A day on safari: game drives, the Big Five and realistic expectations

What a safari day looks like

A game drive is a slow drive along a park’s roads, stopping to watch, wait and photograph. Most days follow the light. The first drive leaves early, when the air is cool; the middle of the day is for lunch and a rest, or a picnic in a large park; and a second drive goes out in the late afternoon. Tanzania National Parks notes that in Nyerere the best light for game drives comes in the early morning and late afternoon.

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 are staying inside, so the last drive ends before dark. On travel days, how much game viewing you get depends on when you arrive and leave.

Morning or afternoon?

Both, if you can. Early drives catch the cool hours and soft light, and many travellers find them the most atmospheric part of the day; afternoon drives bring warm, golden light before sunset. A full-day drive with a picnic lets you travel further in a big park such as the Serengeti or Tsavo, at the cost of the midday rest. If you are travelling with children or tire easily, a rest in the middle of the day keeps the evening drive enjoyable.

The best sightings often come from waiting where the animals are, not from driving to where they were.

Where to look for the Big Five

The Big Five are the lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino. Several parks on our routes hold all five, and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority calls the Ngorongoro Crater probably the best place in Tanzania to see them. Rhinos are usually the hardest to find, which is why many routes include a rhino sanctuary.

Beyond the Big Five

Some of the most memorable sightings are not on the list at all. In northern Kenya, Samburu is known for the “Samburu Five”: Beisa oryx, Somali ostrich, reticulated giraffe, gerenuk and Grevy’s zebra. Tanzania’s Nyerere is one of Africa’s key strongholds for African wild dogs, and Ruaha is a place to see both greater and lesser kudu.

Birdwatchers have their own lists: the shoebill at Murchison Falls, Albertine Rift endemics in Bwindi, and Kakamega, Kenya’s only tropical rainforest, with its rare De Brazza’s monkey. A safari that looks beyond the Big Five is rarely disappointed.

The rules that protect wildlife, and you

• Kenya Wildlife Service: stay on established roads and trails, keep at least 20 metres from wildlife, and stay in your vehicle except in designated areas.
• Maasai Mara: leave the vehicle only at designated points; no standing on the roof or sitting in the window; never block moving herds.
• Tanzania National Parks: do not feed wildlife; drones are prohibited without special permission.
• Uganda Wildlife Authority, with primates: keep 10 metres away, no flash photography, and one hour per group.

Meals and camp life

Between drives, life slows down. Breakfast may be early or packed for the vehicle, lunch is at camp or a picnic in the park, and dinner is usually the time to share the day’s sightings. Tell us about dietary needs before you travel, because remote camps plan their supplies ahead. After dark, follow your camp’s rules about walking between tents: wildlife does not stop at the camp boundary.

Realistic expectations

Wildlife moves freely, and every drive is different. Some days bring a kill or a crossing; others bring a single elephant at a waterhole for an hour. Both are a safari. Choosing the right place and season improves your chances, and so do patience, early starts and a route with time in each place, but no park, guide or operator can promise what you will see.

• Spend more nights in fewer places.
• Bring binoculars for every traveller.
• Tell your guide what you hope to see, then let them read the landscape.
• Be quiet at sightings; animals stay relaxed and so do other visitors.