Your first safari: a practical guide

A first safari is usually planned around one image: a lion on a termite mound, a line of elephants crossing a river, a leopard in a sausage tree. The trip that follows almost always turns out to be about something else as well. The silence of a plain at dawn. The guide who can read a set of tracks like a newspaper. The sound of hippos grunting outside the tent at 02:00.

This guide covers the decisions that make the biggest difference to a first safari: where to go, what kind of place to stay in, how the days run, and what to bring.

Start with the country, not the camp

Most first safaris happen in one of four countries. Each does something better than the others.

Kenya is the classic. The Masai Mara is famous for its big cats, and the private conservancies on its borders limit vehicle numbers so sightings feel less crowded. It pairs easily with the coast or with a few nights in the highlands around Laikipia.

Tanzania is bigger and more varied. The Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire can be combined in one trip, and the scale of the Serengeti plains is hard to take in until you are on them. It is also the easiest place to add a beach, with Zanzibar a short flight away.

Botswana is the quiet option. Much of the Okavango Delta is divided into private concessions with a handful of small camps each, and tourism in the Delta is limited to small tented camps reached by air. You fly between camps in light aircraft rather than driving, and you may go a whole morning without seeing another vehicle. Our Okavango Delta explainer covers it in detail.

South Africa is the easiest. The private reserves bordering Kruger have excellent leopard viewing and polished lodges, flights connect well, and some reserves elsewhere in the country are outside malaria areas, which matters for families. Our family safari guide explains where those are.

If the Great Migration is on your list, the timing decides the country for you. We have written a separate guide to Kenya or Tanzania for the migration.

Camp or lodge

The words are used loosely, but the difference is real.

A lodge is a permanent building, often stone or thatch, with solid walls, a pool and sometimes air conditioning. Lodges suit travellers who sleep lightly or who want the comforts of a good hotel at the end of the day.

A tented camp has canvas walls on a raised platform, usually with an en-suite bathroom, a proper bed and an outdoor shower. The best are extremely comfortable. What they give you that a lodge cannot is sound. You hear the bush at night, and there is nothing quite like lying in bed listening to a lion call a few hundred metres away.

A mobile camp moves with the seasons, most often to follow the migration in Tanzania. The comforts are simpler, but the location can be exactly where the animals are.

For a first trip we often suggest two different places: a lodge or a larger camp to start, then a smaller, more remote camp once you know what you enjoy. Two or three nights is the minimum at each. Four is better. Every move costs you half a day.

What a day looks like

Safari days are built around the animals, and the animals are most active in the cool hours.

• Around 05:30: a knock on the tent with coffee. Tea and a biscuit round the fire.
• 06:00 to about 10:00: the morning game drive, often with a bush breakfast or a coffee stop on the way.
• Late morning: brunch back at camp.
• Midday to 15:30: the heat of the day. Sleep, read, swim, or sit in a hide by the waterhole.
• Around 16:00: afternoon tea, then the second drive of the day.
• Sunset: a drink wherever the guide stops, which in East Africa is known as a sundowner.
• After dark: a drive back by spotlight where night drives are allowed, then dinner.

It is a long day. Nobody minds, because the rest in the middle is real rest. Most people sleep better on safari than they do at home.

Game drives are not the only way to see the bush. Depending on where you stay, you can walk with an armed guide, glide through reed channels in a dugout canoe, or take a hot-air balloon over the Mara or the Serengeti. Walking is the one we would urge anyone to try at least once. You notice everything differently on foot.

Private vehicles and guiding

Your guide is the single biggest factor in how good your safari is. A great guide finds the animals, reads the behaviour and knows when to wait and when to move on.

Most camps share vehicles between guests, usually with a small group and a window seat each. That works well for most people. Keen photographers, families with young children and anyone who wants to sit with one leopard for three hours should consider a private vehicle. It is an extra cost at most camps, but it changes the pace of the whole trip.

Packing for a safari

Light aircraft transfers usually come with a strict baggage allowance, and soft bags are often required. Ask us before you buy a new suitcase.

What we pack:

• Neutral colours: khaki, olive, stone and brown. Avoid white, which shows the dust, and dark blue and black, which can attract tsetse flies in some areas.
• Layers. Early mornings in an open vehicle are cold, even in hot countries. A fleece and a light down or windproof jacket are essential for the first hour of the day.
• A wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses and high-factor sun cream.
• Closed shoes for walking, and something comfortable for camp.
• A head torch, though most camps provide one.
• Binoculars, one pair per person. Sharing is the quickest way to miss things.
• Insect repellent and long sleeves for the evenings.

Most camps offer a laundry service, so you need fewer clothes than you think.

Fitness and health

You do not need to be especially fit for a vehicle-based safari. Getting in and out of a high open vehicle and sitting for three hours on bumpy tracks are the main demands. Walking safaris, gorilla trekking and mountain lodges ask more.

Many of the main safari areas carry a malaria risk, and some destinations have other health considerations. Before you book, check the FCDO health pages and the TravelHealthPro country pages, such as Kenya (opens in a new tab) or Tanzania (opens in a new tab), and see your GP or a travel clinic in good time.

Photography

A camera with a zoom lens in the 100mm to 400mm range covers most situations. A phone is fine for landscapes and camp life. A bean bag to rest a long lens on the vehicle's side is more useful than a tripod.

Our main advice is to put the camera down sometimes. The first time a herd of elephants walks past close enough to hear them breathing, watch it.

An honest word on cost

A safari is one of the more expensive holidays you can take, and it is worth understanding why. Park and conservancy fees are charged per person per night and fund the conservation that keeps the animals there. Remote camps fly in every supply. Light aircraft transfers add up. And a small camp with a high staff-to-guest ratio costs more to run than a hotel.

The biggest levers on price are the season, the country and how many camps you move between. Travelling in the shoulder months, staying longer in fewer places and choosing one excellent camp over three good ones can all make a significant difference. We are always happy to explain where the money goes on any quote.

Where to start

If you are not sure where to begin, tell us what you most want to see and when you can travel. Almost everything else follows from those two answers.