Shorter drives, family tents, and guides who are good with questions. Several camps will not take under-twelves at all, which narrows the field considerably — we know which will, and which are actually good at it.
How we plan it
What makes or breaks this kind of trip.
- 01
Your own vehicle, every day
You leave when your children are ready and come back when they have had enough. Twenty minutes watching a dung beetle because your six year old is transfixed, and nobody sighing at you.
- 02
One roof, not two rooms
A family tent or a two bedroom cottage: a door between you and them, rather than two tents forty metres apart across a lawn that hyena cross at night.
- 03
A guide who likes children
Not a given, and not a small thing. Guides who answer the hundredth question as patiently as the first, and who know a chameleon at eye level beats a distant lion.
- 04
Fly, do not drive for eight hours
The fastest way to ruin a family safari is a long road transfer. Light aircraft turns a punishing day into a forty minute flight children find thrilling.
- 05
Fewer places, more days in each
Adults want to see everything; children want to unpack once. Two areas across eight nights beats four across ten, and we will say so even when it means a smaller booking.
- 06
A pool, and permission to use it
The middle of the day is hot and the animals are asleep. A pool turns four dead hours into the part your children talk about afterwards.
Safaris we would suggest
Every safari is shaped around the people travelling. These are the ones we start from.
