Safari - possible for family of 4 for £30k?

[TooTiredToType77]

I've just received an itinerary from a great travel agent I met at a travel show last weekend. 3 weeks, family of 4, Maasai Mara, Tanzania, Zanzibar - £64k PLUS international flights

This is a big, once in a lifetime family holiday after receiving an inheritance. I had a budget in my head for around £30-40k, which to me sounded madness in itself...but I'm so disappointed with the quote! I just can't spend £70k on a holiday.

So, which companies can I contact for a safari holiday within my budget?

We used Africa Travel Resource for our honeymoon safari and they were great - options for all budgets.

Also recommend Trailfinders. They book you with the lodge directly

We did safari in SA with Trailfinders. They were great. Gave them a budget and they came up with an itinerary. We could have stayed in nicer lodges/had upgrades but it met our budget and was just what we wanted.

That quote is OUTRAGEOUS and I have done 2 safaris you’ve had good advice on here.

dont NOT book through whoever gave you that quote

We went to Kenya and Tanzania for a week safari and a week at the beach and paid around 3 grand for 2 many years ago. NO way would I pay 70 grand. A week safari is honestly enough, it's packed in and you're often up very early.

I never fancied Zanzibar after the acid attack on the two volunteer teachers back in 2013. I also believe you will get constant hassle the minute you step foot on the beach there - from what I've read anyway. We had the same at the beach resort in Kenya - as a result nobody used the beach.

We did a safari last year - 3 nights in Kruger then 4 nights exploring Cape Town then we flew to Zimbabwe to visit Victoria Falls and went over the land border to Botswana for a couple of days safari in Chobe national park. Had an amazing time - about £9k for 2 of us

@Tina159
Interesting - I really did not like Zanzibar
it had an 'edge' that made me ready to get back to the UK quickly
a shame as the Safari part of the holiday was AMAZING
we were at our camp for 5 days
the best options I saw were two weeks spread across three camps in different habitats

I have been on safari 4 times, Kenya and South Africa. With beach breaks including Zanzibar twice. Twice with 2 kids.

That quote is more than I paid for all 4 trips. It's taking the piss.

You can have an equally amazing time for much less. Shop round and take your time.

Don't use any travel company partly owned by a private equity firm. Audley used to be, not sure anymore but that is a sure way of getting ripped off.

That’s an insane amount of money

I will say we just did 4 days masai Mara followed by a week in Zanzibar which was perfect
the safari was incredible but it’s basically sitting in a truck all day, not boring at all but as an active person I really struggled with not being able to stretch my legs properly. That cost £6k including flights for 2 of us a few years ago, would be a lot more these days but not as much as you’re suggesting

We used Audley and they were fantastic

Really!? We went for 5 days and I cried when it ended! It was incredible!

Thank you so much for everyone's replies.

I feel like it's my fault...I thought our budget was top end but also realise the travel agent at the travel show didn't ask what our budget actually was.....it is all private tours / independent lodges. I'm open to group tours, husband not so much but can be discussed.

I guess I was being lazy thinking that someone could take my more than healthy budget and do it all for me!!....but I / we are very able to research and book ourselves although I might try Trailfinders and Exodus as well to get a quote.

We all want to see the big 5 on safari, but not expecting to do 3 weeks safari. It's just we can take a 3 week trip on this occasion which is rare and may not happen again before older teens leave home. It will be at the end of GCSE'S for our youngest so we were hoping to be away before the main school hols and were hoping that would help keep costs down too.

We are fully open to exploring different options and I really appreciate everyone's replies and suggestions.

Well I'm never going on safari!

Just thought the same! That's one thing I can remove from my bucket list instantly 😭

@TooTiredToType77
Do not beat yourself up.
Interestingly on Safari were were not booked for ANY private drives
but as there were four of us it always ended up that way
Small plane transfers were in 16 seaters

We used Audley and despite now grudging their fee they were AMAZING

Also tented camps are MUCH more fun ;-)

We went in March to south africa, for 2 of us including international direct flights it was under £5,000. This was 10 years ago. We stayed a week in cape town in a luxury apartment in the waterfront, we hired a car. Then an internal flight to Johannesburg, then a charter flight to elephant plains camp in sabi sands, we had the top accommodation there, FB. Then a private car transfer to Tanda Tula camp in timbavati game reserve, that was AI. Then a private transfer back to the local airport, we flew to Johannesburg then home.

I kept the price down by booking things seperately, I didn't compromise on any accommodation or experience. When I asked companies to give me a quote they were always more expensive and in lower standard accommodation, not in such good areas.

I recommended Trailfinders earlier. Just to add, we found 4 nights safari in SA was plenty, we saw the Big 5, we also combined it with 10 nights in Mauritius. Ten years ago this cost £6k for 2 people.

My husband and I went on safari Exodus, it was fab, our trip was something like what they are advertising as 'Kenya and Gorillas' trip and it pretty basic camping. Definitely nothing fancy on that trip in terms of the accomodation, though this was 2007. The current price of their safari trips actually astound me, I think it's triple what we paid. The only consideration you might have for a tour like that is that whilst the min age for adult trips is 16+, it was rare for teenagers to go on these trips, when I was in my mid/late 20s I was often the youngest passenger. They would probably be advise on group composition. They have family tours with safari options too, but not to Kenya or Tanzania and also the other kids on those trips are likely to be younger than yours.

Also recommend Expert Africa although it was quite a few years ago.

Would not recommend Zanzibar, we went there from Tanzania and I was found it very uncomfortable (the poverty) and disappointing.

You don’t need the full 3 weeks for safari (as I think you know from your last post) so this should be more than achievable for your budget.

I used this woman after a friend recommended, she was amazing and sweet. For transparency we ended up booking everything ourselves as we are a last minute couple which doesn’t work with travel agents. We spent £10k on giraffe manor, Mount Kenya and Masai Mara 5* all inc

reshmaaggarwal.notjusttravel.com/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaaVbNJPcJRg-RSs7vp12hjvu00EqSueKvUQfWp4uqc2qP38mu0SUIxSywA_aem_-D_WGGuefnAIHv1_q5VSqw

It doesn’t cost anywhere near that for a standard trip. oP is talking about luxury private tours and accommodation and tours across several countries. I’ve been a couple of times and not come close to that amount.

I’m a UK independent travel agent - the quote is top end and any decent travel agent would have asked your budget and worked within it. I would also be asking questions about your family, your lifestyle, and what your expectations of the holiday are so I could match the tours and hotels to you personally. Often people don’t like telling us their budget as they think we are doing something nefarious with the info, but as you can see - I can price a safari anywhere from £5k to £100k depending on what you want. Why don’t you just go back to the agent and actually tell them your budget. Or if you have lost trust with them find another? It’s not only about them finding or creating the right holiday for you, it’s about having a real person to talk to the whole way through the process who also supports you in case of any problems and handles any emergencies on your behalf. You absolutely need to feel a connection with them.

I expect the only place you might make a slight saving with it being outside of school holidays is on flights, everything else will be less susceptible to price fluctuations as there’s quite a difference between the European and package holiday market and the world-wide high end market (much more limited supply).

the safari was incredible but it’s basically sitting in a truck all day, not boring at all but as an active person I really struggled with not being able to stretch my legs properly

Go to Zambia where they do walking safaris 😊

I used to work for a luxury travel agent. Some of the prices if you want a high end safari really are staggering. Although I'm surprised that they didn't ask for a budget. They have wasted their time and yours by putting together a trip out of your price range, and from the sound of it lost a potential client as well.