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Animals & Nature

The Turtle Hospital – Marathon, FL

Animals & Nature, Our Travel Stories

The Turtle Hospital – Marathon, FL

I’ve always had a special affinity for sea turtles and judging by the prevalence of turtles on everything from jewelry to bumper stickers to Pinterest tattoo design boards, I am not alone.

Before our recent trip to South Florida, I was reading up on things to do and came upon The Turtle Hospital in Marathon. About halfway down the Keys, midway between Miami and Key West, Marathon fit perfectly into our travel plans.

The Turtle Hospital offers 8 tours a day, seven days a week and an official tour is the only way to see the inner workings of the center and to meet the turtles themselves. Each tour lasts about 90 minutes and takes groups of 10-15 past a series of tanks from individual 150-gallon isolation tanks to the 100,000-gallon saltwater pool for permanent and long-term residents. Each tour ends with a chance to feed the permanent resident turtles.

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The first tanks we saw were two 30,000-gallon “hurricane tanks”, where residents recently weathered Hurricane Irma. In addition to serving as a shelter during hazardous weather, these tanks also serve as physical therapy tanks for turtles on their way back to the ocean.

Two additional areas are filled with individual tanks which serve as isolation tanks. One series houses animals in recovery from traumatic injuries like boat strikes and fishing line entanglement as well as intestinal blockages. A second series of individual tanks is designated specifically for turtles affected by the fibropapilloma virus which causes tumors that can impair vision and flipper mobility.

Finally, there is the 100,000 gallon saltwater pool for long-term residents with permanent disabilities that won’t allow for return to the wild. A few of these turtles will stay at The Turtle Hospital for life, but most will be adopted by zoos and aquariums, allowing space at the hospital for more turtles that need their life-saving help.

On our tour, we were able to meet a number of current residents – I’d like to introduce you to a few and at the same time illustrate the most common threats to sea turtles:

Booga – Entanglement

Booga, a loggerhead sea turtle who was discovered by a boat named “Booga Man,” had a flipper that had become entangled in a lobster trap line sometime before Hurricane Irma. By the time the crew of the “Booga Man” found him post-hurricane, the blood flow to the flipper had been cut off long enough that the flipper was already dead. The Hospital performed amputation surgery and although you might think that would make it difficult for Booga to return to life in the ocean, three-flippered turtles can actually do just fine in the wild. Booga was in recovery when we met him and once he put on some more weight, he’d be going home to the ocean. More often than lobster trap line, monofilament fishing line is the culprit in turtle entanglement, so if you fish, please make sure to dispose of your line properly.

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Dusenberry – impaction (natural)

Turtles are curious and they’ll put about anything in their mouth to sample it. Unfortunately, as our oceans have gotten more polluted with everything from plastic bottles to stray flipflops, a lot of undigestible things are ending up in the guts of turtles. This can cause an impaction in the digestive system. Impactions can occur from natural diets too – sometimes the crunchy shells of tasty mollusks can build up in there too. In either case these impactions cause gas. This is a big deal to a turtle because it makes them buoyant and can put them off balance. Buoyancy makes it difficult to dive down to feed and to avoid threats, like predators and boats. In addition, as the gas moves through the digestive tract it moves back and forth from left to right, putting the turtle off balance and making it difficult to maneuver. It can take months for the gas to work its way through a turtle’s digestive system and in the meantime, they’re very vulnerable.

When someone in the local community notices a turtle floating in the wild, they call the Turtle Hospital. There are staff who are always on call and who will go out to catch the turtle and bring it back to the Hospital. The Hospital gives these turtles a safe place to work through their issues along with some help in the mundane and somewhat unexpected form of Metamucil and Beano, among other things. We met Dusenberry, also a loggerhead, who was recovering from a natural impaction when we visited. The Velcro strips on the sides of his shell allowed weights and floats to be attached and adjusted to restore his balance as the gas worked through his system. The shallow pool also made sure he didn’t have to work very hard to pop his head out to breathe, so he could put all his energy to recovery..

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Toby – Boat strike/Bubble Butt

Unfortunately, in an ocean shared with humans, there are sometimes collisions between boats and turtles, causing everything from nicks and cuts in the turtles’ shell, to paralysis, and something known as “bubble butt”. Because a turtle’s spine is fused to its shell there is always the chance of paralysis and sometimes digestive tract issues with a traumatic shell injury. Many times, a boat strike causes an air pocket to be introduced under the shell and the resulting air pocket affects buoyancy, making it difficult for the turtle to dive, a bit like wearing a life jacket. This is “bubble butt” and unfortunately it is a permanent condition so if it’s severe enough, the turtle isn’t able to return to the wild. The Hospital can help to balance out the turtle with weights attached to its shell to offset the buoyancy of the air pocket, but because turtles’ shells keep growing throughout their lifetime and are molted gradually over time, the weights will eventually fall off. Since no one’s figured out how to get the turtles to come back for new weights, they really can’t be safely released and become either permanent residents or adoptees to zoos and aquariums.

Toby is a green sea turtle who was the victim of a boat propeller strike. When we met him, the Turtle Hospital staff was still determining the extent of his injuries to see if he could make a full recovery and head home to the ocean or if he was going to need continued care in a safe environment.  On top of the injury, he also had fibropapilloma tumors that needed to be removed. He seemed to be doing pretty well when we met him though.

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No Name & Pawel – Fibropapilloma tumors

Pretty much all turtles carry the virus that causes fibropapilloma tumors, but in many cases there are no symptoms. In recent years, however, more and more turtles are showing up with tumors caused by the virus. This increased incidence of the tumors coincides with increased water pollution, particularly from fertilizers, and may be due to a weakened immune system. Tumors occur most often on the flippers and head causing difficulty swimming and vision blockage, making it tough for a turtle to carry on with normal activities. Tumor removal surgery is the most common procedure at The Turtle Hospital and many of the turtles we met were in recovery or awaiting further surgeries. If a turtle has a lot of tumors, a series of surgeries will be required. Once all tumors are removed, the turtles are then monitored for a full year to be sure they stay tumor-free before being released back to the ocean.

We met No Name and Pawel, as well as five juvenile green sea turtles who were in different phases of this process.

No Name, who was found in the waters off No Name Key, is a green sea turtle who came in with eye tumors that totally covered both eyes and a large number of tumors on her flippers as well. Although she’d already had the worst tumors, those covering her eyes, removed when we met her, she was still waiting for three or four more rounds of surgery to take care of the rest. 

the turtle hospital marathon florida

Pawel, a green sea turtle who was found by a night kayaking tour, had just undergone her final surgery for flipper tumors, but was still waiting for another to take care of her eyes. She was recovering in one of the isolation tanks with some floats added to her shell to help keep her balanced while she recovered.

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Five Juvenile green sea turtles, including Toby were tumor-free and in the one-year waiting period following surgery. Keith, Nereus, Huckleberry, Tortuga and Toby were sharing one of the hurricane tanks and staying active in preparation for their return to the ocean.

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The Turtle Hospital is run largely through donations, tour fees and gift shop purchases and although the Hospital does have a local vet on call for emergencies, all the surgeries are done by visiting volunteer vets. There are 17 people on staff, including admin, management, tours, and rehab, and some are on call 24/7 to head out to rescue a turtle whenever the call comes in, day or night.

The Hospital started out as a motel with a saltwater pool in the 1950’s. In the 1970’s the owner turned the pool into a “snorkel experience” with fish and small saltwater animals. With the popularity of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the early 1990s, people started requesting that he add a turtle. When he looked into this he learned that there were a lot of permits required to have a turtle and that one way was to qualify as a rehabilitation facility. From this, the Turtle Hospital was born.

In the beginning, there was a rehab facility in the back and motel rooms up front with surgeries done in the rooms in between check out and check in. Although Hurricane Wilma in 2005 put an end to the motel, the rehab goes on. There is now a full surgery suite and the motel rooms are used to house the rehab staff and visiting volunteer veterinarians.

If you love turtles, or even just like them a little bit, I highly recommend a visit to The Turtle Hospital. The $25 fee is well worth it and is undoubtedly going to a good cause. You’ll learn a lot and you’ll meet some charismatic and beautiful animals that need our help.

Everglades Airboat Tour

Animals & Nature, Destinations, Our Travel Stories

Everglades Airboat Tour

An Everglades airboat tour is definitely a cliché tourist thing to do, but that didn’t stop me from putting it at the top of my list for our recent trip to South Florida. As I started to research our options, I encountered a plethora of companies offering basically the same brief thrill ride through the mangroves to see alligators. I began to get discouraged as a brief perusal of websites left me with the feel of cheap roadside attractions. I began crossing off companies touting things like “animal sanctuaries” where they announced we could see not only alligators, but tigers. The idea of tigers living in a cage in South Florida for tourists to ogle just made me sad.

Thankfully, my research also introduced me to Down South Airboat Tours. This company was owned by 6th generation residents of the area and seemed to value giving guests the opportunity to really experience the Everglades over simply providing a thrill ride. They had rave reviews from previous guests and claimed a more authentic view of the Everglades, exploring an area different from other tour operators. Several reviewers who’d been on multiple airboat tours with a variety of companies backed up these claims and despite the significantly higher price tag, I was sold.

Several weeks later on a cool, but sunny winter day we pulled off on the side of US-41 at a public boat ramp halfway between Miami and Everglades City, just about equidistant from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

Across the relatively deep canal that paralleled the highway, a sea of seemingly endless grass stretched to the horizon, dotted here and there with stands of cypress trees. An airboat was parked on the ramp and a dozen trucks with boat trailers sat nearby with no sign of their occupants.

A matter-of-fact gentleman in his 60s wearing a camouflage jacket and jeans approached us as we got out of our car and introduced himself a Bill, our guide. We were a bit early, but he said we could leave whenever we were ready.

At first I wondered if this was going to be a really long 90 minutes. I’d been hoping to learn a lot about the Everglades on this trip and Bill initially seemed a bit quiet. We had barely gotten situated in the boat  when I realized how wrong my initial assessment had been, however. Bill quickly became animated as he started to talk about what he referred to as his “backyard”. Having grown up 20 minutes away, he’d spent much of his life on these acres and his passion for the area came through clearly.

Daryle and I were the only people booked on the tour, even though the boat could fit two or three more. Down South has a policy of one party per tour making each trip a personal and customized experience.

Before pulling away from the dock, Bill handed us each a pair of two-way headsets that gave us the ability to not only hear what he had to say over the noise of the fan, but to ask questions along the way as well.

It had been cold in Florida recently, so on the recommendation of one of the owners, I’d booked a mid-day tour, departing at 11:30 to up our chances of seeing alligators. (Later that day we’d stop off at the Big Cypress National Preserve Oasis Visitor Center farther west on US-41 and see dozens sunning themselves below the raised boardwalk, but at this point, we were still on the hunt for a gator.)

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Having led many tours, I’m sure Bill knew that, like most of his guests, we wouldn’t settle in to enjoy the rest of the scenery until the need to see at least one alligator was satisfied. As we pulled away from the dock, he mentioned he’d seen some alligators earlier that morning and we’d go see if they were still hanging around, before “really heading out to see the Everglades.”

A short distance from the dock, Bill navigated the airboat through an area mottled with relatively solid-looking patches of ground where several of the dark-skinned reptiles lay inert sunning themselves. It was hard for me to tell the different between the small bits of solid ground where the alligators lay and the mats of thick stems and roots floating on the water surface.

Several times, I thought we were about to collide with an island of solid ground when suddenly the vegetation would silently submerge, pushed down by the weight of the boat, and let us pass freely. Most of the water in the freshwater part of the Everglades we would be exploring was less than 2 feet deep during the winter dry season, making airboats, which sink just 2-3 inches into the water, the preferred method of motorized transportation. Bill told us you can actually run a light airboat in your front yard on nothing more than the morning dew – although he doesn’t recommend it, as it tends to annoy the neighbors.

As Bill navigated our boat through the thick grass to rejoin one of the more formal “trails” we’d follow for most of our tour, we were immediately immersed in wilderness, a world away from the hectic urban jungle of Miami, just 30 miles down the road. Within the two million acres that remain of the Everglades (1/3 of the original extent), Bill told us that there are five major ecosystems and that we’d see two on our adventure: grassland and cypress forest. Starting out in the grassland, we were surrounded by vast plains of grass with stands of cypress trees (referred to as strands) that could stretch up to 75 miles. Upon closer inspection of these “plains”, we could see that there was actually a blanket of remarkably clear water covering nearly every surface. In some areas, just a few inches of elevation gain made cypress strands into islands, called domes, which offered the only respite in the saturated grasslands for local land mammals like white-tailed deer and marsh rabbits.

Water quality has long been a major issue of concern in the Everglades and today the water is cleaner than it has been in a very long time. After many (fairly unsuccessful) years of dredging canals to drain the area with a goal of making it both more suitable for agriculture and real estate, and (misguidedly) to protect the area from flooding, the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CREP) was passed by Congress in 2000. Combined with a year of heavier than normal rainfall in 2017 and the tidal surge from Hurricane Irma helping to flush out the area, Bill told us proudly that the water was the cleanest it had been in 50 years. In fact, he professed, that unlike several years ago, today he’d happily scoop some up to drink without any hesitation. I was less confident, but this was good to hear.

In addition to beginning to fill in the 1500 miles of dredged canals, the CREP is providing for the removal of dams in the area that prevent the free-flow of water within the Everglades. The largest of these is Highway 41 itself which cuts straight through the Everglades, effectively dividing the salt and freshwater ecosystems. In fact, we’d driven through miles of construction on our way to the boat dock where the road was in the process of being elevated to remove this barrier without impeding the flow of humans.

The 35 miles of trails that we travelled on our tour were primarily narrow channels free of vegetation or filled with shorter muhly grass, lined on both sides with taller sawgrass and cat tails. The name saw grass is not a joke – the edges of these stalks are made up of thousands of tiny saw-like teeth. Pull up on a stalk and all is well, but run your hand down a stalk and you will regret it.

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The landscape was so immense, we found ourselves scanning the horizon constantly for signs of life, a bit like being on a wetland safari. The first bird we saw was an osprey. These majestic fish-eating raptors experienced a dramatic decline in populations in the 1950s and 60s and were listed as endangered in many states. Proving their resilience, ospreys, with the help of reintroduction programs and a ban on DDT, have slowly made an impressive comeback and have been downlisted to threatened or to a species of “least concern” in most states. We’d see many more during our time in South Florida, both in and out of the Everglades.

We also saw great egrets, the iconic symbol of the Everglades as well as of the Audubon Society, with their snowy white plumage and long black legs, as well as snowy egrets, a variety of hawks and a handful of great blue herons. These shy graceful giants are always one of my favorites.

In addition, there were vultures, both turkey vultures and black vultures, surfing the air currents everywhere. These birds are critical to the ecosystem as well as important to humans. Not only do they serve as the janitors of the Everglades, keeping the dead stuff from piling up, they help to control disease. As scavengers, vultures eat things we’d rather not think about and that have died for all sorts of reasons, from old age to deadly viruses. An important example of the protective measures these birds have developed is saliva that contains an enzyme lethal to the rabies virus, which not only protects the vultures, but prevents the virus from being passed on and proliferating.

Farther along on our journey, Bill pointed out several camps on small cypress dome islands still used by the Miccosukee Indians. The rough wooden docks were clearly visible as were the thatch-roofed chikee huts, just peeking through the trees. No longer used on a permanent basis, these structures and camps still host special ceremonies. Two island in particular are sites for the cremation and burial of tribe members – one island for the women and another for the men. Bill joked that the Miccosukee chief had told him this was “so they could all rest in peace.”

Also living in the Everglades, but thankfully not seen by us, were 27 species of snakes, including four that are poisonous. In addition to the snakes that are supposed to live here, there is a newer addition which Bill referred to as an “ecological disaster.” After a bit of research, I’m inclined to agree.

In the 1980’s, Burmese pythons, native to SE Asia, started showing up in the Everglades and by 2000, it was reluctantly recognized that there was an established breeding population. It’s thought that the originals were exotic pets released by their owners, but it’s also likely that Hurricane Andrew really accelerated things. In 1992, this category 5 hurricane pretty much flattened everything in the town of Homestead, located on the edge of the Everglades, including a private reptile breeding facility that was supplying a substantial demand for exotic reptiles as pets.

One of the largest snakes in the world, Burmese pythons eat a lot of small mammals and birds. In fact, there is no doubt that the precipitous decline in small mammals seen in the Everglades in recent years, reported to be as much as 99%, is related to the introduction of pythons to the ecosystem. Of course the impact doesn’t stop there. Several people we met who have lived in the area for many years told us they’ve seen more Florida panthers in the past few years than ever, mostly on and along roadways, although there’s no evidence there are any more of these incredibly rare cats. In fact, with an estimated population of only 70 to 160, its surprising that anyone sees this rarest of the world’s large cats at all. The likely explanation is that panthers are being forced to range more widely to hunt as the populations of small prey species decline. This puts the cats at greater risk for traffic accidents and other unfavorable encounters with humans. To underline what a true threat traffic accidents are considered, we passed through an entire straight, flat section of US-41 that was labelled a “panther-zone” and given a 35mph nighttime speed limit.

About 2/3 of the way into our trip, Bill navigated our boat into a dense stand of cypress and shut off the motor. It was beautiful, virtually silent and incredibly peaceful. We were in the cypress swamp and I can only describe the feeling as mystical or spiritual. This was, without a doubt, my favorite part of the tour. One minute we were speeding along with the sun beating down and wind in our faces, looking out over miles and miles of flat plains of grass and then suddenly we found ourselves floating in this very close, cozy enclave of dense forest with visibility cut to 50 yards at most and life just climbing all over itself.

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As we floated quietly, Bill pointed out numerous bromeliad species growing in every nook and cranny of the wide-based cypress trees.  Although silent during the day, he said at night the frog chorus would be intense and you could easily see 40-50 owls from this very spot.

After several minutes, we reluctantly put our headsets back on and Bill fired up the fan for our return to civilization. As we navigated the grassy trails and turned toward the radio towers that marked the public dock we’d launched from, we watched one last great blue heron take off and clear a strand of cypress trees in the distance.

A few minutes out from the dock, we saw two other boats heading out. I realized that we had been on the water for 90 minutes and not once seen a single other boat or human.

Now, I’m a mountain girl and the Everglades are a much more subtle landscape than I’m used to, and nothing if not flat, but there is incredible beauty in this subtlety where even a few inches of elevation or the exact mix of salt and fresh water can mean a whole new subset of species. There is also incredible significance and importance in this diverse ecosystem that is home to nearly 70 threatened or endangered plant and animal species, including the charismatic Florida panther and West Indian manatee. I am thankful to have had the chance to get a glimpse of the magnitude and importance of this place and I’m grateful to Bill for sharing his backyard with us.

If you have the opportunity to visit the Everglades, you should absolutely take it and I highly recommend an airboat ride with Down South Airboat Tours and a stop at the Oasis Visitor Center to see the alligators.

African Safaris – Private Game Reserve vs. National Park

Animals & Nature, Safari, Travel Tips

For as long as I can remember, “take a safari” has been on my bucket list, so when an opportunity finally presented itself, Daryle & I jumped on it. Only after the trip, did I realize just how much there was to know when choosing an African adventure. In an effort to help you make your once-in-a-lifetime trip just the one you imagine, I want to share some things we learned during our time in Africa.

I didn’t realize that safaris came in so many varieties and the first big thing I didn’t know was that there are two main types of areas where safaris happen – on private reserves and in national parks. There are significant differences between the two and of course pros and cons to each.

During our three months in Africa, we were lucky enough to experience safaris in both types of areas, so I now have a much better idea of what I’d want to know if I was choosing my once-in-a-lifetime safari. First, I’d like to give a quick overview of two very different safaris we took – one in each type of area – and then I’ll summarize the pros and cons of each.

Our experience in a Private Game Reserve – Our first safari was on a private reserve in South Africa. This was an easy intro as the trip came as an all-inclusive package deal with food, 2 game drives a day, expert guides and the opportunity to schedule additional guided day tours to local sites and animal encounters. All we had to take care of was flights and transportation to the lodge, which the lodge was happy to arrange. We quickly saw 4 of the Big 5, frequently with no other vehicles around. The reserve we’d selected was relatively small and fenced, rather than one that bordered a national park with free flow of animals between, so we did realize after a few days that we were seeing the same three elephants and family of cheetahs, but the close-up views and uncrowded perfect photo ops made it hard to complain. On our first game drive, our guide was able to identify the likely location of a leopard – notoriously hard to spot – in the bushes nearby, based only on the call of a bird. He then took our Land Cruiser off-trail to follow her as she hunkered down in some thick brush. We happily watched for some time as she lay there in the dappled sunlight keeping an eye on everything.

Our experience in a National Park – Our second safari was in Chobe National Park in Botswana. The first thing we noticed that set this experience apart from our first safari was the sheer number and diversity of animals we saw. From almost the moment we set out, we were able to see crocodiles, Cape buffalo, hippos, several species of antelope and dozens of birds, frequently all at the same time. We didn’t see as many of the big 5, and no cats, but we saw a much greater variety of more common animals, which were still all new to us and much larger herds of animals such as Cape buffalo and elephants. At one point, we watched completely entranced as a herd of about 20 elephants of all sizes emerged from the woods and ambled down to the water’s edge for a drink.

The Advantages of Private Game Reserves

A more personalized experience. Our guide would frequently ask our small group what we wanted to see on that particular drive and then tailor the route to our desires. We were also treated to a stop on each morning game drive where we could get out of the Land Cruiser and stretch our legs while our guide brewed fresh coffee. During these stops, there were no other people in sight and we felt like we were out in the bush on our own. We had the same experience one evening while we enjoyed a beer and sunset from a hilltop with a view to the horizon.

The ability to drive off the main roads. This is possibly the most important difference. The ability to travel off-road tracking animals greatly enhances your chances of seeing certain animals, particularly large cats, as in our experience with the leopard and of getting a more close-up view. Our experience with the leopard was almost magical, she passed so close to us we could almost have touched her, we were the only vehicle there and she didn’t seem bothered by our presence in the least. Seeing such a magnificent animal at such close range was breath-taking – not to mention great for photos.

A relaxed, uncrowded feel. Private reserves usually limit the number of vehicles that gather at a wildlife sighting to 2 or 3, creating a more peaceful feel and reducing the likelihood of other people and vehicles in your photos – not to mention being less likely to stress the animals or change their behavior. Many times we found ourselves alone watching the elephants tearing small trees apart for dinner or a cheetah perched on a low branch surveying the plains. I’ve read accounts of people having amazing one-on-one encounters on self-drive safaris in national parks as well, but the opposite is quite common, with hundreds of vehicles trapped in a “lion jam” jockeying for position to get a brief glimpse of a faraway cat.

Professionally guided game drives. Vehicles are driven by professional guides, usually with a tracker on board. These guides and trackers are not only knowledgeable about where to find the animals you are looking for, but also about their behaviors, which keeps you safer and also lets you learn more about what you are seeing. These guides also are frequently in radio contact with one another and can alert each other to sightings increasing your chances of seeing more elusive species. National parks do frequently also offer guided game drives, so this is not exclusive to private reserves.

Night drive options. Private reserves are more likely than national parks to offer night game drives, good for spotting big cats and nocturnal species like aardvark, aardwolves and civets.

The Strengths of National Parks

A variety of options for varied budgets. National parks tend to have more self-catering lodging options in a variety of price ranges. You can still find luxury lodges and camps, but that is not the only option. You can also often opt to drive your own car throughout the Park – see next bullet. It’s important to note that not all private reserves are outrageously expensive, but they seem to be inclined that direction.

The ability to self-drive. Again, this option can save you some money. You can usually still opt for guided drives with a professional guide which will enhance your chances of seeing the animals you are after, but you can select drives on a more a la carte basis, so you can enjoy a combination of guided and self-drive. When you self-drive you can choose your routes, aren’t limited to a set length of time and you don’t have to negotiate with other guests or your guide in order to be allowed to sit and watch a particular animal for hours if you like.

Greater habitat and animal diversity. Generally, because national parks cover more area, there is greater habitat, and therefore animal, diversity than on a private reserve. Your chances of seeing more animals and larger groups of these animals is higher. For example, in Chobe, we saw several herds of 10-20 elephants, while our private reserve only had three on the property. We also saw a herd of Cape buffalo so large, we had to wait fifteen minutes for them all to cross the road, engulfing our vehicle in the meantime. National parks are excellent for general wildlife viewing, you’ll likely see far more relatively common animals like giraffes, zebras, antelope, birds and baboons than in a private reserve. However, you may be less likely to see the shy and stealthy predators, like lions, leopards and hyena.

How to make your decision

Goals – A national park experience is excellent for the unmistakable and overwhelming feeling of being immersed in Africa, with giraffe and zebra around every corner, but if you have a list of animals you are counting on seeing, especially if it includes leopards and lions, your chances are likely better on a private reserve. 

Budget – You can make your money stretch farther in a national park with less expensive accommodation options and the freedom of self-driving. I think it’s important to think of a safari as a once-in-a-lifetime trip though and to keep in mind that a bit of a splurge is probably called for – you will most likely only so this once and you will remember it forever, so don’t skimp. However, you can likely make your adventure last longer and stretch your money farther in a national park.

Time – If you have a lot of time to scour the corners of at national park, you will undoubtedly have a number of priceless moments all to yourself, but if you have just a few days as many of us do, you may be able to make more of your time on a private reserve or at the very least by investing in a few guided game drives.

My recommendation

I believe the ideal is to split your time between a private reserve and national park. For instance, if you have 5 days, spend 3 at a reserve and 2 at a national park. Because we started at a private reserve and I’d already seen all the “big” animals I’d wanted to see, when we went on our national park safari later, I enjoyed it just as much, if not more, but for different reasons. I wasn’t fixated on locating certain animals, so I was thrilled with every bird, rodent or mammal we saw and just reveled in the experience of being in Africa. However, I’m not sure I would have been this satisfied if I hadn’t already seen the leopard and rhinos at the reserve.

private game reserve vs national park