The  Africa safari vacation gives one the unforgettable thrill of seeing wild animals roaming freely through some of the most spectacular scenery in the world.  You can choose to take a private, individual safari, or pick from a wide selection of group tours and safaris offered by reliable tour operators. You can decide to take a self-drive safari too.

Many tour operators offer a wide choice of schedule group tours and self-drive safari in Africa, enabling you to make your choice. In this article, we outline the various game reserves and parks, as well as points to bear in mind when choosing your safari to Africa.  Each of the different types of safaris offers particular advantages; Private Safaris give you the privacy together with the flexibility on routes and pricing.

Self-Drive Safaris

They offer the greatest flexibility, enabling you to set your own pace of travel. You can ask for the vehicle you intend to hire to be delivered at the airport so you can pick on arrival or delivered to your hotel, from where you drive to your camp or lodge at your chosen reserve. You can take your game drives as and when you wish – subject to reserve regulations.

Kruger National Park of South Africa is arguably the most popular self-drive destination for wildlife safaris in Africa.

In most cases, once you get into the Kruger park, game drives are conducted in open-topped safari vehicles piloted by safari experienced, enthusiastic English-speaking drive-guides and native rangers.

Group Escorted Tours

These are more affordable since you are joining other travelers doing similar safari programs like yours. They lack the flexibility in terms of routing and pace. You are likely to meet new people and share ideas too.

Private Individual Tours

Private individual tours are suitable for those seeking freedom and are able to pay for it. These are sometimes referred to as tailor-made tours. They are designed according to the desires of the traveler. They tend to be on the pricier side.

Private individual Tours and Group escorted tours are popular in many African destinations including Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Uganda, among many others.

Where Should You Go for Your Wildlife Safari?

Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa and the Republic of South Africa in the southern Africa offer the best opportunity for African Wildlife Safaris.

Here we summarize the highlights in each of the 3 countries since each provides a different variety of landscape, accommodation and wildlife. Of course, it is never possible to guarantee which animals you will see – they are constantly moving in search for food and water-it is rare indeed to take a safari in any of these destinations and be disappointed.

Destination South Africa

Kruger National Park, with its 3000 kilometer of well-maintained roads is ideal for a self-drive safari.

The advantage of Kruger is that it is relatively inexpensive and you travel on tarred or graveled roads-easier for families with young children or elderly person who may find off- road driving difficult. However, it is accessibility means that it attracts around 650 000 visitors annually and can become very crowded during the school holidays in July and December.

Accommodation and meals:
Kruger has a highly developed infrastructure including 21 modern self-catering rest camps, providing basic standard of accommodation. Petrol is available at the rest camps

Games drives: in the private game reserves, game drives are in open four wheel drive vehicles. On bush walk experienced rangers and trackers escort you.  For self-drive safaris, we recommended a micro bus or a large car.

Destination Kenya

Masai Mara, home to the annual migrations, offers some of the continents most spectacular sights of million-strong herds of wildebeest and other plains animals in July and August.

The wilderness of Samburu has a river that attract large variety of games, via the forested Aberdare, known wild wide for its tree, lodges, floodlit waterholes and prolific wildlife

Amboseli National Park: with a view of magnificent mount Kilimanjaro and noted for elephant, wildebeest and buffalo.

Destination Tanzania

Serengeti covers over 14000 squire kilometers of open plains and contains the largest concentration of plain animals in the world.

Ngorongoro Crater
Crater, the largest crater in the world is home to the rare lion, elephant, rhino and wildebeest.

Game drives: For both Kenya and Tanzania, there are usually 2 game drives a day; early in the morning and again late in the afternoon, each lasting typically, about two and a-half hours. Vehicles are generally four-wheel drive safari Jeeps or 7-seater  micro buses with pop-up roofs.