African safari trip cost?

[Anonymous]

You can absolutely schedule the trip yourself. Or go directly to the safari provider and they will organize it for you. I had reached out to a travel agency and they quoted me something stupid over $100K for my family of 5. No thank you. I ended up doing it myself (utilizing the same hotels/lodges) and we paid $32,496 including all hotels, int'l and domestic flights, food, park costs, safari lodge, etc. and it was a luxury lodge. We did rent a car and drive SA ourselves, which was great.

Contact the lodge directly and skip the third party travel agents. You'll save thousands.

We used More - https://www.more.co.za
I also spoke to https://africanbushcamps.com if you're interested in supporting an African owned company.

Enjoy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can absolutely schedule the trip yourself. Or go directly to the safari provider and they will organize it for you. I had reached out to a travel agency and they quoted me something stupid over $100K for my family of 5. No thank you. I ended up doing it myself (utilizing the same hotels/lodges) and we paid $32,496 including all hotels, int'l and domestic flights, food, park costs, safari lodge, etc. and it was a luxury lodge. We did rent a car and drive SA ourselves, which was great.

Contact the lodge directly and skip the third party travel agents. You'll save thousands.

We used More - https://www.more.co.za
I also spoke to https://africanbushcamps.com if you're interested in supporting an African owned company.

Enjoy!

Will add that our trip was close to 3 weeks and we did more than safari - CapeTown, Hermanusm, Stellenbosh, etc. so it was only 3-4 days of safari. Extended safari days can be a bit much. You spend 3 hrs on a morning drive sitting in the vehicle. Break for lunch. Then another 3 hrs sitting in vehicle in the afternoon. There's not a lot of physical activity for you so keep that in mind when planning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you see the American tourist just killed on one of these? An elephant stormed their vehicle, flipping it over. It was the Kafue National Park in Zambia.

Did you see the 1 American who was gunned down going to 2nd grade? Oh wait. There’s way more than 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you’ve gone to Africa and went on a safari, would you mind sharing the basics of your trip and the estimated cost? Our trip would be a couple trip, just my husband and me. We’ve only started to think about the possibility and I have no idea what the ballpark cost of such a trip would be. I know there are many variables, but a starting place as to what we might expect would be helpful. Ty!

My DH and I went to Tanzania for a safari on the Serengeti and then to Zanzibar for a few days in a villa on the beach in 2022. It came to about $15,000 for 10 days, and did not include our flights to/from Africa. It did include internal flights (and there were several). We did choose luxury lodges, but we also went in November which is shoulder season and a bit cheaper. The great thing about shoulder season was that we had a guide and vehicle to ourselves on safari. Happy to answer more questions if you have them.

It was amazing. Highlights were being within a few yards of a family of lions, including cubs, and Wildebeest crossing the Mara.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bespoke safari, family of 5. Cape Town, Krueger, Zambia Botswana. 18 days. $125,000 five years ago.included internal airfares but not getting to Johannesburg.

It was spectacular. That is the high end option.

You couldn’t wait to answer this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bespoke safari, family of 5. Cape Town, Krueger, Zambia Botswana. 18 days. $125,000 five years ago.included internal airfares but not getting to Johannesburg.

It was spectacular. That is the high end option.

You couldn’t wait to answer this.

Not Pp. And you couldn’t wait to be nasty.

[Anonymous]

The amount of money people spend on safaris is astounding. They see the exact same animals as families who stay in the parks themselves. You can easily make in park reservations on the Sanparks website. It is not expensive. The highest costs for us were the flights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The amount of money people spend on safaris is astounding. They see the exact same animals as families who stay in the parks themselves. You can easily make in park reservations on the Sanparks website. It is not expensive. The highest costs for us were the flights.

We went to Kruger and did some self-drive safari days, but then went to a lodge in Sabi Sands and were taken out on game drives by professionals. They both have advantages--it's nice to be able to go at your own pace and do what you want, but our eyes are not trained to find animals, so there was probably a lot that we missed. With a tracker, they know all the tricks of what to look for, and are in communication with other trackers about where the animals are. We saw the Big 5 in the first 2 hours of our first drive. It's nice to do both, if that's in the budget, of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did about the cheapest possible as part of our South Africa trip. Rental car from Joburg, stay in a gated family chalet resort community outside of the park. There are a bunch of these around Kruger.

Checking current prices, you can stay for around $60/night and have access to a pool, playgrounds, firepits, and cafe. These are where South African families will stay.

Gametrackers will pick you up and leave in the morning or evening to tour the park, was $40 something a session a few years ago. Saw four of the Big 5, very memorable!

Do you have the links for the family chalet?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The amount of money people spend on safaris is astounding. They see the exact same animals as families who stay in the parks themselves. You can easily make in park reservations on the Sanparks website. It is not expensive. The highest costs for us were the flights.

We went to Kruger and did some self-drive safari days, but then went to a lodge in Sabi Sands and were taken out on game drives by professionals. They both have advantages--it's nice to be able to go at your own pace and do what you want, but our eyes are not trained to find animals, so there was probably a lot that we missed. With a tracker, they know all the tricks of what to look for, and are in communication with other trackers about where the animals are. We saw the Big 5 in the first 2 hours of our first drive. It's nice to do both, if that's in the budget, of course.

You can hire professional guides within the park. I agree there’s an advantage to doing that at times. But $100k-plus for a safari? SMH. The top dollar lodges in the parks are like $200/night. Food is very inexpensive, even if you eat out at restaurants in Kruger. A lot of $ left over for private game drives. I guess it pains me to have people think this is only a vacation/experience for the ultra wealthy. That’s not the case.

[Anonymous]

We went to MalaMala in South Africa as part of a bigger trip to SA. Current prices are around $1000/night per person, which includes suite, game drives, all food, etc. I think we paid separately for drinks but can't remember. We went for 4 nights/3 days, which was plenty. We did 6-7 game drives (morning and evening). Totally worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The amount of money people spend on safaris is astounding. They see the exact same animals as families who stay in the parks themselves. You can easily make in park reservations on the Sanparks website. It is not expensive. The highest costs for us were the flights.

I lived in South Africa for awhile and have done every possible iteration of a safari there and also in East Africa. For one or two people, you can easily plan it yourself. For a larger group (esp if it includes older people or kids), it was absolutely better to get a company to plan it for us and have a private guide.

[Anonymous]

Very helpful when the posters list the particular company they used. Interesting no one so far has used any of the big name operators like Tauck, Nat Geo, Disney, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We went to MalaMala in South Africa as part of a bigger trip to SA. Current prices are around $1000/night per person, which includes suite, game drives, all food, etc. I think we paid separately for drinks but can't remember. We went for 4 nights/3 days, which was plenty. We did 6-7 game drives (morning and evening). Totally worth it.

Sounds great. Which tour operator?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very helpful when the posters list the particular company they used. Interesting no one so far has used any of the big name operators like Tauck, Nat Geo, Disney, etc.

I did. I am the 18,000 poster. Used Abercrombie and Kent. It is way outside the norm for me, even for safari like things. Thought I would see how the 1% live.