Safari trip - where do I start!?

[VacationQueen]

We want to book a safari trip for 2027. Where do I start? So far, every website I click on takes me to a form to be completed with our details. This, and not recognising the websites has me worried! Some of the websites don’t even have details of where we would be staying.

We have been told to book Botswana and Mozambique, some have made comment about Zanzibar and it not being the nicest place and another family member mentioned going to the Seychelles and opting for an East African safari. It’s all added to the confusion. We’ve been told to budget £30-50k, does that sound about right? (2 adults)

South African safaris are malaria free. Look at Shamwari with your budget. Direct flights to Mauritius from Cape Town for the beach holiday after could be an option.

30-50k? That’s ridiculous.

we went on a very upmarket safari. Luxury lodge, private butler etc. it was a few years ago now but I priced it up again last year and it was about £20k for four adults

edit to add plus £7k in flights (but this was for four of us)

Thank you - I’ll look at Shamwari.

What length of trip are you wanting to do and what level of luxury? I did a safari 10years ago and it cost £600 for 4days in Kenya and was brilliant. But thats probably a very different type of trip to a £50k trip!! Why dont you start off with going to somewhere like Kuoni, get a few quotes and use that as a baseline to compare against other tour operators that you have found.

Could you share details please? Where do you book? I’m so used to planning it all myself and booking everything separate but I don’t think that’s practical for this trip. I just don’t have the knowledge on the game reserves etc.

Try a company like Audley or Tourdust. We did a great safari holiday in Tanzania with Audley. Agree Zanzibar isn't up there with best places I've visited.

Doing something similar next year for a larger group so we went to Trail Finders and the agent there has out a fabulous itinerary together for us all with safari booked and accommodations, transfers, etc. we normally book all holidays ourselves including many multi stop long haul trips but felt South Africa was too unknown for us and getting such conflicting opinions from everyone.

I think this is what I’m finding difficult/ confusing! I can plan out an entire trip across Asia but this feels too unknown for me. That coupled with everyone having different views. Some say Zanzibar is beautiful, others have said they didn’t rate it.

I have no idea as this will be our first safari. 10 days seems to be most recommended and I’d be happy with that as I want to split the trip into safari/ beach.

So many of the itineraries I have seen just seem very all over the place. Some have 7 hotels/ accommodations. I really don’t want to move hotel 7 times in 10 days!

We did Kenya on a budget last year, I organised everything myself. We did 3 nights in Nairobi, 2 nights in Voi/Tsavo, 5 nights in Diani and 1 night back in Nairobi. Flights £600 pp return (direct nairobi). Trains to Voi and Mombasa around £150. Half day Safari Nairobi national park around £350 (private jeep and guide, including Giraffe Centre & Elephant sanctuary). Full day safari in Tsavo East £350 (private jeep & guide). Airbnbs for 10 nights = around £900. I found recommendations for the guides on Tripadvisor and also via our Airbnb host in Voi. It was all amazing and magical. Totally recommend it ...

That sounds amazing! I’m not sure I’m confident enough to book everything myself though! Maybe the next?

We used Hayes and Jarvis they were excellent.

That is one of the companies I have sent our details to. Where did you go?

I’m also looking to book but about £8k all in! Flying to Botswana, safari organised by a women’s cooperative based there, including a canoe trip and land, home stays then onto clobe finishing at Victoria falls, fly to Mozambique. Putting it together myself

£30-£50k?!? My Brother & Sister in Law go to Richard Branson’s safari lodge (Ulusaba) every other year and I’m almost certain it doesn’t cost them that much!!

I’ve been on Safari in Kruger, self-drive from Johannesburg, 5 nights across 2 different South Africa National Parks camps and I’d say it cost less than 10% of that for 2 adults. I can’t say exactly as it was tacked on to a wedding in Cape Town and I never broke the total down.

The cheapest room in Ulusaba is coming in at over £3k per night so add flights, food, excursions and safari and its looking like £30k!

@VacationQueen we used Aardvark safaris. They were fabulous
We had 7 days in the south luanga valley in Zambia..."remote safaris" is the company in Zambia. 3 days at Tafika camp then 2 days at Chikoko tree camp and 2 days at big lagoon camp the latter 2 being walking safaris. I loved it. We then spent 4 nights in a gorgeous accommodation on likoma island in lake Malawi (Kaya mawa lodge)and 3 nights on a banana plantation in Lilongwe.

Cost was £17k for this plus flights.
Very well organised.

It's all inclusive once you're there including drinks. They do all your laundry too.(

Personally I would go to Botswana if budget allows. We’ve gone wilderness safaris in the past which was fine.

Namibia is also amazing, as is Zimbabwe. Kenya has some amazing lodges but less exclusive in the reserves

south Africa is varied ime. We went to a malaria free reserve when kids were younger.

i would put Botswana top for best safari experience and Namibia top for seeing a variety of ecosystems

Yellow zebra are brilliant - really recommend them.

I am writing all of these suggestions down. Thank you to everyone who has offered suggestions/ places to stay/ companies to book through. It is so helpful!

You have a great budget. Can you be more specific what you want to do and for how long? 3 nights or 6 game drives is generally enough for me. There are many places you could add on to the safari part, Victoria Falls, Winelands,, Garden Route, West Coast and Cape Town.
Namibia is a fabulous country but that could be a whole 2 week holiday in itself.
If you want to tag on a beach holiday, Seychelles and Mauritius are good options from SA (CPT or JNB airports). Mauritius is 5 hours from CPT.
Basically how long do you want to be away for and what do you want to achieve. I couldn’t ‘safari’ for 10 days!

Zanzibar is a red herring. It’s where you might go after you’ve done a Safari in Tanzania or Kenya.

30 to 50 K is absolutely absurd. Don’t even bite. You could turn up in somewhere like South Africa and organise a few days in the Kruger or on a private game reserve and would still have changed from 10k.

If you book through something like Audley Travel, you will get absolutely stiffed, but will have an impeccably organised holiday

Spend more time until you can find something via others in the know so you can organise the Safari as an add-on to a holiday you organise yourself

I can highly recommend using Trailfinders to put your trip together. If you have a local branch, it’s worth going in and chatting in person. I’ve found our local branch have very knowledgeable staff.

We went to Kenya recently (through Trailfinders) for about £10k with a mixture of 5 & 4 star hotels/lodges. Was the most amazing holiday.

We used trailfinders who added on a safari to a SA road trip. They were excellent. Stayed in lovely places.

Check out the tripadvisor forum for Kruger National Park. There are lots of experienced people to advise you.

The price you mentioned seems very high unless you’re planning to be there for weeks.