A little knowledge. A bigger adventure.

A · Start planning

Choosing your African safari.

Most safari decisions come down to four things: what you most want to see, when you can travel, how long you have and how you like to travel. Settle those, and the choice between Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and between budget, midrange and luxury, usually makes itself. None of the three countries is best for every traveller; each is best at something.

Kenya and Tanzania share the Serengeti–Mara ecosystem and the great migration, and 20 of our journeys cross between them. Uganda is the country for mountain gorillas and chimpanzees, with savannah parks and the Nile alongside. The table below compares them side by side, and the decision guide underneath walks through a first safari one choice at a time.

• Compare the country guides
• Big Time picks
• All safaris by length

Your first safari in six decisions

1. Choose what matters most

   The migration, gorillas, the Big Five, birds, landscapes or a beach afterwards. One clear priority makes every other choice easier.

2. Let your dates guide the place

   If your dates are fixed, choose the region that is at its best then; if the migration or calving season is the point, choose the dates around it.

3. Decide how long

   Two or three days suit one reserve; a week covers a classic circuit; ten days or more can combine countries. The table below shows real examples.

4. Choose a comfort level

   Budget, midrange or luxury changes where you sleep and how much you pay, not which parks you can visit.

5. Choose how you travel

   Join a group, travel privately, or have a route made for you; drive between parks or fly where airstrips allow.

6. Ask before you book

   What is included, which camps and permits are named, and what happens if plans change. The questions to ask any operator are listed under Before you travel, below.

Safari types, compared

• Budget, midrange or luxury

  Our catalogue has 51 budget, 34 midrange and 15 luxury journeys. Budget journeys name their camps and campsites; 17 of them publish prices. Road safaris in Kenya and Tanzania use a 4×4 Land Cruiser at every level.

  • Comfort levels explained
  • Budget
  • Midrange
  • Luxury

• Group-joining, private or tailor-made

  Group-joining shares the vehicle and the days in the parks with other travellers; a private safari keeps the vehicle and the pace to your own party; a tailor-made journey is built around your dates and interests. Ask which style a journey can run in.

  • Group joining
  • Private safari
  • Tailor-made

• Road or fly-in

  Most of our journeys travel by road. Two are fly-in journeys, including the 3 Days Luxury Fly-In Bwindi Gorilla Safari. Light aircraft use park airstrips such as Seronera in the Serengeti and Kihihi and Kisoro for Bwindi; luggage limits vary by carrier, so ask before you pack.

  • Fly-in journeys

• Wildlife, culture or beach

  A safari can be pure wildlife, or woven with Maasai, Batwa or Swahili culture, or finished on a beach: five journeys in our catalogue include Zanzibar.

  • Maasai culture in our Kenya guide
  • Safari and beach journeys

• One country or two

  Kenya and Tanzania combine naturally across the Serengeti–Mara ecosystem; 20 of our journeys do so, from 6 to 19 days.

  • Kenya & Tanzania journeys

• When to book

  Early, for peak seasons. TANAPA advises booking well ahead for the Serengeti’s peak migration months and Tarangire’s dry season, the NCAA notes that Ndutu’s camps are in demand in calving season, and UWA’s gorilla and chimpanzee permits are limited.

  • Plan My Safari

Sources: Mara Conservancy (Mara Triangle, Maasai Mara National Reserve) (opens in a new tab); Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (opens in a new tab); Kenya Wildlife Service (Nairobi National Park (opens in a new tab), What is the weather pattern in Kenya? When is the best time to visit your parks and reserves? (opens in a new tab), Amboseli National Park (opens in a new tab), Lake Nakuru National Park (opens in a new tab)); Kilimanjaro International Airport (opens in a new tab); Uganda Wildlife Authority (Bwindi Impenetrable National Park: gorillas and getting there (opens in a new tab), Revised conservation tariff, taking effect 1 January 2027 and running to June 2028, with gorilla and chimpanzee tracking rules (published October 2026) (opens in a new tab)); Ol Pejeta Conservancy (opens in a new tab)

B · Before you travel

What to check, and what to pack.

Some preparation never changes: a passport with spare pages, insurance that covers remote areas, layers for cold mornings and a power bank. Other rules change often, among them visas and travel authorisations, health requirements, park fees and primate permits. We keep the two apart: the stable advice is below, and the changing rules are in a table that says when we last checked each official source.

Everything in the table was checked against official sources on 20 October 2026. Two rules are new this month: Kenya and Tanzania each now require visitors to hold a government-provided travel insurance policy on arrival, in addition to their own. Rules can change without notice, so check the official source for your nationality before you book flights, and again shortly before you travel. Where official sources disagree, we report both rather than choosing one.

Stable planning advice

• Passport and documents

  Check your passport’s expiry and blank pages first, because both Kenya and Tanzania set minimums. Every traveller needs their own authorisation or visa, children included, so keep copies of each one with your passport.

  • Kenya eTA (official) (opens in a new tab)

• Travel insurance

  Buy your own policy when you book, so cancellation cover starts at once. Parks can be far from a hospital: check it covers medical treatment and evacuation from remote areas, and activities such as gorilla trekking or a mountain climb. Kenya’s and Tanzania’s new government schemes are separate: each traveller needs one for each of the two countries they enter, and the UK’s travel advice for both says to hold your own cover as well.

  • Ask our safari team

• Health

  See a travel-health professional at least a month before you go. The CDC recommends routine vaccines, including measles, and malaria prevention for most safari areas in all three countries.

  • CDC travel health (opens in a new tab)

• Packing and luggage

  Kenya Wildlife Service suggests layers, loose long sleeves, a hat, sunglasses, binoculars, a torch and insect repellent, in neutral colours. If you fly between parks, ask about luggage limits: they vary by carrier.

  • Kenya Wildlife Service packing advice (opens in a new tab)

• Money, tips and payments

  Ask what your price includes (park fees, permits, meals, drinks) and what it does not, and whether tips for guides and camp staff are customary or included. In Uganda’s parks, UWA accepts mobile money, card machines and bank transfers for its own services.

  • Comfort levels explained

• Phones, internet and charging

  Remote camps do not always have mains power or constant connectivity. Bring a power bank, download maps and entertainment before you leave the city, and tell us when you enquire if charging or Wi-Fi matters to you.

  • Accommodation on our routes

• Diet, health and mobility needs

  Tell us about dietary requirements, allergies, medication and mobility when you enquire. Camps and lodges vary, and remote ones need notice to plan meals and arrangements.

  • Plan My Safari

• Responsible preparation

  Leave single-use plastic at home: Kenya’s national parks are plastic-free. Drones need prior written permission in Tanzania’s parks. Plan to ask before photographing people, and respect the answer.

  • Safari styles

Sources: Republic of Kenya, Directorate of Immigration Services (Electronic Travel Authorisation: general information and exemptions (opens in a new tab), Electronic Travel Authorisation: how to apply (opens in a new tab)); Insurance Regulatory Authority of Kenya, on eCitizen (opens in a new tab); UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (Kenya travel advice: entry requirements (including mandatory travel health insurance from 5 October 2026, and health screening) (opens in a new tab), Tanzania travel advice: entry requirements (mandatory inbound travel insurance; health screening announced 17 October 2026) (opens in a new tab), Uganda travel advice: entry requirements (opens in a new tab)); Tanzania Immigration Services Department (opens in a new tab); United Republic of Tanzania, Ministry of Finance (public notice published by the Embassy of Tanzania in Rome, 27 September 2026) (opens in a new tab); National Insurance Corporation of Tanzania (NIC) (opens in a new tab); Zanzibar Insurance Corporation (ZIC) (opens in a new tab); Uganda Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control (Uganda Tourist Visa: single entry (opens in a new tab), East African Tourist Visa (opens in a new tab), Official notice: Yellow Fever Vaccination Certificate no longer mandatory for entry (posted 2 October 2026) (opens in a new tab)); World Health Organization (opens in a new tab); US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Kenya: traveler view (page reviewed 25 August 2026; yellow fever table updated 23 April 2025) (opens in a new tab), Tanzania: traveler view (page reviewed 25 August 2026; yellow fever and malaria sections updated 23 April 2025) (opens in a new tab), Uganda: traveler view (page reviewed 25 August 2026; yellow fever section updated 23 April 2025) (opens in a new tab)); Kenya Wildlife Service (opens in a new tab); Tanzania National Parks (opens in a new tab); Uganda Wildlife Authority (Conservation tariff July 2024 – June 2026, with park, gorilla and chimpanzee tracking rules (re-published on UWA’s website on 12 October 2026) (opens in a new tab), Revised conservation tariff, taking effect 1 January 2027 and running to June 2028, with gorilla and chimpanzee tracking rules (published October 2026) (opens in a new tab))

D · Safari experiences

A safari for the way you travel.

The right safari depends on who is travelling as much as on where. A honeymoon, a family with young children and a photographer with long lenses want different paces, different camps and sometimes different countries. These pathways are honest about what suits whom, including where our catalogue has gaps, and each leads to the journeys and guides worth reading next.

Pathways by traveller

• First-time safari travellers

  Choose one famous reserve and one contrasting place, with time in each: the Mara and a Rift Valley lake, or a short northern Tanzania circuit.

  • Big Time picks

• Couples and honeymooners

  Our one honeymoon journey is in Uganda; elsewhere, couples compare our 15 luxury journeys or finish on Zanzibar.

  • Honeymoon journeys
  • Luxury safaris

• Families with children

  Gentle starts in Nairobi, shorter drives and compact parks suit children best. Gorilla trekking has a minimum age of 15, so primate journeys suit teenagers.

  • Family journeys

• Multi-generational groups

  A private safari lets the pace suit the oldest and youngest together, and a single crater day or a compact park packs in a lot without long drives.

  • Private safaris

• Solo travellers

  Group-joining safaris share the vehicle and the days in the parks with other travellers. Ask about departures, room sharing and any single supplement before you book.

  • Group joining

• Wildlife photographers

  Light, patience and a vehicle that can wait. The 4 Days Maasai Mara Photography Luxury Safari is built around the reserve; Ndutu in calving season and the crater give very different subjects.

  • Photography journeys

• Birdwatchers

  Lake Nakuru, Amboseli and Kakamega in Kenya; Ruaha’s 574 recorded species in Tanzania; Albertine Rift endemics and the shoebill in Uganda.

  • Uganda’s birding parks

• Repeat visitors

  Samburu’s northern species, southern Tanzania’s rivers and wild dogs, or Uganda’s primates show a different East Africa from the classic circuit.

  • Southern Tanzania
  • Samburu

• Adventure travellers

  Cycle Hell’s Gate, hike Mount Longonot, walk in Ruaha or climb Kilimanjaro: our catalogue includes six Kilimanjaro treks and four on Mount Kenya.

  • Mountain treks

• Accessible travel

  Game drives are seated and can suit many travellers with limited mobility, but vehicles, camps and paths vary, and forest treks are steep. Tell us your needs early so we can be honest about what is realistic.

  • Ask our safari team

• Cultural experiences

  Maasai communities around the Mara and Amboseli, the Endorois at Lake Bogoria, the Batwa near Bwindi and Mgahinga, and Nairobi’s Karen Blixen Museum. Always arranged with, and paced by, the community.

  • Visiting a Maasai community
  • Community tourism in Uganda

• Beach and safari

  Five journeys finish on Zanzibar. None of our catalogue journeys includes the Kenyan coast yet; ask about a tailor-made extension.

  • Beach journeys
  • The Kenyan coast

F · On safari

Life on safari, and travelling responsibly.

A safari day follows the light. Drives usually start early, when the air is cool and the light is soft, and resume in the late afternoon; the middle of the day is for lunch, rest or a picnic in the park. Park gates set the limits: Kenya Wildlife Service sets gate times from early morning to early evening for parks such as Amboseli and Lake Nakuru, unless you stay inside.

Responsible travel is mostly a matter of respect: for wildlife, for the rules that protect it and for the people whose land surrounds the parks. The park authorities’ rules are short and clear, and they apply to everyone. Kenya Wildlife Service asks visitors to keep at least 20 metres from wildlife; Uganda’s gorilla and chimpanzee rules require 10 metres and no flash; and Tanzania’s parks require written permission for drones.

Practicalities

• Morning and afternoon drives

  Early and late drives catch the cooler hours and the softest light; full-day drives with a picnic suit large parks. TANAPA notes that the best light in Nyerere comes early and late.

  • A day on safari in Kenya

• Your vehicle and guide

  Our road safaris in Kenya and Tanzania use a 4×4 Land Cruiser. Ask about window seats and group size before you book; in Tanzania’s parks, guides must be certified.

  • Safari styles

• Where you sleep

  From public campsites and budget camps to tented camps and lodges. Each of our journeys names its accommodation where the catalogue confirms it.

  • Accommodation

• Park conduct

  Stay on the roads, keep your distance, never feed wildlife and stay in the vehicle except where allowed. In the Maasai Mara, standing on the roof or sitting in the window is not allowed.

  • Kenya’s park rules

• Respectful photography

  Ask before photographing people and accept a no. Never use flash with primates, and never ask a driver to approach or block wildlife for a picture.

  • Photography journeys

• Communities and conservation

  Around the Mara, conservancies on community land bring together more than 15,000 landowners, who receive lease fees; in Uganda, gorilla permit rates include a community development contribution.

  • Visiting a Maasai community

• Health and emergencies

  Parks can be far from a hospital: carry insurance with medical evacuation, keep your medication in your hand luggage, and do not trek to primates if you are unwell.

  • Uganda primate rules

• Children and mobility

  Shorter drives and compact parks suit young children; primate trekking has minimum ages. Tell us about mobility needs early, because forest treks are steep and camps vary.

  • Family journeys

Sources: Kenya Wildlife Service (Amboseli National Park (opens in a new tab), Lake Nakuru National Park (opens in a new tab)); Uganda Wildlife Authority (opens in a new tab); Tanzania National Parks (opens in a new tab)