When my husband and I were planning our wedding a few years ago, we knew Africa was our dream honeymoon destination but that planning (and paying) for a wedding and trip to Africa at the same time just wasn’t doable for us. So we planned a quick beach trip to Mexico post-wedding and put Africa on hold.

A few months after the wedding, we bought a trip to Africa at a charity auction. Quick shout out to one of our favorite charities – HOLA!

The package was good for 6 nights in South Africa at a Game Lodge with 2 game drives per day. We had 2 years to cash in on the deal and took almost that entire time to save up miles and money to book the rest of the trip. Once we finally got down to planning, I did a ton of research and then, of course, learned a lot as we went.

Our first stop on the trip was Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe (blog post coming soon!). Then after a quick night at a hotel near the Durban airport, we set off for the safari part of the trip. The game lodge we’d be staying at is a 2 to 3-hour drive north of Durban. We choose to drive a rental car to save a bit of money on the airport transfer and also to give ourselves flexibility for excursions once we arrived.

Normally companies offer two game drives a day, one very early in the morning and the other just before sunset. Given the time of year, our game drives left at 6:20 am each morning and 3:00 pm for the afternoon drive. We managed to make it to all but 2 of ours during the 6-night trip. We missed a couple when we were out on other excursions. The trucks have multi-level seating and can fit 10 passengers in addition to the driver. We had a group of 10 for most of our game drives and got to know our travel companions quite well.

The park we were in was quite small in comparison to other parks. Thus they were a bit limited on what kind of animals could be there. Though on the positive side, we were able to see the entire park during our short trip and it was easy for the guides to notify each other when they had sightings and for us to quickly get to the spot to meet them and see the incredible animals right up close.

I was so glad that I bought a new camera (and telephoto lens) for the trip. I was able to capture incredible detail in comparison to my phone. I mostly used the auto feature but still feel like I got some incredible shots.

The sunrises and sunsets were incredible. The sky in Africa is unlike anywhere else I’ve been. The sun is always stunning and the unique trees stand out beautifully. Even outside of sunrise and sunset, the sky is always beautiful to look at.

Our guide let us bring beers along for the ride. It was especially spectacular during the sunset drive that we did one evening. We left a bit later that evening and spent some time searching with a spotlight for critters that prefer the dark.

When we were not out on game drives, we used the car we’d rented to explore the nearby areas.

We traveled down to St. Lucia for a hippo boat cruise and beachside horseback ride. There were so many hippos on our trip and we also spotted some beautiful birds. Our driver also was able to spot a beautiful lizard on a tree branch at the water’s edge and a baby crocodile lying in the sun.

We also traveled to an elephant park to see the elephants up close, we got to touch their tusks, trunks and even the inside of their mouths. We also had the opportunity to feed them and watch them drink a huge bucket of water within seconds.

It was an incredible once-in-a-lifetime trip for sure, but we are already trying to figure out how we can make it back to Africa. There is so much more to see!

Has anyone else done an African Safari? What were your favorite parts? Let us know in the comments!