Guide to going on an African safari

Your hotel room, Chobe National Park, Botswana (Source: own photo)

This is a a quick overview of how and where to go on an African safari, especially if you are new to this kind of activity. Let me start by strongly encouraging you to go on safari in Africa! No continent on earth comes even close to Africa in terms of the quality of wildlife experiences. Only Africa can offer the unique combination crazy-beautiful landscapes and a genuinely incredible variety of wildlife in huge numbers roaming free on the great plains. Go before it is gone!

Entry level safari - Kruger National Park, South Africa

How do you start? For first timers, I would recommend South Africa, particularly Kruger National Park. Kruger offers excellent game viewing, both in the main national park as well as in the concessions, which are privately operated reserves on the border of Kruger National Park itself.

I have visited a number of Kruger's concessions as well as Kruger itself. Based on these experiences, I recommend combining both, say, 3 days in the main park and 3 days in a concession. I particularly like Simbavati for general game viewing and Arathusa for world-class leopard spotting.

• Leopard experience in Arathusa

You do not have to do your own driving. There are airstrips in Kruger, so you can fly in from Johannesburg. You will get picked up by the team from the lodge where you are staying. They will take you back to the lodge and on game drives in open jeeps with a tracker out front and a guide at the wheel.

Guide at the wheel with the tracker out front - typical for concessions (Source: own photo)

You will stay at a lodge in bush. The food and accommodation are usually excellent.

In Kruger, you are almost certain to see all the 'Big Five' (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, and African buffalo), although you can never be 100% sure, because these parks are completely wild nature. The general rule is the more you pay the more you see, because you get better guides.

Note that you can easily self-drive in South Africa. You can pick up a rental in Johannesburg airport and drive to Kruger on your own. It is safe and the route from Johannesburg to Kruger passes through some incredible landscapes, including Blythe Canyon. You do not need a 4WD either, because the main roads are tarmac and the park roads are well-maintained gravel.

On my last trip to South Africa in 2022, I worked with a tour company called Cedarberg Travel. They were good, but there are many others, so shop around. Cedarberg organised our car hire, lodge bookings at the Kruger and concession lodges, and the accommodation on the rest of our trip.

When you reach the park, you register at the park gate and then drive to the lodge, where you leave your car in the car park. While you can do game drives on your own, I recommend going with the lodge guides, who will take you on game drives twice a day, once in the morning, once in the afternoon (and sometimes night game drives too). The guides are far better at spotting game than you will ever be, so your chances of bagging some really awesome wildlife experiences are maximised if you go with the lodge guides and trackers. When your time at the lodge is up, you get your car back and you can continue to your next destination in South Africa.

Leopard from Kruger National Park (Source: own photo)

Stepping up - self-drive Namibia and Botswana

When you discover that you love safaris, say, after your first visit to Kruger, you may wish to spice things up a bit. When you are ready to take the next step, I strongly recommend a self-drive in Botswana and Namibia.

Botswana and Namibia are both easy and safe countries to travel in. The tourism industries in both countries are set up for precisely this kind of safari and the systems run like clockwork. Officials are honest and you do not get harassed. In fact, officials (and people in general) in both countries are super nice.

The parks in Bostwana and Namibia have excellent facilities for camping, including fresh water, toilets, and showers, petrol/gas stations, restaurants, shops, etc. You can even get your tyres fixed if you have puncture as well as other repairs, if required.

The Botswana and Namibia national parks are incredibly rich in game, especially Chobe and Moremi in Botswana as well as Etosha in Namibia. You can expect to see the 'Big Five', particularly if you include Etosha in your itinerary, since this park has substantial rhino population.

In addition, Namibia stands out for its extreme and completely unique landscapes, so it is worth taking the time to explore Namibia not just for the game, but also for its geography. I suggest that you include Sosusvlei, the Skeleton Coast, Damaraland, and Fish River Canyon in your itinerary. Here are some of my impressions:

• Namibia

• Botswana

If you choose to self-drive in Botswana and Namibia then I can recommend that you reach out to DriveBotswana (link here). I have rented vehicles from DriveBotswana several times and will do so again in the future. They will allow you to make your own itinerary, or aid you if you need help. They are very friendly and well-liked on the ground as you can quickly tell when you talk to people as travel around the two countries.

When you self-drive, you can choose to camp or a stay in lodges, or combine the two. Lodges are more expensive, obviously, but very convenient. Camping is fun, especially if you are fit and healthy, so I would strongly recommend camping if you can. Personally, I am fond of a combo: I like to camp for most of the trip and then treat myself to a stay at a lodge at the end of the safari. I note in passing that safari vehicles have tents on the roof. They are comfortable and airy as they have mosquito net windows on every side. You will most likely not get eaten by lions, but you might see them on the ground right outside your tent!

Fish River Canyon, Namibia (Source: own photo)

Advanced self-drive safaris

Once you have accumulated some experience, I recommend that you consider Tanzania, particularly the Serengeti and Ngorongoro national parks. Tanzania also has many lesser well-known parks, which are worth exploring.

Tanzania's national parks are - in my humble opinion - the best wildlife parks on the planet.

However, Tanzania is dirt poor and roads are awful. The booking systems do not always work very well and officials can be more challenging, although not to the extent that it should put you off. Be patient and polite and respectful. Still, you have be prepared to manage your expectations as you go along and you should be flexible, patient, and ready to improvise.

Having said that Tanzania is not dangerous even if it can be frustrating, when things do not work out as planned (which is quite likely). The facilities are not nearly as well developed as in Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. Provisioning is therefore more important. You will buy food and drink and water and fuel for much of trip in the big towns, such as Arusha, where there are shopping malls and supermarkets just like in rich countries. Once you are in the bush, however, you are on your own.

Tanzania's national parks have excellent lodges as well as placed to refuel, so you are never completely on your own. If you self-drive, you will likely be given sat phone with the vehicle, which allows you to call for assistance if your car breaks down. Most likely you will not need it.

I have done safaris in Tanzania with Safari Drive (link here). They are definitely not the cheapest outfit and even they sometimes have problems in Tanzania. My next safari has been organised by Nick Harrison of the Arusha Giraffe Centre. He and his family are awesome and would be my recommended first port of call for organising a safari in Tanzania. If you go on a trip organised by Nick and stay in lodges then you do not need to worry at all about logistic challenges; you will be in good hands and free to enjoy this amazing country without any worries!

Tanzania makes up for all the challenges by the sheer awesomeness of the landscapes and the game viewing. There is quite simply nothing that beats a couple of weeks of complete freedom in your own 4WD driving around Serengeti during the Wildebeest migration!

Serengeti lioness after a meal being cleaned by flies (Source: own photo)

Other destinations

You can rent vehicles in Madagascar with Roadtrip Africa (link here). Madagascar's attractions are many and they are completely different from conventional safaris on mainland Africa. Roadtrip Africa does a great good job in what is quite a challenging country. They also have operations in Tanzania and Uganda so check them out.

Family of lemurs in Madagascar (Source: own picture)

Safari Njema!

The End