PRACTICAL & PROVEN
The questions you should ask
When to go. What to pack. What flying between lodges actually involves. Visa rules, malaria realities, packing weights. Useful answers, written without the marketing voice.
Read these before you book anything
HOW WE THINK ABOUT THESE
We answer the question, then the next one
Most safari planning advice online is written to rank on Google. It hedges. It never tells you what is actually true. We write the opposite. If a region is worse in March, we say so. If a lodge is overpriced for what it offers, we say so. If a transfer route is bumpy and four hours long, we put that in the first paragraph.
Some of these are short answers, the kind you read on your phone in a queue. Others are longer because the question deserves it. Cost. Season. Comparison. Logistics. Health. The pieces that turn a vague idea into a confirmed booking.
38 pieces
Browse the guides
Guides
Sandringham Private Game Reserve: should you go early, or wait?
Greater Kruger's newest reserve opens in August 2026. Our honest take on who should book Sandringham early, and who should give it a few seasons.
Guides
The packing guide
What to bring on safari, what to leave at home, and the one thing no lodge can lend you. An honest packing list from the team in Hoedspruit.
Guides
South Africa's online traveller declaration: what it means for your safari (and what it doesn't)
A five-minute customs form now stands between you and the arrivals hall. Here's what it is, who needs it, and what nothing to declare actually means for a normal safari guest.
Guides
How safari pricing actually works
From the people who build the quotes. What you are really paying for, where the money goes, and how to spend it well.
Guides
Where the money actually goes on a luxury safari
A line-by-line look at what you're actually paying for on a luxury African safari — and what a quote that looks light is usually hiding.
Guides
Bazaruto vs Quirimbas: which Mozambique archipelago is right for you?
How to choose between Mozambique's two great archipelagos for a bush-and-beach trip. Geography, lodge feel, when to go.
Guides
Sabi Sand or Kruger
Two reserves, one fence line, very different mornings
Guides
Gorilla trekking, Uganda or Rwanda
Two countries, the same forest, two very different days
Guides
Do you need travel insurance for a safari
What safari travel insurance must cover, and why standard policies fall short
Guides
Sole-use villa safaris in Africa
What sole-use villa safaris mean in practice, who they suit, and what to ask
Guides
Why Rwanda is the cleanest country in Africa
A plastic-bag ban from 2008. A mandatory community work morning on the last Saturday of every month. The system behind Rwanda's cleanliness, explained.
Guides
What's actually changing in safari travel in 2026
We do not love the trend pieces either. But after twenty years of designing safaris, the real shifts in 2026 are worth naming. Here are the four we are seeing in our own bookings, and the two we think are oversold.
WHEN YOU HAVE READ ENOUGH
We will plan the rest
A good guide saves an hour. A planner saves a week. Once you have a sense of where and when, send us what you are thinking. We will pressure-test it and come back with the version that works.
Start with a conversation