Worldschooling in South Africa 2024
Bring your kids on the budget-friendly safari trip of a lifetime: May 29 to June 30th, 2024
UPDATE: Dates are not yet set in stone. We have room for 3 people now: one grownup who can drive and up to 2 more people. At least one person must be willing to drive the entire time, including in wet and muddy conditions. Cost is roughly $8,500 per person for 4 weeks from the US, including air from IAD. Contact me using the form at the bottom.
NOTE: This could be broken into two 2-week units, April 15-30 and May 1-17. If you want to sign up for just 2 weeks and you are willing to drive, please contact me. Kids could possibly get school credit - there is going to be a lot of learning.
My son Micah is 12. He’s passionate about helping animals. Here’s the introduction to his YouTube podcast:
Who should come?
We only have room for 3 people now: one grownup who can drive and two teenagers, or two grownups and one teen. At least one person must be willing to drive the entire time, including in wet and muddy conditions.
Health issues
NOTE: All travelers must have a current yellow-fever vaccination.
NOTE: There is a malaria advisory for Kruger park. We will discuss options. Most people can take Malarone with no side effects. This is not a big deal.
For those who have never been on safari, there is essentially no danger from wild animals if you stay with the group. The biggest health threat on a trip like this would be something like diarrhea.
Contact me if you’re interested, but soon.
In the spring of 2023, I tried to put together a monthlong worldschooling trip to East Africa for families. I didn’t get enough people who wanted to come. Then, my son Micah and I started a podcast on endangered animals and he won a $10,000 award from Emergent Ventures to pursue his passion for animals.
So we’re going! Our main goal is to see and film animals, but we’ll be learning about animals, habitats, and people helping to save animals. We plan to spend time with teams who are fighting rhino poachers. We expect to meet some lion experts. And we’re working on a deep dive into the world of wild dogs.
Itinerary
We are planning the trip now. Our basic plan is to spend two weeks in Kruger, then on May 1st fly to Victoria Falls and spend two weeks in the Okavongo Delta and Caprivi Strip.
Think of this as half safari (game drives viewing animals and walking safaris with guides) and half engaging with local people working on animal conservation, getting a more behind-the-scenes look at how these parks operate and the issues they face. For more info, see our YouTube channel.
April/May is just about the perfect time of year for a South African safari. It’s late summer/early fall, the wet season has ended, visibility is good, tourists are just starting to show up, and prices are reasonable. July and August are the absolute worst times — it’s cold, crowded, and expensive.
Examples of places we’re looking at staying:
Kruger Shalati - a lodge in a train on a bridge
Vundu Camp in Mana Pools, Zimbabwe
Logistics
This is a budget trip aiming at staying in nice places that aren’t too fancy. We will rent and drive ourselves. We’ll plan to stay 3 nights at each of several places, so we’re not relocating that often, though we will usually drive every day to see animals or have adventures.
I’ve done this many times, and the area we’re going is quite safe. Our biggest risks come from the usual problems one would have with children on a vacation.
We will see a lot of animals. Kids will study and prepare ahead of time, we'll have meetings to discuss everything. We'll be doing a lot of video, so those who want to learn podcasting, now's your chance!