If you are planning to visit Tanzania for safari only, then your trip could be as short as 7-11 nights. It is quite usual to deploy the whole of this time in the Serengeti region, mostly focused on Serengeti itself, usually supplemented with nights in Ngorongoro and optionally Tarangire.

7-11 nights

Most of our guests tend to spend 12 to 18 nights in Tanzania, which is enough time to combine a good length safari in the Serengeti region with either further safari in the south (Ruaha, Selous) or west (Katavi, Mahale), or to head down to the tropical beaches of Zanzibar.

12-18 nights

We absolutely love putting together trips of three or more weeks. Sometimes we are lucky enough to work with guests who are taking a sabbatical from work or who are retired and just love to travel. In these trips, the possibilities become almost infinite and can cover several  countries.

19-28 nights

Tanzania

Set on the East Coast of Africa, Tanzania is a truly remarkable place, the richest and most diverse safari country, with far more than its fair share of Africa’s crown jewels, including Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar.

This is the place to head if you are looking for a truly diverse African experience, usually an overland journey, with equal parts of epic wildlife, majestic volcanic scenery, authentic tribespeople, farms, villages and towns.

It’s also top of the list if you want to combine safari and tropical beaches.

In all honesty, Tanzania alone is worth several trips.

Trips from USD 4500

Kenya

Also on the East Coast of Africa, Kenya is the second most visited safari country on the continent, a place of great diversity, with popular reserves including the Maasai Mara, Amboseli, Tsavo and Samburu, as well as some much more remote wilderness areas and an extensive tropical coastline.

Unfortunately, the better known reserves in Kenya can get very busy in core areas, so we need to tread carefully to deliver a quality safari.

If you are looking towards the upper end of the budget range, then trips can be remote and fabulous. But if you are looking for value, you may be better off looking at Tanzania or countries further south. 

Trips from USD 5000

Botswana

Moving to the south of the continent, Botswana is widely considered to offer the highest quality safari in Africa.

The experience is not as diverse as Tanzania, but the remoteness and purity of the bush experience is unsurpassed.

If you are looking for either an easy vacation or a deeply immersive wilderness experience, this is the place. We just need to be careful about the very high prices during the Jun-Oct dry season.

Botswana is great in combination with Victoria Falls, the Cape or the tropical beaches of Mozambique.

Trips from USD 6000

Our safari experts have incredible 
first-hand knowledge and an average
of 12 years experience building great 
trips.

Expertise and experience

Since 1999, we have created over a million sample  trips and helped over 120,000 guests fall in love with  safari Africa.

A proud history

Over the years we have polished our operation to be super-reliable. Arranging your trip should be almost as much fun  as going on safari. 

Seamless and fun

Your trip should cost no more than if 
you had booked all the components directly. You effectively get our services for free.

Delivering value

Every single trip that we build is unique. Your trip will be precisely tailored to meet the exact requirements of everyone in your group.

Supremely tailor-made

The first safari company on the internet, we helped to shape the modern safari and we continue to be the prime innovators in our field.

Original innovators

Tell us your whatever you know about your ideal trip. Whether you're drawn to specific wildlife, particular regions, or have preferences about the style of accommodation, the more we understand, the better we can help you to craft the perfect experience.

Share your ideas

South Africa

South Africa is by far the most popular location for safari. It is a vast and incredibly diverse country, with far more highlights than could ever be included in a single trip.

The primary trip shape is a combination of safari in Kruger, with time in Cape Town, the Whale Coast and the Cape Winelands.

There is a huge choice of safari accommodation, right across the price spectrum, including some of the best lower cost options in Africa, so this is often the place to head on a lower budget.

However, South Africa is a much more developed country than those further north and the safari experience can feel significantly less pure and wild.

Trips from USD 3500

Zimbabwe

Also in the southern part of Africa, Zimbabwe is best known for the Victoria Falls, but also offers some of the most earthy, authentic, heart-pumping safari on the continent.

If you are looking for a short safari of 3-5 nights, then Hwange has some great value options.

Otherwise, Zimbabwe is a relatively high-priced location, which appeals most to experienced Africa travellers, who appreciate the extremely high levels of safari guiding.

The walking safari here can be truly extraordinary, with deliberate approaches onto elephants and lions. 

Trips from USD 4500

Zambia

Set in southcentral Africa, Zambia is a delightful backwater, also best known for the Victoria Falls, but with a handful of superb safari reserves.

The camps here have a reputation for intimacy, authenticity and a pleasantly homespun feel, many with a marked leaning towards walking safari, which is always a good sign.

Zambia is a mid-to-high price safari environment, which tends to appeal most to experienced safari travellers in search of new frontiers and first timers who are specifically looking for somewhere unusual for their safari. 

Trips from USD 5000

This is the cool dry season, with crisp mornings, clear skies and warm, sunny days. Wildlife in the crater is excellent year-round, and safari traffic is generally lighter early July and late September, making vehicle safaris more relaxed and enjoyable.

Jul-Oct 

The warm rainy season brings occasional downpours, lush crater floors and misty mornings. Wildlife remains highly visible, supplemented by peripheral migration herds, though some crater tracks may be slippery and more challenging for vehicles on safari.

Nov-Mar 

April and May mark the peak rains at altitude, with wet crater floors, thick mist and dramatic landscapes. Wildlife is still present, safari numbers are lower, and conditions reward travellers seeking solitude and immersive vehicle safari experiences.

Apr-Jun

The short drier period within the rainy season features slightly firmer crater tracks and good wildlife viewing. Wildlife is somewhat dispersed but approachable, while safari traffic peaks in early December and mid-January, making careful timing important.

Dec–Feb

Your dedicated safari specialist will work with you to build a selection of sample trips. We'll discuss seasonality, wildlife movements, logistics, lodge options, activity levels, whatever is necessary. And we will keep on refining until we are all confident that we have reached the perfect trip.

Crafting your trip

Everything is arranged. All you need to do is turn up. You probably won’t even need to show your paperwork, you will simply glide from one group of friendly and efficient local hosts to the next. And our support team remains on hand throughout, leaving you free to focus entirely on the extraordinary experiences ahead.

Travel with confidence

Many of us here at ATR have travelled extensively with our own kids, so we know for a fact that safari is great for families.

This is the kind of trip that guarantees to generate memories that you will share for the rest of your lives.

However, there are significant health issues to consider in most safari areas, so we need to proceed with caution.

Most dry season safari is ideal for kids of 12 years and older, eminently feasible for kids 8-11 years and potentially viable from 6-7 years old. If your kids are 0-5 years, then it’s probably best to stick to the non-malarial areas of the Cape, then progressing up into Namibia as they get older.

Family safari 

Safari is an inherently romantic experience that can be endlessly tailored to suit you.

We have been helping guests to build awesome honeymoons for many years. We have intimate knowledge of some of the wildest and most romantic places in the world.

Perhaps the most important piece of advice is to be yourselves. Please don’t feel it is necessary to fit into the usual romantic tropes if they’re not for you. Just focus on having a great trip.

We very much understand the importance of these trips, we know that your honeymoon needs to really hit the heights and be a truly life-punctuating experience.

Honeymoon safari 

On safari, luxury means different things to different people.

The most conventional meaning is that the accommodations are extremely comfortable, with elevated levels of hospitality. This is relatively easy to deliver, there are lots of luxury lodges.

However, simply inserting more luxurious lodges into your trip is no guarantee of a better safari. In fact, the opposite can be true.

For us, the hallmarks of a truly high quality safari are a suitably slow pace, wonderful remote locations, superb safari guiding, exclusive and intense wildlife interaction, precisely tailored experiences and considered attention to detail. We can do that.

Luxury safari 

Safari in Ngorongoro ranges from surprisingly good value to rather pricey, very much in line with the prices for safari across Tanzania. You can expect to spend USD 350 to 2500 per person per night for the lodges, plus a private overland vehicle and driverguide, any connecting flights and the very high conservation fees.

We are more than happy to work across this range of prices. The only important thing is that we help you find the very best safari to suit your budget.

The two dominant price factors are the length of time that you spend on safari and the specific lodges that you choose to include in your trip. Deploying more time in town, rural and beach locations can bring the total cost down dramatically.

If you have a higher budget, we will help you determine which camps do actually deliver elevated levels of service and experience. We will also highlight other subtle ways in which your trip can be raised to another level, including the use of whole camp bookings, private guides and vehicles, explorations of remote areas etc.

If you have a medium budget, the best ways to keep a lid on costs are to travel out of the Jul-Oct dry season and to carefully choose lower-cost lodges.  You can also reduce the number of core safari nights and deploy time in more cost-effective beach, town and rural locations. We will help you understand where to trim and where to splash in order to achieve the best overall experience.

If you have a lower budget, then we can always look at other fundamentally less pricey safari areas, notably in South Africa.

"We just returned from a weeks safari organized  organized   organized by ATR and have nothing but positive reviews!"

Sossusvlei

Set in the southwest of Namibia, Sossusvlei is home to the enormous and iconic orange dunes of the Namib Desert, a truly remarkable combination of desert landscapes.

Guest accommodation is in around twenty lodges of various levels, offering a good range of activities including desert explorations, quad-biking, ballooning and scenic flights.

Almost all first time visits to Namibia include the Sossusvlei area, this is one of those places that are so well known that they simply demand to be ticked off the list. This naturally means the area can get rather busy during peak seasons, but it’s still fun.

Lodges USD 200-2500 pppn 

Etosha

Etosha National Park is the best known and richest wildlife area in Namibia, renowned for intense animal scenes around its many waterholes. However, it is undoubtedly the most disappointing of Africa’s most famous reserves.

Unfortunately the national park itself is primarily set up for self-drivers and the core areas get seriously and unpleasantly busy. This traffic is serviced by three enormous government restcamps, plus a range of larger lodges outside the main gates.

Etosha tends to feature in most self-drive trips, since it is so centrally located on northern routes. High quality flying trips are usually best advised to avoid Etosha completely.

Lodges USD 100-2750 pppn 

Damaraland North 

Set 230km north of Nairobi, Samburu is an arid and particularly atmospheric safari area, set alongside a magical perennial river that brings life to the desert year round. It is a magical place and home to some very interesting animals, including gerenuks, Grevy’s zebras and reticulated giraffes.

Guest accommodation is in around twenty lodges. Those inside the park tend to be large and commercial, whilst the better quality options are situated in large private conservancies round about, from where you can raid into the main reserve during the quiet hours around lunchtime.

Samburu is easily reached by air from Nairobi and there are usually direct connections to the Maasai Mara, making this a popular triangle. It is also a great starting point for the wilds further north notably in the Mathew’s Range.

Lodges USD 400-2500 pppn 

This remarkable crater is the remnant of an enormous volcano that catastrophically collapsed two million years ago. The resulting caldera is one of the greatest sights on the planet, you can spot wildlife from the rim, then drive down to explore.

Epic scenery

The Crater is home to almost the full range of safari wildlife, including lions, leopards, cheetahs and hyenas. Notably there are large tusker elephants and rare black rhinos. These animals are mostly resident and can be reliably spotted year round.

Reliable wildlife

The traditional villages of the tribal Maasai people are dotted across the Ngorongoro Highlands. On misty days, it really feels like a mystical ‘land that time forgot’. Genuine interaction with these wonderful people is a rare hallmark of a quality safari into this area.

Maasai people

The surrounding Ngorongoro Highlands contain some fabulous hikes, through dense cloud forests, down into other volcanic craters, up over high peaks and down into the Serengeti. These are done in the company of extremely cool and authentic Maasai warriors.

Great hiking

Serengeti

Serengeti is the mother of all safari reserves, a most extraordinary place, best known for its enormous wildebeest and zebra migration, but with prolific wildlife year round. 

Manyara

Set just north of Tarangire, Lake Manyara is a pretty little park, way too busy on the north end, but fabulously quiet in the little-visited southern section, accessed via the fabulous back road routing.

Tarangire

Located to the south of Serengeti, Tarangire is a large and scenic reserve, best known for prodigious herds of elephants during the Jun-Dec dry season. Quiet in more southerly areas.

Ruaha

Set in the south of Tanzania, Ruaha is an utterly fabulous and much more remote safari location, the two areas being connected by expensive light aircraft flights. Our favourite in East Africa. 

Bwindi Forest

Set in Uganda, Bwindi Forest is usually the best place to head for amazing gorilla tracking experiences, with light aircraft connections from Serengeti, via Entebbe. But unavoidably pricey.

Zanzibar

If you are looking for tropical beaches, then Zanzibar Island has loads of choice of lodges, whilst the islands of Pemba and Mafia are much less-visited backwaters with a cool Swahili vibe