What do I want to do on safari?
Right, you have decided to go on safari, but how do you want to do it?
If you have a specific interest like doing a walking trail, canoeing, cycling, witnessing the sardine run or bat migration, fishing or gorilla trekking your choices are reasonably narrow. You need to find the specialist operators in that field and decide which one offers the best value for your buck. If, however, you want to experience Africa on general terms and get as broad an experience as possible there are a huge variety of options to consider – all of which will be dependent on how much time and money you have available. There are some of us who will prefer to be hands on and others who would like to feel totally secure in the hands of a professional outfit. Whatever floats your boat there is a perfect option for you.
Let’s start with the more adventure lines and work our way up through the ladder until you feel the need to phone Elon Musk for a temporary loan.
Self Drives
This is an option for the adventurous and budget conscious. Hire a vehicle, grab a map, pick up some food and head off into the wilds. Some mechanical knowledge is useful but not essential if you choose the right operator to hire your vehicle from, as they will have a back-up vehicle delivered to you in case of a breakdown, but you may need to hire a satellite phone if you are going truly wild. Of course, you are largely restricted to National Park camp sites and subjected to their rules and regulations such as no off-road or night driving. You will also have to set up your own camp and do all the camping chores but this is a great choice for the independent of spirit.
Guided self-drives
If you are daunted by the prospect of being in the bush completely on your own, then joining a guide who leads the group is an option, one which is popular with South Africans who often own their own 4x4s and are close enough to several safari destinations to take their own vehicles. I have watched, with a certain amount of horror it must be said, a number of these truck trains rattle through the bush wondering what joy there is in being vehicle number nine in line closely following the dust of the vehicle directly in front of you and providing the same powdery experience to the vehicle behind you. Choose your guide with care and ensure that there is a limit to the number of vehicles on the trip.
Mobile safaris
This is what I did for nearly thirty years, so I have some experience with this style of safari. It allows you to travel to many parts of this continent in varying degrees of comfort and adventure. Incidentally, for those of you who might be interested, I have covered and I have covered some of my escapades in my book Django, The Small Dog with the Big Heart. When I started off as a guide I worked for a pioneer company that offered rugged, self-participation safaris where the travellers set up their own tents and cooked the food on a rotational basis. When I went on my own, my upgrades went through many phases of increasing comfort until I got to the point that my guests could choose an eight-tent camp with ensuite facilities, that was broken down and transferred on a six hour drive and would then be ready for us with the tents up, the shower water hot, the drinks cold and ice in a bucket when we rolled into camp after a full day of game driving.
All these options from rugged to reasonably pampered are available. It is a great way to experience Africa up close.
Permanent Lodges
Most travellers land up choosing a safari where they fly from one lodge to another, often in a different geological region which offers new experiences and different species. Again, the choices here range from a rustic ‘Robinson Crusoe’ style lodge made from local materials to semi-permanent camps that are removed in the rain season to ultra luxurious lodges designed to attract celebrities. In general terms the higher the cost the greater the chances are that the establishment is situated in an exclusive concession where you can go off-road to get closer to a special sighting or to be able to do night drives. Having said that there are real gems where the focus is on the wildlife experience rather than extravagant baubles. Unsurprisingly these are the camps and lodges that appeal most to me. I have seen guides from exorbitant lodges leave a once-in-a-lifetime sighting – an elephant giving birth in one case, lions hunting zebra in another – because they needed to get their guests back to camp in time for breakfast or so they don’t miss sundowner time. In my view this is missing the entire point of guiding guests who have often travelled halfway around the planet to have wildlife experiences – not breakfast. The larger the lodge the less flexibility that they can afford for individual guests. I would strongly urge you to choose smaller, more intimate operations, even if it does take a bit more homework. If it is a hotel experience that you are looking for then by all means choose that option but understand that there may be sacrifices that you will have to make with regards to a genuine bush experience.
The top-of-the-range lodges include places where you can spend considerably more for one night’s accommodation than most Africans spend on building their homes. If you ask me, it just seems a touch out of balance.
Private Guided Safaris
Do you want to avoid the bored monotone speech about the mating habits of impala repeated each time you change lodges and meet a new guide? Then consider a private guide who will tailor your safari to suit your interests while having no allegiance to any operator and so is free to choose the best possible package for your needs. Choose the right guide and you will have a broad source of interesting information covering many topics of interest and someone who knows exactly what you have seen already and won’t bore you with details that you have already heard. That guide will also look after all the tedious decisions of what to do when and allow you to relax on your holiday.
It will cost a bit more to have your own guide so you need to balance that with the benefits that you will enjoy from having a knowledgeable travelling companion. This what I have been doing for the last decade or two and I can tell you it is a fine way to make lifelong friends and have someone who can help plan new experiences in the future.
Wild enquiries
We can help you plan and book your dream safari.
To book or enquire about any of these options please email us on skye@wildwanderings.com
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