PRACTICAL & PROVEN

The questions you should ask

When to go. What to pack. What flying between camps 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.

30 pieces

Browse the guides

Elephant silhouette at sunset under an acacia tree, Southern Africa

Guides

Is a safari worth it? An honest answer

Honest answer for first-time safari travellers. What you actually get, when to go, and how to plan it well.

Sian Loehrer

A luxury safari lodge at night with lanterns around the pool

Guides

How long should a safari actually be

Seven nights minimum, ten nights ideal: a plain guide to safari length

Sian Loehrer

Solo women on safari

Guides

Solo women on safari

How to plan a safe, well-organised solo safari in southern Africa as a woman

Vikki Jackson

Couple watching sunset over the South African bushveld from a luxury safari lodge deck

Guides

Honeymoon safaris in South Africa

Where to go, what to expect, and how to pair bush with beach

Vikki Jackson

Sole-use villa safaris in Africa

Guides

Sole-use villa safaris in Africa

What sole-use villa safaris mean in practice, who they suit, and what to ask

Sian Loehrer

Elephants at a waterhole in a dry South African game reserve at golden hour

Guides

Malaria-free safaris in South Africa

Big Five reserves in South Africa where no malaria prophylaxis is needed

Sian Loehrer

A male lion resting in dry winter grass in the lowveld

Guides

How we plan a vegan safari in South Africa

A working guide to building a fifteen-night plant-based safari, from Cape Town's Atlantic coast to two private reserves in the Greater Kruger

Vikki Jackson

Aerial view of a luxury private safari villa beside a river in Africa, the kind of exclusive-use property that suits multi-generational family travel.

Guides

Multi-generational safaris in Africa: the rise of private villas

Multi-generational safaris are the fastest-growing way families travel to Africa. Private villas and exclusive-use lodges, planned around different ages. The how, the why, and what they cost.

Vikki Jackson

Vegan safaris in Africa: an honest look at where plant-based travel actually works

Guides

Vegan safaris in Africa: an honest look at where plant-based travel actually works

Plant-based safari travel works well across Africa when the chef has a proper brief. A composite week, the questions guests actually ask, and where vegan still requires real planning.

Sian Loehrer

Kosher drinks and snacks on a game drive

Guides

Kosher safaris in South Africa: how a bush kitchen actually works

The honest guide to keeping kosher on safari in South Africa. Three tiers of catering, real pricing, Shabbat in the bush, and how we put one together.

Vikki Jackson

Modern luxury safari lodge lounge looking out across the Botswana bushveld

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.

Vikki Jackson

Wildebeest crossing the Mara River during the Great Migration in northern Serengeti, Tanzania

Guides

How we plan a luxury African safari (the long version)

After twenty years of designing safaris, this is how we actually do it. Not a checklist. The order we ask the questions in, what we trade off, and why we say no to certain combinations.

Sian Loehrer

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

Write to us

One of us will write back.

Replies come from Vikki or Sian. No obligation, just a conversation.

Prefer to write to us directly? sian@marulahill.com · WhatsApp +27 82 459 0648