I’ve been going on safari for years, and most people would consider me an expert. Yet every time I venture somewhere new, I’m reminded just how complicated planning a trip can be.
Different ecosystems, seasons and wildlife. Conservancies versus national parks. Camps that look remarkably similar online but offer entirely different experiences on the ground.
For a first-time safari traveller in particular, it can be quite bewildering. I recently spoke to a newly married couple who wanted to go on safari on their honeymoon. They started researching, became overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices, and eventually gave up altogether.
They’re far from alone. In a survey we conducted of 100 people who had actively considered a safari within the previous three years but ultimately hadn’t booked, the single biggest reason, cited by 40 per cent, was that researching or booking the trip simply felt too difficult. These weren’t people casually dreaming about Africa, in fact, many had researched for days, sometimes weeks, before walking away. There were simply too many options, too much complexity, and not enough confidence that they were making the right choices.
Here is what I’d want every safari traveller to know before they book.
Start with how you want to feel, not where you want to go
Most people plan a safari the same way they’d plan any other holiday: pick a destination, pick some dates, set a budget. That approach works reasonably well for a beach trip, where most resorts within a price bracket deliver a broadly similar experience. It works far less well for safari, one of the least standardised and hardest-to-compare travel purchases.
I recommend starting by thinking about what you want to experience and how you want to feel. Are you hoping to connect with new cultures and communities? Are you drawn to a deeper understanding of a specific landscape and its wildlife? Or is this trip really about creating memories with the people you’re travelling with?
Destination, pace and accommodation should follow from that answer, not come before it. The demand for safari is stronger than ever, projected to reach £34.4 billion by 2033, growing at an annual rate of 6.7%, according to insights from the African Travel and Tourism Association (ATTA). The vast and diverse land of Africa offers a wealth of experiences. There is nothing that captures the imagination quite like being in the wild. The real gap sits between being inspired by what you see on Instagram and making a confident, well-informed decision that results in a trip that lives up to expectations.
Common safari mistakes that lead to a disappointing trip
From my experience, the most frequent mistake travellers make is trying to pack in multiple destinations within a short space of time. Moving every day or two means spending more time travelling between places than actually settling into any one of them. Safaris are best experienced when you give yourself to the rhythm of your surroundings rather than trying to control it.
A second common mistake is assuming that more expensive is automatically better: the most luxurious lodge, the most famous name. Price doesn’t necessarily translate into a more meaningful experience, and it can mean the opposite, where seamlessness and exclusivity mask authenticity and the ability to truly connect. You may get luxury brands with larger properties that command a premium for their brand name, but they tend to host more guests, which suits some travellers perfectly and leaves others longing for something smaller and quieter – worth being honest with yourself about which one you actually are.
A third is defaulting to familiar brand names purely because they’re recognisable, rather than researching what a specific property or guide actually offers. I’ve seen camps that look remarkably similar in photographs turn out to be worlds apart once you’re there, and a well-known name is only a good choice when you choose it for the right reasons.
Why pace matters more than luxury
How restorative a safari feels has less to do with luxury and more to do with how you experience it day to day. Safaris can be land-based, walking-based or water-based, and each offers a genuinely different rhythm and level of immersion, so it’s worth thinking about which suits you before comparing properties.
Wildlife activity itself tends to follow a natural rhythm, built around key moments such as animals stirring at first light or nocturnal species waking as the day ends. What you can control is whether your vehicle and schedule give you the flexibility to move with that rhythm.
A private vehicle, for example, allows far more freedom to linger, change plans, or follow what catches your interest, compared to a shared vehicle on a fixed schedule. I’ve met travellers who love spending time on foot examining animal spoor and learning to identify alarm calls that signal a nearby predator, and others who prefer a long, unhurried schedule and are happy simply watching from a vehicle. Neither is more “authentic” than the other; the right choice depends entirely on what you’re seeking.
How to judge whether a lodge or destination is right for you
Brand name recognition and price are the two factors travellers rely on most, and, in my experience, the two that can mislead you most about whether a specific place will suit you. A useful, but often little considered, thing to know is whether the accommodation you’re considering sits within a private concession or a national park, since the two offer very different experiences, from the number of other vehicles you’ll encounter to the flexibility of activities on offer.
It’s also worth understanding who owns and runs a lodge, and what its community and conservation practices actually involve, rather than taking sustainability claims at face value. Genuine engagement with local communities and conservation tends to be reflected in how a lodge operates day to day, not just in its marketing.
Finally, look closely at the specific activities on offer, and the pacing and routing built into a typical stay. A property offering only fixed, scheduled game drives suits a very different traveller than one built around flexible, personalised days. Private concession stays are also worth considering as these unlock the ability to experience walking safaris or night game drives, which opens up the range of experience and game you can encounter.
Practical questions to ask before you book a safari
Rather than trying to find all the answers online or through AI, I always recommend speaking to a safari advisor or destination expert, and being inquisitive rather than prescriptive. What is this specific area particularly known for, and does that match what you’re hoping to experience? Is this the ideal season to visit, or is there a quieter “secret season” that might suit you better, with fewer crowds and a different but equally rewarding experience?
Is this destination suited to your specific group, whether that’s a couple, a multigenerational family, or a group of friends with different energy levels and interests? And critically, are you being asked to commit to a single destination too early, before having thought about how you want to travel?
It’s worth being open to the destination itself shifting once you’ve had that conversation. Any good travel advisor will often suggest somewhere different to what you initially had in mind, based on what actually suits you, rather than steering you toward the most familiar or most heavily marketed option.
Why giving up is the real loss
If there’s one thing I’d want to leave you with, it’s this: safari was never meant to be a bucket-list trip that you do once and move on from. For me, growing up in Kenya with the wild on my doorstep, it was never a “someday” destination. It was home.
One of my earliest memories is being in an underground hide in Tsavo, young enough that I don’t remember much else from that age, but I remember that: sitting completely still in the cool and the dark, watching animals come down to the waterhole. Another time, in the car with my family, we had to stop and go silent as a whole herd of elephants crossed the road right in front of us, mothers with babies among them. I remember being scared and completely in awe at the same time. I still am, every time.
That’s what I find hardest about that newly married couple giving up as they are missing out on the opportunity to feel the magic of the wild. Somewhere between the tabs and the comparison spreadsheets, the curiosity and excitement that sent them looking in the first place got buried under logistics. And it doesn’t have to. A moment like that one I had with the elephants is what a safari can hand you, often when you least expect it. It’s not something a scheduled, ticked-off itinerary tends to deliver.
Real luxury in this category shouldn’t be about chasing the “highlight reel” version of Africa with the most famous reserves or the most-photographed lodge. It’s knowing where not to go: choosing a quieter, equally extraordinary park over a crowded one, a smaller camp over a bigger one, a week that lets you settle in over five destinations in five days.
So if you’ve been dreaming about Africa for years and keep talking yourself out of it, that dream is worth more than one difficult afternoon of research. Ask better questions, understand whether your agent is truly independent, find someone who’s genuinely been where you’re going, and let the trip surprise you. It nearly always does.
