Tricks to maximise the family fun in a safari lodge

by Caroline Goodwin

Safari lodges are all about game drives in open Landrovers or Landcruiser. These are exciting for adults, and with a little bit of planning, your children will also stay engaged:

1. It helps if they each have a pair of inexpensive binoculars. (Ours have the Bushnell 10x52’s and they’re perfect.) They really want to see the action for themselves and be just like you. My youngest has a pair that are actually no more than toys, but the older two have decent pairs. These save so many arguments when we all stop to see something.

2. Secondly, if you can spare an old phone, or your phone, or a cheepo camera, or a toy camera, they LOVE taking photos. They don’t care that it’s blurry or too dark or the leopard is in a tree, a hundred and fifty meters away; they want to do what you do. Plus it keeps them entertained and enthusiastic. I’ve used our old iPhones without SIM cards and they are perfect for the cause.

*Morukuru Lodge, Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa*

3. Thirdly, there are amazing guide books on the market now for children. We have a pile of them, and they really, REALLY work a treat. In fact, this might need to be a separate post entirely, but start with these for any child over four years old. Again, they love to be the same as you are, or the ranger is, and having a guide book makes seeing the animal or bird so much more entertaining for them.
Here are some guide books to start with: The Sasol “My First Book of… “ series is amazing. Has birds, insects, animals, plants, snakes… and great for children from three or four years upwards. For keen budding-birders, Faansie Peacok’s field guide is an amazing book for children aged 7 plus. Incredibly detailed and user friendly. Sasol then also brought out bird guides that are for the most commonly sighted birds in that area, which are the next step up. A good idea is to print off a check list for them if the lodge doesn’t provide these, to help keep them interested in things along the way by checking them off a list.

4. Finally, have snacks on you for the drive. I pack a minimum of one treat for each drive in my bag. It will be Murphy’s law if when you stop at that long-awaited lion, and he rears his head to see your face, that your child whips up, “I’m hungry!” The snacks for the drink stop at most catered lodges are fabulous, but without fail, always come a moment too late for our crew. So having that sneaky biscuit (Iced Zoos work a treat as they’re animal themed!) or dried fruit, or box of Smarties, distracts them enough to get through the sighting. And also, a few bottles of their favourite drink handy because they are just as likely to squeal that they are thirsty.

5. Oh and finally, finally, the drinks stop is made much more enjoyable if you’ve got a sippy cup, flask or kiddy-friendly cup to take on the drive. They can’t always drink the whole drink on the stop (especially the evening stop, which in our case has to be hot chocolate,) so if you can take it on the vehicle for the rest of the drive, what a bonus!

Regarding the food…
The pro’s of sole use self-catering lodges are that you will possibly be given your own chef. This ties in with the fully catered lodges, as children tend to like what they like, regardless of where they are. Again, if they’ve stated that children are welcome, your chef will almost always be skilled at catering for children and be wonderful at it! My children are exotic eaters, but still don’t need a three course meal, and always prefer a more familiar plate for supper. Dessert doesn’t need to be much more than ice-cream etc. So self-catering means you bring what your children enjoy and they can eat what they would normally eat and be happy, but it’s cooked by a chef so that when you walk in from the drive, dinner (at least for the children,) is served. Sole-use means that you can pretty much ask for that too. It helps to send the lodge a list if there are any unusual taste requirements. My middle child eats half a cucumber a day, for instance, so email them to make sure there are plenty of cucumbers. At the end of the day, if they are feeling happy with life, they will be a joy to be around.

The question of night drives, if you can ask for a more substantial snack box to be packed, or bring along a little more for your children, they will often be able to be out for that little bit longer. From our experience, my children love the night drive and adventure of looking for eyes in the dark. Some rangers even allow them to hold the spot-light while they drive. You want them to be able to see the occasional nocturnal animal, which they can’t if they’re starving and wanting to get home to the lodge.

While you will see the best game, often, in the very early hours of the morning, we don’t start at crack of dawn when our children are with us. We allow them to wake up at a reasonable time, usually 6am in winter, and give them their morning drink and something to snack on. Be it rusks, cereal, a muffin or some fruit. Usually, the rangers know what sightings have been reported by then and you can still get to see the attraction if you head out a little later. It’s different travelling with the children and while it may come across as pandering to them, they actually can ruin a game drive if they’re hungry or tired. So work around this where possible. And it’s okay if they start the game drive in their PJs and change at the tea break.

This also means being a little lax on the usual rules. Apologies if you’re Gina Ford, but it’s okay if they have a little nap on the vehicle on the evening drive. It’s okay if they have to be up a little later for two nights in a row. On our most recent trip, my husband saw two lions walking around our camp perimeter roaring, at around about midnight. He went and woke our eldest, who’s favourite animal is a lion. She was terrified and enthralled and will never forget that sight. It was worth her being a little grumpy the next morning for an hour or so.

Banner image provided by Thanda Safari Lodge, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa