a Good Safari VS a Great Safari

a Good African Safari VS a Great African Safari

Lioness in the Serengeti

What's the difference between a good and a great African Safari?

Do you think great accommodation will provide you with a great African Safari ?

Do you think the food will provide you with a great African Safari ?

Do you think a normal travel agent who does not specialize in African Safaris will provide you with a great African Safari ?

Do you think if you pay more it will provide you with a great African Safari ?

One of our Guides/Drivers explaining things to our clients

If you answered yes to any of these questions above you might be right in your opinion but in my opinion it is a big NO!!!

Why do I say NO to those questions?

An African Safari is not for me about the accommodation, the food or anything else but the African Wildlife and yes you can stay in 5* accommodation that's not my point my point is the you need to focus on the Wildlife as this is the reason for your safari, am I wrong???

If you book your African Safari with just a normal travel agent who have never visited the area or who don't even know who your driver will be, and yes you might think but this is just a driver but that's where you make a big mistake.!!!!

Dinning room of one of the Lodges we use on the Ngorongoro Crater rim Tanzania

The only difference between a good and a great African Safari is knowledge that's it. This is where the driver/guide comes in, if you have a very knowledgeable guide/driver you are more likely to see two to three times more wildlife in the same area where the average guides/drivers will see much less. Do you want to see maybe one Cheetah and a few Lions on your African Safari or would you like to see 5-6 Leopards 15-20 Cheetahs and 80-120 Lions on just a two week safari?

Cheetah with cubs which were shown out to us by Birds

Some of our drivers got a passion for the beautiful bird-life East Africa offers and know more than 2000 birds and they can mimic more then 450 birds, okay so now you want to know what that info got to do with you as you might not be interested in birds but the birds are showing just different things like danger and yes danger can mean a snake, Lion, Leopard, Cheetah or even Hyaenas but that's where it all comes in. We here at African Big5 Safaris provide this type of service and yes you will love it.

Happy clients of African Big5 Safaris around a camp fire before dinner

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When is the best time for an East Africa Safari ?

When is the best time for an East Africa Safari ?

Wildebeest Migration on a East Africa Safari

I get this question regularly and now I will explain it to you. There is no short answer to this as it all depends on what you want to experience, but I will explain to you what you can experience and when will be the best time to experience it.

If you are a "BUDGET" traveler

If you are a budget traveler then I suggest you look at the low season.

In the low season you will see as many Wildlife as you will in peak season but the only down fall is that you might have a few days of rain during your East Africa Safari, is that a bad thing? NO not at all but make sure you have a 4x4 instead of a minibus. What I like about the Low rainy season is that there are much less dust.

The Low season starts in April and ends on the 25th of May each year. During the Low season is also when the mating season starts which will provide you with a little bit of "WILD SEX" if you catch my drift. This is also the time of year when the Wildebeests starts to regroup. Bookings for this time of year will need to be booked around 4-6 months ahead.

Birthing season

If you want to experience the birthing season you need to make sure you get your bookings in early (6-9 months ahead ) as this is also a very popular time for travelers to visit the Serengeti, there are about 600 000 baby Wildebeests and Zebras that are born in this time and all of this is happening from around mid January to mid February each year. This time of year is HIGH season for your East African Safari.

Mating season

Please read the budget section for more info.

Buffalo Bull smelling for the right females.

Wildebeest Migration crossing the famous Mara River

This is peak peak peak season !!!!!!!

To see the Wildebeest crossing the Mara River from Tanzania into Kenya is just spectacular and that's why you see so much of this on telly, it is absolutely breathtaking. So when is this happening? It normally starts around mid to end of July but it also depends on the rain season as the only reason for the continuous moving of the Wildebeest are for food (grass). The safest bet would be to try and do this as close as to the end of August and also try and get accommodation for at least 3-5 nights as it has happened in the past that we will wait for three days but they don't cross they only laugh at us from the other side of the river bed. This crossing normally continuous for about 2-3 months and then they cross back into Tanzania around the end of October. Booking for this needs to be done at least 6-12 months ahead.

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Elephants in Amboseli - Kenya