If you’ve a love for animals, and watching Nat Geo, and can’t forget about elephants, rhinos, zebras, giraffes and all the other exotic animals Wedding safaris in Africa or safari honeymoons will bring your dreams to life!
In reality, deciding the best African destination to hold your ceremony or the honeymoon can be a challenging task in itself. There are a variety of popular and well-known destinations with a myriad of tours and guides, as well as all sorts of tips to take a look at. In the spirit of social and environmental obligation first, I’ve conducted some digging for you, and then shared some of my personal experiences from my three-week safari hoping that it can inspire you and assist in making the right choice!
1. Africa as a wedding location
Africa is a vast continent, and each of the countries has luxury to offer in its unique way. From lodges and hotels to camp sites, and resorts there’s something for every person. Transferring from one location to the next may be quite costly, however trains will transport you with style from A to B, particularly in the south. The scenery varies between lush green gardens and rivers, to dense forest with game roaming through the region. It is a part of the excitement. The average wedding celebration in Africa is about 30 guests. This is enough for exclusive use of several locations that allow you to have full use of the area for at minimum two nights.
2. Be patient.
Weddings in safaris and destination weddings honeymooners are known to overdo it. The wedding ceremony could take place in a 2-1/2 – three-day time frame. If you’re planning on one week to spend on your honeymoon, two locations is about right. If you’ve got two weeks after the wedding, then take the time to go as many as five. We traveled for two weeks and then the third week we spent time in the game lodge and watched the animals play at the watering holes as we enjoyed a cocktail every night with the sun setting over the horizon.
3. Don’t be expecting to be sending emails or using cellphones
While technology has definitely advanced but beyond Nairobi, Capetown, and several other cities, the internet may be slow and cell phones might not work properly. Take your time and enjoy the scenery, but ensure you have binoculars and a good camera! The wedding is going to be amazing and you’ll be enjoying the safari honeymoon!
4. The best time to go
Africa is a truly year-round location for safaris of a high-end nature. Fresh vegetables, fruits and even meats are delivered daily to the majority of camps and lodges from the region’s lush agricultural land. The food is amazing with influences from Indian, French and Indonesian food, and much more. Africa is paradise for vegetarians with plenty of culinary talent! Everybody here puts in a great effort to be a good host.
5. Do not worry about it: The tents aren’t the ones Dennis the Menace was sleeping in.
Our trip included Kenya as well as Tanzania. When I learned that we would sleep in tents, I thought about it for a while. When we arrived, I was stunned. It is a wonderful experience to stay in tents that come “en suite” with bathrooms built into. The water is not drinkable and bottled water is offered to clean your teeth.
We returned to our camp in the sunset to warm beds that were heated by hot water bottles that were tucked away as part of the nightly turn-down. Our guide told us that we would be greeted by a Masai would guard the lions in the night right in front of our camp (we heard their roars clearly and loudly). They also suggested that we secure the strings of the zippers in our tent to ensure that the shrewd monkeys wouldn’t be able to break them. They’ve already learned how to use zippers! We had the most delicious coffee we’ve ever tasted on safari, even though monkeys were able to access the sugar cubes that were on the tray that was left out of our tent during the morning!
6. Visas, immunizations, etc.
It is possible that you will require visas for entry into Kenya and Tanzania. Visas for entry into Zimbabwe and Zambia are available on the arrival (at the date of this article).
The most memorable part of my Safari
The entire trip was unforgettable for us, and it will be for you and your guests too. The flights that are short distances from one destination from one to the other, while somewhat frightening for the nervous flyer (like me) are extremely safe. The jeeps which could accommodate up to six people gave the passengers plenty of room to enjoy clear views and fantastic photos. The visit to the Masai tribe’s lands, getting to know the tribe’s inhabitants, walking through their dung huts and learning their stories was interesting. However, for me my hot air balloon flight through the Serengeti was the best part. I’d never experienced a hot air balloon before, and didn’t know what it took to lift out of the ground and how many people could be in the basket and how breathtaking the views when we were at the top of the mountain.
Sky-spinning magic
We could see our shadow when we flew into the sky. We were awed by the large herds of ostriches or giraffes as well as elephants that were grazing over the vast plains. The sheer amount of animals were amazing as we were like angels looking at the beauty that are the earth. We’ll assist you in choosing the ideal destination in Africa and guide you on the right path to plan, design and create the wedding destination you’ve always wanted! You and your partner can then go to the safari and have fun on your honeymoon!
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