5 Suggestions for Your Safari Journey

A safari is a guided tour, often in Africa, that may convey you up near elephants, zebras, giraffes, lions, rhinos and extra. Typically, these adventures contain taking open-sided safari automobiles into nature and observing and photographing wild animals of their pure habitats. (Different safaris are for searching; right here, we’ll concentrate on the previous.) If you happen to’re planning your first safari, listed below are some suggestions.

Even in case you’re an avid traveler, safari planning remains to be finest left to the professionals. Through the use of a good safari planning journey company like Yellow Zebra, Abercrombie & Kent or Timbuktu, you may get a number of advantages:

• Steering on when and the place to go based mostly in your needs and wishes. Your safari planning skilled will doubtless have related info on the place to go based mostly on climate, animal migrations and what you’re trying to get out of your safari. (As an illustration, if you wish to see hordes of wildebeest in July, your safari adviser may information you to a special vacation spot than in case you’re in search of rhino encounters.) 

• On-the-ground expertise about lodging. Some safari planners have visited the properties themselves or have colleagues who’ve, which helps offer you a greater concept of what to anticipate earlier than you e book a property.

• Assist arranging transport through the safari. Even after you may have the property you’re staying at sorted out, relying on the place you’re happening safari, it’s possible you’ll profit from assist arranging transport. As an illustration, in case you’re flying to the northern Serengeti for a safari, you’ll doubtless fly into Kilimanjaro Worldwide Airport, however after that you could be have to take a couple of further, smaller flights to get nearer to your lodging (and even when you land on the airstrip nearer to your lodging, you’ll doubtless want a information to select you up and take you to your ultimate vacation spot). If you happen to use a journey company, it may well arrange all the interior transportation for you — and also you’ll be grateful it did. 

• Recommendation about aspect journeys to enrich your safari. Even in case you’re solely in happening safari, it’s possible you’ll need to speak to your safari journey adviser about close by non-safari locations to take a look at. As an illustration, you possibly can add on some seaside time in Zanzibar after your Serengeti safari or in case you’re happening safari in South Africa, you would take into account a seaside journey to Mozambique afterward. 

There won’t be many shops close to your safari lodging, so you will need to ensure you purchase and produce the appropriate tools with you. Listed below are some objects that you just may need to convey in your safari:

• Binoculars. Bringing an excellent pair of binoculars (we advocate both 8x, 10x or 12x magnification) will improve your journey expertise so you possibly can see animals which are farther away, see birds higher and get a more in-depth view of your safari expertise. Be aware that some safari lodging supply complimentary use of binoculars throughout visitors’ keep, so you must test along with your lodging earlier than buying binoculars. 

• Digital camera. Relatively than relying in your smartphone, take into account buying or renting a digital camera with a telephoto lens so you possibly can seize animals from distant for the most effective safari photos. If you happen to’re new to pictures, it’s possible you’ll need to take a couple of pictures lessons or watch educational movies so that you’re ready to get the most effective photographs of the animals and panorama throughout your safari.

• Garments which are applicable to your safari. Typically, you need to put on pure colours that mix in with the surroundings. Blue and black can appeal to tsetse flies, and attempt to steer clear of vivid colours. Moreover, relying on the place you’re going, temperatures can fluctuate from chilly within the mornings to sizzling within the afternoons, so it’s possible you’ll need to take into account safari pants that may be unzipped on the knee and become shorts. 

• Sunscreen and a wide-brimmed hat. There are days the place you may spend 10-plus hours on the highway and also you need to make sure that your pores and skin is protected. Bringing sunscreen with you and sporting a wide-brimmed hat in your journey may also help to guard your pores and skin.

• Bug spray. To assist forestall mosquito and different insect bites, take into account bringing bug spray comparable to DDT. Earlier than deciding which bug spray to pack, test with native rules to see if any chemical compounds are banned within the nation you’re visiting.

Bringing the appropriate gear can improve your safari expertise.

Relying on the place you’re happening safari, it’s possible you’ll be in small planes which have baggage necessities that you could be not have needed to observe for different journeys. As an illustration, Coastal Aviation in Tanzania has the next baggage restrictions for mild plane flights:

• Weight allowance of 33 kilos (15 kilograms) per particular person, together with hand baggage. 

• All baggage should be in gentle luggage (i.e., duffel luggage).

Whereas there are some extra conventional resort choices you would e book on safari — comparable to 4 Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti and the JW Marriott Masai Mara Lodge — it’s possible you’ll end up reserving a safari the place the lodging are extra akin to tenting (albeit higher-end tenting) than a resort.

As an illustration, Wayo Serengeti Inexperienced Camp in northern Tanzania is so near the animals that you could find zebras exterior your lodging, and you’ll even take strolling safaris, however the camp differs from typical lodges in some ways, together with:

• “Bucket showers” as an alternative of typical showers. (A bucket bathe is mainly when the employees warms water up upon request after which fills a bucket exterior of your tent that connects to the bathe in your tent.)

• No Wi-Fi or electrical plugs in your room, with Wi-Fi and charging solely within the widespread space.

• Set lunch and dinner occasions with no room service, though many camps will give you a bagged breakfast, lunch or dinner upon request.

• Chances are you’ll have to be escorted to and out of your tent at evening to make sure your security, together with utilizing a flashlight to alert the employees once you’re able to be picked up out of your room.

If you happen to’re reserving a safari camp as an alternative of a resort, you must embrace the expertise so to absolutely benefit from the tranquility as an alternative of specializing in how the camp differs from the kind of resort expertise you may usually e book.

As quickly as you possibly can after reserving your journey, you must look into whether or not you want any particular photographs, medicines or visas to your safari. As an illustration, you could have a yellow fever vaccination and certificates to enter Kenya, Uganda and the Republic of Congo. Moreover, Tanzania requires residents of america to get a visa to enter the nation (notice you can pay for the visa on arrival).

We advocate reserving an appointment along with your physician or going to a journey clinic to debate photographs and drugs and utilizing the U.S. Division of State’s web site to be taught concerning the visas it’s possible you’ll want.

Safaris may be costly, and an effective way to economize in your safari is to make use of factors. There are a few methods you can e book a safari on factors:

• E-book your flights utilizing factors. A round-trip ticket from Los Angeles to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, from June 2 to June 16, 2025, at the moment prices $1,704 in money or you would use 139,000 Flying Blue miles and pay $441.10 in charges for a similar flights. American Specific, Chase, Capital One and Citi all allow you to switch factors to Air France’s Flying Blue program.

• E-book your lodging utilizing factors. You need to use factors to e book your safari lodging both by reserving a resort just like the JW Marriott Masai Mara Lodge, which permits Marriott Bonvoy members to pay for the stick with factors, or by paying to your lodging with a bank card that allows you to use factors to offset the full steadiness owed, like Chase’s Pay Your self Again program.

Even in case you’re solely in a position to offset a portion of your safari utilizing factors, it may well assist scale back the general value of what might in any other case be an costly journey.