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South Africa
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amother
OP


 

Post Mon, May 13 2019, 10:13 pm
If you went to South Africa do you recommend to go with a tour or do it yourself. I find each tour is offering totally different things. One tour will say Kruger Park is the only safari to go to while another tour company says its a waste of time because you don’t always see animals and you can get melaria at Kruger.
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doctorima




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, May 13 2019, 10:59 pm
My rule of traveling (not specifically for SA) is that if you're the type who's willing to put in the research legwork, are able to do the driving on the trip, and are picky about what you do and how long you do it for, or if you're tight on $, then you get a lot more bang for your buck and flexibility by planning and doing it yourself. If you're not fussy and can afford it and would rather let somebody else do all the work, you'll likely enjoy the tour much more.
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amother
OP


 

Post Mon, May 13 2019, 11:07 pm
doctorima wrote:
My rule of traveling (not specifically for SA) is that if you're the type who's willing to put in the research legwork, are able to do the driving on the trip, and are picky about what you do and how long you do it for, or if you're tight on $, then you get a lot more bang for your buck and flexibility by planning and doing it yourself. If you're not fussy and can afford it and would rather let somebody else do all the work, you'll likely enjoy the tour much more.

The issue we have here is my husband wants a minyan 3 times a day.
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Zehava




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, May 13 2019, 11:08 pm
amother [ OP ] wrote:
The issue we have here is my husband wants a minyan 3 times a day.

He’ll get that only in jo’burg if you aren’t on an organized tour.
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Zehava




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, May 13 2019, 11:10 pm
I’d recommend doing SA by yourself so you can do only what interests you and what makes sense for your schedule and budget. You’d need to rent a car to get around. Everything is super cheap there compared to the dollar which is great.
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amother
OP


 

Post Mon, May 13 2019, 11:26 pm
Zehava wrote:
I’d recommend doing SA by yourself so you can do only what interests you and what makes sense for your schedule and budget. You’d need to rent a car to get around. Everything is super cheap there compared to the dollar which is great.

Do you know what a private driver costs a day?
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Zehava




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, May 13 2019, 11:29 pm
amother [ OP ] wrote:
Do you know what a private driver costs a day?

I don’t know any private drivers there. But the roads are clearly marked, GPS works well there, a private driver would only be worth it if he makes your itinerary for you, which again is not that hard. You either look up attractions online or hotel concierges are also very helpful.
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Zeleze




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 14 2019, 5:27 am
Many many nice views and mountain ranges, very worth the trip at any cost, just beware of the the many crooks around
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DinaIL




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 14 2019, 5:35 am
Kruger park depends on the season, sometimes u will see sometimes u won't. If there's a drought u won't see any/hardly any. Also, u need to be there very early in them morning at the waterhole/lake.
I recommend doing ur own thing but talk to the locals b4 for some research.
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doctorima




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 14 2019, 8:01 am
If you want minyan 3 times a day, I'd probably splurge for the tour (assuming they have a guaranteed 10 men participating). Doing everything as a day trip from Johannesburg would get really tiring, unless you want to spend most of your time there and only go see animals for a day or two.
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Zehava




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 14 2019, 8:36 am
I’d recommend pilansburg for a safari tour if you’re only going for a day or two. You sleep in the lodge and price includes two game drives in which you’re guaranteed to see many different animals.
Kruger is a place where people spend weeks, it’s for those real jungle enthusiasts.
Pilansburg is malaria-free and driving distance from Johannesburg.
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amother
OP


 

Post Tue, May 14 2019, 9:27 am
doctorima wrote:
If you want minyan 3 times a day, I'd probably splurge for the tour (assuming they have a guaranteed 10 men participating). Doing everything as a day trip from Johannesburg would get really tiring, unless you want to spend most of your time there and only go see animals for a day or two.

Unfortunately not all the groups want to guarantee a minyan at this time.
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amother
Saddlebrown


 

Post Tue, May 14 2019, 9:50 am
Zehava wrote:
I’d recommend pilansburg for a safari tour if you’re only going for a day or two. You sleep in the lodge and price includes two game drives in which you’re guaranteed to see many different animals.
Kruger is a place where people spend weeks, it’s for those real jungle enthusiasts.
Pilansburg is malaria-free and driving distance from Johannesburg.


That’s what we did because we hadn’t taken the necessary precautions against malaria.

It was great! Saw so many incredible animals
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amother
OP


 

Post Tue, May 14 2019, 10:29 am
amother [ Saddlebrown ] wrote:
That’s what we did because we hadn’t taken the necessary precautions against malaria.

It was great! Saw so many incredible animals

Did you go on your own or with an organized tour?
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tichellady




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 14 2019, 11:24 am
We went and I planned the whole thing and it was great. No daily minyan for us and we drove and used Uber ( depending on where we were). We had a great trip. we don’t like vacationing with groups of people so a tour didn’t interest us, but it’s all personal
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amother
Red


 

Post Tue, May 14 2019, 11:31 am
I live in Johannesburg and if you need minyanim that’s not really an option in Kruger unless you are with a tour.

You can not compare pilansburg to Kruger. We go often to both but Kruger is significantly better. But it’s a 6 hour drive from Johannesburg and in a malaria zone. Whereas Pilanesburg is 2 hours from Joburg and malaria free.

Also depending on your budget, there are high end Private game reserves with the big 5 animal that are in malaria free areas.
You can take malaria pills when you go to game reserve and it’s fine. (Disclaimer/ many South Africans don’t take malaria pills if it’s not malaria season. Myself and my kids included.)

You can definitely hire people in Joburg who will be your driver and organize kosher food etc.

It really depends what you are looking for, your budget, your comfort level. Etc.
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amother
OP


 

Post Tue, May 14 2019, 12:37 pm
amother [ Red ] wrote:
I live in Johannesburg and if you need minyanim that’s not really an option in Kruger unless you are with a tour.

You can not compare pilansburg to Kruger. We go often to both but Kruger is significantly better. But it’s a 6 hour drive from Johannesburg and in a malaria zone. Whereas Pilanesburg is 2 hours from Joburg and malaria free.

Also depending on your budget, there are high end Private game reserves with the big 5 animal that are in malaria free areas.
You can take malaria pills when you go to game reserve and it’s fine. (Disclaimer/ many South Africans don’t take malaria pills if it’s not malaria season. Myself and my kids included.)

You can definitely hire people in Joburg who will be your driver and organize kosher food etc.

It really depends what you are looking for, your budget, your comfort level. Etc.

Its interesting you say its a six hour bus ride. One tour company says its only 3.5 drive from Johannesburg to Kruger while another one says its 6 hours.
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amother
Teal


 

Post Tue, May 14 2019, 2:54 pm
http://www.celafrica.com/Pages/default.aspx

I used them for my trip to South Africa. I recommend contacting them with all your questions.
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amother
Pearl


 

Post Tue, May 14 2019, 2:59 pm
I went to South Africa. I was there 3 weeks and still did not do everything there was to do. I did not go to Kruger and did not go with a tour. We did Shamwari (Kruger is much more affordable though). If you are going for Safari, Botswana is the place to go rather than South Africa. Malaria is generally seasonal, so you can assess your risk before you go. I went during our summer (their winter) and did get Malaria (in Zimbabwe not South Africa). I don't think tours are a must, but you need to speak to someone about what you are interested in and be very on top of it. Keep in mind they drive on the other side of the road there. OH AND! THAT IT IS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACES IN THE WORLD. Enjoy!
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tichellady




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 14 2019, 3:00 pm
amother [ OP ] wrote:
Its interesting you say its a six hour bus ride. One tour company says its only 3.5 drive from Johannesburg to Kruger while another one says its 6 hours.


Kruger is the size of israel, so depends where you are going. We drove ourselves and it took 6 hours. There are also flights
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