I like getting a guidebook with pictures when I start to research vacation. We really liked the
Eyewitness Travel Guide for South Africa. Fodor's also similar guide - Exploring South Africa and there are a couple of guidebooks that just cover safaris such Fodor's or Frommers. I would recommend taking a look at one or two of the guidebooks to narrow down where you want to go. Don't forget to also look at Botswana for safari locations.
Also check your local travel books stores for slideshows on Africa. We went to a great slide show on safaris in southern Africa which helped us plan.
There are lots of options for travel and safari. Think about what you want
- Full tour with all arrangements or self-drive
- How much is in your budget. Do you want to stay at the top of the line locations such as Sabi Sands?
- How much time do you have? To really take advantage of the facilities at a safari camp you need to stay at least 2 nights minimum.
- Where else do you want to go in SA? Do you want to see Cape Town? How about the Garden route? Beaches?
Once you know where you want to safari or want opinions on different camps, then I would recommend taking a look at the Fodor's forum on Africa. It has a lot of good recommendations for different safari camps and companies to use.
We knew we wanted to only visit western region of SA because we wanted to see the spring wildflowers which made our planning easier. The Eyewitness guide had a couple great pages on the best places to see the flowers. From that I did a lot of googling to find out times and routes. I did all my own bookings (hotel, car, tours) over the web and it was fine. Everyone was very responsive and great to work with. We added Namibia since it easy to get to from Cape Town. I did use a company, Cardboard Box, to do my bookings in Namibia. They were recommended on Fodors and were excellent to work with.
Good luck!
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