc. and where I’m going, we definitely will need sunscreen!
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I think you already know my answer - I thought about Antarctica and decided against it. How does this company’s safari trip look compared to others done with other companies? Are there other trips you’d be interested in with the current company? What does your husband think? Are you willing to just walk away from your deposit? If you’re not REALLY excited about it, I’d consider the deposit a sunk cost and move on from there (Hopefully the deposit wasn’t too too much). Go on safari with this company if it looks great, but go with another company if another option seems much better. Is your husband willing to move the Colorado trip? Do other companies do Africa trips that aren’t too close to Colorado trip? Lots of things to consider, but I don’t think you want to spend that much money on a trip you’re not that excited about.
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Fortunately, the deposit is not a sunk cost. We can spend it on any cruise/land tour with them in the next 24 months. It’s 11K, so plenty of money for us, I do not intend to lose it, and it’s with Scenic cruiselines, which we love and have gone on two trips with. But it does make it tempting to use on their Africa land tour. Problem is, I cannot find a single review online about their Africa excursions. They have the perfect itinerary, and we have been very happy with them, but they’re not well known in this area of the world. They are luxury tours, with fantastic guides and five star hotels, but nothing like the prices and reputation of Micato (which I believe @jym626 traveled with and loved). I have a Micato brochure I’m looking at, and they are asking 23K/person more for the same itinerary I’m looking at with Scenic, but I’m not feeling flush with cash lately, watching our 401K’s plummet.
I think my husband would potentially move the Colorado trip, as it’s just in discussion for now. I’m trying to get my ducks lined up and figure out what I want to shoot for, before talking about it with him. And if we want to view the Great Migration, our best bet from Tanzania/Kenya seems to be in September for less crowds and cheaper airfare, but I guess it’s hard to time. There are many great tour companies, but we are definitely interested in traveling with a medium size group, so that rules out a number of them.
I still want to go to Antarctica, but I’m thinking I’d rather go to Africa first.
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I think I found the link for the trip report for the river cruise in Africa.
This person lives in your neck of the woods I think.
It was with ama waterways
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Here’s another review. Might be the same person
A little older
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You know, AMA waterways is one of the cruise lines I’d looked at for going to Africa. I love small boat cruises, and sometimes we get great deals with AMA. But skimming through one of the reviews you sent reminds me of why we ruled them out. A LOT of airport time on their trips, they just go to too many places and they use commercial flights. Interesting that this guy reinforced my concern.
I was wondering if ama was part of scenic, that’s why I posted these reviews.
Sounds like they are different? Or you are looking at another company for Africa.
But I agree, it sounds like too much travel for me from that reviewer
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No, AMA is not related to Scenic. A problem with a name like “Scenic” is that when you google that word, many other companies show up. Scenic is an Australian company with a sister company called Emerald Cruises. It’s easy to find reviews about their ocean and river cruises, but land tours, not so much.
Thank you for looking, though.
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We LOVED our safari to Kenya and Tanzania. While I have an interest in the antarctic, it is not on our bucket list and some say going through the Drake passage can be pretty rough.
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The safari was one of our most memorable and awesome trips. Our tour got us to at least 5 reserves and I think we checked off almost every animal possible. We did a balloon flight over the Serengeti during the migration. Totally amazing.
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Do you remember who you went with? The trip we’re looking at goes to the Soysambu Conservancy, Masai Mara Game Reserve, Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater. Seems like there’s a zillion things one can do, but this stays in a smaller area in Tanzania and Kenya.
That sounds like our trip!!
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We went on an African safari in 2011 with my in-laws. We were a group of 13 plus a guide who went from place to place with us all in Kenya. I wasn’t gung-ho to go as a safari had never been on my bucket list but it was the trip of a lifetime.
We stayed mainly at small lodges. If you come across a trip that has this lodge https://www.lewawilderness.com/
It was a special place. They had and I think still do an opportunity to go out on horseback. The local Maasai general manager is amazing. We didn’t go in the bush plane but they have that option as well.
One nice thing we did was fly from place to place. This saved a lot of time so we were able to see a lot in 10 days. I’m not well endowed but bring a good sports bra.
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If people want to share how they found their African safari travel agent or tour company, I think that would be very helpful.
It’s a trip I’d really like to do but have no idea how to plan. I don’t see it in our immediate future but something we could try and see how it would work
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We went with Access 2 Tanzania on the recommendation of our DIL, who went with her family. It was excellent! We alternated between staying in the parks in tent cabins (think glamping) and staying at small hotels for a proper shower.
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Nice they give you 2 years to pick another trip. Sounds like you can do both Africa and Antarctica. You’ll have to let us know what you decide. When do you have to decide Antarctica yes or no?
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We went with Big Journey Company. It was a deal thru out timeshare but they are independent. The guides were great.
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I have a little less than a month to cancel and get a credit, however, the Africa trip of the date I’m looking at now (that I can apply the credit to) only has 6 spots left, so I think we’re going to make a decision today.
My husband is definitely onboard and we can go to Colorado next Sept. Just got the okay by text as I was typing this!
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