Discover The Best Affordable African Safari Trip & Deals In Kenya & South Africa!

Want to find an affordable African safari trip? We'll tell you how we do it. My wife is a local South African, we’ve been on over 80 African safaris, & we've lived in South Africa since 1993. Our safaris have been throughout Southern Africa and East Africa. We’ve discovered that you can have a wonderful African safari trip at an affordable price. Our goal is to tell you how.

First, you can have excellent African safaris in a number of Southern African and East African countries. However, we've found South Africa and Kenya are the two safari destinations that offer the greatest possibility for finding an affordable African safari trip. Below we give our top tips for finding the best affordable African safari trip for you in both countries.

Click here to learn more tips about finding the best affordable African safari for you!

Affordable African Safari - Elephants In The Wild In Southern Africa photo by Mark Tennant, Kwando Safaris

	Enter your search termsSubmit search form
	Web www.african-safari-and-travel-advisor.com

Rather have a personalized trip? Contact us now & we can send you free personalized advice about the best African safari for your interests and budget!

Top Tips For Finding The Best Affordable African Safari Trip For You In South Africa & Kenya

Organized scheduled safaris are cheaper because you get group rates and this reduces your transportation and accommodation costs. So if you want an affordable African safari trip and like groups, this is an option to consider.

Pros:

• Good option if you don't want to camp and participate but still want an affordable African safari trip.
• These packages include a guide which will make your safari a lot more interesting. Having a guide that can explain the ecosystems and animal life vastly improves your experience.
  
  

• You may not like the people you are booked with.
• Often you are packed into the vehicle with little space for moving around or taking photos when you want.

Camp in the Wildlife Parks

Most national parks have public camping facilities (we're not talking about the luxury tented safari here) and it's a lot cheaper than staying in lodges. If you like camping, this is a great way to have an affordable African safari trip.

Pros:

• You get to enjoy the proximity of wildlife

Cons:

• If you don't have a car carrying all your supplies it can be a hassle and you'd still need to join a group to go on game drives. You can eliminate this problem and still save money by renting a car in South Africa or Namibia
  In East Africa, the poor condition of the roads does not make this a real option. Only if you were driving to Tsavo from Mombasa, Kenya would it work.
  But this is a really good option in South Africa and Namibia. The roads are excellent and though I have never camped in the national parks, the standard of the government camping facilities is very high and quite affordable. Remember, if budget is an issue take a look at our tips for cheap African safaris and budget African safaris.

Book a Safari in the Low Season – East Africa

In East Africa, the low-season coincides with the rainy season and in most popular safari destinations there are two rainy seasons a year. Low seasons usually run from April - June and October - November.

Pros:

• Low season prices will save you least 25% on any safari.
• You avoid the crowds. We traveled to the Serengeti during rainy season and because it was considered rainy season we had the park to ourselves and had good weather!

Cons:

• The rains mean that wildlife doesn't have to limit their wanderings to a few available water sources. So you may have trouble spotting the animals from your safari vehicle.
• During the rainy season the foliage camouflages the animals. Despite this though you'll still get to see plenty of wildlife during the low-season.
• The roads to and in some of the game parks could be washed out. Ask if the tour operator is using 4x4s otherwise you will be on the side of the road for a long time.

Book A South Africa Safari In Low Season

In South Africa the low season for safaris is from May to August.

Pros:

• Low-season prices will save you least 25% on any safari.
• You avoid the crowds – if you also avoid the South Africa school holidays. This is most applicable if you are going to one of the national parks like Kruger
• It is easier to see the animals. This is the case for two reasons. First, in South Africa, May to August is the winter. Second it is also the dry season. Animals are easier to spot since they have to go to waterholes to drink and there is little foliage to camouflage them.

Cons:

• In June through August the airfares from the US to South Africa are high.

Choose Just One Wildlife Park

The more parks you visit the more it costs. In East Africa, choose a park that will almost guarantee you see a lot of animals. Two such parks are the Masai Mara & the Serengeti. Then just plan to just visit there.

For South Africa the two best national parks that guarantee you see a lot of animals are Kruger National Park and the Pilanesberg National Park . For the most affordable African safari trip just plan to visit there. There are also more and more private game reserves and private lodges within national parks opening up in South Africa where you are almost guaranteed to see the Big Five (lion, elephant, leopard, rhino, buffalo in just a few outings. This is a big advantage of a private lodge, but it costs more.

Pros:

• Cheaper than going from one park to the other
• Leaves you with time to explore Africa's incredibly interesting cultural and historic sights as well.

Cons:

• If you're unlucky you may not get to see all the wildlife you want
• You can miss out on seeing a variety of ecosystems

Seeing Wildlife Without Going on Safari

There are ways to view animals without booking an official safari.

• Take local trains through African wildlife parks. The train from Nairobi to Mombasa Kenya in Kenya runs through the Tsavo National Park. There's also a local train that runs through Selous National Reserve in Tanzania.
• Stay in places like Kariba or Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe where it's not uncommon to see elephants wondering around the center of town.

An option, if your love train travel but aren't really that interested in wildlife. What's the shortfall? From a train or in town you really don’t have time to observe the animals carefully or in their natural settings.

Do A Self-Drive Safari- Get More Freedom & A More Affordable African Safari Trip

The two countries I'd recommend for self-drive safaris would be South Africa and Namibia.

Pros:

• You have the freedom to decide how long you want to stay in a park
• You avoid the cost of hiring a guide
• If there are more than two of you it's a real savings to rent a car

• You may not know the best roads to take for wildlife viewing
• Car rental can be expensive in many African countries (over US $50 a day)
• You are limited in your choice of safaris to countries with reasonable roads. That means you can do parts of Botswana but you’ll need a 4x4. You can look at renting one in South Africa that allows you to go across borders.
• Without a guide you may not know what animals you are looking at.

Here are some links to help you plan and save money on self drives. Or scroll below and fill in the form and we will send you free personalized advice.

In addition, in South Africa we can get you a free cell phone for you to use on your affordable African safari trip.

Learn about the best self drive safari routes with free South Africa maps

Learn about best car rentals South Africa offers

Click here to find cheap or free airfares to Africa!

Return from affordable African safari trip to affordable African safari page