Our Safari Advice
 

In our experience,  choosing a good safari revolves around four key elements:

Get a good guide

We believe that a good guide makes all the difference. Imagine the difference between experiencing a new city on your own, and visiting that same city with a good friend who has lived there their whole life. A friend who can take you to places off the beaten track, show you the land's hidden gems, and entertain you with interesting anecdotes that put things into context and make you really understand their city.

This is the kind of experience that we deliver to you here in Kenya. ur guides grew up among the Kenyan wildlife since they were born. They can spot a cheetah where you see only yellow grass. They can tell whether a couple of ostriches are about to do a mating dance, and sense that a herd of antelopes are worried about a predator. They can point out to you if crocodiles are looking for a meal, and whether those vultures are circling lions because a hunt is about to take place.

You’ll witness nature at its best, animals in action – and you’ll usually be able to enjoy it without a crowd of tourists around you.

Get a good car

To enjoy a great safari experience, the choice of vehicle is very important. With a good 4x4 high clearance vehicle - a Land Cruiser or similar - you’ll be able to access more remote areas in comfort. With a private vehicle and your own guide you’ll have the flexibility to choose when to go out on game drives, how long to stay out, how long to wait for animals to snap into action, and when to leave if other cars crowd around yours.

When you have these two, you will have an experience to cherish for a lifetime.

Look out for variety of activities on offer

Private parks usually have far higher park fees and tend to offer very expensive camping options. The upside is that they have quite a lot of wildlife, are not crowded and can afford to offer a variety of activities that won’t disturb animals or ruin the environment too much. In particular, they will allow night drives, perhaps off-road driving, walks with a ranger, and sometimes camel rides or horse rides. If you have children, these options will usually ensure that the kids remain more entertained - spending many days sitting in a car can quickly get very boring for a child.

Pick the level of comfort that best suits you and your pocket

The most basic (and cheapest) is camping in national parks with your own gear, where you'll be cooking your own meals. Camping fees vary between 10-25$ per person per night (park fees are extra).

The next step up is hiring a cook and cooking equipment, so that he can prepare your meals, wash up afterwards and take care of the tents etc while you are driving around.

You then have very basic tented camps, usually just outside the park gates, with many tents pitched right next to each other. These are better value for money than the ones inside the parks but you usually waste about an hour or more in the morning and in the evening trying to get to interesting spots in the park. Considering that most of the action happens at sunrise and sunset, this can be quite a drawback. Also, some of them feel quite crowded. Prices vary between 80-250$ per person per night, depending on the location and the season.

At the same price range you also have large, basic lodges (anything with more than 15-25 rooms/tents will feel rather crowded and not very wild when you go for meals in the hotel’s restaurant).

Depending on the park, you can usually find excellent options in the 200-450$/night range: comfortable, elegant, exclusive places, with good food and personalized service.

The top end (500$-1000$ per person per night) will deliver large, luxurious rooms or tents, in incredibly beautiful spots, with lavish interiors, gourmet food and drinks, excellent guides (so you can get highly personalized levels of service).

Contact us to organize your ideal safari.