What we’ve learned
Over the past few years we have survived a few safaris/trips/vacations with the kids. The ages range from our baby up to the pre-teen boys.
At the most, we traveled with 7 kids on a trip. It was loud, but it was also really fun!
This is what we have learned about travel with kids:
- Always Always Always book accommodations with a swimming pool when possible. Even if you’re at the beach. You never know with the tide in Zanzibar, so a swimming pool is always a good choice.
- A camera for the kids. Especially for safaris/game drives. Even if they take terrible, blurry photos they want the chance to be a photographer. Give them a disposable camera or an old cell phone and let them take as many blurry (or actually fantastic!) photos as they want.
- I will always over-pack, they will always underpack. As a caring, responsible adult, I consider the possibilities of spilling an entire cup of juice at the breakfast table and needing to change clothes.
Jumping in mud and needing a back-up pair of shoes.
Which means when I pack for the kids they have about 4 extra outfits that were never worn, and a rain jacket that took up waaaay to much space to never have left the luggage.
My kids? When we let the boys pack their own bags for a weekend they did not bring a single pair of socks….and I have a feeling underwear may have been forgotten, too, but no way the boys were going to admit that.
I may spend the next seven years finding a balance here. But honestly? It’s okay. Don’t sweat the small stuff. The boys survived, dirty underwear, no socks and all.
Don’t let it ruin your trip.
- Murphy’s Law: If anything can go wrong, it will.
Especially with sickness. Prepare. Bring meds and your preventative remedies; if you are in Serengeti National Park or a remote location it’s really not fun to try to find a pharmacy.
- Get them a water bottle they love.
Pay the extra $$$ for sparkles or Hello Kitty, Superman or a glow-in-the-dark water bottle (I used to have this one by Nalgene and it is great). They won’t forget their water bottles everywhere and will stay hydrated because drinking water out of a cool water bottle ‘tastes better’.
- Snacks.
It took me a solid 12 months to navigate the snack category of food in Tanzania. While bananas are readily available, cheap and safe to eat – you have to diversify a bit! And, if you have any kiddos that get ‘hangry’ you know how important it is to pack snacks.
While on a game drive, you will probably have a boxed lunch which has waaaaay too much food and will suffice for snacks and lunch, and won’t need to consider this. However, if you have any other driving or activities planned you may need to prepare with some snacks.
- Fresh fruits. Bananas, apples, mangoes, guava, and grapes are pretty easy to eat-on-the-go (wash them with drinking water first)
- Nuts. Cashews and peanuts are available and easy to travel with.
- Prepared snacks. Kashata is the Tanzanian version of peanut brittle, it’s not healthy at all but it is tasty. There are four varieties: peanut, sesame, coconut and cashew. Not allergy-friendly, I know.
- Another option are biscuits (aka cookies for us Americans) or chocolate bars/candy bars. The cheaper options taste cheap, and the imported brand name items are very expensive. Take your pick.
- Or crisps/bagged chips. Several varieties: potato, cassava, banana, all with their own seasonings from lemon, masala, chili or plain. Not the healthiest of options, but usually a hit with the kids.
- Local treats. Pretty much every neighborhood throughout Tanzania has someone selling fried cassava chunks, or chapatis, or local donuts called mandazi. Also, over here ‘chips’ are fries, and they are a popular snack.
Did you notice that all of the above mentioned are cooked with loads of oil and are not for those of the low-carb persuasion? Yeah…about that…
If you are far from a town or shops and need a snack ASAP, just make sure the items are straight from the frying oil and you or your kids should be fine. - If you have allergies, dietary restrictions or picky eaters, it might be worth it to bring some tried-and-true favorite snacks in your luggage.
- Look at what your accommodations offer
Many lodges offer guided walks or short hikes. Take advantage of these, because some of them are included! (but tips are always expected and appreciated).
Moivaro Coffee Lodge has a lovely hiking trail on their property that you can meander without a guide. Jembe and I saw the most vibrant birds during our stroll.
Africa Amini Life’s Maasai Lodge has a separate kids play area with babysitting for an additional fee.
The best part? It’s right next to the massage room, so you can get yourself a relaxing massage while they play.
Arusha Coffee Lodge advertises four-wheel rides/ ATV rides with 4 Wheeling Tanzania and they are equipped with kid-sized ATVs, too! - Rivertrees Country Inn, located near Arusha National park has on-site bicycles for guests to take a simple trail ride or have an adventure mountain biking.
And these are just a few ideas. Look into what your hotel or lodge offers for extra-burn-off-the-energy activities your kids will love.
- I am not required to entertain my kids.
This is sort of my every-day philosophy, but I think it is just as important during a vacation.
Say it with me: it is okay for the kids to be bored.
It forces them to use their imaginations and creativity, invent their own games, try something new. On a vacation, that means adventure and memory-making experiences they will remember for the rest of their lives.
And remember, it’s freaking TAN-ZA-NIA!
This is an incredible country with spectacular beauty at every corner, glimpses of volcanoes all around and the excitement of lions and elephants nearby.
So even if our kids can’t fully appreciate that they are in one of the most un-boring places on the planet, just remind yourself that this is awesome and one day they will recognize how amazing it was.
- Have some backup activities.
I know! I just told you not to entertain the kids and now here I am being a complete hypocrite.
But please, here me out: the unexpected can (and will) happen.
Flat tires, traffic jams, bad weather, sudden rain storms. A delayed flight can keep you stuck in the airport for hours.
And remember Murphy’s Law? That’s exactly when your phone/tablet/electronics are going to lose all battery life.
Even us adults feel frustrated and grumpy at the inconvenience, we cannot expect our Littles to remain angelic. Something as simple as a blank notebook and some colored pencils can be a lifesaver, or even just have some word games like ‘I Spy’ that require no props at all.
I just introduced Speedy to “Hang Man” and WOW, when you throw in the possibility of the word being English or Swahili it gets really really hard! Keeps us all entertained for a while.
- Children have short memories.
We probably all knew this one already. But it’s frustrating when you dedicate time, money and energy into what is supposed to be an awesome experience for the kids and then you have this conversation:
“How was your trip?”
“Uh… fine.”
Fine? Just fine??? Okay….exhale. “What was your favorite part?”
“I don’t know….”
It’s not that they didn’t have fun. They DID! But they are processing and storing into their long-term memory at a different rate than you are. Maybe they can’t recall everything right now. But they will, later.
Print those photos, put them in an album and watch your kids pour over the photos. See them tangibly remember their experiences because the evidence is right their at their fingertips.
What we do to help our kids remember is recap the day. We do this during dinner every night of our family vacations. We encourage the kids to pinpoint two or more favorite parts of the day – best animal they saw, a new thing they learned, an activity they tried.
Verbal processing is a thing (hello! I talk to myself all the time, because it helps me process). And, when we repeat something or state it outloud it helps our brain to store it into our long-term memory.
Kids will remember more of the fun-packed vacation if you help them process bits of it before they go to sleep. True story.
If your kids are into writing and diaries, get them a special travel journal to write in every night. I’m 32 years old, and I love looking back and reading what my 10-year-old self wrote about our family vacations. Writing down the day’s events will also help them remember their experiences.
What are your tips for travel with kids?