What to expect in safari: Food & Drinks

Located hundreds of miles from any supermarket or farm you may think safari food wont be any good, you'd be surprised to see what they have waiting for you in the wilderness.  

Jao Camp, Okavango Delta, Botswana (cred: Wilderness Safari)

Clouded in terms like Boma, sundowner, bite and other safari jargon, you may wonder what bush dining is all about, here I cover the very basics. Lets talk safari food,..........

Quality : Almost every camp in the bush has a fully equipped kitchen and headed by a qualified chef, they serve the highest quality of meals, using fresh ingredients.  Up class camps (read: almost every Botswana bush camps) go further to offer a variety of specialty chefs and a dietician. The standards of many a safari camp easily surpasses anything you may have seen mainland in the countries, even the top hotels don't come close to these camps.

 

Variety on menus: Most camps will offer a standardized international menu, this means you will find the meals you are already accustomed to as in anywhere else in the world. A few of the camps will throw in a few of the local cuisines for you to try.

 

Dry wors in Xaranna

 

Drinks: As with the meals, the bars are world class, only a tad smaller, they offer  a variety of international spirits, beers, wines and soft drinks. A local beer is always present in case you want to give it a try.

Specialty meals and diet: Vegans and vegetarians will be right at home, just notify the stuff when you arrive in camp and they will take full care of you. As for special meals and exotic cuisine, ask your agent about the capabilities of your desired camp, chances are they should be able to provide what you ask for. Calorie watchers shouldn't worry as the meals are some of the healthiest you can imagine.

 

Taste: Exceptional, from desserts to main courses the meals are prepared in small kitchens by excellent chefs and again, they may just be the best meals on this parts of the world.

Cost: The high prices of safari include meals, if your camps asks you to pay for a meal or drink then you haven't chosen wisely. With prices starting at over $500 a night you have an open bar and an open kitchen. Maybe an expensive bottle of champagne will be an extra cost but that should be FULLY explained to you before they open it. A lot of these camps have good customer service so you wont be hit with a suprising check at the end of your stay. Do take caution and ask your agent the limits of your "inclusive package" though.

Boma? Sundowner?

Jao Camp (cred: Wilderness Safari)

Fancy safari words, a boma is basically a restaurant and bar, its translates to "place of eating"!!!

A sundowner on the other hand means eating whilst watching the sun set, usually somewhere outside the camp in the wild, the setup is nice and it sure is memorable to eat dinner in the middle of nowhere.

Why is Botswana safari so expensive?

You  have seen it in Lonely Planet as the 2016 Best in Travel, the guys at National Geographic Travel keeps giving it top honors as well and careers of countless wildlife videographers and photographers  have been built on its beauty.  Now want a piece of that Botswana safari, but the moment you check for  tour packages online it becomes clear just how expensive doing safari on Botswana is, why is it so expensive?
 

Lets try explaining a few of the reasons why.

 

Its by design

The Botswana government decided to limit the amount of tourist into its wilderness, they did this by setting very high standards and barriers of entry into the market. Conservation is the major priority here, the country actually has over 30% of its land designated to wildlife preservation (almost 18% of the country's area being purely reserved as national parks and game reserves). With so much emphasis on conservation Botswana’s policy favors low - impact luxury tourism, that right there explains why the prices are so high. A majority of the camps and service providers in the country are focusing on that high end market. These are world class five star rated properties that you can find on Conde Nast and Forbes travel recommendations. At the very top of these being Zafara Camp, Abu Camp and Sandibe Camp. Offering only a maximum of eight guest at any given time you can see how high they may have to stretch that price,but for the experience you'll have, the $2000 a night price is somewhat a giveaway!!

Don't quit yet, that's a only a handful of camps at that extremely high price tag, for similar luxury and experience you have the "sister" camps of those premium ones offering half that price and a bit more rooms, but at a maximum of 30 guests its hardly a deal breaker. That means that for around .
$1000 you can have pretty much the same kind of safari.

Branding
With a few royal families and celebrities coming to safari on Botswana, the industry players realized they may as well capitalize on it. Travel agents used that to justify placing Botswana at the very top of the safari experience and add to the fact that the country is not that popular on the world stage, a safari vacation in Botswana has come to be seen as all sorts of exotic.

Part of this has been boosted by the Okavango Delta and the Kalahari, They are both unique natural wonders and the diversity of game and birds is probably the most diverse on earth. Game populations are also high, you wont see more buffalo, elephant or zebra unless you are in the best bits of Serengeti.

Another factor is how the prices are bundled, once you pay these high prices you have covered almost everything, flights to the camps, meals, drinks and activities (stay smart and ask though, a full body massage and that expensive champagne may not be included).

Not all of it is that expensive
Do a bit of research on times of year to visit you can save a lot, the rule of thumb is mid year is expensive and year end less so. This however means you may loose out on the benefits of coming midyear. Many camps now offer a reasonable $500 a night, these are still high quality, good service safaris that offer pretty much the same experience as the top ones, there are few trade offs but they are still very luxurious camps, you wont feel uncomfortable at any of these camps.

The country itself is not that expensive
Botswana itself is not expensive, this is why I have been suggesting overlanding and backpacking. For around $200 a day you wont have any trouble with anything whatsoever, a taxi ride is 40cents, a liter of fuel is 90c, a good meal is less that $20 at Nandos, or KFC and a 4 star hotel rooms is around $90.  Beer does get expensive at about $1.50 an can though and cigarettes are expensive, again due to government policy efforts to reduce smoking amongst locals.

In the proper spirit of backpacking walk into the local supermarkets and fill up on all you need. You should however avoid local eateries offering meals for around $1, don't risk it. Your highest cost will be game drive, and you may need to think ahead as a group will get discounts.

But it is worth it?
Yes, the Okavango Delta is a must see, the Kalahari is a must see, Moremi is a must see, Chobe is a must see, well you get the drift. Pretty much any side of the safari you choose to take in Botswana will not disappoint you. The national parks are also concentrated in a smaller area so spend a week in Botswana and you will see everything. The service standards are also very high, the safari service providers have mastered their craft such that it all works like a well oiled machine, the flights are in time, the activities deliver and they don't hide any costs. The cost also seem much of a bargain as a Botswana safari offers pretty much any activity you can imagine, bush walks, safari drives, Mokoro rides etc.

The main reason and true benefit of vacationing on safari to Botswana is how surreal the place is. In an age where safari means twenty cars at a game sighting, paved roads in parks, fuels stations within game reserves, brick and mortar camps on river beds, cellphone coverage and simple noisy camps, Botswana still offers the serene, quite, tented, exclusive and personalized safari. Its a proper escape from the modern world as we no it, you will lose track of time the moment you fly into the wilderness.

The high focus on conservation also means you can sleep well at night knowing your vacation didn't leave a bigfoot carbon imprint, the camps are forced by law to have a minimum  impact on the ecosystem and you will readily see that the moment you set foot in the any of the camps, they effortless blend into nature.

Plus if you are into bird viewing then you are in for a treat, or astronomy, the skies presents the stars in a way you haven't seen yet. Those who rip it all however are the photographers, pros and amateurs alike enjoy this bits of earth.

 

How to go on an African safari

Long story short, set budget, choose destination, choose time of year, choose type of safari and go to a good travel agency, or wing it and fly over, solo even.

Now the long story….

A safari trip is on the travel bucket list of a lot of travelers. Images of mesmerizing sunsets and breathtaking stars at night and super clear skies contribute to the need to see Africa for every discerning traveler.  Those who come once get the bug and make it tradition to visit again, most even making it a family ritual to come to the motherland as often as possible.

As with anything that’s often generalized African safari has come to mean so many things it becomes overwhelming for a first timer to make a well informed decision, let’s solve that problem.

What is African safari?

A journey into wild Africa without any destination in mind with the aim of seeing earth in its natural state, enjoying an endless display of wild animals, scenic landscape and being completely detached from the modern world of technology, traffic and noise. And of course a few of the safari clichés, wearing khaki shorts, a hat, game viewing vehicle and of course the sun burn, I mean.. tan, which is way much better than spray on.

That being said the term African Safari is somewhat of a misnomer, I mean yes you will be in African and on safari but where exactly? There 54 countries in Africa (give or take 5, some states breakup only to make up again).  Of these counties on a few offer safari, and of this few only a handful offer highest quality safari, by that I mean undiluted, exclusive and exceptional natural beauty.  These countries are:

-          Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe at the very top, offering smaller camps and the best experiences, more game, isolation and up close encounters, these countries are basically unrivalled as they provide that “escape” from the modern world that so many safari travelers desire.

-          South Africa and Kenya offering “wholesale” safari, basically crowed safari and a somewhat detached safari experience, good destinations but rushed and not so isolated.

-          Others, well Tanzania, Mozambique and a few more countries offer some safari but I am not sure “safari” is the word for what they do in Morocco and on parts of the Sahara.

With that in mind, choose your African safari destination.

What type of safari do you want?

As a full blown travel industry safari comes in all sorts of shapes and manner, with the very high end properties owned by billionaires like Richard Branson and Paul Allen catering for the elite, medium, scale packages and the entry level. Your budget is the key here, even though I can’t fully categorize them, let me try:

Premium safari: this is the no expense barred safari travel, staying in 5 star camps that cost up to as much as $3500pp a night!! These, as with many expensive things, are pretty much the best. The service levels will be high, the camps will be small (accommodating as little as eight guest maximum in some cases) and they will be in the best of locations. It’s for the kings, (e.g. the King and Queen of Spain just loves Botswana). When you choose this kind of safari, prepare to do nothing at all but to be fed, pampered and treated as if you are royalty. That’s how come Taylor Swift shot that video on safari in Botswana.  Anything from $20 000 will get you a couple of days for two on this level, no optional as basically the prices re so high you get do whatever you want.

First class safari: Basically similar to the premium safari experience but a bit more affordable with slightly larger camps. They have the best locations, are isolated and the game is just as plenty, most often than not . these camps are located in the locality of their more expensive sister camps.  The camps are also high end with anything you can ask for. Made up with 4 star properties, and for around $13 000 you can have a 3 days four nights experience.

Medium class safari: this is the most popular, the packages are well executed and the service standards are good, choose wisely and you won’t tell the difference between this class of safari and the more expensive alternatives. For around $5 000 per person you will have the best week of safari ever.  These are mainly 3 and 4 star properties.

Lower end safari packages: think of these as an attempt to execute the above but at a failed level, zero start properties and they are best avoided. Do not try a bargain safari package, it will be crap, which takes us to the alternatives (and quite possibly the best forms of safari).

Classic safari: this is the explorer’s safari, a safari for overlanders and backpackers. This is how safari started out, expedition travel. You fly to your African destination and then do safari, I am talking full safari, meeting the people and seeing Africa in her pure sense. Budget can be anywhere from $5000 for backpackers to around $10 000 for overlanders (huge value as you bring the family, or friends, or mates).  This however is tiresome, involves camping on tents, driving off road and a few episodes of being helplessly lost, but let’s face it, it’s the most fun and intimate of safari and best value as well.

Now, how to literally go on safari?

For the packaged deals find the best travel agency on your city and have them sort you out. Or just fly into your destination and sort yourself out.

Important factors to consider:

Time of visit, most of the safari industry is seasonal so the time you come has a very significant impact on the cost of the safari and the cost of it all, I will get into this on another post.

The heat and your health;  it never snows in safari so your health should be top priority, also, malaria is kind of a thing and getting shots for a ton more risky diseases is a must.

Expectations, to be safe, lower your expectations a bit, your safari destination is far from home so you will get really tired getting here. Another thing is, the Africa you have in your mind is non existent, the lifestyles here are mainly as general as elsewhere in the world. You also will see a lot of cattle and donkeys before you get to the wildlife and natural beauty you came for. And forget about Netflix.

Meet me on my next post as we go into further detail on safari.