Traveling with small kids can be exciting and fun but challenging is not properly planned. Most families have wondered whether it’s possible to travel internationally with small kids and how the experience would be having the little ones in the jungles and wilderness. It’s very possible to travel and have fun with kids. Those who have traveled with kids before confirm that moving and spending time with kids in the wilderness is the best experience a family can ever have. Superfine Safaris brings you detailed tips for traveling with kids, and what you need to know to ensure a superfine African safari. These tips include:
Tips For traveling with Kids
Schedule passports for the kids
Just like for adults, your kids must have passports to be allowed to travel to any international destination. You are therefore advised to secure and schedule your kid’s passports as early as possible to avoid bouncing at the airport processing passports can sometimes be crazy hence better done as early as possible to avoid any last-minute disappointments. Arrange an appointment with a local post office near you and work on the kid’s passports as early as possible. We are only talking about the kid’s passports hoping you already have yours ready!
Choose a mix of destinations and activities in your itinerary
When traveling with kids, endeavor to have a mix of destinations and activities. Make sure your itinerary includes places and activities that excite kids and also activities that suit your travel interests as adults. Among the places that excite kids include city tours where they visiting shopping malls and kids parks. Also, a safari to the wildebeest in the national park where wild animals are seen from a distance has proved to be interesting to the kids.
You will be amazed at how your kids will cheer throughout the safari during game drives and other related activities. Do not forget to engage in adventurous lifetime experiences for yourselves such as mountain gorilla trekking in Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. When you go trekking the gorillas, the local guide can take your kids to a nearby community for a cultural experience or a nature walk near the lodge.
Travel during the low season
YES, you heard me right! Traveling with kids is best enjoyable during low season when crowds are less. Peak. High season normally makes tourist destinations congested with lots of crowds which makes the little kids uncomfortable and feel out of place. The low season comes with freedom and fewer crowds which turn out to be exciting for the kids. They will be few at the kid’s park hence getting attention from their masters.
Limit the number of travel days
Make sure you limit the number of travel days when with kids. Being on a road or flight every two days becomes tiring for the small kids hence killing their whole safari vibes. You should at least have 4 sleepovers in one destination to avoid continuous traveling from one destination to another in the shortest time. Give the little kids to enjoy and feel one destination at a time rather than jumping on a plane every other day which exhausts them!
Rent a private family car
If you can afford this, please rent a private family car for you and the kids. This saves you the stress of waking up very early and rushing the catch the flight, train, or bus that travels at a fixed timetable. You need to be flexible as much as possible when traveling with kids if you want to have them enjoy the safari. Once you have a private car, you follow your timetable, move at your own pace, and give the children enough time to relax and enjoy their favorite activities without rushing to catch a flight or train.
Stay longer for the first days
You are advised to at least stay four nights in your first destination before traveling to a new destination. After long hours of flight and the jetlag, kids and even the adults are so tired. Having extended time at the first destination helps you refresh and get relief from the fatigue and jetlag as well as adjusting to the different time zones. Immediate packing and heading out to a new destination is tiring to the kids who end up stressed and unhappy with the safari.
Book long-haul flights at night
If possible book long-haul flights at night. This enables you to have enough sleep at night and land at your destination the next morning. This gives your children enough time to explore the new destination in the morning
