How to choose the right safari experience

A safari holiday in Africa can be one of the magical experiences you’ll have – rising at dawn to watch elephants ford rivers, tracking lions across the open savanna, or spotting a leopard languidly resting in an acacia tree.

But planning a safari escape can be confusing if you’re not familiar with the different kinds of wildlife experiences on offer, and arguably the biggest factor that can determine your whole experience is whether you choose to game drive in a national park or a private reserve.

As public spaces, national parks can offer a more independent, budget-friendly safari experience, often with options to self-drive or camp inside the park. Park entry fees range from just $15 to more than $120 a day.

The trade-off? Vehicles must stick to designated roads and can’t go off-piste, say to explore the tell-tale huffing sound of a lion pride just out of view. National parks can also be overcrowded, especially during peak season from May to October. Most recently, some of the more popular reserves, such as Masai Mara and Serengeti National Parks, have been dogged by negative press thanks to overzealous travellers disrupting wildlife. In August, there was outcry after hundreds of people blocked wildebeest from crossing a river during their famous Great Migration.

By contrast, “private reserves offer a more exclusive, immersive safari in areas that limit vehicle numbers”, says Michelle Adler, a specialist safari travel adviser at FBI Travel in Melbourne. “Often it’s just two or three vehicles at one encounter and off-road driving is permitted, allowing guides to get you closer to the action.” That intimacy comes with a hefty price tag – with some lodges costing between $3000 and $7000 a night in peak season.

“The difference between visiting a national park and a private reserve is like choosing to shop at Coles or a high-end delicatessen,” says Herbie Rosenberg, managing director of Africareps. He says private game reserves often have hundreds of local staff serving a few dozen guests, and are typically all-inclusive, including light-plane charters to reach remote lodges.

When planning a safari holiday, Rosenberg says many travellers fixate on a wildlife event, like the Great Migration, when they should be open to exploring less-known destinations, such as South Luangwa National Park in Zambia or Namibia’s Etosha National Park, which can offer affordable wildlife viewing that is less crowded.

If you want to experience a private game reserve, private camps may be a better budget option than a private lodge. Properties such as Selinda Explorers Camp, set on the banks of the Selinda Reserve in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, offer a private safari experience for a fraction of the cost of a lodge stay. Some safari outfitters also offer a hybrid model, such as Great Plains Conservation’s Mara Expedition Camp, which provides a premium camping experience in a private enclave abutting Maasai Mara National Reserve.

FBI Travel’s Adler says you don’t need to choose one or the other, and that it’s common for safari goers to include a mix of public and private game reserves in their itinerary.

“More importantly, asking the right questions and timing the trip correctly are both essential to ensuring you get the most out of the experience,” she says.

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