How to Plan an African Safari: Where to Start

I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me to ask how I went about planning an African safari – as it can seem a bit daunting.  But it’s definitely one of those experiences that is well worth the effort, and honestly a lot simpler than it might seem.

Going on safari is definitely up there with my top travel experiences and is something that everyone should experience at least once in their life!  Africa is such a beautiful continent with so much to offer…..beautiful scenery, friendly locals, vibrant culture, endless wildlife, and the best sunsets you will find anywhere!

As always, make sure you are traveling safely with TRAVEL MEDICAL INSURANCE

So where do you start? 

Well there’s essentially two ways you can go with a safari – either booking a driver who takes you around to different parks (staying in different lodges most nights) or you can book an all-inclusive lodge that will take you out on safaris (one location).  I’ll look at both of these options.

Many parks also allow self-driving, however, I’m not going to recommend that as I think you will miss out on seeing a lot of animals by not having access to the driver/guide radio network and a guide who knows the park thoroughly and can share information on different animal species is part of what makes the safari experience so fun and full!  If you are going to spend the money to come to Africa, do it right and get the full experience!  

When we were in South Africa, we chose to book a lodge in Sabi Sands (privately owned land adjacent to Kruger) called Umkumbe.  We paid about $700/night (for 2 people) and this covered our lodging, meals and game drives.  Most of the lodges we found in Kruger area operated this way – you pay an all-inclusive rate and stay there for a few days with all your game drives operated by the lodge.

After having done two safaris, I can safely say that I would recommend to everyone to stay in a conservancy/privately owned land for at least a night or two of your experience. 

Why?  Because you can off-road.  And honestly most of our best pictures and coolest moments on safari were seen by off-roading.  So make sure to ask your travel agent about lodges/areas where you can off-road. 

For any safari trip, I’d always recommend that you plan to stay in 2 different parks / areas so you can get a well-rounded experience and increase your chances of seeing everything you hope to see.  On our first trip, we spend all our safari days in one location….and it turned out there weren’t any lions on the privately owned land we were confined to.  Had I known better, I would have booked a day in Kruger National Park as well – in hopes of completing the big 5 sightings.

I booked our South Africa & Masai Mara safari lodges thru travel agencies.  Which isn’t the way I typically travel….usually I handle things on my own, booking lodges/hotels directly.  But after two years of doing this, I’ve found that for most safari activities in Africa, you need to go thru an agency.  They seem to have better rates/a more direct path to chatting with the lodges/operators.

In East Africa, it’s pretty common to book a multiple day safari across a couple parks – so this is where hiring a driver and staying in different lodges is going to be a useful way to structure your safari.  Again, you’re going to want to find and work with a reputable safari agency to help connect you with a driver/guide.

The good thing about this – is they will handle everything and you’ll pay one price that includes lodging, guide, food, flights (sometimes), etc.  So you really don’t have to pay for / thinking about anything once you get there (outside of a few things like tips and souvenirs)!

How I found my travel agency companies (and I loved all of them) was by searching on TripAdvisor for the top travel agency companies in each of the capital cities of all the countries I planned to visit.  I reached out to the top few results about getting a quote and from there, gauged who I felt most comfortable with.  I avoided companies that handled all of Africa in one office (or US agencies), just because I preferred to support local businesses.

In most cases, the final decision came down to who I felt most comfortable with and who seemed the most engaged in the planning stage (above cost).  I wanted to know that whoever I selected was going to be reliable, respond quickly to all questions, listened to my hopes/concerns, made helpful suggestions, etc.  So I recommend exchanging a number of emails, ask intelligent questions (what happens if the vehicle breaks down, does this rate include unlimited mileage, what is the guide’s experience level, etc.). You want to make sure they are willing to answer these sorts of questions if you are going to spend thousands of dollars with them!!

Here are the companies/contacts I worked with if you want to look into them!

Easy Travel Tanzania – Lizbeth Gabriel - Flamingo@easytravel.co.tz

Natural World Kenya Safaris – Esther - bookings@naturaltoursandsafaris.com

African Adventure Travellers (Uganda) – Sarah Nakiganda - sarah@adventure-travellers.com

*I’m leaving off the company I worked with for South Africa. There was nothing wrong with it, I just prefer having a direct contact that I work with.  Someone different always answered the email and it was a less personal way of working together.

Another thing you will want to decide is if you want to fly in or drive to the parks.  We flew into the Masai Mara from Nairobi, but drove between the parks in Tanzania.  The distances aren’t far between Lake Manyara, Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti (and scenery is pretty) so it makes a lot of sense to drive between these in my opinion.  

In Uganda, we also drove between parks but roads are really really rough.  Although I hear that even if you fly you can’t avoid all the rough roads since the airstrips are a bit of a ways out from the parks.  So just something to keep in mind.  I would have been irked if we had spent the money to fly and still had to deal with the bad roads.

Africa has so much to offer and so many amazing safari options that it can be hard to decide what area / parks to go with.

I think South Africa / Southern Africa is a great option for first timers if you want a taste of safari but also big cities, hiking, nightlife, culture, waterfalls, beaches, etc.  

But in terms of the best game viewing, Masai Mara and Ngorongoro Crater were my favorites.  And the landscapes in East Africa are simply stunning.

If you want to do gorilla and chimp trekking, Uganda is the place for you. Although I personally would avoid Queen Elizabeth Park, it’s beautiful but we saw very little in terms of animal wildlife. Our guide told us that a lot of the animals have moved or been eaten by the local population who lives on the land (very sad). You’re better off combining Uganda with game drives in Kenya or Tanzania.

If you have any questions about planning a safari, just reach out! Happy to help where I can!

Xoxo

Lauren