How do I book my safari online and what to look out for

Top travel tips

The process of booking your safari from us and how it works is important to understand so that we can help you as best possible. There is still a perception that buying something online can only be done with individual items and that holidays are too complex to sort out, this is not the case and here is how to go about your safari planning and the purchase thereof.

Your safari holiday to Africa has a few elements that need to add up for you to have a seamless safari package;
– What would you like to see, your main reason for coming to Africa
– Your accommodation level or standard
– How many rooms do you need
– The type of safari you prefer
– Secure your services and rooms with a deposit payment
– Tie up loose ends
– Pay you balance payment before you go on holiday
– Go on safari

1. International flights to and from the right airports in Africa. It is important to have real flight options to get you to Africa and then back home again. We can help you with these. Find out when you can travel and if these dates are flexible. The sooner we can work with real arrival and departure dates the easier it is to find you accommodation and rooms based on what is available. We can then also “provisionally” book these rooms for you just in case we need them. Without dates there is nothing we can reserve for you.

2. What would you like to see and experience is key to us designing you the perfect itinerary and making that a reality, the more you tell us the easier it is to plan and get together. Here we would like to prioritise what is important to you design your journey accordingly. So let us know what matters, wildlife and or specific species to some are crucial, others would like to concentrate on accommodation levels and comfort, some people prefer privacy and others love travelling with a group.

3. Your level of accommodation is ultimately the biggest factor that would influence the price of your safari holiday, this is the case other than the obvious factors such as the length of your safari and or how many people are sharing your safari vehicle with you. Let us know what accommodation you prefer, some clients are not comfortable under canvas tents and others prefer the smaller boutique camps. Some clients prefer us to work with a budget and choose accommodation accordingly where others might want to choose the lodge and will adjust budget accordingly.

4. How many rooms do you need this will help us in securing the rooms for you and also what accommodation options you would have for your group size. If you are 6 adults then you would fit into 1 vehicle and would need 3 rooms minimum, so this helps a great deal when planning your safari itinerary and more so what accommodation and transport options we can look at.

5. What safari type are you comfortable with, do you prefer joining a small group departure to make friends and share memories, do you prefer your own transport so that your flexible and you can maximise your game viewing opportunities or do you prefer flying from camp to camp minimizing time on the road and maximizing time around your camp and lodge sharing game viewing vehicles with others. This all has an impact on price and experience.

6. Secure what we have planned with a deposit, the only way that we can secure your rooms, transport, local flights and or other services is to pay a deposit for those. This requires a commitment from us and from you. We can always still make changes specially if it is a long time before you travel (outside of 3 months), peak season rooms are limited and the best value options also are limited and in demand so securing your rooms are crucial.

7. Tie up loose ends, from the moment you have paid your deposit payment can we start relaxing, the core of what you need is secured, we have rooms and international flights and we now focus on fine tuning your safari journey. Here we can add activities like hot air ballooning and or similar and we make sure you are 100% happy with what we have decided on.

8. Pay the balance of your invoice in advance, clients wonder why they have to pay for their safari in full before arrival, this is because rooms are not easy to sell last minute and the lodges cannot run the risk of their rooms being empty. All accommodation options require full payment a month in advance otherwise the booking is cancelled and deposit payments lost. We therefore need your balance payment to reflect with us minimum 45 days prior to your safari so that we have time to transfer the necessary funds to everyone involved.

9. Go on safari, finally your ready for your safari, you will receive the necessary documentation before you leave and this will include:

– Your confirmed safari holiday itinerary
– Your invoice that at this stage would reflect a zero balance
– International flights details and tickets (if we booked your international flights)
– Your local flights tickets
– Your emergency evacuation cover confirmation

You will soon realise that you need to start planning your safari well in advance, as much as a year before you intend to come to Africa. This gives us enough time to secure accommodation options that are in the right locations and to have access to the good value options that are sold first.

The better the communication the easier it is to get to what YOU are looking for, there are a few options available and we prefer the following options.

– A phone call – let us speak to you, this will give us a much better idea of who you are and what we can arrange for you.
– Email, there could be hundreds of emails between you and us within the 12 months of planning, so help us to communicate with you and let us know as much as possible.
– Skype, WhatsApp or chat, if you have questions then these options are also handy to get in touch with us.