There are many ways to travel around Africa. You can join a group tour, book a ready-made safari package, organize everything yourself or create a completely custom African safari.
For many travelers, especially when coming to Africa for the first time, a custom safari offers a good balance. You still have someone taking care of transportation, accommodations, guides and reservations, but you are not limited to somebody else’s fixed itinerary.
This is also how we prefer to travel.
One Big Planet started partly because I wanted more freedom when planning my own trips. I did not want to be told that a tour leaves only on certain dates, stays only at certain hotels or spends exactly two nights in every location.
Africa is too big and too diverse for one itinerary to work for everyone.
A tailor-made African safari starts with what you actually want to see and then builds the trip around it.
What Is a Custom African Safari?
A custom African safari is a private trip designed around your dates, budget, interests and preferred travel style.
Instead of choosing a departure date from a calendar and joining other travelers, you decide when you want to travel and what kind of experience you are looking for.
It can be as simple as adjusting one of our existing safari itineraries, or we can build a completely different route.
You may want to:
- Spend more time photographing wildlife
- Stay in smaller lodges
- Add a few luxury nights
- Combine safari with a beach
- Include Victoria Falls
- Travel through several countries
- Spend less time driving
- Add cultural experiences
- Include hiking or other activities
- Travel with children
- Have a private guide for the entire trip
- Self-drive part of the journey
There is no reason your trip has to look exactly like someone else’s.
How Does a Tailor-Made African Safari Work?
The first step is usually a conversation.
We need to understand what you are trying to get from the trip before deciding where you should go.
You do not need to know exactly which parks you want to visit.
Many travelers contact us saying something like, “We want to go to Africa for two weeks and see wildlife, but we don’t know whether Kenya, Namibia or Southern Africa would be better.”
That is completely fine.
We normally start with a few basic questions:
- When do you want to travel?
- How many days do you have?
- How many people are traveling?
- What approximate budget are you comfortable with?
- Is wildlife the main priority?
- Do you prefer luxury, comfortable mid-range accommodations or something simpler?
- Do you want a private guide?
- Are you comfortable with longer driving days?
- Would you like to combine safari with beaches, cities or other activities?
From there, it becomes much easier to choose a destination.
For example, someone interested mainly in the classic safari experience may enjoy our private tours to Kenya, while someone who loves road trips, deserts and constantly changing scenery may prefer one of our private tours to Namibia.
Someone looking for a more exclusive lodge-based safari may be better suited to a private reserve in South Africa or a safari in Botswana.
There is no single correct answer.
The important part is choosing the country and itinerary that match the way you like to travel.
You Can Start With an Existing Safari Itinerary
Custom does not necessarily mean that we have to start with an empty page.
We have existing itineraries because they are routes that make logistical sense and give travelers a good starting point.
For example, our Kenya safari tours include shorter trips as well as longer itineraries combining several wildlife areas and the coast.
Our Namibia safari tours range from self-drive options to longer private guided tours.
You may look at one of these itineraries and say:
“I like this trip, but I want three nights in Etosha instead of two.”
Or:
“We don’t want to go to the beach. Can we spend those days in Maasai Mara instead?”
Or even:
“We like the first half of this itinerary but want something completely different afterward.”
That is where customization begins.
Choosing the Right African Safari Destination
Sometimes choosing the destination is actually harder than planning the itinerary.
Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana can all provide excellent safari experiences, but they are very different trips.
If you are still deciding, our guide to the best African safari destinations for first-time visitors compares the main differences in more detail.
Kenya
Kenya is a great option if wildlife is your main priority.
A private Kenya safari can include destinations such as Maasai Mara, Amboseli, Samburu, Lake Nakuru and Lake Naivasha. It is also possible to finish your trip on the coast.
Because you are traveling privately, you have more control over how long you stay in each area and how your days are organized.
You can see our current private Kenya safari tours and use any of them as a starting point for a custom itinerary.
Namibia
Namibia works very well for travelers who want more than traditional game drives.
A private Namibia safari can combine Etosha National Park with Sossusvlei, Swakopmund, Damaraland, Fish River Canyon and other areas.
The distances are long, but the driving itself is part of the experience.
Namibia is also one of the destinations where a self-drive can make sense for confident independent travelers.
Our private Namibia tours include both self-drive and guided options.
South Africa
South Africa is easy to customize because safari can be combined with Cape Town, the Winelands, the Garden Route or the coast.
It also has excellent private game reserves for travelers who want a high-end wildlife experience without spending two weeks moving from park to park.
Zimbabwe and Botswana
Zimbabwe and Botswana work particularly well together.
You can combine Victoria Falls with wildlife areas such as Hwange National Park and continue into Botswana.
These trips are especially good if you want to experience several different types of safari rather than only traditional game drives.
Private Guide or Self-Drive?
This depends heavily on the destination.
For Kenya, most travelers will be much better served by a safari vehicle and professional driver-guide.
A good safari guide does much more than drive.
Experienced guides understand animal behavior, know where wildlife tends to move and communicate with other guides while you are in the parks. They also know the roads and handle the practical details that you do not want to think about during your vacation.
You can meet some of the people who lead our trips on our safari guides page.
For Namibia, both options can work.
Some travelers love the freedom of driving themselves. Others look at the long distances and decide that they would much rather have a guide handling the road while they enjoy the scenery.
We offer both.
Can You Choose Your Own Hotels and Safari Lodges?
Yes.
This is one of the most useful parts of creating a custom safari.
Maybe you have found a lodge online that you really want to stay at. Maybe you prefer smaller properties. Or perhaps accommodation is not particularly important to you and you would rather spend more of your budget on activities or a longer trip.
We can plan around that.
It is also possible to mix accommodation levels.
You do not necessarily need luxury lodges every night.
Sometimes it makes more sense to stay at comfortable mid-range properties for most of the trip and spend two or three nights somewhere special.
This can make a big difference to the total safari cost.
How Much Does a Custom African Safari Cost?
There is no single price for a tailor-made African safari.
The biggest factors are usually:
- Country
- Number of travel days
- Accommodation level
- Time of year
- Private guide and vehicle
- Park and conservation fees
- Domestic flights
- Activities
- Number of travelers
- Distance between destinations
A private trip does not always mean an extremely expensive trip.
For two travelers, you are paying for a private vehicle and guide yourself. With four people traveling together, those same transportation costs can be divided between more travelers.
The accommodation also makes an enormous difference.
There is a very big price difference between staying at a comfortable lodge outside a national park and flying into a small luxury camp in a remote private reserve.
This is why we prefer discussing the budget early.
It saves everyone time.
If your budget is $4,000 per person, there is no point designing a $10,000 itinerary and hoping we can somehow reduce it afterward.
It is much easier to build the correct trip from the beginning.
For a more detailed breakdown, see our guide to how much an African safari costs.
Is a Custom Safari Always Luxury?
No.
This is something that can be confusing when searching for African safaris online.
“Private,” “custom” and “luxury” are often used together, but they do not mean the same thing.
A custom safari simply means the itinerary has been designed around you.
You can have a very luxurious tailor-made safari with private charter flights and exclusive lodges.
You can also have a reasonably priced custom trip using comfortable lodges, overland transportation and a private local guide.
Namibia can even be customized as a self-drive.
The point is not necessarily to make the trip more expensive.
The point is to spend your money on the parts of the trip that matter to you.
Can You Combine Several African Countries?
Absolutely, but more is not always better.
Looking at a map, it can be tempting to try to visit four countries during a two-week vacation.
In reality, every border crossing or flight takes time.
Sometimes two countries make perfect sense together.
Zimbabwe and Botswana are a good example, particularly when Victoria Falls is part of the itinerary.
South Africa can also combine easily with several neighboring destinations.
Other combinations may require flights and can increase the trip cost considerably.
If you have only ten days, it may be better to experience one country properly instead of spending a large part of the vacation moving between airports.
This is one of the areas where custom planning becomes useful. We can look at what you want to see and decide whether adding another country improves the trip or simply makes it more complicated.
How Far in Advance Should You Plan a Custom Safari?
For most African safaris, earlier gives you more options.
Popular lodges have limited rooms, and smaller safari camps may have very little availability during busy travel periods.
If your dates are fixed or you have a particular lodge in mind, starting several months ahead is a good idea.
That does not mean last-minute trips are impossible.
They simply require more flexibility.
Sometimes we may need to change the order of the itinerary or use a different lodge because the original option is already full.
Who Is a Custom African Safari Best For?
A tailor-made safari makes the most sense when you value flexibility.
It is particularly useful for:
- Couples
- Families
- Honeymoons and anniversaries
- Groups of friends
- Photographers
- Travelers celebrating a special occasion
- People combining several destinations
- Travelers who prefer private guides
- Anyone who dislikes large group tours
It is also a good option for someone who simply has a very specific idea of how they want to travel.
If you already know that you hate rushing from one hotel to another every night, we can slow the itinerary down.
If you want to spend most of your time watching wildlife, we can build around that.
If you would rather combine four safari days with deserts, beaches, food and local culture, we can do that too.
Custom Safari vs. Group Safari
There is nothing wrong with group travel.
It can be more affordable and is a good solution for travelers who prefer having a fixed itinerary.
The tradeoff is flexibility.
On a group safari, the departure date, route, hotels and schedule are normally decided in advance.
On a private safari, the trip revolves around you.
You are also not sharing the safari vehicle with strangers.
This becomes particularly important on game drives. If you want to spend 30 minutes watching a leopard while everyone else wants to move on, someone has to compromise.
In your own vehicle, that decision is yours.
Start With the Trip You Actually Want
When planning a safari, I think it is better to start with the experience you want rather than immediately choosing a package.
Think about what you imagine when you picture the trip.
Is it watching elephants from a safari vehicle in Kenya?
Driving through the empty landscapes of Namibia?
Staying at a beautiful private reserve in South Africa?
Seeing Victoria Falls and then continuing into Botswana?
Once you know that, the rest becomes much easier.
A custom African safari does not need to be complicated. Our job is to take your ideas, determine what is realistic and turn them into an itinerary that works geographically, logistically and financially.
You can start with one of our existing safari itineraries or build something completely different.
If you are not sure which destination is right for you, that is also fine.
Tell us your travel dates, approximate budget and what you would most like to experience, and we can help you narrow it down.