South Africa or East Africa
South Africa or East Africa: which safari is yours?
Two very different ways to do a safari, and an honest way to choose between them. Both are good, and they suit different people.
South Africa or East Africa
Two very different ways to do a safari, and an honest way to choose between them. Both are good, and they suit different people.
South Africa, 14 nights
From A$9,500
Cape Town, a private reserve beside Kruger and Victoria Falls
East Africa, 10 nights
From A$7,000
Tanzania by road with your own guide, in budget camps
Per person, flights from Australia extra. Each price comes from a real quote we wrote and locked, rounded down to the nearest A$500. Your own quote fixes yours in Australian dollars.
The short answer
Choose East Africa if you want a safari that moves: your own guide and vehicle all day, a new camp every two or three nights, the Great Migration, the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti. Choose South Africa if you want the shortest flight from Australia, a lodge where the drives come to you, a leopard tracked off-road after dark, and Cape Town to finish.
We run our own team in Tanzania, so for a first safari most Australians we speak to start there. South Africa is a fine first safari too, and not a consolation prize. If you are still weighing it up, tell us your dates and who is travelling and we will say which we would book.
The long version is our South Africa versus Tanzania guide.
Two kinds of safari day
South Africa
You base yourself at one lodge. A ranger and a tracker take you out at dawn and again late in the afternoon, and the lodge sets the rhythm: breakfast out in the bush, a rest in the heat, a sundowner, dinner. In a private reserve such as the Sabi Sand, which shares an unfenced boundary with Kruger National Park, your ranger can leave the road to follow a leopard, drives run after dark, and few vehicles share a sighting.
Meals and game drives are in the lodge rate. You change lodges, not vehicles, and Cape Town is a short flight away.
East Africa
Your own guide and 4x4 stay with you the whole trip, and you move every two or three nights: Tarangire's baobabs and elephants, the Ngorongoro Crater at dawn, the central Serengeti and, in season, the herds. Inside national parks you stay on the tracks and in daylight, which is where South Africa's private reserves have the edge, but your guide plans each day around you and not around a lodge timetable.
In Tanzania our own team, guides and vehicles run it. Park fees are charged per person per day and are in our price.
Side by side
| South Africa | East Africa (Tanzania and Kenya) | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you sleep | One lodge for two or three nights at each stop | A new camp every two or three nights |
| Who guides you | The lodge's own ranger and tracker | Our own guide and vehicle with you all trip in Tanzania; a local driver-guide in Kenya, with a handover at the border |
| Off-road and night drives | Yes, in private reserves | Not inside national parks: you stay on the tracks and in daylight |
| The Great Migration | No | Yes: calving from January to March, Mara River crossings from mid-July, and September and October the peak from the Tanzanian side |
| Flights from Australia | Qantas nonstop from Sydney and Perth to Johannesburg | One or two connections, roughly 20 to 26 hours door to door |
| Malaria | Some reserves are described as malaria-free; Kruger is a malaria area | The safari areas are malaria areas |
| The city or the beach | Cape Town, the Winelands and the Garden Route | A beach finish on Zanzibar |
| Best months | May to October for the reserves, November to March for the Cape | June to October, or January to March for calving |
| Self-drive | Kruger is the classic self-drive; private lodges are guided only | Guided only |
| From, per person | A$9,500 for 14 nights, with Victoria Falls and Cape Town | A$7,000 for 10 nights in budget camps, A$11,000 in mid-range lodges |
Malaria is a medical question: please talk to a travel doctor and check smartraveller.gov.au for your route.
Which one are you?
What it costs
South Africa
From A$9,500
per person, 14 nights, late September to early October, flights from Australia extra
Two nights near Johannesburg, four at the Falls, three in a private reserve beside Kruger and five in Cape Town, with the flights between them. Priced from a real quote for three adults travelling together.
See the day by day →East Africa
From A$7,000
per person, 10 nights in budget camps, November. A$11,000 in mid-range lodges, September. Flights extra
The northern circuit by road, with Tarangire, Lake Manyara, the crater and the Serengeti. Add Kenya, Zanzibar or both: see Kenya and Tanzania and Tanzania and Zanzibar.
See Tanzania safari packages →Every figure is the price of a real quote we wrote and locked, per person and rounded down to the nearest A$500, in Australian dollars with the exchange rate fixed on your own quote. The trips are different lengths, so compare what each gives you, not the totals. Our guides to what an African safari costs and what a Tanzania safari costs go line by line.
Good to know
Tell us your dates and who is travelling, and the Kingse team will come back to you personally, usually the same day, with the trip we would book.
Call us or message us
Pick up the phone if you'd rather talk it through. We spend a good part of the year moving between Australia and Africa, so if we miss you, WhatsApp Samara and we'll come back to you whatever the time zone.
Samara Imhoof
Bookings & Client Care
Free call from Australia
1800 KINGSE(1800 546 473)