A safari where the camp is the decision
Two camps eighty miles apart, at the same price, in the same month, produce completely different weeks — one with three other vehicles at every sighting and one with none. The country is almost the least important choice on a safari, and it is the only one most people research. This is the trip where an advisor earns their keep, and where getting it wrong is expensive in a way you only discover on arrival.
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What actually decides a safari
Four things, in this order, and none of them is the country.
The camp, and how many vehicles it sends out
A small camp on a private concession may have six vehicles across forty thousand acres. A lodge on the edge of a national park may share a sighting with fifteen. The photographs look the same and the mornings do not. Camp size, vehicle numbers and whether the land is private are the questions worth asking, and they are rarely on the website.
The season, which moves everything
Dry season concentrates animals around water and is easier for a first safari. Green season is cheaper, emptier, far better for birds and newborns, and harder going. The Great Migration is a year-round movement, not an event in August — the river crossings are a few weeks in a specific place, and being there in the wrong week is the most common disappointment on this page.
Private conservancy versus national park
Conservancies allow off-road driving, night drives and walking; most national parks do not. That is the difference between watching a leopard from the road and following it. Conservancies cost more per night and frequently produce a better week for the same total spend, because you need fewer nights to see what you came for.
Getting there is light aircraft, and it has rules
Camps are reached by twelve-seater bush flights with a strict luggage limit — usually 15kg in a soft bag, no wheels, no hard case. That constraint decides what you pack and occasionally which camps can be combined at all. Two camps in a week is right; three is a lot of flying and one is often better than people expect.
Children, and the camps that mean it
Many camps have a minimum age, often six or twelve, and some that accept children do so without changing anything about the day. The ones that genuinely work for families run shorter drives, have a family tent rather than two, and a guide who will stop for a dung beetle. There are not many, and they book out first.
Vegetarian food, and the practical questions nobody asks
Camps cater vegetarian and Jain food well when told in advance and cannot improvise it — supplies are flown in. The same is true of the questions people are shy about: malaria prophylaxis, what a long-drop is and is not, whether there is wifi, and how far the nearest hospital is. All of it has straightforward answers and all of it is better asked before you book.
Where, and what each is actually best at
Every one of these has a guide on this site if you want to read more first.
Kenya
The best first safari, and the strongest conservancy model in Africa. Combines easily with a beach.
- ◆Masai Mara conservancies — Olare Motorogi, Naboisho, Mara North
- ◆Laikipia for walking, riding and rhino
- ◆Amboseli for elephants under Kilimanjaro
- ◆Then Lamu or Diani, or fly to Zanzibar
Tanzania
Bigger, wilder, longer flights inside it. Best for a second safari or a first one with time.
- ◆Serengeti — the north for July to October crossings, the south for calving in February
- ◆Ngorongoro Crater, worth exactly one day
- ◆Ruaha and Nyerere for almost nobody else
- ◆Zanzibar at the end
Botswana
The most expensive and, for many people, the best. Low volume by government policy, water and land in the same trip.
- ◆Okavango Delta — mokoro, water camps and land camps
- ◆Linyanti and Selinda for predators
- ◆Makgadikgadi for something completely unlike the rest
- ◆Add Victoria Falls at the end
South Africa, and gorillas
The easiest logistics on the continent, and the one add-on people never regret.
- ◆Sabi Sand for reliable leopard, and no light-aircraft weight limit
- ◆Cape Town and the Winelands either side
- ◆Rwanda for gorilla trekking — a permit, two nights, and an extraordinary hour
- ◆Madikwe and Kruger's private reserves for malaria-free family safaris
When to book
The best camps are small — often eight or twelve tents — so a fortnight in high season is a genuinely limited number of beds worldwide.
- 12–18 months
July to October, and any family trip
Migration season in the Mara and the northern Serengeti, and the handful of camps that properly take children. These are repeat-booked by returning guests before they are ever offered.
- 9–12 months
Comfortable for most of the year
Good camp choice, sensible internal flights, and enough time to build a route that does not waste a day in transit.
- 4–6 months
Workable outside high season
Green season and the shoulder months are open much later, and are frequently the better trip anyway for a second-time visitor.
- Any time
Ask about green season
November, and March to May. Materially cheaper, far fewer people, spectacular skies, and I will tell you honestly which camps close and which roads get hard.
What planning it with me involves
I handle
- ◆The camps chosen by concession, vehicle numbers and guiding — not by category
- ◆A route that does not lose a day to a connection, with the internal flights held together
- ◆The season argued out properly, including telling you when your dates are wrong for what you want to see
- ◆Conservancy versus park, priced both ways, so the trade-off is yours to make
- ◆Family camps that mean it, where children are coming
- ◆Dietary requirements passed to each camp in advance, because supplies are flown in
- ◆Visas, yellow fever and malaria guidance, and the luggage rules before you pack
- ◆Travel insurance guidance including medical evacuation, which matters more here than anywhere
- ◆My number for the whole trip
I don't
- —Guaranteeing you will see anything — nobody can, and a camp that implies it is one to avoid
- —Medical advice, which is your doctor's; I will tell you what to ask
- —Anything you would rather arrange yourself
The first conversation and the proposal are free. If you take the route and book it yourself, that is genuinely fine.
Questions people ask
Kenya or Tanzania?+
For a first safari, usually Kenya: the conservancies allow off-road and night driving, the internal flights are shorter, and it pairs easily with a beach. Tanzania is bigger and wilder and rewards more time — the northern Serengeti in migration season is extraordinary, and getting there is more flying than people expect.
When is the Great Migration?+
All year — it is a continuous movement, not a date. What people usually mean is the Mara River crossings, which are roughly July to October and happen in a specific stretch of river. Being in the right camp in the right weeks is the whole thing, and being in the Mara in August is not by itself enough.
How many nights do we need?+
Three nights minimum per camp, four is better, and two camps in eight or nine nights is the shape that works. One night anywhere is a wasted flight, and three camps in a week is mostly airstrips.
Can we take young children?+
Yes, with the right camps — and the list is short. Many have a minimum age of six or twelve, and some that accept children run exactly the same day regardless. Malaria-free options in South Africa are worth knowing about for families with very young children, and they are a genuinely good safari rather than a compromise.
What does a week actually cost?+
It varies more than almost anything else in travel, because a camp on a private concession and a lodge outside a park can differ by a factor of four. Tell me a number and I will tell you plainly what it reaches — and whether the honest answer is fewer nights at a better camp rather than more nights at a weaker one.
Tell me when you can go and who is coming
"Two of us, ten nights, first safari, sometime next summer" is enough. I will come back with a route, the camps named and the reason for each, and I will tell you if your dates and your wish list do not match.
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