My Cape/Botswana safari this year tracked nearly exactly my experience for the last eight years running: fabulous Cape touring then moderate though diverse game with several truly exciting experiences, ending at VicFalls.

I really don’t think Cape Town needs much promotion. It’s my second favorite city in the world, absolutely gorgeous, and the historical, cultural and wilderness opportunities I think are unmatched except perhaps by San Francisco.

So if like most Americans your Cape Town experience is augmented by a game viewing experience, that’s what you analyze and compare.

Eastern South Africa (Kruger) is fine for game viewing, but Botswana is much better. Not necessarily for the quantity or variety of game, but for the exceptional scenery and geography, and for the exclusivity.

Twice in the last four years I’ve watched a wild dog hunt, and that’s breath-taking. Four of the last five years I’ve seen wild dogs. Wild dogs is becoming Botswana’s signature attraction. (By the way, it may also be Kruger’s. There are now a reported 500 dog in Kruger.)

We saw two lion kills, both of buffalo. And really most uniquely of all, our two days in the Okavango Delta and three days in the Pans represented game viewing experiences that simply have no comparisons elsewhere in Africa.

Those of us in the safari business are loathe to compare one area with another, or even compare the same area in different seasons. But I realize this is an important consideration for the consumer, particularly the first-time consumer.

In addition to the extraordinary experience on two separate game drives of two different wild dog families, the week-plus game viewing safari included a dozen lion; hundreds-plus elephant, Cape buffalo and impala; dozens-plus giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, springbok, mongoose, hippo, kudu, lechwe, baboon; and multiple sightings of hyaena, warthog, reedbuck and sassaby.

We all also saw a wild, reintroduced white rhino.

Certain of us also saw crocodile, sitatunga, monitor lizard, bat-eared fox and eland.

There were some very special sightings as well: Gorgeous, almost super zebra that were red-maned and beige-and-red tailed. With two exceptions, the dozens of times we saw elephant they were all male.

We watched for some time two inter-acting and very large impala families, an extremely curious situation that led some of us to wonder if it were a single super family exchanging harem masters.

The first lion kill was an extraordinary scene. Somehow the three harassed lionesses with a single vulnerable cub successfully hid their buffalo kill from the rest of the world (except us) keeping vultures, hyaena and competing lions away.

The weather was perfect for northerners racing from a terrible winter. The hottest days, perhaps touching 90F were in Moremi, where there were also the coldest nights (likely in the lower 50s). But the majority of the days didn’t exceed the mid 80s or sink below the mid 60s. Skies were mostly crystal clear with enough dust for absolutely breath-taking sunsets.

(Note: I actually prefer about a month earlier, when the game viewing is even better. But the temperatures are 5-10 degrees hotter. The dramatic afternoon thunderstorms at that time I consider a real plus.)

The two extraordinary days in The Delta, with minimal game viewing, gave us the unique experience of a desert in flood and all the beautiful water plants and marsh birds of a special part of the world, of exceptional species like the painted frog, and with opportunities for fishing.

The Pans (Makgadikgadi and Nxai, among many other smaller ones) are equally unique. These are salt pans formed over centuries of heavy water run-off followed by rapid evaporation. So during the rains they are the heart of Botswana’s game viewing, attracting hundreds and thousands of animals.

But year-round the scenery which they define is hard to explain and its stark beauty hard to exaggerate. There is, indeed, a monotony to “starkness” but when properly absorbed it’s spiritual.

Far fewer animals are seen on a Botswana experience than East Africa, although about the same number of species. But the quantity of wildlife in East Africa is so much greater.

When compared with a game viewing experience of similar length in East Africa, this was much more relaxed. Perhaps only half as much time was actually spent game viewing as we would do in East Africa, although the activities were more varied than the vehicle game viewing that dominates an East African experience.

But that needn’t be the case for everyone. East African participants can easily exclude themselves from some game viewing to benefit from the down time that is normally written into a Botswana experience. And enthusiasts in Botswana can with some effort increase their activity time.

On a Botswana safari there is much less interaction with the local people (outside of the staff, of course), in part because there are so few people in the country to begin with. There is virtually no city or town experience of any kind. It is strictly bush.

You fly from camp to camp in Botswana, never drive (with rare and usually down-market exceptions). Most of the time you’re driving from place to place in East Africa, through populated countryside, towns or villages.

But though you fly much more in Botswana than East Africa, the planes in Botswana are much inferior to those in East Africa. That’s a criticism I’ve been leveling at Botswana for years: their planes are configured much too small for the average traveler.

In East Africa your driver/guides meet you at the airport and remain with you until you leave. In Botswana you pick up a new set of driver/guides at each camp.

There are more upmarket accommodations in Botswana (though a good number in East Africa, too) and they are generally better (and more expensive): that usually means larger rooms with more furniture that is also more comfortable. Bathrooms are usually more modern and spacious in Botswana than East Africa. Electricity and wifi is usually more available and reliable in Botswana than East Africa.

The staff and food in both areas is professional and varied, but expect generally better local guides in Botswana than East Africa. On the other hand, guides are very specialized in Botswana, experts in small regions and usually not as familiar with the culture, overall wilderness and current affairs as your guide will be in East Africa.

Exclusiveness is more likely in Botswana than East Africa. On our safari of 8 days we encountered vehicles other than our own and those of the camp only three times and then very briefly. In Ngorongoro Crater on virtually any day of the year, you’re likely to encounter dozens of other vehicles, sometimes all competing for the best position at the lion kill.

Now having said that, I hasten to add that personally I feel very sensitive about this and usually conduct an East African safari where half or more of the time there are none but my own vehicles. But in a few important places like the crater, that’s impossible to arrange.

Botswana’s scenery is wonderful if mystic. But East Africa’s scenery is more grand and dramatic, from highlands to volcanoes to the expansive plains of the Serengeti.

So the comparison is made but flawed: for your first safari go to East Africa. But once Africa’s taken over your soul, you’ll have to visit Botswana, too!

And, oh by the way, what a wonderful group of travelers I had this time! Remarkably special for me, and something I’ll always remember!

As my two months guiding in Africa comes to an end I’m of course very anxious to get home. But it’s hard to leave the African wilderness.

As a friend and good client, Steve Farrand, said to me, today:

Africa resets your soul. No matter where you’ve been in Africa or where you find yourself next, it’s a spa for the heart and mind.

I think the African wilderness remains so digestible yet unpredictable that you can more easily set aside the nagging responsibilities of the modern world without turning off the inquisitiveness and excitements that earn us success in the modern world.

Simply, you come to fully appreciate the here-and-now. I’ve always wondered if this is true only of the foreigner who finds himself removed to a distant and beautiful place or is equally true of the Africans who live here.

Of course I’ll never know: You can’t enter someone else’s soul. I only know it’s true for myself.

Grandpa Eddie and Grandma Gloria arrived with their two sons, their wives, and six grandchildren aged from 6 – 11 years old. I think it’s going to be a blast.

Family safaris are a big part of American travel to East Africa and the first question I get from the potential organizer is about the age of the children. What’s too young? What’s the ideal age?

These are questions that just can’t be answered generally. Every family and every child is different. Some travel well, some don’t. But I’ve never taken the questions seriously. It’s nice to ask, but the point is, the adults aren’t doing this any more for the kids than for themselves!

And that’s the way it should be.

When we were talking today about whether the kids as young as they are might remember anything, Gloria pointed out that Eddie rarely remembers anything from a vacation, today.

This isn’t grad school. You’re coming to have a good time and to keep the family together during that time, something that’s often difficult to do when home.

And from my point of view, there’s no better place to do it than Africa!

The overall experience, rather than recounting each animal or learning about the history of the great explorers or watching a lion eat, is what matters. And an African safari’s composite experience is powerful, and will remain with children and adults alike the rest of their lives.

And the experience is that more special when it is shared. And for sure everyone, even the youngest kid, is going to remember the charging elephant or roar of the lion outside the tent. But what’s most important is the feeling of wonderment and awe that transcends any given incident or moment.

Those warm and august memories are shared, from grandfather to grandchild, and carried as something they both discovered and cherish for the rest of their lives. An African safari is full of these, each and every day.

After an overnight flight from London everyone was pretty whooped. But the three boys started playing baseball right away on the expansive grounds of our lovely lodge on Mt. Meru. The three girls decided to go on a game drive with grandpa.

Arusha National Park is a convenient half hour from most of the lodges in the area, and it’s one of the most beautiful rainforest wildernesses in East Africa.

We saw zebra, buffalo, waterbuck, warthog, dik-dik, bushbuck and of course, giraffe. There are so many giraffe in the park that locals call it “Giraffic Park.”

And a very special treat was that both mountains, Kilimanjaro to the east and Meru which we were on, were out, and their peaks radiant. At one point we all got shots of flamingoes flying above one of the Momela Lakes in front of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Tomorrow we head to Tarangire. Stay tuned!