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?

Crikey. Have done self drive in Kruger twice, 5 nights each time, saw the Big 5 both times (to the point it was getting boring) and I don’t think we spent more than £3k for both of us either time.

Will do it again when teen DD is out of her Japanese obsession. And tag on the wine route for a week too.

There are cheaper accommodations in Kruger but not sure about off road possibilities. However SA is good for rhino (white mostly) and leopards.

If a rhino is a blob and you cannot actually see it, does it not make you think that’s a bit of a shame? Our encounters have been very close. One a bit too close! They don’t see too well. We’ve also been on walking trips and saw lions. Not with dc back then. Totally exciting though in a hair raising way. We’ve seen amazing wild dogs and puppies this summer in Botswana. They just are not everywhere. So if you are keen you need to plan. If you don’t care, anywhere will
do.

Yep Tanzania might have some camping but I’ve done luxury tents. They are semi permanent. Governors camp in the Mara is like this. Thats a great camp by the way!

We got chased by a rhino. And threatened by a bull elephant that didn’t bother with any mock charges. Almost ended up with a hyena puppy in the car - must have been orphaned in a fire. :(. Did an organised night tour and came across a lion kill just a few hundred metres from our campsite. Very fresh. Could hear the lions when back at the accommodation. Had a very old lion walk alongside our car, and a pregnant cheetah lay down on the bank just ahead of us. She stayed there for ages whole we sat near her (in the car, obvs).

Rhinos are unpredictable. I think you can keep costs down in SA but there are some great small camps in Sabi Ssnds concession next door to Kruger. What makes SA good is variety of other things to see and it’s easy to drive around. Unlike nearly everywhere else.

Speak to Illona at Steppes travel. We had the best holiday in Tanzania and Zanzibar, some of the camps were amazing.

We had a fly camp where we wild camped in the Serengeti - it was beyond incredible
A camp by the rift valley that was so beautiful it’s the nicest place I’ve ever seen (I’ve travelled a lot).

The migration camp was another level.

A private tour guide who made our holiday.

£45k including business flights on the way home.

I'm hoping to go one day as a family of 4 and based on literally zero knowledge and totally guessing I expected it to cost about £15k...happy to read all the comments from people saying £70k is batshit!! But also now wondering if even £15k is hopeful.

I posted on another thread a few days ago, we’ve booked a private lodge on a reserve in kwazulu natal in South Africa for just over £3k for 4 nights (includes all meals and private game drives). There were some fantastic looking places when I was looking but they were over double what we’re paying.

That quote is actually gross and obscene

I’d be terrified spending anything near that on anything that only lasted 2-3 weeks. Imagine if you all got ill and couldn’t enjoy it! Down the drain!

This gives me hope, thank you!!

We're a good 5 years off going yet so time to save, but not £70k 😂

Go back to that travel agent and tell them to give you a trip for 25k all in. Of course it can be done.
Otherwise try other agents. You should be able to get private jeeps. Look at blue zebra island Malawi for something different.

Another one that would recommend skipping Zanzibar - I had been really looking forward to it and opted for a high end option, but we were pretty underwhelmed in the end. we did 3 weeks in Tanzania and Kenya (3 safari camps and 2 beach stays) and the random beach resort in Kenya was waaayyy nicer and a great deal less expensive than Zanzibar, which felt like a tourist trap in comparison.

as for pricing, safari can be as expensive as you want it to be- easily above 6 figures if you want ultra exclusive camps in peak season. Keep in mind that with many of these you are staying in very small camps that only have access via small private planes - overheads can be quite high and the opportunity for achieving peak occupancy quite limited. I think it will always be a very expensive holiday, but you should be able to find good options for your budget. We went 9 years ago as a couple and I believe it was around £20k for 2 of us - 3 weeks and opting for higher end properties and upgrades. I imagine prices have risen a fair amount since then, but not so much that £30k for 4 would be out of reach.

We had a fantastic safari holiday in Zambia. If you want to use a travel agent then Imagine Africa were fantastic. We gave them a budget and they stuck to it.

I posted some ideas earlier that were in budget. DIY is much easier in SA. Zambia is far more difficult for example. It’s very difficult if people don’t do research on lodges and where you can go. Expert Africa is a brilliant resource for this so anyone thinking about this can compare and contrast.

7 years ago it was much cheaper! Air fares are much higher for a start.

I also think it depends on the experience you want. The access to parks - closer or in parks cost a lot more than a 4am start.

I personally wouldn’t count a fenced reserve in SA as much more than a stocked safari park or zoo. The free roaming wildlife in the Masai Mara and Serengeti can be harder to spot. To me it’s more real. Having been on other safaris, Tanzania to me was as close to wild as is possible today. I suspect Botswana is similar, but the price tag reflects this.
I wasn’t fussed about the big 5 as such, but seeing a lion stalk its prey, the hyenas on a kill. Where the mongoose are playing. That’s the joy as it feels natural.

Oh and we LOVED Zanzibar. Stone Town is just fantastic. The experience on the beach side was fab, but we stayed in a very nice place. It wasn’t Indian Ocean posh, but they gave it a good go. There wasn’t any fuss on the beach until you walked a bit further along and then lots of hotels clearly attracted hawkers. They were all polite and friendly, but I accept it as a part of life.

@Travellingheavily You are correct about rewilded farms with fences. Many come on these threads and don’t understand the difference. This is mainly driven by just wanting to see animals but not really get engaged with animal behaviour.

You can see the wildebeest congregating in the Serengetti before they enter the Masai Mara. It just takes research and understanding of animal behaviour. I totally agree that enjoying the less obvious animals is fantastic. I queried the big 5 earlier because leopards and rhinos are quite difficult to find, especially rhino as they are more or less gone from east Africa. SA does a better job of protecting them. Expensive areas tend to be where lodges are small and most are luxurious. Bush camps (which I used to love) have all but disappeared. I totally agree that convenience of being in the reserve costs. However on balance it’s better.

I am certainly not camping in a basic tent where there are lions! It’s pretty well known some animals are dangerous and would trample the tent pictured earlier! Camping should be robust semi permanent if you are anywhere near lions, buffalo or eles

I think for high end safaries, in multiple locations, over 3 weeks... yes, you're going to pay through the nose. I'd consider simplifying it somewhat. So perhaps South Africa, not on safari, for one week. South Africa Safari for one week and then Kenya/Tanzania/Zanzibar for one week.

Then look at the hotels/lodges they're proposing - there's options that are less crazy expensive that are still luxury. So it's about taking it down a notch, but not necessarily going all the way into self service/budget.

I think the reality is that with three weeks, and internal travel the costs will quickly add up, not least becase flying to and around Africa is very expensive. So if you swapped to just 2 countries, that would help quite a lot.

The river crossing and staying in a migration camp in the northern Serengeti was fantastic. Like a wildebeest plague! They were lowing all night and the sounds were incredible. We were one of two trucks at the river and thousands came across. We sat for a few hours but just watching them gather and swarm was amazing. My DC were 13 and 15 and fully engaged.

We were met as we drove there and back by a few trucks frantically trying to find lions and other animals (the guides all stop and chat), but we were in that location just for the crossing as had slowly made our way through the plains seeing almost everything (except rhino!). There were people that had flown in for 4 nights and to be honest it seemed like a bit of a waste of time.

If you want to see everything including rhino, Namibia is pretty great. You can also combine with other activities, but there’s no ‘beach’ element.

Late to this thread, but we booked our honeymoon with Africa and Beyond. We did 7 nights on safari then 6 nights in Zanzibar. They were brilliant and planned an amazing trip for us. I think we paid about £8000 for the two of us.

https://www.africaandbeyond.co.uk

We did 2 weeks self-drive in Namibia through Trailfinders in August 2024 for £20k, mix of mid-range lodges and tented camps, family of 4. Also post-GCSE! I’ve spent lots of time in South Africa and Kenya over the years, and Etosha in Namibia was really up there as a family safari experience.

Hi, we have done multiple trips to South Africa Botswana Namibia & Zambia and always planned and booked direct ourselves with hotels and safari lodges. Booked all our own flights too international and all internal African flights and road transfers. It’s possible to book your own with research and will keep the costs down.

This is my job, it’s possible, but it varies SO MUCH. £64k plus flights (although giving you a quote excluding flights concerns me!!) could be entirely possible depending on the itinerary and the lodges/game packages.

I would expect £30-40k to be about right, depending on your requirements.

I’m on Mat leave until the new year, but also that’s when the sales start. PM if you want. No pressure! You can get the holiday you’re after for the budget you want, don’t be disheartened. It just needs looking at :)

I wouldn’t give up the Mara for South Africa though personally.

You need to

• go off season
• contact a company based in Kenya not a uk company
• ask if they have any times of year when you could

Potentially residents rates on accommodation

Even if you can 'afford' £30K for a three week family holiday, yes I agree it's utter madness.

Happiness and fun isn't about spending as much as possible.

Your 'disappointment' at the £70K quote is an odd reaction. What's happening is that the 'great travel agent' is attempting to rip you off, and massively.

You were perhaps mentioning your budget at the travel show, and they thought, here's someone willing to pay up to £40K so you must be an easy touch, so why not try and squeeze you for £70K.

If you spend more than £15K you are setting yourself up for disappointment as you won't get the holiday you expect for the £30-70K budget, most of which will be lining various agents' pockets.