Celebrating My Birthday in Africa: Mauritius and Botswana

I don’t really like my birthday, so I try to get as far away as possible. Being a travel blogger, what better excuse?

My birthday is on April 5th, and for this year, I decided to go a bit farther and selected Mauritius and Botswana as my destinations. Every country—and continent—has its own way of doing things, and Africa (continental Africa) has proven to be the most complicated one I’ve encountered so far.

African tours require a lot of notice since many of them, especially those in the outback, require extensive planning by the tour agencies as they need to set everything up from scratch. Of course, this varies from country to country, but it’s definitely the case with Botswana. I didn’t decide on my destination until a month ago, and needless to say, it’s been challenging.

How I plan my trips

I’ve been traveling on a monthly basis for a while, so thankfully, I have some sort of system in place. Most of the time, I check for flights with Skyscanner (since they search for the best options available), book my accommodation with Booking.com (since I get discounts with it, although it’s non-refundable if I’m not 100% sure my plans won’t change), and arrange my tours with Viator.

Viator offers a wide variety of tours in nearly every country, and most tour operators feature their products there. So far, I’ve booked tours in Peru, Morocco, Jamaica, Indonesia, India, the Bahamas, Egypt, Jordan, the USA, Iceland, Canada, Guatemala, and now Botswana and Mauritius, and I’ve never had any issues with it.

It’s quite straightforward: just go on the platform, search for your destination, select your tour, and book. Tour operators will contact you prior to your tour to arrange the details, like the pickup location.

Selene in the Sahara Desert
Mauritius Island She is Wanderlust Africa Travel Guide

For Mauritius, I’ll be visiting the southwest of the island, Port Louis (the capital), and on my birthday, I’ll be swimming with dolphins and whale watching in the Indian Ocean.

After that, I’ll head to Botswana, where I’ll visit the pans, Moremi Game Reserve, the Okavango Delta, and, hopefully, the Kalahari Desert for a cultural experience with the Bushmen.

The last tour, the one to the Kalahari Desert, is still TBD, as traveling as a solo traveler adds an additional layer of complexity to this destination. Tours are not economically viable with just one traveler, and if no one else has booked the tour for the same day, they will cancel.

I’m just two weeks away, and I’m extremely excited for this! Hopefully, everything will work out. Of course, I’ll share the details of my trip in another post.

Recommendations When Traveling to Continental Africa

For fellow travelers, I have a few recommendations if you decide to choose continental Africa as your next destination:

  1. Book in advance: Most people book their tours 1 year to 6 months in advance, so spots fill up quickly. This is too far off for me, but still, try to book as far in advance as possible to ensure everything goes smoothly.

  2. Get a travel buddy: I absolutely love traveling solo—it fills my soul with peace and enhances the adventure—but this might be the one scenario where I recommend partnering up. It will make the planning easier and help ensure your tours don’t get canceled.

  3. Plan and save: As I’m located in the U.S., just the flight to Africa takes me two days. There are few travel hubs in the south, with the exception of South Africa, so my current flight is 32 hours. Needless to say, it gets costly. I’m sure it will be 100% worth it, but my bank account is crying. Even trying to go low-budget, just the flights are $2K. Take your time to save for it!

  4. Keep it simple: Although I love dressing up and being prepared, the benefits of traveling with just one backpack or carry-on are unmatched. No lost luggage and the ease of movement are just a few advantages. I’ll try to condense everything and wash my clothes to achieve this, as I don’t think it will be convenient to roll a suitcase in the middle of the African desert.

Chobe NAtional Park botswana she is wanderlust

If you’re interested in checking out the tours I’m taking for my African adventure, I’m leaving the links below. Wish me luck! I’ll keep you all updated.