Family Friendly Camps in Southern Africa

San Francisco Chronicle Magazine

Written by Amanda Jones

There was a time when the African safari vacation was off- limits for children under the age of twelve. The risk of disease and the threat of predators caused operators balk at taking the responsibility. Now, whether because of demands by impatient parents or because general bush safety has improved, a few savvy camps are catering to families with young children. South Africa has had upscale, family-friendly camps for years, but now Botswana, Zambia and Namibia are leaping ahead. And they're safe: there's no yellow fever (unlike in Kenya and Tanzania), little malaria, they're politically stable, and the accommodations are world-class.

Being one of those impatient parents, and also afraid my daughter will soon reach the age where she has no desire to travel with her dorky mother, I took Sofia, my eight-year-old, to Southern Africa this past summer.

Painfully aware that she'd not tolerate two weeks sitting in a jeep chasing animal sitings, I varied our itinerary: Botswana for wildlife, Zambia for Victoria Falls, and Namibia for the dunes, the desert elephants and so she could kiss her favorite animal — a cheetah.

Botswana
Seba Camp, Okavango Delta

Years ago, I saw a Peter Beard photograph of Randall Moore astride an African elephant, creatures previously thought to be untrainable. Moore was an animal trainer who shipped captive elephants from safari parks and circuses in the USA back to Africa. Years later, he built a camp in the central Okavango Delta and pioneered elephant back safaris. While I couldn't rationalize staying at Moore's now famous Abu Camp (a gobsmacking $7,500 per person for a three night minimum), I heard he had opened another camp nearby. At Seba there's no elephant riding, but prices are achievable and you can meet the trained herd. Built to accommodate families, there are five wood-and-canvas tents and one two-bedroom family tent.

Teeming with bird and mammal life, the Okavango Delta is one of the last remaining wetlands on the continent. Unlike most of Africa's national parks, the Delta's camps are divided into private "concessions," so crowds are not an issue. Abu and Seba share 500,000 acres of giant palm trees, glossy waterways and fertile plains, all for a maximum of 30 guests.

On our very first game drive, we encountered a lion pride with a buffalo kill. 20 feet away in an open jeep, Sofia watched, captivated, as her TV animal documentaries sprang to life.

And indeed, we did get to see Abu Camp's tame herd. One of the elephants had a new calf. Smaller than Sofia, it wrapped his tiny trunk around her waist, possibly recognizing she was also a youngster. The mother stared vigilantly but unmoving, allowing us to pet her. I tried to explain the concept of once-in-a-lifetime experience to Sofia. But she had already adapted to Africa and could not imagine life being any other way.

Seba Camp: www.wilderness-safaris.com/botswana_okavango_delta/abu_camp/introduction/; Rates from $600 per person, per night. Includes all food and drink, game drives and other activities.

Zambia
Toka Leya, Livingtone

Victoria Falls was one of those iconic places I felt duty-bound to see in a lifetime. The mighty falls straddle the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, marked by the broad Zambezi River. Now that Zimbabwe has imploded politically, Zambia has picked up the slack, leading to a flurry of new hotels and lodges on the Livingstone side of the falls.

Toka Leya is a new luxury camp that opened earlier this year on the banks of the Zambezi, 15 minutes north of the falls. African neo-chic, the tents are enormous, with hair driers and heaters (a first for me), several with an additional bedroom for kids. The camp was modern and minimalist, in stark contrast to the horns-n-heads décor of traditional African safari camps.

Vic Falls is ideal for teenagers and adrenaline junkies. Kids 15 and older can raft the Zambezi's Class V rapids; plunge in a 330-foot bungy jump off the Victoria Falls Bridge, take a microlight or helicopter ride, river board below the falls or kayak above them. Too young to do the extreme adventures, Sofia and I were content to stare into the abyss of the falls, take dawn boat trips to seek wildlife and visit the school at the local village.

Rates from $445 per person, per night. Rates include all food, drink and guided tours.
http://www.wildernesssafaris.com/zambia_victori_falls/toka_leya_camp/introduction/

Namibia
Kulala Desert Lodge, Sossusvlei

Namibia, to the northwest of South Africa, is a little-known option for family travelers and my favorite destination. It has wildlife — desert-adapted elephant, cheetah, orynx, ostrich and others, but is better known for extraordinary diversity of lovely, unpopulated landscape. Our first stop was Sossusvlei in the Namib Naukluft Park. Home to the world's largest sand dunes set in the world's oldest desert, it's possibly also the world's oldest kids playground.

The Kulala Desert Lodge is the closest camp to the famous red dunes. The bonus of this place, apart from having 15 comfortable, thatched chalets and great service, is that it has a private park entrance, which means you can beat the day-trippers in at dawn. At sunrise, we climbed the crimson flanks of Big Daddy dune, dropping into Deadvlei, a striking pan of desiccated earth and twisted, 500-year-dead acacia trees. Oblivious to the apocalyptic scenery, Sofia ran up dunes and careened down, arms akimbo, in the full flight of childhood. At night, we'd climb to the rooftop patio of our room, get into a bedroll wit a hot water bottle and gaze up at one of the world's clearest views of the galaxy.

Rates from $415 per person, per night. Includes all meals, drinks and drives to the dunes.
www.wildernesssafaris.com/namibia_sossusvlei/kulala_desert_lodge/introduction/

Harnas Wildlife Farm and Foundation, Gobabis

Having seen a photo of me hugging a cheetah at Harnas Farm in Namibia taken before she was born, Sofia was determined to have the same experience. Harnas, a 25,000-acre property a three-hour drive east of Windhoek, Namibia's capital, began when the van der Merwe family took in an orphaned vervet monkey and a cheetah. Today they have 350 animals, all orphaned, injured or rescued from oppressive captivity. There are lion, cheetah, leopard, baboon, wild dog, giraffe, crocodiles and dozens of other species. If you fancy being so close to a male lion you can smell his breath, staring point blank into a leopard's eyes, wrestling with a baby baboon, or tossing meat to wild dogs, this is the chance. Harnas has unfussy but comfortable guest cottages and an excellent restaurant, (good enough for Brad and Angelina, who spent 10 days here in 2006). You can stay for a couple of nights, but Harnas also has a "working guest" program for visitors who pay to work directly with the animals and stay months at a time. Lest you wonder, Harnas takes extensive precautions to keep guests safe.

Sofia was in luck, Goeters, the pet cheetah from the photo taken 12 years prior, was still alive. Sofia spent her days lavishing unwanted attention on stoic Goeters; babysitting Grace, a three-month-old baby baboon; petting Klippie, an adolescent giraffe, feeding Pork Chop a newborn piglet and going on the morning drives to feed the lions.

Rates from $145 per person, per night (children under 16 get a 50% discount). Includes all food and tours. http://www.harnas.de/en/

Damaraland Camp, Damaraland

In the middle of nowhere, north of the Namib Desert and east of the Skeleton Coast, is Damaraland Camp, visited specifically for its desert adapted elephants. Able to walk great distances in search of food and go without water for three days, desert elephants are rare and this is one of the only opportunities to see them.

Wilderness Safaris, owner of 60 camps in Southern Africa, built a community-involvement tented lodge in Damaraland to help save the threatened desert elephant and raise the standard of living for the local tribal people. Elegantly designed with tented rooms, guests can interact with the local people and see the elephants.

The beauty of Damaraland's elephants is they are less aggressive and you can get extremely close to them. Once we found them, they streamed around the vehicle amiably, so close you could see their impossibly long eyelashes.

The highlight for Sofia was the visit to the local village of Fonteine, home to Reinvasmaker people, subsistence farmers and goat herders. We arrived in time for the evening goat sorting when mothers are matched with their kids. In an orange haze of heat and dust, Sofia happily waded through the herd, carrying baby goats to their anxious mothers.

http://www.wildernesssafaris.com/namibia_kunene/damaraland_camp/introduction/

Rates from $445 per person, per night. Includes food, some beverages and game drives.

South Africa
The Grace Hotel, Johannesburg

For most trips, the international entry point is South Africa and you will need to overnight in Johannesburg before heading out to the camps. I recommend the Grace Hotel. Located in an elegant former consulate building in a safe suburb, the Grace is exactly as it sounds — grand on a small scale. It also has excellent food. www.thegrace.co.za. Doubles from $365

SIDEBARS

If You Go:

I booked through Rothschild Safaris out of Colorado. www.rothschildsafaris.com; 1-800-405-9463. I highly recommend using a specialized agent. They don't mark up the lodge prices, they have actually visited all the lodges, and they will arrange bush planes, drivers and international flights.

We flew South African Airways from Washington DC to Johannesburg. SAA has direct flights from Washington and New York. www.flysaa.com

Notes:

• I would not recommend taking a child under the age of seven. Use your judgment: if your child is hyperactive or overly loud, this is not the trip for them.
• I recommend spending 2-3 nights in all camps. Any more is excessive.
• Don't forget to budget for tips, which can be several hundred dollars. Ask your booking agent for guidance.

Packing:

The number one mistake people make when they go to Southern Africa in the winter (our summer) is assuming it will be hot. While daytime temperatures can reach a comfortable 80 degrees, mornings and evenings are around 30 degrees. And most game drives start around 6am. You will need a down jacket, a fleece, a hat, gloves, scarf, long underwear and wool socks. Rothschild Safaris sent us a comprehensive packing list that I followed to an item. We were the only guests at some camps who were not miserable with cold.