First time on safari Know before you go

Start with finding a safari specialist you can trust. The best ones are real experts with tons of local knowledge, who’ll really take the time to get to know you. (Like us.)

Personal Travel Planners are invaluable. Way better than Google and no ads. They know exactly what wildlife you’ll find where, which camps have just had a good refurb, who has the best wine cellar, and where you’ll get the best photographs. They’re also totally up to date on all the latest travel rules and regulations. They help you plan it all, and they take care of every detail, every step of the way. All you have to do is show up and have fun. Your Personal Travel Planner is available to you for the duration of your safari experience. From the time of your first enquiry, to when you get back home. They’re only a WhatsApp or a phone call away.

That first all-important “getting to know you” call helps us work out what kind of safari-goer you are, which gets the real planning started (and saves us a ton of email back-and-forth). Our sole mission is to know you better than your own mother knows you. Not so that we can harass you about your diet or call you at random times of day for help recovering lost emails, but because we want to build the perfect African safari itinerary with you.

Travel Agents have become more popular than plastic surgeons, and if you have a trusted Travel Agent that you are working with, we’d be happy to work with them too. Your friends are our friends. Whilst we are safari specialists, your local Travel Agent can help you get to Africa and advise on insurance and visas too.

I mean, where do we even begin? Southern Africa offers one of the most diverse and exciting African safari experiences on the planet. You’ll find Cape Town’s fine wines and award-winning dining at one end, one of the world’s seven natural wonders, Victoria Falls, at the other, and some of the best – and most stylish – game viewing in Africa in between. Southern Africa’s countless UNESCO world heritage sites, such as the Okavango Delta, are home to well over 900 bird species, all the Big Five, and a string of rare and endangered wildlife. (East Africa’s Great Migration might be the most famous in the world, but Zambia and Botswana’s wildebeest and zebra migrations are next level.) And because it also boasts some of the best safari guides and trackers in the world, your chances of finding them are damn good too.

Let’s start with our home, South Africa. It’s considered a year-round destination, depending on what you want to do of course. If you’re going on safari, you’ll see wildlife all year round, and have pretty good weather too. Winter can offer better game viewing as the vegetation has thinned and game congregates around water sources.

Places like Victoria Falls and the Okavango Delta are fed by Angola’s summer rains that only reach them later in the year. The first floods reach Botswana’s Okavango Delta around May and flood season typically lasts until September. As a general rule, avoid Botswana in October, it is known to be dry and hot and locals refer to it as suicide month. High water at the Victoria Falls is roughly Feb to May, this is when the Falls are at their most magnificent. (Fun fact, it’s been said that the best time for tiger fishing on the Lower Zambezi is any month with the letter R in it.)

The best time to visit Zambia is during the dry season, between June and November. Some of Zambia’s camps are seasonal and close for a few months each year.

The best time to visit Namibia is between July and October when temperatures are cooler.

In the height of winter – June to August – thirsty elephant herds congregate around rivers and waterholes, and the dry, thinning bush makes it easier to spot animals. When the rains fall in the hotter, stickier summer months at the end of the year, Botswana’s zebra population migrates to the rain-filled salt pans of the Makgadikgadi. The wildebeest migration in Zambia starts in November when thousands of gnus head south for higher ground, and to calf.

And let’s not forget Cape Town, it’s technically a city but it’s a natural one, surrounded by nature reserves, farm lands and sea. The best time to see Southern Right Whales is between August and November. The African penguins hang out on Boulders beach pretty much all year round – there is no bad time to visit Cape Town. It all depends on what floats your boat. Just let us know what that is.

Absolutely! In fact, a safari is one of the best experiences for a single traveller. It’s easy to make friends with fellow safari-goers (if you want to) on shared game drives and in camp. And safari-style dining, where everyone eats together around one big table, is a great way to swap stories and have a laugh. Not all camps do it, but if it sounds like something you’d enjoy, we can certainly match you up.

You’ll come across these terms quite often, particularly in the Okavango Delta. They describe the kind of safari activities a camp offers. Land-based activities include game drives and walking safaris, while water-based activities include canoeing, mokoro safaris, boat cruises and fishing. (We always try to combine land-based camps with water-based camps, so you get to experience it all.)

Safaris don’t have to break the bank to be epic. But there’s a lot more to the price tag than meets the eye. Our “What to budget” section deep dives into the massive dollar-difference your trip makes to Africa’s wildlife, its conservation and its communities. Check it out.

Safari camps tend to book up quite far in advance. We recommend booking 12-18 months ahead, so you’re more likely to find availability at all your favourites, but if your diary suddenly opens up, we can make a last-minute safari happen too. Leave it with us.

Most safari camps and lodges purify their water on-site, so there’s always plenty of safe drinking water – without all the nasty plastic. (Your carry-on will probably accumulate an impressive collection of fancy refillable water bottles along the way too.)

Don’t expect to be connected 24/7. Fast, reliable internet on safari is extremely rare. Some of the more remote camps are completely off the grid, while others subscribe to a “disconnect to reconnect” philosophy, which we kinda love. But if you can’t afford to be without internet wherever you go, make sure we know so we can recommend places that are suitable. That way, we all get to stay out of trouble.

All of our hand-picked safari camps and lodges are set in pristine stretches of wilderness, where potentially dangerous wild animals roam freely. But the lodges themselves are inherently safe. (And there’s always an experienced, highly trained safari guide to gallantly escort you to your tent at night.) As long as you follow a few simple rules, like don’t get out of your safari vehicle to take a selfie with the animals, there’s very little to worry about. Except whether your pants will still fit when you get home. Spoiler alert: they probably won’t.

Safaris are just like any overseas trip and we recommend you do what you’d typically do anywhere else. Carry a duplicate copy of your passport and your visas in case you lose them. Don’t leave your belongings unattended in public. And always lock your valuables (money, passports, jewellery, iPads – that kind of thing) in the room safe. Lodge staff may be trustworthy, but marauding baboons sure aren’t.

All modern mobile phones should function within the various countries’ networks, provided you’ve activated your international roaming. Coverage in South Africa is generally good wherever you go, but in other countries it’s patchy at best. You’ll usually get signal in main hubs and urban areas, but the remote safari stretches of Namibia, Botswana and Zambia are deader-than-dead. Put your phone in your room safe and grab a G&T.

They’re the five must-see animals on many a safari wish list: elephant, buffalo (Cape, not Water), lion, leopard and rhino. Southern Africa doesn’t disappoint. But the Big Five are not the be-all and end-all of a safari. There’s also the Little Five: elephant shrew, buffalo weaver, ant lion, leopard tortoise and rhino beetle. And the hippo, zebra, giraffe, wild dog, gemsbok, wildebeest, hyenas, bat-eared foxes, honey badgers, caracals, porcupines, otters – BREATHE – ground hornbills, wattled cranes, carmine bee-eaters, lilac-breasted rollers and martial eagles are kind of neat too.

A safari generally goes at any pace you want it to. If you’re keen to do a walking safari or go canoeing, a bit of fitness won’t hurt. But as long as you can climb into the 4X4 (there are steps for those less nimble than they used to be), game drives require minimal effort. And being poled along by your guide on a mokoro may just become your favourite way to travel.

Although not obligatory, tips are always greatly appreciated and always at your discretion. Tips are generally given to service providers like taxi drivers, hotel porters, and tour guides. And it’s customary to tip your server between 10 and 15 percent in a restaurant.

On safari, guides, trackers and general lodge staff are very reliant on tips to top up their income. There’s no typical amount expected, it’s completely up to you, but here’s a rough guide to get you started.

• General staff: US$15 per couple per day
• Safari guide: US$20 per couple per day
• Tracker: US$15 per couple per day
• Butler: US$15 per couple per day

There’s usually a locked communal tip box for general lodge staff in the main lodge. Or if there’s someone you’d like to tip specifically, like your safari guide or tracker, it’s best to pop it in an envelope and hand it directly to them when you leave.